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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:1-21
In the foregoing message we covered a number of important points in 2 Corinthians 5: the aspiration to have a transfigured body, the ambition to please the Lord, living to the Lord, and being a new creation. In verse 17 Paul speaks of the new creation: “So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.” The old creation does not have the divine life and nature, but the new creation, the believers born again of God, does have the divine life and nature (John 1:13; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Hence, they are a new creation (Gal. 6:15), not according to the old nature of flesh, but according to the new nature of the divine life. The word behold in verse 17 is a call to watch the marvelous change of the new creation.
In verses 18 through 20 Paul goes on to speak of the ministry of reconciliation: “But all things are of God, Who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; how that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not accounting their offenses to them, and putting in us the word of reconciliation. On behalf of Christ, then, we are ambassadors, as God entreating through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.” We need to read these verses very carefully. The word “then” in verse 20 is a connecting word joining verse 20 with the preceding verses. According to verse 20, the ambassadors of Christ are one with God; they are like God, and they entreat as God. Their word is God’s word, and what they do is God’s doing. Furthermore, the words “on behalf of Christ” mean representing Christ. As those who represent Christ, the apostles were ambassadors of Christ. Today an ambassador is a person authorized to represent his government. In like manner, the apostles were authorized by Christ to represent Him to do the work of reconciliation.
Paul’s composition in 5:20 is unusual. After saying “we are ambassadors,” he says, “as God entreating through us. Paul seems to be saying, “We are ambassadors of Christ, and we are doing a reconciling work. This is like God entreating you through us. We are one with Christ and one with God. Christ is one with us, and God also is one with us. Therefore, God, Christ, and we, the apostles, are all one.” The ministry of the new covenant is a ministry in which God, Christ, and the ministers are one.
Paul’s word in verse 20 is strong and emphatic. He says, “We are ambassadors, as God entreating through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.” God, Christ, and the apostles were one in carrying out the ministry of reconciliation.
Paul’s word in verse 20 about being reconciled to God is not directed to sinners; it is directed to the believers in Corinth. These believers had already been reconciled to God partially. However, they had not been fully reconciled to Him. It would not be true to say that the Corinthian believers had not been reconciled to God at all. In 1 Corinthians chapter one Paul refers to them as saints, as those who had been called by God into the fellowship of His Son. Therefore, they surely had been reconciled to God to some degree. Perhaps they had been halfway reconciled to Him.
The books of 1 and 2 Corinthians show that the believers at Corinth, after being reconciled to God partially, still lived in the flesh, in the outward man. Between them and God there was the separating veil of the flesh, of the natural man. This veil corresponds to the veil inside the tabernacle, the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, not to the veil at the entrance to the Holy Place. The Corinthian believers may have been in the Holy Place, but they were not in the Holy of Holies. This means they were still separated from the place where God is. Therefore, they had not been reconciled to God in full.
In verse 19 it is the world that is to be reconciled to God. In verse 20 it is the believers, those who have already been reconciled to God, who are to be reconciled to Him further. This clearly indicates that there are two steps for people to be fully reconciled to God. The first step is as sinners to be reconciled to God from sin. For this purpose Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) that they may be forgiven by God. This is the objective aspect of Christ’s death. In this aspect He bore our sins on the cross that God might judge them upon Him for us. The second step is as believers living in the natural life to be reconciled to God from the flesh. For this purpose Christ died for us — the persons — that we may live to Him in resurrection life (2 Cor. 5:14-15). This is the subjective aspect of Christ’s death. In this aspect for us He was made sin to be judged and done away with by God that we may become the righteousness of God in Him. By the two aspects of His death He has fully reconciled God’s chosen people to God.
These two steps of reconciliation are clearly portrayed by the two veils of the tabernacle. The first veil is called the screen (Exo. 26:36, lit.). A sinner was brought to God through the reconciliation of the atoning blood to enter into the Holy Place by passing this screen. This typifies the first step of reconciliation. The second veil (Exo. 26:31-35; Heb. 9:3) still separated him from God Who is in the Holy of Holies. This veil needed to be rent that he might be brought to God in the Holy of Holies. This is the second step of reconciliation. The Corinthian believers had been reconciled to God, for they had passed through the first veil and had entered into the Holy Place. But they still lived in the flesh. They needed to pass the second veil, which has already been rent (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:20), to enter into the Holy of Holies to live with God in their spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). The goal of this Epistle is to bring them here that they may be persons in the spirit (1 Cor. 2:14), in the Holy of Holies. This is what the apostle means by saying, “Be reconciled to God.”
In the Old Testament, when a sinner came to God, he first had to come to the altar to have his sins forgiven through the blood of the sin offering. After experiencing the forgiveness of sins, he could enter the Holy Place. This is the first step of reconciliation, the step by which a sinner begins to be reconciled to God. This was the situation of the believers at Corinth, and it is also the situation of most genuine Christians today. They have been reconciled to God in part through the cross upon which Christ died as our sin offering, where He shed His blood to wash away our sins. When we believed in Him, we were forgiven by God, reconciled to Him, and brought back to Him. Formerly, we went astray from God. But through repentance we returned to Him and have been reconciled to Him. However, we have been reconciled to God only partly, halfway.
Although the Corinthians had been saved and reconciled to God halfway, they still lived in the flesh; that is, they lived in the soul, the outward man, the natural being. The veil of the flesh, of the natural man, still separated them from God. This means that their natural being was a separating veil. Therefore, they needed the second step of reconciliation. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul was working to accomplish this second step. He was working on the Corinthians to cut the veil of the flesh asunder, to crucify their natural life, to consume their outward man. What the Apostle Paul was doing in 1 and 2 Corinthians was to cleave the separating veil of the flesh so that the believers at Corinth could enter into the Holy of Holies.
The blessings of God can be found in the Holy Place, but God Himself is in the Holy of Holies. In the Holy Place are the blessings of the Spirit, the lampstand, and the incense altar. But in the Holy Place there is not the direct presence of God. In order to have God Himself, we must be reconciled further and come into the Holy of Holies. We must take the second step of reconciliation to be brought into the presence of God. This is full reconciliation. This reconciliation brings us not only out of sin, but also out of the flesh, the natural man, the natural being. Then we are brought to God and become one with Him.
Verse 21, the last verse of chapter five, says, “Him Who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.” Here we have the ultimate consummation of God’s salvation — the righteousness of God.
We must remember that the new covenant ministry is a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness. This ministry imparts the Spirit of life into the believers. This issues in a state, a condition, that is called righteousness. Before we were saved, we were in a condition that was altogether condemned by God. Nothing was right, and God could by no means justify the condition we were in. But after we were saved, we were brought into a state where we could be justified by God. This is righteousness. However, if we are honest, we shall admit that, on the one hand, we are in a righteous condition, but, on the other hand, certain things related to our living still are not right. These things may not be comparable to the gross sin that may have been in our living before we were saved. Nevertheless, there are matters which are not right. In particular, there is still the separation between us and God caused by our natural man, our self. This is sin.
Suppose a certain man and his wife are not saved. They have difficulty getting along with each other and often fight. Sometimes they argue in a very crude manner. But suppose one day the husband gets saved and comes into the church life. He begins to change, and this change affects his wife. Eventually, she also gets saved and comes into the church life. Like her husband, she too begins to change. Now this man and wife are in a state which the Bible calls righteousness. However, the man, now a brother in the Lord, has a very strong disposition. (Disposition is different from character, for disposition is absolutely part of our being, our constitution.) Moreover, the wife is very peculiar and seldom agrees with others. Often she contradicts others. How could she and her husband live peacefully together, since he has a strong disposition and she is very peculiar? Although they may no longer fight with each other in their old way, they do not agree with each other. As a result, they do not talk to each other very much. Since conversation invariably leads to disagreement, the husband may tell his wife that it is better for them not to talk. What this man and wife have is a halfway reconciliation and a halfway righteousness.
However, suppose this brother and sister hear a message on the need for further reconciliation. The husband begins to condemn his disposition, the wife condemns her peculiarity, and they both condemn their natural life. As a result, there is the possibility that they may be brought into the Holy of Holies to enjoy the Lord. Then the husband may say, “Praise the Lord!” and the wife may respond, “Amen!” If this is the situation of this couple, they will be in a condition that may be called the righteousness of God.
In 5:17-21 we see three matters: the new creation, full reconciliation, and God’s righteousness. Why do we say that this righteousness is the ultimate consummation of God’s salvation? This claim is based on 2 Peter 3:13, which speaks of righteousness dwelling in the new heaven and new earth. The fact that righteousness will dwell in the new heaven and new earth indicates that everything will be brought back to God in full. Everything will be headed up and set in good order. Nothing will be wrong, and nothing will be out of order. Everything in the new heaven and the new earth will be right and satisfactory to God. God will be able to look at the entire universe and justify everything.
Have you been saved and brought into Christ? Are you now in Christ? If you can meet these conditions, you are a new creation. But even though you may have the assurance to say that you are a new creation in Christ, you may not have the boldness to declare that you are the righteousness of God. The reason you lack this boldness is that you are like a butterfly that has not fully emerged from its cocoon. Only when our “cocoon” has been fully done away can we say that we are God’s righteousness. Until then, we can say that we are only partially the righteousness of God. We need the cross to do a further work on us so that the remainder of our cocoon may be consumed. Eventually, at the latest in the New Jerusalem, we shall fully be God’s righteousness. Then God will be able to boast to His enemy, Satan, that everything in the New Jerusalem is righteousness, that nothing is wrong or defective, that everything is satisfactory to God. Therefore, God will be able to justify everything in the New Jerusalem. This is the righteousness which is the consummation of the ministry of the new covenant.
The ministry of the new covenant, a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, will work out a condition of righteousness first in individuals, second in the church, and third in the millennial kingdom. When the kingdom comes, there will be righteousness on earth. Then everything will be satisfactory to God, and God will justify everything. Although the age of the kingdom has not yet come, we can have a foretaste of the righteousness of the kingdom today in the church life and in our family life. Sometimes in a certain local church the condition may be such that everything, everyone, and every matter is justified by God. Such a church is God’s righteousness. This kind of condition may also be present in our family life. In a few cases I have seen that in a family whose members have been thoroughly saved there is a condition where nothing is wrong, but everything is satisfactory to God and justified by Him. Such a family is a family of righteousness. The fruit of the new covenant ministry is to produce this kind of righteousness.
Chapters three, four, and five are all on the new covenant ministry and its ministers. But this section consummates with Paul’s word concerning the righteousness of God.
Many of today’s Christians know only that Christ died for their sins. They do not realize that Christ died for them as the flesh, as the old creation. But in 2 Corinthians Paul does not speak of Christ dying for our sins. Instead, in 5:14 he says, “One died on behalf of all.” This means that Christ died for us. In 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul tells us that Christ died for our sins. In order that our sins might be forgiven by God, Christ died for our sins. This, however, is simply the initial stage of reconciliation. Christ died on the cross not only for our sins, but He died also for us, for our flesh, our natural being, our outward man. Christ died on the cross so that our outward man, our natural being, may be terminated in order that we may become God’s righteousness. Therefore, Christ died for our sins so that we may be forgiven and justified by God. But Christ died for us so that we may become God’s righteousness.
Becoming the righteousness of God is much deeper than being justified by God. The new covenant ministry brings us back to God to such an extent that we actually become God’s righteousness. Not only are we justified by God, but we even become the righteousness of God.
In verse 21 Paul says that Christ was made sin on our behalf so that we might become God’s righteousness in Him. Sin here is actually synonymous with the flesh. John 1:14 says that Christ as the Word became flesh. Second Corinthians 5:21 says that He was made sin. According to Romans 8:3, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Thus, sin and the flesh are synonyms. Furthermore, since the flesh is our outward man, the outward man is totally sin. We ourselves, our natural being, are nothing but sin. For Christ to be made flesh was equal to His being made sin. When He went to the cross, He brought this flesh with Him. This means that He brought us, our natural being, our outward man, to the cross.
In chapter four Paul speaks of the outward man, and in chapter five he speaks of sin. The outward man is the flesh, and the flesh is sin. Therefore, the outward man, the flesh, and sin are synonymous.
Christ in His incarnation was made flesh; that is, He was made sin. This also means that He was made us. When He was crucified, He brought our natural man, the outward man, the flesh, sin, to the cross and nailed it there. That was the time God condemned sin, the flesh, the outward man. When Christ died on the cross, God condemned our natural man. He condemned you and me. God’s goal in doing this was that we may become in Christ the righteousness of God. The resurrected Christ is righteousness, resurrection, and the life-giving Spirit. In such a One we may become the righteousness of God. This is the issue, the result, the ultimate consummation, of God’s salvation, and this is what the new covenant ministry will produce.
The conclusion of these chapters on the new covenant ministry and its ministers is simply the righteousness of God. Is your family life God’s righteousness? Are you the righteousness of God? Is the church in your locality God’s righteousness? We believe that the new covenant ministry is working toward the goal of making us, our family life, and our church life the righteousness of God. Then when the kingdom age arrives, God’s righteousness will be on earth. The kingdom will bring in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem. In this new heaven and new earth righteousness will dwell. This is the result and the consummation of the ministry of the new covenant.
