<p>5:18 <i>But all things are of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation- </i>The Greek for &quot;reconciled&quot; implies to mutually change both sides. Both God and man were in some sense changed by the work of Christ. God reconciled us by the cross, and <i>therefore</i> to us was given the work of preaching the Gospel of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18,20)- a sharing with others of our own experience. This was clearly what fired the first century ecclesia. On the basis of our experience of reconciliation with God, we have been given &ldquo;the ministry of reconciliation&rdquo;, in that God &ldquo;has put in us Gk. settled deep within us the word of reconciliation&rdquo; (2 Cor. 5:18,19). That which is deeply internal issues in an outward witness. For this reason all discussion of how that outward witness should be made is somewhat irrelevant- the witness naturally springs from deep within. If it doesn&rsquo;t, we have to ask whether we have anything much deep within.</p><p>&quot;Ministry&quot; is a word repeatedly used by Paul in 2 Corinthians for his ministry or service to the brotherhood (2 Cor. 8:4; 9:1,12,13; 11:8). Because we have been reconciled to God by forgiveness, through the ministry of the suffering servant, we are to respond by ministering to others practically. Thus &quot;the ministry of reconciliation&quot; isn't simply 'preaching the Gospel' or reconciling others to God. It refers also to the practical ministry / service which is &quot;of&quot; or inspired by reconciliation. Classical Greek only uses the word translated &quot;reconcile&quot; regarding personal relationships of humans; and never about God or in a theological sense. The idea of having a personal reconciliation with God personally was a huge paradigm breaker in the first century world- and properly understood, it is today too. Thus &quot;the ministry of reconciliation&quot; is parallel with the ministry of the Spirit and of the new covenant (2 Cor. 3:6,8). The reconciliation achieved is by the Spirit, deep in the heart of the believer- for that is where personal relationships exist.</p><p>God reconciled the world; but the word of reconciliation is committed unto us. All men were reconciled to God on the cross, even while they were sinners (Rom. 5:10); but it depends upon us to take that Gospel of reconciliation to them. So far as we fail in this, so far we leave His death for them in vain, only a potential achievement. We were given reconciliation personally (Rom. 5:11 RV); and we are also given &ldquo;the ministry of reconciliation&rdquo;, the command to preach that reconciliation and share it with others . To be reconciled to God is to be given a charge to reconcile others.</p><p>Our preaching should flow naturally out of our own personal experience of God's grace. The fact that we were reconciled is tied up with the fact that we have been given, as part of this &ldquo;being reconciled&rdquo;, the ministry of preaching reconciliation. It is the greatness of God's grace which will form the content of our preaching, not our own practical experience of it. Our experience will only motivate us personally, not anyone else. We preach not ourselves, but Christ as Lord and Saviour. Let's really get down to serious self examination, to more finely appreciating the holiness of God and the horror of sin. If we can do this- and only if- our preaching, our speaking, our reasoning, even our very body language, will be stamped with the vital hallmark: humility.</p><p>Note that the style of 5:18-21 suggests it may have been a hymn well known to Paul's early Christian readership, or even a baptismal confessional statement.</p>