Therefore from now on, we recall no one according to the flesh. Though too we knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know. Therefore, if anyone in Christ -- a new creature. The original has perished; see, the new comes to be. And all from God, the one having restored us to himself through Christ, and having given us the service of restoration, how God was in Christ, the world restoring to Himself, not counting their lapses against them, and having placed in us the reason of restoration.
Therefore for Christ we negotiate, as though God is summoning through us. We beg on behalf of Christ: Be restored to God! The one unknowing of sin, he made sin for us, so that we might become God's justice in him. And also, cooperating, we urge you not to receive God's grace in an empty way.
For he says: At the approved time, I heard you, and in the day of safety, I rescued you. See, now is the well-approved time; see, now is the day of safety.
[2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2, my very rough translation. Like much of 2 Corinthians, this is a bit of a tangle. The word I've translated here as 'restoration' is often translated as 'reconciliation'; it can also mean 'change' and seems sometimes to be used to mean something like 'atonement'. The word I've translated as 'negotiate' literally means 'be elders' (it is related to the word presbyter, usually translated as 'elder', which gives us the word 'priest'), but age is not the key thing; to be an elder is to have a position of responsibility and honor. Thus the verb is often translated as 'be ambassadors'; we could also translate it as 'represent'.]
