2 Corinthians 5 — Be Ye Reconciled to God
If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We walk by faith, not by sight; willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; the love of Christ constraineth us. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself — and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors for Christ: be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:21
- v.1-10 The eternal house and the judgment seat
- v.11-17 Constrained by love; a new creature
- v.18-21 The ministry of reconciliation
The bema is for believers — not to determine salvation but to assess service. Justification settles our standing; the judgment seat reviews our stewardship.
Things done in his body. The body is the instrument of eternal consequence. What is done in it — words, labors, secret choices — comes back as receipt or loss (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).
Constraineth — hems in, grips, leaves no exit. Paul's tireless ministry was not driven by duty or ambition but by being held in the grip of Christ's love for him.
The logic: He died for all, therefore all were dead — and those who live owe their life entirely to the One who died. Love received becomes love compelling.
In Christ — Paul's shorthand for union with Him. The one joined to Christ is not improved but new-created; the language is Genesis language. Conversion is not turning over a new leaf but receiving a new life.
Behold — an exclamation of wonder. Paul never got over the newness. The old record, the old dominion, the old identity: passed away.
An ambassador speaks with the authority of his sovereign in a foreign land. The astonishment is the message: the offended King beseeches the offenders to be reconciled. God pleads with rebels.
In Christ's stead. When the gospel is preached, Christ Himself entreats through the preacher. To refuse the ambassador is to refuse the King.
The great exchange — the most concentrated statement of substitution in Scripture. Our sin reckoned to the sinless One; His righteousness reckoned to the sinful. He was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves.
Made... sin — not made a sinner, but made the sin-bearer, the sin-offering. Made the righteousness of God — not merely declared innocent but clothed in divine righteousness, in him.
You hold an ambassador's commission (v. 20). An ambassador does not invent the message, soften the terms, or stay home from the post. Identify one person to whom you can carry the King's entreaty this week — and let verse 21 be the content: the exchange that makes reconciliation possible.
Verse 21 is the gospel in one sentence: the sinless Christ made sin, that sinners might be made righteousness in Him. Every theme of the chapter — the eternal house, the new creation, the reconciliation — flows from this exchange at the cross.
Seven words that define the Christian life. The believer navigates by what God has said, not by what the eye reports. Sight sees the tent dissolving; faith sees the building of God.
This is not a leap in the dark but a walk in the light of testimony. Faith has evidence — just not visual evidence (Hebrews 11:1).