All Things New--II Cor 5:16-21

"16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Introduction

Paul is at his absolute best in this passage. He is at his best because this passage arises in the midst of three paradoxes of Paul's life and ministry which he discusses in II Cor 1-5 (more on this below). The more I study Paul the more I realize that the things that don't sit well with me about him are when he is trying to be a declarative theologian--where he is trying to point to a consistent message in the Gospel. For example, when he tries to explain how the Jewish law is both no longer valid but still good, he gets himself into trouble. But, when he comes to the paradoxes of the Gospel, the antinomies that are in its very nature, he is superb.

One example of where he is both declarative and paradoxical theologian in the same passage is in Rom 9-11. There he is trying to explore and explain why so few Jews have responded to one who is supposed to have been their Messiah. In 9:1-11:30 Paul takes us on the most interesting tour of the OT, of his own ideas, of concepts such as the election of God, the sending of preachers, the hardening of hearts, etc., and he is ever-striving to explain his basic point. I don't think he does a very good job of it. Perhaps he, too, realizes that, because then, at the end of the passage, he shifts into the paradoxical mode: "For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all" (11:32). We are disobedient; God is merciful. We are not worthy of God's love; God showers it on us nevertheless. The latter is vintage Paul, and I think he realizes this, too. He realizes that at the heart of the Gospel is the divine inscrutability:

"O the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways" (11:33).

In II Cor 1-5 Paul is writing about paradoxes. Here are three: (1) the preciousness of the Gospel being entrusted to earthenware vesssels--i.e., us; (2) the authority of the apostle who, nevertheless, has to appear in meekness and as a servant; (3) the glory of the Gospel to save, even though it is a Gospel where the lead actor faced humiliation and death. Paul thrives on these paradoxes. They nurture his soul. And, because he has just spent three or four chapters discussing them, he now speaks with a kind of rare intensity of spirit and insight as he exhorts his hearers to embrace the new things that belong to them in the Gospel. The remainder of this essay briefly explores three new things: (A) A New Knowledge (v. 16); (B) A New Creation (v. 17); and (C) A New Ministry (vv. 18-21). All is fresh and new for Paul, because he is living in his paradoxes.

I. A New Knowledge (v. 16)

The new knowledge of which Paul speaks relates to how he now views people. He now no longer knows them "according to the flesh" (literally). At one time, he says, he viewed Christ "according to the flesh" , but he sees him that way no longer. What does this mean? Commentators have spilled barrels of ink over it, but it seems to point to Paul's pre-Christian regard for Jesus. He considered Jesus as many others would have done so. Perhaps he saw him as a divisive force or even as a good, but misguided man. But now, since the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor. 4:6) is upon him, he has new knowledge not only about Christ but about people. The presence of the Gospel gives us no longer a "human" point of view. This doesn't mean that we are angelic or divine; it means, however, that we have eternity in our hearts. Well, that still can be a little hard to understand (as is Paul's language); it means that we are to act in accordance with the words of Colossians:

"So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at teh right hand of God. Set your minds on thiings that are above, not on things that are on earth..." (3:1-2).

Surely there are practical things to attend to here; but now we have this kind of knowledge, and it should be on our mind.

II. A New Creation (v. 17)

Most arresting, however, is the language of new creation. There are ample OT background texts to help us understand this verse, but they all relate to a general work that God is doing with his people. For example, Is. 43 provides:

"Do not remember the former things,/ or consider the things of old./ I am about to do a new thing;/ now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?/ I will make a way in the wilderness/ and rivers in the desert" (Is. 43:18-19).

Examples of this can be multiplied. I will give you one more. Also from Is. is language of creation and re-creation through Exodus:

"Awake, awake, put on strength,/ O arm of the Lord!/ Awake, as in days of old,/ the generations of long ago!/ Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,/ who pierced the dragon? (i.e., in creation)/ Was it not you who dried up the sea,/ the waters of the great deep;/ who made the depths of the sea a way/ for the redeemed to cross over?" (i.e., the Exodus) (Is. 51:9-10).

God not only effected creation in six days in Genesis but brought about a new creation of sorts when delivering the people from Egypt and bringing the people back from exile. What is remarkable about the II Cor 5:17 passage is that Paul now individualizes the concept of new creation. And he does so with uncharacteristically brief and pungent language. Normally Paul waxes eloquently and at length on salvation; here he simply says, in seven Greek words:

"Thus, if someone (is) in Christ, new creation."

Lest we miss the dramatic nature of it, Paul explains, again with admirable succinctness:

"Old (things) gone, behold new (things) have begun."

How is there a new creation for us when we wake up each morning with the same body, the same aches and pains, the same limitations and demands on us? That, friends, is the task of the preacher to explain. It is new because we realize our lives are now God-given; we realize that our knowledge isn't limited to earthly things; we have, as it were, a new angle or perspective on life. Thus, a new creation.

III. A New Ministry (vv. 18-21)

Paul defines this new ministry as one of reconciliation. In language derived from diplomatic-speak of his day, he says that we are now ambassadors of God. Several ancient authors use the verb Paul employs (presbeuo--lit. "to be an elder") to speak of an embassy from one power to another. Paul is thinking here of a spiritual use of the term--we become "ambassadors of Christ," but I think his use of the term is suggestive in our political world of 2007, too. If, indeed, we have a new knowledge and partake of a new creation, why not see the contours of the new ministry as including anything that leads to reconciliation among people? Why limit it simply to the message of reconciliation? Indeed, in another passage, the Apostle mentions that the heart of the Gospel is in its breaking down of walls between people:

"For he (Christ) is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups (i.e., Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (Eph. 2:14).

Thus even though Paul, in the first instance, is speaking of our new ministry through the message of reconciliation, he also hints at the hard work of reconciliation between peoples, a task that still is wide open in our day.

We do not live the Gospel for ourselves alone. With the newness I have explained we are equipped to face and embrace the world for which Christ died. That is the Good News for today.

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