2 Corinthians 5

5 ¹We know: if our earthly tent is torn down, we have a building from our Father, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. ²For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, ³if indeed, when we have put it on, we will not be found naked. ⁴While in this tent we groan, weighed down—not wanting to be unclothed, but clothed over, so life may swallow up what is mortal. ⁵Now the one who prepared us for this very thing is our Father, who gave us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee.

⁶So we're always confident, knowing that while at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, ⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸So we are confident, and prefer to leave the body and be home with the Lord. ⁹So whether at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, each to receive what is due for what they did in the body, good or bad.

Reconciled and Sent as Ambassadors

¹¹So knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade people; we are plain to our Father, and I hope also plain to your conscience. ¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you reason to be proud of us, so you have an answer for those who boast in appearance, not in heart. ¹³Whether out of our minds, it's for our Father; whether in our right minds, it's for you. ¹⁴For Christ's love compels us, since we're convinced: one died for all, so all died. ¹⁵He died for all, so the living would no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

¹⁶So from now on, we know no one by human standards. We once knew Christ that way too, but no longer. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, new creation! The old has passed away; look, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from our Father, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, giving us the ministry of reconciliation: ^a a v18 Reconciliation begins in our Father's own heart—he is the one who reaches out to bring us home, and Jesus is the way he does it. ¹⁹That is, in Christ our Father was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation.

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though our Father were appealing through us. We appeal on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to our Father. ²¹For us he made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of our Father.