2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2 – Now Is the Day of Salvation

BIBLE TEXT

2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2

SUMMARY

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ’s death and resurrection, freeing those in Christ to be reconciled to God and one another in the present time.

ANALYSIS

For Paul, the death and resurrection of Christ has signaled the beginning of a new age. In this passage, Paul offers a kind of “before and after” look at everything and everyone. In 2 Corinthians 5:16, to see “before” is to see people “after the flesh” (KJV) or “from a human point of view” (NRSV). To see “after”-that is, when one is “in Christ”-is to see a whole new world: “everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Paul goes on to describe the particulars of this newness in terms of reconciliation: “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Since reconciliation is at the center of the gospel, it is especially tragic that Paul and the Corinthians are experiencing such profound distrust and brokenness in their relationship to each other. In an attempt to urge the Corinthians to recognize the gift of reconciliation to God and to embody that reconciliation in their relationship with him, Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8, and then announces, “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

From other parts of Paul’s writing, it is clear that he understands salvation to be not only a present but also a future reality. For example, in Romans Paul writes, “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10). Nonetheless, here Paul tries to convince the Corinthians that the reconciliation that will characterize salvation from God’s wrath is presently available to them and to him.