[13] If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. [14] For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. [15] And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:13-15 NIV
Here in this passage, Paul says that “all died”. This represents the correct translation of the passage, as preferred to the reading of the King James, which holds, “then were all dead”. The King James proves to be an imprecise translation, textually, but what is Paul getting at?
Paul begins by talking about being “out of [his] mind”, and proceeds with his argument. What Paul is really doing is reversing his logic, speaking of things rather backwards.
His speech in 2 Corinthians 5:14 is to look at the truth which was well accepted, that “Christ died for all”, which is why the Corinthians were saved at all, being Gentiles, and uses it to prove a previous fact, that since Christ is the Savior of all men, then all men stand in need of a savior. He uses the fact of Christ’s death, accepted by the Corinthians, to show that all men need Him.