Be Ye Reconciled to God
by Pastor Ricky Kurth
“Why
does Paul beseech the Corinthians to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20)
if they were already justified ‘saints’ (1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11)?”
“…be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).
In this verse, Paul is not telling the Corinthians to be reconciled to God, he is telling them what to tell unbelievers.
If
we back up to verse 18, we see Paul tell the believers in Corinth that
God “hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” He then goes on
to define the ministry of reconciliation when he begins the
very next verse with the words “to wit.” Those words mean “namely” or
“that is to say.” So Paul is telling believers what to say to unsaved
people when they go forth with the ministry of reconciliation. We might
paraphrase him to say:
“God
has given us the ministry of reconciliation, so go out and tell the
lost, ‘God was in Christ as He hung on the cross, imputing your
trespasses to Him and not to you. He then committed this message of
reconciliation to us believers, and now we are His ambassadors. If He
were here, He’d be begging you to be reconciled to Him, but He’s not,
we’re here in His stead.’”
The Corinthians were already righteous (1 Cor. 1:30), so we know Paul was telling them to tell unsaved people that they “might” be made righteous (2 Cor. 5:20) by believing the gospel.
King James Bible
The Preserved and Living Word of God
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
E-mail this BIBLE STUDY to all your friend
No comments:
Post a Comment