FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:14-20

From last lesson: Because of the redeeming mercy of God in Jesus Christ, we are now free to “present [offer] our bodies a living sacrifice” to God. What did Paul mean by this claim of the gospel?

He wants to show how we should implement the righteousness of God in Christian living. He does not define right conduct here as conformity with a moral code or as a virtue that we must cultivate through a discipline of self-improvement. It is the harvest of the gospel and of the Spirit of God in the believer. Paul therefore sums it all up in the fundamental calling: “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice . . . to God—this is your true and proper worship” (NIV).

Real worship of God is personal self-dedication to God to seek His will in our lives to serve God and to bless others. He mentions first our “bodies” to indicate that we are our “bodies,” that we express our inner self in our bodily conduct. God is not primarily interested on our external gifts or sacrifices but in ourselves! The Jewish religion required to sacrifice animals on the altar of the temple. This kind of worship has been fulfilled and superseded by the infinite self-sacrifice of the Son of God. The Christian has therefore now a “spiritual worship,” a “true and proper worship,” “which is your reasonable service,” that consists in a total devotion to God and in the constant seeking of His will, so that he can live a life that is “holy” or set apart for God, and that is “pleasing and acceptable to God.”

This goes more into the demand for personal responsibility for our choices in life than just following externally the Ten Commandments. Paul explains this, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2).

Now he mentions the human “mind” and says that our mind must be “transformed by the renewing!” The renewal begins in our minds. That means in our thinking, in our philosophy of life which needs to be changed by Christ, as part of our spiritual “transformation.” From a self-centered way of thinking we begin to think Christ-centered! That is a radical change of thinking that gives us the norm to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Compare to 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21).

In the light of verse 2 Paul in essence presents our responsibility: “do not allow yourselves to think and to act as the world does.” This world is still in the grip of evil, but the Christian must rise above the pattern of this evil age, because he no longer belongs to it. We are heirs of the coming age, the age of renewal and resurrection. It is by the power of the age to come, that is, by the power of the Spirit of Christ, that we can resist the tendency to live on the level of this age. Paul emphasizes: “Be transformed.” What exactly does that mean?

The only other place where Paul speaks of this Christian “metamorphosis” is 2 Corinthians 3:18, which is a helpful commentary on Romans 12:2:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (Emphasis mine).

This is the way of the sanctified life that pleases God. It reflects something of the glorious character of God’s love and mercy to others. In Romans 8:29 Paul explains that we are “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:14-20

Being reconciled to God implies the responsibility to demonstrate the righteousness or justice of God to others by way of a new life of love and respect for others.

Paul is particularly concerned about our high calling to pass on the saving mercy of God, that is, the gospel truth that he had unfolded so eloquently as justification by faith alone in writing Romans chapters 1 through 11. This matter of demonstrating our salvation from guilt and the dominion of sin is of crucial importance to Paul. This newness of life is not just an appendix or an after-thought to the gospel. The sanctified life must be a new reality in the Christian’s life or he may doubt whether he participates in the redeeming power of Christ through the Spirit at all. You cannot be justified by faith and continue to live a self-centered life!

Paul focused on this gospel truth sharply in Romans, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). That counts for every baptized believer, he goes on to explain, because by baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection, the believer has become “in Christ” and under Christ’s Lordship. He has received the freedom from sin’s overmastering power and has been placed under the power of the new Master: the risen Lord Jesus. This is the new reality for the baptized believer in Christ. He has entered the kingdom of God’s grace. Now he must live it and demonstrate it! Paul makes this compelling conclusion in Romans 6:12-14.

Paul indicates the transition from experienced salvation to demonstrated salvation by the challenging word “therefore” (Romans 6:12). Theologians have called this flow from theology to ethics, or from the redemptive indicative to the redemptive imperative. This means that Christian morality is not grounded in ourselves, in an abstract moral imperative, but in our experience of the saving mercy of God. Paul’s ethics is a theological ethics that is always a social ethics. Our moral life must be demonstrated among family, in church and society as a whole. Paul devotes the four chapters from Romans 12 through 15 to the moral and social claims of the gospel: to how to live the gospel among the people of the church and of the world.

Notice how he begins this important section of his letter to the Romans, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). I like how this same verse is rendered in the New International Version; “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1 NIV). Notice that Paul again roots the Christian moral life in the saving mercy of God. The power for the new life comes from the risen Lord, not from our own moral will or resolutions. We need to be in touch with God through Jesus to receive a changed heart and mind by the working of the Holy Spirit. This is the hidden part of our religion. But then comes the necessary visible part of our religion: that we have now a new Master in our life, one who is stronger than Satan, stronger than sin and temptation, one who makes us free to know and to obey the will of God!

Because of the redeeming mercy of God in Jesus Christ, we are now free to “present [offer] our bodies a living sacrifice” to God. What did Paul mean by this claim of the gospel? Is this personal offering of ourselves not a daily reconsecration to our divine Redeemer?

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:14-20

The apostle Paul regards every believer in Jesus Christ as a new creation, as a being who has been transformed by his or her faith in Christ! In verse 15 he explains that such believers no longer live for themselves “but for Him who died for them and rose again.” Therefore Christ’s death and resurrection is the transformative event for all of life. This has radical consequences for our relationship with other people. Paul concludes that from now on we recognize no man “according to the flesh,” that is, by what he is in the flesh, “from a worldly point of view” (2 Corinthians 5:16 NIV), just as he regards Christ no longer simply from a secular point of view. To consider another person simply “according to the flesh,” is to view that person as if the transforming resurrection of Christ had not taken place, as if the norm of understanding had not been radically changed. The Christian has received a new way of seeing and understanding that is not according to the standards of this world.

Of course, such a radical change of perception of others counts only for those who by faith are “in Christ.” Only those are a “new creation,” that is, only those participate in the powers of the coming age. Paul does not often use the mysterious phrase “new creation.” We read it only once more, in Galatians 6:15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” He explained to the Galatians what he meant in Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” (Emphasis mine).

But how can one receive such a faith? Paul discussed that question in Romans 10:14–17. Faith is not generated by man’s will, but is a gift of God for those who do not resist the gospel message. Accepting the gospel by faith brings with it another gift of God: the outpouring of the Spirit of God (Romans 5:5). This gives the believer an experiential participation in personal salvation.

To be a new creation means therefore to have an active faith, a faith that works through love! Such a faith is quite different from a mere doctrinal faith or from a performance of religious ceremonies. Faith assumes a right relationship with God, and “love” expresses a right relationship to other people. In other words, Paul captured the whole gospel in these short phrases: a new creation, to be in Christ!

“All things,” speaking in reference of this “new creation,” says Paul “are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ . . . not imputing their [men’s] trespasses to them.” Paul considers God’s act of “reconciliation” with sinners through Christ as the source of a new way of life for mankind that is now ministered through the Gospel and apostles of Christ. Paul used the term “reconciliation” to the Corinthians, because they needed harmony among themselves and also with him whom they doubted as being a true apostle of Christ. Reconciliation is needed when a broken relationship in a family or society must be restored.

But before human relationships can be restored, Paul points us to the restored relation between God and mankind, by his apostolic message of reconciliation. He states in verse 20: “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” To be an “ambassador” placed Paul in a high position of authority and responsibility. That called for an acceptance of Paul’s apostleship and for a reconciliation with him by the Corinthian church.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.