What Does 2 Corinthians 5:18 Mean in the King James?
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
God’s act of reconciliation becomes the very ministry he entrusts to you.
THE MEANING
God is the source of this reconnection: through Jesus Christ, God brings you into relationship with himself. That same work becomes a ministry entrusted to you, so what you receive is also something you carry into your relationships now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must repair your relationship with God by your own effort before God receives you. Here, God is the one who reconciles, and the work follows as a gift.
THE ROOT
καταλλάσσω
katallassō
GROWS FROM
ἀλλάσσω
allassō
To change, alter, or exchange; καταλλάσσω names the restoring of relationship.
“reconciled” in this verse is katallassō. The verse repeats this word family: God reconciles, then gives the ministry of reconciliation. The work entrusted to you carries the same movement God has already enacted: restoration is received, then becomes shared service.
ALSO GROWS
katallagē: Reconciliation, restoration of relationship.
καταλλαγή
This is the word translated ministry of reconciliation in the verse, joining what God does with what God entrusts.
allassō: To change, alter, or exchange.
ἀλλάσσω
The base word reveals that reconciliation belongs to the language of changed relationship, not merely the easing of a feeling.
THE PATTERN
Reconciliation begins with God’s initiative and then becomes work entrusted to people.
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.For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.The same Greek reconciliation word-family appears here, with all things as its scope. The ministry entrusted in this verse belongs to a restoration whose reach extends through earth and heaven.
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