Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

2 Corinthians 5:20

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

KJV

ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ οὖν πρεσβεύομεν ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ παρακαλοῦντος δι’ ἡμῶν· δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ.

Greek NT

Pro Christo ergo legatione fungimur, tamquam Deo exhortante per nos. Obsecramus pro Christo, reconciliamini Deo.

Vulgate

We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.

ASV

For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us, for Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God.

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

12 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

Χριστός
christos
noun · 530×
δέομαι
deomai
verb · 22×
διά
dia
preposition · 633×
θεός
theos
noun · 1311×
καταλλάσσω
katallasso
verb · 6×
οὖν
oun
conjunction · 489×
παρακαλέω
parakaleo
verb · 108×
πρεσβεύω
presbeuo
verb · 2×
ἡμεῖς
emeis
pronoun · 862×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×
ὑπέρ
uper
preposition · 148×
ὡς
os
adverb · 502×

Themes

Historic Christian voices

16 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§859Jesus unites them to the mission he received from the Father. As "the Son can do nothing of his own accord," but receives everything from the Father who sent him, so those whom Jesus sends can do nothing apart from him,371 from whom they received both the mandate for their mission and the power to carry it out. Christ's apostles knew that they were called by God as "ministers o…
§1424It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the pe…
§1442Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the "ministry of reconciliation."42 The apostle is sent out "on behalf of Chri…
…and 1 more from this source.
1. To every careful thinker there is a gain Proverbs 14:23, Septuagint, says the proverb; and Christ implied more than this, when He said, He that seeks finds. Matthew 7:8 Wherefore it does not occur to me any more to wonder how Philip followed Christ. Andrew was persuaded when he had heard from John, and Peter the same from Andrew, but Philip not having learned anything from a…
1. Full of feeling somehow is the female sex, and more inclined to pity. I say this, lest you should wonder how it could be that Mary wept bitterly at the tomb, while Peter was in no way so affected. For, The disciples, it says, went away unto their own home; but she stood shedding tears. Because hers was a feeble nature, and she as yet knew not accurately the account of the Re…
Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210201.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…
Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210205.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…
Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210215.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…
…and 1 more from this source.
What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law can do, God accomplishes by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word or the ministry of reconciliation. This is the gospel about the Messiah, through which it has pleased God to save believers, in both the Old and the New Testaments.
God has always used ministers for the gathering or establishing of a Church, and for the governing and preservation of the same; and still he does use them, and will use them so long as the Church shall endure. The first beginning, institution, and office of ministers is a most ancient arrangement of God himself, and not a new one of men. God could indeed by his Holy Spirit, or…
Spurgeon pleads with sinners to come to Christ and with the Church to go out after them. The master's command to "compel them to come in" is a commission of urgency — not force, but earnest, passionate, unrelenting persuasion. The gospel invitation goes to the highways and hedges, to the poor and the outcast, to those who think themselves too wicked or too worthless. No one is …

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 1:10 — Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
  • 1Cor 4:4 — For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
  • 1Pet 2:11 — Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
  • 1Thess 4:8 — He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
  • 2Chr 36:15 — And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
  • 2Cor 2:10 — To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
  • 2Cor 3:6 — Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
  • 2Cor 5:11 — Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
  • 2Cor 5:11 — Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
  • 2Cor 6:1 — We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
  • Acts 2:40 — And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
  • Acts 26:17 — Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
  • Deut 5:29 — O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
  • Eph 2:13 — But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
  • Eph 2:17 — And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
  • Eph 4:1 — I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
  • Eph 6:20 — For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
  • Eph 6:20 — For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
  • Ezek 3:17 — Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
  • Ezek 18:31 — Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
  • Gal 4:14 — And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
  • Isa 27:5 — Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
  • Isa 55:6 — Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
  • Isa 57:19 — I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
  • Jer 13:16 — Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross da
  • Jer 38:20 — But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
  • Jer 44:4 — Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
  • Job 22:21 — Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
  • Job 22:21 — Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
  • Job 33:6 — Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
  • Job 33:23 — If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:
  • Job 33:23 — If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:
  • Job 36:2 — Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.
  • John 17:18 — As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
  • John 17:22 — And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
  • John 20:21 — Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
  • Lev 1:4 — And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
  • Luke 10:16 — He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
  • Luke 14:23 — And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
  • Luke 14:23 — And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.