2 Corinthians 5:21

For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

So completely has Paul entered into the spirit of Christ's vicarious work that he wants to apply its practical demands to all circumstances of life: So that we from now on know nobody according to the flesh. Because in his conversion he received the conviction that the believers should live to no one but Christ, and because in his ministry the love of Christ is the one compelling motive, therefore he allows no fleshly considerations to influence his judgment and his treatment of others. It makes no difference to him whether his neighbor or any man is of noble birth, of influential position, socially prominent, rich, with an impressive manner of dealing with people all these things have no influence upon him. He has absolutely no selfish motives; he does not seek his own. "To know any one according to the flesh is to know him no farther than the flesh is able. But now the flesh is not able to do more than seek its own with regard to everybody; it hates, it is jealous, it does the enemy an ill turn wherever it can; but it seeks desire, good will, enjoyment, friendship in everybody for its own benefit. " These carnal considerations Paul has left behind him. And more: Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no more. There was a time when Paul had looked also upon the promised Messiah in this carnal manner, when he had thought of Him only as an earthly prince and deliverer from the rule of the Romans. But he had now obtained a better knowledge of Christ, of both His person and office. The crucified Jesus was no longer an offense to him as in the days before his conversion, but he recognized in Him the basis of his salvation.

The result of this knowledge for himself and all believers is: So that, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That is the result of the proper view of Christ: Any man, all men, no matter how many, that have accepted Christ by faith and have therefore been planted into Him, are new creatures, new creations Conversion is a new creation, a regeneration; in conversion heart and mind are changed completely; converted people are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:10. The knowledge of Christ by faith, no matter how imperfect it may still be, works this miracle: The old things have passed away; behold, they are become new. The old carnal-mindedness of the old Adam has passed away, even though it is still necessary to remove him by daily contrition and repentance. And thus every Christian is a miracle in his own eyes: the creation of the new man is finished, and he is gaining every day in strength and power, Ephesians 4:23. All this is brought about by the Word of Grace and by the ministry of the Gospel.

But the final source of the blessings is the Lord Himself: But all things from God, who has reconciled us to Himself, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. God is the Creator of all the wonderful things which are given to man in his conversion. By a twofold act he brings about the spiritual creation in the heart of man. In the first place, He reconciled all mankind to Himself through Christ. It was God Himself that planned the salvation, the atonement of mankind through the sacrifice of Christ. All men were, by their own fault, His enemies and wanted nothing of Him. But since His righteousness and holiness would therefore have been obliged to condemn them to everlasting punishment, He found this way by which the enmity might be removed and the friendly relations intended by Him in the beginning be established. This reconciliation was brought about by Christ for all men, by His vicarious work; it is a historical fact. And now the second act of God's mercy comes into consideration, namely, that he has given to the apostle and his fellow-workers, to the ministers of the Gospel at all times, the ministry of the reconciliation, He has entrusted to them the office of proclaiming the fact of the reconciliation of all men, the fact that God is actually reconciled to all men through Christ. The business of the Gospel-ministry, then, is only one, namely, to make known the existing reconciliation and thus to urge men to believe in Christ.

The apostle explains this statement, thus giving the content of all Gospel-preaching: That God was reconciling a world to Himself in Christ. He was removing the enmity which had separated man from his Maker. And the actual, practical manner in which the reconciliation is being brought about is: Not imputing to them their sins. Men are guilty of transgressions before the face of God continually, their trespasses should be recorded on the debit side of the account-book of God. But God does not impute their trespasses to men that accept the reconciliation: He enters them, not under their own names, but under that of Christ, and the atonement being perfect, the debt is wiped away. Into the hands of the apostles and of all the ministers of the Gospel, therefore, God has placed the Word of Reconciliation; He has entrusted to them the message of reconciliation, the Word by which He wants to recall all men to the right relation to Him.

Paul, therefore, filled with the glory of these divine facts, sends forth his ringing invitation: In behalf of Christ, then, we are ambassadors, as though God were entreating through us. Christ's representatives they are, bringing the Word, the offer of reconciliation to men, the earnest entreaty of God to accept His mercy and grace in Christ Jesus: We pray you in behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God! What a strange situation: The holy, righteous God, who has been insulted times without number by the countless sins of the men of all times, begs for reconciliation; the almighty, jealous God, who is able to punish every sin with the condemnation of hell, offers instead the fullness of His love and everlasting life and bliss! That surely is a mystery of the Gospel beyond all understanding; that is a message which should impress the most hardened sinner with the unutterable glory of the love of God. And lest anyone have doubts as to the fact of reconciliation, as to the possibility of a full and complete atonement under such conditions, the apostle explains the miracle in one sentence: Him who knew not sin for us He made sin, in order that we might become righteousness of God in Him. In this way was the miracle of the atonement brought about. God Himself sent His own Son, who was perfectly sinless and holy, to whose nature all contradiction and opposition to the will of God was utterly strange, who was pure and holy also in the sight of God, and laid upon Him the iniquity of the whole world, Isaiah 53:6, He made Him to be sin on our behalf. The transgressions were laid upon Him, the guilt was imputed to Him; He was the representative of the whole world's sin, the greatest malefactor that ever lived on earth, all by virtue of His vicarious work. And so perfect was the expiation, so complete the propitiation, that we have become, in turn, the righteousness of God in Him. For the sake of Christ we are now looked upon as being as holy and perfect as the very Son of God Himself, with not a single fault or flaw to condemn us, with not a single transgression charged to our account. That is, in brief, the wonderful summary of the message of reconciliation, that is the Gospel which the ministers of the Lord are to proclaim in the fullness of its beauty and glory, that is the invitation they should extend to all men without the slightest restriction. And we, in turn, should accept the glorious news in the spirit in which it was offered, and be sure, on our part, henceforth not to live unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us and rose again.

Summary

Paul expresses the longing of his homesick heart for the future glory, states as the prime motive of his work the love of Christ which he has experienced, and issues his earnest invitation to accept the message of reconciliation.