2 Corinthians 5
2 Corinthians Chapter 5, Explained
Second Corinthians 5 lifts our eyes past this fragile life to what is eternal. Paul compares our bodies to tents and looks forward to a lasting home from God. He says we walk by faith and not by sight, and he lives to please the Lord, knowing we will all stand before Him.
At the center is one of the clearest statements of the gospel. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come. God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, appealing to the world through us. The chapter ends with the great exchange: God made the sinless Christ to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Key verses from 2 Corinthians 5
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
The main point
Second Corinthians 5 is about becoming a new creation in Christ and being reconciled to God through Him.
How 2 Corinthians 5 points to Jesus
The whole chapter turns on Jesus, who was made sin for us so that we could be made right with God. In Him the old life is gone, we are made new, and we are welcomed back into friendship with our Maker.
Want to sit with this chapter for yourself? Open The Living Bread to read 2 Corinthians 5 in full, ask any question about it, and pray with others, free.