In 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul makes an impassioned plea for holiness on the part of God’s people, as the proper response to the gift of grace they have received from God. This plea was necessary because of the failures the Corinthians had already experienced in their walk. These failures were clearly enumerated in his first epistle to them.
In chapter 5 of his second epistle, he speaks of the assurance of the resurrection. “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (1). He notes the reality of judgment. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (10). He affirms that Christ “died for all” (15). That God “has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (18-19).
It is on the basis of these blessings from God and the reality of judgment that Paul frames his plea for holiness. There are intimations of this in chapter 5. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him” (9). “For the love of Christ compels us” (14). “That those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (15).
It is in the final portion of chapter 5 and into chapter 6 that the personal and passionate plea of Paul is revealed. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (5:20). “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (6:1). “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God” (6:14-16).
Two principles are clearly established in all of these verses. The first is that reconciliation is a work of God. It is ours as a gift, accomplished through the redemptive work of His Son. If we are reconciled to God, it is because of what God has done for us. We are unable to come to Him without that gift of grace.
The second is that we can “receive the grace of God in vain.” In other words, the effectual shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ can become worthless to us by our own action. That is why the plea of Paul is so impassioned. It is because Christians (together with all of mankind) “must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (5:10). The fact that we have responded in faith to the gospel of Christ in no way allows us to live lives of sin. We still must strive for holiness.
These two truths are synthesized in Paul’s words, “As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty’” (6:16-18).
May we all heed Paul’s plea, “be reconciled to God”!
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