Perfect

This week we begin worship with:

2 Corinthians 5:20-21
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is not the active voice saying “reconcile yourself to God”. This is the passive voice saying “be reconciled to God”. It is so easy to misread into this verse that the command “implore you”, somehow makes us the actor. 

Omitted from order of worship is the first portion of the verse, which identifies Paul and his companions as ambassadors of Christ. They are delivering an offer of peace through exchange.

The deal exchanges sin for righteousness and thus reconciles (katallassō).  

Note too we are not receiving, but rather becoming and not righteous, but rather righteousness. We are not receiving a one time opportunity to clean up our act, which we will inevitably mess up. We are being offered a permanent peace treaty.