2 Corinthians 5:15

2Co_5:15

He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.

New life in Christ

By virtue of Christs death and resurrection Christians obtain the grace of a new life.

I. There is a spiritual life. Note--

1. The correspondence between common life and this life of grace.

(1) The natural life supposes generation, so does the spiritual (Joh_3:3; 1Jn_2:27),

(2) Where there is life there is sense and feeling, especially if wrong and violence be offered to it, and so is the spiritual life bewrayed by the tenderness of the heart and the sense that we have of the interest of God. Can a man be alive and not feel it? And can you have the life of grace and not feel the decays and interruptions of it, and neither be sensible of comforts or injuries?

(3) Where there is life there is appetite, an earnest desire after that which may feed and support this life. So spiritually (1Pe_2:2; Joh_6:27). The new nature hath its proper supports, and there will be something relished besides such things as gratify the animal life. In correspondence with this there will be a desire that carrieth us to that which is food to the soul, to Christ especially, and to the ordinances in which He is exhibited to us.

(4) Where there is life there will be growth; so do the children of God grow in grace (Psa_92:13).

(5) Life is active and stirring. So spiritual life hath its operations; it cannot well be hid. Some only have a name to live, and are dead.

2. The differences. They differ--

(1) In dignity. Natural life is but a wind, a vapour, a continued sickness, but this is the life of God, and was a life bought at a dearer rate than the life of nature (Joh_6:51).

(2) In origin. The natural life is brought down unto us by many generations from the first Adam. All that our parents could do was to make way for the union of soul and body together. But by this life we mid Christ are united together, and He becomes a life-making spirit unto us.

(3) In duration. All our labour here is to maintain a lamp that soon goes out, or to prop up a tabernacle that is always falling. But the spiritual life begins in grace and ends in glory.

II. The respect that is between this life and Christs resurrection. Christs resurrection is--

1. An example of it.

(1) Christ died before He rose, and usually God killeth us before He maketh us alive. The word is a killing letter before it is a word of life (Rom_7:9).

(2) The same Spirit of holiness that quickened Christ quickeneth us (Rom_1:4; Rom_8:14).

(3) Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more (Rom_11:9). So is a Christian put into an unchangeable state; sin hath no more dominion over him (Joh_11:25-26).

2. A pledge of it. And therefore He is called the firstfruits from the dead (1Co_15:20). His resurrection was in our name; therefore we are said to be raised with Christ (Col_3:1), and quickened together with Christ (Col_2:13; Eph_2:4-5).

3. A cause of it. That Spirit of power by which Christ was raised out of the grave is the very efficient cause of our being raised and quickened (1Pe_1:3; Eph_1:19-20). (T. Manton, D. D.)

The end of Christs death for all men

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 Gods great end, for us, and which He sets before us in the Bible, is subordinated. First and foremost is selfs 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 Fathers, 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 Christs 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 Spirits work, and it is Christs 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.)

Self not the chief end of life

1. Self is the chief end of every natural man. That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves--implying that all men living, who are not under the actual benefit and efficacy of our Saviours death, do live to themselves.

2. The end of our Saviours dying and rising again was to change the corrupt end of the creature.

3. Therefore we must be taken off from ourselves as our end, and be fixed upon another, even upon Christ, else we answer not the end of Christs death and resurrection.

4. It is highly equitable that, if Christ died for us and was raised for us as our happiness, we should live to His glory, and make Him our end in all our actions and the whole course of our lives. The apostle uses this consideration as an argument, and as a copy and exemplar. Therefore, as He rose to justify us, we must rise to glorify Him. (Bp. Hackett.)

Fully consecrated to Christ

Mr. Moody, in one of his addresses, said, I see a man on this platform--I do not know if he remembers it--but when I was here in 1867, there was a merchant who came over from Dublin, and was talking with this business man in London; and as I happened to look in, this business man in London introduced me to the man from Dublin. The Dublin man said to the London man, alluding to me, Is this young man all O O? Said the London man, What do you mean by O O? Said the Dublin man, Is he Out and Out for Christ? I tell you it burned down into my soul. This friend said, I was a little ashamed, but I thought I was not, though I was a young man then.

Living to Christ

Living to Christ in small things and living for Christ every day is the secret of large fruitfulness. A peach-tree or an orange does not leap into bounty of fruit by one spasmodic effort; an orchard does not ripen under a single days sunshine. Every rain-drop, every sunbeam, every inch of subsoil does its part. A fruitful Christian is a growth. To finish up a godly character by a mere religion of Sundays and sermons and sacraments and revivals and special seasons is impossible. A man may be converted in an instant, but he must grow by the year. The tough fibre of the slender branch that can hold up a half-bushel of oranges is very different from a little willow-switch; it is the steady, compacting process that makes that little limb like a steel wire. Such is a healthy and holy believers life. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)

Henceforth

In passing over a mountainous country the traveller comes at length to the water-shed. Up till he reached that elevation the brook has been meeting him; but so soon as he has crossed it a new-born rivulet runs dancing along with him. The external features of this ridge may be different in different cases. In one they may be clearly defined; in another they may be so little marked that it may be difficult to say where precisely the transition has been made, and the tourist can only tell that he has made it when he sees the new direction which the water is taking. But however it may be outwardly indicated, the fact remains that at such a ridge a few yards will determine whether the water falling from the clouds will find its destination in one ocean or another. Now the moment of conversion is the water-shed of life. Sometimes the transition is distinctly defined; sometimes it is hardly discernible; yet always it is the turning-point of a mans eternity. This is the point which is indicated by the henceforth of my text. Mark--

I. What precedes it. There are three descriptions of the life before conversion given by Paul.

1. In the verse before us. To live unto ourselves is to make self the ruler, and selfishness the motive of our existence. Everybody hisses at the miser, but many actions which are accounted noble are just as selfish as his.

2. In Eph_4:7. Walking as other Gentiles walk exactly delineates the kind of life which multitudes are leading. They do as other people do; and if a thing is customary, that is held by them to be a sufficient reason for their practising it. They never ask what is the will of God in the matter. Is a man asked to contribute to some good object, then instead of inquiring whether in Gods sight he ought to give, and if so, how much, he will say, Let me see who are subscribing, and what amounts. Is he besought to help some struggling cause, then his inquiry will be, not what Christ would have him do, but whether any persons of respectability are connected with it. Is he in doubt as to the propriety of some course of conduct, his scruples are removed when you tell him that this one and that one of the fashionables do the same.

3. In Rom_6:6. Up to the henceforth they had been serving sin; and, indeed, this is said in so many words in the 17th verse. This is the most terrible description of the three--Ye were the slaves of sin, and the meaning is that in the unconverted sin has the entire mastery. By habitual indulgence in it they have given it the upper hand, and now it holds them in chains which they themselves have formed.

II. What follows it. We have no such variety as in the former case, for though error is manifold, truth is one. There are different ways to perdition, but there is only one to glory. There may be diversity of phase, but the same root principle exists in every true believer. To me to live is Christ; I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. These profound utterances imply that what before was self in the apostle was now Christ. What things before were gain to him, those he counted loss for Christ. Now it is the same with every real Christian. When a man truly passes this henceforth, his whole being runs Christward. The volume of the river may be small at first; but, small as it is, its direction is decided, and it gathers magnitude as it flows. He has Christ enthroned in his heart as the Lord of his love; over his intellect as his instructor in knowledge; over his will as the guide of his choice; over his life as the director of his conduct; yea, he can say with truth that he is Christs, as well as that Christ is his.

III. What produces it. The influence on a mans heart of the love of Christ as that is manifested in His atoning death for him. Look at the history of Pauls own conversion, and you will see that the change in him was brought about through his belief that Jesus died for his sins and rose again for his justification. Now it is the same with the convert yet. It is his faith that Jesus Christ the Son of God loved him and gave Himself for him, which through the agency of the Holy Ghost brings about this transformation. Christ is only a Saviour, or at most the Saviour, till I appropriate Him, but when I do that He is my Saviour; and that moment is the henceforth of my life. Conclusion: But some one may ask, Why should I seek to pass this henceforth? What is there about conversion that makes it of such importance?

1. It is essential to your reconciliation with God, and your enjoyment of the blessedness of heaven.

2. It will intensify your happiness.

3. It will increase your usefulness. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ.--

The Christian has new views

I. Of men.

1. He once estimated them by their earthly circumstances.

2. He now esteems them according to their moral and religious worth.

II. Of Christ.

1. He once despised and lightly esteemed Him.

2. He now regards Him as his Saviour and Lord. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Spiritual knowledge

I. Of Christ.

1. Is not that the same as wanting to forget the Saviours humanity? Should we have only a glorified Christ as the object of our contention? No. Paul simply refuses to boast, as did those false teachers who troubled his ministry, of having known Christ in Judaea; he knows Christ only according to the spirit--i.e., as his Saviour, which is the essential thing.

2. Let us draw from this thought an important lesson. Who has not envied Christs contemporaries? It seems to us that had we seen and heard Him, our hearts would have been more moved, and doubt would have been impossible.

(1) Now listen to Christ Himself. A woman cries out, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee. He answers, Rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. A man says, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without. He answers, My mother and My brethren are those who hear the Word of God and do it. His apostles would like to retain Him. He says, It is expedient for you that I go away. Mary Magdalene would lay hold on Him. Jesus answers her, Touch Me not! What does all this mean if not that it is by the soul, before everything, by faith that Jesus would be known and possessed. This, then, is the consoling conclusion, that neither time nor distance hinders Jesus from being known and His presence felt. And is not all this bright with evidence? Was not the Church which saw Christ feeble, timid, and sluggish, and did not Christ have to leave her that she might receive the baptism from on high? Did His discourses ever produce the wonderful effect which they have produced since? Why, He touches more hearts in a single day now than during the three years of His ministry!

(2) You envy the privilege of His disciples. Are you certain that His mean condition would not have turned you from Him? Who knows if you would not have denied Him? Supposing, however, that you had remained faithful to Him, would you have understood His work? Would you not have been attached to His earthly person more than to His Divine mission--would you have loved Him according to the spirit, as He would have Himself loved?

3. What is knowing Christ after the flesh to-day? This: To melt at the recollection of Jesus with an emotion entirely human; to weep over Him as the victim of human fanaticism; to honour His relics and memory. He is known according to the spirit. When at the foot of His Cross, it is not over Him, but over ourselves, that people weep; when in His death they contemplate not His sufferings merely, but more especially His sacrifice; when they act in union with His work, rejoice in His triumphs, and prepare for His coming.

II. Of men.

1. A signification has been given to these words which provokes a righteous protest. We see Christians, under the pretext of an imaginary perfection, break in sunder all the ties of flesh and blood, renounce their families, and, having put before them the wall of monastic vows, say to them, I know you no longer! Spiritual heroism, people exclaimed--brilliant triumphs gained over the flesh! Is that what the gospel teaches us? No! St. Paul tells us that the Christian who neglects his kindred is worse than an infidel. If, then, under pretext of renouncing the flesh, people should violate or neglect natural laws, they have against them not only Natures voice, but Gods. There will be cited here the numerous passages in which our Lord unsparingly condemns all those who, before following Him, consult flesh and blood. If any man hate not, etc. But He speaks of choosing between duty and delight--between the law of God and the affections of the family. Here our conscience gives Christ a full assent. But far from this be the system which condemns the life of the heart, the joys of existence and the flesh, as evil in themselves.

2. What must, then, be understood by I know no one after the flesh? In every man there are two natures--flesh and spirit. To the eyes of flesh you are rich, poor--a master, a servant, etc.; to the eyes of the spirit you are a child of God. Now, St. Paul declares to us that henceforth what he would know in every man is the spiritual and immortal nature. Before Christ, what was a poor man, a slave, a publican? Now, to the eyes of Jesus the soul of the lowest harlot weighs as much when put in the scales as the soul of Caesar. Everywhere He only sees sinners to be saved; to all He offers the same language, grants the same love. In the school of Christ Paul learnt to see in the Festuses and Agrippas only lost souls, whom he will cause to hear the truth which saves without being preoccupied with their sceptre or their crown; it is there that he learnt to preach the gospel to an Aquila and a Lydia, with the very same love as had it been the soul of the Pro-consul Sergius or the Governor Publius. It is thus that we must know men. The world has its distinctions of rank, of learning, of fortune, and they are necessary. Should you overturn them to-day they would reappear to-morrow. Let us respect them. But let us know men by what they have that is great and immortal. (E. Bersier, D. D.)

Men not to be known after the flesh

Not to know men after the flesh is not to judge of men according to endowments, though never so glittering, which arise only from fleshly principles. To esteem man by inward grace. Men esteem not their fields for the gay wild flowers in them, but for the corn and fruit; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. We do not glory in Him, because He was of kin to us, according to the flesh. We look upon Him no more, only as a miraculous man; but we know Him as the great Redeemer of the world. We consider Him in those excellent things He hath done, those excellent graces which He hath communicated, those excellent offices He doth exercise; we know Him, after a spiritual manner, as the Author of all grace.

1. Natural men have no delight in anything but secular concerns; love nothing but for their own advantage; admire not any true spiritual worth.

2. An evidence of being taken off from ourselves and living to Christ is our valuation either of ourselves or others, according to holiness. And as a new creature is framed after the image of God, so his affections and valuations of men or things are according to Gods esteem of them.

3. Our professions of Christ, serving Him and loving Him barely for ourselves and for fleshly ends doth not consist with regeneration. Such a love is a love to ourselves, not to Christ.

4. We should eye Christ and arise to the knowledge of Him, as He is advanced and exalted by God. (Bishop Hackett.)

The new knowledge of Christ and man

Paul had just said, One died for all, therefore all died--i.e., according to Gods thoughts and purpose, the whole race, when Christ died, ceased to belong to the visible and transient world; and we, entering into the thought of God, henceforth know no man after the flesh. In death all earthly distinctions disappear. The rich man is rich, the poor man is poor no longer, etc. But further, Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more. There were Christian people then living who had seen Christ, and this was surely a great distinction and blessedness; but it may have been a peril to them. I can imagine them assuming a certain superiority over their brethren. We did not receive the gospel from Paul, or Apollos, or Peter, but from the Christ Himself. And I can also imagine that others, when the memory of our Lords earthly life was so fresh, would feel an absorbing interest in all that they could learn about Christ as a man among men, and would come to think of Him under the common conditions of human life. There are some of us, Paul seems to say, who have known Christ after the flesh; but what does it matter that we remember His face, voice, manner, dress? To us He is not first of all a fellow-countryman, whom we used to see in the Synagogue on the Sabbath, and whose brethren and sisters and friends we knew; or a wonderful religious teacher, who in our presence said many wonderful things and did many wonderful works. To us He is the Eternal Son of God, the Brother of all men. His earthly life has passed into a larger, mightier, and more glorious life. Pauls gospel began where the gospel of those who knew Christ after the flesh ended--with the suffering and the death of Christ. I delivered unto you among the first things that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures. All that went before Paul passed over very lightly. Consider:

I. The new knowledge of Christ. To Paul, Christ was infinitely more than an august and pathetic tradition, and He must be infinitely more to us if we are to preach the gospel with any effect.

1. We shall miss the substance of our message if we know Christ after the flesh. From the materials given to us in His teaching and history, we may construct a beautiful system of ethics and a noble conception of God, but we shall still miss the most animating and effective part of the gospel. Christianity is a historical religion; but the history on which our faith is founded did not come to an end eighteen hundred years ago. Through sixty generations men of every land have discovered for themselves that He is living still. Not in the remembrance of Christ, but in the living, personal Christ--a great multitude whom no man can number have found God. The life of every Christian man adds to the great story new miracles of mercy and power wrought by Christ. The Canon is not closed. Every age contributes material for new gospels. We have not to teach men a mere method of salvation revealed by Christ eighteen centuries ago. The Christian method of salvation is the method by which Christ Himself saves men now. With a dead Christ, belonging to a remote age, and not able and eager to save men now, the Christian method of salvation would be worthless.

2. To have seen the Lord after He had risen, was one of the qualifications for the apostleship; and the apostles were not merely witnesses that Christ had died and had risen again. When Christ rose He passed into new and higher regions of life. His appearances during the forty days had this among other purposes, to bring home to them the immense change through which He had passed, and to discipline their faith in the reality of His presence in the invisible and eternal order. They saw that the limitations of His human life had been dissolved, and they were gradually prepared to receive His own wonderful words, All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Not till they had this new knowledge of Christ could they be sent to make disciples of all nations.

3. Now, have we that kind of knowledge of Christ which is necessary both for our work at home and for our missions to the heathen? Do we think it enough to know Christ after the flesh? During the last forty years there has been a remarkable awakening of interest in the earthly history of our Lord. There are tens of thousands who have been reading the four gospels from their childhood who feel as if they had come to know Jesus of Nazareth for the first time. They have been able to place Him in His true relations to His age and to His country. The whole story has become real and solid to them. They know Him almost as well as the men and women knew Him who actually saw and heard Him. There is a real value in knowledge of this kind. But if our most effective conception of Christ is a mere historical conception, then we know Christ after the flesh. And our knowledge is rudimentary and imperfect. We must see Him descend into the mystery of death, wait for His emergence from darkness, join in the songs which hail His resurrection, see Him ascending to the throne of God, rejoice that He belongs, not merely to the distant past, but that He is the contemporary of all generations; rejoice that He is here, not under the limitations of His earthly life, but in the glorious fulness of Divine power, surrounded with the splendour of Gods eternal kingdom.

4. It was one of the innumerable evils which Romanism inflicted on Christendom that it held constantly before the eyes the exhausted, agonised form of Christ on the Cross, and so deprived men of the animation and courage inspired by the knowledge that He is now on the throne of the Eternal. A similar loss may be inflicted on ourselves if our thoughts are imprisoned within the limits of His earthly life, and if we do not exult in His resurrection and in His constant presence in the Church. Are we, then, to forget His earthly history? Ah, no! But we know Him, not as His contemporaries knew Him, but with a larger and deeper knowledge. That poverty, that homelessness, that physical exhaustion, that agony--behind them all we see the Divine glory. In Christ, even during His earthly years, we look not at the things which are seen and temporal, but at the things which are not seen and eternal.

5. And there are times when, if the story of the historic Christ is to command confidence, it must be sustained by the testimony of living men who have been delivered by the living Christ from the consciousness of guilt, from evil passion, and habit, and eternal death. Indeed, according to the ordinary methods of the Divine mercy, it is this personal testimony that moves the hearts of men to repent and inspires them with faith.

II. The new knowledge of man. It is not enough that we cease to know Christ after the flesh. The fires of missionary enthusiasm will burn low unless we are also able to say we henceforth know no man after the flesh. We must see men not merely in their place in the visible and temporal order, but environed with the invisible and the eternal order.

1. This man has immense wealth, but has he risen with Christ and made sure of the everlasting inheritance? If not, how poor! That man is poor, ill-clad, lives a hard and cheerless life, but is he in Christ? Yes; then how rich, for he is the heir of Gods eternal righteousness and glory! So with regard to princes and paupers, learned and ignorant, moralists and profligates, to achieve the dignity to which the eternal purpose of God destined even the obscurest of mankind. That man is a slave, but is he one with Christ? If he is, eternal glories sit already on his brow, and he may stand at last among the principalities and powers of the kingdom of heaven. This man has learning, keen and vigorous intellect, genius which will give him fame through many generations, but does he know the Eternal? If not, he has missed the knowledge which it supremely concerns him to possess. That man, as men deem, knows nothing, his mind is dull and uninstructed, he has never mastered even the elements of science, the songs of great poets have never kindled his imagination, he has never heard even the names of the great teachers of the race; but does he know Christ? Yes? Then he has been taught of God and received the illumination of the Holy Ghost, and has a wisdom transcending all the wisdom of the schools.

2. And in the presence of races degraded through a long succession of generations, we must not despair, for they are living in a redeemed world; every man is dear to God, and by the power of His Spirit may rise to unknown heights of righteousness and glory. We must know no man after the flesh.

3. We must not know ourselves after the flesh if we are to have the strength which the great tasks to which we are called demand. Who are we that we should hope to change the religious faith of hundreds of millions of men? What resources have we for so immense a work? We should lose all heart and courage if we measured ourselves against the difficulties, the impossibilities of our enterprise. But we are greater than we seem. We are one with Christ, who descended from the heights of God to seek and to save the lost, and who, now that He has returned to His glory, is seeking and saving them still. And it is He that is seeking, He that is saving them, through us. His power sustains our weakness, and in our very weakness is perfected. Let us be of good courage; all things are possible to us, for we are one with Him. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)

How to view our fellow-men

As a new creature (verse 17), he who is in Christ takes a new view of almost all the objects by which he is surrounded. The eyes of his understanding being enlightened, he sees them in new light, and that a true light. He gets a new view of sin, of Christ, of time, of this world, of himself, and, lastly, of his fellow-men. Henceforth he knows no man after the flesh.

I. We see the worth of our own souls, and that the souls of others are of equal worth. The father realises that his children have souls, which, like his own, will exist for ever. The mother, as she rocks her infant to rest on her bosom, knows that the heart which has begun to beat in that little frame will not find rest till it is laid on the breast of Jesus. We are not surrounded by the mere creatures of a day, but by responsible and undying men, whose souls shalt exist as long as God Himself.

II. We see that as by nature we are under the sentence of condemnation, so others are under the same sentence. When is it that we think most of an earthly friend, and are most deeply interested in his welfare? Is it when he is known to be in safety, or is it not rather when he is in peril? When is it that the wife thinks most of the husband, and the sister feels the deepest interest in the brother? Is it not when laid on a bed of distress, or when fighting with the billows of death? It was to seek and save that which was lost that Christ left the bosom of the Father and came to this cold world, and died amidst the agonies of the Cross. Those who have the same mind in them which was also in Christ Jesus will hasten to be fellow-workers with Him in saving souls from death.

III. As having attained the enjoyment of Christs peace, we seek that others may share it with us. As long as we were without Christ and Christs peace, we did not know the value of them, and so could not be expected heartily to recommend them to others. But when we have tasted that the Lord is good, then we can enlarge upon our own experience, and we feel that if we were but the instruments of communicating that peace to others, we would be conveying a greater amount of good than by the largest temporal benefits.

IV. When we love Christ ourselves, then our hearts are drawn towards those who, like us, love the Lord Jesus. Man is, in his very nature, a social being. It is this principle abused which congregates the wicked. It is the same attraction, now sanctified, which brings together the children of God. And how often has it happened that, when holding sacred converse with one another, Jesus Himself has joined us, as He did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus?

V. These views and motives will impel those who are swayed by them to do good as God may give thee opportunity. All genuine religion begins within, but while it begins within, it does not end there; it begins within only as all streams commence in some mountain where are their heaven-fed fountains; but it flows out like the stream, and carries with it a refreshing and fertilising influence. Watering, in this way, the objects immediately around them, Christian faith and zeal will flow towards more distant objects, towards the world at large. The prayer will be that, beginning at Jerusalem--that is, at home--the gospel be preached to every creature. Conclusion: From this survey we see--

1. What is the grand function of the organised Church; it is to proclaim the way, sustain the truth, and propagate the life.

2. The grand aim of Church ordinances. We are to secure, in regard to them, that they be in thorough accordance with the Word of God, and that they be employed to edify the Church, and not for the purpose of gratifying the senses or stimulating the imagination.

3. What is the style of preaching most fitted to advance the kingdom of God? It is preaching founded on Scripture, that speaks of Christ, and speaks to all--to rich and poor, to rich and barbarian, to old and young. It is a great evil in our community, the separation of rich and poor, especially in our great cities. But it is vastly greater when it is permitted to enter the house of God, which is meant to counteract and soften the severances of the world. (J. McCosh, D. D.)

St. Pauls gospel

I wonder what impression that strange sentence produces upon the mind of an average Englishman. Does it give him any intelligible idea at all? Yet St. Paul undoubtedly regarded that sentence as one of the most important he ever wrote. It reminds us of the striking difference between him and the other apostles. While Christ lived on earth St. Paul never knew Him. Now the apostles and the Jewish Christians generally attached the very greatest importance to the fact that they had thus known Christ. St. Paul, on the other hand, instead of bewailing his disqualification, as they represented it, declared with special emphasis it made no difference at all. You will remember how emphatically in a characteristic passage in Galatians he repudiated the idea that he owed anything at all to the other apostles. They were in no sense his superiors. They were in no sense better qualified for their office because they had known Christ after the flesh and he had not. When he met these apostles who had known Christ in the flesh he declared, They, I say, who were of repute imparted nothing to me (Gal_2:6). He declares that their knowledge of Christ after the flesh was no advantage to them; and in the passage before us he goes so far as to say that if he himself had known Christ after the flesh he would have rid himself of the knowledge, for that knowledge at that particular time was a danger and a temptation. It led men to exaggerate the importance of those things about Christ which were seen and temporal, and to overlook to some extent those things which alone were of everlasting importance. As a matter of fact, those who did thus know Christ after the flesh either never realised His true glory, or were many long years in coming to the knowledge of Him. Have you ever realised the startling fact that St. Paul never once refers to the lovely life of our Lord as recorded in the gospels? He never mentions any of His miracles, parables, words, or deeds. His silence teaches us, even more significantly than his speech, that the essence of the gospel lies far below the mere details, incomparable as they are, of the human life of our Lord. You and I are particularly interested in this remarkable feature of St. Pauls experience, for we are like him. We are not like St. Peter, who was a disciple from the beginning. We never met Christ, we never heard His loving voice. We may have an immeasurably better knowledge of Him. We may know Him as St Paul himself knew Him, in the deepest sense of the word, better than any one else, except St. John. How did he know Him? His knowledge is expressed in that ever-memorable phrase, It was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mothers womb, to reveal His Son in me. Not outside of me, but in me. O, what does that mean? It means that there are two totally different ways of contemplating Jesus Christ. We may dwell on the known incidents of that lovely life just as we might dwell upon Platos incomparable account of the trial and death of Socrates. Any such study of the mere fragmentary history of the beautiful incidents in the human life of our Lord is as inspiring as it is ennobling. But it is outside of us. It does not stir the depths of our being. Or, on the other hand, we may think of Jesus Christ in a totally different way--as the Risen Christ, the Living Christ, the Christ in whom we all at this very moment live and move and have our being; the Christ who is literally in every one of us. This, indeed, is what St. Paul called my gospel--the gospel which God sent to him by revelation, the gospel which he was better qualified to propound, because he was not confused by any knowledge of Christ after the flesh. St. Paul himself was amazed and perplexed and agitated, and said, What is the matter with me? I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I have kept all the law, and yet I am as wretched as I can be. Then he discovered that it was Christ who made him wretched. At last, he said, It pleased God to reveal Himself in me. Then I realised that there could be no happiness for me until I submitted to the Divine Saviour. Thank God, I did not know Him after the flesh, for I might then have been prevented from knowing as I know now, that He is the great light of God, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Take the case of an agnostic, who declares that he never felt the least religious emotion, a man of high character and very scrupulous conscience. You say to me, How do you reconcile that case with your theory of Christ being in the heart of every man? Quite easily. If in midwinter you wander with me into the wood, would you say it was dead? Not a leaf, not a bud, not a blade of grass. But you are not deceived by the superficial appearance. You wait for the sunshine and the rain, and you shall see the summer. And in the case of this agnostic, wait until your Father in heaven has sent him the sunshine of His love and the rain of His grace, and you shall find strange stirrings in the depths of his soul, for Christ is in him, as He is in all of us. This is, indeed, what St. Paul meant in the first part of my text, where he says, We henceforth know no man after the flesh. He not only refused to know Christ after the flesh, but he refused to know anybody else after the flesh. He could not think of any man apart from the Divine Christ. He never thought of any man without realising that Christ was in every man. You are not a mere man or woman to me. You are men and women redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. You are human beings dear to God, dearer than you are to yourself or anybody else. (H. Price Hughes, M. A.)

The perpetuity of the Divine incarnation

I. Consider what the apostle meant. It is very probable that he had in view those who underrated his authority because he had not been one of the original disciples, and so seen Christ face to face. And it was of course but natural, that as years stole on, greater interest and authority would attach to those who, like Peter and John, had held converse with the Redeemer. Whether St. Paul ever beheld the Saviour has been questioned. On the one hand, if he had seen Him, we should expect some mention of it; on the other, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, he could scarcely, we imagine, have failed to have his attention drawn to the miracles and teaching of Christ, and if so would scarcely have failed to obtain a sight of Him. The text sounds as though he were himself uncertain about the matter. And it is quite easy to imagine that he may have been in one of the many crowds which at various seasons gathered round our Lord; and yet have been so situated as to be uncertain whether he had really caught sight of His sacred form. However this be, he declares at any rate that henceforth he would neither build nor exalt himself upon that knowledge.

1. But did the apostle mean that from that time he would cease to think of Him as clothed with flesh and meditate only upon His Divinity? Surely not. So to have done would have been to lose sight of one of the most stupendous truths of the gospel--viz., that Christ Jesus is at this moment in the likeness of man. The Eternal Word when He became incarnate became so for ever. Oh! if we desired to set before you in all its marvellousness the great miracle of the incarnation, it is not through the dimness of past centuries to the valleys of Judah that we would try to lead your thoughts. Beyond the third heaven, where the cherubim and seraphim are ever waiting, where the song that none can learn is ever swelling, and the unspeakable words which it is not lawful for men to utter are ever sounding, in the centre of the light inaccessible, we would teach you to behold the form of Man. And we cannot but observe how thorough recognition of the present manhood of Christ satisfies the longing of the human heart for a sympathetic being in the object of worship.

2. Think you it was this truth, so rich in consolation for all who are partakers of human nature, that St. Paul resolved to put from his mind? Rather was it this truth on which he purposed to build exclusive of all others. He would not in completing the Incarnation be ever going back to the remembrance of the Saviour in His body of weakness, when he might fill his soul with the thought of that same body radiant in beauty, the centre of the heavenly host. The form of the Sob of Man as seen at Jerusalem, was but the first and most transitory revelation of the great miracle of Marys conception; the nobler and more lasting results of the same Divine child-bearing were the sight by faith of the same form of a man for ever enthroned on high. Who wonders then that the inspired apostle, thus looking to the present and the future, was ready to forget the past, and that as the vision of the excellent glory rose up in his mind, he cast behind him the remembrance of his God in His humiliation?

II. The lessons for us.

1. There is amongst us a great tendency to view the days of Christs personal sojourn upon earth as days of extraordinary privilege.

2. Now in opposition to these ideas, we conceive Scripture to intimate that we are the more highly favoured. Christ Himself said, It is expedient for you that I go away.

(1) We can hardly fail to perceive that the sight of God must have been itself a temptation to unbelief. Was there, think you, nothing hard in realising the fact, that the Being to whom they spoke as man to man was very God? If, therefore, His bodily presence was a source of joy, so also was it a source of temptation. Many a man who believes Christ is God, now that He is unseen, would have disbelieved if he had beheld Him in the form of a servant.

(2) And this being so, we would remind you that Christ is really present with His redeemed now, as He was with His disciples in Galilee. An object is not less real because it is unseen. What spiritual advantages did the disciples reap from proximity to their Master? He was their counsellor; and will He not teach us? He was their support; and are not His everlasting arms around us? Now, moreover, He is not only present, but omnipresent. They could be separated from Him for awhile; we can never be parted. (Bp. Woodford.)

The brotherhood of man

Henceforth know we no man after the flesh. In these words St. Paul is evidently contrasting the view he had been accustomed to entertain respecting his fellow-men before his conversion to Christ, with that he took now that he had been brought under the influence of Christian truth. Then he estimated men after the flesh, i.e., he judged them by earthly standards. These were the questions he would doubtless have asked himself respecting any upon whom he wished to pass judgment: What is his descent? Where has he been instructed? Has he passed through the schools of philosophy sitting at Gamaliels feet? What are his professions? Does he fast twice a week? But now that he had been brought into contact with Christ Jesus, and had become the recipient of His salvation, he estimated men according to a very different standard. Then, after the flesh, but now after the spirit. And these, we may reasonably suppose, are the inquiries which would rise within him: Have they the spirit of Christ? Are their hearts right in the sight of God? Do they love and practice the principles of the gospel of peace? This twofold method of estimating men prevails still. If you judge men after the flesh, the undoubted effect will be to narrow and to contract your sympathies. Adopting such a test as this, society will necessarily be broken up into fragments, each caring only for itself; the man of rank caring only for those of noble descent, the man of wealth for those of large possessions, or the man of culture for those of educated tastes, while the mass of those who possess none of the enrichments will be left to themselves. Only let men be judged, not after the flesh, but according to their character, and large-heartedness, and world-embracing love will take the place of that exclusiveness which the opposite course engenders. The Lord looketh at the heart. He recognised in the fallen those who were capable of being raised from their degradation, and of loving and serving Him in holiness and righteousness. And beholding thus their moral and spiritual capabilities, His heart yearned for their uplifting. The fulness of time at length arrived. Or think of St. Paul. He resolved that he would henceforth judge men after their character, and not after the flesh, and the effect of this decision was that he saw some around him who had clearly become renewed in the spirit of their minds--who had become new creatures in Christ Jesus. And even so with ourselves, if we only view men in the light of their spiritual character and capacities, the effect will unquestionably be that we shall find among all classes in society men whose lives are marked by the principles of righteousness, and beholding what the truth as it is in Jesus has wrought for them, and conscious that it can effect similar results wherever it is received, we shall be constrained to labour for its extension throughout the world, that thus the entire moral aspect of the universe may be changed, the desert rejoicing and blossoming as the rose, earth becoming like heaven. And thus we see theft the religion of Christ calls forth the sympathy and love of men towards the entire race to which they belong. The apostle adds: Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. In this early Church gathered in the city of Corinth there were several parties. In condemning the divisions which had thus arisen, the apostle uses the words: Every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Now the question is naturally suggested, what could be the meaning of any who said, I am of Christ. It would appear that the persons who said this were converts from Judaism, and who claimed some special relationship to Christ, arising from the fact that they had seen Him when He sojourned upon earth. We are now prepared to apprehend the meaning of St. Paul in the words before us. He felt theft he might as justly as any of them rejoice in having seen Christ in the flesh; but he would not, in that he felt there was a far higher view of Christ than that of gazing upon His outward form, even the apprehension by faith of the spiritual presence of the Redeemer; the contemplation of His character and spirit, and the so beholding of this as to enter into it, and to be changed into the same from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. It was after this that his noble spirit aspired. It must not be supposed that the apostle was indifferent to the great fact of the humanity of the Son of God; indeed, is there any writer, save the Evangelist John, who refers more frequently or touchingly to this than St. Paul? Does he not remind the Galatians how that in the fulness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, etc. And, in this respect, the apostle presents a worthy pattern to us. Like him, let us not look so much to that which is material, as to that which is spiritual in relation to Christ Jesus. It behoves us, therefore, to be careful that we do not lose sight of that spiritual apprehension of the Saviour which alone can meet the requirements, and satisfy the aspirations of the soul of man. It is even so. He is the eternal One. He is the very Son of God. And having been made perfect through suffering, He has entered into His glory. His humiliation is past, and He is now exalted at Gods right hand. The kingly diadem encircles His brow. We have known Him after the flesh, battling with poverty, and with temptation and sin, with woe and death, but henceforth we know Him thus no more. He is the victor now--the King of glory. (S. D. Hillman.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 5:15. Κρίναντας, judging) with a most true judgment. Love and judgment are not opposed to each other in spiritual men.—ὑπὲρ πάντων, for all) for the dead and living.—ἄρα οἱ πάντες, then these all) Hence the full force of the ὑπὲρ, for and the utmost extent of the mystery is disclosed; not only is it just the same as if all had died, but all are dead; neither death, nor any other enemy, nor they themselves have power over themselves: they are entirely at the disposal and control of the Redeemer.—οἱ has a force relative to πάντων, for all. An apt universality. The teachers urge; and the learners are urged, because Christ died for both.—ἀπέθανον, are dead) and so now no longer do they regard themselves. The generous lovers of the Redeemer apply that principally to themselves, which belongs to all. Their death was brought to pass in the death of Christ.—καὶ, and) this word also depends on ὅτι, because. First, the words, one, and, for all, correspond; in the next place, died, and, that they should live.—οἱ ζῶντες, they that live) in the flesh.—ἀλλὰ, but) namely, that they should live, viz., in faith and a newly acquired vigour, Gal 2:20.—τῷ) he does not say, ὑπὲρ τοῦ. It is the dative of advantage, as they call it; ὑπὲρ, denotes something more than this.—καὶ ἐγερθέντι, and rose again) Here we do not supply, for them; for it is not consonant with the phraseology of the apostle; but there is something analogous to be supplied, for example, [“that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living”] from Rom 14:9.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_5:15. Continuation or second part of the judgment, in consequence of which the love of Christ συνέχει ἡμᾶς.

ὑπέρ has the emphasis, whereas in 2Co_5:14 the stress lay on εἷς and πάντων. And (that) He died for the benefit of all (with the purpose) that (because otherwise this ὑπέρ would be frustrated) the living should no mere (as before the death they had died with Christ) live to themselves, i.e. dedicate their life to selfish ends, but, etc. Comp. Rom_14:7 ff.

οἱ ζῶντες] Paul might also have said οἱ πάντες; but οἱ ζῶντες is purposely chosen with retrospective reference to οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον, and that as subject (the living), not as apposition (as the living, Hofmann), in which view the life meant is held to be the earthly one, which Jesus left when He died; but this would only furnish a superfluous and unmeaning addition (it is otherwise at 2Co_4:11), and so also with de Wettes interpretation: so long as we live. No; it is the life, which has followed on the ἀπέθανον. He, namely, who has died with Christ is alive from death, as Christ Himself has died and become alive (Rom_14:9); He who has become αύμφυτος with His death, is so also with His resurrection (Rom_6:5). Thus the dead are necessarily the ζῶντες, by sharing ethically the same fate with Christ, Gal_2:19 f. Their ζωή is, consequently, doubtless in substance the life of regeneration (Erasmus, Beza, Flatt, and others); it is not, however, regarded under this form of conception, but as καινότης ζωῆς (Rom_6:4), out of death. Comp. Rom_6:8-11. Rückert, in accordance with his incorrect taking of ὑπέρ in the sense of ἀντί (see on 2Co_5:14), explains: those, for whom He has died, on whom, therefore, death has no more claims.

καὶ ἐγερθέντι] is correlative to the οἱ ζῶντες, in so far as these are just the living out of death, whose life is to belong to the Living One; and ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν belongs also to ἐγερθ., since Christ is raised διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν (Rom_4:25). Comp. on Php_3:10; 1Co_15:17.

Note, further, that Paul in 2Co_5:15 writes in the third person (he does not say we), because he lays down the whole judgment beginning with ὅτι as the great, universally valid and fundamental doctrine for the collective Christian life, that he may then in 2Co_5:16 let himself emerge in the ἡμεῖς. He would not have written differently even if he had meant by ἀγάπη τ. Χριστοῦ his love to the Lord (in opposition to Hofmann). Much that is significant is implied in this doctrinal, objective form of confession.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 5:15 . κρίναντας τοῦτο ὅτι εἶς κ . τ . λ .: judging this; that One died for all ( cf. Rom 5:15 ), therefore all died, and He died for all, that they who live (see 2Co 3:11 ) should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died and rose again for them . To die ὑπέρ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ is the greatest proof that anyone can offer of his love (Joh 15:13 ). The proof to us of the Love of Christ to all is that He died ὑπὲρ πάντων . Of this Death two consequences are now mentioned: ( a ) one objective and inevitable, quite independent of our faith and obedience; ( b ) another subjective and conditional. ( a ) ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον , then all died, sc. , in Him who is the “recapitulation” of all humanity, Jew and Greek, bond and free, faithless or believing. We must not weaken the force of οἱ πάντες : the Incarnation embraces all men ( cf. 1Co 15:22 ). The A.V. “then were all dead” (the same mistranslation occurs Rom 6:2 , Col 3:3 ) does not bring out the sense, which is that the Dying of Christ on the Cross was in some sort the dying of all mankind. But ( b ) the purposes of the Atonement are not completely fulfilled without the response of man’s faith and obedience; He died for all , ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες κ . τ . λ . This is the frequent exhortation of St. Paul (Rom 6:11 and see 1Pe 3:18 ); the purpose of Christ’s Death is to lead us to Life, a life “unto God” ( cf. Rom 6:11 ; Rom 14:7-8 ) the “life indeed” (1Ti 6:19 ) which must be begun here if it is to be perfected hereafter. The preposition ὑπέρ , “on behalf of” ( cf. chap. 2Co 12:10 ), employed in these verses is the one usually employed in the N.T. to express the relation between Christ’s Atoning Death and our benefit: it was “for our sake,” “on our behalf” ( e.g. , Luk 22:19-20 , Joh 10:15 ; Joh 11:51 , Rom 5:6 , 1Co 1:13 , Gal 3:13 , Eph 5:2 , Heb 2:9 , 1Jn 3:16 ). It is not equivalent to ἀντί , “instead of” (although in Phm 1:13 its meaning approximates thereto), and ought not to be so translated; although the preposition ἀντί is used of our Lord’s Atoning Work in three places (Mat 20:28 , Mar 10:45 , 1Ti 2:6 ), and the implied metaphor must have a place in any complete theory of the Atonement. But here ὑπέρ is (as usual) used, and the rendering “instead of,” even if linguistically possible (which it is not), is excluded by the fact that in the phrase ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἐγερθέντι , ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν is governed by both participles. Christ rose again “on our behalf”; He is never said to have risen “instead of us”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. κρίναντας τοῦτο. ‘Having reached this decision’; judicio verissimo. Amor et judicium non obstant inter se apud spirituales (Beng.). He probably refers to the period of reflexion between his conversion and his missionary activity (Gal 1:17, Gal 1:18). Both AV and RV (‘because we thus judge’), as also Aug. (judicantes) and Vulg. (aestimantes) treat the aor. part. as a present. Some editors assign this clause to v. 14.

ὅτι εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν. ‘That one died on behalf of all,’ as their representative; not ἀντὶ πάντων, ‘instead of all,’ as their substitute. He died in their interest; cf. ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν in v. 12. Only in connexion with the metaphor of a ransom is ἀντί used of Christ’s death; λύτρον ἀντὶ πόλλων (Mar 10:45 = Mat 20:28): cf. ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲν πάντων (1Ti 2:6). For ὑπέρ see Rom 8:32; Gal 1:4, Gal 1:2:20, Gal 1:3:13; Eph 5:2; Tit 2:14. But the ideas of representation and of substitution easily run into one another, as in ἵνα ὕπερ σοῦ μοι διακονῇ (Phm 1:13), and in the formula, which is freq. in papyri, ἔγραψα (or ἔγραψεν) ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, the nominative to the verb being the name of the scribe who wrote the letter for some person who was unable to write. For examples see Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, pp. 341, 335.

ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον. ‘Therefore all died’; lit. ‘the all’ (the ‘all’ for which He died) died in the dying of Him who, as Origen says, is the ἀνακεφάλωσις καὶ συγκεφάλωσις πάντων. ‘Then were all dead’ (AV) is inaccurate and obscures the meaning; and there are similar mistranslations Rom 6:2 and Col 3:3. ‘Therefore all must die’ is equally erroneous and misleading. Seeing that the Representative of the whole race died, His death was their death; and they all died in Him in the sense that His supreme act of love extinguished in them the old life of worldly interests in which the centre of gravity was self.* Although there is a vast difference between their death and His, yet there is this similarity. In each case there is the dying to the old self in order to rise again to something far higher; in His case a dying to the life of suffering to rise to the life of glory; in their case a dying to the life of sin to rise to the life of righteousness (Rom 6:6-11; Col 3:3). The life of love, inherent in Him, was kindled in them. This was the Apostle’s own experience. Saul the persecutor was filled with consuming indignation, when he saw that one who had died the most shameful of all deaths was being proclaimed as the Messiah, When the risen Jesus appeared to him and convinced him that He was the Messiah, he was filled with consuming love and gratitude towards a Messiah who, for the sake of mankind, had submitted to such a death. “The mixture of love and gratitude forms one of the strongest passions which can dominate the heart of man,” and the Apostle never wearies of declaring how Christ’s immense love for us calls for a generous return (Rom 5:15-21, Rom 5:8:35; Gal 2:20, Gal 2:5:24, Gal 2:6:14; Eph 3:19, Eph 3:5:2, 25; Tit 2:14). See P. Gardner, The Religious Experience of St Paul, p. 188. In N.T. ἄρα is sometimes placed first in a sentence (7:12; Rom 10:17; Gal 5:11; etc.); rarely in LXX (Psa 123:2, Psa 123:3, Psa 123:4, 138:11; Wisd. 5:6); never in class. Grk. See on 7:12.

ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν. ‘In order that those who live should no longer (now that they know that they died in Christ) live to themselves.’ How can those for whom Christ died go on living for themselves and not for Him? Rom 14:7-9. Does οἱ ζῶντες mean those who are alive in the body and are still in this world, or those who have died to their old selves and are spiritually alive in Christ? The context favours the former meaning, and this is confirmed by 4:17. It is not true that ‘those who are still alive in the world’ is superfluous and pointless here. The ζῶσιν which follows gives point; ‘that the living should never again live to themselves.’

τῷ ὑπὲρ πάντων. These words probably belong to both participles; and, as it cannot be said that Christ was raised instead of us, therefore ὑπὲρ πάντων does not mean ‘instead of all’ but ‘on behalf of all,’ as ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν in v. 12 means ‘on our behalf.’ Nevertheless, it is possible to translate ‘for Him who died for the sake of all, and was raised,’ or ‘who died instead of all, and was raised.’

AV has ‘if one died for all,’ following the reading of א3 C*, f Vulg. Copt. Arm., ὅτι εἰ εἷς. The εἰ might accidentally be either lost in the εἷς or produced by reduplication from it. Probably it was inserted for smooth-ness to anticipate ἄρα, as in 1Co 15:14, 1Co 15:17; cf. 2Co 7:12.Rom 5:10, Rom 5:15, Rom 5:17 might be in the copyist’s mind. Here the insertion of εἰ weakens the terseness of what is overwhelmingly attested as the original reading (א* B C2 D E F G K L P, d e g Syrr. Aeth. Goth. RV). AV and RV assign κρίναντας τοῦτο … ἀπέθανον to v. 14. See above on the divisions between 1:6, 7, 2:10, 11, 2:12, 13.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See Romans, chapters 6 and 7.

He speaketh here of sanctification, whereby it cometh to pass that Christ liveth in us.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

they which live--in the present life (Co2 4:11, "we which live") [ALFORD]; or, they who are thus indebted to Him for life of soul as well as body [MENOCHIUS].

died for them--He does not add, "rose again for them," a phrase not found in Paul's language [BENGEL]. He died in their stead, He arose again for their good, "for (the effecting of) their justification" (Rom 4:25), and that He might be their Lord (Rom 14:7-9). ELLICOTT and ALFORD join "for them" with both "died" and "rose again"; as Christ's death is our death, so His resurrection is our resurrection; Greek, "Who for them died and rose again."

not henceforth--Greek, "no longer"; namely, now that His death for them has taken place, and that they know that His death saves them from death eternal, and His resurrection life brings spiritual and everlasting life to them.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. And that he died for all, that they which live, c.] This third position he draws from the preceding: If all were dead, and in danger of endless perdition and if he died for all, to save them from that perdition; then it justly follows that they are not their own, that they are bought by his blood; and should not live unto themselves, for this is the way to final ruin; but unto him who died for them, and thus made an atonement for their sins, and rose again for their justification.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) Should not henceforth live unto themselves.—St. Paul was not writing a theological treatise, and the statement was accordingly not meant to be an exhaustive presentment of all the purposes of God in the death of Christ. It was sufficient to give prominence to the thought that one purpose was that men should share at once His death and His life; should live not in selfishness, but in love; not to themselves, but to Him, as He lived to God. (Comp. Rom_6:9-11; Eph_2:5-7.) Now we see the full force of “the love of Christ constraineth us,” and “we love Him because He first loved us.” If He died for us, can we, without shame, frustrate the purpose of His death by not living to Him?

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. that they which live should not … live unto themselves] Cf. Rom_5:8-11; Rom_6:10-13; Rom_14:7; Gal_2:20; Gal_5:24-25; Gal_6:14; Col_3:1-4; 1Jn_5:18 See also note on ch. 2Co_4:10-11. Christ’s death is our life, because He thus made atonement for sin, reconciled us to the Father, shewed how He could be ‘both just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus,’ and thus made obedience possible for us on the principle that we were ‘reconciled to God,’ and that henceforth there would be ‘no condemnation for our past sins or present sinfulness, provided we set ourselves to ‘walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.’ His death was the means of freeing us from our bondage to sin. His lift was the enabling power which wrought our conversion.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh..... Since the death and resurrection of Christ, which has broken down the middle wall of partition, and has took away all distinction of men, we know, we esteem, we value no man on account of his carnal descent, and fleshy privileges, as being of the Jewish nation, a descendant of Abraham, and circumcised as he was; or on account of their outward state and condition, as being rich and honourable among men, or on account of their natural parts and acquirements, their learning, wisdom, and eloquence; nor do we own any man to be a Christian, that lives after the flesh, to himself, and not to Christ; nor do we make account of the saints themselves as in this mortal state, but as they will be in the resurrection, in consequence of Christ's having died for them, and rose again.

Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh: some of them had seen him in the flesh; others valued him on account of his being of the Jewish nation, and of his relation to them according to the flesh; and all of them had formerly entertained carnal apprehensions of him, and his kingdom, as though it would be a temporal one:

yet now henceforth know we him more; no more in this mortal state, being risen from the dead; nor do we value ourselves upon having seen him in the flesh; for though such a sight and knowledge of him was desirable, yet a spiritual knowledge is much more preferable; and many there were who knew him in the flesh, who neither enjoy his spiritual presence here, nor will they be favoured with his glorious presence hereafter. Moreover, we do not judge of him as we did before we had a spiritual knowledge of him, and as our countrymen did, by his outward circumstances, by his parentage and education, his poverty and afflictions, his company and conversation, that he could not be the Messiah, the Son of God, and therefore was worthy of death; we have quite other thoughts and apprehensions of him now, believing him to be the Christ of God, a spiritual Saviour and Redeemer, whose kingdom is not of this world; we have relinquished all our national prejudices, and former notions, concerning the Messiah, his kingdom, and people. Some copies add, "after the flesh"; and the Arabic version, "yet now know we him no more in that".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 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.

Ver. 15. Should not henceforth] Servati sumus ut serviamus. The redeemed among the Romans were to observe and honour those that ransomed them as parents, all their days.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And that he died for all ... - This verse is designed still further to explain the reasons of the conduct of the apostle. He had not lived for himself. He had not lived to amass wealth, or to enjoy pleasure, or to obtain a reputation. He had lived a life of self-denial, and of toil; and he here states the reason why he had done it. It was because he felt that the great purpose of the death of the Redeemer was to secure this result. To that Saviour, therefore, who died for all, he consecrated his talents and his time, and sought in every way possible to promote his glory.

That they which live - They who are true Christians, who are made alive unto God as the result of the dying love of the Redeemer. Sinners are dead in sins. Christians are alive to the worth of the soul, the presence of God, the importance of religion, the solemnities of eternity; that is, they act and feel as if these things had a real existence and as if they should exert a constant influence upon the heart and life.

(“They which live.” This spiritual life, doubtless, implies that a man is alive to the worth of the soul, the presence of God, etc.; but it intimates something deeper too, which is the foundation of those things, and without which they could not exist. Scott paraphrases thus, “were quickened and pardoned, and so passed from death to life;” and Guyse still more explicitly, “were made supernaturally alive by his quickening spirit and by faith in him.” This is the root; the things mentioned in the comment, the fruit; this the cause, these only the effects.)

It is observable that Paul makes a distinction here between those for whom Christ died and those who actually “live,” thus demonstrating that there may be many for whom he died who do not live to God, or who are not savingly benefitted by his death. The atonement was for all, but only a part are actually made alive to God. Multitudes reject it; but the fact that he died for all; that he tasted death for every man, that he not only died for the elect but for all others, that his benevolence was so great as to embrace the whole human family in the design of his death, is a reason why they who are actually made alive to God should consecrate themselves entirely to his service. The fact that he died for all evinced such unbounded and infinite benevolence that it should induce us who are actually benefitted by his death, and who have any just views of it, to devote all that we have to his service.

Should not henceforth live unto themselves - Should not seek our own ease and pleasure; should not make it our great object to promote our own interest, but should make it the grand purpose of our lives to promote his honor, and to advance his cause. This is a vital principle in religion, and it is exceedingly important to know what is meant by living to ourselves, and whether we do it. It is done in the following, and perhaps in some other ways:

(1) When people seek pleasure, gain, or reputation as the controlling principle of their lives.

(2) When they are regardless of the rights of others, and sacrifice all the claims which others have on them in order to secure the advancement of their own purposes and ends.

(3) When they are regardless of the needs of others, and turn a deaf ear to all the appeals which charity makes to them, and have no time to give to serve them, and no money to spare to alleviate their needs; and especially when they turn a deaf ear to the appeals which are made for the diffusion of the gospel to the benighted and perishing.

(4) When their main purpose is the aggrandizement of their own families, for their families are but a diffusion of self. And,

(5) When they seek their own salvation only from selfish motives, and not from a desire to honor God. Multitudes are selfish even in their religion; and the main purpose which they have in view, is to promote their own objects, and not the honor of the Master whom they profess to serve. They seek and profess religion only because they desire to escape from wrath, and to obtain the happiness of heaven, and not from any love to the Redeemer or any desire to honor him, Or they seek to build up the interests of their own church and party, and all their zeal is expended on that and that alone, without any real desire to honor the Saviour. Or though in the church, they are still selfish, and live wholly to themselves. They live for fashion, for gain, for reputation. They practice no self-denial; they make no effort; to advance the cause of God the Saviour.

But unto him ... - Unto the Lord Jesus Christ. To live to him is the opposite to living unto ourselves. It is to seek his honor; to feel that we belong to him; that all our time and talents; all our strength of intellect and body; all the avails of our skill and toil, all belong to him, and should be employed in his service. If we have talents by which we can influence other minds, they should be employed to honor the Saviour. If we have skill, or strength to labor by which we can make money, we should feel that it all belongs to him, and should be employed in his service. If we have property, we should feel that it is his, and that he has a claim upon it all, and that it should be honestly consecrated to his cause. And if we are endowed with a spirit of enterprise, and are suited by nature to encounter perils in distant and barbarious climes, as Paul was, we should feel like him that we are bound to devote all entirely to his service, and to the promotion of his cause.

A servant, a slave, does not live to himself but to his master. His person, his time, his limbs, his talents, and the avails of his industry are not regarded as his own. He is judged incapable of holding any property which is not at the disposal of his master. If he has strength, it is his master’s. If he has skill, the avails of it are his master’s. If he is an ingenious mechanic, or labors in any department; if he is amiable, kind, gentle, and faithful, and adapted to be useful in an eminent degree, it is regarded as all the property of his master. He is bound to go where his master chooses; to execute the task which he assigns; to deny himself at his master’s will; and to come and lay the avails of all his toil and skill at his master’s feet. He is regarded as having been purchased with money; and the purchase money is supposed to give a right to his time, his talents, his services, and his soul. Such as the slave is supposed to become by purchase, and by the operation of human laws, the Christian becomes by the purchase of the Son of God, and by the voluntary recognition of him as the master, and as having a right to all that we have and are. To him all belongs; and all should be employed in endeavoring to promote his glory, and in advancing his cause.

Which died for them, and rose again - Paul here states the grounds of the obligation under which he felt himself placed, to live not unto himself but unto Christ.

(1) The first is, the fact that Christ had died for him, and for all his people. The effect of that death was the same as a purchase. It was a purchase; see the note, 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23; compare 1Pe 1:18-19.

(2) The second is, that he had risen again from the dead. To this fact Paul traced all his hopes of eternal life, and of the resurrection from the dead; see Rom 4:25. As we have the hope of the resurrection from the dead only from the fact that he rose; as he has “brought life and immortality to light,” and hath in this way “abolished death” 2Ti 1:10; as all the prospect of entering a world where there is no death and no grave is to be traced to the resurrection of the Saviour, so we are bound by every obligation of gratitude to devote ourselves without any reserve to him. To him, and him alone should we live; and in his cause our lives should be, as Paul’s was, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable in his sight.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And Christ died for all, (not only for the predestinate or the elect) that they also, who live, may not now live to themselves; that they may not follow their own inclinations of their nature, corrupted by sin, but may seek in all things the will of Christ, their Redeemer, their Lord, to whom they belong, who died and rose again for them. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And he died for all those for whom he died, not only to redeem them from the guilt of sin, but also from their vain conversation; that they which live by his grace, might not make themselves the end of their life, and live to serve themselves, and gratify their own corrupt inclinations; but might make the service of Christ, the honour and glory of him who died for them, and also rose again from the dead, the end of their lives; arguing the reasonableness of a holy and Christian life, from the love and end of Christ in dying for them; according to that, Rom 14:7,8; For none of us, liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. This is one way by which a believer fetcheth strength from the death of Christ to die unto sin, and from his resurrection to live unto newness of life; he concluding: If Christ died, and rose again for him, that then he was once dead in trespasses and sins; and therefore he judgeth himself obliged, now that he is made spiritually alive, not to live to himself, or serve his own profit, honour, reputation, lusts, or passions, but to live in obedience to him, and to the honour and glory of him, who died to redeem him from the guilt and power of sin, and rose again to quicken him to newness of life and conversation, to the honour and glory of his Redeemer.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. That—Omit, as unnecessarily supplied by the translators. And he died for all for this purpose, that those living through his death should consecrate life to him.

Live… live unto themselves—Both lives signify one literal conscious life. As Christ bought our life by his death, so the life we live is rightfully his. And it was this St. Paul’s living a life that belonged to Christ, that subjected him to the charge of being beside himself, 2Co_5:13.

For them—The preposition for does not necessarily in itself signify instead of; but it acquires that meaning, as it often does, from the context.

Christ’s death as the substitute for ours is the very reason why our life is rightfully his.

Rose again—This does not, as Meyer argues, show that if Christ died as our substitute he rose as our substitute. Paul’s clear meaning is, Christ died in our stead, and rose again.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unto themselves. That they should live no longer the psychic, i.e. the animal, selfish, egotistic life, but to their risen Saviour (Rom_14:7-9; 1Co_6:19)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And that he died for all - That all might be saved. That they who live - That all who live upon the earth. Should not henceforth - From the moment they know him. Live unto themselves - Seek their own honour, profit, pleasure. But unto him - In all righteousness and true holiness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

If one died for all, then were all dead. Some understand it of a death in sin; all were in a state of sin and death when Christ died for them. Others understand it mystically, when Christ died for all, all were then dead; that is, dead in Christ unto sin; intimating, that when Christ died, all believers were dead in him to sin and the world. As Christ died for sin, so ought all to die unto sin.

Farther, Christ dying once for all, proveth the verity of his satisfaction, and the sufficiency of his satisfaction. What virtue was there in that death which merited life for all! And what love was there in our God to appoint one for all, and to accept one for all! That some so worthy in himself, that one so dear to God, should die, should die so willingly, should die so painfully, should die so shamefully, should die under a curse, to absolve from guilt, and discharge from condemnation! Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us!

Observe next, The great end and design of Christ in his death and resurrection for us; namely,

1. Negatively declared, that we should not live unto ourselves, to our own ease, profit, or honour; gratifying our own wills, inclinations, and corrupt desires, serving our own interests and ends: but, positively, to live unto him, according to his word and will, in obedience to his commands, and with an eye at this glory, who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification.

Had Christ only died for us, the favour had been inexpressible and unrequitable, and required us to live to his name and glory; but when he not only died for us, but rose again, and lives forever in heaven, to pour down fresh benefits upon us, and to do good offices daily and hourly for us, how endearing are our obligations to love him, and to live unto him!

Learn hence, 1. That by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, Christians are both obliged to, and have obtained the grace of, newness of life, and holiness of conversation.

Learn, 2. That it is the duty, and will be the endeavour, of all those that are quickened by the Spirit of Christ unto newness of life, to refer all their actions not to themselves, but unto him: none can do both, live to Christ and self together. His we are already; by creation, by redemption, by sanctification, by voluntary resignation, we live by him. Our spiritual life is from him; we expect hereafter to live with him; let us therefore now live unto him, even unto him that died for us, and rose again.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again . [Paul's life was devoted to Christ, and to man for Christ's sake. When tempted to swerve from either of these services, Christ's love for him confined him within the limits of the life of sacrifice which he has described, and which he regarded as prescribed for him by the Lord. His reasons for regarding this life as prescribed for him grew out of his view of the death of Christ. He regarded the death of Christ as representative. As Christ had died as the head of the race, therefore all men had died with him to their sins, and so were obligated to lead self-sacrificing, unselfish, sinless lives for the sake of him who, on their behalf, had died and risen again. Compare Rom_6:1-11 ; Gal_5:4 ; Gal_2:19-20 ; Col_3:3 ]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. And he died for all, etc. He died with this end in view, that those for whom he died and had life through him should not live for themselves, but for him who died for them. Thus Paul lived. His life was a consecrated life.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

15. ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν. That they which live should no longer (now that they have died in Christ as their representative) live to themselves. Christ died for all, that they should die to themselves, and live to Him. Comp. Rom 14:7-9; Gal 2:20.

τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἐγερθέντι. The ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν goes on to ἐγερθέντι, and this shows that in 2Co 5:14-15 ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν must not be rendered ‘in your stead.’ Christ was raised on our behalf, that we might be made alive in Him (οἱ ζῶντες) and ourselves be raised again; but He was not raised instead of us, ἀντὶ ἡμῶν. Comp. τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως (Php 3:10).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15.] [having judged this (i.e.] because we formed this judgment, viz. at our conversion:—learned to regard this as a settled truth) that One died on behalf of all (not only, for the benefit of all, as Meyer,—but instead of all, suffered death in the root and essence of our humanity, as the second Adam. This death on behalf of all men is the absolute objective fact: that all enter not into the benefit of that Death, is owing to the non-fulfilment of the subjective condition which follows),—therefore all died (i.e. therefore, in the death of Christ, all, the all for whom He died, οἱ πάντες, died too: i.e. see below, became planted in the likeness of His death,—died to sin and to self, that they might live to Him. This was true, objectively, but not subjectively till such death to sin and self is realized in each: see Rom 6:8 ff.). The other renderings,—‘ought to die,’ as Thomas Aq., Grot., Estius, al.,—‘were under sentence of death,’ as Chrys., Theodoret, Beza, al.;—‘as good as died, Flatt;—are shewn to be erroneous by carefully noticing the construction, with or without εἰ. The verb is common to both members of the sentence; the correspondent emphatic words in the two members being (1) εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων, (2) πάντες: ‘(One on behalf of all) died, therefore (all) died: if One died the death of (belonging to, due from) all, then all died (in and with Him).’

Meyer’s rendering of ὅτι because, can hardly be right as it would leave κρίναντας τοῦτο standing awkwardly alone. And He died for all, in order that they who live (in this life, see ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες, ch. 4:11; = in sense, ‘as long as they are in this state,’ as De W.:—not, ‘those who live spiritually,’ as Beza, Flatt, which would altogether strike out the sense, for it is, that they may live spiritually, &c.: nor, ‘superstites,’ they whom He left behind at His death, ζῶντες in contrast with Him who ἀπέθανεν, as Meyer;—for, not to insist on the more general reference to all time, many to whom the Apostle was now writing were not born at the time of His Death) should no longer (now that His Death has taken place: or, as they did before they apprehended that Death as theirs,—but I prefer the former, see ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν below) live to themselves (with self as their great source and end of action, to please and to obey) but to Him that died and rose again for them (ὑπέρ, not merely even as connected with ἐγερθέντι ‘for the benefit of,’ as Meyer again; but strictly ‘in the place of:’ as the Death of Christ is our death, so His Resurrection is our resurrection).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.