2 Corinthians 5:6-15

Butler's Commentary

SECTION 2

Frustration of the Human Soul (2 Corinthians 5:6-15)

6 So we are always of good courage; 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. 8We are of good courage, 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 we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men; but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who pride themselves on a man's position and not on his 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 controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Unfulfilled Vindication: A very present problem with human perspective is man's need for vindication. It is an urgency within the soul of every human being that cries out for satisfaction. The fundamental desire for righting all wrong was created in the human soul. But in this fallen world, rebelling against God, wrong is not always righted. Most of this world chooses to be away from the Lord. It does not acknowledge that righteousness and justice are present only when the Lord is present (see Isaiah 26:9-10). It has been seduced by the devil. The world's perspective is flawed, and thus men are frustrated. Even Christians may become frustrated if they are not careful to maintain the divine perspective.

But Paul made every effort to constantly view the wrong in this world (especially wrong done to him personally) in the light of divine, justice. The apostle kept the divine perspective and it made him always of good courage. The Greek word tharrountes, translated of good courage, is related to the Greek words thero and therme from which we get the English word thermal, thus, warm, tempered, bold, confident, courageous, etc. Thero was a favorite word of the Stoics. But Paul's courage (thero) was not at all like the detached impassiveness of the Stoics.

At home in the body is from the Greek words endemountes en to somati. Endemountes is a compound of en and demos, and literally means among one's own. In this text endemountes is contrasted with ekdemountes which means, away from one's own. Paul is saying that when we are among our own in the body, we are away from our own in the Lord. Paul did not mean that the Lord was absent from him in his earthly existence. The Lord is the Holy Spirit, and the reality of his presence, his actual presence, is mediated to the believer through the Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. Yet in spite of Christ's constant presence through the Spirit of God in us (Matthew 28:20; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:9-10, etc.), there is a sense in which the Christian is away from, separated from, the Lord as long as he lives in this world. While we are in the body the Lord's presence is not direct and unmediated with us, but is indirect. It is not until we are away from the body that we shall have his direct presence (see Revelation 21:3; Revelation 22:3-4).

In the meantime, we must walk by faith and not by sight. We must view everything in this away-from-the-Lord existence through the divine perspective. And it is important that we understand our away-from-the-Lord existence as something inferior to what our at-home-with-the-Lord experience will be. Our eagerness to proclaim the Christian life in this world as the ultimate experience occasionally leaves people with the impression that there is nothing better to come! We must never do that! The Christian life even at its best in this world is far inferior to that which it shall be in the next world. Christians must never de-emphasize the strength and courage derived from walking with Christ by faith in this life. On the other hand, it would be difficult for the Christian to over-emphasize the glory and blessedness of the promised life to come for all believers.
Having such a divine perspective, says Paul, makes the believer ambitious (Gr. philotimoumetha, lit. to search for honor, to love honor) to please the Lord whether in the earthly body or in the heavenly existence. Of course, Paul would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. With this statement Paul dispenses with any theories that life after death is in any way inferior to this existence. We are, therefore, to assume that in the next life the believer will be conscious, embodied, immortal, spiritual, holy, good, just, beautiful, joyful, and in the direct presence of Christ. Whatever it was like for those believers to have enjoyed the incarnate presence of Christ in the Gospels, will be magnified millions of times in heaven. And the one thing which pleased Christ most about men when he was here on earth was their readiness to believe him and obey him.

A significant part of having the divine perspective is to believe the coming judgment of Christ, and to act in accordance with that belief. The person who refuses to see the world, history, or himself as inevitably coming under the scrutiny and sovereignty of the Absolute Redeemer, has a flawed perspective. Such a person will surely suffer the frustration of having no hope for ultimate vindication of right over wrong. Such a person will have no hope that final justice will ever be accomplished. Such a person's perspective can only lead to irrational stoicism, at best, and existential despair, at worst.

The word For in 2 Corinthians 5:10 connects Paul's appeal for a judgment-perspective to his ambition to be always pleasing the Lord. In other words, the Christian's magnificent obsession should be to always please the Lord because he must inevitably appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The word appear is from the Greek word phanerothenai and means, made manifest, revealed, unveiled, exposed. What Christ is going to do at the judgment for the Christian is to reveal the Christian to himself! Christ certainly does not need a special time to put people on trial in order to discover their deeds or motives. Christ already knows the secrets of men's hearts. This is not a judgment to settle final destiny. This is a personal evaluation given to each individual by the Lord himself of what the individual's life has really been like. Paul looked forward to this judgment because he believed the Lord would be showing many things Paul thought were failures that were really successes. The Lord will reveal many things that pleased him which no one else heard of or applauded (see Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 12:41-44). Everyone who has made it his aim (ambition) to please the Lord is going to be surprised by joy at this manifestation. It will be a time of disclosure and evaluation when all mankind learns for the first time, and perfectly, who was right and what attitudes men should have had or should not have had. It will also be a time of encouragement where believers will see and learn the real value of many things that they thought no one knew and which they themselves often did not understand. The evil that men have done will also be exposed, evaluated and repaid.

Thinking and living in the light of perfect evaluation should drive men to seek the divine perspective. Christ is primarily concerned with our motives. That is why Paul said he always made it his ambition to please the Lord. It is ambition, aim, motive, that counts most with Christ. Our ambition here (not the quantity of our accomplishments) determines the degree to which we will be rewarded in the next life! The person who has understood this will not be frustrated with life in this world where one's ambitions for the Lord often exceed his opportunities and capabilities. He has the divine perspective.

2 Corinthians 5:11-15 Unmitigated Vanity: Another frustration of the human soul is the unmitigated vanity with which the Christian is surrounded in this world. While the Christian is in this earthy existence he must live among proud, arrogant, malicious people who are always attacking his motives and his veracity. Jesus even experienced this as incarnate God! It was a constant source of frustration to the apostle Paul that men should slander his motives. Paul's answer here is that his motives are vindicated as pure because of his divine perspective.

Someone in Corinth had persuaded the Christians there that Paul was seeking to win the favor of men for his own selfish ends. Paul answered that he was busy trying to persuade men to follow Christ, not for his own selfish ends, but because he was always trying to please the Lord. And his ambition to always please the Lord was because he knew the terror of the Lord.
The fear (Greek, phobon, phobia, terror) of the Lord is not as uncommon to the New Testament as some people think! Jesus taught his disciples to fear God (see Matthew 10:26-33; Luke 12:4-7). See also Hebrews 12:28; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 Peter 3:2; 1 Timothy 5:20; Hebrews 4:1; Revelation 14:7; Revelation 19:5; Philippians 2:12; Jude 1:23, etc. The Old Testament makes the fear of the Lord (reverence, awe) one of the fundamental bases of holiness (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Job 28:28; Proverbs 1:7; Psalms 15:4; Psalms 22:23; Psalms 33:8; Psalms 34:9; Psalms 115:11; Psalms 115:13; Psalms 118:4; Psalms 135:20).

The fear Paul points to here is his fear (reverence) for the Lord. This is what motivated Paul to persuade men. His motives were not selfish in the least. Paul preached to men to bring glory and honor to God, not to himself. Paul's view of life, his perspective, included the fear of God and the judgment. Therefore, he was able to keep his motives pure, as well as his actions. It would not be out of order for all Christians to have this perspective. It well behooves the Church today to restore a proper fear and awe of God. More reverence would be a good thing! It would solve the problem of perspective!

Paul uses the Greek word peithomen to speak of his efforts to convince the Corinthians of his sincerity. Knowing fully the fear of the Lord and that his every ambition is clearly open to the Lord and will be manifested by the Lord Paul wants to persuade (Gr. peithomen, conciliate, win favor of, satisfy; see Matthew 28:14; Acts 12:20) those in Corinth who doubt that his motives are pure. Paul wants the Corinthian Christians to grasp the divine perspective and judge him in light of that.

2 Corinthians 5:12 is Paul's answer to any possible misinterpretation of his words as self-glorifying. He says that his real reason in defending his sincerity was that the Corinthian Christians might have an answer to give those who were criticizing him. Evidently there were some who had come to the Corinthian church (probably Judaizers) who took pride in their position (being probably from the Jerusalem church and claiming the sanction of the pillar apostles, Peter, James, etc.) and were slandering the apostle Paul's motives. Paul has already mentioned these Judaizers in II Corinthians, chapter 3. An interesting Greek phrase, en prosopo kauchomenous, in face-boasting, is translated, pride in position. The Judaizers were manipulating these Corinthians with their appearances or their religious facades, rather than bringing any honest or factual evidence against Paul. They were throwing their weight around rather than allowing anyone to search their hearts and motives. They were presenting exactly the opposite perspective that Paul was presenting to the Corinthians. They were presenting the human perspectivePaul was presenting the divine perspective!

Look at Paul's fervor and total commitment from the human perspective and he appears crazy (mad)! (see Acts 26:24 ff). It may be that some of the Judaizers pointed to him as an example of an egomaniac (or perhaps a paranoiac) because he appealed so often to his own sincerity, his fervency for the gospel, and his wide ministry. His enemies may well have accused him of a mania for recognition, that he was mad for position or power over his converts. But Paul argues that the Corinthians must look at his writings and his works through the divine perspective. Paul declares if he is an egomaniac, greedy for personal exaltation, God will judge. Only God can know that perfectly, and God will reveal it at the judgment; but Paul charges the Corinthians that they can judge whether he is outwardly following sensible behavior toward them or not. They can make this judgment if they will evaluate Paul's actions in light of the divine perspective. If they will only measure Paul's actions according to the revealed Word of God, they will conclude that he is acting sensibly and not as an egomaniac.

Paul continues to prove that his perspective is antithetical to that of the lovers of position. He says that his motives are controlled by the love of Christ. He has died to self by accepting the death of Christ as his own death. The fact of the substitutionary death of Christ has flooded Paul's soul with love and constrained him to live no longer for himself, but for Christ. The Greek word sunechei is a compound of sun and echo and means literally, to press together. It is the same word used in Luke 12:49 to describe the pressure or constraint propelling Jesus to the cross! The love of Christ should pressure, control, impel and motivate the Christian. The love of Christ drives and guides by setting the limits to what we should and should not do.

And why did the love of Christ control Paul? Because Paul was convinced that Christ had died for him (and for all men). The word convinced comes from the Greek word krinantas and is a word meaning legal conviction. It shows that Paul's conviction was based on evidence and not just emotion. It was the evidence that produced the emotion and not vice versa! The evidence that Christ's death was a vicarious, substitutionary atonement is the bodily resurrection of Christ. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the supernatural stamp of authentication on the doctrine of Christ's atonement. Without the resurrection, the death of Christ as a vicarious atonement for anyone's sins is unvalidated. It is the atoning death of Christ for sinful man that sheds God's love abroad in man's heart (see Romans 5:1-11).

Now the critical issue in this text is: What does the atonement mean to an individual, personally, existentially, subjectively? It means that when Christ died, the believer died! If I accept Christ's death in my place, I have actually accepted my death! In other words, I agree with God that my sins put me there on the cross in Christ. All died, therefore I died when Christ died. I no longer live; I have no right to myself, to control myself, to live for myself any longer. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live (see Galatians 2:20). Having accepted, by faith, the grace of God in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, we are also privileged to accept by faith, the gracious life of Christ as a substitute for the old sinful life of self. He died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. We live that life of Christ vicariously in our lives by faith (Galatians 2:20).

II Corinthians chapter 5 is one of the greatest treatises on the experiential impact of the atonement in all the Bible! It is paralleled by such great passages as Romans, chapter 6; Colossians 2:20 to Colossians 3:17; Ephesians, chapter 2; and Hebrews, Chapter s 2 and 10. (The reader is directed to Learning From Jesus, by Seth Wilson pages 495-503, pub. College Press, for significant studies on this passage).

In the midst of unmitigated vanity by those who take pride in human position and other vagaries of life apart from faith in Christ, a personal, existential absorption of the fact of Jesus-' vicarious death is absolutely crucial to a divine perspective. Paul had accepted Christ's death on his behalf. He had accepted Christ's life as his own life. Now he wants the Corinthians to judge his actions toward them from this perspective. Paul insists that as Christians the Corinthians have no right to any other perspective.