2 Corinthians 5:2
is set in the context of 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 which speaks of
the promise of an immortal and eternal body.
There are two
significant nuggets of golden truth that we can gather from the context
passage.
First up, when Adam
said that he was naked in Genesis 3:10, it was a reference to
him becoming a mortal; capable of dying.
This rendition is supported by 2 Corinthians 5:2-3. In 2 Corinthians 5:4
of the Amplified Bible, we see that
being unclothed refers to separation from God as well as “separation by death
from the body”. This brings us right
back to the beginning of the Fall. As an
immediate aftermath of the Fall, both Adam and Eve became naked and was
afraid. This is recorded in Genesis 3:7-10. When Adam and Eve
realized they were naked, it was referring to the death of not just the spirit
but the physical body. This truth is
illuminated by 2 Corinthians 5:4.
Right from the moment
Adam blatantly ignored God’s counsel, sin entered the world as is written in Romans 5:12. Since then, the entire world or creation
suffers from the consequences of sin, which includes death of the spirit and
that of the physical body. It was
because of what Adam did that the ground or earth has been put under a curse.
The need to work hard under stress is a result of that curse; maximum efforts
with minimum results. As a result of
that curse, earth would also produce “thorns and thistles” which referred to
natural calamities and pestilences. This can be seen in Genesis 3:17-19.
As stated in Romans 1:22, instead of turning to
the solution God has provided in Christ crucified, mankind, who profess themselves wise, resorts
to exploiting each other in order to reduce the need to work hard themselves. This is the basis of the dog-eat-dog world
that we now live in.
I believe James 4:1-8 of the Easy-to-read Version Bible encapsulates
all that has just been spoken: “Do you know where
your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that
make war inside you. You want things, but you
don’t get them. So you kill and are jealous of others. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don’t get what you want because you don’t
ask God. Or when you ask, you don’t receive
anything because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want to use it for your
own pleasure. You people are not faithful to God! You
should know that loving what the world has is the same as hating God. So anyone who wants to be friends with this
evil world becomes God’s enemy. Do you think the
Scriptures mean nothing? The Scriptures say, “The Spirit God made to live in us
wants us only for Himself.” But the kindness God shows is
greater. As the Scripture says, “God is
against the proud, but He is kind to the humble.” So give yourselves to
God. Stand against the devil, and he
will run away from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. You are sinners, so clean sin out of your
lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure.”
“Make your thinking
pure”. Does this not bring to mind Philippians 4:8? “Brothers and sisters,
continue to think about what is good and worthy of praise. Think about what is
true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected.” This in turn leads to 2 Corinthians 10:5 which admonishes
us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It was because of the obedience of Christ even
to the point of death on the cross, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on
Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow in submission, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under
the earth (Philippians 2:9-10). Therefore, we can come against every negative
thought with the name of Jesus. Proverbs 4:23 of the Common English Bible says to guard and
protect the mind more than anything else because life flows from it. We go where our minds take us.
The epistle of James
was addressed to Jewish believers as evident from James 2:1 and James 5:19. With that being the case, the burning
question to ask will be: “How can you a
believer be called a sinner?” (James 4:8, Easy-to-Read Version Bible). Well, I believe the answer is in the difference
between being sinful and a sinner. Allow
me to elaborate.
Before you embraced
Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour, I am sure you have done some good things or
righteous acts, so to speak. Did that
make you righteous? No.
Now that you are a
believer, were there times you stumbled and commit sin? Most probably. But did that make you a sinner. No.
The foundation of our
righteousness is Christ crucified and His resurrection.
In John 15:3, Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word
which I have given you” and
in John 13:10, He said, “Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his
feet, and is completely clean. And you are clean.” Our inner man has have been
thoroughly cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus but we still need to wash
our feet on a daily basis. The feet
points to walking and denotes how we conduct our daily lives.
1 John 1:7
says that “the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us
from all sin”. If believers are not
susceptible to sinful actions, 1 John 1:7 would not have been written. I think the best example would be righteous
Lot. 2 Peter 2:7 describes Lot as
righteous but distressed. I would say he
was trying to follow God and the world at the same time. The long and short of it is this. A believer does not need to prove anything to
anyone. We all know best what is
happening in our own lives. How each
believer choose to live out his own salvation is his own prerogative. The
choice is whether one would want to be the righteous Abraham or a righteous
Lot. Therefore, I normally get nervous
when my pastor called the congregation a righteous lot. Just kidding. J
On a more serious note, another issue comes to
mind. If a believer can continue sinning and yet be righteous, would it not be
conceived as a licence to sin? To begin with, no licence is needed for
sinning. Nonetheless, the apostle Paul
has issued warnings against the righteousness sinning as a practice. This can be found in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21 and Ephesians 5:5. A righteous believer who practices sin will
not get to enjoy the sense of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
which is the Kingdom of God (Romans 14:17). Before one can enjoy something, it must first
be received. According to Romans 5:17, the one who receives
the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reigns in life
through Jesus Christ. Hence, a believer who sins habitually has effectively not
received the gift and will therefore be distressed just as righteous Lot.
The second nugget of
golden truth is that God had never meant for the physical body to decay and
die. When He gave Adam the physical
body, it was meant to be immortal and eternal.
The decay and death of the
physical body is the final consequence of sin as stated in Ephesians 4:30. I am getting ahead of myself.
Death first occurred
spiritually and then physically. Hence,
resurrection also takes place in that same sequence or order. When we accepted Jesus as our personal Lord
and Saviour, the spirit has been resurrected or regenerated. We are now waiting expectantly for the
resurrection of the physical body when Christ Jesus returns.
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