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And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you

  Good morning. And working together with Him , we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - for He says, “at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you”. Behold, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. Christmas is the “acceptable time” and the “day” that salvation came to earth. Paul mentions a bunch of hardships that he went through. Do not be bound/unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Of course the most common application of this by preachers is that a believer should not marry an unbeliever; but it could also be in other areas. When you have a team of animals pulling a wagon/carriage/sled, they are yoked together in pairs. If one is stronger/faster/wants to go in a different direction than their partner, it can create an imbalance, and it makes it hard for smooth travel. The same is true with humans. If a...
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So God has committed to us the word of reconciliation; therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God

  Good morning.  So God has committed to us the word of reconciliation; therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Ambassadors represent a country/kingdom. They speak on behalf of the leader/monarch. When they speak, it is as if the leader/monarch is speaking. There is an interesting observation about Paul saying “we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God“. Since Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, one would assume that he is writing to believers. Why would he be begging believers to be reconciled to God? We now come to another interesting verse. The word “sin“ can be either a noun or a verb. In this verse both times that it is translated “sin“ it is a noun. He made Him who knew no sin “to be” (these words were inserted by the translators so that we would not think that the next use of “sin“ was a verb; that is, that God made Jesus to commit sin) sin, so that w...
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Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature/creation.

  Good morning. Another favorite verse: therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature/creation. It’s not that he/she is new like a baby of some species that already exists; it is like they are a brand new species that has never existed before. When God came to earth as baby Jesus, He was a brand new “species” too. As such we should not be acting like our old selves. The old things passed away; behold new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 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. When two people have disagreements/arguments with one another, even refusing to speak to the other person, they need to be reconciled. They could both be at fault. Even when there is “peace“ restored between them, the one offended may still hold a grudge - but not so with G...
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For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

  Good morning. For the love of Christ controls us (we can’t help ourselves – His love is suppose to be in control of our actions), having concluded this that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Jesus did not die for us so that we could live any old way that we wanted. He loved us so much that He was willing to die for us; we should love Him so much that we are willing to live for Him. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh (what one is in the natural, means nothing in the spiritual world); even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer (we know Christ in the Spirit). The margin of my Bible says that the phrase “known according to the flesh“ means “by what he is in the flesh”. Father help this weekend to be a time of reflection about all that You have done for us in sendin...
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Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God

  Good morning. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. Why did he say “knowing the fear of the Lord“? Was it because of the last verse we covered yesterday which said that “each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad“? Is that why he persuaded men? We are not again commending ourselves to you (I am not telling you that I do this because I want you to think I am such a good guy) but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance (false prophets and teachers were ostentatious, trying to make people think they were the real deal) and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. Father go with the reader and help him/her get everything ready for what’s coming.
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We are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

  Good morning. Continuing with “while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord“: we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Paul is definitely saying that this life is not the end. When the real “we“ leaves this earth suit, we will be at home with the Lord. There is debate about exactly what will happen between death and resurrection. Even Revelation talks about during the Great Tribulation the souls of those martyred being under the altar and asking the Lord “how long will You refrain from avenging our blood?” Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. He has a “naughty or nice“ list. So be good for goodness sake 😊 .
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For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

  Good morning. Continuing: for indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. The groaning and being burdened could be just physical; but most likely it is spiritual in nature. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. We talked about the word pledge in chapter 1. It would be easy to get discouraged with this groaning and burdening, but Paul says: therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - for we walk by faith, not by sight. Some have taken this out of context and applied it to the Christian life in general. While we do live our lives as Christians trusting in God to take care of things, even though we can’t see it happening, in context this is talking about trusting in God that we will one day be with Him. Father thank You that one ...
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