The Book of 2 Corinthians

Word Study

"judgment seat," Greek bema (βῆμα). The word means a raised platform or tribunal, the official seat from which a ruler or judge pronounced verdicts; the Corinthians knew it well, for Paul had stood before the bema of Gallio at Corinth (Acts 18:12). "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." Every believer will stand before Christ's tribunal, not to determine salvation, which is by grace through faith, but to "receive the things done in his body... whether it be good or bad," an assessment of the life lived and its reward. That the Judge on this seat is Christ is a testimony to His deity, for "God... hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world... by that man whom he hath ordained" (Acts 17:31), and the Judge of all the earth is the Lord Himself come in flesh. This truth is both sobering and steadying: it makes Paul labor to be "accepted of him," and frees him from living for the verdict of men. We do not live for human approval but for the "well done" of the Lord before whose bema we shall all appear.

Explanation

Paul looks past the dissolving "earthly house of this tabernacle" (the body) to "a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He groans, longing "to be clothed upon" with immortality, with "the earnest of the Spirit" as God's guarantee. So he is "always confident," knowing "whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord," and preferring "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Meanwhile "we walk by faith, not by sight," and labour to please Him, "for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."

Gospel Focus

Paul continues the theme of not losing heart, now looking beyond death. The body is "our earthly house of this tabernacle," a temporary tent that may be "dissolved"; but the believer has "a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens", the resurrection body and eternal home. So we "groan" in this frail tent, longing not to be "unclothed" (disembodied) but "clothed upon," that "mortality might be swallowed up of life." God Himself has prepared us for this, and He has given a down payment: "the earnest of the Spirit." The indwelling Spirit is God's pledge, the first installment guaranteeing the full inheritance to come. This gives unshakable confidence in the face of death: "whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord... willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." For the believer, to die is to depart the body and be at home with Christ, so death holds no terror. Meanwhile "we walk by faith, not by sight," trusting what we cannot yet see. This hope does not make Paul careless but diligent: "we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." And the reason is the coming reckoning: "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body." Not to decide our salvation, but to assess our service and grant reward, every believer will give account to Christ. So we live now with eternity in view, confident in the Spirit's pledge, unafraid of death, and eager to be found faithful before the Lord.

Word Study

"constraineth," Greek sunecho (συνέχω). The word means to hold together, to press in on from both sides, to grip and control; it is used of a crowd pressing on Jesus and of being "straitened" or hemmed in. "The love of Christ constraineth us." The love of Christ, above all His love shown in dying for us, grips Paul like a controlling force, pressing on him from every side so that he cannot live for himself. It is not fear that drives him but love, the overwhelming love of the Savior who died for all. This is the great motive of the Christian life: not duty grudgingly done, nor terror of punishment, but the constraining love of Christ that leaves the redeemed no choice but to live wholly for Him. Once a person grasps that "he died for all," and died for me, that love takes hold and will not let go. Paul's tireless labor, his willingness to be thought "beside" himself, all of it flows from being gripped by the love of the crucified and risen Lord.

Explanation

Knowing "the terror of the Lord," Paul persuades men, and the deepest engine of his ministry is love: "the love of Christ constraineth us" — it hems him in and drives him on. His reasoning is the heart of the gospel: "if one died for all, then were all dead," and Christ "died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." The cross does more than forgive; it re-purposes the whole of life. To be loved by a dying-and-rising Saviour is to be lifted out of self-centered living into a life spent for Him.

Gospel Focus

Paul explains what drives his ministry. First, "the terror of the Lord", the sobering reality of the judgment just mentioned, moves him to "persuade men," to plead with people to be ready. He serves openly before God, not seeking his own reputation but the good of the church, unlike those "which glory in appearance, and not in heart." Whatever people think of his zeal, "whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause", everything is for God and for them. Then Paul names the deepest motive of all: "the love of Christ constraineth us." The love of Christ grips and compels him. And he explains the logic of that love: "if one died for all, then were all dead", Christ's death for all reveals that all were dead in sin and needed His death; His dying was on behalf of a whole race under death. "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." Here is the purpose of Christ's death applied to the believer: He died so that those who now live by Him might stop living for self and live entirely for Him. The cross is not only the ground of our forgiveness but the claim on our lives; the One who died for us has bought us to Himself. So the love of Christ becomes the great engine of the Christian life. Not fear, not law, not self-interest, but love, the love of the Savior who died and rose, presses in on the heart and turns it from self to Him. To grasp that love is to be constrained by it, and to live no longer for oneself but for the Lord who gave Himself for us.

Word Study

"reconciling," Greek katallasso (καταλλάσσω). The word means to change from enmity to friendship, to restore a broken relationship, to bring estranged parties back into peace. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." Note carefully who does the reconciling: it is God, and He does it in Christ, "God was in Christ." This is the Apostolic, Oneness truth of the incarnation: the reconciling of the world was not the work of a second divine person sent by a first, but of God Himself present in the man Christ Jesus, "God was in Christ", the one God manifest in flesh, doing the reconciling. God was not far off while another paid the price; the very God we had offended came in flesh, in Christ, and reconciled us to Himself, "not imputing their trespasses unto them."

"reconciliation," katallage (καταλλαγή). The noun formed from katallasso names the result of that reconciling work, the restored peace itself, which God has now "committed unto us" as "the word of reconciliation" and entrusted to us as "the ministry of reconciliation." And this katallage is one-directional in its source: sinners do not appease an unwilling God; the offended God takes the initiative, comes in Christ, bears our sin, and pleads with us to receive the peace He has made. So the message is not "make God love you" but "be ye reconciled to God", receive the reconciliation the one God has already accomplished in Christ.

Explanation

In Christ everything is remade: "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." And this new creation flows from God's own initiative — "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," and has "committed unto us the word of reconciliation," making believers "ambassadors for Christ" who plead, "be ye reconciled to God." At the center stands the great exchange: "he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Our sin was laid on the sinless One, that His righteousness might be credited to us.

Gospel Focus

The constraining love of Christ changes how Paul sees everyone: "henceforth know we no man after the flesh." He no longer evaluates people by worldly standards; even Christ he now knows not "after the flesh" but as the risen, glorified Lord. And the reason is the new creation: "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." To be in Christ is to be made new from the inside; a new life has begun. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." God is the author of it all: He reconciled us, and He entrusts us with the message of that reconciliation. Then Paul states the heart of the gospel: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." This is the wonder of the incarnation and the cross: the God we had sinned against did not stay distant, but was Himself in Christ, God manifest in flesh, reconciling the world to Himself and refusing to charge our sins against us. And He has "committed unto us the word of reconciliation." So Paul describes the church's mission: "we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." An ambassador speaks for his king; we speak for Christ, and through us God Himself pleads with sinners to receive the peace He has made. And the ground of it all is the great exchange of the cross: "he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The sinless One was made sin, bearing our guilt and its penalty, so that in Him we might be counted righteous with the very righteousness of God. This is the heart of the gospel: God in Christ bore our sin and gives us His righteousness, so that the estranged may come home. The one God who was in Christ still pleads through His people: be reconciled to God.