Paul explains to his readers that he is a minister of the reconciliation: the gospel that explains how man can be made right with God through Christ. He cautions us to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ as equals, no matter their station in life. And he explains to us that Christ literally took our sins upon Himself on the cross, just as symbolically the sins of the people were transferred to the sacrificial animals.
"Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience." (2 Corinthians 5:11) Paul concluded our passage yesterday by reminding us that we must all appear before Christ to give an account for the way we have lived our lives. Knowing this, he maintains a healthy reverence and holy fear toward the Lord. He doesn't want anyone to stand before Christ without having been reconciled to God through Him, so he feels an overwhelming urgency to get the gospel to as many people as he can.
I think in our modern times we have to be on guard against thinking of the Lord as our pal. There is a danger of us pulling Him down to our level so that in our minds He looks like us instead of us looking like Him. Of course we can sing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", but at the same time we must keep in mind that He is God and He is holy. It's true that God is love, but it's also true that He is a righteous judge. If we do not accept His love then nothing remains for us but His judgment. Paul understands that and is driven by this knowledge to try and persuade as many men and women as possible to repent and turn to the Lord.
"We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart." (2 Corinthians 5:12) He says, "There are people in Corinth who dislike me. False teachers have crept in among you and have seduced some of your citizens into wrong doctrine. These teachers and their students look down me and the other apostles. They say, 'Who wants to listen to these shabby looking guys? They must be terrible lecturers; they don't even charge a fee to those who come to hear them. Only ignorant and unsophisticated people are wasting their time listening to these poor traveling preachers.' But they are wrong. They are only able to see what we look like on the outside. They can't see into our hearts which have been transformed by Christ. They can't see the love we have in our hearts for you."
"If we are 'out of our mind,' as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:13-15) He defends himself against enemies who claim he and the other apostles are crazy, "We are not insane; we are just crazy about our Lord. We love Him with all our hearts and this causes us to love our fellow man with all our hearts. We are compelled to share the gospel so that everyone can hear about the One who died to make us right with God. He died for all because we were all dead in our sins. But He lives again, and we who believe in Him have new life too. We are no longer who we used to be. The old man is dead. The new man is alive in Christ."
"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:16-17) He says, "It's not the outward man that matters. It doesn't matter whether a person looks poor and shabby or whether he looks prosperous. It doesn't matter whether a person holds a master's degree or whether he can barely read and write. The inward man is what matters. That is where the power is! Christ was looked upon as an uneducated and shabby carpenter-turned-preacher leading a ragtag bunch of squabbling disciples down the dusty roads of Judea, but look what power was in Him! It wasn't the outside that mattered about Christ. It's not the outside that matters about us. It's the inward man that matters. Now that we are in Christ we have the Holy Spirit inside us. We must therefore regard each other as equals, no matter our status in life."
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 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." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) The apostle is saying, "This is the plan God chose to reconcile us to Him. If you are in Christ, God will never throw your sins in your face. He won't call you to account for how you were living ten years ago when you had never even heard of Christ. He is offering you a great gift, a gift no one else could offer, and you must not reject it. We apostles did not reject His calling upon our lives to share the gospel, so please listen to us. Our message comes not from our own minds but from God Himself."
"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. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:20-21) Christ, the Lamb without blemish, gave Himself as an atoning sacrifice for us. The sins of the people were symbolically transferred to the sacrificial animal, but the sins of us all were literally transferred to Christ when He was bound to the cross. The blood that was brought into the Most Holy Place of the temple once a year by the high priest was for the purpose of rolling the sins of the people back for another year, in this sense imputing righteousness to them for the next twelve months. But the blood that was taken by Christ into the Most Holy Place in heaven was for the purpose of rolling our sins back forever, imputing eternal righteousness to us. (For more on this subject, see chapters 2 through 13 of the book of Hebrews where Christ is presented in His role of high priest.)
We are new creatures in Christ. We may look the same on the outside, but we are transformed on the inside. People may look down on us for our faith and for our refusal to indulge in sinful pursuits, and they may discount our testimonies because we don't appear wealthy and sophisticated. But it's the inward man that matters, and that inward man should be looking more and more like Christ every day.
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