2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2
New Catholic Bible
11 Well Known to God. And so, with this fear of the Lord always foremost in our thoughts, we try to persuade others. We ourselves are well known to God, and I hope we are also well known to your consciences. 12 We are not once again commending ourselves to you, but we are rather affording you an opportunity to boast about us. Then you will have an answer to those who boast of external appearances and not the heart. 13 If, indeed, we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are rational, it is for your sake.
14 The Ministry of Reconciliation. For the love of Christ urges us forward, once we conclude that one has died for all, and therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sakes died and was raised to life.
16 Therefore, from now on we will not regard anyone according to human standards. Even though we once judged Christ from a human point of view,[a] we no longer do so. 17 Consequently, anyone united to Christ is a new creation. The old order has passed away. Behold, all has become new.
18 All this has been done by God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, and not holding people’s transgressions against them, and he committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is appealing to you through us. We implore you through Christ to be reconciled to God. 21 He made him who did not know sin to be sin for our sake, so that through him we might become the righteousness of God.[b]
Chapter 6
1 As his coworkers, we urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,
“In an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.[c]
Footnotes
- 2 Corinthians 5:16 We once judged Christ from a human point of view: literally: “we knew Christ according to the flesh.” The literal translation does not mean that Paul met Jesus during the latter’s mortal life; it means, rather, that before Paul was converted he had human prejudices regarding Jesus, but now no longer does so.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 This is a splendid summary of the redemption. God made the penalty for sins to fall on Jesus (see Isa 53:6; Gal 3:13). Christ, the only one who is entirely righteous, took our sins upon himself at Calvary and endured the punishment reserved for us, i.e., death and separation from God. He made it possible for us to receive his righteousness and be recommended to God. Yet all this stems from the love of the Father, who prompted Christ by his plan and enabled him to bring it about by his grace.
- 2 Corinthians 6:2 This verse does not exclude from grace and salvation those people who lived before Christ’s coming. For they received the promises that were later fulfilled in Christ (2 Cor 1:20) and saw and welcomed their fulfillment from a distance (see Jn 8:56; Heb 11:13).
