Chapter 5
2021 - Again today, I recall that we don't really know what this letter is about - we don't have a clue as to specifics because a letter and a visit occurred that we know nothing about. Any attempt at specifics is almost wholly inference. So I will focus on principles. and their application if I can, and not try to puzzle out what prompted the text.
Chapter 4 ended saying that what is unseen is eternal, but what is seen is transient. This one starts with the transience of our earthly bodies. It seems that Paul is once again addressing the Greek position that bodies are just corruption, and that no one would want to be resurrected. Paul says that these bodies that wear out are seen and transient, but Christ has prepared for us a "tent" - a heavenly, spiritual body - that will never wear out.
As long as we are in these bodies, we walk by faith - because faith is in what we have not seen.
Then this verse:
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. [2Co 5:10 ESV]
MSB says this judgement is to determine our rewards, based on the things we did during our lives, and whether we spent our time on things of eternal value or on lesser things. MSB is adamant that there will be no judgement seat for the sins of believers because Christ has already paid for those. This is not how I've always heard it, but when I look at the sheep and goats and Great White Throne...those are sinners being judged. Looking back at last year's notes, I see that I have come 180 degrees about since then concerning the judgement of believers. MSB says what was in view was the crowning of athletes. Some get first, some second, some consolation prizes and so on, but they would not be judged as good or bad athletes.
2021-These first 10 verses all seem to me to still be talking about the dualism of flesh and spirit as taught by the Greeks. Paul is still telling them that this mortal body to which the Greek philosophers attribute all that is unclean is just transient. We are "stuck" in it, and we know that while we are in this mortal body we cannot be present with Christ in heaven. In that sense, the Greeks are on the right track. But we also should remember that we must do our best while we live in this body - and not behave as though things done in this body don't matter at all - because we are ultimately to be judged by our mortal actions - by what we do while in the flesh. Being "saddled with a mortal body" does not excuse us from obedience or setting an example or from moral obligations to behave in accordance with God's commands.
2021-2, So the question is, are we talking about a separate - a third judgement - or are the saved included in some way in the two we are sure of - the one at the setting up of Christ's Kingdom at the end of Great Tribulation, or the one at the end of the Millennial? I only found two references to this bema seat judgement. Neither gives us any clue at all as to when this is going to happen. Why couldn't Paul have been speaking in general terms of a future judgement, and we didn't get specific because not all Christians will be judged for their works at the same time. It will depend on when you die in relation to God's plan. Everyone saved from Christ's resurrection on (or from Pentecost on if you have a DD), whether alive or dead, goes to heave at the rapture. Shall those saved enjoy heaven for 1007 years, and then be judged? Only then received their crowns? Well yeah, if it is not a judgement for sin it won't necessarily make us sad. I don't think we're supposed to ever be sad after heaven. So either this judgement is immediately after the rapture - and we have absolutely nothing to say that's when it is, or it is included at one of the others. There is also a lot of discussion on these judgements in the notes on Matthew 25.
However, look also at the end of verse 10 - whether good or evil. We must ALL receive...what if he is including both saved and unsaved here? How can we say the saved will be judged for evil, and at the same time say that Christ paid for our sins, they no longer exist in His eyes, and will never answer for those? If this is only about the saved, what evil are the saved going to answer for?
For future thought: In all of 4 and this first part of 5, Paul has been contrasting the physical with the spiritual, showing that we are comprised of both and each has a function and purpose. What if by "good or evil", Paul is referring to spirit and body? He even mentions the body! Are the two judgements put together this way? One for what was done in the body and one for the final state of our spiritual being? They only get out the books, and mention the book of life separately, at the Great White Throne. NOT at the sheep and goats. Surely do need to put all this together.
One more thing: judgement seat in this verse is "bema", and this is a good place to pull up all 12 times this word is used in the NT. I note that 8 of those are in Acts, written by Luke, and not by Paul. Paul only uses it twice, once in Romans, and once here in 2Co. Really need to get this on the study list. Would also be good to actually do the study.
2024 - This year, that word "recompense" jumped out at me. It turns out it is in the aorist middle subjunctive. This makes this verse even deeper, even more complex, even more filled with meaning that must be teased out of it, than I previously thought. Aorist. The time for this is uncertain. Better to say this verb is unconcerned with the "when" of this event and concerned only with the "what" of this event. Middle voice means that the subject of this sentence/verb is both the receiver of the action and somehow the "doer" of the action. So what noun is the subject? I would go with "each one may be recompensed". So "each one" is the subject. So that mes US, we the saved, who appear at this judgement seat. We both receive this recompense, AND we are somehow the conveyors of this recompense. I think it means we will receive what we have earned - whether good or evil. What we receive - commendation or reproach - will be based on our own decisions, our free will, our choices in life. Reproach is certainly in the realm of possibility here. Reproach short of going to hell. But "as through fire" also comes to mind, as in this verse: 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. [1Co 3:15 ESV]. This implies that others in heaven will "know" how we did. I am guessing we may all have a glow about us...or we might smell like smoke. And last, the subjunctive means recompense may or may not occur. How are we to understand this? We might consider the possibility that this judgement is the pre-millennial. We know that Christ will do the judging there, and the Father will judge at the GWT. So...not everyone will attend the Pre-Millennial judgment. There seems to be a clear implication that only the living will be judged at that one. Is there anything in the context that steers us to that? No...that sentence that says "we just ALL appear" pretty much means all. This makes this judgement either a third judgment, or the GWT. If we are raptured, we are not subject to the second death...but maybe we are still going to be judged there. But that is Theos on the throne. I really still don't know where to go on this one.
Last, let's look at what that word recompense means:
to care for, take care of, provide for
to take up or carry away in order to care for and preserve
to carry away, bear off
to carry, bear, bring to, to carry away for one's self, to carry off what is one's own, to bring back
to receive, obtain: the promised blessing
to receive what was previously one's own, to get back, receive back, recover.
Well...that just makes it even more mysterious. This seems to reinforce that middle voice. We will walk away for this judgment seat "possessing/carrying/adorned with" what we have been promised. So those work very well together...but they say nothing about when this might occur. Perhaps a separate part of the GWT, where those who are not going to hell - whether OT saints or raptured church - receive their final rewards. Where Daniel takes his place, as promised at the end of that book, and where I get my mop and bucket to clean up after the real saints, or even a scoop and shovel to get rid of the horse poop behind the parade. Where we find out what our "rank" will be for the rest of eternity.
2024, Later that day....Occurred to me that for his part in the redemption of all mankind, God rewarded Jesus, that is the Father rewarded the Son by the conveyance of all thing to his subjection. This is the ultimate in recompense. This is one end of the scale. The other end is to obey only in having faith in Christ but bearing zero fruit of any kind. We might say the thief on the cross is near the bottom end of this scale. He did nothing...but yet is in paradise.
These verses:
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. [2Co 5:14-15 ESV]
We all died when Christ died. That would only apply to those born again, those who become new. We die to sin, die to the slavery of sin, die to the law, and so on. Only the saved died with Christ, so turn that around and Christ only died for those who would be saved. I think Calvinists use this as a proof text.
This sentence quoted from MSB: "With this short phrase, Paul defined the extent of the atonement and limited its application." I think MacArthur is a Calvinist...but I was sure he disagreed with Spurgeon on this....Need to know where JM stands.
And again...we are responsible for our actions in the flesh, because Christ died in the flesh for us, and set His example of behavior in the flesh. Christ did not live like these false teachers promote. Paul did not live like these false apostles promote. Christ - the supreme example and payer of the supreme price - showed us by His life what our lives ought to be, and Paul has tried to do the same. THIS is why he is constantly comparing his behavior when he was in Corinth - and other places - the behavior of those who come later and contradict his words. There was no scripture that said "The Greeks are all wrong with this dualism thing" - Or maybe their was, but the Gentile Corinthians were not well versed in the OT scriptures, and perhaps thought them no better than Greek writings of the time...But there was example. Jesus lived and showed them how to live.
Then this:
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. [2Co 5:16 ESV] So the argument being made, Paul now says he will proceed in this way. We will thrown out the whole dualism thing, and we will not consider the converted as flesh at all. Just forget that, because that flesh died with Christ, and rose as something else with Christ. So Paul is just "disappearing" one half of the dualism on which the false teachers depend to make their case for hedonism. This is not quite similar to the MSB notes on this verse. I have applied the pronouns differently. ...moving on....So much is over my head in 2Co.
Just a few short verses later we get this:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. [2Co 5:17 ESV] To be in Christ is to be saved. To be in Christ is to be a new creation. The old "passed away". It died, with Him, on that cross. This corroborates the interpretation of 14, 15 as limiting atonement. 2021 - And I think he is also continuing the argument that dualism as taught by philosophy is not valid or applicable to the saved. They are not flesh. They are not yet Spirit. They are something else - IN CHRIST - who is Spirit already. they are flesh within perfect spirit.
Now Paul makes the point that it was in fact God who arranged all this. This is not coincidence, not the Son acting alone and that selfless act persuading God. The Son acted as God planned before the world began. It is God who knew we would sin, knew it would cause a separation that He could not overlook, and yet...rather than send us straight to hell at that first sin, God made a way to reconcile our sinfulness with His holiness through the purity and sinlessness of His Son, the perfect sacrifice satisfying all the requirements of justice.
The chapter closes with this verse:
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [2Co 5:21 ESV] In ESV there is no capitalization of the pronouns. Here it is in NASB:
21 He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [2Co 5:21 NASB]
KJV does not capitalize, but NKJV does. NIV does not. I don't understand why these don't. I see no other way to read this than that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we in Jesus (looking back to vs 17 where we are in Christ) become God's righteousness writ large. Is it right for God to judge us for our sins that He knew we would commit before He even created us? Yes of course it is, if also before creating us He had put in place the plan to both judge us and to save us from that judgement. And we get freedom of will because He did it this way. That could not have come about any other way.
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These last verses of Chapter 5 are the doctrine of the Substitutionary death of Christ in plain English. MSB says it is the most clear statement of the doctrine in the entire Bible.