Because Paul writes we have known Christ according to the flesh, we can surmise that Paul knew of Jesus during the days of His earthly ministry and probably even heard Jesus teach in Jerusalem. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to believe in the Lord Jesus, and to act as his disciples. i. Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. Click on the different category headings to find out more. Who are the ones reconciled to God? We are related to the body and to the Lord; each claims a part in us. And though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we hope to be. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. i. Those who have responded to Jesus’ plea, made through His ambassadors. We are the party in the wrong. b. The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. On the cross, the Father treated Him as if He were a sinner, yet all the while, sin was “outside” of Jesus not “inside” Him and it was not a part of His nature (as it is with us). We may request cookies to be set on your device. For whether we be beside ourselves — As they affirm we are, because we expose ourselves to so many sufferings, and even to the danger of imprisonment and death, by persevering in our work of preaching the gospel. The you of we implore you was added by the translators. An ambassador does not speak on his own authority; his own opinions or demands mean little. Is in Christ: This is a promise for anyone who is in Christ. This reminds us that at its root, Christianity is all about what God did for us, not what we can or should do for God. But, my brethren, in our hearts, while there was nothing that could help God, there was much that could and did oppose him. In this καί, even, serves to emphasize the οἱ ὄντες ἐν τ. We should not make ourselves, but Christ, the end of our living and actions. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. “Beloved, if you have no more religion than you have worked out in yourself, and no more grace than you have found in your nature, you have none at all. The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ended, but he has good hope, through grace, of heaven as a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place. (1-8) This excited to diligence. Click to enable/disable _ga - Google Analytics Cookie. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. c. He is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. So, we are told to put off… the old man and to put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24). Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. iv. i. There was nothing; but nothing could not stand in God’s way – it was at least passive. (16-21). The King has a message, and Paul is delivering that message as though God were pleading through us. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary (concise), Matthew Henry Bible Commentary (complete), California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Living as a new creation is something God works in us, using our will and our choices. Their zeal and diligence were for the glory of God and the good of the church. On the cross Jesus became, as it were, an enemy of God who was judged and forced to drink the cup of the Father’s fury so that we would not have to drink that cup. The saved are not “just forgiven.” They are changed into a new creation. It is our duty, and it will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we live by sight. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. iii. e. All things have become new is the language of God’s perfect, recreated work (Revelation 21:5). The heart of the unregenerate is filled with enmity against God, and God is justly offended with him. i. c. We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God: As an ambassador Paul makes a simple, strong, direct plea: be reconciled to God. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we know Him thus no longer: Even those who knew Jesus in the flesh found their new relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit far more rewarding. This work of a new creation and our eternal destiny are works of God, not something we have to earn and achieve. God uses the preached word to reconcile men and women to Himself. I will not say that he endured either the exact punishment for sin, or an equivalent for it; but I do say that what he endured rendered to the justice of God a vindication of his law more clear and more effectual than would have been rendered to it by the damnation of sinners for whom he died.” (Spurgeon), iv. b. It is unfair for us to expect those who are not in Christ to live as if they were a new creation. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. The work of a new creation is even greater than God’s work of creating the world. iii. a. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. This shows clearly the happiness to be enjoyed by the souls of believers when absent from the body, and where Jesus makes known his glorious presence. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself is all the more amazing when understood in light of what happened on the cross. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us: Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul carefully chooses his words. As horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was, this spiritual suffering – the act of being judged for sin in our place – was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross. He simply says what he has been commissioned to say. “If God did it, it is well done. He makes us righteous through the righteousness of Jesus; nay, not only makes us righteous, but righteousness; nay, that is not all, he makes us the righteousness of God; that is higher than the righteousness of Adam in the garden, it is more divinely perfect than angelic perfection.” (Spurgeon), iii. This is an amazing utterance. Instead, it is because our trespasses were imputed to Jesus. If anyone: This is a promise for anyone. “I know no language, I believe there is none, that can express a greater or more thorough and more radical renewal, than that which is expressed in the term, ‘a new creature.’” (Spurgeon). For all these reasons, we don’t look to the image and appearance of the flesh but to the substance of the heart. There is so much to the idea of being ambassadors! to us--ministers ( 2 Corinthians 5:19 2 Corinthians 5:20). These … i. Jesus was not a sinner, even on the cross. c. We know Him thus no longer: Some think that it would be better if Jesus were present with us according to the flesh, but it would not be and Jesus knew this. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. This is why Jesus told His disciples It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you (John 16:7). This isn’t just “turning over a new leaf” or “getting your act together.” Yet the life of a new creation is not something God does for us but in us. God did not reconcile us to Himself by neglecting His holy justice, or “giving in” to sinful, rebellious humanity. The Father and the Son worked together on the cross. This makes it clear that it is we who must be reconciled to God, not He to us. But believing souls shall be clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness and glory. “Not only does the believer receive from God a right standing before him on the basis of faith in Jesus (Phil 3:9), but here Paul says that ‘in Christ’ the believer in some sense actually shares the righteousness that characterizes God himself.” (Harris), ii. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. ii. i. If God sets aside His wrath or His justice to save sinners, then the cross, instead of being a demonstration of love, is an exhibition of unspeakable cruelty and injustice, and of one man’s misguided attempt at do-goodism.

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