Forgiveness, Resurrection and Life (HC 56-58)

2 Corinthians 4:7-5:21 “Forgiveness, Resurrection and Life” March 16, 2008

In the Apostles’ Creed we confess that we believe in God,

the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We believe in a holy, catholic church; the communion of saints.

And we believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

These three need to be dealt with together.

Because it is only together that these three doctrines are truly Christian.

And indeed, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting

are woven together as consisting of the entire doctrine of salvation.

In reformed circles we are more likely to talk about

regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification,

but another way of talking about salvation is to say

“the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

The Son of God has come in the flesh,

and he has given to us his Holy Spirit,

so that we might be conformed to his glorious life.

Sure, we can talk about the details,

but the Apostles’ Creed lays out those basic doctrines

upon which our whole salvation rests.

Let me put it another way.

Does your salvation depend

on whether you believe the doctrine of justification by faith alone?

No.

But if you do not believe in the forgiveness of sins,

then you are not a Christian!

That is why we say that the Apostles’ Creed contains those things necessary for salvation.

It is interesting that Paul deals with these three topics in reverse order in 2 Corinthians 4-5.

58. Q. What comfort do you receive from the article about the life everlasting?
A. Since I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall after this life possess perfect blessedness, such as no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived - a blessedness in which to praise God forever.

Naturally, the life everlasting and the resurrection of the body are closely related.

But Paul starts by talking about the sort of life that is at work in us.

We have this treasure in jars of clay,

to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;

perplexed, but not driven to despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken;

struck down, but not destroyed;

always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,

so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

What on earth is Paul saying?!

“always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,

so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”

The life that is at work in us is none other than the life of Jesus.

And how did the life of Jesus come to us?

By his death.

And how did we come to share in his death?

By being united to him in his death.

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,

so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

In other words, eternal life (the life of Jesus) is already beginning its work in us.

Then comes Paul’s strangest statement yet!

So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Paul is talking about his apostolic work of preaching the gospel.

Through his death life will come to the people of God.

In other words, as the death of Jesus is at work in Paul,

the life of Jesus comes to more and more.

(v15) For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people

it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.

And of course, you cannot seriously talk about this eternal life

without talking about the resurrection of the body:

knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus

and bring us with you into his presence (v14).

After all, the life of Jesus is none other than his own resurrection life.

And so we do not lose heart.

Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

Here is one of the clearest places where Paul expresses what we are:

the body is the person considered from the outside (the outer nature)

the soul is the person considered from the inside (the inner nature).

Considered outwardly, we are wasting away.

But inwardly, in our inner man (our true identity) we are being renewed day by day.

Already, in our inner man, we are united to the life of Jesus.

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us

for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

Is Paul saying that the body is irrelevant?

No, Paul is saying that our life in the body

is preparing us for something far more glorious.

If you are fixated on the life of the body,

you will miss the point of the body.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

(5:1) For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed,

we have a building from God, a house not made with hands,

eternal in the heavens.

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,

if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

Paul is saying that our earthly bodies will be destroyed.

We have died with Christ in our inner man.

But our outer man has not yet been destroyed.

I greatly fear that in our day we have become too obsessed with the outer man.

We have come to prize the body in a way that Paul never did.

There are those who so exalt the goodness of the body,

that they have become uncomfortable with Paul’s language here!

But Paul is not talking about some disembodied existence.

He is talking about a glorified bodily existence.

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—

not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed,

so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

It is not that we are swallowed up by life –

not that we end up in some sort of Nirvana (or nothingness) –

but rather that Paul does not want you to think of this body

as the paradigm for the glorified body.

Rather, think of it this way:

consider the difference between your inner man before Christ

and your inner man after Christ.

What is the difference?

Sin and Righteousness.

Rebellion and Holiness.

Even so the difference between our mortal body and our glorified body

is nothing less than life and death.

57. Q. What comfort does the resurrection of the body offer you?
A. Not only shall my soul after this life immediately be taken up to Christ, my Head, but also this my flesh, raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul and made like Christ's glorious body.

And as Paul puts it in verse 5,

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God,

who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage.

We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Did you realize that this “walk by faith, not by sight” verse

was in the middle of a discussion of the resurrection?

The whole of the Christian life, from the resurrection of Jesus

until our own resurrection, is characterized by faith.

All that is Christ’s is ours – by faith, but not yet by sight.

But on that day, we will walk by sight.

And until that day our walking by faith is important,

because while we are in the body, we make it our aim to please him.

For (v10) we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body,

whether good or evil.

At the day of judgment everyone will stand before Christ,

and everyone will receive what is due for what they have done in the body –

whether good or evil.

This is why Paul moves from the resurrection of the body to the forgiveness of sins.

It might seem backwards to talk about the forgiveness of sins

after you have spoken of eternal life and the resurrection of the body!

But Paul has just said that at the final judgment you will be judged

according to what you have done in the body.

And Paul seems perfectly comfortable with that!

Why?

Why isn’t Paul worried about the final judgment?

Because “what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.”

He is not trying to boast, but he wants them to understand that we have concluded this

(v14) that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves

but for him who for their sakes died and was raised.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

All that is Christ’s is ours by faith, not by sight (at least not yet!)

And so Paul says,

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh,

we regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The new creation has already dawned in Jesus Christ.

You are no longer who you once were.

If you are in Christ, then you participate in the new creation

-- by faith, not by sight.

And so we come to our final (or our first) question – taken in reverse:

56. Q. What do you believe concerning the forgiveness of sins?
A. I believe that God, because of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, nor my sinful nature, against which I have to struggle all my life, but will graciously grant me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never come into condemnation.

This is where Paul concludes 2 Corinthians 5:19-21

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them,

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore 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.

Because of Christ’s satisfaction,

God forgives both my sins and my sinful nature –

both the actual sins that I have committed,

and the original sin that corrupted and stained me.

So if you are reconciled to God in Christ,

and you have become in Christ the righteousness of God,

then how do you suppose God will look at you in the final judgment?

When you appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

what will you receive?

--if all your sins are forgiven

--if every transgression, every evil deed done in the body is not counted

what is left?

So Paul has brought us full circle.

Eternal life – the life of Jesus – is already at work in you.

And so therefore we discipline our bodies,

seeking to put to death the deeds of the flesh,

so that we might be conformed to his glorious body in the resurrection of the dead

And in this hope we believe in the forgiveness of sins,

rejoicing that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What is the point of all this?

In chapter 6, Paul speaks of his own sufferings,

but he makes a very clear application in 6:14-7:1.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

(We usually apply this to marriage – don’t marry an unbeliever –

but in fact, Paul is talking about a much more comprehensive approach to life.)

For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

What accord has Christ with Belial?

Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

Paul is not talking about a list of “situations to avoid,”

rather he is talking about a whole orientation to life.

If the life of Jesus has taken root in you,

then your closest companions should be believers.

And if your sins are forgiven and you have a new identity in Christ,

then you should be holy – separate from the uncleanness of the world.

For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch no unclean thing;

then I will welcome you,

and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty.

This is a quotation of Leviticus 26:12 and Isaiah 52:11,

blended together with a number of other passages.

This was originally speaking of Israel in its call to purity.

Paul say that while the church blends together Jew and Gentile,

that does not diminish the call to purity and holiness.

The people of God are to be holy.

As Paul summarizes the whole discussion:

Since then we have these promises, beloved,

let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit,

bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

What is the point of the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting?

In a word, holiness.

And so let me ask you: