We've Died!

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” – 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

How do you feel about death?

Death is a difficult thing. On the one hand, we tend to not want to die or for anyone we know to die, but yet there are times when death seems to be almost a good thing. I’ve known Christians who were in suffering greatly. For them, death was a release because they knew what, or better yet, who, awaited them on the other side of death. Or consider someone like Hitler. He was reigning over the deaths of millions. His death helped to put that to an end.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, we see two kinds of death.

Jesus died for all. Jesus’ death is physical as well as suffering our sentence of hell. Jesus physically died on the cross and suffered the punishment we deserved in our place. His death is, indeed, good. It paid for our sins so that we may be restored to the Father.
All died. Our death is a spiritual one. On the one hand, we were already spiritually dead, but this also reminds us Romans 6 which tells us that in our baptism we are crucified with Christ in His death. We have died to sin. As Luther would put it, the old Adam is drowned. This death also is good. It is the death of our sinful nature and it frees us from sin and condemnation.

The Great Irony
The crazy thing is that it is by death that we now live. What?!

It is because we have died in Christ that we now live in Him. He has drowned the old sinful self and given us new life in Him.

We have died, but now we live, given new, true life through faith in Jesus Christ. That is why 2 Corinthians 5 continues to tell us, then, to live for Jesus. He died for us so that we might live. So, those who now live because of Jesus also live for Jesus. Living for Him is not what earns us life, but rather is us living out the life Jesus earned for us through His perfect life and substitutionary death.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for dying for me. Thank You, also, for killing my old sinful self and giving me new life. Help me to live my new life for You.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

We've Died!

Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL serving Lutz, Zephyrhills, Land O’ Lakes, and New Tampa, FL