A question arose for me when I was working on 2 Cor 5:20: "Be reconciled to God." The verb for "be reconciled" is a passive imperative. To the English-language mind this is not possible. How can one be commanded to be passive? But even worse how can a person be commanded to passively do something? What is God telling us here?
Then I ran across the fact that the creation story in the LXX in Gen 1 is full of passive imperatives. When light is created, the LXX uses the passive imperative in God's command. When vegetation is created the passive imperative is used in God's command. Gen 1 in the LXX is full of passive imperatives.
It struck me that the passive imperative in the Greek is simply God's way of telling that he is the one who brings these accomplishments to fruition. God commands it and it is done. "When God speaks, everything listens." God, merely by his word, brings great and wonderful blessings into being for us.
And please notice that before St Paul tells us to be reconciled to God he tells us that God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ. This is God's work, not ours. This fits very well with St Paul's comment in 2 Cor 4:6: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." God makes his light shine in our hearts by commanding it to be: "Be reconciled to God."
What an awesome thought. God provides everything we need.
But what do we do then? Do we do nothing?
What?!!! Do nothing?!!!! Come on! God has commanded, invited, asked us to do many things for him. And after all he has done, we are going to sit around and do nothing. What kind of irresponsible, irreverent, unthankful thought is that?!
But whatever we do is fruitless. God is the one who accomplishes all good. Anything we may accomplish is vain, empty or worse, sinful.
So what?! Even if we just ran in place for the rest of our lives because God wanted us to do that, after what he has done for us, so what! As Martin Luther supposedly said: "Even if God should ask me to stand on my head in the corner and eat straw, after what he has done for me, I would do it." Thankfulness for what he has done makes us willing to do anything he commands.
But everything we do is sinful. Aren't we doing more harm than good by trying to do what God wants us to do?
If it were not for Christ that would be so. Left to ourselves, we cannot serve God no matter how wonderful our gifts and abilities are.
But we are not left to ourselves. In Christ, God turns all our sinful deeds into marvelous works. In Christ, He uses our sin to do his work for his glory.
So, you see, God wants us to be hard at work for him, NOT because we can in our own strength accomplish anything, but because in Christ God uses our sinful tasks to accomplish great and mighty works.
But doesn't that give us an excuse for sin? What?! How could we dare to use God's grace for an excuse for sin? Such a thought simply shows how corrupt and sinful our human nature is. We do not use God's grace as an excuse for sin, but as a cure for our sin.
So, we strive with all our might to serve God in everything we do even though we know and believe that everything we do is corrupt and sinful. We strive to serve God in everything because we also believe that in Christ, God uses all those efforts to accomplish his work for his glory in Christ.
What a marvelous God we have! Thank you, thank you, thank you God. How can I show you my praise and thankfulness for what you have done and are doing and will do for me?
