We are in what some study translations call, "The Ministry of Reconciliation," to see what we can discover of the hidden things of GOD within the text of this chapter. So lets get right back into our search shall we. Oh! The dynamics of what lays just ahead.
2Corinthians 5:16-19, 20-21 "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled(G2644) us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world(G2889) unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech(G3870) you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin(G266) for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made(G1096) the righteousness of God in him." (KJV)
2Corinthians 5:16-19, 20-21 "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled(G2644) us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world(G2889) to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore(G3870) you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin(G266) who knew no sin, so that in him we might(G1096) become the righteousness of God." (ESV)
2Corinthians 5:16-19, 20-21 "This is radical and our most defining moment! No label that could possibly previously identify someone carries any further significance! Even our pet doctrines of Christ are redefined. Whatever we knew about him historically [within the text of the old prophetic scriptures] or sentimentally [within the text of the living and abiding revelation of Now] is challenged by this conclusion. (By discovering Christ from GOD's point of view we discover ourselves and every other human life from GOD's point of view! Paul sees by revelation, that what Jesus redeemed in every person brings absolute closure and death to any other reasoning factor, that by judgment taken place, we may have had of ourselves or anyone else for that matter! This is our 'metanoia' moment! "From now on therefore, we no longer know anyone according to the flesh, even though we once knew Christ from a human and religious point of view." ) Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ [you are no more], you are now a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new! (Just imagine this! Whoever a person was as a Jew, Greek, slave or freeman, Boer, Zulu, Xhosa, British, Indian, Muslim or American, Chinese, Japanese or Congolese; is now dead and gone! [Waiting for the rest of the world of darkness to catch on!] They all died when Jesus died! Remember we are Not talking Law language here! The 'If' in, "If anyone is in Christ" is not a condition, it is the conclusion of the revelation of the gospel! Humanity is in Christ by GOD's doing [1Corinthians 1:30 and Ephesians 1:4]. The verses of 2Corinthians 5:14-16 give context to verse 17 on its own and interpreted the "if" as a condition! Paul did not say, "If anyone is in Christ," he said "THEREFORE if anyone is in Christ...." The "therefore" immediately includes verses 14 to 16! If GOD's faith sees everyone in Christ in his death, then they were certainly also in Christ in his resurrection. Jesus did not reveal a "potential" you, he revealed the truth about you so that you may know the truth about yourself and be free indeed! In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, GOD did not redeem a compromised replica of you; he rescued the original, blueprint you, created in his radiant mirror likeness! Any other 'self' you're trying to find or esteem will disappoint! Reckon your 'DIY-law of works-self' dead, and your redeemed self co-raised and co-seated together with Christ! This is freedom indeed! Galatians 2:19-20; Romans 6:11. See also 1Peter 1:3, "We are reconnected with our original genesis through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! this new birth endorses and celebrates the hope of the ages; GOD's eternal love dream concluded in life!" ) The idea of humanity's co-inclusion in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in entirely GOD's doing! To now realize that GOD has indeed brought final closure to the old and for us to see everything and everyone in this new light is to simply see what GOD has always known to be true about us in Christ; we are not debating human experience, opinion, or their contribution; this is exactly what GOD believes. In Jesus Christ, GOD [1,G2644]exchanged equivalent value to redeem us to himself. He went to the highest extreme in this act of reconciliation to persuade us of our original worth! This GOD has given us as the mandate of our ministry. (The word, [1,G2644 from G2596 and G236] katalasso, translates as reconciliation (G2634); it is a mutual exchange of equal value. This translation was not to buy us back from "the devil;" a thief never becomes an owner; it was GOD redeeming our minds from the lies that we believed about ourselves - reconciliation is the bold unveiling of the value of the hidden treasure in everyone! See 2Corinthians 4:7 and Matthew 13:44.) Our ministry declares that Jesus did not act independently of his Father. GOD was present in him as Christ (Spirit) when he reconciled the total [1]comos(G2889) to himself. Deity and humanity embraced in him; the fallen state of humanity was deleted; their trespasses would no longer count against them! Ho now announces his friendship with every individual from within us! (The incarnation did not separate the Father from the Son and the Spirit, In him dwells the fullness of GOD (Elohim-Spirit), in a human body, Colossians 2:9. As a human person, Jesus felt the agony of fallen humanity on the cross when he echoed Psalm 22, "My GOD. my GOD, why have you forsaken me! Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?" But then is verse 24, David declares triumphantly: "He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him." The word, [1,G2889] kosmos in the NT refers to the entire human family.)
The voice GOD had in Christ, he now has in us; we are GOD's ambassadors. Our lives exhibit the urgency of GOD to [1,G3870]persuade everyone to realize the reconciliation of their redeemed identity. (The word, [1,G3870 from G3844 and G2564] parakaleo, comes from(G3844) para, a preposition indicating close proximity, a thing proceeding from a sphere of influence, with a suggestion of union of place of residence, to have sprung from its author and giver, originating from, denoting the point from which an action originates, intimate connection, and (G2564) kaleo, to identify by name, to surname. In Luke 15:28, 31, "His father pleaded with him, "My child, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours." "Be reconciled: could not be translated, "Become reconciled!" "Do in order to become" is the language of the OT; the language of the NT is, "Be, because of what was done!" ) This is the divine exchange: he who knew no [1,G266]sin embraced our distortion (disfigurement); he appeared to be without form; this was the mystery of GOD's prophetic [2,G4161]poetry. he was disguised in our distorted image and marred with our iniquities; he took our sorrows, our pain and our shame to his grave and [3]birthed his righteousness (innocence) in us. He took our sins and we [3,G1096]became his innocence, again. ( The word sin, is the word [1,G266 from G264 and G1 and the base of G3313] hamartia, which is from (G1) ha, a negative or without and (G3313) meros, portion of form, thus to be without your allotted portion or without form, pointing to a distorted, distorted, bankrupt identity; the word(G3313) merso, is the stem of morphe, as used in 2Corinthians 3:18 where the word(G3339 from G3326 and G3445) metamorphe, with form, which is the opposite of (G266) hamartia - without form. Sin is to live out of context with the blueprint of one's design; to behave out of tune with GOD's original harmony. The word, [2,G4161 from G4160] poema, is often translated "made" like in, "he was made to be sin." However, because of its context here I have translated poema to read prophetic poetry. As the scapegoat of the human race, he took on our distorted image of fallen humanity, he did not become a sinner, but the official representative of humanity's sin condition. Then Paul uses the word [3,G1096] ginomai, he birthed his righteousness in us since we were born anew in his resurrection from the dead. Hosea 6:2, Ephesians 2:5, 1Peter 1:3.
In Isaiah 52:10 we find this, "The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our GOD." Then in Isaiah 52:14-15 we have this, "Just as many were astonished at you --- so was he marred in his appearance, more than any human and his form beyond that of human semblance---so will he startled many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him; for what had not been told them, they will see and what they had not heard, they will understand." Then in Isaiah 53:4-5 we have this, "Surley he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of GOD, and afflicted. But surely he was wounded by our transgressions; he was bruised by our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on him and by his stripes we ourselves are healed."
He was not bruised by GOD but by the very humanity he was about to redeem!
You may ask, "But what about Isaiah 53:10!?" [It pleased the LORD to "crush" him!] translators of the New Revised Standard version say in their footnotes to this verse: "The meaning of the Hebrew in uncertain." The Septuagint [Greek version] of this verse, written some 250 years before Jesus, by 72 Hebrew scholars [with access to older manuscripts that what we have today,] have rendered the Hebrew text as follows: "and the LORD desires to purify him of the plague!" This can also be translated, "The LORD desires to cleanse his wounds!" The word, plege means a wound.
In Romans 8:29-30 we find this, "He pre-designed and engineered us from the start to be jointly fashioned in the same mold and image of his Son according to the exact blueprint of his thought. We see the original and intended pattern of our lives preserved in his Son. He is the firstborn from the same womb that reveals our own genesis. He confirms that we are the idea and invention of GOD." (We were born anew when he was raised from the dead! [1Peter 1:3] His resurrection co-reveals our common genesis as well as our redeemed innocence (his righteousness). [Romans 4:25 and Acts 17:31, 2Timothy 1:9] Its now no wonder then that he is not ashamed to call us his family! We indeed share the same origin [Hebrews 2:11], and, "In him we live and move and have our being; we are indeed his offspring!" [Acts 17:28]) In Romans 8:30, "Jesus reveals that humanity pre-existed in GOD (this is seen in Genesis 1:26-27 of 26-29); he defines us. He justified us and also glorified us. He redeemed our original innocence and restored the glory that was lost of our being in Adam. [Romans 3:23-24, 8:28-29: the word prohoritso, means pre-defined, like when an architect draws up a detailed plan; and the word, kaleo, to surname, identify by name.]
In Titus 2:11 we have, "The grace of GOD shines as bright as day making the salvation of humanity undeniably visible.") (The Mirror)
Boy was that lengthy! In our next posting we shall, the LORD willing begin in chapter 6. Until then may what is shared here be of benefit to you and yours.
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