speratus said: You have really butchered a simple text! When Paul says "the world", he means "the world". The text speaks of reconciliation of all men and the ministry of reconciliation, the means by which believers obtain the reconciliation.
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Popular Commentary, by Paul E. Kretzmann, But the final source of the blessings is the Lord Himself: But all things from God, who has reconciled us to Himself, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. God is the Creator of all the wonderful things which are given to man in his conversion. By a twofold act he brings about the spiritual creation in the heart of man. In the first place, He reconciled all mankind to Himself through Christ. It was God Himself that planned the salvation, the atonement of mankind through the sacrifice of Christ. All men were, by their own fault, His enemies and wanted nothing of Him. But since His righteousness and holiness would therefore have been obliged to condemn them to everlasting punishment, He found this way by which the enmity might be removed and the friendly relations intended by Him in the beginning be established. This reconciliation was brought about by Christ for all men, by His vicarious work; it is a historical fact. And now the second act of God’s mercy comes into consideration, namely, that he has given to the apostle and his fellow-workers, to the ministers of the Gospel at all times, the ministry of the reconciliation, He has entrusted to them the office of proclaiming the fact of the reconciliation of all men, the fact that God is actually reconciled to all men through Christ.
Against my better judgment to continue in this series of posts, the absence of the article before world in 2 Cor 5:19 leaves us to contemplate the abstract significance of this word (read pp 206-290 in the chapters entitled The Article in Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Daniel Wallace for more information). It was “a world,” not “the world,” that God was reconciling to Himself. Thus, when Paul says "a world," he means "a world" (note the a world being reconciled was in the world). Hodge states concerning the phrase the world,
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… This is an indefinite statement, merely indicating the sort of beings toward whom God was revealing himself as propitious. In the same sense our Lord is called the Saviour of the world or the Saviour of mankind. (Hodge, Charles. 2 Corinthians. Crossway classic commentaries, 2 Co 5:19. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1995).
Reconciling in 2 Cor 5:19 is a present tense participle revealing God continues to reconcile people to himself. Thus, reconciling the world takes place in and through Christ as a continuing activity. “Not reckoning unto them their trespasses,” is also a present tense of the participle, which indicates that God continues to release believers from their guilt. Clearly the Popular Commentary is a poor comment on the truth of Scripture. Your defense of the heretical doctrine of universalism is refuted! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/hello.gif" alt="" />
Free Greek (and Hebrew) fonts for reading the attachment are here.
Last edited by J_Edwards; Mon Feb 14, 200510:57 AM.
