So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer (2 Cor.5:16, NIV). How the world sees us and judges us is different to the way God sees us and judges us. There is a worldly point of view, and there is a godly point of view. In the eyes of God, as true believers, we are righteous because Christ is our righteousness. The world looks upon us differently.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote: For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of a procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe (1 Cor.4:9, NIV). Who did this? God. According to Paul, God had made the apostles to be viewed as foolish and weak: the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world (1 Cor.4:9-13, NIV). There is an outward appearance and an inner reality. God allowed the apostles to go hungry and thirsty; to be in rags and brutally treated; to be homeless, cursed, persecuted and slandered. In the eyes of the world, the apostles were worthless scum. Paul said that they had once regarded Christ in this wayfrom a worldly point of view (2 Cor.5:16, NIV). Jesus was treated like a common criminal, spat upon, slandered, verbally and physically abused, mocked, scourged, nailed to a cross and left to die. In the eyes of the world, Jesus was sin. The mob had shouted for His death. He was regarded as one who had blasphemed God and who had worked miracles by the power of Satan (Mat.26:65; 9:34). To the Jews, He was despised as one who had wished to usurp authority and to destroy the law given to Moses. To the Romans, He was a cause of disorder. To the world, the apostles were the smell of death (2 Cor.2:16, NIV), but to God the aroma of Christ (2 Cor.2:15, NIV).
On the cross, Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph.5:2, NIV). Jesus did this for us. This was how Christ presented Himself to God, but this was not how He appeared to the world.
We must not take a verse of scripture out of context. This verse: God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21), is a verse which must be viewed in the context of the passage, the whole letter, and Pauls related comments in his first letter to the Corinthians and other letters. When we do this, we will not take a worldly view of the cross. In the One whom the world judged as sin we have become the righteousness of God.
J
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote: For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of a procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe (1 Cor.4:9, NIV). Who did this? God. According to Paul, God had made the apostles to be viewed as foolish and weak: the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world (1 Cor.4:9-13, NIV). There is an outward appearance and an inner reality. God allowed the apostles to go hungry and thirsty; to be in rags and brutally treated; to be homeless, cursed, persecuted and slandered. In the eyes of the world, the apostles were worthless scum. Paul said that they had once regarded Christ in this wayfrom a worldly point of view (2 Cor.5:16, NIV). Jesus was treated like a common criminal, spat upon, slandered, verbally and physically abused, mocked, scourged, nailed to a cross and left to die. In the eyes of the world, Jesus was sin. The mob had shouted for His death. He was regarded as one who had blasphemed God and who had worked miracles by the power of Satan (Mat.26:65; 9:34). To the Jews, He was despised as one who had wished to usurp authority and to destroy the law given to Moses. To the Romans, He was a cause of disorder. To the world, the apostles were the smell of death (2 Cor.2:16, NIV), but to God the aroma of Christ (2 Cor.2:15, NIV).
On the cross, Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph.5:2, NIV). Jesus did this for us. This was how Christ presented Himself to God, but this was not how He appeared to the world.
We must not take a verse of scripture out of context. This verse: God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21), is a verse which must be viewed in the context of the passage, the whole letter, and Pauls related comments in his first letter to the Corinthians and other letters. When we do this, we will not take a worldly view of the cross. In the One whom the world judged as sin we have become the righteousness of God.
J