JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY COM

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1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2Cor 5,1-9

(34g) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> He is generous with His spiritual blessings – In our spirit we groan, longing to be clothed with our future dwelling from heaven. We miss our spiritual bodies that we have never worn. How can we miss something we have never experienced? God reveals all things to us by the Spirit. We are able to discern the thoughts of God, who constantly reminds us of our future glory, filling us with hope through our suffering. We need hope because this life offers very little hope. The greatest hope we have is heaven itself, eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven and all it entails.

(39b) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Characteristics of the resurrection – Jesus ate food to prove He could, but since our bodies are perfect we will never hunger again though we can eat if we wish, and if we do eat, we will never have to expel waste. There won’t be any sewer plants in heaven; there will not be any foul thing in heaven; nothing filthy will ever breach the gates of His kingdom. There are many mysteries that will one day be reveled to us, many of which will revolve around our new bodies. It will be exciting to put them on for the first time and feel the exhilaration and the power that will radiate from us in an endless supply of energy originating from the throne of God. To call it a spiritual body is just that; it is both spiritual and physical at the same time. There is no way to comprehend this, because we have no understanding of the spirit realm. When we finally put on this body, the looming threat of death will be swallowed up by life. Cutting or smashing our fingers, getting bumps and bruises, all these weaknesses and forces of destruction, the various ailments and injuries that are so common to us will surrender to the life of God in the essence of our new bodies.

(134e) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Composition of our bodies is from the earth >> We are physically excluded from the spiritual realm – Paul talks about the earthly body, calling it a tent. Our bodies may be very intricate and complex on a biological level, but compared to our future heavenly bodies they resemble tents, which are most often used as temporary dwelling places, assuming a nomadic lifestyle. The Bible says we are just passing through (Heb 11,8-10). If Paul describes our bodies as a tent in contrast to our future glory, then we shouldn’t care to get too elaborate in our lifestyles. Anything to keep off the rain should do, suggesting that this human existence is not very elegant or spectacular. However, in the world we see people living as though it were the only body they will every have, doing everything in their power to make full use of this life, which goes against the teachings of Paul (see: 1Cor 7). 

(205aa) Salvation >> Verses useful in evangelism

2Cor 5,1-5

(92a) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> The good works that He prepared for us

(224a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Description of the resurrection – Based on this concept, calling our bodies a tent, the contrast would imply that our future bodies will resemble mansions, and God has also prepared mansions for us in heaven (Jn 14-2,3), so we will live in a mansion within a mansion. Although we have no idea what it would be like to live in a spiritual body, which itself sounds like an oxymoron because we don’t know how God could bring together the physical and the spiritual realms, yet this is no less our destiny who believe in Jesus.

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2Cor 5,1-4

(33d) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Kingdom belongs to the children of God

(134a) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Your body >> Mediator between the natural and the spiritual realms >> Manifesting the Kingdom of God through obedience – When it comes to putting on the new self in reference to our new life in Christ, we received it on the day of our spiritual birth, according to Eph 4,22-24, “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” This new self follows the spiritual model of our future resurrected bodies, suggesting that those who live and walk by the Spirit will be as though clothed in the eyes of God. We are to put on this new man that God has instilled in us as the person we have spiritually become, that we are to wear him on our extremities as our works. What we say and do should reflect the person we will be in heaven, as we continue to grow and mature, manifesting His Spirit who dwells in us as an analogy for the first resurrection, when the entire body of Christ receives an incorruptible body that cannot die.

(190f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >> Undressing >> Dismantling the outer tabernacle

(226d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Our inheritance is reserved in heaven – He calls our bodies a house, a dwelling place for the most high that we offer Him. The human soul and the Holy Spirit have become inextricably interwoven to become one spirit. The world is afraid of death; to the unsaved it is their greatest threat, while Christians long for the day of their death, since it represents “freedom from their body of sin, and released to the glory of the children of God.” The day of our death will be the best day our lives, because then we will finally be rid of our flesh and “clothed with our dwelling from heaven” and united with God in His heavenly kingdom with His people. It is our great hope, eternal life that Jesus promised all those who believe in Him. Every day that God gives us is an opportunity to invest in the Kingdom of God until the day set by the Father when He calls us home, and our spirit passes from our bodies and we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

(243i) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The indestructible kingdom >> The body of Christ is indestructible >> Our spiritual bodies are indestructible – We say that our bodies are alive now, but a day is coming when we will receive bodies that are truly alive in such a way that it will encapsulate the very meaning life. The English vernacular will not do justice to the word “Life” after we receive our heavenly bodies and finally know what it’s like to be alive. The miracle of our earthly bodies is that we are the result of God’s handiwork. We are alive on a biological level, though the atoms and molecules that compose our bodies are not alive. They are inanimate particles; so our life originated from non-life. However, a day is coming when we will receive a body that is not only alive, but is made of particles that are also alive! Such life will originate directly from the throne of God, whereas the life we now experience is indirectly derived from God. He has set in motion X number of eons ago the laws that govern His handiwork, and has determined that “life” should perpetuate life in a chain reaction through the process of conception, and then He exited this natural realm, because it is under a curse from Satan’s rebellion and now man’s. For this reason our life is an indirect result of God's hand, but in the next life our living bodies will be the result of God’s hand directly upon us, and for that reason we will be alive through and through.

2Cor 5-1

(35h) Gift of God >> God gives Himself to us >> The anointing

(140f) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> God builds your spirit with His own hands – Paul said in Rom 8-19, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” So the creation itself is anxious to see the Kingdom of God bestowed upon it. The earth belongs to God, though He gave it as a gift to mankind. The earth still is loyal to God in a manner of speaking, and it longs for His kingdom to be established on it. Just as the earth longs for His kingdom, so do our bodies, which have originated from the earth. We are anxious to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, anxious to receive our resurrected bodies, an indestructible body that cannot die. God will give us one that cannot feel pain or negative emotions that often afflict us in this life.

(170f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Temporary >> Whatever is temporary will perish

(189e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Tested for faithfulness to the death

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2-4 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

2Cor 5,2-4

(95b) Thy kingdom come >> Positive attitude >> Speaking in tongues >> Groaning too deep for words – The Bible says that there is a resurrection, a day scheduled for both the righteous and the wicked, being two separate days. The resurrection of the righteous will occur on the day of the Rapture, whereas the resurrection of the wicked is the day of the great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20,11-15). Those who die in the Lord and are carried to heaven by the angels, enter into His kingdom as a spirit, who have not yet received a body, but since heaven is a spiritual place, it will seem we have a body. God will one day manifest heaven in as a physical realm, first giving us spiritual bodies, and then making a new heaven and a new earth by the same material as our bodies. Currently, the place where God dwells is a spiritual place, which cannot interact with the natural realm because they are two separate realms that are disconnected from each other as a result of the curse. It says that on the day of the resurrection of the righteous (the day of the Rapture) God will give us new bodies, which will be the first step in establishing His new creation, and he will set us here on earth for a thousand-year reign of Christ in a physical world living in a physical body similar to Jesus’ resurrected body. God has a physical heaven in mind for us. Heaven in eternity will not be a spiritual place, but a physical place to the extent that our bodies will be physical.

(113e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Garments of the new creation – One of the greatest experiences of heaven will to be clothed in our spiritual bodies. This is something the Holy Spirit often reminds us: our suffering will one day abruptly end and we will enter into glory. All our limitations will cease; all our weaknesses will be made strong, and all our fears will disappear, including and especially the fear of death. “In as much as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.” We will be clothed like we have never been clothed. Our eyes will be opened, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, only the opposite, suddenly realizing we have lived our entire lives naked. Putting on clothes does not heal our nakedness before God; He can see through our thin gauze. People are only concerned about outward appearances, whereas God sees the heart. Putting on our spiritual bodies will be analogous to receiving a coat of fur, like all the animals have in the mammalian family. We are naked even to beasts! The clothes we wear are apart from us in contrast to an animal’s coat of fur, making it that much more effective in the wintertime. However, unlike a coat of fur that is only skin deep, one day, when we finally inhabit our spiritual bodies, we will accurately portray an outward expression of our inward man. We will finally be clothed with a body that will never deteriorate or die or feel pain or suffer again or even get tired. Thank you Jesus!

2Cor 5-2

(24e) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Waiting creates anxiety – Waiting creates anxiety and anxiety is a sin, but there are other kinds of anxieties that are not sin. Longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven is not a sin. Normally, we are anxious because we have a lack of trust in God; anxiety is linked to fear and fear is the root of sin, in that it cannot believe in the promises of God. We fear that God has abandoned us; we fear we are in a position that cannot receive God’s blessing; we fear that God has prepared a test for us instead of a blessing and will make us go through hard times before we will receive a blessing from God. In contrast, the anxiety and the longing and the anticipation of receiving our resurrected bodies is based on faith and expectation of God’s purpose for our lives.

2Cor 5-3

(63f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Minimize the truth to make a point – Paul is talking about our resurrected bodies; after stepping into them, we will not be found naked, suggesting that we are currently naked underneath our clothes, naked before God as fallen creatures. This body that we are to receive on the day of the first resurrection, which is also the day of the Rapture of the Church, will be a body that once we “put it on” will no longer be naked before God in the most literal and physical sense. We will be clothed even by God’s standards, which will transcend all other coverings, for God Himself will cover us, indicating that the animal God killed and used its hide to cover Adam and Eve was analogous to our resurrected bodies. For Paul to put it this way, “Inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked,” was to minimize the truth to make the point of just how well clothed we will be on that day. A person can be scantily clad or dress for the Antarctic, and they’re naked just the same to God, but our resurrected bodies that we will receive will clothe us in a way that we will be able to stand before God without shame.

(212h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> Nothing hidden >> God exposes things hidden in darkness – An interesting verse in the Old Testament is about Aaron, the first high priest (Moses’ brother), who was commanded by God to put on some underwear before he practiced his high priestly role and climbed the stairs to the old covenant temple, lest the Lord see his nakedness (Exodus 20-26). One of the primary attributes of God is that He knows everything and can therefore see everything, like the cherubim of Ezekiel and the four living creatures of Revelation. Living creatures is an interesting description in that it lacks description, suggesting that these creatures are indescribable. The primary attributes of these four living creatures is that they are alive and can see (Rev 4,6-9). These all-seeing creatures are used to protect God’s throne from invasion, not that God needs the help, but delegates every aspect of his authority, giving Him reason to reward His creation that He puts in charge of His kingdom. They are also placed there to give His kingdom the sense of a tertiary layer of security, a visual for His loyal servants to know that they will never have reason to look behind them, because someone has their back and because there will never be any danger in the first place. The throne of God is a place of absolute peace and safety for those who have permission to be there, but for those who don’t have permission, they will never see His glory.

2Cor 5-4,5

(8d) Responsibility >> Prepare to interact with God >> Entering the realm of the Spirit – This verse indicates that when we get to heaven God will cloth us with His life, but presently we are dressed in death (See Genesis 3-21). We should consider this term "clothed" at least two ways. Some people complain about multiple interpretations of the same Scripture, but it is often essential to understanding it (especially since Paul intended it to have multiple meanings). First, consider that our soul wants to be clothed with a body, in this case a spiritual body. Second, consider that we don't want to enter heaven in a naked body, but to be clothed when we get there with the deeds of righteousness that we have done in this life. 

2Cor 5-4

(6d) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Jesus’ yoke of death

(254h) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Holy Spirit >> Holy Spirit is life >> Spirit of God is the life of Christ

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5-9 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight - 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

2Cor 5-5

(91c) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> God’s purpose is an inherent component of His calling >> His purpose is for us to be vessels of mercy

(132f) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holy Spirit is in God’s people >> God gives his spirit as a pledge >> God pledges His Spirit – In heaven God will be directly linked to us by the Spirit He has given us in this life when we are born again. We have all heard the phrase: body, soul and spirit. The man who is not born of the Spirit has a soul but no spirit, making it the missing piece of mankind, meaning that the spirit of man is the Spirit of God. It also means that every man, woman and child who is born of God has the same Spirit, linking them all together, and for this reason there should be unity in the Church. This missing piece is the most important part of mankind, for it is the part that is deity, which has raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2-6). God has given us a tremendous gift when He made a way for us to receive His spirit through the blood of the cross. The Holy Spirit is God's very essence who dwells in our soul, and without this other person dwelling in us, we would be incomplete. The Holy Spirit is given to us as a pledge of our inheritance, indicating more blessings that God wants to rain on us throughout eternity, many more.

2Cor 5,6-9

(224h) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> Heaven is better than earth – Some say that the dead are asleep. This may have been the case in the days of the old covenant, but things are different in the new covenant for those who have died in faith. The Old Testament spoke very little about the afterlife, and what little was mentioned is now obsolete. Since Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven it says, in Eph 4-8, “When he ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives.” This refers to Abraham's Bosom, mentioned in Lk 16-22,23. Jesus said about them in Jn 10-16, “I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” This other “flock” that Jesus mentioned is in reference to Old Testament believers who died in faith, who have existed in a sleep state, until Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, and brought them to heaven. Paul taught that any new covenant believer who dies in the Lord will immediately go to heaven to enjoy the presence of Jesus in a fully conscious state. If we don’t interpret these verses, they mean exactly what they say.

2Cor 5,6-8

(57f) Paradox >> Opposites >> To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord – It is a spiritual principle that one of two things must be true, like a light is either switched on or switched off at any given time, or like two people on a see-saw, when one is up, the other is down. We are either at home in the body and absent from the Lord or we are absent from the body and at home with the Lord. There is no gray area (or purgatory). “To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.” This verse has an on/off quality, indicating that if the condition is unmet in one means by definition is met in the other. There is also the passage of Jesus proving to the Pharisees that the fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, do not exist in a dormant state, but are alive, saying in Mat 22-32, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Also, Paul said in Phi 1,21-23 that to die is gain. What gain is there in death if it means sleeping for centuries in awaiting the First Resurrection? If people who have died in Christ have been sleeping all these thousands of years, it isn’t much of a life. They might as well be dead! A person in a coma might technically be alive, but he is not living as we know it. People pull the plug on their loved ones because they see no value in living this way. We know that demons are disembodied spirits and that they are active in the world, doing things, such as creating false doctrines in the minds of people who would believe them, so why is it so hard to believe that those who die become disembodied spirits actively living in heaven? The Bible says that God is Spirit, therefore His home is a spiritual place. Those who die in faith go to heaven as disembodied spirits, not dormant, but actively living in a spiritual world.

(60g) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> At home in the body—Alive in mortal flesh / Comfortable in mortal flesh

(237l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Transformed from death to life

2Cor 5-7

(114e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven >> Obeying the revelation by putting away the flesh

(118c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit -- This verse goes with verse 16. People who claim to regularly see visions from God breed skepticism in those who walk by faith.

2Cor 5-8,9

(187aa) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to minister to God >> Jesus died for us; now it's our turn to die for Him -- These verses go with verses 14-17

(237j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Citizens of heaven

2Cor 5-9

(81b) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Striving to please Christ – There are many verses in the Bible that correlate with the statement in the Lord’s prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6-10). Here Paul is saying that whether we are at home or absent from the Lord we have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him. Whether those who have already gone to heaven or are still alive in the flesh, our objective is to be pleasing to Him; nothing has changed in that respect. As many transformations we will undergo between this life and the one to come, some things will remain the same, such as our heart. God has already instilled His Spirit and His word in our hearts with a desire to please Him, and these are the most important aspects of heaven, so all we really need is a new body. A physical paradise wouldn’t mean anything if paradise didn’t also exist in our hearts. If we died and went to heaven and were full of angst that never went away, we could never enjoy heaven. It would all unfold before our eyes, and we couldn’t appreciate any of it if our heart wasn’t right with God. It is like a person with a terminal disease on his deathbed; though he may have millions of dollars he couldn’t enjoy a nickel of it. Money is the world’s definition of paradise; if we had enough money, they say, we could carve an isle of paradise in the earth, live in a mansion, drive a fast car, attract beautiful women, afford a family of children and have it all, but if we’re not healthy enough to enjoy it, what good is it? The same is true in heaven. If an unsaved person somehow got in heaven, he would long for earth and to be back in the flesh, so he could live how he wanted, instead of living the way people do in heaven, and it is even possible they would be happier in hell. Heaven is a place of worship, which is something the sinner’s rebellion has vowed never to do, so to find himself in the place of ultimate worship would be worse than hell to him. The people of heaven have been given a Spirit that corresponds with their heavenly home, and their greatest joy will be to worship Him, because then they will be doing what they were created to do. Imagine making a squirrel act like a kangaroo or a rabbit like a cat; they would dread their lives, but they are happier when they act as they were designed, and that is the same with us. Unsaved people are as happy as they can be, because their flesh is designed to rebel against God as sinners, but those who are born of God are happiest when they are serving Him against the wishes of their flesh. They serve God in a body that hates Him, preferring that over obeying their flesh, because it proves they really do love Him.

(95h) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Having an obedient attitude >> Ready to do God’s will

(102b) Thy kingdom come >> Ambition >> Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling >> To please Him

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10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

2Cor 5-10,11

(88g) Thy kingdom come >> Fear the judgment of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Fear the consequences of your disobedience

(45a) Believers’ Judgment (Key verse)

(45b) Judgment >> God judges us for not judging ourselves >> Believer's judgment >> Judged According to our deeds

(48j) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged by withdrawing rewards – Many Christians believe that because they are children of God they have circumvented His judgment, but that is not true. Paul promises that there will in fact be a believers’ judgment, and God will repay us for our deeds of the body, “according to what we have done, whether good or bad.” So how does our judgment differ from the White Throne Judgment of the condemned? God will add judgment to them, while he takes away rewards from us. Therefore, the loss of reward is our judgment. Paul said in Eph 2-10 that God has prepared a trail of good works for us and expects us to follow it, and to the degree that we follow this trail is the degree to which we will be rewarded, but to the degree that we don’t follow His designated path is the degree that we will suffer loss. This concept is also implied in 1Cor 3,12-15, which refers to being burned up, yet being saved as through fire. Each person has the choice of building his house from various materials, some being fire resistant while others are flammable: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw. Depending on the quality of the building material is the likelihood of surviving God’s judgment, also symbolizing each person’s investment into the Kingdom of God. When we appear before the judgment seat of Christ, He will show us the life He intended for us to live and the rewards we could have had, and will proceed to take away those things we could have possessed for eternity, but instead chose our own way and forfeited the reward. That will be our judgment. It will not be a judgment that determines whether we go to heaven or not; rather, it will determine how we experience eternity in heaven. Our rewards are not for us, but for God, that we may reflect His glory through the gold, silver and precious stones, forever communicating to our fellow saints that God is worthy of our service.

(90i) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> Righteousness of the law >> All righteousness is covered by the law

(134c) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Mediator between the natural and the spiritual realms >> Your body manifests whatever is in your heart

(227e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards endurance >> Keeping our rewards through endurance

11-13 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. 12 We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

2Cor 5-11

(6k) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Persuade men that Jesus is the Christ – This verse goes with verse 20. Paul the apostle and evangelist spoke to a church that already believed and explained to them his ministry to the world. The Corinthian Church was born by the message of the gospel coming through Paul in like manner. Paul was reliving for them their experience of the gospel as seen through his own eyes. He came to Corinth in the fear of the Lord to persuade its inhabitants of his gospel message, whom God had manifested in the world and sought to manifest also in their conscience. His hope when he preached the gospel to the Corinthians for the first time was that they would see him as though he were an angel, or at least something more than just a man with a message, but a man possessed by that message, who followed an inner light that shone on his hearers. He strove with all his heart to remove his flesh, so the Corinthians could see the light that emanated from his mouth and to hear the voice of God speaking through him and believe in their hearts and be delivered from a crooked and perverse generation, among whom they too would appear as lights in the world.

(11k) Servant >> Paul’s example of God’s standard

(109d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Revelations of the Holy Spirit >> Revelation of the true children of God

(148i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in chains -- This verse goes with verses 18-20

(155c) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> Having a good conscience >> Conscience bears witness that we obey God’s law

(245o) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Spirit realm superimposed upon the natural realm >> The natural manifesting into the spiritual

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2Cor 5-12

(78e) Thy kingdom come >> Sincerity >> Taking God to heart >> Having pure motives and desires

(83l) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Be ready

(84d) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Boasting >> It needs to be said and no one is saying it >> Boasting of my accomplishments in Christ

(167e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Walking outside the realm of faith -- This verse goes with verse 16. Paul used the word “we”. He never considered himself alone in his endeavor to bring the gospel of Christ to the world but had a lot of help. Paul and his team of helpers were all in agreement with each other and on the same page with God, and they all commended themselves to those they served, giving them an answer to those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. This is in reference to charlatans who also existed in Paul’s day, who had already begun to see a market in the gospel. They dressed themselves in appearance to flatter people with all the outward manifestations of success and appealed to them with the idea that if they listened to them, they would be successful too. Does this sound familiar? It should! The gospel is meant for anybody who would believe in Jesus, regardless of appearance. It appeals to the heart and we believe it from the heart, so appearance has nothing to do with it, otherwise the old and the ugly and the deformed would not be eligible for heaven. All we need is a sincere faith in Jesus and a willingness to live for Him in obedience to the truth, but to focus on appearance is to walk outside the realm of faith and into the realm of carnality and secularism, which is the mindset of the world. Everything to the world is physical, and anything beyond the physical that is so-called spiritual, if it does not correspond with Scripture, is new-age and witchcraft, based on superstition and various forms of religion that has never saved anyone. Instead of focusing our attention on physical appearances, He is calling us to focus on finishing the course.

(171f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Playing the part to be accepted by men

2Cor 5,13-20

(228i) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God works in the new creation

2Cor 5-13

(79f) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind through prayer

(81c) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Ministering to God

(97g) Thy kingdom come >> Attention >> Facing the direction of God’s will >> Focusing your attention on finishing the course

(236a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> All things are for your sake >> We are fighting for you >> Our suffering is for your sake – A person who is beside himself normally is crazy, and we can hardly say that he knows God, so what did Paul mean by "beside ourselves"? Paul knew and loved God with all his heart, but there were times when he was beside himself, as though he had lost his mind. The circumstances of his life became so severe that he lost touch with himself, and when this happens, those times are reserved for God. They are times in our lives that God loves the most, not because He likes to torment us or see us suffer, but when we are beside ourselves, we are completely dependent on Him and can’t do anything for ourselves; we’re lost, battered, delivered to death, overcome with excessive sorrow, all our bones ache, our mind is tortured. To simply get through those moments takes an act of God. He strengthens us with His grace so when we emerge on the other side, we retain the grace He used to strengthen us and now it is part of our arsenal, so when we return to a sound mind, we can use that grace in our ministry that God used on us to get us through hard times.

14&15 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

2Cor 5,14-20

(191j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> Set apart from the world

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2Cor 5,14-17

(187aa) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to minister to God >> Jesus died for us; now it's our turn to die for Him -- These verses go with verses 8&9

2Cor 5-14,15

(38f) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> God judged the world, the flesh and the devil

(53a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Of life and death >> Die in order to live – It says, “One died for all, therefore all died.” This uncovers a fallacy in the Church that resides at the very heart of Christianity today. We say that Jesus died for us; that is right; we also say He died in our place, taking our sin upon Himself; that is right too; He did it so we can live anyway we want; that is false! The implication that the Church makes about the gospel is that Jesus died for us; therefore, we have been forgiven. Yes we have, yet the implication Paul makes is that Jesus died for us, therefore we have died with Him. Paul was saying that Jesus represented us on the cross, and this we concede that He represented us before the Father as our Great High Priest, but Paul is saying that Jesus also died as a model for us, that we should take up our cross and follow Him to Calvary and die with Him, not for salvation’s sake but for the sake of repentance. The Church doesn’t like the word “repentance”; it has been all but extricated from religious terminology. In 2Cor 4-10,11, the chapter before this, it says, “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” This is the reason we take up our cross and follow Him, that the life of God might be manifested in our mortal flesh, that we might put the Kingdom of God on display through an anointing that God would give us for obeying the Holy Spirit through faith.

(68f) Authority >> Jesus Delegates the Holy Spirit to us >> He guides you into all truth

(124c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Acts of love >> Love is the proper motive for all you do

(156b) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Loving God is evidence of salvation >> Keeping His commandments

(192a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Life for life >> Losing your life to gain God’s life -- These verses go with verse 21. We don’t die to self for masochistic reasons but to transcend the barrier between the natural and spiritual realms. Unfortunately, the Church is not interested in this; instead, we sacrifice the revelation of God’s kingdom in order to maintain our worldview in the flesh. People are anchored in this life and the things that make sense to the natural mind, and we are unwilling to rise above it to believe in God the way we were called. Most Christians are unwilling to adopt the mind of Christ but believe more that what God has in mind for us is less than what the world offers. Most of us live and operate under the old adage, “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.” That is, we are not willing to let go of the mindset of this natural realm in order to obtain the mind of Christ, especially not after we realize that we must die to self in order to do it. Someone might say, ‘I thought it was a free gift.’ Salvation is a free gift, but maturity is not, and if we stay babes in Christ, then how do we know we even received this gift of salvation?

(213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant – God has sovereign authority over His creation in every area except man, and He is working to gain supreme authority over us too. He told us this in such a forward manner that it causes most of us to cringe, in the very first commandment (Exodus 20-5) when He said, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” This divine statement is so forthright that many people who do not understand God or don’t believe in Him think He is being trifle, for jealousy is normally considered a fault and a sign of immaturity, but God was saying that He is unwilling to share His glory with anyone, and he condemns anybody for acting on his own authority. Most people regularly act on their own authority; in fact, the whole world is based on this very premise, but the world is temporary. There is a day when the world will come to an end; man’s reign on earth will suddenly cease; God will establish His kingdom on this very planet for a thousand years, and He will demonstrate His sovereign authority over all things by stamping out all forms of rebellion. After the Millennium He will create a new heavens and a new earth, and all creation will be eternally subjected to the Father’s supreme authority. He then will divvy out His authority to His creation to do His will, for He is the Lord and Master of His creation, just as He was Lord and Master over Paul.

(216b) Compelled By The Spirit (Key verse)

(216g) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God forces us by His love – It says, “The love of Christ controls us.” We could start a running list of the reasons Jesus went to the cross and keep adding to it for the rest of our lives, but one of the main reasons Jesus went to the cross was to show us the Father’s love, and that is our motivation to pick up our cross and follow Him. We must know that what He is asking us to do will be worth the sacrifice of spiritual maturity. Only a person who loves us would ask us to do something hard, and only a person who knows God would pick up his cross and follow Jesus, but most people in the Church today don’t die to self for the very opposite reason, because they don’t know Him. Obviously they say they believe, but the fact is they don’t believe in God’s love enough to obey Him and die to the sinful passions and desires of the flesh. Paul was God’s bondservant, and God would have us all be just like him.

2Cor 5-15 

(38c) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection overcomes death

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

16&17 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2Cor 5-16,17

(6i) Responsibility >> Ministering to people by being in the Spirit – In the Spirit you see things differently. Paul says he doesn’t look at a man the same after he has promised his life to God, because he expects the way he lives to change. Paul begins planning for the person to obey God and to let the transformation occur, because he knows a little of what God plans to create in each person. You don’t build a house in the path of an active glacier. Although you don’t see the glacier moving because it moves slowly, yet you know it will eventually reach the spot where you were thinking of building, and thus putting an age limit on your house. In the same way we must plan our lives around the way we expect God to change us in the future according to God’s word, and to not build things that will eventually get in the way and ultimately have to be torn down.

(71h) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Ordained by His sovereign will >> God chooses to work in you

(156f) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> You will know them by their repentance

2Cor 5-16

(11b) Servant >> Standard for a servant >> A Spirit-filled life – A person who is "spirit-filled" is someone who is not only saved, but is also pleasing God with the way he/she is living. Those who are born again have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them like a seed, yet some people let that seed grow by nurturing it, while others do not. The spirit-filled person’s seed has spouted and growing large branches while others are producing fruit. A spirit-filled person is someone who got saved and is now growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

(118c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit -- This verse goes with verse 7

(167e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Walking outside the realm of faith -- This verse goes with verse 12

(222f) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God does not entrust his treasures to dogs >> Do not recognize dogs

(240f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Natural disadvantage of the flesh >> Limitations of the flesh

(43b) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Conform to the character of Christ >> Conform to His nature

(166l) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> >> The carnal mind cannot discern between good and evil >> The old mind

(238aa) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> Born again by the will of Christ

(238d) New creation (Key verse)

(238f) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> New creation >> The new creation is our spiritual composition – When we pass from this life and shed this body, the old things will have passed away, and new things have come. However, God expects us to begin this process of transformation even now, not waiting to receive our new bodies, but living as new creatures, destined for eternal life, waiting patiently for a body that cannot sin, not continuing to live according to our old way of life before we met Christ. New things have come; therefore, we need to shed our life of sin and unbelief in the flesh and put on our new life of righteousness and faith in the Holy Spirit, and begin living as though we have already received our new bodies, as though we have already ascended into heaven. We want to minimize the contrast between this life and the next one. We don’t want to make full use of this life and or this body, nor to exploit its lusts and its corrupt desires from an over-inflated ego, from pride and covetousness of materialism. All these things pertain to the poverty that dwells in us. God has called us to focus on His treasure trove He has entrusted to us, and to share them with whomever will receive us.

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

18-20 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

2Cor 5,18-21

(31h) Gift of God >> Grace >> Salvation >> The ministry of reconciliation – Whatever God gives us, is for the purpose of giving to others. We are supposed to act like conduit and let His gifts flow through the body of Christ, a spiritual principle that runs throughout the New Testament, spilling into the world by the evangelist. The last thing God wants is for us to become a Cul de Sac of His grace and mercy. The words of the gospel become an opportunity to believe in God’s love, who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 10-9,10). God will reveal to them that no truer words will ever be spoken to them of God’s salvation, love, kindness, mercy and grace. They only need to receive it by faith and God will convert the words of the preacher into a revelation of Jesus Christ that transcends the simple act of believing. God makes an appeal to the hearers of the gospel through the evangelist, hearing it as though they were the words of men, but in reality they are the words of God. When the Holy Spirit falls upon them and persuades them to believe in Jesus, He will convert the words of the preacher into the word of God by associating with His word in the man’s heart. For every group who listens to the preacher there are two subgroups: those who believe the gospel of Christ and those who don’t. Those who don’t believe have had one more common experience in life, but those who do believe have had their first experience with God, which if they continue in Him will grow and increase according to the grace that they have been given, according to their willingness to walk in that grace.

(114i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Jesus does God’s work >> All His works are what the Father does

(116c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Through our relationship with Him

(253h) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Father and Son glorify each other >> Father and Son represent each other

(253k) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is subject to God’s ability

(5e) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples preach the gospel – Paul was an ambassador for Christ through the grace of God. The beauty of this lies in the fact that Paul actually had a ministry, whereas Jesus never really did, because His blood had not yet been shed. That is, there really was no actual gospel of the kingdom that Jesus preached until He went to the cross. His preaching was of a gospel that had not yet come to fruition, so His ministry was not in that sense legitimate. He spoke about a kingdom and a gospel that was to come, but Paul preached a gospel that had actually come to pass through the blood of Christ, who had already made propitiation for the sins of the world. Old covenant believers had to believe that messiah would come, whereas we new covenant believers are beyond that, making faith that much easier for us, yet look at the world today how hard faith is to some people. This has become man’s world like no other time in history. When we look at the technology of our civilization, we see man’s fingerprints all over God’s creation, so that God’s fingerprint has been almost erased, or so it may seem. Man thinks that everywhere he goes he erases God’s fingerprint, but he has only managed to putter in his contraptions around his own solar system, leaving the rest of the universe intact. It is impossible to erase what God has done. He has a whole universe proving Himself, and man hasn’t even gotten off home plate, and it is therefore to that degree he must still answer to God. Christ is also in us still reconciling the world to Himself, yet man’s pride in his own technology has hardened his heart, causing him to believe more than ever that he is a god unto himself, yet Paul's cry can still be heard, "I beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

(32i) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Honor His word in you

(67n) Authority >> Doing God’s work under His authority >> Ministry of helps >> Help God

(71a) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority from God to evangelize the world >> We have an anointing to preach the gospel

(71j) Authority >> Ordained by God >> God ordains us through His commandments

(81e) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Ministering the gospel

(110d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through His ministry in us

(115d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through your ministry >> Through your calling >> In preaching the gospel

(123a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness to speak the word by the Spirit

(147h) Evangelism (Key verse) – We really learn a lot when we evangelize, but nowadays when we attempt this, we could get hurt, whereas back in the 80’s and 90’s people were more open; we could talk to strangers about God.

(148i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in chains -- These verses go with verse 11. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, commissioning us to bring the world to Christ through the word of His cross. 

(213e) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are tools in the hand of God >> We are transmitters of His kingdom

(216c) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God takes advantage of your love for Him >> He forces you by your desire for His calling

(236i) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Invest in the treasures of the kingdom >> Invest in the gospel

2Cor 5-19,20

(111b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit and evangelism

(153a) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Church bears witness of the Father through Christ

(210d) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our savior >> Jesus is the savior of the world

2Cor 5-19

(120f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness is an act of mercy >> God passes over our sins – We should be grateful that God has not counted our trespasses against us, or holds our sin over us. In a million years from now He won’t bring up something evil we did and hold it against us. He will never make us feel guilty; therefore, we should never make ourselves feel guilty or anyone else. If we feel guilty about something, it is not God convicting us, unless we have not yet repented of it. Guilt and conviction are two different things. Guilt will never go away, continuing even after we have stopped sinning, whereas conviction of the Holy Spirit seeks to lead us to repentance. Once we have repented, God will immediately drop it, so if we still feel guilty, it’s not God, because He only wants us to stop sinning. He has no interest in making us feel bad about our sin. Therefore, we should never allow ourselves to be enslaved to a sense of guilt, no matter what we have done. We should have the mind of Christ and forgive ourselves, and if a spirit continues to make us feel guilty, then we should live for Christ all the more just to spite the demonic entity tormenting us. 

2Cor 5-20

(6k) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Persuade men that Jesus is the Christ – This verse goes with verse 11.

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.

(35a) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> He is generous with the flesh of His Son

(37a) Jesus Is Judged By God (Key verse)

(37a) Judgment >> The cross >> God judged the sin of the world through Christ – The message of the evangelist to the world is contained in this verse. In the same way that God was able to heap upon His Son the sins of the whole world, so He was able to forgive us after the Father raised Him from the dead. When it says that the Father made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, He accomplished this by the simple fact that Jesus was God in human flesh. The worst sin that man could commit was crucifying the Son of God, which represented every sin that man has ever committed, thus heaping them all on Jesus at the moment of His death on the cross. This suggests that the Father also experienced sin in the same sense that Jesus did by abandoning His own Son. Sin separates us from God and Jesus was separated from His Father, so the Father also was separated from His Son. Since both Father and Son are personages of the Godhead and were separated from each other, both experienced the effects of man’s sin. The cross is a process of substitution, putting us in Jesus’ place, and putting Jesus in our place, so He became a sinner while we became the righteousness of God in Him. This entire process happens through a simple act of faith that we offer God in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

(39k) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Jesus defeated the law of sin -- Jesus' sinless life contradicted the law of sin in His flesh and broke the power of death by evidence of His resurrection. That is what He came to do. Heb 2-14 says, "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil." The Father placed upon His Son the sin of the world, thereby setting us free from the power of death, but making Christ the very definition of sin. 1Pet 2-24 says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." When the Father went to judge His Son, He found that none of His sin was His own, so He forgave Jesus for our sin and raised Him from the dead. His righteousness became our life. In His very death He destroyed the power of sin which is death, by maintaining the righteousness of God in the members of His earthly body. His blood is therefore the essence of life, and His flesh is the veil through which we must pass by faith that God incarnate came to take away our sin. Now that Christ paid our penalty, He made it illegal for sin to have jurisdiction over anyone who would believe in Him for eternal life.   

(41e) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Jesus knew no sin

(41g) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> God’s righteousness is His doing

(58g) Paradox >> Opposites >> Jesus becomes sin that we might obtain His righteousness – The only way to understand this verse is to take it literally, that God has took the sin of the world and nailed it to the cross, so that Jesus actually became sin. This verse requires no interpretation; there is nothing figurative about it, nor is it a metaphor for something else. Jesus somehow literally became sin on the cross, which is a mystery. A spiritual transaction took place between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and between mankind and his enemy the devil. The Father made His Son take the punishment of our sin. The moment Jesus needed His Father most, Christ was separated from the Holy Spirit. He was thus alienated from God, who placed all our sins on Christ at that moment, paying the full penalty for our sin. None of my righteousness is required for His grace, for it is the righteousness of faith that taps into the mercy of the cross. Therefore, faith is the only missing ingredient that we provide. It is the righteousness of faith that bonds with the sacrifice of Jesus’ cross that gives us access to Him and to all His promises, including and especially the promise of eternal life. We worship God for His generosity and willingness to go through His trials for all mankind. This is the beauty and wonder of the cross: the moment of Christ’s condemnation was also the moment of Satan’s demise. God has been dismantling Satan in stages, first after his initial rebellion when he fell from heaven, second at the cross, third in the last days when God will demonstrate that the weakness of human flesh coupled with the power of the Spirit is greater than all the power of darkness and evil. Finally, in the book of Revelation we see a mighty angel throwing him into the lake of fire, sealing his eternal fate.

(124a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Acts of love >> Love takes from the rich and gives to the poor >> Love takes sacrifice – By this verse we know that Jesus literally became our sin on the cross. Before He did, it was God’s will that He sent His Son to become the propitiation for our sins in the first place. At the premise of the cross is the love of God; if He didn’t love us, we would be alone as mere objects without meaning. With His love, though, we are alive and significant. If we applied meaning to ourselves, we would be alone in it, and if God did not see value in us, our significance would die with us. As it is, God loves us, and we mean something to Him, above the meaning we attribute to ourselves, so much more that we would be wise to dispose of our own self-worth and make God’s worthiness our own. Many people wrestle with depression; they need a vision of God’s love. We can tell them about it, and they can even believe it, but they need a revelation of it before the knowledge of God’s love will do them any good.

(192a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Life for life >> Losing your life to gain God’s life -- This verse goes with verses 14&15

(227f) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Dependence on Jesus >> Depending on Jesus to have compassion >> Depending on Jesus to receive us

(237n) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Transferred from lawlessness to righteousness

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