In the last chapter we have learned that the Apostle was kept from fainting under his many trials by looking beyond the seen things of time to the unseen things of eternity. In chapter five we are privileged to learn something of the blessedness of these eternal things. We look into "the heavens" to see that there is a body of glory that awaits each believer; that we shall be with the Lord (vs. 8); and that we shall have part in the new creation in which "old things are passed away" and "all things are become new" (vs. 17).
(Vss. 1-4). Using the figure of a house, the Apostle contrasts these mortal bodies in which we dwell with the bodies of glory that are prepared for us. Our present dwelling is earthly, of man, temporal and mortal. Our body of glory is "from heaven", "from God", eternal and immortal. With the confidence that faith gives, the believer can say, without a shade of uncertainty, "We know" the blessed portion that awaits us when set free from these mortal bodies. With this portion assured to us, the Apostle can twice say, "We groan". Having in view the glory of the new body, we groan with earnest desire to have put it on. Feeling the burdens that press upon the mortal body, we groan with longing to have put it off. When here on earth, the Lord groaned as He felt the sorrows that came upon His own while in these mortal bodies (John 11:33, 3833When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, (John 11:33)
38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. (John 11:38)). God permits a groan, but never a grumble.
Being clothed with this glorious body, we shall not be found "naked", as Adam fallen and exposed to judgment. Nor does the Apostle desire death as such. He does not seek to be unclothed merely, and thus escape present trials, blessed as that will be. He longs for the full blessedness of having the new body. He is looking for the rapture, when the bodies of living believers will be changed into bodies of glory without passing through death; for here he does not speak of corruption putting on incorruption, but of the mortal body putting on immortality, and thus "swallowed up of life".
(Vs. 5). This blessed portion will be wholly the result of God's work. He has wrought us in view of this new creation body and, that we may even now enter into the blessedness of the future, He has given us the earnest of the Spirit.
(Vss. 6-8). Entering into this glorious prospect by the earnest of the Spirit, we are "always confident". If still present in the body, and thus absent from the Lord, we are confident, for we walk by faith, not by sight. If called to pass through death before the Lord comes, "we are confident", for this will mean the blessedness of being "present with the Lord".
(Vs. 9). The practical effect of entering into the blessedness of the portion that lies before us will be to make us zealous to be "agreeable" to God in all our walk and ways, not only in the future, but during the time that we are absent from the Lord. We may, indeed, show much zeal in seeking to live in a way that is agreeable to ourselves or in making ourselves agreeable to others. But we do well to ask ourselves, are we zealous that, in all our thoughts and words, and walk and ways, we may be well-pleasing to God?
(Vs. 10). The mention of our walk leads the Apostle to speak of our responsible path, and what we have done in contrast with what God in his sovereignty has wrought. Thus he looks on to the judgment seat of Christ that lies at the end of our responsible path. He says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ". The context would seem to show that the statement of the Apostle is general, in as far as it includes believers and unbelievers. Seeing, however, that believers will be there, he does not say, "We must all be judged", but, "We must all be manifested" (JND). For the same reason, it may be, he does not speak of the judgment of persons, but of "the things done in the body". The Lord's own words tell us that the believer "does not come into judgment" (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)). Again, let us remember that we reach the judgment seat of Christ by the coming of Christ, whereby we shall be changed into "the image of the heavenly". Thus, when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, we shall have a body of glory like Christ; we shall be as the Judge.
For believers it will be our deeds, the things done in the flesh, both good and bad, that will be passed in review. How much of the failure, as well as the good in our lives, we have entirely forgotten or never even known, but all will be recalled then, so that we shall know as we are known. Will not the effect be to deepen the appreciation of the love and grace that, on the one hand, has already dealt with all our evil and brought us safely home in spite of our many failures, and, on the other hand, rewards the smallest act that had Christ for its motive? Were all the past not recalled, we should, as one has said, "lose materials for the song of praise which will be ours forever". The manifestation at the judgment seat of Christ is not to fit us for the glory, but to enable us to enjoy the glory to the full.
(Vs. 11). The Apostle proceeds to speak of the present effect of knowing that we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. Though believers as well as unbelievers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we know from other Scriptures that it will be at very different times and for very different ends. For unbelievers, the day of manifestation will be one of terror, for it will mean not only the manifestation of deeds, but the judgment of themselves. Knowing this, the Apostle persuades men to flee from the wrath to come.
Further, the effect of knowing that we shall be manifested at the judgment seat of Christ will be to seek to be "manifest unto God" even now, and thus live and walk in the presence of One to whom we are fully known. Moreover, the Apostle's confidence was that, so walking before God, he would manifest a walk towards the saints that would be approved by their consciences.
(Vs. 12). His life thus speaking, there would be no need to commend himself; nevertheless, he trusted that his life would give them occasion to glory on his behalf, and so answer those who gloried in outward appearance before men, while lacking the pure and hidden motives of the heart before God.
(Vss. 13-14). In contrast with heartless boasters in outward appearance, the Apostle was moved by divine affections, which lifted him outside himself in the joy of all that God is, and yet made him deeply sober as regards the saints. But whether beside himself or sober, it was the love of Christ that constrained him. That love had been manifested in all its fullness at the Cross. There Christ died for all; the witness of the love of Christ to all, as well as of the deep need of all. Thus, in Paul's preaching to the world, he was moved both by the terror of the Lord and the constraining love of Christ.
Thus there passes before us, in these searching verses, the practical effect of knowing that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ:
First, as regards the world, it led the Apostle to "persuade men";
Secondly, as regards himself, it led him to walk as under the eye of God, being manifest to Him;
Thirdly, as regards the saints, it led him to walk in a way that would commend him to their consciences. Therefore in his walk and ways, he considered the need of the world, the fear of God, and the consciences of the saints.
(Vs. 15). The Apostle passes on to speak of the love of Christ as the constraining power of the new life of the believer. If, in His great love, Christ has died for us and risen again, it becomes us no longer to live unto ourselves, but "unto Him".
(Vss. 16-18). But if Christ died and rose again, He is One that we can no longer know on earth, and in the flesh, but as One who has a glorified body, in an entirely new place in glory. This leads the Apostle to speak of "new creation". Death is the end of the old creation, and resurrection is the beginning of the new. In the old creation, the material world was first created, and then Adam, the head of that creation. In the new, Christ, the Head, comes first, then those who are Christ's; and, finally, the new heavens and the new earth, in which "old things are passed away" — sin, sorrow, pain, tears, and death — and where all things are new, and "all things are of God". All things in that fair scene being of God, all things will be suited to God, and thus it will be a scene in which God can rest with perfect complacency. In the meantime, God has already reconciled believers to Himself by Jesus Christ. By the work of Christ, we are set before God in Christ, free from the penalty of sin, in all the favor that rests upon Christ in the glory, and with the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
Being reconciled, the Apostle can say that a ministry of reconciliation is given to us, with which we can go to the world. When Christ was here, God was in Christ proclaiming the love and grace of God. But Christ has been rejected and gone from the world. But, even so, during the time of His absence, the grace of God sends His servants as ambassadors for Christ, beseeching the poor world, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God. It will be noticed that the "you", twice repeated in italics, and the "ye", should be omitted. The insertion of these pronouns limits the truth to believers, whereas the appeal is to the world.
The believer is reconciled, and knows that this has been effected by the death of Christ, in which He was made, on the Cross, what we were before God, that we might become what He is before God in the glory, and thus made perfectly suited to God. In view of the coming judgment, the Apostle "persuades" men; in view of the grace of God that proclaims the work of reconciliation, he "beseeches" men. If men refuse the grace that reconciles, there is nothing left for them but the terror of judgment.
To sum up the great truths of the chapter, there pass before us:
First, the house which is from heaven, delivering us from fear as to what may come upon these bodies while down here (vss. 1-8);
Secondly, the judgment seat of Christ, which leads us to seek to be agreeable to Christ and to persuade men (vss. 9-12);
Thirdly, the love of Christ, which constrains us to live unto Him and not to ourselves (vss. 13-15);
Fourthly, the new creation, that delivers us from knowing men after the flesh (vss. 16,17);
Fifthly, reconciliation, which leads us to entreat others to be reconciled to God (vss. 19-21).