2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - All This Is From God

Chad Werkhoven
5 days ago
4 min read

You've been reconciled with the One in whose image you've been created!

Elegant invitation card with gold ornate border and crown. Text: Invitation to the Wedding Banquet of the King's Son, on a cream background. — Bible.com

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV)

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.

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Articles 1-5

Article 6: Unbelief, a Human Responsibility

However, that many who have been called through the gospel
1. do not repent or believe in Christ
2. but perish in unbelief
is not because the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross
1. is deficient or insufficient,
2. but because they themselves are at fault.

Article 7: Faith God’s Gift

But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved
1. by Christ’s death from their sins and from destruction
  1. receive this favor solely from God’s grace—
  2. which God owes to no one—
2. given to them in Christ from eternity.

Summary

Becoming a Christian involves so much more than just an emotional epiphany or even a living a completely different lifestyle. Since you are in Christ - Paul's favorite designation for what it means to be a Christian - you are an entirely new creation. The old (literally: archaic) you has gone away and the new you has come (literally: been generated). Paul's statement here is profound; you have already become the perfect person you will be for all of eternity!

It certainly doesn't always seem that way, does it. Especially physically. Your body is racked with aches and pains, won't perform simple athletic skills the way it used to, and likely doesn't look the way it ought - and that's if you're fortunate. So many are afflicted with disease or conditions that result in true suffering on top of the normal age related decay. So no... physically you're not a new person, and thankfully you can look forward to your sin infested flesh (sarx) being completely rejuvenated when you step into the Kingdom in which sorrows, tears and pain do not exist.

But the fact that you can't (yet) see or touch your new re-created self doesn't diminish the reality of what's been accomplished. Spiritually (remember, although it's so hard to think this way, your spiritual aspect is even more 'real' than your physical) your re-creation is already complete because God reconciled you to Himself through Christ.

In other words, the sin that kept you separated from God just as opposing magnet ends repel each other has been completely atoned (paid for) by Christ, so you've been reunited / reconciled with the One in whose image you've been created!

Dig Deeper

Our focus today is the opening clause of v18 - All this is from God... . The fact that you've been reconciled to God has nothing to do with your own effort, but rather because in Christ God no longer counts your sins against you.

This is why one of the key marks of Reformed theology is that your salvation comes by grace alone (sola gratia). The Canons today remind you that God owes this grace to no one— rather, it's been given to you in Christ from eternity (!!). Isn't that amazing - God had reconciled you to Himself in Christ before you ever sinned (or even existed, for that matter!).

Yet notice that today's passage is more than just a recitation of indicatives detailing what God has graciously accomplished for you. It contains a big 'ol imperative at the end of v20 - Be reconciled to God! On the one hand, this comes as a command to keep: be reconciled by often publicly professing your faith in Christ, actively participating in the ordinary means of grace and eliminating the recurring vestiges of your old physical/sinful self.

But yet notice that this imperative is set in a passive voice - be reconciled. Stop trying to force it. Let the reality of God's undeserved grace flow over and around you as you read and listen to God's Word each day, and especially on the Lord's Day.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would fulfill the simple imperative you've been given in every sense by being reconciled;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: