What does it mean that all things are of God (2 Corinthians 5:18)?

In 2 Corinthians 5:18, the apostle Paul declares, “All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (NKJV). We could benefit from an explanation of the phrase all things. Is Paul making a broad statement about everything created by God, or is he explicitly addressing the concept of reconciliation?

Here in 2 Corinthians 5:18, Paul does not make a statement about the origin of created things; instead, he speaks of being reconciled in Christ: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV). Salvation is a total and complete transformation. Every aspect—all things—of the believer’s new life flows from God, not from human effort.

The emphasis of all things, then, is not on creation in general but on the new creation in Christ. Paul declares that everything related to salvation (i.e., election and justification) is entirely from God. This is significant because it removes any notion of works-based salvation. Salvation is not our own doing; it is the gift of God.

Paul touched on the same theme in Ephesians 2:8–9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (NKJV). Likewise, Romans 5:8 explains that reconciliation is God’s initiative: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NKJV). We contribute nothing to our salvation except the sin that made it necessary. “All things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18, NKJV), and the entire reconciliation process, from start to finish, is God’s achievement.

God’s exclusive role in salvation is basic to New Testament theology. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, Paul writes, “It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” Our union with Christ is not self-generated but entirely the work of God.

We must not overlook the Christological focus of 2 Corinthians 5:18. Paul writes that God “has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ” (NKJV, emphasis added). Reconciliation is not generic or theoretical but personal and real. Sin created enmity between God and humanity, but faith in Christ’s sacrificial death and bodily resurrection removes the hostility. Paul’s statement that “all things are from God” reminds us that the means and method of reconciliation are from God. He sent His only begotten Son into the world to die for our sins (John 3:16) and raised Him from the grave for our justification (Romans 4:25). Salvation is of the Lord!

“All things are of God” is a declaration of God’s sovereignty in salvation. We are saved by God’s mercy and grace, not our good works: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV). We are reconciled in Christ not because of anything we have done or could do but because “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18, NKJV).