2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not from now on live to themselves, but to him which died for them… Now what applies to the Old Testament Church applies also to the New Testament Church, for, if the love which God bestowed of old upon His people were to be compared to a drop, His love as now exhibited might be compared to an ocean. Much more, then, may God now look for fruits from those who compose that Church. Now the nature of the fruit which He expects is specified in the text, and it is this: a life which must be a life not unto ourselves, but unto "Him who died for us and rose again." I. WHAT IS THE MANNER OF LIFE WHICH SHOULD NOT BE; OR, WHAT IS BY NATURE THE LIFE UNTO SELF? The text is pretty clear in its condemnation of such a life, "That they should not live unto themselves." We may, then, usefully inquire, What is life to, or living to, oneself? It may be said to consist in following or pursuing our own wills, glory, ends, and lusts. 1. The will of man is by nature in direct opposition to the will of God. 2. But, besides following his own will, the natural man follows his own glory. 3. But we may be so unambitious, perhaps, as that the word glory may seem to be utterly inapplicable in our case; yet all have ends in view, though there may be no glory in them — plans, or something to which God's great end, for us, and which He sets before us in the Bible, is subordinated. First and foremost is self's end; it may be a lawful or reasonable end in itself, except as it is brought unduly and unlawfully forward. 4. There is a fourth following, which is neither glorious nor profitable, yet common, and the grossest; it is lust. Christ died that they who lived might live to some purpose. II. AS TO THE MANNER OF LIFE WHICH SHOULD BE, OR LIFE NOT TO SELF, BUT TO CHRIST. 1. The pattern Saint — with reverence be it said — whom God proposed for our imitation in the matter of the will, as in all things else, is an example. He was subjected to sufferings that He might, in the entire subjection of His own will to His Father's, teach us by example as well as precept. Our blessed Lord says, "I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." 2. To live to Christ, also, they must seek not their own glory, but the glory of God. This did Christ Himself. 3. Living to Christ will also involve seeking the interests of Christ — not our own, but Christ's ends. 4. And there is a fourth pursuit if the believer is to crucify and to mortify the old man with his lusts and affections. "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice," And among the fruits of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul in writing to the Galatians (6.) are "joy and peace." But you will observe an important clause of our text to have been as yet unnoticed — "That they which live." A third and coneluding inquiry should be made concerning this life. III. WHAT IS IT? WHENCE COMES IT? It is the Spirit's work, and it is Christ's work, for "the Son quickeneth whom He will," and it "is the Spirit that quickeneth." Christ is called a "quickening Spirit" because of the power He exercises in this matter, and perhaps the first indication of His work is giving liberty .to the will. (O. W. W. Forester, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. |
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