The second epistle to the church at Corinth is generally understood to be a defense on the part of the apostle Paul.  His critics have made a stand in this church boasting their "success theology" in contrast to Paul's "theology of the cross and resurrection."

One of the points, Paul is making here is in defense of his suffering, his "weakness" as his opponents named it. He points to the bigger picture and reiterates to all those who follow the "success theology" that we do not only live in the here and now, but we live in light of eternity  : "...for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." Verse 5:7b-8

To drive home his point, he refers to the “judgment seat of Christ."  His  message here is: let us refrain from judgment about what is success or failure--let them be evaluated by Christ himself who sees the big picture.

The centerpiece of his defense in this reading is Paul's concept of a "new Creation in Christ"--a radical spiritual, yet essential shift which brought the non-believer to the place of redemption and a new life in freedom.

• William Loader summarizes this point as follows:
  In this new creation we have a different mindset, which does not look to impressive credentials which people can muster to claim the adulation of their fellows and so make their lives meaningful and valuable. Instead, the new kind of being believes in being loved and being set free from self-preoccupation with one's own worth. One can drop all the manipulative efforts to sustain an impressive image and win love from others to establish one's worth. Love has already declared the worth, announced the forgiveness, offered the hope, so the old ways can go. It's all new. What a relief - for us and for others around us! We no longer have to prove ourselves! We can be free to love. [1]

• There are many connections that could be made between this passage and  contemporary theology today.  Modern "success theologies," such as "name-it-and-claim-it,"  "positive confession," or the many "church growth" doctrines.  Paul would say: "not everything that has a shine to it is gold." What is important is our attitude toward God in light of eternity.  Biblical examples of influential people in the bible who never saw the success of what they envisioned or preached are: Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus, etc.
   
• You may want to tie the concept of "new creation" to the Johannine concept of "being born from above" (Jn 3). What does this essential change look like in a person? Can it be described in some tangible from? Or is something we can only accept by faith?

 

See our posted sermon "Living with Eternity Consciousness" for this week

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[1] Prof. William Loader, http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpPentecost2.htm