The Grands Letter (2 Cor/GLJ)

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 5:14-19, “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, 16 Therefore, from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

There was no church with which Paul was ever affiliated that gave him more trouble than this church in Corinth. It was hardly controlled by the love of Christ. Remember that the Corinthians were chiefly viewed as a lower class of people (1 Cor. 1:26), making persistent the problems they faced. It was the kind of congregation that compelled its leadership to simply seek another people.

Yet, Paul never forgot his own conversion and the calling to share the gospel, regardless of the attitudes that clamored against it. He emphasized that Christ’s death and resurrection should be visible within the people that claimed to have been changed, so that now they follow His Son, Jesus, as their Leader.

Paul speaks forthrightly to these Corinthian believers, just as he speaks to us. “You simply cannot go on living like you used to do,” he says. “Christ died to make you a ‘new creature.’ Now, start living like it!”

There’s an old adage that says, “You’ve got to be something before you can do anything.” Are we what He needs us to be?

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

“We will never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom