16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [h]he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and [i]He has [j]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

These verses had me like a hammer and anvil today.

v. 17 has been cause of fixation, both in the greater Xian circles I revolved in as well as me personally. I think it’s been repeated past the point of meaning. Hence my shock that these other verses of, arguably, far greater heft surround it. Why do we focus on the self? Probably because Christianity has been sold in America as an insular, personal gospel of self-improvement. Franzen (as quoted by Tulian Tchividjian, whom I’d heard it from) probably struck at the root of this fixation when he wrote:

“We have this notion in this country, not only of endless economic growth but of endless personal growth…And it’s so clearly belied by our experience. You may get better in certain ways for 10 years, but one day you wake up and although things are a little bit different, they’re not a lot different.”

A combination of absolution from previous actions (“New creatures, absolved from the old actions!” Assuagement of guilt and all that), but also, proabably a singular focus on self (“Better today than yesterday!”) is what makes this verse so mindlessly repeatable.

It’s interesting that this single verse has been made one of the fulcrums of my American Christian experience* when it’s couched in a more complete exploration of the believer’s relationship to other believers and the community at large. Have I ever heard “…as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” from the pulpit? Probably not. Do I live my life with that measure of humility and love? No. Probably not. I wish I did.

I’ll save the thorough exegesis for people a lot more capable than me. I’m just writing down what struck me between the eyes today.

An Aside: I have never heard “Ministry of Reconciliation” outside of Christian Philosophy (most notably Lewis’s concept of 2 Kingdoms in Mere Christianity), but it is undoubtably one of my new favorite turns of phrases regarding the calling of Believers. A calling inspired by a gospel the Message so wonderfully summarizes just a verse later as; “In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”