From Wrongdoer to New Creation: Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians

Abstract

Read through the lens of modern reconciliatory theory, 2 Cor 2:14–7:4 demonstrates that Paul portrays himself as the recipient of God’s gratuitous forgiveness and reconciliation. Against the polemical charge that his past as a persecutor precluded his being an authentic apostle, Paul engages the multivalent metaphors of triumph/procession and reconciliation/friendship. His own participation in the process of reconciliation and his new vocation as ambassador show that it is not simply Paul’s writings but his own personal experience that forms the foundation on which modern Christian reconciliation may continue to build.