Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5 mean?

This renowned chapter continues without interruption from the end of chapter 4. Scripture was originally written without chapter or verse divisions, so Paul’s thoughts flow without pause from the earlier text.

This passage begins with Paul’s honest description of the experience of life on this side of eternity. He calls our temporary bodies “tents.” They are not meant to last forever and while we live in them, we groan in longing for our permanent home with God and eternal, unburdened bodies. For believers in Jesus, Paul describes death as that which is mortal being swallowed up by life. God has prepared eternal bodies for all who are in Christ and has given to them the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of what we will receive when this life is done (2 Corinthians 5:1–5).

Paul acknowledges that he is ready to be at home with the Lord, right now, free of his earthly body. He is not suicidal. He simply recognizes how much more glorious that experience will be. In the meantime, this knowledge gives him the courage to fearlessly risk everything for the mission God has given him. He walks by faith in that reality and not according to the reality he sees with his physical eyes. That makes Paul’s goal simple: to please God for as long as he lives. He is motivated, in part, by an awareness that all Christians will be judged by Christ. This is not to decide their eternal destiny, but to determine rewards for whatever earthly works they did, whether good or evil (2 Corinthians 5:6–10).

Paul turns his attention back to the Corinthians. Because of all of this, he writes, he and his co-workers continue to be motivated to persuade others to believe the gospel. He insists that God knows they have no other agenda. He hopes the Corinthians who know him are convinced of this, as well. That knowledge will embolden them to answer Paul’s critics: those who are judging him by the outward appearances of his circumstances. Some may have suggested that Paul’s mental health was in question because he continued to preach the gospel despite continually suffering for it. Paul, though, emphasizes again that he can do nothing else. Christ’s love compels him to keep telling everyone that Christ died for all so they, too, can live for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11–15).

Paul describes his changed perspective: He now views every person as an eternal being and not merely “according to the flesh.” That began when he learned Christ was more than just a man. Anyone who is in Christ becomes like Christ. That person is a new creation. The old version of who they were is gone, replaced by the new Christlike version (2 Corinthians 5:16–18).

Once God reconciled Paul to Himself, Paul’s life work became telling others about this message of reconciliation: In Christ, God is not counting people’s sins against them. God made the sinless Jesus to be sin in order to declare all who trust in Him righteous people, rather than sinful people. In Paul’s role as Christ’s ambassador on earth, he implores everyone he can to be reconciled to God in this way.

Chapter Context
Second Corinthians 5 follows Paul’s confident declarations in the previous chapter. His suffering, though severe, is only a light, momentary affliction preparing him for eternal glory beyond all comparison. He would rather occupy his eternal body, which gives him the courage to continue his mission to preach the gospel that God is reconciling people to Himself, forgiving their sin, through faith in Christ. Those in Christ become a new creation. He concludes by imploring all to be reconciled to God, which he continues to do in the following chapter.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The previous chapter ended with references to the great suffering experienced by Paul and those working with him to preach the gospel. Chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original text, so these words are meant as an uninterrupted flow of thought. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul says he and his fellow workers had been “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” In other words, the God who had allowed them to experience the great burden of suffering had also kept them from being physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually destroyed by it.

Paul acknowledges that he may eventually be killed for preaching about Jesus. He is prepared for that. In fact, he longs for what will come after that moment. He describes our bodies in this fallen world as a temporary dwelling place, like a tent. It is not built to last forever. It provides minimal shelter from the elements for a short time. Waiting in eternity, for all who are in Christ, is a dwelling place that will last forever. Paul describes this future of eternity with Christ as something far better than any house on earth. It is not made with human hands. It is provided by the Lord.

Jesus used similar language when telling his disciples what to expect when they go to be with Him, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1–4).

Context Summary
Second Corinthians 5:1–10 continues Paul’s teaching from the previous chapter. The glory of eternity with Christ is far weightier than any suffering experienced in our temporary bodies in this life. Paul longs to occupy his eternal body, described as a permanent house built by God Himself. Knowing that is coming, Paul has the courage to risk even more suffering in order to continue the mission to preach the gospel. His one goal in this life is to please Christ. He knows that every Christian will face judgment by Christ, not to decide one’s eternal destiny, but to receive what is due for our works while living in these temporary bodies.

Verse 2. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,

Paul has acknowledged the reality that he will eventually die. He knows this might be directly caused by his preaching of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:7–12). He has described life on this side of eternity, in this sin-ravaged world, as only a temporary dwelling place. He called it a tent. Waiting for him in eternity is a real house made by Christ.

Now Paul is honest about his longing to leave behind the tent of this life, a brief experience apart from God. He describes that longing as a “groaning.” This is an awareness that all is not as it should be, nor as it will be. He put it this way in Romans 8:23, “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

We must be clear that Paul is not despairing about his life on earth. He has declared his refusal to “lose heart” in the work God has given to him. He advocates life in the power of God’s Spirit that brings the fruit of love, joy, peace, and more (Galatians 5:22–23). Paul is simply being honest that life on this earth for believers will never be free of the groaning—the longing—for our permanent place in eternity with the Father.

Verse 3. if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

The previous chapter concluded with Paul’s statement of confidence that he would be resurrected, as Christ was, after his death in this life. Once in eternity, his experience of the glory of God would far outweigh and outlast any amount of suffering in this life.

Paul has acknowledged, though, that suffering on this side of eternity is real. As temporary as this life is, it is marked by what he calls a “groaning:” a longing to exist in our permanent, heavenly dwelling. He has compared living in our current bodies in this life to living in a tent. The shelter provided is valuable but incomplete. In the next life we will live in a permanent house, he has said.

He longs for this moment since he is convinced that he will not be “found naked.” That is, Paul knows that leaving behind the tent of our current, sin-ravaged bodies will not leave those who are in Christ without a body. Instead, we will be found in the bodies we have always been destined for. Paul wrote at length to the Corinthians about the resurrection of the believers and the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15.

Verse 4. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened — not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Paul is describing life on this side of eternity as living in a tent. That tent is our current body, which is flimsy, temporary, dying, and ravaged by sin. The experience of life in these tents is a burden that brings “groaning.” Paul wrote in Romans 8:18–23 that all of creation experiences this groaning, including believers, unbelievers, and even nature itself. We all labor under this sense that something is missing or that we are missing something. We feel the “groaning” desire that it come to an end.

Paul adds that he does not want to leave his body in order to live as some bodiless spirit. Nor does he want to cease to exist entirely. Some respond to the pain of existence and separation from God in this way. Paul, though, wants not to be “unclothed” by a body but to be “further clothed” with an endless, perfect body untouched by sin. He wants the dying, mortal part of himself, his body, to be swallowed up by endless life in an eternal body.

Verse 5. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Paul has expressed his own desire to leave behind the tent of his dying, sin-saturated body and to occupy an eternal body that will exist forever. He is confident that this will bring an end to the burden of life on this side of eternity and the “groaning,” the longing to be with God, that comes with it. In truth, this is the desire rooted in every believer in Jesus Christ. Why? Because that eternal life is what we are destined for.

Paul says here that God has been preparing Christians for this transformation all along. It is the joyful fate of every believer. It is among the reasons many come to faith in Christ in the first place: to experience the painless, deathless, fearless glory of eternity as He meant for us to experience it since the very beginning.

How do we know it’s really coming? Paul writes that God’s Holy Spirit within us is His promise that we will reach that day. He has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. Every person who trusts in Jesus for salvation receives an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit seals us for that day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). This is the second time that 2 Corinthians has described the Spirit’s place in a Christian’s life in this way (2 Corinthians 1:22). It is one of the reasons Christians can be confident that our eternal destiny with God is secure, no matter the circumstances of our lives on this side of heaven.

Verse 6. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,

How should Christians live if we are convinced that after we die, we will be resurrected to eternal life? How should it change us to know that we will occupy a future, eternal body which will be free of all the burden and groaning experienced by every person on earth?

Paul’s answer is “courage.” He and his friends who are convinced of their eternal destiny with God live with great courage. Nothing that matters can be taken from them. Everything that matters has been and will be given to them. They experience the promise as a guaranteed certainty.

In a sense, Paul is saying they have changed their expectations for this life. They understand that as long as they live in mortal bodies, on this side of eternity, they are still looking ahead to being with Christ in eternity. They also know that only the ultimate, final reunion will bring relief from all pain, suffering, burden, and groaning. Without the expectation that life on this side of heaven should be painless and perfect, they have the courage to keep going on the mission given to them by God. In fact, they live with great joy, hope, and peace by the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) despite continuing to experience pain and mortality and the longing for their home in heaven.

Verse 7. for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Preaching the truth of Christ to the world has brought Paul and his co-workers much suffering. Yet they continue to strive and contend for the faith. They refuse to quit—they live with courage—because they are convinced that after they die, they will be resurrected as Christ was. They will receive glorified, eternal bodies where they will finally be free of all burdens and the groaning experienced by every living thing on earth.

As Paul sums it up in this verse, they walk—here meaning to live or make a habit—by faith and not by sight. In other words, they so thoroughly believe the gospel, including their own resurrection and eternal satisfaction, that the struggles facing them are not the most important concern. What they “see” includes death, pain, suffering, opposition and challenge. They feel the burden of those things deeply (1 Corinthians 1:8), but they count the unseen things waiting for them with Christ as more real than the suffering of the moment (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Verse 8. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

This is a poignant, soul-baring moment from the apostle Paul. He is not suicidal, but he is honest about his deepest desires. He would rather be with the Lord than in his mortal, burdened, groaning, dying body. For the first time in this chapter, he describes being in his future, eternal body with Christ as being “at home.” He is utterly convinced that it is where he is headed. Heaven is where he is meant to be forever. Paul’s faith that the glory of his eternal life will far outweigh and outlast the suffering of earthly life makes him want that life more than this one. Of course it does. How could it not?

That same faith, though, gives him courage. Knowing his eternal fate is secure gives him fearlessness to keep going in this life. It emboldens Paul to stay on the path God has called him to. He is not actively seeking death; he is simply ready to go whenever God calls him home. Until then, he will keep working at what God has given him to do in the here and now.

Verse 9. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Paul has written honestly and transparently that he would rather be at home with the Lord in eternity than to continue through the suffering and pain of this life (2 Corinthians 5:8). He is not suicidal, though. His point is not that he actively seeks out death, nor that he has an overpowering urge to end his own life. He simply believes the gospel and understands how much better heavenly life will be than this temporary one in these temporary bodies. Until he gets there, though, he will keep going with the mission God has given him for this life.

Now Paul boils his goals—his “aim,” or his intention—down to one single thing. He wants to please Christ. Whether here in difficult earthly life, or at home with Christ in glorious eternity, he wants to please Christ. That includes how he lives, what he says, and in every other way. That is Paul’s ultimate purpose.

Verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Previous verses described Paul’s longing to leave behind the suffering of earthly life and his failing, temporary body. His motivation is not suicide, but a desire to be with the Lord in eternity and receive his eternal, resurrected body. Knowing that day is guaranteed, someday, gives him courage to keep fulfilling the mission God has given to him. That security allows Paul to endure, and to carry the gospel to more and more people. His goal in whatever he does, Paul has written, is to please the Lord.

One motivation to please God is Paul’s knowledge that he will be judged by Christ for his works in this life. Paul insists that all believers in Jesus will appear before the judgment seat of Christ when He returns to earth. Paul is clear in his letters that this judgment is not about salvation. Christ will not declare in that moment whether someone will go to heaven or hell. In no sense is this verse implying that that judgment, or the deeds it examines, are what decide someone’s eternal fate. Salvation is a gift given to everyone who trusts in Christ. Paul’s gospel is that the gift of salvation is “not by works” (Ephesians 2:8–9), or nobody could achieve it (Romans 3:23; 6:23).

The judgment seat of Christ is something exclusively for believers, as Christ’s evaluation of our works on earth. This refers to an assessment of what each saved, heaven-bound Christian has done “in the body” since coming to faith in Christ. How has he or she used this life in Christ? What have they done, for good or for evil? Paul wrote in Romans 14:12 that each believer will “give an account of himself to God.”

How will Christ respond? Every good action will be rewarded. Christians will receive those efforts “back from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:8). The works of those who have lived only for themselves, however, will be “burned up” or shown to be worthless. “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Paul is motivated by the awareness of this coming judgment, and he wants his readers to be motivated by it, as well. God’s grace to us in forgiving sin does not mean He’s careless about how Christians live our earthly lives. We will stand before Him and be held to account for our choices. That accountability does not affect our eternal destiny. It declares our time as spent well or foolishly, courageously or cowardly, in faith or in spiritual blindness and selfishness. The consequences of reward or reprimand in that moment will be genuinely pleasurable and/or painful, based on the choices we have made in our bodies on this side of eternity.

Verse 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

Paul writes in this verse that he knows “the fear of the Lord.” This is not a reference to terror or anxiety. He does not mean that he fears eternal damnation. Paul teaches that salvation from sin and hell is a gift given freely by God to all who trust in Christ. It is not obtained by doing good works (Ephesians 2:8–9). The “fear” here is used in the ancient sense of respectful awareness, the way mature adults have a “healthy respect [fear]” of things like fire or electricity.

Paul described in the previous verse why he lives in “fear of the Lord.” He is aware that once this life is over, every heaven-bound believer will have his or her works judged by Christ. All we have done in our bodies on this side of eternity will be shown to be worthwhile or worthless, in service of Christ or serving only ourselves. Each will be rewarded or reprimanded based on his or her choices. Paul’s reverent awe for Christ, whom he represents as an apostle, motivated him to keep carrying the gospel of salvation to more and more people in order to receive Christ’s commendation at that judgment.

This brings the theme of 2 Corinthians back to a defense of Paul and his co-workers. They are genuine in their work for Christ, a fact apparently being challenged in Corinth. Paul writes that God knows what they are, meaning that God knows their mission, their motivation, and the fruit that has come from that. Paul adds that he hopes his readers know, in their conscience, what he and his co-workers are, as well. He hopes the Corinthians are fully convinced about the genuineness of the work Paul and those with him have done among them.

Context Summary
Second Corinthians 5:11–21 describes an appeal to those in Corinth who know Paul. It’s important they understand he is not crazy for continuing to preach the gospel, even though it leads to so much suffering for him. Christ’s love compels Paul to continue to tell all people that they be reconciled to God through faith in Christ, just as he was. In Christ, God is not counting people’s sins against them, but instead giving them credit for Christ’s righteous life. As Christ’s ambassador, Paul begged all people to be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.

Verse 12. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

This returns to the issue of those in Corinth who opposed Paul and his co-workers. Critics seem to have been challenging his legitimacy as an apostle of Jesus, perhaps even suggesting that he was being deceptive. Paul insists here that the purpose of his letter is not to re-state the case for himself to the Corinthians. He doesn’t feel the need to re-prove his credentials to them. He wrote in the previous verse that he hoped they knew, from experience, that he was a genuine apostle (2 Corinthians 5:11).

Instead of trying to start from scratch with them, Paul has been describing his outlook and his motives. His hope is to remind the Corinthians of his unique role as representing Christ to them. He wants them to boast about him and his co-workers in this sense: Christ cared about us so deeply that He sent Paul to tell us how to receive eternal life through faith in Christ!

Those opposed to Paul among the Corinthians were focused on outward appearances. This may imply they were Jewish religious leaders insisting that the Corinthians “look good” by following the law of Moses. Or it may mean they were describing the outer appearance of Paul’s life as one of public defeat instead of public victory. This criticism would strike at the fact that Paul spent so much time suffering and under threat of violence.

Paul wants the believers in Corinth to be able to answer those opposed to him. He wants them to be able to tell Paul’s detractors that it is not the outer appearance that matters, but it is what is going on in a person’s heart that is truly important. This echoes God’s words to the prophet Samuel about choosing a new king for Israel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Verse 13. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

Bible scholars interpret this verse in several ways. Paul’s bottom line meaning is clear: He is genuine in his ministry to those in Corinth. He is not serving himself; he is serving God and serving them.

The previous verse emphasized that Paul’s opponents were focused on outward appearances. Now he writes that if he and his co-workers are “beside ourselves” or “out of our minds,” it is for God. What does this mean? Some scholars suggest that Paul is referring to some kind of ecstatic experience during worship services when controlled by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps Paul’s opponents were suggesting he looked too crazy when worshiping God. Or, perhaps, it was exactly the opposite and the false apostles were more exciting to watch “perform” during worship experiences. In either case, Paul is saying that whatever the appearance, what matters is that such moments should be “for God.”

Another possibility is that Paul’s detractors were literally challenging Paul’s mental health. Why would someone who has suffered so much for preaching the gospel keep doing it? Why keep pushing into the very activity that results in conflict with the authorities and painful experiences over and over? In this case, Paul has already explained the reason he continues to courageously preach the gospel at the cost of his own suffering. He does it in order to please the Lord. For that goal, he will gladly use up his earthly life to reach as many as possible with the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:6–10).

Paul adds a rhetorical point: that “if” he is not crazy, but in his right mind, then what he does is for the good of the Corinthians. His point is that he is completely in control of his mind and using it to serve them. No matter how it looks to unbelievers and skeptics (1 Corinthians 2:14–15), Paul is not serving himself. He is serving God and others.

Verse 14. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

Some of Paul’s detractors may have been suggesting he and his co-workers were out of their minds. Paul used the phrase “beside ourselves” to suggest that level of insanity (2 Corinthians 5:13). It’s to be expected that a non-believer would think it insane for Paul to keep doing the very thing that brought him pain and suffering (1 Corinthians 2:14). Despite all the danger, they simply would not stop preaching about the gospel of Christ to as many people as they could.

Now Paul answers firmly that he is not crazy. Instead, he is compelled to act by the “love of Christ.” That is, Christ’s love for him and for others is so motivating that Paul cannot bring himself to respond to it in any other way. He is driven—compelled—to keep telling others about it. In some sense, Paul may even be saying that Christ’s love literally controls his choices. Christ’s love has essentially taken Paul captive to do Christ’s work on earth, no matter what Paul may have considered doing otherwise. Because of Christ’s love for him and the world, Paul must continue.

Paul and his co-workers for the gospel are absolutely convinced of one simple truth: One has died for all and therefore all died. By this, Paul means that Christ has died to pay for the sins of all humanity and His death has become the death required for all to pay for their personal sin. In a spiritual sense, all who trust in Christ died with Him when He died. Paul is describing what Bible scholars call “substitutionary atonement.” Christ, as the perfect sacrifice for sin, died in our place to atone for our sin. His substitution for us makes it possible for us to be forgiven for our sin by God’s grace through our faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Verse 15. and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Paul has described Christ’s role as our death-substitute. Jesus died in the place of humanity, to pay for each person’s sin. That death provides forgiveness of sins for those who come to faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:13–14). Jesus bled and died for the sake of sinners and was then raised back to life by God. Paul has said he is compelled—he is controlled and obligated—by Christ’s love to keep delivering this message to more and more people.

Part of the message here is that eternal salvation is not the single, solitary purpose behind Jesus’ death. He also died and was raised again so that those who trust in Him for salvation will stop living for themselves and begin to live for God. Christ intends that those who receive the gift of his death, for their sin, will respond by dying to selfishness in order to selflessly live for Him.

Verse 16. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

Christ’s death, which paid for the sin of all who believe in Him, resulted in a drastic change. Paul insists we look at every single person from a different and often-difficult perspective. Instead of looking at the outer appearance, the important question that must be answered about each person is spiritual. While every person is valuable, and worthwhile, their value is not found in physical things or worldly wealth. Nor can it be judged by shallow appearances. And, their greatest “need” is not for physical things, but for reconciliation with their Creator, through Christ.

Paul came to this understanding when he came to faith in Christ. He once thought of Christ only from a human perspective. Before his conversion, Paul viewed Christ as a mere man and His death as a just punishment for heresy. After his conversion, Paul came to know Christ as the Son of God and the substitute for human sin that he has described in the previous verses.

The understanding that everyone can be forgiven from sin and transformed through faith in Christ has changed how Paul regards every other person on earth. His primary concern, now, is whether another person is in Christ or still in their sin? Are they reconciled to God through faith in Jesus or not? As shown in the following verses, this is not about Paul deeming people “good” or “bad” on account of their faith. Rather, it reflects his deep desire to see people saved through faith.

Verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Paul has written that Christ’s death for sin has changed the way he regards people. Instead of looking at each person as a mere human being, he must view those who are in Christ as something entirely different. Those who are “in Christ” are those who have faith in Him, credited with Christ’s righteous life, and their sin forgiven by Christ’s death in their place. Such people are new creatures. Those “in Christ” have become something they were not before. Their identity has changed from being the fallen version of themselves, to being associated with the righteousness of Christ. That’s who they are now.

In fact, the old version of a Christian, who they were before they were “in Christ,” is not recoverable. The old is gone, Paul writes. The new has come. All the old dreams and ideas and agendas and purposes have ceased to exist and have been replaced by Christ’s ideas and agendas and purposes in an entirely new creature called “Christian.”

Paul’s words are true in another way. The old way of humanity is also gone. The old way of the law is also gone. Christ is the long-promised new Covenant that makes it possible for men and women to be made new once and for all, and for eternity, with no possibility of returning to the old.

Verse 18. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

Previous verses explained why Paul no longer sees people as he once did. When his understanding of who Christ is changed, his understanding of everyone else did, as well. Once Paul understood that Christ, the Son of God, died to pay for human sin, Paul saw that those who are “in Christ” are entirely new creatures. This happens only when someone comes to Christ through faith and by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8–9). The old, sinful version of those people is over. It’s gone. The new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In fact, a new way in which God will reconcile people to Himself has come. Through faith in Christ, any person can be reconciled to God. By using the word reconciled, Paul means our separation from God caused by sin can be removed, once and for all. Forgiven for all their sin, a person can become fully welcomed into a relationship with God.

Paul insists that’s exactly what happened to him and his friends. God reconciled them to Himself through faith in Christ. He made them new in Christ. He gave them a permanent and eternal place with Him in His glory through Christ. Once God had done that for them, Paul adds, He immediately gave to them the “ministry of reconciliation.” By this, Paul means that God gave them the mission of carrying the gospel, the message of this reconciliation with God, to as many people as possible.

Verse 19. that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

In describing and defending his ministry to the Corinthians, Paul is describing God’s new work in the world. The old has gone, Paul has written. The new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). That “new” is Christ. More specifically, all who trust in Christ’s death in their place, for their sin, will be given a gift of God’s grace: credit for Jesus’ righteous life. Being “in Christ” in this way will cause the old separation between themselves and God to be removed. They will be reconciled to Him.

Paul wrote in the previous verse that God reconciled Paul and his co-workers to Himself in Christ in this way and then immediately gave them the ministry of telling others about it. For Paul, this happened when Christ called his name while he was on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).

What is the “message of reconciliation” that Paul and his co-workers had been entrusted with by God? Put most simply, it is this: God is not counting the sins of those who are “in Christ” against them. Those sins once stood between every person and God as an obstacle that could not be moved (Romans 3:23). Christ removed the obstacle by paying the price for each believer’s sin with His death. It is unnecessary for us to suffer death for our own sin, or to be permanently separated from God (Romans 6:23). Now all who trust in Christ can be reconciled to God. Paul understood his mission in life to be delivering this message to everyone he could.

Verse 20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Simple terms explain Paul’s mission in life. His work, given to him by the Lord, is to take the message of reconciliation with God through faith in Christ to as many people as possible. He gives himself and his co-workers a new title to describe this work: They are “ambassadors for Christ.” Just as a political ambassador lives in a foreign land, representing the interests of their home and Lord, so too do Christians represent Jesus and His message to the world. God is making His appeal to the world through His ambassadors. Standing in that position, Paul implores all readers of his letter: Be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.

This simple message has not changed in the 2,000 years since Paul wrote these words. Christ’s ambassadors continue to implore all who will hear it around the world be reconciled to God by having their sins forgiven through faith in Christ’s death in their place on the cross. God is not holding the sins of those who come to Him through faith in Christ against them. That’s what the world should hear from those who are in Christ.

Verse 21. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul puts even more clearly the central message of the gospel. This is the same teaching he had delivered to the Corinthians and to many other people around the world. This verse may be the most concise presentation of the gospel in all of Scripture.

God acted for our sake. That means God acted out of His love, to make it possible to remove the separation between us and Him: our sin. To accomplish this, God made Christ, who had never sinned during His life on earth in any way, to become our sin. Jesus’ death, then, paid the price for our sin, removing our guilt and removing the obstacle between us and God. Instead of “being sin” ourselves, those who come to God through faith in Christ are given credit for Christ’s righteous, sinless life. We “become God’s righteousness” and are reconciled in our relationship with Him.

In short, by His gift of grace and through our faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9), God receives Christ’s death as payment for our sin and gives us credit for Christ’s righteousness in return. That’s what it means to be “in Christ.”

End of Chapter 5.

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