2 Corinthians 5:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But now the soul is new, because it has been cleansed. The body is new, and the ministry is new. The promises, covenant, life, table, and garment are new. In general, everything is new.

Indeed, instead of the earthly Jerusalem, we have received the royal city above. Instead of the sensible temple, we have beheld the spiritual temple. Instead of tablets of stone, we have received fleshly tablets.

Instead of circumcision, baptism. Instead of manna, the Master's Body. Instead of water from the rock, blood from the side. Instead of the rod of Moses or Aaron, the cross.

Instead of the promised land, the kingdom of heaven. Instead of countless priests, the one High Priest. Instead of the irrational lamb, the spiritual Lamb. Presenting all these and similar blessings, the Apostle said: "all things are new."

And all this is from God through Christ and His grace. Therefore he added: "Who reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation," because all blessings have been given to us through Christ.

He Who made us His friends is the author of all the other blessings which God granted to His friends. He did not leave us enemies and then bestow such gifts on us, but made us His friends.

When I call Christ the author of our reconciliation, I also understand the Father together with Him. When I say that the Father granted this reconciliation, I again understand the Son as well.

"All things were made through Him" (Jn 1:3). Therefore He is the author of this also. We did not turn to Him. He Himself called us to Himself. How did He call? By the death of Christ.

"And gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Here the Apostle again points to the dignity of the apostolic calling. He shows how great a work was entrusted to them and how great God's love toward us is.

Indeed, even after men did not obey the Mediator Who came, God did not reject or abandon them. He continues to call them, both Himself and through others.

Who can adequately marvel at such care for us? The Son came for reconciliation. The Son, most near and Only-begotten, was put to death.

Yet the Father, even in view of this, did not reject those who killed Him. He did not say: "I sent My Son to carry out My embassy.

"They not only refused to listen to Him, but even killed and crucified Him. Therefore it is just to reject them now." Rather, He did the complete opposite.

After the Son's departure from us, He entrusted to us the work of reconciliation: "Who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them" (2 Cor 5:18-19).

Do you see a love surpassing every word and every mind? Who was offended? God Himself. Who first came for reconciliation? He Himself.

"But," you say, "He sent the Son and did not come Himself." Yes, He sent the Son. Yet not the Son alone called us. Together with Him and through Him the Father also acted.

Therefore the Apostle said that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," that is, through Christ. By these words he explains what was said above: "Who gave us the ministry of reconciliation."

It is as though he says: "Do not think that we are the authors of this work. We are only ministers. The author of all is God, Who reconciled the universe to Himself through the Only-begotten."

How did He reconcile? The astonishing thing is not only that He became a friend, but still more that He became a friend in this way. How? By forgiving their sins.

Otherwise He would not have been a friend. Therefore the Apostle went on to say: "not imputing their trespasses to them." Indeed, if He had wished to demand an accounting for our sins, we would all have perished.

For all died. Yet with such a multitude of our sins, He not only did not demand punishment from us, but was reconciled with us. He not only forgave our sins, but did not even impute them to us.

So we too must forgive our enemies, that we ourselves may receive the same forgiveness. "And He gave us the word of reconciliation."

"We," he says, "have not now come to proclaim anything burdensome, but to make everyone friends of God." "If they did not believe Me," the Lord says, "then do not cease exhorting them until you persuade them."

Bishop Theophan, in depicting the whole history of salvation vividly presented here by the Apostle, says among other things:

"God died in human nature, and in this one death He truly included the death of all men. One died, and all died.

But if all died, then has death been destroyed? This is indeed so. God, having died in human nature, destroyed death (2 Tim 1:10). For on the third day He rose in glorified humanity, and from that moment He abides in this Resurrection.

If, when One died, all died, then also, when He rose, all rose. The power of Christ's Resurrection is truly such that in it lies the foundation of the resurrection of all.

The whole matter of this life, therefore, is enlivening by the Spirit within the order of the promised deliverance.

Those who live must now live not for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. This is the norm of human life.

No external considerations or dignities are now precious in our eyes: neither origin, wealth, learning, nor power.

One thing is important: the reception of new life in Christ Jesus by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

When Christ the Lord moved among us, we knew Him according to the flesh and judged Him according to this visible appearance.

Now we behold in Him the one majesty of the incarnate God, the Restorer of fallen man, who in His own Person raised him to deification. We contemplate Him sitting at the right hand of the Father.

A new way of seeing everything is given, and new orders are introduced. A man nourished from the heart is born.

This planting is not earthly and is not nourished by earthly elements. Therefore it minds the things above, not the earthly, and its life is hidden with Christ in God.

All this is from God. In the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity it was determined from all ages that the second Person of the Holy Trinity should be incarnate.

Having died on the Cross, He would thereby satisfy the righteousness of God and reconcile us with God.

But so that reconciliation might take place, the apostolate was instituted as an essentially necessary member in the ordering of human salvation.

The servants of God go through the world and call all, both foolish and wise" (Prov 9:1-5).

By thus satisfying God's eternal righteousness, He would reconcile us to God. It was also laid down that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, would descend upon those reconciled in this way.

Those justified by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ He would make righteous and holy, renewing their inner life by His grace. This is the essence of the New Covenant of grace, or the divine economy of salvation in Christ Jesus.

Here the Apostle sets forth chiefly the reconciliation in Christ the Lord, Who died for all. Yet at the same time he also indicates the good pleasure of God the Father, Who reconciled all to Himself.

He also indicates the grace of the Spirit, Who worked through the Apostles in the ministry of reconciliation. Chrysostom says: "All things are from God. Nothing is from us.

"For forgiveness of sins, adoption, and incorrupt glory have been granted to us by Him. Thus he urges the Corinthians to virtue not only by future blessings, but also by the present blessings they have already received.

"See how he does this. He said: we shall rise one day, pass into incorruption, and receive an eternal house. But for persuading those who do not believe in the future as much as they ought, the present has greater force.

"Therefore he also shows them what they have received in the present as a pledge of the future. 'All things,' he says, 'are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,' because all blessings have been given to us through Christ.

"He Who made us His friends is also the author of all the other blessings which God granted to His friends. He did not reward us so richly while leaving us enemies, but after making us His friends.

"When I call Christ the author of our salvation, I also understand the Father together with Him. When I say that the Father granted it to us, I again understand the Son as well.

"For all things were made through Him. Therefore He is also the author of this action. We did not turn to God, but He Himself reconciled us to Himself. How? By the death of Christ."

Blessed Theodoret continues this discourse, as it were: "The Apostle depicted the ineffable love of God for mankind. Although He had been offended by our transgression, He was pleased to reconcile us to Himself.

"He did not use a man as mediator, but made the Only-begotten Son the Mediator of peace." "And gave to us the ministry of reconciliation."

When he says, "Who reconciled us," by "us" he means all men. When he says, "Who gave to us the ministry of reconciliation," by "us" he means the Apostles.

"Here he points to the dignity of the apostolic calling, showing how great a work was entrusted to them and how great God's love toward us is in the establishment of the apostolate" (Chrysostom).

The work of reconciliation was fully accomplished in the Person of the Lord and Savior. Yet the appropriation of reconciliation by the people being saved had to occur not by imputation, not mechanically, and not outwardly.

It required definite moral changes in those being reconciled, as indispensable conditions for the power of reconciliation to extend also to them. For this to be fulfilled, these conditions had to be announced to men.

They had to be told what they must present from themselves for reconciliation to take place. After they understood the conditions and showed readiness to fulfill them, power to fulfill them also had to be granted.

For they could not find this power in their own nature. For this reason the apostolate was established, as an essentially necessary member in the ordering of men's salvation.

The Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit Who had descended upon them, had to go through the world and proclaim to all the good will of God concerning the reconciliation of all with God.

They proclaimed it under the condition of repentance, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Who died on the cross for all, and self-denying readiness to walk unswervingly from that moment in God's will, or in His commandments.

Those who inclined to this preaching they were to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Finally, through the laying on of hands, they were to bring down upon them the grace of the Holy Spirit.

This is the essence of the apostolic ministry. In this way the reconciliation of each person with God was accomplished.

The establishment of the apostolate fulfilled what had been foretold in the depiction of the works of Wisdom. She built herself a house, prepared a table, and sent her servants to call all to the cup with great proclamation.

She called both the foolish and the wise (Prov 9:1-5). It also fulfilled what the Lord depicted in the parable of the wedding of the king's son.

When everything was ready, the king sent servants to call all to the feast. First he called those who had been informed of it before, and then those who knew nothing about it.

The servants went through streets and squares, crossroads and byways, highways and country roads, and called them. This is the apostolate: the servants of God go through the world and call.

Chrysostom points to a special aspect of God's purposes in establishing the apostolate. He says: "After men did not obey the Mediator Who came, God did not reject or abandon them.

"He does not cease to call them, both Himself and through others. Who can adequately marvel at such long-suffering and care of God for us?

"The Son came for reconciliation. The Son, most near and Only-begotten, was put to death. Yet even in this case the Father did not reject those who killed Him.

"He did not say: I sent My Son to carry out My embassy, but they not only refused to listen to Him, they even killed and crucified Him. Therefore it is just to reject them.

"Rather, He did the complete opposite. After the Son's departure from us, He entrusted to us the work of reconciliation, for it says: 'Who gave to us the ministry of reconciliation.'"