Commentary - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Bird's-eye view

In this dense and glorious passage, the Apostle Paul lays out the tectonic shift in reality brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The central theme is reconciliation, a reality that flows from God to man and then from man to man. Because of Christ's work, the old ways of evaluating the world, other people, and even Christ Himself are now obsolete. We are in a new aeon, a new creation. For anyone who is "in Christ," their fundamental identity has been radically altered. They are not a patched-up version of their old self; they are an entirely new creature. Paul then explains that this new reality is not something we achieve, but something God has accomplished for us in Christ, and having done so, He has given us, the church, the task of announcing this great reconciliation to the world. We are Christ's ambassadors, carrying a message of peace from the King. The passage culminates in one of the most potent summaries of the gospel in all of Scripture, explaining the great exchange of the atonement: our sin was imputed to the sinless Christ so that His perfect righteousness might be imputed to us.

This is the very heart of the Christian faith. It moves from the indicative to the imperative. Because God has objectively reconciled the world to Himself in the cross, we now have a new way of seeing everything (the indicative). And because of this, we have a new task: to plead with the world to be subjectively reconciled to God (the imperative). This is not just about individual salvation; it is about a cosmic reordering. The old world, with its divisions and fleshly standards, is passing away. The new creation has dawned, and the church is its embassy on earth.

Outline

Context In 2 Corinthians

This passage is the theological heart of a very personal and often emotional letter. Paul is defending his apostolic ministry against the accusations of the "super-apostles" who have infiltrated the Corinthian church. They were judging him by worldly standards, "according to the flesh." They saw his suffering, his lack of polished rhetoric, and his refusal to take money as signs of weakness and inauthenticity. Paul's response throughout the letter is to glory in his weakness, because it is through his weakness that the power of Christ is made perfect. Our text here provides the theological foundation for this entire worldview. Paul is not just defending himself; he is explaining that the cross of Christ has inaugurated a completely new value system. The old metrics of power, prestige, and appearance are gone. In the new creation, the central reality is reconciliation with God, and the central task is proclaiming that reconciliation. Therefore, his ministry, with all its suffering and apparent weakness, is the very embodiment of this new creation message. It is a ministry of a reconciled man, acting as an ambassador for the reconciling King.

Key Issues

The Great Reversal

The gospel is not about minor adjustments or moral improvement. It is a cataclysm. It is a death and a resurrection. Paul here is describing a fundamental shift in the operating system of the universe. Before Christ, the world operated "according to the flesh," which means according to fallen, human standards. This is the world of Adam, a world of striving, competition, pride, and division, all of it under the judgment of God. But in the cross and resurrection, God hit the reset button. He did not just offer a way of escape from the old world; He inaugurated a new one. This new world, the new creation, operates on a completely different principle: the grace of God in reconciliation. To be "in Christ" is to be transferred out of that old Adamic world and into this new one. This is why Paul's language is so absolute. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. This is not a gradual process of self-improvement. It is a sovereign act of God, as miraculous and definitive as the first creation when God said, "Let there be light." Understanding this is the key to the Christian life. We are not just forgiven sinners; we are new creatures living in the dawn of a new world.

Verse by Verse Commentary

16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

The "therefore" connects us back to the preceding verses about the love of Christ compelling us and the fact that one died for all. Because of that objective reality, our entire way of evaluating people has to change. To know someone "according to the flesh" is to judge them by external, worldly standards: their race, their social status, their wealth, their education, their personality, their resume. The world is obsessed with these categories. But in the church, they are rendered obsolete. We are to see others through the lens of the cross. Is this person in Christ or not? That is the only ultimate distinction. Paul even applies this to Jesus. "Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh" likely refers to the period when people, including His own disciples, saw Him as a potential political Messiah, a great teacher, or a miracle worker, but did not yet grasp the reality of His divine identity and atoning work. But now, post-resurrection, that limited, earthly view is gone forever. We know Him now as the risen Lord, the head of the new creation.

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

This is one of the pinnacle statements of the gospel. The "therefore" flows from the new way of seeing. If earthly standards are obsolete, what is the new standard? It is whether one is "in Christ." This is a positional term. To be in Christ is to be united to Him by faith, to be part of His mystical body. And for anyone in that position, the result is staggering: he is a new creation. Not a renovated person, but a new creation. The Greek word ktisis points back to Genesis 1. This is a creative act of God. The "old things" refer to everything associated with our life in Adam: our guilt, our condemnation, our bondage to sin, our old identity. All of that has "passed away." It is a completed action. And in its place, "new things have come." A new identity, a new standing before God, a new heart, a new future. The "behold" is a call to stop and marvel at this miracle. This is not aspirational; it is declarative. If you are in Christ, this is who you are.

18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

Lest we think this new creation is something we achieve, Paul immediately clarifies the source: "all these things are from God." Our salvation is a monologue of grace, not a dialogue. God is the sole actor. And what was His action? He "reconciled us to Himself." Reconciliation presupposes a state of enmity. We were God's enemies, hostile in our minds and rebels in our actions. God took the initiative to end the war. He did it "through Christ." The cross was the peace treaty, signed in the blood of the Son. But God did not stop there. Having accomplished our reconciliation, He then gave us a job: the "ministry of reconciliation." Those who have been reconciled become the reconcilers. We are not just the beneficiaries of this peace; we are the heralds of it.

19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their transgressions against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Paul now elaborates on what this reconciliation entails. This is the content of our ministry, the "word of reconciliation." First, the agent was God Himself, working "in Christ." The Father was not a reluctant judge whom a loving Son had to persuade. The Trinity was united in this work of rescue. Second, the scope is the "world." This does not mean universal salvation, but rather that the offer is not limited to any one tribe or nation. The basis of God's reconciling work is cosmic in its scale. Third, the mechanism is non-imputation. God achieves this peace by "not counting their transgressions against them." Our cosmic rap sheet, our mountain of debt, is not held against us. Why? The answer comes in verse 21. For now, Paul states the glorious fact. And this message, this word, has been "committed to us." It is a sacred trust, a treasure placed in our hands.

20 So then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as God is pleading through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

The "so then" draws the logical conclusion from all that has been said. If God has given us this ministry and this message, what does that make us? Ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador does not speak his own message; he represents his king and delivers the king's message verbatim. We have been sent from the throne of heaven into a rebellious province, the world, with a royal summons. And notice the posture of this ambassadorship. It is not one of arrogance, but of earnest pleading. "God is pleading through us." The holy God of the universe pleads with rebels to lay down their arms. Paul models this himself: "We beg you on behalf of Christ." The imperative "be reconciled to God" is not a call for us to do the work of reconciliation. God has already done that objectively in the cross. This is a call for rebels to accept the terms of surrender, to receive the peace that has already been won and is now freely offered. It is a call to repent and believe.

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This is the foundation upon which everything else rests. How can a holy God not count transgressions against sinners? How can He be both just and the justifier? This verse explains how. It is the doctrine of double imputation, the great exchange. First, you have the perfect qualification of the substitute: Christ "knew no sin." He was not just a good man; He was sinless, the unblemished Lamb. Second, you have the imputation of our sin to Him: God "made Him... to be sin on our behalf." This does not mean Jesus became a sinner in His nature. It means that in the courtroom of God, our sin, our guilt, our liability to punishment was legally transferred to His account. He stood in our place and received the full force of God's wrath against sin. Third, you have the purpose and result: "so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Just as our sin was imputed to Him, His perfect righteousness is imputed to us. When God looks at a believer, He does not see their sin; He sees the perfect, flawless record of His Son. This is a legal declaration. We are not just forgiven; we are declared righteous. This is the heart of the gospel, the only ground of our peace with God.

Application

This passage ought to revolutionize how we view ourselves, how we view others, and how we view our purpose in the world. First, for ourselves, we must stop trying to patch up the old man. Our hope is not in self-improvement but in the reality that we are a new creation. We must learn to live out the new identity that God has already given us in Christ. When we sin, we should not despair as though our old identity has reasserted itself. Rather, we should confess it as an act that is utterly inconsistent with who we now are in Christ, and receive forgiveness on the basis of His righteousness, not our performance.

Second, we must stop evaluating others "according to the flesh." In the church, there is no place for snobbery, racism, or classism. The brother with the PhD and the brother who drives a truck are both simply "new creations in Christ." The sister from a wealthy family and the sister on public assistance share the same status as daughters of the King. Our primary lens for seeing one another must be the cross. This will kill our pride and cultivate genuine, humble fellowship.

Finally, we must take up our commission. We are not here by accident. We are ambassadors. We have been entrusted with the most important message in the history of the world: God has made peace through the blood of His Son. This should give us courage. We are not sharing our opinions; we are delivering a message from the King of the universe. And it should give us urgency. We are surrounded by people who are still at war with God, and we carry the terms of peace. Therefore, like Paul, we must plead with them, beg them on behalf of Christ, to lay down their rebellion and be reconciled to God.