Don’t live for yourself, but for Christ Who died for us!

Second Corinthians 5:14-15

‘If One died…, then all were dead…. He died…, so that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to Him Who died for them and rose again…. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth we know Him (thus) no more…. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new!’ Second Corinthians 5:14-17.

Calvin comments: “Unless our hearts are harder than iron, the remembrance of the great love Christ has shown us by submitting to death for our sakes — is bound to make us devote ourselves entirely to Him…. It is right that we should live to Him, and die to ourselves!…

“‘One died’…. We should note the purpose of Christ’s death — that He died for us, so that we might die to ourselves…. To die to ourselves, is to live to Christ… We are dead in Christ…. We owe to Christ both life and death. So completely has He bound us to Himself!… He (Paul)…has certainly in mind…death or mortification of the flesh…. As if to say: ‘Since we should be dead to this present life and be nothing in ourselves, no man can be reckoned a servant of Christ on account of any excellence in the flesh!’…

“‘Though we have know Christ (after the flesh, yet now henceforth we know Him [thus] no more)’…. Though Christ lived for a time in this world…,now He is to be known in a different way…. He (Paul) is not saying that we can no longer know Christ’s flesh, but rather that we are not to judge Him after the flesh. The whole of Scripture proclaims that Christ now lives His glorious life in our flesh, just as surely as it was in our flesh that He once suffered….. What ground is there for our hope of immortality, except the evidence that we have now in Christ?…

“Life is restored to us…, by Christ’s opening up to our human nature the Kingdom of God from which it had been banished…. Unless we still recognize Christ’s humanity, all the assurance and comfort that we should have in Him — perishes!… We do in fact know Christ in His flesh as true man and our brother. But we do not know Him carnally…. Not because He has laid aside the body
and been changed into a spirit, but because it is by the power of His Spirit (from His body) that He regenerates and governs His Own.

“‘Therefore if any man be in Christ (– he is a new creature! Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new)!’… If any man desires to obtain a place in Christ…in His Kingdom or His Church — let him be a new creature!…

“‘The old things have passed away’…. All things will be changed for the better, till the happiness of the godly is complete. Since the Kingdom of Christ is spiritual, this conversion must take place chiefly in the spirit…. It is only the new man, who can flower and increase in the Kingdom of God!”

So don’t live for yourself, but for Christ Who died for us!