Christ has shown me how much he loves people. That is why I teach his message with all the strength that I have. Therefore, I plead with you to believe that God will forgive you because of what Christ did for you.

2 Corinthians 5:11—6:2

11 It makes me fearful to think that some day I will stand before the Lord for him to judge me. So I do everything that I can to convince people that they should believe (OR, that I teach sincerely) God’s message. God knows very well how I conduct my life and what I teach, and I really believe that you know it, too. 12 Once again I say, as I write this, I am not just trying to make you think well/highly of me, as some people will probably say that I am. Instead, I am telling you in this letter why you have good reason to tell those who criticize me that you think highly of me. I am telling you this so that you will know what to say to those teachers of false doctrine among you. They are proud of what they have done, instead of making sure that they are right with God and being pleased with that. 13 Some of them say that after God has enabled me to see visions, I talk like a crazy person. If that is so, I want you to realize that I talk that way in order to please God. On the other hand, if you think that I speak and act wisely, that is good. I want you to know that I do speak and act wisely in order to help you. 14 I speak and act the way I do because the love that Christ has for people influences me in everything that I say and do. When Christ died, he suffered the punishment for the sins of all people. So, we should all think of ourselves as having died with him, being as unresponsive to sinful desires as [MET] a corpse is. 15 When Christ died for the everyone, he died in order that we believers who are alive now should not conduct our lives in a way that will just please ourselves. Instead, we should conduct our lives in a way that will please Christ, because he is the one who died for us and was brought back to life {whom God raised} again.

16 So, because I realize how much Christ loves everyone, I no longer think about people in the way that those who do not believe in Christ think about them. Before I was a believer, I thought about Christ in the way that other non-believers did. But I do not think of him that way any more. 17 The fact is that God makes every one of us who trusts in Christ to be completely different than we were before. Our old way of conducting our lives is gone. We now have a completely new way of conducting our lives. 18 This complete change in our lives is all something that God does. It is God who made it possible for us to have a peaceful relationship with him. He was able to do that because of what Christ did for us. Now God has sent me, and those who work with me, to tell people that they can have a peaceful relationship with him. 19 That is, he sent us(exc) to tell them that when Christ died, God was making it possible for everyone [MTY] in the world to have a peaceful relationship with him. He no longer keeps a record of the sinful things that we believers have done. The message that God has given to us to tell people is how we can have a peaceful relationship with him. 20 So, it is I and my companions who are Christ’s representatives in this world. When we tell people the message about Christ, it is God himself who is pleading with them by means of what we say. So, as true representatives of Christ, we plead with you: Believe God’s true message about Christ in order that you may be reconciled to {have a peaceful relationship with} him. 21 You must believe that even though Jesus never sinned, God punished him for all the sinful things that people do, just as if Jesus had done those sinful things himself. And because of our close relationship with Christ, God has erased the record of our sins/declared us no longer guilty for our sins.

6 Therefore, because I am working together with God himself, I say this to you very strongly: God has already kindly forgiven you because Christ died for you, so do not now say “It does not matter if I live just to please myself.” 2 For God said long ago in the Scriptures:

When it is the right time for me to help you, you will ask me to help you, and I will hear you. Then I will send a Savior to help you.

So listen to what I am telling you: God has sent his Savior, so now is the time when God is ready to save people from the guilt of their sins.