2 Corinthians 5

Well, I am finally in a place where I can catch up on my blogging! I was not willing to pay the $1 per minute fee at the Hilton in Harrisburg PA, and when I returned home our internet and digital telephone service were both out. all of this coupled with the crazy pace at North East Jurisdictional Conference and the work load that piled up while I was away made it hard for me to sign in. I will catch up this weekend (God willing) and I will date the posts appropriately even though I am posting them late. Thanks for your patience!

The fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians is a rich treasure trove of theology and preaching riches! It is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and has had a HUGE impact on my faith journey and ministry.

Paul begins this portion of the letter by referring to our earthly "tent". He says, "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5:1 NRSV. This same Greek word "εσκηνωσεν" or skenoo is used in the first chapter of the Gospel of John when John 1:14 says "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The word "dwelt" there is actually better translated as the Word became flesh and "tabernacled or tented" among us. This earthly body is seen as a temporary dwelling or tent!

There is too much to cover in this chapter, so I'll jump down to the next piece that hit me the hardest. When I began to understand the implications of vss 16-21 of this chapter I could hardly stop preaching about it. The poor folks that had to listen to me that summer must have wondered if they bumped me if I would move on to another topic! I am still awestruck by the implications of these words, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2Cor. 5:16-21 NRSV.

This great good news changes everything! We are not to judge or consider other people from a human point of view, but we are to see them as other travelers in need of God's grace just like us! Further, God who has reconciled us through Christ now sends us out in this ministry of reconciliation as God's ambassadors! More! God made him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin, so that now in Christ we might become or put on the very righteousness of God!

Think about this for a while. Before we are cleaned up or before we have done anything to approach God, God wraps us in the clothing of God's own righteousness! We are indeed a New Creation!