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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:9-15
In chapters three and four Paul speaks concerning the qualifications of the New Testament ministers. The first qualification is that of being constituted of the Triune God. This qualification is basic. We become competent, sufficient, equipped, and qualified to be ministers of the new covenant by being thoroughly constituted of the Triune God, who is now the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. As these ministers are constituted of such a One, the effectiveness of Christ’s all-inclusive death operates within their being, terminating the old creation and killing the flesh and the natural life.
In the constitution received by the apostles, there are a number of factors or ingredients. These ingredients are typified by the spices used to make the ointment in Exodus 30. One of these factors is the effectiveness of Christ’s death. Daily this ingredient, this factor, works within the apostles. For this reason, in their daily living there is nothing of the old creation: no self, no flesh, no natural life. This killing element can be compared to an antibiotic used to kill germs.
Along with the factor that puts to death the old creation, there is another factor, a positive one. This is the factor of resurrection. This ingredient includes not only divinity, but also Christ’s resurrected and uplifted humanity. The resurrected Christ Himself is resurrection.
The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is the processed God. The processed God as the life-giving Spirit includes divinity, humanity, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Therefore, it is a very significant matter to be constituted of the processed God. God has been processed, and we have been constituted. God has been processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Today the resurrected Christ is also the ascended One, the exalted and enthroned One.
A person can be helped by medicine without understanding all the ingredients of the medicine. Likewise, although it is helpful to know all the elements of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, we can be helped by these ingredients even without understanding them. We simply need to take the “dose” of the Spirit. Then the elements of death and resurrection will work within us. As resurrection works within us, we become heavenly, empowered, and authorized. The ingredient of resurrection often works in us apart from our consciousness. This can be compared to the way an antibiotic works in us apart from our consciousness of it. Today the ingredient of resurrection is working in us.
In his living Paul had the highest humanity. Paul’s humanity was actually an expression of the human living of Jesus. He had been constituted of the life of Jesus and thereby became properly human, “Jesusly” human. When we come to the remaining chapters in this book, we shall see how outstanding is Paul’s humanity.
We have pointed out that the basic qualification of a new covenant minister is to be constituted of the processed Triune God. The constitution is the base, the foundation, of the qualifications. We today also need this foundation. In doing anything or learning anything, we need a base. If we would be ministers of the new covenant, we must have the constitution as a basic qualification.
The second qualification of the ministers of the new covenant is to conduct themselves for the shining out of the gospel. Their conduct and behavior were based on their constitution. Because they had been constituted in a certain way, they could live a life that manifests the truth and shines forth the glory of the gospel. It was not necessary for them to determine to do something to cause themselves to shine. No, apart from their consciousness and intention, simply by the way they lived, there was a shining forth from their being. Their constitution became their shining. For example, charcoal does not shine, but a gold coin shines. Between the charcoal and the gold there is a difference of constitution. Because of their constitution, the apostles shined forth the glory of the gospel. It was not necessary for them to preach, for their being was shining.
Because this shining came out of their being, their constitution, their behavior was not a performance of any kind. Today people often behave in a certain way to match the occasion. This behavior is a performance. For example, on some occasions they may conduct themselves with pride, as if they were dignitaries. But on other occasions they may conduct themselves humbly as subordinates. All this is a performance. However, those who are qualified to be ministers of the new covenant do not behave in this way. On the contrary, their behavior, based on their constitution, is genuine. This is the second qualification of a new covenant minister.
I aspire to follow Paul’s example. By the Lord’s mercy, I do not want to perform in any way, but I want to have a behavior which comes out of my constitution.
Third, the apostles lived a crucified life. Day by day they were under the grinding. As Jesus of Nazareth lived a crucified life, so the apostles also lived this kind of life. The Lord Jesus was crucified throughout His life. He lived a crucified life from the time He was born in the manger. Then through all the years He was continually being crucified. He was under the grinding, the killing, the putting to death. But this killing afforded Him the opportunity to manifest the resurrection life from within Him. Before Christ was actually nailed to the cross, He had already lived a crucified life. In like manner, before Christ was resurrected, the resurrection life had already been manifested in Him.
In their ministry the apostles were, on the one hand, captives in the Lord’s triumphal procession. On the other hand, they were crucified ones, those who daily lived a crucified life. They were put to death, crucified, not only by the opposers, but even by the believers. By reading the book of 1 Corinthians we can see that the Corinthian believers put the apostles on the cross. This was the reason Paul said, “Daily I die” (1 Cor. 15:31). Daily he was being put to death. This is the living of a crucified life for the manifestation of resurrection life and for the truth of everything ministered by the apostles to others.
Under the grinding, the outer man of the apostles was consumed. But simultaneously they were renewed in the inner man. They were constituted of the Triune God, they behaved themselves according to this constitution to shine out the glory of the gospel, and they lived a crucified life for the consuming of the outward man and the renewing of the new man. These were the qualifications for them to be ministers of the new covenant.
I hope that not only the leading ones in the churches but all the saints, including the young ones, will be impressed with these matters. Do not think that you are too young to have some experience of these things. Yes, I did point out that it takes many years to be constituted by the Lord. Nevertheless, it is also true that the Lord can use even those who are young. I can testify that not long after I was saved, the Lord began to use me, for there was some amount of the divine constitution within me. This constitution is the base, the foundation, for us to be used by the Lord as a new covenant minister. This constitution affects our behavior. When I was saved, there was a change in my inner constitution. Spontaneously I began to behave according to this constitution. Although I was never taught to live a crucified life, I automatically began to live this kind of life. As a result, early in my Christian life, I became a little minister of the new covenant.
Being a minister of the new covenant is a matter of degree. We all can be new covenant ministers, as long as we have the constitution and conduct ourselves according to it and live a crucified life with the elements of resurrection and ascension. Then we all, brothers and sisters alike, can be used by the Lord as little ministers of the new covenant.
By the end of chapter four, Paul has recorded fully the qualifications of the New Testament ministers. In 5:1 he expresses his aspiration, his desire and longing, to be raptured. Paul was mature and ready to be raptured. He was like ripened wheat in a field that is ready for harvest. This wheat is golden, no longer green. Hence, it is ready to be reaped.
This understanding of the rapture is very different from the sugar-coated doctrines common today. D. M. Panton once pointed out that today’s preachers often give people “admission tickets” that will not be accepted by those guarding the “gate.” Yes, you may have a certain “ticket,” but eventually it will be exposed as invalid and unacceptable. Christians today are being given a “ticket” which they think entitles them to be raptured. Eventually they may realize that they have been cheated. Rapture is a matter of maturity. What farmer would harvest grain that is still tender, young, and green? No farmer would do this. Instead, he would allow such unripe grain to remain in the field and grow until it is ready for harvest. Paul was one mature in Christ, mature in life. Therefore, he was truly ready to be raptured. However, at Paul’s time, not many believers were mature. For this reason, the harvest could not take place. Even after nineteen hundred years, the Lord Jesus still has not come. The reason for the delay is that not very many have matured in life.
Many believers do not have the genuine desire or longing to be raptured. The reason they lack such a desire is that they are not mature. Little children, for example, desire only to play and have a good time. But as they grow older and mature, they desire to graduate from school, have a good job, and get married and raise a family. Desire is always related to maturity. An infant has only very simple desires because with an infant there is no growth and certainly no maturity. But the more we grow and mature, the deeper and higher our desires become. If you claim that you have the desire to be raptured, to be clothed upon with a heavenly building, then you must pass through 2 Corinthians 4. Only after experiencing this chapter can we have this desire. Otherwise, we shall be like children in kindergarten who claim they have the desire to graduate from college.
In 5:1 Paul speaks of “our earthly tabernacle-house,” a rather particular expression. In the Bible tabernacle is a special term indicating God’s dwelling place. Paul’s use of this word in 5:1 indicates that our dwelling place is also the dwelling place of God. Furthermore, this tabernacle is not only a dwelling place for both God and us; it is also a place for us to worship God. Our physical body today is a tabernacle, a temple. Our physical body, in which our person dwells, is not only for our living, but also for worshipping God. This is the reason Paul refers to our body as a “tabernacle-house.”
Paul’s thought here is profound. His thought is fully saturated with God. He surely was mature and ripe. Therefore, his longing was to be raptured. He did not desire to be unclothed, but he longed to be clothed upon with a transfigured body. When you have such a longing, such an aspiration, you are a mature believer, one who is ready to be reaped, ready for the harvest.
In addition to the desire to be raptured, we need an ambition to please the Lord. Paul speaks of this in verse 9: “Wherefore also we are ambitious, whether at home or away from home, to be well-pleasing to Him.” After describing the longing to be clothed upon with the transfigured body in 5:1-8, Paul goes on to speak concerning an ambition to please the Lord by living to Him (5:9-15). In verse 9 ambitious means to be zealous with a strong aim, striving earnestly to be well-pleasing to the Lord. Whether “at home or away from home,” this was Paul’s ambition. The phrases “at home” and “away from home” mean to live to remain in the body, or to die to be with the Lord.
In verse 9 Paul seems to be saying, “I am ambitious to please the Lord. I am matured and ready to be raptured. There is nothing more for me to do. But while I am waiting, I have one thing in my heart — to please my Lord. I have no other ambition, aim, or goal. My only ambition is to please the Lord by living to Him.”
Why in 5:9 does Paul speak of living to the Lord and not living by Him, for Him, or with Him? To answer this question, it will be helpful to read Galatians 2:19: “For I through law have died to law that I might live to God.” Although the phrase “live to God” is difficult to define, it is rich in its implications. In Galatians 2:19 Paul says that he lives to God, not to the law. To live to the law means that we are under the law, directed by the law, governed by the law, and have the responsibility to fulfill the law. To live to God, or to the Lord, means that we are under the Lord’s direction and control and that we want to fulfill His requirements, satisfy His desires, and complete what He intends.
In 5:15 Paul says, “And He died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him Who died for them and has been raised.” Worldly people live to themselves. But the love of Christ constrains us to live to Him and not to ourselves. To live to ourselves means that we are under our own control, direction, and governing and that we care for our own aims and goals. This is to live not only for ourselves; it is to live to ourselves. But the apostles, who were ripe and ready for rapture, had the single ambition of pleasing the Lord by living to Him. They were absolutely under the Lord. They were under His direction, control, and governing. Everything they did was to fulfill the Lord’s purpose and desire. As such persons, they did not live to the law, to themselves, or to anything other than the Lord.
Those who work for a particular company may live to that company in order to gain a promotion. In everything they do, they may wonder what the boss will think of them. Therefore, in their behavior, dress, and hairstyle, they live to their company. Even in selecting a new pair of shoes they live to their company. By so doing, they seek to please the boss so that they may be given a promotion. No doubt, by living to a company an employee will advance and achieve success. Likewise, a pastor of a certain congregation may live to that congregation. Everything he does, including the way he dresses, may be to that church. He realizes that if he does not live in every respect to those in that church, he may be dismissed from the position of pastor.
Paul did not live to himself or to anything other than his Master, Christ. He was always exercised to do what would please the Lord. He was very different from the rabbis who lived to the law and did everything with a view to the law. As one who was mature, ripe, and ready for the rapture, Paul’s only aim was to please his Master, the very One whose coming he was awaiting. Paul sought to please the Lord not by doing a work, but by living to Him in every aspect of his daily life. Likewise, we today should not seek to please ourselves, but seek to please the Lord by living to Him. All that we do must be to Him. This is the vital matter in this portion of 2 Corinthians 5.
I have pointed out that some employees live to their company. I would also illustrate the matter of living to Christ by going on to say that some wives seek to please their husbands by living to their husbands. Everything they say and do is to their husbands. Any wife who lives to her husband in this way will certainly please him. The way to please others is to live to them.
In 1934 I visited some believers in the south of China. Out of their love for me, they tried to make a certain kind of bread. Actually I preferred simply to have a bowl of rice, because the southern Chinese did not know how to prepare that kind of bread properly and adequately. Nevertheless, they constrained me to eat the bread they had prepared. In this matter, they did something for me, but what they did was not done to me. I use this as an illustration of the fact that many Christians who love the Lord do not live to the Lord. Instead, they live to themselves. They are different from Paul whose ambition was to please his Master not by doing things for Him, but by living to Him.
In verse 10 Paul says, “For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the things done through the body, according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.” “For” explains the reason for the ambition mentioned in verse 9. The judgment seat is where Christ will judge His believers at His coming back, not concerning their eternal salvation, but concerning their dispensational reward (1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15). The word “recompensed” here is the technical word for receiving wages (Alford). While we are still at home in the body, we should do things through it to please the Lord so that we may be rewarded for them by the Lord at His coming.
In verse 11 Paul goes on to say, “Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord we persuade men, but we have been made manifest to God; yet, I hope that we have been made manifest also in your consciences.” Knowing the fear of the Lord means to be conscious of fearing the Lord. “Therefore” indicates that this is due to the judgment seat of Christ in verse 10. Furthermore, the fear of the Lord as mentioned here does not refer to the Lord’s being fearsome; it refers to our fearing the Lord. The apostles, conscious of fearing the Lord, persuaded men concerning their integrity, concerning what kind of persons they were, toward both God and men. But they did not need to persuade God, for what they were was already made manifest to God. Yet the apostles hoped that they would have been made manifest also in the believers’ consciences.
Verse 12 continues, “We are not again commending ourselves to you, but we are giving you an occasion to boast on our behalf, that you may have something for those who are boasting in outward appearance and not in heart.” The word “something” denotes something for facing those who are boasting. Literally, the Greek word appearance is face, the outward appearance of the Judaizers. The heart is where the sincerity and reality of virtues are.
Verse 13 says, “For whether we were beside ourselves, it was for God; whether we are sober-minded, it is for you.” To be beside ourselves for God is to be mad, as a fool, for God’s glory (Acts 26:24-25). The apostle’s ecstasy was not an excitement of folly, but was to God and with God for His glory. To be sober-minded here is to be self-controlled for the good of others in love.
In verse 14 Paul explains, “For the love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that One died on behalf of all; therefore all died.” The love of Christ toward us was made manifest on the cross through His death for us (Gal. 2:20). This love constrains us. Literally, it presses on us from all sides, holding us to one end, forcibly limits, confines us to one object within certain bounds, shuts us up to one line and purpose, as in a narrow, walled road. (The same Greek word is used in Luke 4:38; 12:50; Acts 18:5; Phil. 1:23.) In such a way the apostles were constrained by the love of Christ to live to Him.
The phrase “having judged this” means having concluded this, probably at the time of conversion. Paul concluded that because One died on behalf of all, therefore all died. Christ’s loving death was the motivating factor of the apostles’ being constrained to live a loving life for Him. Since Christ died as our substitute, suffering the sentence of death on behalf of us all, in the eyes of God we all died. Hence, we do not need to die in the way it is reserved for men to die and face judgment (Heb. 9:27).
As we have pointed out, Christ died on behalf of all so that we may no longer live to ourselves but to Him. Christ’s death not only saves us from death so that we do not need to die, but it also causes us, through His resurrection, to live no longer to ourselves, but to Him.
