Many teachers of the Bible treat 2 Corinthians 6 as if it were separate from chapter five. They do not point out how chapters five and six are connected. Actually, chapter six is an explanation of chapter five.
We have seen that in chapter five the apostles have received the ministry of reconciliation to bring God’s people, not only sinners, back into God Himself so that they may become the righteousness of God in Christ. The apostles had been commissioned with this ministry to bring God’s people into Him and to make them one with Him organically. When we are brought back into God in this way, we become the righteousness of God.
Since righteousness is an attribute of God, to become God’s righteousness in Christ is to become this divine attribute. In this sense, we become what God is. God is righteousness, and in Christ we become this righteousness of God, an attribute of what God Himself is. How marvelous! This is the purpose of God’s salvation and the goal of His economy. God’s economy in saving us is to make us the expression of God, even one of His attributes. This is revealed in chapter five of 2 Corinthians.
Paul realized that his description of reconciliation in chapter five involved something very deep. Thus, in chapter six he explains further that the reconciliation in chapter five is equal to full salvation. For this reason, in 6:2 he refers to reconciliation as salvation. The salvation here is not the salvation of sinners; it is the salvation of God’s half-reconciled people. Those who have been only partly reconciled to God need further reconciliation, further salvation.
We all can confidently declare that we have been saved. However, we may not yet be saved in full. Therefore, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and pray, “O Lord, I thank You that by Your mercy and grace You have saved me. But, Lord, I still have not been fully saved. I need more of Your salvation.”
Some believers have been saved to a large degree. Others, however, have been saved only to a very small extent. In these messages I am burdened that we all would have a greater degree of salvation. I am concerned about the percentage of your salvation. To what degree, to what extent, have you been saved? Some who have been under this ministry for years still only have a very limited salvation. Furthermore, the percentage of their salvation is increasing slowly. My point here is that reconciliation and salvation are matters of degree. This is especially true of reconciliation. I am hoping that the degree of our reconciliation into God will increase rapidly.
What we have in chapter six is progress related to salvation. According to the context, to be saved (6:2) is simply to be reconciled to God.
As long as certain parts of us are not saved, in those parts of our being there is a discrepancy between us and God. A more accurate word to describe this condition is enmity. In Romans 8 Paul says the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God. But the mind set on the spirit is life and peace (Rom. 8:6). When we are in spirit, we have life and also peace. Peace is an indication of being reconciled to God. As long as there is something within us that is lacking in peace, some part of us is at enmity with God. This indicates that, at least in certain matters, we have not been reconciled to God, for in these matters there is no peace between us and God. To be sure, whenever there is no peace, there is enmity. But when peace comes, enmity disappears. We may also say that when enmity goes, peace comes. Whether or not we are at peace depends on our being reconciled to God.
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