Epistle for Sunday

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (NRSV)

⁶ So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— ⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. ¹⁰For all of us must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. ¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. ¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. ¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. ¹⁵And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. ¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;* even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,* we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Choice and responsibility seem to be central to the Epistle this week.

Greeks and Romans believed in a crude dualism where the body was of no importance, in fact it was a hindrance because it entombed the soul. They did what they liked because they believed that the body was a thing to be despised. They were ashamed to have bodies and as Seneca wrote, it was a detestable habitation in which ‘… dwells the free soul …’

Christains see things very differently. In our Epistle today, Paul saw the body as a temporary dwelling place – a tent – where we sojourn until the day comes when it is transformed into a spiritual body which is the real abode for our souls. But Paul does not despise the body; it must be treated with great awe and respect, because what we do with it will one day be judged. The body is important because, the new body we are given will be that which enables us to continue to serve God in the heavenly places after death. As Barclay explains: “[Paul] saw eternity not as a release into permanent inaction, but as the entry into a body in which service would be complete.”

But we do not yearn for this life to come; our faith is not about ‘pie in the sky when we die!’ In this life we are in good heart because we possess the Holy Spirit which is the first instalment of the life to come (see 1:22). So, we already enjoy a first taste of the life to come, as part of our present experience.

We are citizens of two worlds. This does not mean that we despise this one, but rather – as Barclay contends – we find it ‘… clad with a sheen of glory which is the reflection of the greater glory to come …’

Here Paul explains that while we are on the road to glory we are ALSO on the road to judgement where we will await the verdict of God. I am not convinced that this will be the severe judgement of a cruel judge. I think it will be more a time when we suffer loss because of the ways in which we have fallen short.

I have had the privilege of haring Professor Keith Ward (Emeritus Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University) speak on this important subject of judgement. Even those of us who are universalists in our thinking, so do not thinking that all will enter the presence of Christ in an unqualified way. Justice demands that those who do evil, and especially those that take delight in evil, are held responsible for the suffering their bring to others. What Ward stresses is the fact that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord – not even death (Romans 8.28). So even after death, when judgement is faced, there will still be a chance for repentance and forgiveness. But if one has dedicated one’s life to pride, greed and hatred, then they might find it extremely difficult repent, even when confronted with irrefutable evidence of the truth of God and his love – what John Hick referred to as eschatological verification. Ward puts it this way: “God will not destroy lives before everything has been done to save them.” There is a sense that the life that has been dedicated to hardening its heart against the ways of beauty, truth and love might find themselves so conditioned that pride no longer allows them to admit that they have been wrong.

Those of us who have opened ourselves to the ways of God find that we face judgement now and it causes us to repent in sorrow for our shortcomings and inspires us to do what we can to make amends.

It is therefore interesting and important to unpack the notion of judgement. It does not refer to  ‘the terror’ of Christ, but rather awe and reverence, an idea of cleansing fear. The Old Testament certainly alludes to this:

Job 28:28 refers to ‘… the fear of the Lord that is wisdom …’

Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 – ‘… The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge …’

Proverbs 16:6 – ‘… By the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil …’

This does not refer to a fear of a dog that waits to be whipped, but rather ‘… that which keeps even a thoughtless man from desecrating a holy place …’ It is a fear that keeps one from doing something that will break the heart of someone that they love. The Psalmist peaks of ‘… the fear of the Lord is pure (clean) …’ This is a healthy ‘fear’ that is part of our lives and which is necessary to live the lives we ought.

Verse 13 is interesting: “¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.”

Paul’s only motive is to serve God and help the Corinthians. But, like Jesus, people thought too was crazy. But, in this way, he does not really care what others think, because – deep down – people admire this sort of craziness! Barclay writes:

“If a man follows out the Christian way of generosity, forgiveness and utter loyalty, there will always be worldly-wise people who will bluntly call him crazy.”

Christians are ‘in’ Christ and as a result, the old self has died in Christ’s death and has arisen anew in his Resurrection and becomes new, as if freshly created by God. This is evident because the Christian has a new set of standards – and these seem crazy in the eyes of the world!

I am also reminded of the American President, James A Garfield, who before rising to this high office, had been a College President. He was approached by a wealthy parent asking if there was not a way to shorten his son’s education in exchange for a generous donation. Garfield replied: “Of course there is a way; it all depends on what you want your boy to do. When God wants to grow an oak tree, he takes a hundred years, when he wants to make a pumpkin, it only takes two months!”

When we are in Christ, God makes us into a new creation, everything old has passed away, everything has become new – but this takes time. It is like the Romans 5:1 ‘… having being justified by faith …’ (NASB) – the genitive absolute – present / continuous – it has happened, but it also continues to happen. As Wesley also explained – Christian perfection is not a linear process alone – it is also something that can be experienced here and now as part of the process.

A few thoughts …

Indeed this was Paul’s experience. Love replaced hate; service replaced selfishness, true understanding replaced ignorance. Paul Barnett, the Australian Biblical scholar explains that Paul uses the same creation vocabulary here that is used in Genesis. Before coming to Christ we are in darkness – like the primal darkness – God now speaks the Gospel word, and then there is light – inward light as Paul has explained earlier in 4:6:

“For it is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ …” (NRSV)

We begin as babes in Christ and need to go through growth toward maturity. Elsewhere Paul also speaks of us as being a building, needing firm foundations first and then further growth. In 1 Corinthians Paul speaks of us as builders, using either precious materials or wood hay and straw – building by the lives we live.

We live in fear of God – not terror – but the fear that keeps one from doing something that will break the heart of someone that they love and in the process we are re-created. Barnett concludes:

“Meanwhile, since sin and its outworking have not yet been abolished, everyone will continue to undergo, in varying degrees difficulty and hardship – including those in whom the new creation has begun.”

But we rejoice because before God our status is that of one in whom the work is completed – because we have been given the status of Christ –even though the work is far from complete as we have the privilege of working out our own salvation as well. This is all a wonderful mystery, great blessing and joy.