¹⁴ You see, the controlling force in our lives is the love of the Anointed One. And our confession is this: One died for all; therefore, all have died. ¹⁵ He died for us so that we will all live, not for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose from the dead. ¹⁶ Because of all that God has done, we now have a new perspective. We used to show regard for people based on worldly standards and interests. No longer. We used to think of the Anointed the same way. No longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun! ¹⁸ All of this is a gift from our Creator God, who has pursued us and brought us into a restored and healthy relationship with Him through the Anointed. And He has given us the same mission, the ministry of reconciliation, to bring others back to Him. ¹⁹ It is central to our good news that God was in the Anointed making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them. But it also means He charges us to proclaim the message that heals and restores our broken relationships with God and each other.

²⁰ So we are now representatives of the Anointed One, the Liberating King; God has given us a charge to carry through our lives—urging all people on behalf of the Anointed to become reconciled to the Creator God. ²¹ He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God.