Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 23
November 2025
Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate
words that are in common with the Greek text of the sermon passage.
Otherwise, underlining indicates words to emphasize when reading this
transcript out loud.
Omitting greyed-out
text should reduce read-aloud time to about
45 minutes.
Read my translation of the passage, starting at 2
Corinthians 5:14:
For
the love of the Anointed one constrains us, since we have discerned
this, that if One
died on behalf of all, then all died; and He
died on behalf of all in order that those who live might no longer
live by themselves, but rather by the One who died on behalf of them
and was raised. Therefore, as for us, from now on, we recognize no
one according to flesh, and even if we did know the Anointed One
according to flesh, now, however, we know so no longer. Therefore if
anyone is in the Anointed One, there is a renewed creation; the old
things have passed away. Look! All things have become renewed! And
all these things are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself though
Christ and Who gave the ministry of reconciliation to us, such that
God was in the Anointed One reconciling the world to Himself, not
reckoning their transgressions against them, having also set the
word of reconciliation in us. Therefore we serve as
senior-ambassadors on behalf of the Anointed One: as God exhorts
through us, we are pleading on behalf of the Anointed One, “Be
reconciled to God!” For He made the One who did not know sin to be
sin on our behalf, in order that, as for us, we might become God’s
righteousness by means of Him.
In the last sermon, we studied how Christ’s love for us generates love for Christ in our hearts, and that this love narrows down our options and limits our freedoms so that we are willing to lay our lives down to do His will and to facilitate the spread of His kingdom into all the world rather than doing whatever it is we want to do.
The second half of verse 14 starts with an Aorist participle which, according to Greek grammar indicates something which happened before the love of Christ began constraining us, and that is that we “judged” something to be true and right, namely that, “if one died on behalf of all, then all died.”
Bible scholars have interpreted this in two different ways.
Either the word “all” truly means “all mankind,” in a Romans 5:15 sense, and therefore refers to the fact that Adam’s sin plunged all humanity into physical and spiritual death, as Jerome and Matthew Henry noted, and was the reason why Jesus had to die to ransom us from death to life. But this would require the “then/therefore” at the end of the verse be the cause of the statement before it (which would violate the rules of grammar), and it would indicate that Jesus’ death was not only for those He saved, but also for all the unbelievers he sends to hell too.
The second interpretation, which I favor (along with most reformed commentators1), is that the clause about Jesus dying is truly the reason2 for the “then clause” at the end, and that there is a spiritual sense in which “all” the elect “died” with Christ when He died on the cross for them.
That requires the word “all” to be interpreted in a qualified sense, as in “all believers” or “all the elect from the four corners of the earth.”
But that is consistent with the way the Bible uses the word “all;” it is is often limited by context.
(For instance, when Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus declared, in Luke chapter 2, that “all the world should be taxed,” nobody interprets that to mean he sent tax collectors to China or America.3)
Here, the word “all” is limited by the context of verse 15 to include only the entirety of those “for whom Christ died” and was resurrected – all who “live for” Christ. It was all of those such persons who died with Christ when He died for them.
And this fits the topic of what Paul and Timothy have been writing about in 2 Corinthians, in terms of suffering hardship and persecution for the Gospel4.
Why is it important that we believe that we died when Christ died on the cross?
Romans 6:6 “know... this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (NKJV)5
Galatians 2:19 “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.” (NKJV)
Colossians 3:3 “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (NKJV)
“[T]o die to ourselves is to live to Christ.” ~J. Calvin, 1546 AD
Jesus died and rose again, so (not only His death, but also) His resurrection benefits us:
Ephesians 2:1 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (NKJV),
Colossians 2:13 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (NKJV).
Jesus’ death and resurrection, however, were for the purpose of benefiting Him – begetting a people who would not live for/by/unto themselves but who would rather live for/by/unto Him.
The great 20th century New Testament Greek Grammarian A. T. Robertson called this preposition in verse 15 a “dative of advantage” – not living to bring advantages to yourself, but rather living to bring advantage to God.
Romans 6:6-11 “...Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more... the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NKJV)
Romans 14:6-9 “...He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's...” (NKJV)
Galatians 2:19 "...I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (NKJV)
1 Thess. 5:9-10 “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” (NKJV)6
This great truth of dying and living with Jesus results in two “therefore’s” in verses 16 and 17. The first result of this doctrine in v.16 is that a layer of fleshly sense perception goes away when we die with Christ. Things that we knew while we were spiritually dead, we forget when we die with Christ and enter into His kind of life.
Therefore... we recognize/regard/know no one according to flesh (from a worldly point of view)...
“According to flesh” means in a this-worldly way which relies only upon what we can see and touch and hear without reference to God – it’s humanism, man-oriented living.
2 Cor. 11:18 “...many boast according to the flesh.... 10:2-5 ...some... think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (NKJV)
Romans 8:3-13 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace... 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors -- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (NKJV)
So there is something we lose when we die spiritually with Christ:
Philippians 3:7-8 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (NKJV)
“He who knows no man after the flesh, has, for example, in the case of the Jew, entirely lost sight of his Jewish origin; in that of the rich man, of his riches; in that of the learned of his learning; in that of the slave, of his servitude.” ~Henry Alford, 1868 AD
So, what did Paul and Timothy mean when they wrote in the second half of verse 16 that, “even if we did know Christ according to flesh, now, however, we know [Him] no longer”?
Paul and Timothy both lived at the same time as Jesus and in the same part of the world, but the Bible doesn’t indicate that either of them ever actually met Jesus in the flesh.7
Paul’s first encounter with Jesus seems to be after Jesus ascended to heaven and spoke from heaven on the road to Damascus.
But they both knew the gospel message that Jesus ascended to God the Father in heaven to ensure our salvation and prepare a place for us, so even though Jesus had walked the streets of Jerusalem, it is no longer an option to get to know Jesus in terms of physical sense perception any more, and even if some of the disciples could remember how Jesus smelled or styled His hair or spoke with a certain accent, none of that matters anymore. What matters is that He is the One who saved us from God’s wrath through His death and resurrection, who bought us, and who now is our Lord and Master.8
John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (NKJV)
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is arriving, and He has given to us insight so that we may recognize the True One, and we are in the True One – in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and eternal life.” (NAW)
The 2nd result of our union with Jesus’ death – the 2nd “therefore” which opens verse 17 is...
Once again, unity with Jesus (the Anointed High Priest and King of God’s people) is what’s in view: this is what happens when anyone is “in Christ” – in close association with Christ by faith in Him and devotion to Him and fellowship with Him in His word and in His work on earth. Not only does that include dying with Him and letting old things pass away, it also includes living His new resurrection life and seeing things made new and seeing new things come into being!
What does it mean to be “in Christ”?
It means that you are living under the direction of the Holy Spirit rather than your own self. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (NKJV)
It means that you are an active member of the church community. Romans 12:5 “so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (NKJV)
It means you are holy and that you pray in the name of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:2 “To: the church of God which exists in Corinth, having been made holy in Christ Jesus, the called saints together with all those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord in every place – theirs and ours.” (NAW)
It means you read His word, the Bible with unveiled understanding. 2 Corinthians 3:14 “...to this day, the same veil remains upon the reading of the old covenant, not unveiled, because it is in Christ that it [the veil] is being put out of commission” (NAW)
It means you are blessed with every spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (NKJV)
It means you are doing good works which God created you to do. Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (NKJV)
It means you are sharing with others the grace and forgiveness you have received. Ephesians 4:32 “but continue to be kind unto one another, compassionate, being gracious to each other, just as God also in Christ forgave y'all.” (NAW)
It means you thank God for everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (NKJV)
And it means you suffer persecution. Timothy 3:12 “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (NKJV)
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ there is a renewed creation (he is a new creature)...”
The Perfect tense of the verb phrase “have become new” indicates “that the old things became and continue to be new, for the newness of God’s new creation is not a newness that in course of time... grows old and outmoded; it is a newness that is everlastingly new.” ~P. E. Hughes
Using this same word for “new/renew,” David prayed in Psalm 51:10 “Let it be a clean heart that You create for me, God, and a steadfast spirit that You renew in my inside.” (NAW)
And God said through Ezekiel 18:31 “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? … 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (NKJV, cf. 11:19)
And that renewal doesn’t stop at the hearts of God’s people, it will change the whole world, according to Isaiah 65:17 “For, look at me, creating new heavens and the new earth, and the first things will not be remembered, nor will they come up upon the heart.” (NAW)
In the New Testament, Paul wrote of this renewal of Christians in:
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life… 7:6 “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (NKJV)
Ephesians 4:24 “...put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (NKJV, || Col. 3:10)
Galatians 6:12-16 “As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” (NKJV)
And we see the renewal of the entire created order in Revelation 21:4-5 “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ ...” (NKJV)
2 Peter 3:13 “And so, in accordance with His promise, let us look forward to new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness resides!” (NAW)
In verse 18, we encounter a new word which describes our union with Christ, and that is “reconciliation.”
Christ’s death and resurrection were the actions God took on earth to reconcile us to Himself so that we could be in union with Christ.
Verse 18 tells us clearly that God was the initiator of this reconciliation with us. All the renewal we experience – all of it – comes from God.9
1 Cor. 1:30 “Now it is from Him that you have existence in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God and also righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (NAW)
As the song says, “You did not wait for me to draw near to You, but You clothed Yourself in frail humanity. You did not wait for me to cry out to You, but You let me hear Your voice calling me! And I’m forever grateful to You… that You came to seek and save the lost!”10
And note that God didn’t reconcile us to ourselves or primarily to each other; He reconciled us to Himself.
It was our relationship with God which we had broken by our rebellion against Him that was the source of all our problems,
so that’s where He intervened to reconcile by having Jesus die on the cross and pay the price for our sin and become the Way by which we could come to God.
The Greek word for “reconciliation” has to do with “making a change” in an otherwise intractable situation.
Romans 5:8-10 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (NKJV)
Colossians 1:20 “For it pleased the Father that in Him [the Son] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile11 all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (NKJV)
But it doesn’t stop there. There is a second thing which God has done, and that is to give to everyone whom He reconciled a role of service in His kingdom – a “ministry of reconciliation” so that they might copy in their lifestyle the kind of thing which God did for them through Christ. Paul and Timothy already mentioned this earlier in:
2 Corinthians 3:6 “He also made us sufficient ministers of a new covenant...” (NAW)
2 Corinthians 4:1 “On account of this, since we have this ministry, to the extent that mercy was had upon us, we do not fault-out...” (NAW)
“It is because the way of reconciliation now stands wide open that the ministry of reconciliation has been committed by God to His servants.” ~P. E. Hughes, 1962 AD
What does this “ministry of reconciliation” look like? We find examples of it throughout the New Testament, mostly in the preaching ministry of Paul:
Acts 16:31 Paul told the Philippian jailer: “...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (NKJV)
Acts 17:3 at the synagogue in Thessalonica, Paul was “explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.’” (NKJV)
Acts 28:23 And to the Jews that visited him in Rome, “he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.” (NKJV)
Ephesians 3:8 “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (NKJV).
I
favor the approach taken by the Vulgate and Peshitta (and the NET
and NLT) which interpreted verse 19 as a repetition and expansion on
these two actions of God in v.18. The parallel is exact:
18
...God... reconciled us to Himself though Christ and ... gave the
ministry of reconciliation to us,
19 ...God was... reconciling
the world to Himself in Christ... setting the word of reconciliation
in us.
Verse 19 expands on what was involved in God reconciling us out of the world to Himself: it involved “not imputing/reckoning/accounting our transgressions/trespasses/sins against us,” but instead “laying our sins upon Jesus, the spotless lamb of God, to bear our sins and free us from the accursed load.12”
When we disobey God or dishonor Him, that has to be accounted-for somewhere. The Judge of all the Earth can’t conveniently forget the offenses committed by His friends and punish other people for their sins; that would be unjust. In order to be fair, every sin has to be put on someone’s account, and someone must be punished for every sin.
Galatians 3:13 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (NKJV)
Colossians 1:20 “...[He] made peace through the blood of His cross.” (NKJV)
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus... 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (NKJV)
Psalm 32:2 “Oh the blessings of the person to whom Yahweh will not reckon iniquity13 ...” (NAW, quoted in Rom. 4:8)
There is an additional word in verse 19 which expands on what the “ministry of reconciliation” which God gave us in verse 18: it is “the word of reconciliation” which God has “put in us/entrusted/committed to us/placed/lodged among us.” This is a ministry/service conducted by speaking and writing words. Throughout the New Testament, the phrase “the word” is an abbreviation for the whole Gospel message14; here are just a few in 2 Corinthians:
2:17 “But we are not commercializing the word of God (as many are), but rather we are communicating as from sincerity – rather as from God, in the sight of God, in accordance with the Anointed One” (NAW),
4:2 “...not walking in craftiness or misleading with the word of God, but rather using the revelation of the truth, endorsing ourselves to every person’s conscience in the sight of God.” (NAW)
and now 5:19-20 “...God ... set the word of reconciliation in us. Therefore we serve as senior-ambassadors...” (NAW)
The Greek word for “ambassador” in verse 20 -
was used in Greek political documents to describe a legate from a Roman emperor.
It occurs in only one other place in the Greek Bible, and that is Ephesians 6:20, where Paul says he is “being an ambassador in chains” for the Gospel.
It is an active verb, so it is not saying that the apostles merely hold the title of Ambassador, but rather that they do the diplomatic work of an ambassador who serves as a mouthpiece and representative of the governing authority.
The root is the Greek word for “old,” so there is a sense of meaning that “we are elderly/senior” in this diplomatic mission.
The idea of being a representative of Christ has already been introduced in 2 Corinthians 2:15 “Indeed, we are a pleasant aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing...” (NAW)
Different ones of us may be in different degrees of seniority as ambassadors of Christ, but, setting that aside, do you even represent Christ?
Does the way you look and act and talk represent Christ’s character and message in this world?
Is what you’re doing with your time advancing His agenda on this earth?
We are not our own (1 Cor. 6:19-20); He bought us, He owns us; it would be insane to represent any interest but His. It’s why we pray, “Let your will be done; let your kingdom come” (Mat. 6:10).
So, as we share “the word of reconciliation” with non-Christians, we “come in God's name, with His entreaties, and act in Christ's stead, doing the very thing He did when He was upon this earth, and what He wills to be done now that He is in heaven.” ~Matthew Henry, 1714 AD
After the word “ambassador,” most English versions have a phrase indicating a hypothetical situation “as though God were/as it were,” but this is not a hypothetical situation: There is no uncertainty as to whether or not God15 is “calling alongside/exhorting/comforting;”
we already saw in the opening to this epistle that He is “the God of all comfort” and that He “comforts us” in order that we may comfort others.
The Greek word for “comfort” has a wide range of meaning, and it can include the meaning of “calling someone down” for doing wrong, and it can mean negotiation and asking a favor as an earnest request.
The ESV attempted to solve the semantic problem of how to relate the Greek comparative to this verb by dropping out the comparative word altogether and just asserting that God “makes appeals,” but we can keep the original Greek wording with its most common meaning and say that “as” God comforts/exhorts the apostles (1:4-6), and “to the extent that” God speaks and gives “grace” to minister (4:1), “so” the apostles speak and exhort and comfort, because they are representatives of Christ.
It might also be noted that, although what God does is translated “beseeching/pleading/appealing” in many English translations, this Greek verb (parakalew) does not picture a helpless person on his knees begging; rather it pictures standing side-by-side, negotiating or even commanding. That’s what God does.
What the apostles do in turn is described with a different Greek verb which is more like getting on their knees and begging.
2 Corinthians 6:1 “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with[exhort] you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 10:1 “Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ...” (NKJV)
and what the Apostles are begging and pleading the Gentiles to do is “Be reconciled to God,” or, to tease out the nuance of the Aorist imperative, “Start getting reconciled to God,” by trusting in Jesus to save them.
This is the message for those outside the kingdom of God, not the church. But, it is a message that the church needs to keep straight in their minds so they can communicate it accurately16.
The traditional reading of the next verse starts with the word “for,” making verse 21 a reason for obeying the imperative to be reconciled to God. In fact, it gives two reasons, both of which are a sort of imputation, a transfer of something from one person to another.
When I used to do lawncare for income, clients would often pay me in the form a bank check. The check isn’t worth any money in-and-of-itself; it’s just a piece of paper with writing on it, but the writing is significant. The writing says, “Pay to the order of Nate Wilson forty dollars from account number 19 2995 1847.” (That’s just a made-up number!) But when I handed that check to the bank cashier, then they would subtract that amount of money out of my client’s bank account and impute that amount to my bank account.
The first imputation from God described in verse 21 is the transfer of the guilt of our sin to the moral account of someone who “knew no sin” – who did not know from personal experience what it is like to rebel against God.
That sinless person can only be Jesus, and of course it is our union with Jesus Christ of which this whole passage speaks.
Verse 21 explains the statement in verse 19 about God “not reckoning trespasses” to our account and how He did it.
It was important that our sin-bearer had no sin of His own, because if He were a sinner like the rest of us, He would have to suffer for His own sin and would not be able to suffer for anybody else’s. The sinlessness of Jesus is also highlighted in:
1 John 3:5 “And you know that He was revealed so that He might remove our sins, and sin does not exist in Him” (NAW, cf. Jesus’ assertion in John 8:46).
Hebrews 7:26 “For such a high priest was appropriate to us, one who is godly, innocent, undefiled, having been set-apart from sinners and having been instated higher than the skies” (NAW, cf. 4:15).
Isaiah 53:9 “And His grave was given to be with wicked men, however... He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth.” (NAW, quoted in 1 Pet. 2:22)
It was an act of God to “make” Jesus to be “sin for us.”17
Romans 8:3 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh...” (NKJV)
1 Peter 2:24 “Who Himself ‘carried our sins’ in His body upon the tree, in order that we might live in His righteousness after dying to our sins, of Whom it was written ‘by His stripes y'all were healed.’... 3:18 “because Christ also suffered concerning sin, only once – the righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, in order that He might lead us to God, after having been put to death in the flesh, but having been made alive in the Spirit...” (NAW)
So God’s first act of imputation transferred the guilt of our sin away from us onto Jesus.
The second act of imputation which gives us reason to be reconciled to God is Christ’s crediting sinners with God’s righteousness. This also is a work of God and a result of Jesus’ death on the cross for us:18
The prophet Jeremiah predicted the day when the Anointed One would become the means by which His people would have righteousness: Jeremiah 23:6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (NKJV)
And Isaiah also prophesied of this: Isaiah 45:25 “In Yahweh19 all the seed of Israel will be righteous and will praise... 53:11 “...my righteous Servant will make righteous the many And their iniquities He Himself will bear... 61:10 “...my soul will rejoice in my God, for He has caused me to be clothed in garments of salvation, with a cloak of righteousness He has covered me...” (NAW)
Romans 3:21-25 “[So] now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe… Christ Jesus… whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed...” (NKJV)
Philippians 3:8-9 “...I count all things loss… that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith...” (NKJV)
1 Corinth. 1:30 “Now it is from Him that you have existence in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God and also righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (NAW)
According to God’s own word, you who are believers in Jesus ARE right with God. You ARE righteous. You are the righteousness of God in this world. You are no longer the old creature defined by sin. Your sins are not going to be counted against you. Don’t give in to doubts as to whether God will find you acceptable. You are completely accepted by God because you are trusting in Christ Jesus.
But remember, Christianity is not a free pass to do whatever you want, it is union with Christ, and just as surely as your union with Christ means that He takes your sin and gives you His righteousness, it also means you died with Christ, so you can no longer live to do whatever you want, you are now Christ’s slave and must do whatever He wants. You live for Christ, and that means living as His ambassador, representing His heavenly kingdom in this earth, and doing the thing He cares about most dearly, and that is calling the lost to be reconciled to Him by faith.
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
RheimsD |
MurdockE |
CopticF |
14 ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ ΧριστοῦG συνέχειH ἡμᾶς, κρίνανταςI τοῦτο, ὅτι εἰJ εἷς ὑπὲρK πάντων ἀπέθανεν, ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον·L |
14 because the love of the Anointed One constrains us, since we have discerned this, that if One died on behalf of all, then all died; |
14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: |
14 For the charity of Christ presseth us: judging this, that if one died for all, then all were dead. |
14 For the love of the Messiah constraineth us to reason thus: X XM One died for all; therefore are all dead. |
14 For the love of Christ layeth hold on us; we having judged this: That X one died for all, so then all died; |
15 καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν, ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἐγερθέντιN. |
15 and He died on behalf of all in order that those who live might no longer live by themselves, but rather by the One who died on behalf of them and was raised. |
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and X rose [again]. |
15 And [Christ] died for all: that they [also] who live may not now live to themselves, but unto him who died for them and X rose [again]. |
15 And he died for all, that they who live should not X live to themselves, but to him who died for them and X rose [again]. |
15 and he died for all, that they who live should not live to themselves only, but to him who died for them, and he X rose. |
16 ῞Ωστε ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦνO οὐδένα οἴδαμενP κατὰ σάρκα· Qεἰ δὲR καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν. |
16 Therefore, as for us, from now on, we recognize no one according to flesh, and even if we did know the Anointed One according to flesh, now, however, we know so no longer. |
16 Wherefore henceforth X know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now [henceforth] know we him no more. |
16 Wherefore henceforth, we X know no man according to the flesh. And if we have known Christ according to the flesh: but now we know him so no longer. |
16
|
16 Wherefore we from now know not anyone according to flesh: but if we knew Christ according to flesh, but now any more we know him not. |
17 ὥστε εἴ τις ἐνS Χριστῷ, Tκαινὴ κτίσις· τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθενU, ἰδοὺ γέγονε καινά τὰ πάνταV· |
17 Therefore if anyone is in the Anointed One, there is a renewed creation; the old things have passed away. Look! All things have become renewed! |
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. |
17
If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed
away. Behold all things |
17
|
17
Wherefore |
18 τὰ δὲ πάντα ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ καταλλάξαντος ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ διὰ (᾿Ιησοῦ)Z Χριστοῦ καὶ δόντος ἡμῖν τὴν διακονίαν τῆς καταλλαγῆς, |
18 And all these things are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself though Christ and Who gave the ministry of reconciliation to us, |
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; |
18 But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. |
X
X X |
18 But all things are from God, this one who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and he gave to us the ministry of the reconciliation : |
19 ὡς ὅτιAA Θεὸς ἦν ἐν ΧριστῷAB κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ, μὴ λογιζόμενος αὐτοῖςAC τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον τῆς καταλλαγῆς. |
19 such that God was in the Anointed One reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning their transgressions against them, having also set the word of reconciliation in us. |
19
To
wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses
unto them; and hath committed
|
19
For
God indeed
was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself, not imputing
to them their |
19
X For
God was in the Messiah, who |
19 X That God was being in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their transgressions, and he put the word of the reconciliation in us. |
20 ῾Υπὲρ Χριστοῦ οὖν πρεσβεύομενAD ὡςAE τοῦ Θεοῦ παρακαλοῦντος δι᾿ ἡμῶν δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, καταλλάγητε τῷ Θεῷ· |
20 Therefore we serve as senior-ambassadors on behalf of the Anointed One: as God exhorts through us, we are pleading on behalf of the Anointed One, “Be reconciled to God!” |
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. |
20 For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us, for Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God. |
20 We are therefore ambassadors for the Messiah, and it is as if God was beseeching you by us. In behalf of the Messiah, therefore, we beseech you, be ye reconciled to God. |
20 We were ambassadors then for Christ, as if God gave comfort through us: we beseech you, instead of Christ, be reconciled to God. |
21 τὸν γὰρAF μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς AGγενώμεθα δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ. |
21 For He made the One who did not know sin to be sin on our behalf, in order that, as for us, we might become God’s righteousness by means of Him. |
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be [made] the righteousness of God in him. |
21 Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us: that we might be [made] the justice of God in himAH. |
21 For, on [y]our account, he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin, that we might by him become the righteousness of God. |
21 He who knew not sin he made [him] to be sin for us, that we might become to be a righteousness of God in him. |
1Viz.
A.T. Robertson: “[T]he one died for the all and so the all died
when he did, all the spiritual death possible for those for whom
Christ died. This is Paul’s gospel, clear-cut, our hope today.”
(1933 AD)
John Murray,
Redemption
Accomplished and Applied,
“Those for whom Christ died are those for whom he rose again and
his heavenly saving activity is of equal extent with his
once-for-all redemptive accomplishments.” (1961
AD)
F. F. Bruce, “The inescapable meaning of this
statement is that the ‘all’ for whom Christ died are those who
also died ‘in the person of their representative.’” (1971
AD)
Geoffrey Wilson: “the nature of the atonement settles its
extent.” (1979 AD)
2Most Greek manuscripts introduce this protasis clause with the word ει, which is why the Vulgate introduces it with the Latin word si, and the KJV introduces it with the English word “if,” but a significant minority of Greek manuscripts, including most of the oldest-known Greek manuscripts and the ancient Aramaic Peshitta version, do not have this word. However, all the Greek manuscripts agree on the αρα (“then”) which introduces the apodosis and implies that the previous phrase was a protasis (an if clause, which would be in the condition of first class, indicating that the author believed that the condition was true).
3I am indebted to Gordon Haddon Clark’s writings for clarifying this doctrine and giving this illustration.
4If you look at the previous three mentions (in 2 Cor. 4:10-12) of us dying or being dead as well as the subsequent references to it in 2 Cor. 6:9 & 7:3, none of them refer to us being dead in sin; all of them refer to our identification with Jesus’ death.
5And there are many more passages describing Jesus’ death as a substitutionary atonement to forgive our sins, including: Rom. 5:6, Rev. 1:5, Matt. 20:28, 1 Cor. 15:3, Heb. 2:9, 9:28, and 1 Pet. 3:18.
6Again, many more passages could be cited on Christ’s death “for us,” such as: Rom. 5:6, 6:4, 1 Cor. 6:20, 15:3, Rev. 1:18, and 5:9.
7“‘even
if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now,’ etc.
Paul refers to his knowledge of Christ before his conversion, a
hearsay knowledge...” ~Marvin Vincent, 1886 AD
P.E.
Hughes, on the other hand thought that Paul was countering
the claims of the “Christ” faction of 1 Corinthians who thought
themselves superior to Paul because they had known Christ in the
flesh, and that Paul is letting them know that he had actually met
Jesus before Good Friday, but that it was irrelevant to the
qualifications for preaching the Gospel.
8“Those
who make images of Christ, and use them in their worship, do not
take the way that God has appointed for strengthening their faith
and quickening their affections; for it is the will of God that we
should not know Christ any more after the flesh.” ~Matthew Henry,
1714 AD
“[T]his does not say that Paul preached a different
Jesus than the Jesus according to the flesh… The difference…
lies in the fact that the history of redemption had progressed, that
the Christ according to the flesh is now the Lord of the heavens.”
~Herman Ridderbos, Paul and Jesus,
1957 AD
9“‘Reconciliation’
in the New Testament sense ‘is not something which we accomplish
when we lay aside our enmity to God; it is something which God
accomplished when, in the death of Christ, He put away everything
that on His side meant estrangement, so that He might come and
preach peace… the preaching of this reconciliation is the
preaching of the Gospel.” ~James Denney, The Death of Christ,
1964 AD
“The synergistic reasoning is fallacious that, since
God tells men to be reconciled, men must have the ability to obey.
The imperative is passive… Jer. 31:18… Every gospel imperative
is full of the divine power of grace to effect what it demands…”
~R.C.H. Lenski, 1961 AD
10“I’m Forever Grateful” By Mark Altrogge, © 1985 Sovereign Grace Songs.
11ἀποκαταλλάξαι, a compound of the καταλλά- root in 2 Cor. 5:17-20.
12Hymn lyrics by Horatius Bonar.
13Ἁμαρτίαν, a synonym to παραπτώματα in 2 Cor. 5:19.
14Cf. many more instances where “the word” is an abbreviation for the gospel: Eph. 1:13; Phil. 1:14; 2:16; Col. 1:5,25; 3:16; 4:3; 1Th. 1:6,8; 2:13; 4:15; 2Th. 3:1; 2Ti. 2:9,15; 4:2; Tit. 2:5, etc.
15“[W]hen Christ's ambassador entreats, it is equivalent to the voice of God entreating through him... the Apostle makes no difference between Christ and God, Christ Himself being the Second Person of the eternal Godhead.” ~P. E. Hughes
16“[H]e stirs them up to make greater proficiency in the doctrine of the gospel. For an absurd admiration of profane persons, who serve their own ambition rather than Christ, originates in our not knowing what the office of the preaching of the gospel includes or imports.” ~Jean Calvin, 1546 AD
17“As the consequences of sin were charged to Christ’s account, he became so closely identified with it that Paul even dares to say that God made him to be sin. Nevertheless, this is a very different thing from saying that God made him a sinner.” ~G. Wilson
18“Oh sweet exchange. Oh inscrutable operation. Oh unexpected blessings; that the lawlessness of many should be hidden in one righteous Person, and the righteousness of One should justify the lawless many.” ~Epistle to Diognetus, c. 200 AD
19LXX ἀπὸ κυρίου, synonymous with εκ του θεου (“from God”) … διὰ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (“through Jesus Christ”) in 2 Cor. 5:18.
AWhen
a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my
opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek
word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text,
I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word
which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at
the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English
translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the
reader see correlations between the various editions and versions
when there are more than two different translations of a given word.
NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies
of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online
edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.
BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. As published by E-Sword in 2016. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions, however, are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era, focusing on the few manuscripts which are older than the Byzantine manuscripts. Even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published by E-Sword in 2019.
DRheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword in 2016.
EJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org, and published on E-Sword in 2023.
FThis is a conflation of the English translations of the Northern Bohairic and Southern Sahidic traditions published by Oxford Clarendon Press in 1905 and 1920 respectively, neither of which named the translator or editor. The beginnings and ends of multiple-word variants are marked out with square brackets, whereas single-word variations are merely marked by a forward-slash, and all are marked with a superscript “S” for Sahidic or “B” for Bohairic. The editor of the Sahidic compilation did not have manuscripts for 7b through the end of the chapter, and it does not appear that subsequently-discovered manuscripts have been translated into English, so variants in that section for that tradition are not listed.
GTurner and Robertson in their Grammars, and Vincent in his Word Studies, labeled this a subjective genitive (“the love Christ has for us”), but I am comfortable leaving it ambiguous.
H“The
idea is not urging [NKJV/NIV=compels] or driving
[NASB/ESV=controls], but shutting up to one line and purpose, as in
a narrow, walled road.” ~Vincent
“shuts him in, confines
him as between two walls” ~P. E. Hughes
“Paul’s
conception of Christ’s love for him holds him together to his task
whatever men think or say.” ~A.T. Robertson
INASB and ESV properly corrected their parent versions, the ASV and RV, interpreting this Aorist participle as happening before (rather than during) the main verb. NET also got it right. Fausset commented, “...implying a judgment formed at conversion, and ever since regarded as a settled truth,” a quote which A.T. Robertson copied almost verbatim into his Word Pictures. Hughes also supports this as meaning a past conclusion of Paul’s.
JThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest among which is the 5th century Ephraemi Rescriptus) and therefore of the Textus Receptus (T. R.) and Greek Orthodox editions, the ancient Latin Vulgate, the Sahidic Coptic, and the old English Geneva and KJV. But all the contemporary English versions drop the word “if,” because it is missing in a large minority of the manuscripts (including not being in 5 of the 6 oldest-known Greek manuscripts, and not being in the ancient Syriac Peshitta or Bohairic Coptic versions) and therefore not in the UBS or Tregelles GNT editions.
KMany
New Testament scholars have written against the denial of
substitutionary atonement in modern Liberalism:
Hughes:
“The substitutionary force of the preposition here is plainly
indicated by the conclusion, ‘therefore all died’; for this
conclusion cannot be valid except on the understanding that Christ
died in the stead of all, as their substitute… On His dying for
me, His meeting the demands of God's justice in my stead, depends
the reality of my justification; and on my dying with Him depends
the whole possibility of my sanctification.”
Tasker:
“...He died the death they should have died; the penalty of their
sins was borne by Him; He died in their place”. Strachan:
“There can be little doubt that the words ‘One has died for all’
bear a substitutionary meaning.”
Denney: “Plainly,
if Paul's conclusion is to be drawn, the ‘for’ must reach deeper
than this mere suggestion of our advantage: if we all died, in that
Christ died for us, there must be a sense in which that death of His
is ours; He must be identified with us in it... filling our place
and dying our death”.
Alford: “not only, for the
benefit of all, as Meyer,--but instead of all…”
Athanasius:
“He surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it
to the Father. This He did out of sheer love for us, so that, as all
died in Him, the law relating to the corruption of men might be
abolished.”
Moule: “instead of (substitution)”
LMatthew
Henry seems to have followed the Vulgate and Geneva which
misinterpreted “all died” to “all were dead.” A.T.
Robertson’s interpretation is better, “[T]he one died for the
all and so the all died when he did, all the spiritual death
possible for those for whom Christ died. This is Paul’s gospel,
clear-cut, our hope today.”
G.
Wilson commented that “the nature of the atonement settles its
extent,” and quoted F. F. Bruce, “The
inescapable meaning of this statement is that the ‘all’ for whom
Christ died are those who also died ‘in the person of their
representative.’”
MLamsa and Etheridge both render the Peshitta into English with “that if,” but there doesn’t appear to be a specific word in the Aramaic for these English words here.
NThis verb is passive, so the NIV and ESV “was raised” is an improvement over the KJV and NASB (and Vulgate and Peshitta). Also the KJV, NIV, and NASB followed the Vulgate (resurrexit) in adding the idea of “again,” which is not explicitly there in Greek (it’s also not there in the ancient Syriac or Coptic).
OP. E. Hughes saw this as the time of Paul’s conversion, after which there was a change of thinking. He argued against the view of Baur and Stanley that it referred to some point subsequent to Paul’s conversion, which would necessitate an evolution of thought concerning Jesus’ identity. Hughes quoted Allo, referring to that idea as “pure imagination, unsupported by a single word, properly understood, of the Epistles or Acts.”
PThis
verb is a synonym to
(not
the same verb as)
the two following instances of ginwskw.
Its subject is also emphatic.
“The world's standard of
value is respect of persons in their outward appearance (cf. v. 12
above, ‘that glory in appearance and not in heart’). But with
God there is no such respect of persons (Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9; Col.
3:25); and it follows that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is not
to be held with respect of persons (Jas. 2:1).” ~P. E. Hughes
QPossibly
a second class conditional with a perfect tense protasis introduced
by ει. Scripture
does not seem to
support Paul and Timothy having actually seen Jesus during
His gospel ministry. Timothy was in Asia Minor when he became a
Christian some time after the resurrection (although his Jewish
Mother or Grandmother were believers, so maybe they could have seen
Jesus before they moved to Asia?), and Paul indicates that Jesus
didn’t appear to him until after the resurrection on the road to
Damascus, although it might have been possible for him to have seen
Jesus while he was discipled by Gamaliel and serving with the
Sanhedrin during Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem.
“Concessive
clause (ei kai, if even or also)... Paul admits that he had
once looked at Christ kata sarka… today
there are scholars who are trying to revive the old prejudiced view
of Jesus Christ as a mere man, a prophet, to give us ‘a reduced
Christ.’ That was once Paul’s view, but it passed by forever for
him. It is a false view and leaves us no gospel and no Saviour.”
~A. T. Robertson
RThis reading with both conjunctions (“de” and “kai”) is in the vast majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest dating to the 5th century AD) and thus is the reading of the T.R. and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT. But there are 10 Greek manuscripts which omit the “de” (including four of the 5 oldest-known, although the “de” has been written-in as a correction in the margins in two of those four). The ancient Latin, Syriac, and Coptic versions also seem to have only one conjunction as well. For these reasons, the contemporary critical editions of the GNT don’t print the “de” here, and the contemporary English versions follow that simpler reading.
S“in union with (association)” - Louw & Nida semantic domain #89.119 for εν. Calvin’s recommendation that the words “to hold office in the church” be added is an outlier among commentaries and adds what is not even in the context.
TThe predicate nominative “a new creation” does not have an explicit subject. The indefinite “someone” is construed as the subject by most English versions, but I see that the Revised Version and Phillip Hughes went the way I did with “There is...”
U“pass on” cf. James 1:10.
V“all things have become new” is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which date to the 9th century AD), and thus is the reading of the T.R. and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT, as well as of the English versions printed before the mid-1800’s, but “all” is missing in 9 Greek manuscripts, including the 5 oldest-known, so it is not in the contemporary critical editions of the GNT, so English versions printed after 1850 read “new things have come.” Among the ancient versions, the Vulgate and Peshitta support the traditional reading (indicating that the traditional reading is at least as old as the 4th century, even if no Greek manuscripts that old with that reading still exist), and only the Coptic supports the new reading. This variant surely has something to do with the fact that these words at the end of this verse are repeated as the first words of the next verse “all things are from God,” and indeed, the Peshitta appears to have been confused by that in a different way by removing the “ta panta” from verse 17.
WIt seems that the Peshitta (ܟܠ ܡܢ = “every man”) misinterpreted “if” as “every.”
XPerhaps the Coptic is in the textual tradition of the two Greek manuscripts (incl. 9th century minuscule #33) which read η (“the [one who]”) instead of the majority reading ει (“if”)?
YThe Cambridge English version of the Sahidic lapsed from v. 7 to here, provided the second half of v. 17, then lapsed again to the end of chapter 5, picking up with the first verse of chapter 6.
ZThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which date to the 9th century AD), and thus is the reading of the T.R. and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT, as well as of the English versions printed before the mid-1800’s, but “Jesus” is missing in 13 Greek manuscripts, including the 5 oldest-known, so it is not in the contemporary critical editions of the GNT, or in the English versions printed after 1850 (except, of course the NKJV). Significantly, it is also not in the ancient Latin, Syriac, or Coptic versions either, so it seems pretty certain that “Jesus” was added to this verse in the 9th century by editors. However, it doesn’t change the meaning, because Jesus is the Christ, and there’s over 130 times in the GNT where “Jesus Christ” appears in situations where “Jesus” was not added by later editors.
AAEnglish
versions seem to interpret what normally is a comparative, instead
along the lines of a direct discourse marker (L&N#90.21),
explaining what the “ministry of reconciliation” is from the end
of verse 18. This has the awkwardness of making part of the
“ministry of reconciliation” out to be the proclamation of the
message that God had committed the ministry of reconciliation to
them. I favor the approach taken by the Vulgate and Peshitta (and
the NET and NLT) which interpreted verse 19 as a repetition and
expansion on both actions of God in v.18. The parallel is
exact:
18 ...God... reconciled us to Himself though Christ and
... gave the ministry of reconciliation to us,
19 ...God was...
reconciling the world to Himself in Christ... and setting the word
of reconciliation in us.
The phrase in question is the hinge
of these two parallel statements. It is only found in three other
places in the Greek Bible: Est. 4:14; 2 Cor. 11:21, and 2 Thess.
2:2, where is is translated variously “For/to the effect that/as
though/that.” A. T. Robertson, in his Grammar, wrote that
it was “causal” in force (“since that”), and in his Word
Pictures that, “It probably means ‘how that.’” Nigel
Turner translated it, “to the effect that.”
AB“The
Father, therefore, was in the Son, in accordance with that
statement, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me.’ (John
x.38)” ~J. Calvin
Quite a lot of ink has been spilled among
Biblical grammarians over whether “was” goes together with
“reconciling” as a paraphrastic verb (Vincent, Hughes), or
whether they are two separate verbs (Hanna, Moule). P.E. Hughes
commented: “It may be taken to mean either (i) that “God was in
Christ, reconciling the world to Himself” (Origen, Ambrose,
Ambrosiaster, Herveius, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Bengel,
Bachmann, Allo, etc.), or (ii) that “in Christ God was reconciling
the world to Himself” (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Estius,
Meyer, Alford, Olshausen, Hodge, Denney, Plummer, Strachan, Filson,
R.S.V. mg., etc.).”
ACThe grammar shifts from singular “kosmos” to plural “them.” A. T. Robertson commented: “The plural pronoun is used according to the sense rather than the grammar.”
ADThis word occurs only here and Eph. 6:20 in the Greek Bible. It is an active verb, so it is not saying that the apostles hold the title of Ambassador, but rather that they do the diplomatic work of an ambassador who serves as a mouthpiece and representative of a political authority. The root is the Greek word for “old,” so there is a sense of meaning that “we are elderly/senior.” A.T.R quoted Deissman in his Word Studies: “The proper term in the Greek East for the Emperor’s Legate” (Light from the Ancient East, p. 374).
AEMost English versions translate this Greek comparative using an English phrase which connotes a hypothetical situation “as though God were/as it were,” but not only is this not listed as a meaning of this Greek word in Louw & Nida’s lexicon, it is also not a hypothetical situation: There is no uncertainty in the verb as to whether or not God is calling alongside/exhorting/comforting; we already saw in the opening to this epistle that He is. The ESV attempted to solve this semantic problem by dropping out the Greek comparative altogether, but I believe it should be translated in its own literal comparative sense that “as” God comforts the apostles (1:4-6), and “to the extent that” God speaks and gives “grace” to minister (4:1), so the apostles should speak and exhort and comfort as representatives of Christ. Burton (Moods and Tenses of New Testament Greek) commented that hws indicates “manner” here, esp. with a participle. A.T.R. said in his Word Studies that is is used “to give the reason.”
AFThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which date to the 9th century AD, although it is also in a correction to a 4th century Greek manuscript and a 7th century Greek manuscript, and it is also the reading of the Peshitta, which dates back to the 2nd century), and thus is the reading of the T.R. and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT, as well as of the English versions printed before the mid-1800’s, but “For” is missing in 15 Greek manuscripts, including all 6 of the oldest-known, so it is not in the contemporary critical editions of the GNT, or in the English versions printed after 1850 (except, of course the NKJV). Significantly, it is also not in the ancient Latin or Coptic versions. The presence of this conjunction doesn’t make any real difference in meaning; it just connects the verse more smoothly to the previous one.
AGThe Textus Receptus deviates from all known Greek manuscripts by changing the first vowel from epsilon to iota, which changes the tense from Aorist to Present, but even so, the difference in meaning is so slight that both KJV & NKJV (which followed the T.R.) and contemporary versions (which follow the UBS and Tregelles) translate it pretty much the same (“might be” or “might become”).
AHThe 2016 edition of E-sword’s Rheims Version has extraneous text which does not appear in other editions of Rheims.