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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:16—6:2, 11-13
I. The ministers of the new covenant are ambassadors of Christ — 2 Cor. 5:20a; Eph. 6:20:
А. An ambassador of Christ is one who represents God, the highest authority in the universe:
1. God has given all authority in heaven and on earth to Christ — Matt. 28:18.
2. Jesus is the Christ — the Lord of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords — the highest authority — Acts 2:36; 10:36; 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16.
3. The Lord needs some ambassadors on earth who are qualified to represent Him — Matt. 28:19.
4. A new covenant minister is one who has been authorized with the heavenly authority to represent the highest authority — 2 Cor. 3:6; 5:20:
a. The apostles were commissioned to represent Christ to accomplish God’s purpose — Matt. 10:40; John 13:20; Gal. 4:14b.
b. All the members of the Body are representatives of the Head, His ambassadors — Acts 9:6, 10-17; 22:12-16.
B. As an ambassador of Christ, Paul was “the acting God” — 2 Cor. 1:3-4, 12, 15-16; 2:10; 10:1; 11:2:
1. Paul was one with Christ to be the acting God in comforting the believers — 1:3-4.
2. Paul conducted himself in the singleness of God, for he was an imitator of the simple God and lived God — v. 12.
3. Paul’s coming to the Corinthians was the coming of God as grace — vv. 15-16.
4. Paul forgave a particular matter in the person of Christ — 2:10.
5. Paul entreated the believers through the meekness and gentleness of Christ — 10:1.
6. Paul was jealous over the saints with the jealousy of God — 11:2.
II. As ambassadors of Christ, the new covenant ministers carry out the ministry of reconciliation — 2 Cor. 5:18-20; 6:1:
А. The apostles were authorized by Christ to represent Him to do the work of reconciliation — 5:18, 20.
B. The ministry of reconciliation is not only to bring sinners back to God but also to bring believers absolutely into God and to make them absolutely one with Him.
C. Two steps are required for men to be fully reconciled to God:
1. The first step is to reconcile sinners to God from sin — v. 19:
a. For this purpose Christ died for our sins that we might be forgiven — 1 Cor. 15:3.
b. Christ bore our sins on the cross that they might be judged by God — 1 Pet. 2:24.
2. The second step is to reconcile believers living in the natural life to God from the flesh — 2 Cor. 5:20:
a. For this purpose Christ died for us, the persons, that we might live to Him in the resurrection life — vv. 14-15.
b. Christ was made sin on our behalf that sin might be judged and done away with — v. 21; Rom. 8:3.
3. The two steps of reconciliation are portrayed by the two veils of the tabernacle — 31-35, Exo. 26:37; Heb. 9:3; Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:19.
D. If we are to carry out the ministry of reconciliation, we need to be identified with the crucified Christ — 2 Cor. 5:14; Gal. 2:20a; 5:24; 2 Cor. 4:10-12.
E. The Corinthians still lived in the flesh, that is, in the soul, the outer man, the natural being — 1 Cor. 3:1; 2:14:
1. The veil of the flesh, the natural man, separated them from God.
2. Paul was working to cut asunder the separating veil of the flesh so that the believers at Corinth could enter into the Holy of Holies — Heb. 10:19-20.
F. Only when we have been fully reconciled to God are we fully saved — 2 Cor. 6:1-2; Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25.
G. The extent to which we can bring others to God and into God is always measured by where we are with respect to God; the more we are in Him, the more we can reconcile others into Him — 2 Cor. 12:12a; 5:20.
III. The ministry of reconciliation brings us back to God to such an extent that we become the righteousness of God in Christ — v. 21:
А. Not only are we justified by God (Gal. 2:16) — we actually become the righteousness of God.
B. When Christ died on the cross as our Substitute, God considered Him not only the sin bearer but sin itself; now in resurrection Christ comes into us as life, and this life lives within us to constitute us into the righteousness of God.
C. In substitution Christ was made sin for us; now in His constitution we become the righteousness of God in Him — 2 Cor. 5:21:
1. The phrase in Him means in union with Christ, not only positionally but also organically in resurrection.
2. When Christ died on the cross, God condemned Him in the flesh as sin for us (Rom. 8:3; John 3:14) so that we might be one with Him in His resurrection to be God’s righteousness; therefore, in the organic union with Christ we are made the righteousness of God.
D. To become the righteousness of God in Christ is a matter of being right with God in our being; this is to have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear — an inner being in the mind and will of God — 2 Cor. 5:21.
IV. To be fully reconciled to God will cause us to be enlarged in our hearts; how large our heart is depends on the degree of our reconciliation to God — v. 20; 6:11-13.
V. Through the ministry of reconciliation, we are incorporated into the processed and consummated Triune God to become, in Christ, an enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation; as a result, we become God’s sanctuary, His dwelling place, His Holy of Holies — the New Jerusalem — John 14:20, 23; Rev. 21:2, 10, 16.
