What is the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:18?

Thus has He reconciled us to Himself, through Christ. He has brought us out of all the estrangement natural to us. There is no distance; there is nearness. There is no separation of our things from His. They are, so to speak, identical; and thus not the apostle alone could say, nor any class among Christians merely, that "He hath given us the ministry of reconciliation." By the very fact that He has brought us to Himself and made Himself known to us, He has given its the power also of making known to others that with which our own souls are filled and of bringing others to Him. We have received the reconciliation; and what we have received, we have received not for ourselves alone, but to minister with it. It is the work which Christ Himself began upon earth when God in Him assumed the attitude of perfect grace, not imputing men's trespasses to them, reconciling, therefore, the world to Himself. It is not a question of how far this might be effectual, of how far men, in fact, responded to it. It was His attitude. It was on God's part complete, and now, with that work accomplished which he speaks of directly as the basis of it all, and which always must have been the basis of it, a work foreseen by God before it was accomplished, but which is now accomplished, He is still reconciling men, but through others, who stand instead of Christ here, His authenticated ambassadors, by whom God beseeches men still. "We pray," says the apostle, "in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." That is, Christ is not here Himself to do this, but He has multiplied the hands which are to minister it. He has on every side the witnesses that are to speak for Him. The apostle and those with him, sent in the first place direct from Christ, fulfilled this character, of course, in the most complete and authoritative way, but we must not on that account overlook our own part in it, — a part which every Christian has. It is not, indeed, a mere question of something entrusted to us, but of hearts that know God's grace and know men's need of it, which must necessarily, therefore, speak of what they know. As we have already seen, he who believes speaks. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

Having reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ, He has also given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Having brought us into this blessed position through grace, He calls us to make it known to others and lead others to Him. What we have received we are to use in our ministry. And every reconciled one is called into this service to exercise the ministry of reconciliation and be a soul-winner. "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin, He hath made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." This is the great message of the true minister, and all believers can be true ministers and proclaim the message in Christ's stead and point sinners to the cross, where He who knew no sin was made sin for us, where redemption full and free is offered to all.

The aspect of the doctrine stated in this verse is very wide. The subordinate facts relating to the manifestation of Emmanuel, and His rejection by His own, are here overshadowed by the grand central truth of the cross. God had foreordained a Lamb, and prepared a body for His Son. All other things which the gospels witness of the Saviour are passed by in silence, because, although inseparable from the doctrine of atonement in its complete enunciation, they are not its distinctive verity. Death only could effect the reconciliation to God of those whom sin had made His enemies, and whose condition is mortal on account of sin. The work of reconciliation therefore was completed, when the suffering Redeemer bowed His sacred head upon the cross and said, "It is finished," in the act of death. The ministry of reconciliation began when, in the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, the Lord's originally-called apostles preached first at Jerusalem, and to the actual murderers of Christ, forgiveness and acceptance in His Name. And it is to the fellowship of this ministry that Paul, the once persecutor and injurious, here lays claim, for himself and his partners in the work of God, in the closing sentence of this verse: "and placed in us the word of reconciliation" (themenos en hemin t.l.t.k.).

1886 89 Beyond all this there was another most powerful principle at work in the soul of the apostle, and that was the so linking himself with God in His service, that he was not discouraged amidst the greatest trials. "And all things are of God." It was God Who first reconciled him to Himself by Jesus Christ, and then gave to him the ministry of reconciliation. It was the ministry of reconciliation; and the minister of it was not to invest himself with the repulsiveness of God in judgment, but with the attractiveness of God in grace. He would put himself in the way of the patient grace of God, even according as God was exhibited in Christ. It was the incarnation which brought out all the bright effulgence of the divine character — "full of grace and truth." It was thus He exhibited Himself in the world; but the world knew Him not. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. But He is no longer exhibiting Himself personally in the world in this manner to the eyes of men. Man has rejected this manifestation of God, however he may try to hide from himself his shame (as the Jews did theirs of having killed the prophets by building their sepulchres), by celebrating the day of the incarnation. But God, though not personally thus present, is manifested in the same grace now; and where is He to be so seen? In the ministry of reconciliation — "and hath put in* us the ministry of reconciliation." It is in this ministry we see God yet in the world; not judging, not ordering it, but ministering to its wretchedness in the only way which would meet man's extreme necessity; that is, by the testimony to the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

"The ministry of reconciliation," to wit, that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them," is the suited adjunct to this ministry of the new covenant. "The ambassadors for Christ" to His betrayers and murderers open their credentials by presenting God as beseeching men to be reconciled to God upon this new footing, "that he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." What "the sheet let down from heaven," wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts and creeping things, was to Peter as the warrant from God to him to open the door to Cornelius and the Gentiles, this ministry of reconciliation was to Paul now, seeing its aspect was to the whole world. Therefore he could say, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief." The Jesus whom Paul was persecuting when stoning Stephen, the Son of God in glory, Christ the Lord, and this blasphemer, the very chief of sinners, give the two extremes of "this ministry of reconciliation," and they meet and are together.

The ministry of reconciliation was seen in the movements and words of the Lord Jesus when here in this world He made known God's attitude to man. We read in John 3:17 "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved". Again we have the words in John 8 of the Lord Himself, "Neither do I condemn thee"; He was "not imputing their trespasses unto them". In every detail of His service here He was manifesting the wonderful fact that He had come into the world to recover man for God; that is the ministry of reconciliation. Now, as to the word of reconciliation, we know that before any one of us could get the gain of what was expressed in the Lord's movements of love, His precious death was a necessity. He must die upon the cross, and now as the result of that work God has moved towards us in the gospel, as we see so plainly evidenced in the words of Paul, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). This is the word of reconciliation which he tells us in the previous verse God had committed to him.

Being reconciled, the Apostle can say that a ministry of reconciliation is given to us, with which we can go to the world. When Christ was here, God was in Christ proclaiming the love and grace of God. But Christ has been rejected and gone from the world. But, even so, during the time of His absence, the grace of God sends His servants as ambassadors for Christ beseeching the poor world, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God. It will be noticed that the "you," twice repeated in italics, and the "ye" should be omitted. The insertion of these pronouns limits the truth to believers; whereas the appeal is to the world.

When Christ was here, God was in Him with reconciliation in view for the whole world. He came to bring men to God, not to arraign them before God, bringing them to book as regards their sins. This we see strikingly exemplified in John 8:11. But God's overtures to men in Christ, with reconciliation in view, were rejected and He was put to death. It is one of the chief wonders of the Gospel that notwithstanding this His death became the basis of the reconciliation that is being announced today.

We believers are now reconciled to God; and as reconciled ourselves we have a part in the ministry of reconciliation. When the Apostle wrote, "We are ambassadors for Christ," he probably was thinking of himself and his fellow-labourers and the other apostles, for they were in a special sense put in trust with the Gospel; yet his words have an application to every believer. The church of God is like a divine embassy in the hostile world, and each of us has to remember that we are a part of that embassy, and that our attitude towards men has to be in keeping with the word of reconciliation that we carry. At the end of verse 20 we get as in a nutshell what the word of reconciliation is. The words, "you," "you," and "ye," are not in the original. "God as it were beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ, Be reconciled to God" (N. Tr.).

The stream still flowed. Christ died on the cross, was buried, rose again, ascended up to heaven, and sat down on the right hand of God. Thereon the Holy Spirit was given, souls were converted and reconciled, and then sent forth with God's message to the whole world. The apostle says, "All things are of God, who hath reconciled 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 unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." And then he proceeds to describe the carrying out of this ministry: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech by us: we pray in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God." (v. 20.) Sent forth as Christ's ambassadors, after He had taken His seat at the right hand of God, it is still, as it were, the voice of God beseeching through those who were pleading with men, in the stead of Christ (for He was no longer here), to be reconciled to God. Such has been the action of God with the view of reconciling men. He Himself was here in the person of Christ, here in grace in the attitude of seeking to reconcile, then, still proceeding with His object, He made Him, who knew no sin, sin on the cross, and thereon He took up men, reconciled them to Himself, and put in them the ministry of reconciliation, that the whole world might know what was in His heart. And though the immediate ambassadors of Christ are no longer upon the earth, yet wherever the gospel message is proclaimed there is still heard the entreating voice of God addressed to His enemies.

We may now look a little more closely at the truth of reconciliation; but first it may be necessary to state distinctly its ground. This is brought forth prominently in all the three scriptures named. We take one of these: "Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile," etc. (Col. 1:20.) Here is given, in precise form, the foundation on which God proceeds; it is the peace which has been made by the blood of the cross of Christ. The reader will at once perceive that this peace is not peace between God and man, not the peace with God which those possess who are justified by faith, because it is set forth as the ground on which God can act in reconciliation. It is rather the peace of God's throne, consequent upon all the claims of that throne, the claims of a Holy God upon sinners, having been completely met by the precious blood of Christ. God, having been thus glorified by the death of the Lord Jesus, is free, in righteousness as well as in grace, to take the first step in the work of reconciliation. The death of Christ is the alone ground on which He acts; so in Romans we read, "We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10); in Colossians, "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death." And as it is on the ground of the death of Christ, so it is by the presentation of what God is in Christ, when down here, and through Christ in His death on the cross, that God speaks in power, through the Holy Spirit, to the hearts of sinners, and effects their reconciliation by the revelation of what He is in all His goodness and grace. The work of reconciliation is thus the work of God, even as the apostle says, "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself;" and again, "And you hath He reconciled."

To Paul was committed the ministry of reconciliation; a ministry that told of God’s overtures in grace to man in the Person of Christ. When Christ was upon earth, God was not imputing to men their trespasses; He was offering blessing in grace in Jesus. But men refused the grace of God in Jesus, proving that it was impossible to reconcile man in the flesh. This being so, God brought to light His hidden resources, giving His own Son to die on the cross, that through His death men might be reconciled. So that the basis of reconciliation has been laid in the death of the cross, where Christ who knew no sin, was made sin for us. Now that Christ has died, glorifying God in regard to the whole question of sin, God has sent out His ambassadors with the wondrous message, “Get right with God.” Men can now be reconciled by receiving the message of the Gospel, by accepting Christ who died on the cross to make us “God’s righteousness in Him.”