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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 4 & 5 ch. 4:1-18 ch. 5:1-10 ch. 5:11 - 6:2 Treasures
In Jars Of Clay (ch. 4:1 - 18) In
verse 1 of chapter 4 Paul makes it clear that he “has this ministry by
the grace of God”. For this
reason only, he does not “lose heart”, he does not give up, although
he would have ample opportunity to do so. He
says that he and his companions have “renounced secret and shameful
ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God”, all
things that some were most likely doing in the service of the Lord.
Even back in Paul’s day there were some in the ministry who
weren’t behaving as they should, as a servant of the Lord. They
were in ministry for money and for pride.
If you looked at the life of Paul, he lived very humbly, and was
actually forced to live that way while in prison much of the time. In
verse 2 Paul says that he “commends himself to every man’s conscience
in the sight of God”. By
“plainly speaking the truth” of the gospel Paul lays all of the cards
on the table, so to speak. Every
man can thus judge for himself concerning what Paul says, and how he
lives. Paul
says that the god of this age has veiled the minds of
unbelievers so that they cannot understand the gospel of Christ.
The god of this world is in reference to the devil.
According to Paul, unbelievers, whether they know it or not, are
being hindered in seeing the good news because of the devil’s influence
in their lives. This is why in
Eph. 6 he speaks of the real battle being with the devil, not with people.
This is important when it
comes to us dealing with people. An
understanding of spiritual warfare is important in the preaching of the
gospel. We may think we're
fighting against human nature, and that's partly true, but it is human
nature inspired by the devil. Note
the last phrase in verse 4, “.. Christ, the image of God”.
This speaks to the deity of Christ, meaning, that Jesus is in fact
God in human form. You
might say that Jesus is the reflection of God, so we can clearly see what
God is like. Yet when I say
that, I don't want you to think I'm saying that Jesus is not God.
He is God, and He is also a human reflection of God. In
His humanity, Jesus reflects God. In
the next verse Paul says that they “do not preach themselves, but Jesus
Christ as Lord”. This is
important. Paul does not
merely preach Jesus as Saviour, but as Lord.
Because Jesus is Lord of all things, He can be our Saviour.
If He were not Lord, He could not be our Saviour. If
you remember in Acts 6 when Paul gave his life to Jesus, you'll remember
that Paul first met Jesus as Lord. He
asked, "are you the Lord"? Jesus
answered by saying that He was Jesus.
Paul met the Lord, and because Jesus was Lord, He became Paul's
Saviour. In
verse 6 Paul refers back to creation when God created light.
He says that in the same way that God created light in the
beginning, He caused spiritual light to shine in man’s heart so he could
understand the gospel. Once
the light came to Paul, the devil’s hold would be gone. As Paul said
earlier, it is the devil that has veiled our hearts from the truth, but
once God shines his light into our hearts, the devil’s influence ends.
It has been destroyed by the process of God shining His light into
our heart’s. Concerning
the Genesis account of God creating light, some people, those who believe
in the gap theory, suggest that darkness was in the world because of the
sin of a prior race of people, or even the devil and his angelic friends.
This is speculative, but worth noting. Paul is spiritualizing this
Genesis darkness, and so I present you with the idea that the Genesis
darkness might have a spiritual element in it as well.
Paul
uses the phrase, “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus”.
God the Father has chosen Jesus to demonstrate his glory to the
world. It can be seen on His
face, and in turn should be seen on our faces. Speaking
of the glory of God and the power of God that goes with His glory, Paul
says that we have all of this in “jars of clay”, meaning our earthly
bodies. This results in a
clear distinction between what is from God and what is from man.
God’s power should be clearly seen when compared to our humanity.
Concerning
this humanity and the earthly existence to Paul’s life he says, “we
are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in
despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.
We are always carrying around in our bodies the death of Jesus so
that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our bodies”.
(ch. 4:8 - 9) Once
again, Paul did not live an easy life.
That made no difference to him, because the harder of a life he
had, the more God’s life would be seen in it. Verse
11 says it clearly, “for we who are alive are always being given over to
death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal
bodies”. Paul is quite
willing to experience this death because as death “is at work in him”,
life is a work in the Corinthians. Paul
experiences the hardships of being a servant so that the Corinthians can
receive all of the benefits of the good news. This
is very important for Christian leaders.
They should have the mentality that they will sacrifice in order
for God's people to be better off, but this is not always the case in
today's church. Paul
quotes Psa. 16:10 when he says, “it is written, I believe; therefore I
have spoken”. Paul says that
with this same spirit of faith, he can speak based on the conviction of
truth that he stands firm on. Part
of that truth is the resurrection from the dead, that some day we, with
Jesus, will be raised and be presented to God.
We should think the same way as Paul here.
We say we believe, and if that is so, we then should speak what we
believe, and speak with conviction. Too
often we say we believe, but our words don't back this up.
Paul’s
life is a life that was given to people, “for their benefit” as seen
in verse 15. All the things
that he is telling them and the reality that is found in Jesus is for
their benefit. He says that
“more and more people” are finding this to be true and that this
should bring thanksgiving to the lips of the Corinthians. In
verse 16 Paul says that despite the fact that “our outward man is
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
Despite the gifts of the spirit that include healing of our bodies,
Paul says that our outward man is wasting away.
What does this say to those “ultra faith” people who believe
that we should be living in perfect health?
It is the inward man that is important, something that our
generation spends very little time on.
Our efforts of self-improvement seem to be directed towards our
outwards self, and in those circles that try to improve their inner self,
it is more humanistic than godly. The
New Age movement is thus one example of humanistic inner self improvement.
In
verse 17 Paul speaks of “his light and momentary troubles”, which to
us would be far from light and momentary, yet he views these troubles in
light of eternity. The
troubles he is going through now means little with the eternal
consequences resulting from these troubles. Because
of the importance of eternity Paul thus says, “we fix our eyes, not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen. For
what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”, just the
opposite to what our modern age tells us. I'm
convinced that if we thought in terms as Paul did concerning eternity,
we'd live a much different life.
We'd be more willing to sacrifice worldly pleasures for Jesus and
those who belong to Him. It's
hard to not let the world influence us, but the reality is that if we
forsake now, we'll be rewarded in the next life beyond measure.
If this was primary in our thinking, we'd be living much
differently right now than we do.
Our
Heavenly Dwelling (ch. 5:1 -
10) Paul
opens chapter 5 by stating, “if our earthly tent that we live in is
destroyed, we have a heavenly building from God…”
The “earthly tent” refers to the body we have here on earth.
Paul speaks of it as a tent, because a tent is more temporary than
a building. He later describes
our new bodies as a “building”, being more permanent and eternal. Once
again, that which is important
is found in eternity, not in this present life.
We should therefore think and live accordingly. The
building that we will have some day in the future is “not made with
human hands”. The building
that we will live in has been made by God Himself.
This is what Jesus probably meant in John 14 when He told the
disciples that He was going to “prepare a place for them”.
In
verse 2 Paul says, “meanwhile we groan…”
Paul and his fellow Christians “groaned” for the day that they
could put this earthly body aside and be clothed with the new body that
Jesus had for them. This
groaning is a longing for the future. It is a strong desire to be with
Jesus in Heaven. For those who
put great emphasis on the present Paul
speaks of his earthly existence in this “tent” as being
“unclothed”, or naked. He
says in verse 4, “while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened,
because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly
dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up with life”.
Once again we see Paul’s strong desire
for the future reality. Paul’s
earthly existence appeared to be a temporary thing in his thinking.
It appeared to be something that he had to go through in order to
get to the future. Was Paul so
heavenly minded that he was no earthly good?
No he wasn’t. Even
though Paul was used by the Lord, his heart was not in this world.
His heart was in the future As
a matter of fact, in verse 5 Paul says that “God made us for this very
reason”, that we could be clothed with a heavenly body.
But until that day comes he says that “we have the Spirit as a
deposit, guaranteeing that which is to come”.
Most of us are so far removed from this kind of thinking because of
our pre-occupation with the present.
Concerning
God making man to have a heavenly body, you might wonder if Adam and Eve
had a heavenly body, and if our bodies will look like the bodies they had.
I can't say for sure. I
don't think anyone knows the answer to this, but my guess is that our
bodies will be different than the ones Adam and Eve had.
In some respects we were created like animals, that is, they had
real bodies with flesh, blood and bones, like us.
Our heavenly bodies I believe will be more angelic, but human
looking, probably like the body Jesus had after the resurrection.
Also, all things will
be new on the new earth as seen in the book of Revelation.
For this reason, I think our bodies will be new and different than
anything experienced on earth before, and that includes Adam and Eve's
bodies.
Some
over the years have stressed the earthly In
verse 6 Paul goes as far to say that “as long as we are at home in this
earthly body, we are away from the Lord”.
In one real sense of the word, Paul felt separated from Jesus to a
degree, even though he had the Holy Spirit within him. He clearly says in
this verse that he felt “away from the Lord”.
This reminds me of things he said in his first letter to the
Corinthians, in chapter 13. He
said such things as “we see in part”.
Everything in our lives as Christians is in part because “we are
away from the Lord”. As a
result he says “that we live by faith and not by sight”.
We live by trusting Jesus for the future, because the future has
not yet arrived. We do not as
yet have the future in “sight”, we only “live by faith”, believing
Jesus for that future In
verse 8 Paul speaks plainly by saying that “we are confident, and would
prefer to be away from the body and present with the Lord”.
Do you see what Paul is saying?
His preference was not to live here on earth as he was living.
He’d rather be dead on earth , and alive with Jesus in Heaven. Yet
no matter what happened, whether away from this body or at home with the
Lord Paul wants “to please” Jesus.
Why does he want to please Jesus?
Because “we will all appear before the judgement seat of
Christ”. At that point in
time Paul says that each one of us will receive a reward for the things we
have done in this body, whether the things are good or bad.
Salvation is based on our trust in Jesus.
Rewards are based on what we have done in this life.
Therefore Paul wanted to please Jesus. I'm
sure that we can't imagine what that day of the Lord will be like.
Yet, if you try to imagine, I wonder how many of us will be
embarrassed for the lack of things that we have done in the service of the
Lord in this life. The
Ministry Of Reconciliation (ch. 5:11 – 6:2) In
verse 11 Paul tells his readers that he tries his best “to persuade”
men of the gospel. His reason
for this persuasion is based on the fact that he knows what it means to
“fear the Lord”. Fearing
the Lord is one aspect of our Christian life that seems to have fallen by
the wayside. There should be
an element of actual fear of the Lord in our lives, that is being afraid
of Him because of who He is. There
is also an element of extreme reverence that we should hold towards Jesus
for who He is. There
is a balance in the New Testament between fearing Jesus and being loved as
a brother by Him. A Scriptural
picture of this balance can be seen in Rev. 5 when John stands in the
presence of the Lord, or the Lion of the tribe of Paul
would have been a very good lawyer. I
am sure that he was very capable of “persuading” people and causing
them to believe his message. He
did his best in this persuasion, even though we know that he did not
depend on human reasoning alone to spread the good news of Jesus.
He depended on the Holy Spirit and His power. Paul
says that that he and his companions are not trying to “commend”
themselves to the Corinthians. He
is not trying to convince them of his authenticity.
As he puts it, “that is plain to God”.
Any question about Paul’s authority and ministry
is not the issue, at least in his thinking.
Anything that Paul says concerning himself is “an opportunity for
them to take pride” in Paul and his
fellow workers. Once
again, this would not be a boastful pride that would pit Paul against
Peter. This kind of pride is
an overwhelming acceptance of Paul. Paul
would like the Corinthians to fully accept him and feel good about him,
for their own benefit. The
reason why Paul wants them to boast in him is because he would like those
who “take pride in what is seen” to notice their acceptance of him.
In verse 12 Paul comes back to this point of things that are seen
and things that are not seen. Those
people who take pride in things seen, do not take pride in the things
“of the heart”. It is in
the heart that the Holy Spirit comes to a person.
It is in the heart where the important things of life are found.
This is why the writer of the Proverbs says, “guard your heart ..
for out it are the issues of life”. Likely
there were many who believed that Paul was completely out of his mind,
although Paul himself would obviously say that he was in his right mind.
For this reason Paul says that whether in his right mind or not,
all that he does, he does for the sake of those he ministers to.
The criticism that he gets along the way matters nothing to him.
He stands before God and it is to His Lord that he will give
account to some day., In
verse 14 Paul says that “the love of God compels us, because we are
convinced…” It is the love
of God that drives Paul in his ministry.
He is totally convinced of the reality of Jesus and His love so
that he can do nothing else than to be a servant of the Lord and spread
His message. There
is a paradoxical relationship between love and fear, between fearing the
Lord as seen in verse 11, and being compelled by God's love in verse 14.
In today's church we tend to emphasize loving God, and being loved
by Him. At the same time we
tend to de-emphasize the point that we should fear God, because He is one
to be feared. We need to find
the proper balance. I am
convinced that to the degree in which we understand that God is to be
feared, will be the degree in which we can know the love of God.
I'm also convinced that many who claim to know and understand God's
love, don't, because they do not fear God.
One can only love God properly once he fears God.
Paul
goes on to say in verse 15 that Jesus “died for all, so that those who
live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died…”
Followers of Jesus are expected to be like Jesus in the sense that
Jesus did not live for Himself, and so His disciples should not live for
themselves either. The
Christian life is meant to be a life of giving.
We have all of eternity to receive the pleasures of life.
This is the age of servanthood. What
does Paul mean in verse 16 when he says that “he no longer regards
anyone from a worldly point of view”?
In Christ there is no difference between men and women, rich or
poor, Jew or Gentile, or any other kind of classification.
We are all the same in the eyes of God.
He treats us all with the same standard.
Paul was going to do the same.
His message would not be different if he spoke to a rich person.
He would not make it easier for the rich in order to receive
worldly support. When
saying that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, that is in
connection to salvation. There
is only one way to be saved, and it is the same way for both Jew and
Gentile. That being said, Jews
have a different place in prophetic history than Gentiles.
I won't explain that here since I've done that elsewhere.
I just note that Paul is simply talking about God's grace in
salvation, not people or nations place in God's work throughout history.
Paul
goes on to say that they once regarded Jesus Himself from a “worldly
point of view”, but no longer. Jesus
is no longer of this world. He
is no longer the suffering servant. He is now Lord of all there is.
We today need to view Jesus, not as He was on earth, but who He is
right now. There is a
difference. Paul
says that if you are really “in Christ’, you are a new creation.
(ch. 5:17) What does
Paul mean when he speaks of us as being a new creation once coming to
Jesus? I believe it has to do
with what Jesus said, when He said that you “must be born again”.
When one receives the Holy Spirit when they get saved, they are
born again, born twice. Remember
that Paul said he was “born late”, or out of season.
Both Paul and Jesus thought in terms of being born again.
So in this sense of the word, Paul understands being born again as
being a new creation. It only makes sense. Does
being a new creation mean that we are no longer without sin?
No. Paul would also
admit that we still have the “old nature” to struggle with.
The difference is that we now have the Holy Spirit within us.
It is He that brings about the born again experience and being a
new creation. With the Holy
Spirit within us, we should expect changes in our lives as a result.
If there is no change at all, then you can question the fact that
the Holy Spirit is actually in a person and that conversion has not really
taken place. There should be
some minimal change, or fruit of repentance when someone claims salvation.
Now
the second half of verse 17 says that the “old man has gone, and the new
man has come”. How should we
interpret this in light of what I have just said.
Paul distinctly says that the “old man has gone”.
We have to interpret this in light of other things that we have
seen Paul say in other letters, such things as the fight against the flesh
in Romans 7. If indeed
the old man has gone, his effects are still lingering with us after
salvation. This is what I
believe Paul is saying here. Because
of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, this by and far out
weighs the old man. The Holy
Spirit is now in charge, not the old man.
There is no comparison to the power of the Spirit and the power of
the old man. Besides,
“figuratively speaking”, the old man was killed with Jesus on the
tree, yet in reality as we live our lives he is still alive.
It
is similar to imparted and imputed righteousness.
God declares us as totally righteous, even as He Himself is
righteous. In one sense of the
word we are righteous, yet in another sense we are not.
The same with the old man. In one sense of the word he has died,
and in another sense he is alive. In
verse 18 Paul says that all of this change in our lives “is from God who
has reconciled us to Himself in Christ”.
The way in which we become a new creation is in the fact that God
has reconciled us, or restored the relationship we have with Him
“through Christ”. “Through
Christ” means his sacrificial death on the cross.
It also means that Jesus is the only way in which real change can
come in our lives. We are
powerless to make lasting and effective change on our own, at least the
type of change that God is interested in.
Not
only has Jesus paved the way for this reconciliation, but Paul says that
God has given him the ministry of reconciliation. Paul’s ministry of
preaching the gospel brought man back into a right relationship with God.
We too could say that we have this same ministry. How
does God reconcile men to Himself? The
gospel that Paul preached stated that God no longer “held men’s sins
against them”. This is in
deed the good news. This can be true in men’s lives if they only accept
the terms of God’s salvation. Not
holding our sin against us allows God’s Spirit to come and live in us,
thus accomplishing reconciliation. In
verse 20 Paul says that he and his companions “are Christ’s
ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us”.
Paul is saying that he is a spokesman on behalf of God Himself.
God is appealing to mankind through Paul.
He will also appeal to mankind through you and I. Paul
says, “we implore you on Christ’s behalf.
Be reconciled to God”. This
is an example of how Paul preached. He
next to pleaded with people with a strong command; “be reconciled to
God”. The feeling this verse
gives is that people are in immediate danger of losing their lives, and
Paul has to scream at them and plead with them to get right with God.
If you saw a small child walk into the path of a car, you would
scream and yell and run and do your best to save the child. This is how
Paul feels about the people he is preaching to. Why
does Paul feel this way? Because
he knows that we are lost in sin, but also he says that “that God made
Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin”.
Jesus not only took our sin to the cross and was punished for it.
He actually became sin while hanging on the cross.
These are two different and distinct aspects of the cross of
Christ. The reason why Jesus
did this Paul says is that “in Him we might become the righteousness of
Christ” (ch. 5:21) Just
imagine. Jesus who is
completely alienated from sin
became sin, and we who live continually in sin become righteous in the
sight of God. This is the good
news of the gospel. God views
us as righteous, even though we are far from it, and one day, we will be
righteous just as He is righteous. Chapter
6 verses 1 and 2 closes out this section of Paul’s letter.
He says, “as God’s fellow workers, we urge you not to receive
God’s grace in vain”. Note
here that Paul calls himself a “fellow worker” with God.
This is an important job to have.
These
people had already received God’s grace, and now Paul is urging them not
to “receive it in vain”. If
these people go astray and the grace of God becomes of no effect in their
lives, then they would have received God’s grace in vain, and all of
Paul’s efforts would be in vain as well.
Paul is always conscious of the fact that God’s grace can be
received in vain. To him this
would be a very sad state of
affairs. He
closes this section by saying, “now is the time of God’s favour, now
is the time of salvation”. With
God, “now” is always the time to make things right with Him.
You don't wait until tomorrow, because there might not be a
tomorrow.
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