2 Corinthians 5:19

to wit, that i.e. this is the tenor of our message.

God was in Christ reconciling Or -that God in Christ was reconciling." Either translation is grammatically and theologically admissible. The former translation, preferred by the Latin expositors, lays most stress upon the indwelling of God in Christ (cf. John 14:10; John 14:17). The latter, which has found most favour among the Greek commentators, indicates the fact, not merely that God reconciled the world, but that the process of reconciliation was carried on "in the Person and work of Christ." Meyer.

the world unto himself It is frequently declared in Scripture that God's purposeembraces all mankind ("the whole world," Alford). Cf. John 1:29; John 3:16; John 4:42; John 6:33; 1 Timothy 2:4; 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 John 2:2, &c.

not imputing their trespasses unto them παραπτώματα, trespasses, literally, fallings aside from the path. The English word is derived from an old French word trespasser, which, like transgress, has a similar meaning to the Greek, namely, to pass over the boundary. This passage explains the nature of the process of reconciliation. It is a very simple one. It consists in the fact that in consequence of Christ's mediatorial work, God no longer imputes sin to man, i.e. regards his sin as though it had not been committed. Cf. Romans 3:25; Romans 3:4; Romans 8:1. Whythis is so, and how it comes to pass that God is both -just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," the Apostle does not explain, nor is any complete explanation given in Holy Scripture, which has concerned itself on this point less with theory than with fact. See however 2 Corinthians 5:15; also Romans 5:8-11; Hebrews 9:12-14; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:10-14, &c. The word here translated imputedis translated indifferently by that word, and by reckonedand accountedin the A. V. It signifies (1) to consider(as in Romans 8:18), and hence (2) to consider a thing as having been done, to reckon or impute.

and hath committed unto us Literally, and placed in us (puttid in us, Wiclif). It signifies more than a simple entrusting with, including (1) the reception of the reconciliation by the first preachers of the Gospel, and (2) their proclamation of it as well by their lives as by their teaching.

the word of reconciliation So Wiclif and the Rhemish Version. Tyndale, Cranmer and the Geneva Version render the preaching of the atonement. The Greek, which is here rendered by -word," signifies (1) the abstract reason of a thing, (2) the discourse which is held about it, and (3) the word which expresses it. The use of three distinct tenses in the three members of this sentence is not a little remarkable. The imperfect, used of God's reconciling work in Christ, relates to the continuation of that work throughout the whole of His earthly ministry. The present, in the word -imputing" signifies that this work of non-imputation is still going on. The aorist, used in the word translated -hath committed," relates to the moment when God -accounted" St Paul -faithful, putting him into the ministry," 1 Timothy 1:12.