John Calvin Commentary 2 Corinthians 5:19

"to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation." — 2 Corinthians 5:19 (ASV)

God was in Christ. Some take this as meaning simply — God reconciled the world to himself in Christ; but the meaning is fuller and more comprehensive — first, that God was in Christ; and, secondly, that he reconciled the world to himself by his intercession. It is also of the Father that this is affirmed; for it would be an improper expression if you were to understand it as meaning that the divine nature of Christ was in him. The Father, therefore, was in the Son, in accordance with that statement —

I am in the Father, and the Father in me (John 10:38).

Therefore he who has the Son, has the Father also. For Paul has used this expression with this view — that we may learn to be satisfied with Christ alone, because in him we also find God the Father, as he truly communicates himself to us by him. Hence the expression is equivalent to this: “Whereas God had withdrawn to a distance from us, he has drawn near to us in Christ, and thus Christ has become to us the true Emmanuel, and his coming is God’s drawing near to men.”

The second part of the statement points out the office of Christ — his being our propitiation (1 John 2:2), because apart from Him, God is displeased with us all, since we have revolted from righteousness. For what purpose, then, has God appeared to men in Christ? For the purpose of reconciliation — that, hostilities being removed, those who were aliens might be adopted as sons.

Now, although Christ’s coming as our Redeemer originated in the fountain of Divine love towards us, yet until men perceive that God has been propitiated by the Mediator, there must necessarily be a variance remaining with respect to them, which shuts them out from access to God. On this point we will speak more fully soon.

Not imputing to them. Note in what way men return into favor with God — when they are regarded as righteous by obtaining the remission of their sins. For as long as God imputes our sins to us, He must necessarily regard us with abhorrence; for he cannot be friendly or propitious to sinners.

But this statement may seem to be at variance with what is said elsewhere — that we were loved by Him before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and still more with what he says (John 3:16), that the love which he exercised towards us was the reason why He expiated our sins by Christ, for the cause always goes before its effect.

I answer that we were loved before the creation of the world, but it was only in Christ. Meanwhile, however, I confess that the love of God was first in point of time, and of order too, from God’s perspective; but with respect to us, the commencement of his love has its foundation in the sacrifice of Christ. For when we contemplate God without a Mediator, we cannot conceive of Him otherwise than as angry with us: a Mediator interposed between us makes us feel that He is pacified towards us.

However, as it is also necessary for us to know that Christ came to us from the fountain of God’s free mercy, Scripture explicitly teaches both — that the anger of the Father has been appeased by the sacrifice of the Son, and that the Son has been offered up for the expiation of the sins of men on this ground — because God, exercising compassion towards them, receives them into favor on the ground of such a pledge.

The whole may be summed up thus: “Where sin is, there the anger of God is, and therefore God is not propitious to us without, or before, His blotting out our sins by not imputing them.” As our consciences cannot apprehend this benefit except through the intervention of Christ’s sacrifice, it is not without good reason that Paul makes that the commencement and cause of reconciliation with regard to us.

And hath committed to us. Again he repeats that a commission has been given to the ministers of the gospel to communicate this grace to us. For it might be objected: “Where is Christ now, the peacemaker between God and us? At what a distance he resides from us!”

He says, therefore, that as he has once suffered (1 Peter 3:18), so he daily presents to us the fruit of his suffering by means of the Gospel, which he designed should be in the world as a sure and authentic register of the reconciliation that has once been effected. It is the part of ministers, therefore, to apply to us, so to speak, the fruit of Christ’s death.

However, lest anyone should dream of a magical application, such as Papists contrive, we must carefully observe what he immediately adds — that it consists wholly in the preaching of the Gospel. For the Pope, along with his priests, uses this pretext for giving a semblance of authority to the whole of that wicked and execrable system of merchandise which they carry on in connection with the salvation of souls.

“The Lord,” they say, “has furnished us with a commission and authority to forgive sins.” This I acknowledge, provided they discharge that embassy of which Paul here makes mention. The absolution, however, which they use in the Papacy, is entirely magical; and besides, they enclose the pardon of sins in lead and parchment, or they connect it with fictitious and frivolous superstitions. What resemblance do all these things bear to the appointment of Christ?

Hence the ministers of the Gospel restore us to God's favor in a right and orderly manner when they bear testimony to us through the Gospel that God's favor has been procured for us. Let this testimony be removed, and nothing remains but mere imposture. Beware, then, of placing even the smallest drop of your confidence in anything apart from the Gospel.

I do not, indeed, deny that the grace of Christ is applied to us in the sacraments, and that our reconciliation with God is then confirmed in our consciences; but, as the testimony of the Gospel is engraved upon the sacraments, they are not to be judged separately, but must be taken in connection with the Gospel, of which they are appendages. In short, the ministers of the Church are ambassadors for testifying and proclaiming the benefit of reconciliation, only on this condition — that they speak from the Gospel, as from an authentic register.