Why Do Believers Need to be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?

     In 2 Corinthians 5:18 Paul uses an unusual expression. Perhaps this phrase has never caught your attention before:   "But all things are out from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" In Chapter 37 of the Life Study of 2 Corinthians Witness Lee begins to delve into this chapter. He reminds his readers that 2 Corinthians was not written to sinners but to believers. 



My granddaughter smelling my lilacs.

 So why did these believers need reconciling?  I know I would not have gotten this point at all without the help of these Life-Study messages. To help us understand this, brother Lee makes an amazing correlation between the two veils in the Old Testament tabernacle  (Exodus 26:31-36) to the two steps of a believer's reconciliation Paul presents in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.  

   He shares that in order for the priests to enter into the Holy Place, they had to pass
 through a screen.   And then in order to enter into the Holy of Holies, they had to pass through a veil.  I liked this clear explanation on the two steps of reconciliation on pages 323-324:

In verse 19 it is the world that is to be reconciled to God.  In verse 20 it is the believers, those who have already been reconciled to God, who are to be reconciled to Him further.  This clearly indicates that there are two steps for people to be fully reconciled to God.  The first step is as sinners to be reconciled to God from sin...The second step is as believers living in the natural life to be reconciled to God from the flesh...The Corinthian believers had been reconciled to God, for they had passed through the first veil and had entered into the Holy Place. But they still lived in the flesh.  They needed to pass the second veil, which has already been rent (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:20), to enter into the Holy of Holies to live with God in their spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).  The goal of this Epistle is to bring them here that they may be persons in the spirit (1 Cor. 2:14), in the Holy of Holies.  This is what the apostle means by saying, "Be reconciled to God" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 2 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1982, Print).

         I remember hearing brother Lee many times say that because Christ lives within us, our spirit is now the Holy of

Holies.  So we just need to get there.  I like what he said about Paul's goal in writing 2 Corinthians was to bring these believers into the Holy of Holies. I also saw that this matter of being reconciled gives another view of what the consuming pressures are doing in our lives--they are actually being used to bring us into the Holy of Holies to have amazing, direct contact with God Himself!

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?

What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?