““For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;” ”
Paul is essentially saying, “You want to know what drives us? You want to know what motivates us? You want to know what inspires us, pushes us and gets us up in the morning? Well, if you really want to know why we do what we do and live how we live, then you need to know that we are compelled by the love of Christ! Listen, the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ is compelling! And Paul says they find the love of Christ so compelling because they’ve “judged thus”. That is to say, they’ve seriously considered and evaluated it, and have thus come to a solid conclusion. They have concluded that the way in which the love of Christ was revealed for us is the only truly sustainable why. So have you seriously considered and evaluated this? For, the love of Christ is the only sustainable “why” for living, because…
HIS DEATH WAS OUR DEATH.
Jesus didn’t just die for you, but as you. In other words, since Jesus died for all humanity, as all humanity, then, in a real sense, all humanity died in Him at the cross. The punishment, wrath and condemnation for all our sins past, present and future has already happened in Christ at the cross as a “one time sacrifice for all sin”. Therefore, you’ve already died as a result of your sins, in Christ.
The Lord was so gracious and patient with me in bringing me to this Good News. He led me to start reading the Bible through for myself. Then He specifically led me to read through the Gospels with the aid of my favorite book, next to the Bible, the Desire of Ages by Ellen White. This vividly and deeply brought me face to face with Jesus, in an intimacy of relationship I had not yet known. And, as I mentioned before, He’d bring people into my life to help give me clarity into the truth of the Gospel. There where also several preachers He’d lead me to, like Morris Venden, Ty Gibson, Elizabeth Talbot, MyRon Edmonds and others. Yet, there was one specific preacher, whose seminar I was participating in online, and whose practical wisdom on how to experience the power of the cross daily in prayer, changed my life. His counsel was to go to the cross daily, after confessing any known sin in your life, and then speak the truth of the Gospel found in Romans 6:11, to “…reckon (or consider) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:11 NKJV. Therefore, by believing this and doing this daily, one should never leave their time with God weighed down by feelings of guilt, shame and condemnation over sin, because the truth about you in Christ IS that you are indeed dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus! And this is because His death was our death!
You see, if you believe the truth that you’re in Christ, over your feelings or the voices in your head that are telling you lies, then you know a further payment or punishment for your sins cannot be demanded from God. For those who receive this reality by faith, there is, literally, “…therefore, now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”, as it says in Romans 8:1 NKJV. In Christ, you do not stand condemned, because the condemnation for all your sins have already fallen on Christ! You are free from sins punishment, penalty and condemnation, now! So now you can live from that place of freedom. You have been justified, which means you have been declared right with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His death was your death. If it happened to Jesus then it happened to you! This is why someone gets baptized, so they can publicly identify with His death, which is their acknowledgment that they have died to sin in Him.
However, Paul is not only compelled with what the love of Christ accomplished for us in His death, but also in what continued belief in what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross produces in us, as he says in verse 15…
Stay tuned for Part Three!
