`If anyone is in Christ`, says Paul (and indeed, God), `they are a new creation’ (2 Cor 5:17)! And as usual in the epistles, vision now turns into action! We see Paul embodying the transformation he’s been enthusing about in at least six practical areas. They’re basic to our own spirituality, things we should pray for ourselves! And they’re basic also to our `making disciples’ as Christ commanded us. Following up new believers well is one example of that; and our friendships with each other should evidently include helping each other grasp the implications of being `new creations` that we’ve been reading about – just as we seek to help ourselves!
The first such area Paul picks up in this section, as we’ve already seen, is a passion for evangelism. Paul no longer views anyone in the ordinary way, but rather as someone facing God’s judgment and needing to be `implored’ (5:20) to do something about it if they haven’t already. Being transformed into Christ’s likeness includes having his enormous love (5:14) compel us to `implore‘ people to hear the gospel; `on Christ’s behalf… as though God were making his appeal through us’ (v20). Paul’s transformed mentality, his sense of eternal reality, motivates him to passion about the only gospel that saves. (Lord, I don’t feel I’ve `implored’ anybody `in Christ’s stead’ for some time now……..)
Something to pray about straightaway? And then: a second is a passion for spiritual seriousness. In fact these two go together; in 2 Cor 5:20-6:2 (as in 12:20-13:5) it is hard to say if Paul’s challenge to Corinth is evangelistic – are they truly `in the faith’, have they indeed repented and believed? – or rather confirming whether they live in a way that shows their repentance was real. No holiness means no genuineness; as 1 John 3:6,9 puts it, no-one born of God can happily continue to sin. The question is whose life it is. Any attempt to run our own lives, to delay obedience, asserts precisely that rebellious independence (`It’s my life’) which cannot coexist with true repentance. Saying `Not yet’ is saying `No’ to God: `It’s my life and I will hand it over as and when I choose.’ (Which, as Paul reminds them, is foolish. `Now is the time of God’s favour'(6:2); it would be absurdly arrogant to demand that God’s offer of his presence and redirection recur just when we decide we want it.)
But then — why does Paul write 6:3-10 at this particular point in the argument? Is he reminding them what can be involved in real seriousness – in following Jesus even if the way of the Cross leads out beyond our `comfort zones’? (One assumes he isn’t talking just about himself here; after a similar list in 2 Tim 3:10-12 he adds that these deep challenges will mark `everyone who wants to live a godly life’.) `In great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger… glory and dishonour, bad report and good report'(vv4-8). It is scarcely `prosperity Christianity’! (`Poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything'(v10).) Godly seriousness can even be described as `sorrowful'(v10), as Paul grows like Jesus the `man of sorrows’; we think again of that `imploring’ those who are headed astray, and our minds return to Acts – `For three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears’ (20:31,cf 20:19). Yet we sense a glory revealed – automatically – in character that perseveres through all these challenges by God’s grace; it fits into Paul’s deep vision of our being `transformed into Christ’s likeness’. It’s an astounding privilege to be `God’s fellow-workers'(6:1), through whom Christ’s glory flows into the world. But if suffering and glory go together, then it’s not surprising if `knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection’ also involves us sometimes in this `fellowship of sharing in his sufferings'(Phil 3:10).
Spiritual reality: are you in it with us?, Paul asks the Corinthians. `One died for all… that those who live should no longer live for themselves.’ Thirdly, then, Paul moves on to what we can call a passion for holiness: `Do not be yoked together with unbelievers… Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.’ We often apply this to love and marriage; because there above all is a `yoke’ where you’re committed to doing things together, and therefore it’s crucial to have, at the deepest level, the same desires. Anyone married for more than a few years can testify how much conflict is spared if both of you are committed to the same fundamental priorities and life-goals. Inevitably there will be trouble – over our use of money, our use of time, our use of our home for God, our career plans, our raising our kids to see costly discipleship as self-evident and non-optional – if, at the deepest level, one of you is a `temple of God’ – ultimately dedicated to God’s worship – and the other a `temple of idols’ – ultimately committed to other life-priorities (v16). Longterm, getting this wrong can cripple our Godward relationship. The force of Paul’s language is striking: `What fellowship can light have with darkness?… What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?’ `Well, nearly everything’, we may answer when we’re in love. It may only be after several years of marriage that we grasp that, here too, Paul’s words were inspired by God.
But love and marriage are not the only issues here; rather, `let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit.’ Again, this is scarcely a contemporary way to talk; to be called `pure’ today is more likely to be an insult than a compliment! (For Jesus, in contrast, `purity’ was something essential if we want to `see God`; look at Matthew 5:8.) I don’t find it easy to cultivate the instinct that notices, `Hey, this that I’m watching or reading makes me feel a little defiled, it leaves me a little away from God.’ Amid the norms of our current environment, that sense is so easily blunted; we have to develop the habit of hearing it, and then acting on it straightaway, rather than overriding it. And the underlying issue here is seriousness about cultivating the white heat of passion for holiness: how much we really want to stay sensitive to Christ and his voice. Newspaper articles, web-pages or videos we pump into the imagination, are actually a gospel issue, a transformation issue.
Inevitably there is something about this passion for holiness that can feel `narrower yet deeper’; just as for a woman to marry a man is to shut herself off from all other potential partners. Yet above all, holiness is positive and relational, not negative and life-denying. And we will be motivated to it once we really absorb God’s astonishing words here: `I will live with them and walk among them… I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters'(6:16,18). Or, as in 4:10, `so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body’! `Since we have these promises, dear friends’ (or `dearly beloved’ (AV)), Paul concludes, `let us purify ourselves’ (7:1)….
Thankyou then, Father, for your quite astounding gift of your presence, and of your life; please help me by your Spirit to cultivate this seriousness about separateness for you!
