2 Corinthians 5:18–20

Context

This passage is part of 2 Corinthians, which Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. It falls within a long section in which Paul defends his apostolic ministry (generally identified as 2:14–7:4). Immediately before, in verse 17, Paul states that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," and he goes on to say that this newness comes entirely from God. The term "reconcile" (Greek katallassō, meaning to reverse a relationship of enmity and set it right) recurs in each of the three verses. The section concludes with the declaration of substitutionary atonement in verse 21.

Interpretation

• Common reading: Most interpreters note that it is God, not humanity, who initiates reconciliation. God took the first step, "not imputing their trespasses unto them," and restored the broken relationship.
• Reformed and Lutheran reading: Verses 19 and 21 are read together. The passage is taken as a basis for forensic justification and substitutionary atonement, in which sin is not counted against people and the righteousness of Christ is credited to them.
• Wesleyan reading: Emphasis falls on reconciliation being offered to all people. The passage is read as a universal invitation to respond in repentance and faith.
• Readings concerning ministry: Some interpreters restrict the "us" of verse 18 to Paul and his coworkers and understand it as the office of ministers of the word. Others broaden it to a commission given to all believers (the priesthood of all believers).
• Social reading: Another strand of interpretation extends reconciliation beyond the relationship between God and the individual to relationships between persons, communities, and nations.

Debates and Issues

• The scope of "the world": Calvinist interpreters who hold to limited atonement read "the world" as the entire people of God, Jew and Gentile alike. Arminian and Wesleyan interpreters read it as reconciliation extended to all people. This difference is bound up with the debate over predestination.
• The syntax of verse 19: The Greek text can be read in two ways. One reading, "God was in Christ," emphasizes the incarnation. The other, "God in Christ (that is, through Christ) was reconciling the world," emphasizes the means. Translations in the Korean Revised Version tradition render the verse closer to the former.
• Translation terms: Where the Korean Revised Version (1961) used jikchaek ("duty" or "post") for "ministry," the New Korean Revised Version changed it to jikbun ("office"). The New Korean Standard Version and other translations use hwahae rather than hwamok for "reconciliation."
• The addressees of verse 20: The pronoun "you" in the first part of verse 20 has no counterpart in the Greek text. Interpreters therefore disagree as to whether the appeal is directed to the Corinthians who were already believers or whether it summarizes Paul's proclamation of the gospel to the world.

In the Korean Church

The passage is frequently used in sermons on evangelism and missions as the basis for calling believers "ambassadors for Christ." It is also cited in sermons and prayers addressing the reconciliation of conflicts within the church, as well as in sermons and prayers on inter-Korean reconciliation and reunification.

Related Passages

• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Romans 5:6–10
• Ephesians 2:14–17
• Colossians 1:20
• Matthew 5:23–24