Second Corinthians 5:1-21

Since there were no chapter or verse divisions in this letter when Paul wrote it, we must recognize that he continues from ‘chapter 4’ in light of Christ's coming to be present to gather all holy-people together with him and resurrection – the-things which are now being observed are temporary but the-things not being observed are eternal.

II Corinthians 5:1:

^5:1For we knew² that if-ever our earthly house of the tent may be disunited we have a building out-from God, a house not-handmade, eternal in the heavens;

Paul teaches and explains by using himself and those with him as examples whom the Corinthian and Achaian holy-people can imitate in their thinking and living every day.

In truth, we know (myself and those with me perceive) that…

if it should happen that our house (dwelling) which is upon or pertains-to earth
- which is the tent (tabernacle, the temporal covered sheltered place, referring to the fleshy body that we live in now since Adam’s fall, the current vessel that contains the treasure which is the gift of holy spirit)
was disunited (caused to disintegrate, its parts to be loosened down one from another, dissolved or dismembered – if we should die before Christ comes),
then at the time when Christ comes we have/hold a building (edifice or dwelling-place to inhabit) out-from God,
- and this building is a house which is not made by the hands of mankind (fleshy man did not make building, if they did then it would only be temporary),
- but it is the building from God which is eternal (everlasting, lifelong) within or among the heavens (plural – figuratively referring to God's spirit realm).

All of us holy-people (sanctified-people, Christians, saints, children of the only true God) will receive our spiritual bodies when Christ comes to gather us together with him at a future time in the air.

[Interestingly, there is a Greek word, oikos, from which many other Greek words come. These words, which all come from the same root-word, may be translated into English as: house, to build a house, household, householders, to build, building, to dwell, dwelling, to inhabit, habitation, to edify, edification, plus many other words in the English language, but we ought to understand that when reading any one of these words they all relate to each other even though in English it is difficult to consistently use the same basic word in every rendering of it to communicate the meaning. Also, it is used figuratively referring to the action or process of building upwards and establishing.]

Verse 1 again: ^5:1For we knew² that if-ever our earthly house of the tent may be disunited we have a building out-from God, a house not-handmade, eternal in the heavens….

[Reference: I Corinthians chapter 15; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Hebrews chapter 9; II Peter 1:13 and 14.]

Verses 2-5:

^.2for also in this (tent) we groan, earnestly-longing to clothe-upon-ourselves with our dwelling-place, the (dwelling-place) out-from heaven, ^.3since-indeed also having clothed-ourselves we will not be found naked; ^.4for also we, the (holy-people) being in the tent, groan being pressure-weighed on which we do not intend to unclothed-ourselves but to clothe-upon-ourselves in order that the mortal-thing may be swallowed by the life – ^.5but the (One) having rendered-to-work us into this same-thing (is) God, the (One) having given to us the deposit of the spirit.

In truth, we presently and actively groan (sigh in distress) while we are within this tent (referring to the physical, fleshy body) because we are earnestly-longing (really longing for, desiring on-top of what we already have) to clothe upon ourselves with our dwelling-place…. The verb translated “clothe upon ourselves” means to envelope on/over ourselves, as though putting on clothes which we receive from above us and put them on top of what we already have, engulfing what we have, not our getting into the garment from above but taking it from above and putting it down on/over us.

For also in this tent we groan, earnestly-longing to clothe-upon-ourselves with our dwelling-place, emphatically and specifically the dwelling-place which is out-from heaven (the habitation, inhabited-building, housing that God has promised us in Christ, which is our reception of our spiritual body which we will definitely receive when Christ comes to gather us together with him; it comes out-from heaven as-opposed-to earth).

We will be dwellers of God's heavenly or spiritual dwelling place, since absolutely in addition, once we will have clothed ourselves (put-on as a garment by going inside of it, enveloped ourselves with our spiritual body) then we will not in the future be found naked (unclad, without wearing clothes). We will not be naked at that future time even though we will not have our current temporary physical body anymore.

For also we, the holy-people being in the tent (presently existing within the tent of our fleshy body), groan being pressure-weighed (weighed down, the emphasis being on the pressure and not on a physical heaviness of a load or burden to be carried – we groan) resting-on or based upon the motive that…

we do not intend to unclothe ourselves (we do not will with active volition and desire to get out from what we have, as stripping off one's garments, we do not want to die right now and so get out from having a fleshy body remaining dead and corrupt until Christ’s presence when he will come in the air to give us our new spiritual bodies),
but contrary to unclothing ourselves, we intend to clothe upon ourselves (refer to description above of this verb – we will with active volition and desire to clothe upon ourselves with our dwelling-place from heaven),
- for the purpose and result that the mortal-thing (the current fleshy body which is still living in the physical/natural category but which is liable to death) may be swallowed by the life (may be drunk down by the power of the life – the eternal holy spirit life is the efficient or instrumental agent of this action of swallowing).

We can only clothe ourselves with the life of our promised permanent spiritual bodies at that moment when Christ comes to be present to gather all holy-people together with him in the air, both those who have already died and those who are still living at that time. If Christ had come while Paul and those with him were still alive then they would have gone directly or straight from being in their temporal tent into being in their permanent dwelling-place, without having to die in between! By this happening, their mortal-thing, referring to their fleshy bodies which were liable to death, would be swallowed by the life. Paul has previously taught this to the Corinthian Christians in his first letter to them – I Corinthians chapter 15.

Who is the source of all this? God. The only true God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the One Who has already rendered to work (caused to effect, effectively brought-down) us holy-people into or directed-to this same-thing regarding our future. How? God is the One Who has already given to us the deposit of the spirit. God has given to us the earnest, token, the first-part of the whole to guarantee to us recipients that we will also receive the remaining part of the whole of the same kind that consists-of and which-is the holy spirit-life that all holy-people have within us.

God's gift of holy spirit was poured-out on the day of Pentecost (recorded in Acts chapter 2) by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the deposit of the new covenant; it is the spirit of Christ who is God's promised seed. At the moment when Christ comes to gather us holy-people together, those who have already died will all be raised from the dead and given their new spiritual bodies never to die again. Death for the Christian is only temporal and so it is sometimes referred to as "sleep" in the Scriptures. And, we who are still alive will put on immortality being changed directly into living in our spiritual bodies. The spirit that God gives now to all who believe what He says is the deposit, the guarantee of the fullness of the inheritance to come in the future as God Himself promises, whether the Christian is physically dead or alive when Christ comes to accomplish all that God wants him to accomplish at that time. God will fulfill the totality of His promise of the new covenant with us by means of the Lord Jesus Christ!

[Reference: Job 10:11; Acts 2:1-4; Romans 6:12, and 8:11, and 23-25; I Corinthians chapter 15; II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13 and 14; Jude 6.]

Verses 6-8:

^.6Therefore (we are) always being courageous and having known² that (while we are) residing-in in the body we reside-out away-from the Lord ^.7for by means of belief we walk, not by means of a seen-thing, ^.8but we are courageous and we consider-it-good rather to reside-out from the body and to reside-in with the Lord;

Logically following on from what I have just written, we are constantly being courageous (warmly confident) and we know (perceive, see) that…

during the time that we are presently residing being among (in, within) our own people in the body (referring to our still being alive within the sphere of action of our temporary tent, which is the fleshy body as we move among people carrying-out our ministry)
consequently we are residing out-from our own people away-from the Lord (we are exterior to our true place of origin, referring to our not-living within the sphere of action of our spiritual bodies yet and so we are away from the Lord in that respect).

Our Lord Jesus Christ has already received his spiritual body. However, Christ has not yet gathered all holy-people together with him, which will be the time of our reception of spiritual bodies. We currently continue to be people in the municipality being free-citizens and enjoying the constitution of the current temporal fleshy realm.

In truth, by means of belief we walk, not by means of a seen-thing. We presently and actively walk, (we live our everyday lives, we behave, we conduct ourselves) through faith/trust of what God gives us to believe – we do not walk through that-which is seen, perceived and known-of in the flesh category.

The only way that we holy-people can walk correctly from God's and the Lord Jesus Christ's point of view is through belief. Our believing of God's belief (which He has already revealed and continues to reveal to us) must be the action or agency by way of which the initiated progress passes-through in order to reach the accomplishment of our behaving ourselves. By means of belief is how we are to walk during the everyday living of our lives being among our own people in the body. We live this way while we await the presence of Christ and our reception of our promised spiritual body with its holy spirit-life like the spiritual body that Christ has already received and lives. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who has already received his spiritual body – every other Christian man /woman /child who has died stays dead, and he/she will not be raised-up from the dead until Christ comes to raise-up all holy-people from the dead.

Paul continues: but we are presently courageous (warmly confident) and we consider it good (we willingly suppose it to be well) rather, more-so, more and more…

to reside out from the body (to be out from our own people from the body, to be exterior to being alive within our temporary tent, which is the fleshy body, in other words not to be living in our current fleshy body anymore) and
to reside in with the Lord (to be among our own people with the Lord, to be living in/within the sphere of action of our future spiritual bodies being with our Lord Jesus Christ and continuing to move onwards with him).

[Reference: John 20:29; Acts 17:21; I Corinthians chapter 15; Philippians 1:23, and 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:13-18.]

Verses 9 and 10:

^.9on-which-account also we love-and-honor, whether residing-in or residing-out, to be well-pleasing to him ^.10for it is necessary (for) us all to be manifested in-front-of the judgment-seat of Christ in order that each-person may bring-to-himself (his) own-things of the body towards the-things-which he practiced, whether good or bad.

Paul continues teaching the readers of this letter by using himself and those with him as example, because every holy-person has received the gift of holy spirit from God by means of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is true for Paul is true for every Christian regarding the fulfillment of God's promise, but it is up to each limb of the one spiritual body of Christ to walk in accordance with God's belief, what He gives us to believe.

It is for this reason that we also presently love and honor (we exert ourselves from the friendly/brotherly love and a sense of honor to achieve a goal, to accomplish a task) – …

whether residing-in or residing-out (while we continue in our fleshy bodies waiting for Christ to come, or when he gathers us together giving us our new spiritual bodies and we will continue living with him from that time forward)...

… – to be well-pleasing to him (to be goodly agreeable, acceptable and gratifying to/with our Lord Jesus Christ). Why? In truth, it is necessary (it ought to be, it is binding, it must occur) for all of us holy-people to be manifested (evidenced, brought to light, shown-forth) in front of the judgment-seat of the Christ (the Anointed-one, the Messiah).

The word translated as "judgment-seat" literally means a step or a raised-platform reached by steps. It is an area where someone, such as a judge, would speak-from to the assembly of people present. In this context it refers to Christ's judgment-seat, his tribune, his judicial-bench, because he is the one who will do the judging, the decision-making regarding those in front of him.

Why would Christ have a judgment-seat after he has gathered all holy-people together with him and we receive our spiritual bodies? Why would he do this? This tribunal will not be to determine whether the holy-person is righteous before God or not, because that has already been determined (all holy-people are righteous). However, it is necessary for all of us to be manifested in front of the judgment-seat of Christ for the purpose and result that each one of us will bring to him/herself the things which he/she practiced while in the current fleshy body since becoming a Christian.

To ‘bring to himself’ means that each one of us will receive/take and carry with us what we will acquire from the Lord Jesus Christ at his judgment seat as compensation or reward so as to preserve and take-care-of what he gives to us. Each holy-person brings to himself at that time what is deemed by Christ to correspond to those things which that holy-person was accomplishing during his everyday living of life from the moment of receiving the gift of holy spirit to the moment when Christ gathered us together, whether good or whether bad from Christ's point of view which also is God's point of view.

Christ will be arranging his kingdom and so deciding who will do what for him as God puts all things in subjection to him (I Corinthians 15:23-28). Christ will place us in proper arrangement so as to carry out what God asks him to carry-out. Christ will assign certain tasks to certain individuals at that time. Every Christian will be with the Lord Jesus Christ but every Christian will not be assigned the same duties when Christ is arranging his kingdom. The "duty-roster" will depend upon whether the individual Christian practiced good (that-which issues from God) for and towards God and the Lord Jesus Christ, or whether he practiced bad (that-which does not issue from God) towards God and the Lord Jesus Christ from the time that he became a Christian.

[Reference: Ecclesiastes 12:14; Acts 10:42, and 18:17; Romans 12:1, 2, 21, 13:3-4, 14:10, 18, and 15:20; I Corinthians 3:8-17; II Corinthians 11:15; Ephesians 5:10, and 6:8; I Thessalonians 4:11; Hebrews 13:20 and 21; Revelation 22:12 and the Book of Revelation. See also the chart of events.]

Verse 11:

^.11Therefore having known² the fear of the Lord we persuade men; but we were manifested² to God, but I hope also to have been manifested² in your consciences.

The ‘fear of the Lord’ refers to our fright, being afraid at the consequences of the performance of any wrong behavior. We should manifest the awe and respect that is rightfully due and ought to be shown towards the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has placed at His right-hand side, the position of authority, second in command to God Himself.

Paul continues: therefore because we (myself and those with me) knew and we still know (perceive) the fear of the Lord, we presently and actively persuade (convince) men. They would have spoken words pertaining-to the new covenant of spirit, righteousness, glory, and all that is involved in the good-message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we carry-out our ministry, we have been and we are still made manifest (evident, brought to light, shown-forth) to God. What we are saying and doing is fully apparent to God. But with reference to you Corinthian and Achaian holy-people, I presently and actively hope (I, Paul, expect to come to pass) that what we are speaking-to and doing-with you also to have been and to remain evident in your consciences (within all of your knowing-awareness, the perception of what is right which you put together for yourselves in your minds as a result of all that you have been taught and learned in relation to the one whom you recognize as your ruler, the one who has authority, ultimately this one should be the only true God).

These holy-people could physically hear the words that Paul and those with him were saying and see the actions that they were doing, they could read the letters that Paul wrote to them, but Paul's hope was that the truth of this would be made manifest in their consciences also.

[Reference: Acts 9:31; II Corinthians 4:2, and 11:6; Galatians 1:10-12.]

Verses 12 and 13:

^.12We do not again commend ourselves to you but (we are) giving to you a starting-point of a boast on our behalf in order that you may have (a boast) towards the (people) boasting in face and not in heart, ^.13for whether we were bewildered (it was) for God or we soundly-think (it is) for you;

We (myself and those with me) do not again favorably-introduce ourselves to you holy-people, but on the contrary, we are giving to you a base-of-operation of a boast (grounds for a subject or theme of boasting) on behalf of us. Why? For the purpose and result that you would have a boast when you would come in contact with those people who are boasting in face (within the sphere of action of their visible appearance, presentation) and not in heart (not within the sphere of action of the center or core of their beings, that part of them which is not visible to the physical eye but which contains the subjective motive, feelings, etc). Those people are pretending, as putting a mask on their face to perform on a stage and boast with that particular mask's supposed ‘boast’ – but once the mask is taken-off then there is no grounds to it, there is no subject to boast about.

Whether we were bewildered (awestruck, totally-puzzled in our minds, standing out-from our normal way of thinking caused by an inexplicable occurrence to our mind's thoughts and comprehension at any time, not behaving according to what is considered by men to be "normal") – we were bewildered for/to God.

Or, whether we soundly think (have thoughts in our minds which are safe, behaving according to what is considered by men to be "normal") – we soundly think for/to you holy-people.

[Reference: I Samuel 16:7; Mark 3:21; Acts 2:7, and 10:45; Romans 7:8, 11, and 12:3; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:6; I Peter 4:7.]

Verses 14 and 15:

^.14for the love¹ of Christ holds us together, (being holy-people) having judged this that one-person died on behalf of all-people, consequently all-people died, ^.15and he died on behalf of all-people in order that the (people) living may no-longer live to themselves but to the (one) having died and having been raised-up on behalf of them.

In truth, it is Christ's love¹ (the love that the Anointed-one, the Messiah has and evidences) that presently and actively holds us together (confines, presses or holds myself and those with me fast in conjunction with one-another).

The word "love¹" or the verb "to love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.

Here in verse 14, Paul writes about Christ's Godly-love – for the love¹ of Christ holds us together – emphatically and specifically we who are the people who have already made our decision regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, which is that…

one person, Jesus Christ, died on behalf of (in the interests of) all people,
- and correspondingly all people have died from God's point of view;
and Jesus Christ died on behalf of all people
- for the purpose and result that the people who are presently and actively living (being alive) would no-longer (not anymore) live to/for/with/by themselves, but on the contrary, that they would live to/for/with/by the one who has died and who has been raised-up out-from among the dead-people on behalf of them.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who has been raised up by God giving him a spiritual body. Also, the only people who are alive in the holy spirit category today, as we await the presence of Christ, are those who believe what God says about Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ and so they receive the gift of holy spirit. The people who refuse to believe what God says do-not receive holy spirit, even though the Lord Jesus Christ died on their behalf also! It is the free-will decision available for every person to make for him/herself at some point during his/her life.

[Reference: Romans 8:35-39, 10:8-10, and 14:7-9; I Timothy 2:4-6. You may also like to read my study of Appendix to Romans.]

Verses 16 and 17:

^.16So-that we from-now-on knew² not-one-person according to flesh, even if we knew² Christ according to flesh but now we no-longer know (him according to flesh), ^.17so-that if someone (is) in Christ (he is) a new creation, the old-things went-by, look!, new-things have come-to-pass²;

Paul explains: the consequence or result – (of having judged that one-person died on behalf of all-people, consequently all-people died, and he died on behalf of all-people in order that the people living may no-longer live to themselves but to the one having died and having been raised-up on behalf of them) – is that emphatically we (myself and those with me) from the present time knew and still know (perceive, see) no-one in accordance with flesh (nobody according to the physical natural body, the flesh category).

Even if/since we knew and still personally know (with a truly active and relative knowing, not just a perception of) Christ in accordance with flesh (because he lived on earth with a physical body with soul/breath-life in it just the same as every other human-being) – but contrary to knowing Christ from this fleshy viewpoint, at the present time we do not anymore personally know him according to flesh (we no-longer have a truly active and relative knowing of him in accordance with flesh). Why not? Because Jesus Christ died and 72 hours later God raised him up from among the dead-people giving him his new spiritual body whereby he can never die again (verses 14 and 15 above). He is now alive, not according to flesh, but according to spirit!

The consequence or result of all that God has accomplished by means of the Lord Jesus Christ is that if someone is in Christ…. To be ‘in Christ’ refers to being a limb/member of Christ’s one spiritual body. Only those who believe what God says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, receive holy spirit which is the spirit of Christ in us, the deposit of the spirit of the new covenant. We are the limbs of his new body and this is our sphere of action.

So-that if someone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation (a newly-made created-thing). The holy-person is what has been brought into being, established and still being in progress, but it is different from the former creation previously in effect. That-which is new for the holy-person/Christian is the holy spirit-life within him/her. This holy spirit-life is the spirit of Christ within us – it is our true life, the life.

For the holy-person being in Christ, the old (beginning) things pertaining to flesh, including the old covenant of law and circumcision, have gone-by (passed alongside). The Greek word translated "old" emphasizes the old things’ former existence (this is not referring to them having existed for a long time-period and worn-out as a garment, becoming tattered and torn from use). The things belonging to the former days, that time when that holy-person did not have holy spirit within him/her, are gone-by. Why? Because every holy-person has received holy spirit-life for that is what makes a person a holy-person, a Christian! The old/former things went-by.

Look (behold, see - calling attention to what is written here)!, new-things have come to pass (they became a reality, they have come into being) and continue to be. The Greek word translated "new" emphasizes the truth that these new-things are newly-made and they are different from the old-things previously in effect, new because they are different from what had been there formerly, new because they replace those old-things!

The new-things of the new covenant of spirit are now in existence. Every holy-person has the deposit of the new covenant placed within him/her, which is holy spirit-life, and it has all the ability and authority of the resurrected Christ. We have hope looking forward to all that will happen during and after Christ's presence to gather all holy-people together with him! Yes, from God's point of view every Christian is a new creation, a new creature – God's own child because of having holy spirit-life within him/her! New-things have come to pass and continue to be.

[Reference: Acts 2:22-36; Romans 1:3 and 4, 6:4, 7:6, chapter 8, and 16:7; I Corinthians 8:6, 11:25; II Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 1:22, and 6:15; Ephesians 2:13-18, and 4:24; Colossians 1:21 and 22.]

Verses 18 and 19:

^.18but all-things (are) out-from God, the (One) having reconciled us to Himself by means of Christ, and having given to us the ministry of the reconciliation – ^.19as that God used-to-be reconciling (the) world to Himself in Christ not calculating their falling-asides to them, and having put in us the good-message of the reconciliation.

Paul continues to teach by taking himself and those with him as examples for the Corinthian and Achaian holy-people. This applies to all holy-people no matter where we live because we are all in Christ, a new creation. New things have come to pass and continue to be.

All-things are out-from God. God is the original source of all the things that He has done and continues to do. The only true God is the One Who has already reconciled us to Himself by means of Christ.

To be "reconciled" means to be changed, and that change is on the part of one party only, and it is induced by some action on the part of another party. In this context, Paul and those with him had changed their former relationship with God in response to an action on God's part to help bring this about, which was by means of (through) Christ. Christ was the agency by way of which the initiated progress passed-through in order to reach the accomplishment of their being reconciled to God. This is also true regarding all holy-people.

God has given all of mankind the opportunity for change on their part from not-having holy spirit to receiving it because of what He has done for them by means of Christ, for it is only by means of Christ that any person can be reconciled to God.

All-things are out-from God:

God is the One having reconciled us to Himself by means of Christ, and
God is the One having given to us the ministry of the reconciliation (He has given to us the duty of service to benefit others, not 'being-subject' to them but doing work to bring profit to others, the day-by-day ministerial duties, the functions of service pertaining to the reconciliation, the availability of change on the part of people towards God induced by an action on God's part).

How did all of this come to pass? It was caused to come into being because:

A. God used to be reconciling the world (the ordered-arrangement that God created) to Himself within the sphere of action of Christ (as he ministered among the people, even to the point of his own death on their behalf, and then his being raised-up by God from among the dead-people), and at the same time not calculating (not computing, reckoning, counting) their falling-asides from the truth of God's Word to them, and

B. God has put in us the good-message of the reconciliation (God has placed within or set among us the gospel, evangel [some Greek texts have “word”) consisting-of and pertaining-to the availability given by God to people to be reconciled to Him by means of Christ) – we have received the commission and given the words to speak to the people as we minister among them.

God did not just tell Paul and those with him, nor any other holy-person, to do something for Him and not give them the ability to do what He asked them to do! God made sure that they had what they needed to carry-out the ministry of the reconciliation to God by means of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Reference: John 3:16 and 17; Acts 17:24-27; Romans 3:21-26, 5:8-11, and 11:33-36; I Corinthians 8:6; II Corinthians 3:6; Colossians 1:19-29; I Timothy 2:1-7; I John 2:2, and 4:10; Revelation 21:4 and 5.]

Verses 20 and 21:

^.20Therefore we function-as-elders on behalf of Christ, as of God encouraging by means of us, we supplicate on behalf of Christ, "You must be reconciled to God – ^.21He made the (one) not having known sin (to be) sin on behalf of us in order that we may become (the) righteousness of God in him."

Logically following what I have just written, we (myself and those with me) presently and actively function as elder-men on behalf of Christ. The word “elders” refers here to having more knowledge, wisdom, dignity, etc, regarding God and the things of God, elders in service, not the literal meaning of being older in age than other people.

We have been given the assignment, responsibility, and authority by God and the Lord Jesus Christ to do what we are doing as we travel being elders of the church, and thus we negotiate as ambassadors among all people in the interests of Christ, the resurrected Anointed-one, the Messiah.

How do we do this? As of God encouraging by means of us (as though it were God exhorting, calling people beside Him as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do that which is right, through us), we supplicate (we express the lack of something specific and the need of help, we communicate our needful-request to people) on Christ's behalf. And, our specific needful-request is: "You must be reconciled to God – He made the (one) not having known sin (to be) sin on behalf of us in order that we may become (the) righteousness of God in him."

It is imperative that you (all people who are still unsaved) be reconciled to the only true God. You must change by being induced by God's action. The action which God has already completed is that He made Jesus Christ who had not personally-known sin to be sin. The man, Jesus Christ, did not have a truly active and relative knowing of sin, which is the aberration from God's Word, because he did not commit any sin himself, but God actively made him the quality and quantity of sin. Jesus Christ was the sin-offering.

God made the one not having known sin to be sin on behalf of (in the interests of) us (all people) for the purpose and result that emphatically we would become (come to pass to be, come into being) the quality and quantity of the righteousness of God in him (God's justness, justice, the attributes of justification, the quality of being and doing what is just/right from God's point of view, within the sphere of action of the resurrected Christ Jesus).

Jesus Christ is the one who paid the price for the totality of sin, which included mankind's rejection of holy spirit-life and all of the sins which were committed by mankind as a result of not-having the spiritual connection with God since the time that Adam freely decided not to have it anymore. God has made reconciliation to Himself available to people by means of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul and those with him at that time were functioning-as-elders on behalf of Christ, as of God encouraging people by means of them.

As soon as any person believes what God says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that person changes his/her relationship to/with God by receiving the gift of holy spirit becoming His child. From then-on that person's relationship to/with God will be a sonship relationship by seed, and this sonship relationship cannot be changed.

[Reference: Genesis 4:3-7; Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 5:8, and 6:25; Acts 14:23; Romans 1:16, 17, chapter 5, 8:3, 4, 9, 10, and 10:9, 10; I Corinthians 1:30, 6:20, and 7:23; Galatians 3:13 and 14; Ephesians 5:2, and 6:20; Hebrews 9:26(b)-28, and 10:10-18; I Peter 2:22-24, and 3:18. For more details regarding the fall of Adam, you may read my study of Appendix to Romans. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

The Corinthian and Achaian holy-people were sons of God in the spirit category and so they were already reconciled to God. However, Paul is detailing his ministry and thus reminding them of the basics of what he had previously taught to them and what they had previously believed so that they became reconciled to God. The continuation of this is in the next chapter…

II Corinthians Chapter 6