1For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. 2For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him. 10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences. 12For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you. 14For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died. 15He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16Therefore we know no one according to the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 18But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The Great Wrestling Match
Two Men Wrestling in a Crowd
A misguided teaching is circulating among Christian circles these days. It essentially states that, as we are a “new creation” in Christ, we will no longer have the inclination or desire to do what is wrong. Instead, we’ll be focused on Jesus, and we’ll have an innate desire to follow Him and do what is right. Every deception includes kernels of truth. Paul’s dialogue in these verses clearly explains why we don’t truly experience it if we are honest with ourselves and others. I think it’s dangerous because it promotes the idea of sinless perfection. That is a hazardous idea because if a believer sins, and they do, they might be tempted to believe that their walk with Christ is somehow defective, or they’ll be inclined to think that they have no relationship with Him at all. Satan always promotes lies with significant elements of truth contained within them.
In these verses, the same Paul who wrote that we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) explains that, although we are a new creation, we still carry within us what I like to call the “sin gene”. When faced with a crisis, conflict, or any kind of pressure, we often revert to fleshly patterns we used to survive before coming into a relationship with Jesus. It’s our default, and it is a sin pattern. It is the opposite of relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in such a crisis. Yet within us, we now do have a spirit which has been made alive. It longs to please God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, it can have victory over sin. As we read in our last devotion, the presence of the Holy Spirit within us gives us the potential to overcome sin. It isn’t realized until each time we exercise our positive volition, our choice to walk into that new reality in our lives.
This is indeed a great wrestling match. If we choose to yield to the Holy Spirit for comfort and guidance, He can and will direct us. We can and will do it “God’s way,” rather than reverting to our own way. In doing so, we will do the things that we ought to do, and we will avoid the things we ought not to do. That is an excellent comfort. In those last verses (24-25), Paul comes to that conclusion. I might paraphrase his words by saying, “Oh, what a mess I am when I’m doing it on my own. How, in the world, can I get out of this trap of self? I give glory to God that through Jesus I am able to do what is right, but if I try to do it in the flesh, relying on my own strength, I end up in sin, not doing what I should be doing and doing what I shouldn’t do.” Jesus is the answer. In Him is the strength to walk in newness of life as the new creation that is my identity in Christ!