A New Creation, Sent to Reconcile (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

Today’s Word

[The New Creation and the Ministry of Reconciliation] (NIV)
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Background

Today’s passage opens with a “so” and then a “therefore.” Both point back to verses 14-15, where Paul said that one died for all, and therefore all died, and that he died so that those who live should no longer live for themselves. Today Paul takes the next step. If our old life ended with Christ, what has begun? His answer has two parts: a new creation, and a ministry of reconciliation.

In verse 16 Paul says he no longer regards anyone from a worldly point of view. The Greek phrase is kata sarka, literally “according to the flesh.” It means sizing people up by outward measures, the yardsticks the world uses. It is the same thing we saw yesterday in verse 12, people who take pride in what is seen. But then Paul adds a startling confession. He once regarded even Christ that way.

To feel the weight of that, we need to remember who Paul had been. Before his conversion he hunted down followers of Jesus. In his eyes Jesus was a man who had died hanging on a tree, and Deuteronomy 21 says that anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. A crucified man could not possibly be the Messiah. Paul judged Jesus with worldly eyes, with eyes that read the law his own way, and he was wrong. When the risen Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, Paul came to see that the curse Jesus bore was a curse carried on our behalf (Galatians 3:13). From that day on, the way Paul saw Christ changed, and so did the way he saw everyone else.

“New creation” in verse 17 is creation language. The word ktisis refers to what God has made. Paul does not describe what happens to someone in Christ as a modest improvement. He describes it as God creating again, the way he did in Genesis 1. The prophet Isaiah had written, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:18-19), and he spoke of new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17). Paul sees that promise already breaking in through Christ. The little word translated “here” carries the excitement of someone pointing at something happening right in front of them.

From verse 18 on, the word reconcile appears five times. The Greek katallasso means to turn enemies back into friends. Paul used the same word in 1 Corinthians 7:11 when he told a separated wife to be reconciled to her husband. It is a word for mending a broken relationship.

What stands out is who moves first. In the religions of the Greek world, it was common sense that people had to calm an angry god with offerings and sacrifices to win back his favor. Yet in Paul’s sentences God is always the subject. God reconciled us. God was reconciling the world. The one who was wronged came looking for the ones who wronged him. Reconciliation is not something we achieve. It is a gift that comes from God, which is why verse 18 begins, “All this is from God.”

“Ambassadors” in verse 20 comes from the verb presbeuo. In the Roman Empire this described an envoy sent out with the emperor’s authority to another nation or province. An ambassador does not go to speak his own mind. He goes to carry the will of the one who sent him, and his words are received as the sender’s words. Paul understood his ministry that way, so much so that he could say God himself was making his appeal through him.

Then comes the last line of verse 20: Be reconciled to God. Who is Paul speaking to? The people reading this letter were already believers in Corinth. Yet Paul begs them to be reconciled. The Corinthian church had a strained relationship with Paul, and in 6:11-13 and 7:2 he pleads with them again and again to open wide their hearts. People who had been reconciled to God were not reconciled to one another, and they had drifted from the apostle who planted their church. The message of reconciliation was not only for an unbelieving world. It was a word the church needed to hear again every day.

Verse 21 explains in a single sentence how all of this became possible. The one who had no sin was made to be sin for us. The goal was that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Early Christian writers called this “the sweet exchange.” He came to our place, and we were moved to his.

Key Words Made Simple

• From a worldly point of view: Greek kata sarka, “according to the flesh.” Judging by human standards, such as looks, status, success, or background.
• Regard: Greek oida. Here Paul means the way we look at and evaluate someone, more than head knowledge.
• New creation: Greek kaine ktisis. Something God has made new. Not the old thing patched up, but something made again from the start.
• The old: Greek ta archaia. What is ancient or former. The way of life and the standards we lived by before Christ.
• Has gone: Greek parelthen. Has passed away, is gone. Paul speaks of it as something that has already happened.
• Reconcile: Greek katallasso. To restore a broken relationship and turn enemies into friends. In this passage God is always the one who starts it.
• Ministry: Greek diakonia. Service, an assigned task. Not a place of status but a place of serving.
• Counting against: Greek logizomai. To enter something in a ledger, to put it on the account. God did not put our sins on our account.
• Ambassador: From the verb presbeuo. An envoy who speaks on behalf of the one who sent them.
• Implore: Greek deomai. To beg, to plead earnestly. Not the tone of a command but of a humble request.
• Righteousness of God: Greek dikaiosyne theou. Being in right standing before God, in a right relationship with him. Not something we build but something we receive as a gift in Christ.

Expressions Worth Noting

1. “Though we once regarded Christ in this way” (v. 16)
   • Paul admits he once had Christ completely wrong. Few people knew as painfully as he did that our way of judging others can be mistaken.
   • When the way we see Christ changes, the way we see other people changes too. That is how the two sentences in verse 16 hang together.
2. “The old has gone, the new is here” (v. 17)
   • Paul does not say the new is on its way. He speaks of it as already done. New creation is not a destination we reach by piling up effort. It is a reality that has already begun in Christ.
   • That does not mean every old habit vanishes overnight. In this same letter Paul said that outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (4:16). The new that has begun keeps growing.
3. “All this is from God” (v. 18)
   • The new creation, the reconciliation, and the ministry all start with God. We produced none of it.
   • This confession leads to humility. No one can boast about a gift.
4. “Not counting people’s sins against them” (v. 19)
   • God did not keep a ledger of our sins and settle each one with us. That bill was moved to Christ’s account.
   • People who have been forgiven slowly become free from keeping ledgers of other people’s wrongs.
5. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors” (v. 20)
   • An ambassador represents their country. A Christian represents the kingdom of heaven in this world.
   • An ambassador does not speak their own words. They carry the heart of the one who sent them. And Paul carries that heart not as an order but as an earnest plea.
6. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (v. 21)
   • The whole gospel is packed into this one verse. The sinless one took our sin, and as a result we became the righteousness of God in him.
   • The one who paid for reconciliation was not us but Christ. That is why reconciliation is never cheap, and yet it comes to us free.

What the Passage Says

1. Meeting Christ changes the way we see people (v. 16). Paul once saw even Christ through worldly eyes. Those eyes were undone by the cross and the resurrection. Now he refuses to judge anyone by outward measures. He sees every person as someone Christ died for.
2. Anyone in Christ is a new creation (v. 17). This is not an improved version of the old self but a new person God has made. The old has already gone and the new has already come. Our past does not get to decide who we are.
3. Reconciliation is something God started (vv. 18-19). The one who was wronged came first. God did not count our sins against us, and in Christ he reconciled the world to himself. Then he entrusted that message of reconciliation to us.
4. Those who receive reconciliation become those who carry it (v. 20). Christians are Christ’s ambassadors. And the appeal echoes even toward a church that already believes: Be reconciled to God. The message of reconciliation is one we need to hear again each day.
5. All of this rests on Christ’s exchange (v. 21). The sinless one bore our sin, and in him we became the righteousness of God. The only ground on which we can stand as a new creation is that cross.

Standing Before This Word Today

Sitting with this passage, the first place I find myself lingering is the confession in verse 16. Though we once regarded Christ in this way.

Paul is saying he was wrong. Not about a small matter, but about the most important person of all. He had studied the law more carefully than almost anyone and burned with zeal for God. Yet with all that zeal and all that knowledge, he failed to recognize Christ. Worse, he persecuted the people who followed him.

That confession puts a question to us. Whom am I regarding from a worldly point of view right now? We size people up quickly. One tone of voice, one outfit, a few facts about where someone comes from, and we have reached a verdict. And we are fairly sure of it. Paul was sure too. But it was at the very point where his certainty was most wrong that he met Christ. Knowing that my eyes might be wrong about people is where new eyes begin.

The second place is verse 17. The old has gone, the new is here.

Many people love this verse, and yet it is hard to read honestly. When I stand in front of the mirror, it does not look as if the old has gone. The temper that flared yesterday is still here today. The weakness I have fought for years is still here. Does this verse have nothing to do with me, then?

The new Paul speaks of is not confirmed by how we feel or by visible results. It comes with a condition: if anyone is in Christ. Newness is not first verified inside me. It is first given in Christ. God does not look at me through the old ledger. He looks at me as someone made new in Christ. That gaze comes first, and within that gaze we are renewed a little more each day. So this verse is not a verdict against those who are not yet fully new. It is a promise to them. When the past tries to grab hold of us, we can take out this word and say, that has already gone.

The third place is the story of reconciliation that runs through verses 18 and 19.

The most striking thing here is that God is always the subject of the sentence. In human relationships, reconciliation usually starts when the one in the wrong bows their head first. In this passage, the one who was wronged makes the first move. We turned our backs on God, and God came looking for us. We owed a debt we could never repay, and God did not write it on our account.

That fact makes us look again at our own relationships. Most of us wait for the other person to come first. We tell ourselves that what they did is worse than what we did, so there is no reason for us to reach out. Meanwhile we keep a careful ledger of their wrongs in our hearts. God did not do that. If someone who has received reconciliation is still keeping ledgers on others, perhaps they have not yet grasped how much reconciliation they have received.

The fourth place is verse 20. Be reconciled to God.

Once we realize this plea is addressed not to unbelievers but to the church, it weighs a little more heavily. The Corinthians had been baptized, had experienced the gifts of the Spirit, and gathered for worship. Yet there were quarrels among them, and their relationship with Paul had cracked. Paul asks them once more to be reconciled.

We are not so different. There are people who say they are at peace with God yet will not speak to each other within the same community. There are people who confess they have been forgiven by God yet live for years with their backs turned to someone close to them. The message of reconciliation is not something we hear once and finish with. We need to hear it again every day. And Paul delivers it not as an order but as an earnest plea. Christ’s ambassador is not someone who goes out to scold. It is someone who goes out to plead. That says a great deal about how we are meant to carry this message too.

The fifth place is verse 21. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.

Everything gathers into this one verse. The new creation, the reconciliation, and the ambassador’s calling all flow from here. He came down to our place, and we were lifted to his. He received what we deserved, and we received what belongs to him.

Standing before that exchange, two things collapse at once. One is the despair that says I can never be forgiven. The sinless one has already carried my sin, so there is no reason for me to carry it again. The other is the pride that says I am a fairly decent person. There is no reason inside me that I can stand righteous before God; the reason is found only in him. Where both despair and pride have fallen, what remains is gratitude. And grateful people become carriers of reconciliation.

In the end this word asks two questions. Do I see myself as someone made new in Christ? And as someone who has received reconciliation, to whom am I being sent to carry it? These questions do not stand apart. Once we learn how God sees us, we begin to see others the same way.

Living It Out

1. Bring one person to mind whom you judged by appearances. If there is someone you recently sized up by their looks or background, think of them now. Remember that Christ died for them too, and say a short prayer for them.
2. Say “that has already gone”. If a past failure or shame keeps grabbing hold of you, write it on a piece of paper and write verse 17 underneath. Ask whether you are holding on to something God has already said is gone.
3. Erase one line from your inner ledger. If you keep a record of someone’s wrong in your heart and take it out often, lay one line of that ledger before God today. Just as God did not count your sins against you, practice letting that account go.
4. Find one relationship where you can reach out first. If there is someone in a strained relationship whom you could contact, send even a brief greeting first. Not waiting for the other person to move is the way God has treated us. The love of Christ we saw yesterday in Held by the Love of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11-15) is the strength for that first step.
5. Remember whom you represent today. As you begin the day, read aloud the words “I am Christ’s ambassador.” At the end of the day, look back on how much your words and manner resembled the heart of the one who sent you.

Questions to Sit With

1. Whom am I currently regarding from a worldly point of view, by outward measures alone? Have I considered that my judgment might be wrong?
2. When “the old has gone” does not feel true to me, what am I using as the basis for how I see myself?
3. How does the fact that God started reconciliation challenge the way I handle my relationships?
4. As someone who already believes, what does the plea “Be reconciled to God” mean to me?
5. Before the truth that the sinless one carried my sin, which needs to collapse first in me, despair or pride?

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