They Thought They Were Big Stuff Too
A verse-by-verse explanation of this section.
An overview of the principles and applications from this section.
Tying the section to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of the section.
Zeroing the section in on daily life.
“At my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.”
Andrew Marvel
Paul offered a final assessment of his role as a weak human being who had been called to be an apostle. Like all people, he was frail and dying, but the permanence of what lies beyond this life made his ministry of ultimate importance.
They Thought They Were Big Stuff Too
It is so easy to forget how temporary this life is. We tend to live as if nothing will ever change, as if life will keep going as it always has. We think we'll always have tomorrow. But every now and then, reality breaks through and we see our lives for what they are: a fleeting moment.
Near the Boston Commons there is a frequently visited colonial graveyard. It is a fascinating place. Many gravestones and monuments mark the sites where a number of early Americans are buried. Most of the stones are broken and turned over, even in this well-kept graveyard. Most of the names and dates are no longer legible.
I remember one day when I was overwhelmed at the neglect those graves had suffered. “Do you realize,” I said to my wife, “that the people buried here looked at their lives like we look at ours? They never imagined how short and insignificant their lives would be. Most of them thought they would be remembered forever. But look at them. Their great-great-grandchildren do not even remember their names.”
It's a depressing thought. Our great-great-grandchildren will probably not remember you and me. We are here today, gone tomorrow.
The Christian gospel tells us that this fleeting life on earth is not our final end. If we are in Christ, we have a glorious destiny. Our descendants may forget us in this life, but God will not forget us in the world to come. Followers of Christ receive the hope of eternal life. This future hope gives us perspective on this life and its frailties and suffering. It gives us a destiny beyond imagination that empowers us to move forward in the service of Christ.
An Urgent Ministry
MAIN IDEA: As Christians, we should balance a realistic assessment of our human frailties with the honor that Christ gives us now and after death. When we do this, we will hold fast to faith in Christ and receive the salvation that God has offered in him.
Temporary and Eternal Dwellings (5:1–5)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul contrasted his fragile life and glorious ministry: life in this world is like living in a tent while waiting for a house.
5:1. The apostle began with a statement of confidence. We know that certain things are true. Paul had already taught these truths to the Corinthians, and he was confident they had not forgotten them.
Life in the physical body is like living in an earthly tent because this body is being destroyed. All human bodies suffer the processes of aging and death. Yet, Paul, his company, and to some extent all believers experience intensified destruction of their earthly bodies. Suffering on Christ's behalf aggravates the decay that the Fall brought upon the human race. As Paul put it in the previous chapter, we are only fragile jars made of clay.
Paul was sure that his readers knew another truth as well: all true believers have a building from God that will replace the earthly tent. The present bodies of believers are only temporary homes; we wait for a permanent house. In Paul's day people used tents while they traveled and while they were building permanent homes. Paul had in mind tents in which people lived as they waited for permanent dwellings to be built. Peter used this same metaphor (2 Pet. 1:13–14), and the Old Testament also speaks of earthly life as a tent (Isa. 38:12).
Paul described the building from God as an eternal house in heaven. His words are difficult to understand, and they have been the subject of controversy. At least two prominent outlooks have been taken. First, some interpreters think Paul spoke of believers receiving permanent heavenly bodies when they die. This understanding agrees with Paul's personal focus in this discussion. Yet, it seems unlikely because Paul taught that believers' bodily resurrection would occur at Christ's return (Phil. 3:20–21; 1 Thess. 4:15–17).
Other interpreters suggest that Paul spoke of the heavenly temple of God providing protective cover for all believers. This view appeals to the expression, not built by human hands, which the writer of Hebrews uses to describe the heavenly temple (Heb. 9:11). This interpretation is possible, but it is questionable.
The third and most likely possibility is that Paul referred to the future resurrected bodies of believers, focusing on the eternal state without differentiating it from the intermediate state. According to this view, Paul did not address our heavenly experience before Christ's return. Because the intermediate state is not the goal that believers are to keep in mind, it is overshadowed by the permanent state after Christ's return.
The last verse of this section (5:10) supports this third view. Paul did not direct his attention to the human condition during a long intermediate state. Instead, he focused on the day of judgment. The contrast he set up in 5:10 was between what is done “while in the body” and how we will “receive what is due.” Paul referred to the individual believer's glorious resurrection body, but had in view the reception of that body on the last day.
5:2. Before Christ returns, believers groan. This terminology (stenazo) usually referred to pain and agony. Paul had in mind the longing that believers experience when they compare their present existence with their condition when Christ returns. The suffering and pain of life in this world causes those with hope of resurrection life to cry out for our heavenly dwelling (cf. Rom. 8:23).
5:3–4. Paul explained in these verses why we groan for the heavenly dwelling. This verse is problematic in that textual witnesses differ. But it seems the more difficult—and thus the more likely—reading is “when we are clothed.” The basic idea is that we groan in our present condition because we will not be found naked when we leave this life.
Nakedness is a metaphor for being without a body. Literal nakedness brought shame to sinful Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:7–10). God remedied their nakedness with clothing (Gen. 3:21), covering their shame. Clothing remained a consistent requirement throughout the Scriptures. For this reason, Paul likened being without a body after death to the condition of nakedness. Ultimate salvation is not that disembodied souls enjoy eternal bliss in the heavenly realms, but that they are bodily resurrected (Rom. 8:23; Heb. 6:2) and inherit the new creation (Rev. 21:1–7).
The Corinthians understood this so well that Paul did not even argue for it. He assumed they knew the groaning of this life was a longing for glorified, resurrected bodies to be received on the day of Christ's return. The contrast here was not between physical and spiritual, but between present, mortal, physical bodies and future, immortal, physical bodies.
5:5. The apostle proclaimed with great confidence, God … has made us for this very purpose. As Genesis states, God did not design human beings to die, but to be clothed in immortal bodies. If Adam and Eve had passed the test of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would have realized this destiny immediately. Now, however, that destiny has been accomplished in Christ, who has redeemed his people and secured immortal bodies for them. These will be inherited in the future.
Paul also taught that earthly life is not devoid of God's future blessing. Believers have already received the Spirit who is a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (cf. Eph. 1:13–14). He drew upon the analogy of a down payment that guaranteed full payment in the future. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life and in the life of the Corinthian church was a deposit or first portion of full salvation in the future. Paul saw his life and the lives of other believers as suffering and death as well as a grand blessing from God.
SUPPORTING IDEA: From the knowledge of the presence of the Holy Spirit, Paul encouraged confidence in future salvation.
5:6. Paul concluded that we are always confident. Paul and his company knew that as long as they and other believers were at home in the body, they were away from the Lord. Short of leaving this life, believers must endure physical separation from God's presence. But the hardship, pain, and trials they endure will disappear when final salvation comes at Christ's return.
Paul did not mean that God was absent from the lives of believers. He had just affirmed the Holy Spirit's presence, and Jesus himself had sent the Spirit so believers would not be orphans (John 14:16–18). Yet, the Spirit's ministry represents only a small portion of what is ahead. His presence neither removes the trouble of this life nor stops the groaning. Rather, the Holy Spirit joins us in our present groaning (Rom. 8:26).
5:7. Paul explained further by characterizing the Christian life as living by faith, not by sight. As the writer of Hebrews put it, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1). When the ultimate salvation of God's people becomes reality in the new creation, faith will no longer be required; all will be sight. But until then, faith that God will bring about all he has promised is required from everyone who serves Christ.
When the Corinthians examined Paul's life, they were not impressed. He did not have much to show for all his effort. He had no money, power, or possessions—but suffering and the appearance of failure. This was another reason he explained that his ministry had to be evaluated in terms of faith and not by sight.
5:8–9. Paul was confident that this present existence involves separation from God (5:6), but he was also confident … and would have prefer[red] to leave his present body behind in order to be at home with the Lord. He wanted to endure the time of separation from his final salvation and finally to be with the Lord. He longed for the day when sight would replace his faith. This deep desire compelled Paul toward one supreme goal: to honor and please Christ.
5:10. Why is it so important to please Christ in every way? Because Christ holds the power to grant or withhold salvation for which every believer longs. Paul wanted to please Christ because all will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The rest of the New Testament teaches that Christ will judge all people (Acts 10:42; Rom. 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:1). Everyone must … appear; no one can avoid the judgment. Moreover, at this judgment each one will receive what is due him. The judgment will be individual, based on the things done while in the body (i.e., in this life). Christ will consider both good and bad that is done. Paul sought to please Christ so he would pass this judgment and receive his eternal reward.
Many interpreters think Paul's doctrine of final judgment is inconsistent with his doctrine of justification by faith alone. If salvation is a free gift by faith alone (Rom. 4:9–16; Eph. 2:8–9), then does anyone who is saved receive what is due him? The resolution of this tension appears later. In 13:5, for instance, Paul spoke of the Christian life as a testing period. It was a time when he and the Corinthians would prove whether they had saving faith in Christ. From Paul's perspective, no one earns or maintains salvation by works. Yet, every person will be judged according to his or her works.
This well-known adage is true of Paul's theology: “Saved by faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone.” Those who have placed their faith in Christ will demonstrate their justification by living to please him.
Paul's Urgent Ministry (5:11–15)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul had many motivations for his ministry, but he focused on the judgment of Christ that was sure to come.
5:11. Summarizing his previous remarks about judgment before Christ, Paul said he and his company knew what it was to fear the Lord. He drew upon the Old Testament expression, “the fear of the Lord.” Paul apprehended what the judgment of Christ could mean for him if he were unfaithful to his calling. If he hoped to receive the reward of eternal salvation, he had to demonstrate his faith in Christ through faithfulness to Christ.
Consequently, Paul sought to persuade men. It is possible that he had in mind persuading people to accept his integrity, as he did throughout this letter. Yet, these words may also include his broader purpose. The apostle's responsibility was to reach the lost on behalf of Christ. He was called to take the gospel to all people. At times this task involved proclamation, but at other times it involved persuasion.
No matter what Paul's opponents in Corinth had been saying about him, the apostle was convinced that it was plain to God what he was. God knew his heart and understood his motivations. He hoped his ministry was plain to the Corinthians as well.
5:12. Paul explained he was not trying to commend himself or his company to them again, that is, as he had in earlier chapters. Instead, he was trying to give the Corinthians an opportunity to understand the nature of his life and ministry so they could take pride in him. As elsewhere in this epistle, the term pride (kauchema) did not have negative connotations of arrogance or self-conceit. It meant delight and joy in the accomplishments of a dear friend or family member. Paul considered himself the Corinthians' spiritual father and brother. He had pride in them, and he hoped they would have the same feelings about him.
Paul wanted to instill this pride in them so they would be able to answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.Paul's opponents had criticized the apostle's ministry by pointing to his troubles and failures. But Paul had explained these weaknesses in terms of the nature of life in this world. He had not failed. He served as all Christians should: by faith and not by sight. Paul's opponents did not consider Paul's heart, but he hoped the congregation would stop their attacks on him and understand his motivations.
5:13. Paul's opponents apparently also thought he was out of his mind. They may have referred to his extraordinary experiences of revelation, but the immediate context makes it more likely that they attacked the ludicrous nature of Paul's ministry and apostleship.
Paul's response revealed his deepest commitments. If there was any sense in which he was beside himself, it was not because he was not an honorable apostle; it was for the sake of God. Paul had committed himself totally to God's service, even to the point that he seemed to have lost his senses. If, however, he was actually in his right mind—doing and advising what was appropriate—it was for the Corinthians. Paul had two motivations: love for God and love for neighbor. These made him look insane at times, though in reality he was quite sane.
5:14. Paul then explained why these two motivations controlled his ministry. He began with the statement that Christ's love compel[ed] him. Interpreters differ over whether Paul meant the term Christ to be taken subjectively (“Christ's love for us”) or objectively (“our love for Christ”). The grammar permits either reading. Because the following context focuses on Christ's sacrifice, it seems best to understand it to mean “Christ's love for us.” Paul was compelled in ministry by the love that Christ demonstrated when he died for all.
Christ died for all, and therefore all died with him. Dying with Christ was one way Paul described conversion (Gal. 2:20). For this reason, this passage appears to teach universalism—the belief that Christ's death brought salvation to every person. But the rest of Scripture stands opposed to this interpretation. Only those who have saving faith in Christ are saved (John 3:18; 2 Thess. 2:12). The language here is similar to Romans 5:18 and 1 Corinthians 15:22. In this context, the all is all of the Corinthian Christians. It is not that Paul was assured of the salvation of each individual in the church—he plainly stated that he was not (2 Cor. 13:5). In this passage he accepted their professions of faith at face value for the purposes of his argument.
5:15. Paul's main point was that Christ died for them and they all died with him so that those who live through the power of his resurrection should no longer live for themselves. Those for whom Christ died are “bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:20), and they no longer belong to themselves. Therefore, they are to live … for him who died for them and was raised again.
Paul ministered for the Corinthians' sake because he was compelled by the love displayed in Christ's death. He died to redeem the lost so those for whom he died might live for him. Because this was the purpose of Christ's death, it became the goal of Paul's ministry.
The Urgency of Reconciliation (5:16–6:2)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Having refuted the negative views of his ministry, Paul provided a positive portrait of his apostolic work.
5:16. Paul pointed to a change that had come over him and his company. He concluded that from now on something had changed. From now on may refer to Paul's conversion or to the death of Christ. Now may also identify the new era brought on by Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” If this last understanding is correct, from now on would measure the time from Christ's death, and would include Paul's own experience of salvation in the new era (cf. Gal. 2:20).
The change Paul had in mind was his outlook on people. He regard[ed] no one from a worldly point of view. This manner of expression does not appear elsewhere in Paul, and it is difficult to know precisely what he meant. He probably meant that he was committed to viewing people in the light of their participation in Christ's death and resurrection rather than viewing them as he had before he became a Christian. Once he had regarded even Christ in worldly terms, failing to see the significance of Christ's death and resurrection and considering him a false teacher. But he could do so no longer.
5:17. Paul asserted that every person who is in Christ—who is joined to him in his death and resurrection—has become a new creation. Paul drew from Old Testament prophetic language, describing the new world that God would bring at the end of the age (Isa. 66:22). This language also appears in the New Testament (2 Pet. 3:13). “New creation” describes those who follow Christ because they have begun the transformation that will eventually lead to their full enjoyment of salvation in the new heavens and new earth. Christ's death and resurrection introduced a foretaste of that new world to come.
Paul's ministry was compelled by the display of Christ's love on the cross. Paul had been united to Christ in his death and resurrection, and thus had been inwardly renewed and regenerated. The apostle truly was a new creation. In this changed state, he began to look at people differently. Prior to coming to Christ, Paul would not have thought about the Corinthians much. He certainly would not have worked and sacrificed for the Gentiles in that church. But now the shadow of Christ's cross fell across his view every time he looked at other people. He saw believers as new creations in Christ and unbelievers as people in need of Christ. This perspective shaped his ministry.
5:18a. Paul remarked that all this (the changes he had just described) was from God. Throughout his writings Paul consistently attested that every dimension of salvation results from divine grace. He had in mind here especially the radical transformation of his outlook on other human beings that showed his transformation into a new creation. This dramatic change was a work of God in his heart.
5:18b. Paul explained the change that God had wrought in his life in terms of reconciliation. He repeated the Greek terms for “reconcile” and “reconciliation” (katallasso/katallage) five times throughout 5:18b–20, emphasizing his point. Reconciliation is the establishment of harmony and peace between enemies. Enemies are said to be reconciled when their hostility ceases and mutual love binds them together. Paul's explanation of God's re-creative activity in his life centered on this doctrine.
Paul spoke of divine reconciliation in two ways in this context. First, he stated that God had reconciled Paul and his company to himself through Christ. By his own testimony Paul had been an opponent to the ways of God. He had even persecuted the body of Christ. Yet, God established peace between himself and Paul through Christ. This act of divine love and grace transformed the apostle.
Second, Paul said that God gave him and his company the ministry of reconciliation. Why had his personal reconciliation changed his outlook on other human beings? It was because God had a special destiny for Paul—the ministry of reconciliation. A ministry (diakonia) is a service to others on God's behalf. God had called Paul to be an instrument of reconciliation; his life was devoted to making peace between God and humanity through the preaching of the gospel.
5:19. Paul continued to focus on his ministry of reconciliation by defining what he meant. First, he explained that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ by not counting men's sins against them. In Paul's view, human beings had become enemies of God because they transgressed divine law (Rom. 5:10; Phil. 3:18). Men and women without Christ are hostile to the things of God and subject to his judgment (Rom. 2:16; 8:7). Reconciliation requires that God forgive people of their sins to remove this hostility.
Paul spoke of God reconciling the world to himself because he knew the ultimate end of God's purpose was worldwide. This passage has been used to support the false doctrine of universalism—the belief that every person will be saved from judgment. Although Paul spoke categorically of the world, he described this worldwide reconciliation as taking place in Christ. For Paul, the expression “in Christ” referred to the union that believers have with Christ in his death and resurrection as they place their faith in him. So we must understand his categorical terminology here and in similar passages in light of his clear teaching that salvation comes only to those who trust in Christ for salvation (Rom. 11:19–20; 2 Thess. 2:10–12).
Paul also wrote that the world would be condemned. This cannot refer to those who trust in Christ for salvation. The reconciliation of the world is the goal of the gospel in the sense that salvation will extend beyond the nation of Israel to all the nations of the earth. In accordance with the prophetic word of the Old Testament, the ultimate end of the gospel ministry was the reconciliation of those who are united in Christ from all nations of the earth.
The apostle also explained his own role in this worldwide plan. God had committed to Paul and his company the message of reconciliation. This phrase may also be translated as “the message about reconciliation,” which is exactly what Paul explained this message to be. Paul went about as an apostle of Christ, proclaiming that God had provided the way of salvation through Christ. He saw himself called by God to the task of bringing to fruition God's plan to reconcile the world in Christ.
5:20a. Paul's role in the divine plan of reconciliation led him to a remarkable claim. He and his company were Christ's ambassadors. “Ambassadors” was a technical political term used in Paul's day that closely parallels our English word “ambassadors.” An ambassador represented a nation or kingdom in communication with other nations. Paul had in mind his apostolic call to represent the kingdom of Christ to the nations of the earth. Ambassadors held positions of great honor in the ancient world because they represented the authority of the kings on whose behalf they spoke.
This was also true for Paul as the ambassador of Christ. When he spoke the message of reconciliation, it was as though God were making his appeal through him. Rather than speaking directly to the nations of earth, God ordained that human spokespersons would speak for him. As an apostle, Paul had authority to lead and guide the church (2 Cor. 13:3,10). Yet, this description applies to all who bear the gospel of Christ to others—even to those who do not bear apostolic authority (1 Pet. 4:11). Though we may not present the gospel as perfectly as Paul did, we do speak on God's behalf when we bring the message of grace to others. But Paul and his company were to be received as mouthpieces of God in the most authoritative sense.
5:20b–21. In these verses Paul summarized the content of the message of reconciliation. His summary includes an expression of his heart, an appeal, and an explanation.
First, Paul introduced his message in emotional terms, expressing his heart. He spoke on Christ's behalf because he was an ambassador. But as ordinary ambassadors often sought reconciliation between national enemies with intensity, Paul implore[d] others to be reconciled to God. The term implored (deomai) often connotes beseeching or begging. In imitation of the passionate ministry of Christ himself (Matt. 23:37), Paul so desired to see people come to Christ that he thought of his ministry as begging.
Paul did not actually beg people to have saving faith. He spoke metaphorically in an attempt to convey the motivations behind his ministry. Paul appealed to others for their own sake, even when he was firm or harsh. He knew the enemies of God would suffer divine wrath (Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:5–6). For this reason, his ministry was not impersonal or emotionally disconnected. He desired to see people come to Christ, as should all who minister the gospel on Christ's behalf.
Second, Paul summarized the content of his message of reconciliation in a short appeal. His practice was to tell others to be reconciled to God. Since Paul had to appeal to others to be reconciled, he did not believe that the work of Christ automatically reconciled every human being to God. Christ's saving work on the cross is sufficient for every human being, but it is effective only for those who believe. As the imperative (be reconciled, from katallasso) indicates, those who hear the gospel are responsible to believe in Christ in order to become reconciled to God.
Third, Paul explained that sinful people, who are the enemies of God, can be reconciled to God only through Christ and his work on behalf of the human race. Paul summarized Christ's work in two elements. On the one hand, God made Christ, who had no sin, to be sin. Paul did not mean that Christ actually became a sinner. Throughout his humiliation, Christ remained faithful and righteous. It is likely that Paul followed the Septuagint's practice of using the term sin (harmartia) as a circumlocution for “sin offering” (e.g., Num. 6:14). The New Testament frequently refers to Isaiah 53 in which the Messiah's death is declared to be “an offering for sin” (Isa. 53:10, NRSV). This language stems from the Old Testament sacrificial system and identifies the sacrifice that brought forgiveness to those for whom it was made (Lev. 4:5:5–10).
In this sense, Christ became the sin offering for us—for all who believe in him. In the gospel of the New Testament, salvation comes to enemies of God because Christ himself became the perfect and final substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of those who have saving faith in him.
Paul then pointed to the purpose of Christ's sacrifice. It was so that in him we (all who have saving faith) might become the righteousness of God.Note first that it is in him (in Christ) that reconciliation takes place. The concept of “in Christ” formed one of Paul's central teachings. To be “in Christ” was to be joined with him in his death and resurrection and thus to receive the benefits of his salvation. In this passage Paul summarized the benefits received in Christ by stating that the believer becomes the righteousness of God.
The precise meaning of this expression has been the source of much controversy. Paul probably intended the expression of God to be taken as “from God,” as Romans 1:17 suggests. Yet, is this righteousness that is infused into believers as they live the Christian life (sanctification)? Or is it the righteousness that is imputed to believers when they turn in faith toward Christ (justification)? Probably Paul's emphasis is on imputed righteousness, since it was by imputation of our sin to Christ, and not by infusion, that Christ was made … to be sin for us.
Still, it is best not to divide these issues so sharply as we approach this passage. As Romans 1:17 suggests, the righteousness from God is by faith from first to last. Believers become the righteousness from God when they first receive the imputation of Christ's righteousness in justification, but they also receive the continuous blessing of the experience of righteousness in their lives as they grow in their sanctification (cf. Gal. 3:1–5).
6:1. Paul concluded this section by making the implications of his ministry evident. He and his company appealed to the Corinthians as God's fellow workers. In the preceding verses, Paul had spoken of his ministry “as though God were making his appeal” (5:20) through him and his company. The apostle and his company served alongside God as “Christ's ambassadors” (5:20). Because Paul and his company spoke the true gospel as God ambassadors, the Corinthians should have received and honored them, especially by complying with their petition that the Corinthians be reconciled to God. So Paul urge[d] them not to receive God's grace in vain.
Paul had warned the Corinthians several times not to falter in their faith. He did not believe that true believers could lose their salvation (Eph. 4:30; Phil. 1:6), but he was not convinced that everyone in the Corinthian church was a true believer. During this life, it is necessary for all who profess faith in Christ to make certain that their faith endures. Otherwise, the mercy shown to them in the preaching and reception of the word of God will be in vain.
6:2. To support his appeal, Paul referred to Isaiah 49:8. This prophecy focused on the restoration of God's people after the exile. God promised that he would respond to the cries of the exile, in the time of his favor and in the day of salvation. Paul focused attention on Isaiah's emphasis that in God's timing salvation from the judgment of exile would come.
As a result, Paul pressed the significance of this prophecy on the Corinthian situation. The days in which they lived, the days of the New Testament, were not to be ignored or taken for granted. Those days were, as our own days are, the time of [God's] favor and the day of salvation. When Christ came to earth, he began to restore God's people from exile. After Christ ascended into the heavenly places, we continue to see him fulfilling the hopes of restoration. Christ will complete his saving work when he returns in glory. In the meantime, everyone must recognize the urgency of the times in which we live.
We are in the day of great opportunity because the final saving work of God has come to earth. Yet, we are in a day of great danger because failing to receive this salvation through enduring faith will bring a severe judgment. The New Testament age is the climax of history. There will be no possibility of salvation beyond the New Testament. Paul wanted the Corinthians to prove faithful because of the critical moment in history that they occupied.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Christians should balance a realistic assessment of their human frailties with the honor Christ gives them now and after death. When we do this, we will hold fast to faith in Christ and receive the salvation God has offered in him.
In this section Paul focused on the weakness of his humanity. This led him also to speak of the urgency of his ministry. All of us are mortals who wait for deliverance from God. Yet, our mortality should press us toward realizing the urgency of following Christ faithfully.
PRINCIPLES
APPLICATIONS
Many young people hate school, especially at exam time. They put off studying until the last minute. Then when exams are just a day or two away, they have to cram a whole semester's work into a short time. Students who haven't cracked a book do nothing but study.
What makes the difference? The urgency of the moment. When it seems that there is plenty of time before an exam, it is easy not to take matters seriously. But when there is little time left, most students go for the books.
In this passage Paul described the Christian life in this way. He began by discussing how he and every believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ one day in the future. This belief gave Paul a sense of urgency in his ministry. He worked hard because he realized the New Testament church is the last stage of God's redemptive plan before the great judgment. There will be no more eras of redemptive history before the judgment of Christ. For this reason, he called the Corinthians to take his call to them seriously. They needed to make sure they were ready for the final judgment.
Paul's words in this section have many implications for Christian living today, but at least two concerns are central.
First, Paul expressed hope in the glory that he would receive one day. His life in this world was difficult, but he took hope that God would give him a new life, even a new body, in the world to come. As we look at our lives, we often find cause for disappointment. We face many troubles from the world. When we become ill, we suffer the pain and trials of our physical bodies. In the midst of this suffering, we should emulate Paul's hope in the new life we will have in Christ.
Another concern rose in Paul's mind as he wrote about the future life. He knew that before the enjoyment of eternal life would come in its fullness, every person must pass the judgment seat of Christ. We have all fallen and failed to keep the law of God. So it is urgent for us to seek reconciliation to God. There will be no opportunities for salvation beyond the offer of the gospel at this time in history. This should remove the complacency of unbelievers and bring them to faith in Christ. The urgency of the time should motivate believers to trust the message of reconciliation in the gospel. When we are tempted to turn from Christ, we should remember that the judgment day is near. This should motivate us to faithful service to the Savior.
Lord Jesus, we often fail to remember how temporary our lives are. We forget that each of us will soon face you before your throne. Grant us the mercy to be mindful of how near that time is. Give us hearts that know the urgency of bringing the gospel to others and believing it ourselves. Amen.
A. Reconciled, Reconciliation (5:18–20)
Paul used the word group “reconcile/reconciliation” (katallasso/katallage) only rarely in his epistles, and no other New Testament author used these words at all. It is interesting that Paul described his entire ministry in terms of reconciliation in this passage. Fully half of the uses of these words appear in 2 Corinthians 5:18–20, with four of the five others appearing in Romans (Rom. 5:10–11; 11:15). In all uses in both Romans and 2 Corinthians, Paul spoke of God as the active agent who reconciles people to himself. Only in 1 Corinthians 7:11, where he encouraged Christian women who had left their husbands to be reconciled to them, did he use this word in reference to human relationships and refer to a human as the performer of the reconciliatory action.
The only Old Testament usage of katallage (Isa. 9:4–5) comes in the context of a hopeful prophecy about the Son of David who would put an end to the enmity between God's people and the Gentiles. Christ fulfilled this prophecy, and Paul wrote to the very Gentiles whom Christ reconciled. Isaiah 9:4–5 also uses katallage in the context of warriors throwing away their bloody clothes from battle. In this context, reconciliation appears to be the cessation of bloody hostilities, the ending of war, and uniting in common peace. It is possible that Paul had this passage in mind as he explained that Christ could end the hostility between God and sinful man. This would enable man to receive the blessings of the kingdom of the Prince of Peace rather than be slaughtered by him in his anger on the day of judgment.
B. Implore (5:20)
Deomai, translated as “implore,” has a broad range of meaning. At times it carries only the force of a polite request (“please” in Acts 8:34; 21:39). At other times, it means begging, as is evident by the contexts of such passages as Luke 5:12 in which the man who begs does so while prostrating himself at the feet of Jesus, or in the case of the demoniac in Luke 8:28 who begged not to be tormented. It is also one of the normal words for “pray” (Acts 4:31; Rom. 1:10). In this passage in 2 Corinthians, it probably means “beg” or “implore.” It comes in the context of Paul asking those whom he loves to find peace with God so they will not be destroyed—an urgent situation.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY
C. CONCLUSION: YOU'D BETTER STUDY
Abiding Confidence (5:6–10)