Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

• 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

2 Corinthians 5:1-9 ‘Absent from the body, at home with the Lord’: ”The Apostle Paul reminds believers that this ‘earthly tent,’ or our present ‘house,’ will someday be torn down (2 Corinthians 5:1). In its place, Christians ‘have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’ In this passage, Paul continues his discussion about the future, the hope (or confident expectation) of the resurrection, and the destiny given to believers in glory. This ‘house,’ the present body, is groaning with infirmity (Romans 8:23), and we are “longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:2).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

2 Corinthians 5:1-4 ‘body as a house’: “The body is sometimes compared to a ‘house’ in which the soul dwells and sometimes to a garment with which it is clothed (v. 1). Paul combined these two figures here. He spoke of putting on a “house” as though it were a garment. Paul longed for the day when his mortal, temporal body would be replaced by an immortal, imperishable, spiritual one (Php 3:21). He certainly had experienced burdens of sorrow and suffering in his life. However, Paul groaned for heaven because his deepest desire was to be fully ‘at home’ with the Lord (2Co 5:6, 8).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

2 Corinthians 5:1 ‘our earthly tent’: “When Paul speaks of our earthly tent, he’s talking about our physical bodies. When this life on earth is over, and our bodies return to dust, life has only just begun. Eternity awaits! And for those who trust in Christ, God has an eternal dwelling prepared for our incorruptible resurrection bodies-something Paul had previously explained to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor 15:35-57).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 5:1 ‘affliction is light’: “Our affliction is light compared with the glory that is so soon to be revealed to us and in us. How soon our mortal life must end! But does the brevity of life cause us any anxiety? Oh, no! ‘We have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.’ And once we reach that blest abode of all the saints and look back on our earthly experiences, we will feel that any affliction we had to endure was light, indeed, compared with the unutterable bliss that will then be our eternal portion.“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Corinthians 5:2-5 ‘eternity in our hearts’: “In fact, Paul says we groan in our present tent, because we long for our heavenly dwelling (5:2). According to Ecclesiastes 3:11, God has ‘put eternity in [our] hearts.’ Though we operate in time, we ache for what is everlasting because God created us to last forever. He made us for this very purpose (5:5). We do not want to be unclothed but clothed is Paul’s way of saying we don’t want life to end but desire our mortality to be swallowed up by life (5:4). How do we know God will follow through on his promise to grant believers eternal life? Because he has given us the Holy Spirit as a down payment guaranteeing what is to come (5:5). Every human being is rapidly headed for eternity, whether he or she realizes it or not. So, are you living your temporal days in light of your eternal destiny? Approach your every decision and maximize your earthly time by living from an eternal perspective.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 5:2 ‘we groan’: “Paul had a passionate longing to be free from his earthly body and all the accompanying sins, frustrations, and weaknesses that were so relentless (see … Rom. 7:24; 8:23). clothed with our habitation … from heaven. The perfections of immortality (see … v. 1).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 5:3 ‘we shall not be found naked’: “Paul clarified the fact that the believer’s hope for the next life is not a disembodied spiritual life, but a real, eternal, resurrection body. Unlike the pagans who viewed matter as evil and spirit as good, Paul knew that Christian death would not mean being released into a nebulous, spiritual infinity. Rather, it would mean the receiving of a glorified, spiritual, immortal, perfect, qualitatively different but nonetheless real body, just as Jesus received (see … 1 Cor. 15:35–44; Phil. 3:20, 21; cf. 1 John 3:2).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 15:6-8 ‘walking by faith’: “While we live in our earthly bodies, we are away from the Lord (5:6) and have not yet realized the fullness of the glory that will be revealed to us when we are taken into God’s presence. Paul’s preference was to be at home with the Lord (5:5). But until that day; he exhorted the Corinthian believers, we walk by faith, not by sight (5:7). Walking by faith means trusting God in the process of doing what is right.
“As the apostle said previously; ‘We do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary; but what is unseen is eternal’ (4:18). Walking by faith occurs when we assimilate God’s Word so that our convictions give direction to our life. Vital faith shows up in footsteps. Otherwise, faith is idle not vital. Thus, we must live based on what God’s Word teaches us to believe instead of on what we can see. We walk by faith, trusting that God is telling the truth. Though we can’t see the eternal realities that he has promised, we act-living heavenly in a hellish world-because we are confident in him.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 5:7 ‘Playing the Position God Gives You’: “Faith is a big component in a football team’s game plan. Our team ran a ‘Cover 2’ defense, an assignment-oriented plan that requires faith and trust to work. Players can’t just run to the ball in a Cover 2, even though that’s what their natural instincts tell them to do. They have to protect their areas, guard the gaps, and trust the system, whether it looks like they are going to be involved in the play or not. If each player can depend on the others to carry out their assignments, the defense works effectively. If they don’t have faith in their teammates, they abandon the plan and open up holes for the offense to exploit.
“Running an offense requires faith too. A quarterback has to throw the ball to a spot before the receiver has gotten there or even begun to cut in that direction. He has to trust that the receiver will run his route correctly, and the receiver has to stick with the route that was planned, trusting that the ball will arrive in the right place at the right time. If either player depends entirely on what he sees and not on the plan as it was designed, the pass will result in an incompletion or an interception. They have to believe in the route.
That’s how life works too. We have to trust that the assignment God has given us is the right one, whether it looks like we’re in the middle of the action right now or not. We need to know that the people and circumstances around us are running a pattern that will work out for good. Or that the route we’re running is designed well and that the ball will get to us in the right spot at the right time. As we carry out our assignments faithfully, the results will come. We need to forsake our natural instincts and play our position, no matter how things look, and trust that the plan will work. That’s what it means to live by faith, not by sight.”

• Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 21 January)

2 Corinthians 5:7 ‘We walk’: “The apostle mentions here a great general principle. Walking implies the possession of life. We can make a dead person sit in a certain position, but to walk necessitates the possession of inward life. It is appropriate, therefore, to ask whether one has the life of God within. In the sense that the term ‘walk’ is here used, the ungodly person does not walk at all. Walking is also a position that signifies activity. As genuine Christians we do not merely learn; we practice what we know. We are to be engaged in displaying to others the blessings we have received and are to exhibit in our daily actions the fruits we have gathered from communion with God. ‘We walk’ is more than some can say. They can affirm, ‘we talk; we think; we experience; we fee!’-but true Christians say, ‘We walk.’ Walking also implies progress. A person who walks makes some headway. True believers are always making advances; we are to be going from faith in its beginnings to faith.in its perfections, waxing stronger and stronger. There is a progress to be made in every Christian grace. Persons who do not make any headway give cause for suspicion as to whether they know much about the divine life at all. Walking also implies perseverance. When a person only takes a step or two and then stops, we do not call that walking. The true Christian keeps on going. Further, walking is the ordinary manner of the Christian life. Running is not best for progress; it cannot be kept up for long; it fatigues and tires. But walking is that kind of progress in which a person continues hour after hour, and after a night’s rest-he rises again to walk on as before, until reaching the goal.
“This text also contrasts two principles: walking by faith and walking by sight. We naturally walk by sight. But any child or fool can walk by sight. There is something exceedingly ignorant about believing only what can be seen. Even in common life, the eyes cannot see nine out of ten things that are the most wonderful. And this is most decidedly the case with regard to spiritual things. Further, walking by sight is a deceptive way of walking. The eyes do not see anything, and they often deceive. And again, the principle of sight is a changeable one. We can see well enough in the day; but what do we do in the night when we cannot see? The principle of faith does best in the dark. And those who walk by sight walk alone. Walking by sight is just this-‘believe in myself.’ Whereas walking by faith is this-I believe in God.’ Lastly, a caution is implied in the text: we are never to mix the two principles-‘We walk by faith, not by sight.’ “

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Corinthians 5:9 ‘a goal to please the Lord’: “The ultimate goal of Paul’s life was to ‘please’ the Lord (Gal 1:10; Col 1:10). This aim was in effect during his time on earth (‘at home’ in the body), and it would remain undiminished in heaven (‘away’ from the body). The certainty of judgment and the prospect of eternal glory enabled Paul to persevere through hardship and motivated him to handle the ministry of the gospel with utmost integrity (2Co 6:3).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

2 Corinthians 5:10-11 ‘The Judgment Seat of Christ’: “Based on what Paul Said in 2 Corinthians 5:19, he reminds his readers again of the judgment seat (Greek, bema) of Christ (verse 10). He wrote of this in his previous letter (1 Corinthians 3:10-15) and also in Romans 14:10-12. All believers must appear at this place of judgment. This judgment does not determine the believer’s eternal destiny; that issue was settled at the cross. ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). Lowery states, ‘Salvation is not the issue here. One’s eternal destiny will not be determined at the judgment seat of Christ. Salvation is by faith (Eph. 2:8-9), but deeds issuing from that faith (1 Tues. 1:3) will be evaluated’ (‘2 Corinthians,’ Bible Knowledge Commentary, p. 566). The purpose of the believer’s standing before the bema is to ‘be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad’ (2 Corinthians 5:10). In a positional sense, those ‘in Christ’ have become new creatures, with the old things passing away and being replaced by ‘new things’ (verse 17).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

2 Corinthians 5:10 ‘the bema seat’: “Only believers will appear before Christ’s ‘judgment seat’ (Gk. bēma). Salvation is not the subject of judgment but rather works (see Ro 14:10; 1Co 3:13.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

2 Corinthians 5:12 ‘boast in appearance’: “Those who have no integrity, such as Paul’s opponents at Corinth, have to take pride in externals, which can be any false doctrine accompanied by showy hypocrisy (cf. Matt. 5:20; 6:1; Mark 7:6, 7).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 5:14 ‘the love of Christ’: “Christ’s love for Paul and all believers at the cross (cf. Rom. 5:6–8). Christ’s loving, substitutionary death motivated Paul’s service for Him (cf. Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:19). compels. This refers to pressure that causes action. Paul emphasized the strength of his desire to offer his life to the Lord. One died for all. This expresses the truth of Christ’s substitutionary death. The preposition ‘for’ indicates He died ‘in behalf of,’ or ‘in the place of’ all (cf. Is. 53:4–12; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:11–14). This truth is at the heart of the doctrine of salvation. God’s wrath against sin required death; Jesus took that wrath and died in the sinner’s place. Thus He took away God’s wrath and satisfied God’s justice as a perfect sacrifice (see … v. 21, Rom. 5:6–11, 18, 19; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; cf. Eph. 5:2; 1 Thess. 5:10; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:24). then all died. Everyone who died in Christ receives the benefits of His substitutionary death (see … Rom. 3:24–26; 6:8). With this short phrase, Paul defined the extent of the atonement and limited its application. This statement logically completes the meaning of the preceding phrase, in effect saying, ‘Christ died for all who died in Him,’ or ‘One died for all, therefore all died’ (see … vv. 19-21; cf. John 10:11–16; Acts 20:28). Paul was overwhelmed with gratitude that Christ loved him and was so gracious as to make him a part of the ‘all’ who died in Him.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Corinthians 5:16 ‘Paul’s conversion’: “Prior to Paul’s conversion, he had decided that Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah. However, his conception of Christ was based on fleshly knowledge. His view radically changed when he encountered Christ face to face on the road to Damascus (Ac 9:4). In Christ, the new way of knowing is spiritual in nature. Paul argued that spiritual wisdom does not evaluate people on the basis of external appearances, as the Corinthians were in the habit of doing. Therefore, he urged them to discard their old, carnal ways of assessment so that they could evaluate others according to the new nature that had been given them through Christ (2Co 1:12).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

2 Corinthians 5:17, 21 ‘Healing of Shame’: “Healing of shame begins when a woman identifies and confesses the lies she has believed about herself. She then must begin to replace those lies with Biblical truth about who God is and who she is as his beloved child—a person of immeasurable worth, righteous and uncondemned (Ro 8:1,31–39; 2Co 5:17, 21).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

2 Corinthians 5:17 ‘God’s Grace’: “God’s grace sees beyond our deepest need. He meets us where we are, talking straight to us in terms that even we can understand. He does this through His Word.
“We need God’s great grace to clear our hearts of all malice. He can give us the ability to turn our pain over to Him in this life, enabling us to resist all attempts at getting even, while He, through His power, deals with this unsolvable problem for us.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, Bedside Blessing

2 Corinthians 5:17 ‘God changes your heart’: “And love has opened the door for sinners to enter heaven. But wait a minute -am I contradicting myself? Didn’t I just say that sinful people, people of the world that don’t have God’s love, wouldn’t be happy in heaven? Of course they wouldn’t. But when you are saved, God changes your heart.
“The Scripture says, ‘Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’ God puts the seed of God in us and we become children of God. We are baptized into the kingdom of God and thus become acclimated and psychologically conditioned to the kingdom of God. You love great hymns, you love to sing, you love to pray, you love to talk reverently about God, you love the sound of anthems and the sound of Scripture being read. And nothing pleases you more than to get up in the morning and read your Bible. Nothing pleases you more than to have time with God in prayer, all you can get. If you live in the face of God then you’ll be happy in heaven, because you’re conditioned for it. God has already made heaven your natural habitat.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God II

2 Corinthians 5:17 ‘The church and God’s aim on earth’: ”The church as its own community serves the fulfillment of the divine mandate of proclamation in two ways. First, everything in this community is directed toward the active proclamation of Christ to all the world, so that the church itself is only an instrument, only the means to an end. Second, in this very initiative of the church for the world, the aim and initial fulfillment of the divine mandate of proclamation has occurred-that is, the church, by itself wanting to become only the instrument and means to an end, has become the aim and center of all of God’s actions with the world. The concept of representation designates this double relationship most clearly. The Christian church stands in the place where the whole world should stand; in this way it serves the world vicariously and is there for the sake of the world. Conversely, the world comes to its own fulfillment where the church stands; the church is the ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:17), the aim of God’s ways on earth. In this double representation the church stands completely in the communion and discipleship of its Lord, who was the Christ precisely by being”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ‘The gospel in a nutshell’: ”We are new in Christ, and as a result, God has given us a new ministry and a new message: the ministry and message of reconciliation, … (5:18-19).
“That is our theme. That is our banner headline, unfurled before the people of the earth: You can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. With that as our message and ministry, we become what Paul calls ambassadors for Christ, His representatives to the world, … (5:20-21).
“That is the gospel message in a nutshell.“

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

2 Corinthians 5:19 ‘Reflections’: “When are we going to raise up a crop of preachers who will begin to preach the perfection of God and tell the people what they ought to hear-that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate to die and rise again?-He rose that He might save us from the everlasting monstrosities, the uglinesses that are far from God; that are not God. He will bring us to the beauty that is God. He came to call us away from all evil, away from the deformity and eternal ugliness which is hell, and toward holiness, perfection; and eternal beauty (see Psalm 50:2).
“Jesus Christ is God come to us, for ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19). Oh, how beautiful is the thought that God came to us in that lowly manger bed! How beautiful that He came to us and walked among us!  He came with our shape and form, bearing on Himself our humanity, that He might cleanse, purify, purge, remake, and restore us, in order to take us back with Him again to that place which is the perfection of beauty.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God I

2 Corinthians 5:20 ‘Ambassadors for Christ’: ”In this section of Paul’s letter, he uses a political analogy to help the Corinthian believers-and us-understand the responsibilities of being a Christian. Paul wrote, ‘We are ambassadors for Christ’ (5:20). This analogy carries the following profound implications for our lives.
“First, as Christ’s ambassadors we no longer represent ourselves. As God’s representatives, we do not have the freedom to indulge our own desires. Everything we now do is to bring honor to God. We represent God not only in an ‘official’ capacity but also in every aspect of life. Everything about us-the company we keep, the entertainment we choose, the way we treat our bodies, the way we interact with others, the priorities we set-reflects Him. There are no off-hours for ambassadors for Christ.
“Second, as Christ’s ambassadors we have a code of conduct to uphold. In the political realm, ambassadors are expected to follow a certain protocol. In the Christian realm, we are held to an even higher standard. Many of our responsibilities as ambassadors are clearly spelled out for us in God’s Word. They can be found everywhere from the life lessons of Proverbs to the words of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount to the exhortations of Paul.
“Third, as Christ’s ambassadors we have been selected for our specific appointments. God is the One who recognizes our gifts and abilities and appoints us to certain duties in service to His kingdom. His assignments allow us to use our gifts and abilities and put them to work. We are also empowered to carry out His purposes through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Finally, as Christ’s ambassadors we are on temporary assignment. Like political ambassadors, we have a temporary dwelling place in a foreign land and will be called home one day. In the meantime, while we may speak the same language as locals, we do not share their same priorities or motivations. Instead, we represent Christ and His kingdom as we diligently act as agents of reconciliation in this broken world. If we do this faithfully, we can anticipate that when our tour of duty comes to an end, the One who appointed us will welcome us home with the words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:21).”

• David Jeremiah, 2 Corinthians (Jeremiah Bible Study Series)

2 Corinthians 5:21 ‘He who is pure becomes sin’: “It wasn’t the Romans who nailed Jesus to the cross. It wasn’t spikes that held Jesus to the cross. What held him to that cross was his conviction that it was necessary that he become sin-that he who is pure become sin and that the wrath of God be poured down, not upon the creation, but upon the Creator.
“When the one who knew no sin became sin for us, when the sinless one was covered with all the sins of all the world, God didn’t call his army of angels to save him. He didn’t, because he knew he would rather give up his Son than give up on us.
“Regardless of what you’ve done, it’s not too late. Regardless of how far you’ve fallen, it’s not too late. It doesn’t matter how low the mistake is, it’s not too late to dig down, pull out that mistake, and then let it go-and be free.
“What makes a Christian a Christian is not perfection but forgiveness.”

• Max Lucado, Walking with the Savior

2 Corinthians 5:21 ‘Jesus became sin for us’: “God the Father made his Son Jesus Christ who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. By his glorious grace, God offers human beings the deal of a lifetime. As a result of our sin, every human being owes a debt to God that he or she can’t repay. Our sin demands God’s eternal judgment. Yet, ‘because of his great love that he had for us’ (Eph 2:4), God acted on our behalf. As Paul says, ‘The one who did not know sin became sin for us.’ The sinless Son of God became our substitute on the cross: ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree’ (1 Pet 2:24).
“Yet that’s only half the story. Although that addresses our sins, we still have a lack of righteousness to commend us to God. So, in exchange for our sins, Jesus offers to give us his perfect righteousness-that is, when we place our faith in him, he credits our spiritual bank accounts with his own perfection. The theological term for this transaction is imputation. When you believe in Jesus as your substitutionary atonement, your sin is imputed (or credited) to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to you. This is the glorious exchange that the gospel offers to everyone who will receive it. And this is the good news of which we are ambassadors.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Note the reflection questions that follow go through chapter 6, verse 2 to complete these topics.

By speaking of clothing and not being naked, Paul starts off by saying that we will obtain physical bodies in Heaven.  We will have substance.  We will not be a spiritual entity that floats around with the other spirits.

And rather than following a bunch of rules, we realize that we would rather be with Christ than in our present state.  So, while we are here on the earth we desire to please God.  God told us to love and 1 Corinthians 13 describes that love.

We will all stand before Jesus at the bema seat, the Judgment Seat.  We will be rewarded for those things we did on earth.

As a result, some think Paul and his companions are out of their minds.  Paul believes in faith rather than what others believe in – sight.  If we see it, is it faith at all?

Yes, there is a need for apologetics.  There is a need to explain.  But at some point, that step of faith, rather than the step of certainty must be taken.  And the false teachers were ignoring that step.

When Paul says that Christ died for all and thus all die, he is saying that we surrender our lives to Christ, trusting in Him completely.  When we live for Christ, our life is in Him, not our own anymore.

This argument culminates in the promise that we become a new creation.  The old is gone and the new is here.

We are reconciled before God.  The sin in our lives is not accounted toward us.  We move from a condition of alienation from God to a reconciled relationship with God.

Jesus, who had no sin, became sin so that we might be reconciled with God.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 The Heavenly Dwelling 1. How does God’s purpose (v.5) apply to a current crisis of yours?
“2. How can knowing the location of your ultimate ‘home’ encourage you to be more hospitable to others now?
2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2 The Ministry of Reconciliation 1. What motivates you to share your faith? If you rarely do so, what inhibits you?
“2. How can you grow in your awe of God and love for Christ this week?
“3. Knowing what it is like to be alienated and reconciled in other relationships, how is it going with God: Still a family feud, a truce, or have you made up?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Second Corinthians 5:1-6:2 has two sets of questions as noted above.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.