devotional post # 2173

2 Corinthians 5:16-19

2Co 5:16 For this reason, we are not interested in knowing anyone on a mere external basis. Even though we once knew about Christ on a mere external basis, we do not know him like that any longer.
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old creature has died; notice, the new creature has come.
2Co 5:18 All this is from God, who through Christ made a friend of us for himself and gave us the ministry of making friends for him of others;
2Co 5:19 that is, in Christ God was making a friend of the world for himself, not counting their violations against them, and entrusting to us the message of making friends for God.

getting close to God

Paul’s teaching on reconciliation reaches its fullest clarity when viewed through the lens of restored friendship. Reconciliation means turning a former enemy into a friend, and that is the heart of Christian mission. The goal is not winning arguments, defeating opponents, or proving superiority. The goal is friendship with God, extended outward into friendship with others. That is why Paul insists that believers must stop viewing non‑Christians as adversaries. They are not obstacles to overcome but potential friends, future brothers and sisters, people whom God desires to draw near.

This shift begins with a reorientation of how Christ is understood. Paul acknowledges that everyone initially views Christ kata sarka—according to the flesh, on a merely external basis. At that stage, Christ appears as a historical figure, a moral teacher, or even a threat to personal autonomy. But when the gospel is heard and believed, that external perspective collapses. Christ becomes known as Savior, Lord, and reconciler. The relationship changes from distant evaluation to intimate trust. Through that change, a person becomes close to God for the first time.

Once that relationship is transformed, everything else changes as well. Reconciliation with God produces a new identity. Paul describes this as becoming a “new creature”—a person renewed from the inside out, reshaped by divine grace. This newness is not merely moral improvement; it is a re‑creation that equips believers for a new mission. Those who have been reconciled become capable of participating in God’s reconciling work. The friendship they have received becomes the friendship they extend.

Evangelism, then, is not a technique or a program. It is the sharing of restored friendship. It is the invitation to others to experience the same closeness with God that transformed the believer’s own life. Because reconciliation has already changed the believer’s heart, it also changes how others are seen. Former enemies become potential friends. Outsiders become people worth pursuing with patience and compassion. The mission becomes an overflow of what God has already done within.

Paul’s vision of reconciliation is therefore deeply relational. It begins with God making peace through Christ, continues with believers becoming new creatures, and extends outward as they bring others into that same peace. The mission is friendship restored—first vertically with God, then horizontally with the world God longs to redeem.

LORD, help us to see nonbelievers as potential friends of God, and help us to pass on our friendship with you to them.