06/07/2020
From Francois du Toit’s post, the author of the Mirror Word Bible.
These 5 verses have impacted my life most radically in the early eighties, and still do! 🤩❤️
2 Cor 5:14 The love of Christ constrains us and resonates within us; leaving us with only one conclusion: when Jesus died; every individual simultaneously died. In God’s logic, one has died for all, thus all died. (The word, sunecho, to press together; to squeeze; from sun, meaning together with and echo, meaning to echo; to embrace; to hold; also, to resonate. The word αρα ara, means conclusion. Jesus didn’t die 99% or for 99%. He one hundred percent died humanity’s death! If Paul had to compromise the last part of verse 14 to read: “one died for all therefore only those who follow the prescriptions to qualify, have also died,” then he would have had to change the first half of the verse as well! Only the agape of Christ can make a calculation of such enormous proportion! The religious mind would question the extremity of God’s love and perhaps prefer to add a condition or two to a statement like that!)
2 Cor 5:15 Now if all were included in his death they were equally included in his resurrection. This unveiling of his love redefines human life! Whatever reference we could have of ourselves outside of our association with Christ is no longer relevant.
2 Cor 5:16 Therefore, from now on, I no longer know anyone according to the flesh! I no longer see people from a human point of view! This is a radical and most defining moment! No label that could possibly previously identify someone carries any further significance! Even our pet doctrines of Christ are redefined. Whatever we knew about him historically or sentimentally is challenged by this conclusion. (By discovering Christ from God’s point of view we discover ourselves and every other human life from God’s point of view! Paul sees by revelation that, what Jesus redeemed in every person, brings final closure and death to any other reasoning and judgment we may have had of ourselves or anyone else for that matter! This is Paul's ‘metanoia’ moment! Note, the Greek word, metanoia, from meta, together with and νοιέω noieō, to perceive with the mind. It describes the awakening of the mind to that which is true; a re-alignment of one’s reasoning; it is a gathering of one's thoughts, a co-knowing. Faith is not a decision; it is a discovery. It has nothing in common with the Latin word paenitentia - where the idea of penance and repentance stems from!)
2 Cor 5:17 Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new! (Just imagine this! Whoever a person was as a Jew, Greek, slave or freeman, Boer, Zulu, Xhosa, British, Indian, Muslim or American, Chinese, Japanese or Congolese; is now dead and gone! They all died when Jesus died! Remember we are not talking law language here! The ‘If’ in, “If anyone is in Christ” is not a condition, it is the conclusion of the revelation of the gospel! Mankind is in Christ by God’s doing [1 Cor 1:30 and Eph 1:4]. The verses of 2 Corinthians 5:14-16 give context to verse 17! For so long we studied verse 17 on its own and interpreted the ‘if’ as a condition! Paul did not say, “If anyone is in Christ,” he said “THEREFORE if anyone is in Christ ...” The “therefore” immediately includes verses 14 to 16! If God’s faith sees everyone in Christ in his death, then they were certainly also in Christ in his resurrection. Jesus did not reveal a “potential” you, he revealed the truth about you so that you may know the truth about yourself and be free indeed! In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God did not redeem a compromised replica of you; he rescued the original, blueprint you, created in his radiant mirror likeness! Any other ‘self’ you’re trying to find or esteem will disappoint! Reckon your ‘DIY-law of works-self’ dead, and your redeemed self co-raised and co-seated together with Christ! This is freedom indeed! Galatians 2:19,20; Rom 6:11. See 1 Pet 1::3 We are reconnected with our original genesis through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! This new birth endorses and celebrates the hope of the ages; God’s eternal love dream concludes in life! )
2 Cor 5:18 The idea of mankind’s co-inclusion in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is entirely God’s doing! To now realize that God has indeed brought final closure to the old and for us to see everything and everyone in this new light is to simply see what God has always known to be true about us in Christ; we are not debating human experience, opinion, or their contribution; this is exactly what God believes. In Jesus Christ, God 1exchanged equivalent value to redeem us to himself. He went to the highest extreme in this act of reconciliation to persuade us of our original worth! This, God has given us as the mandate of our ministry. (The word, 1katalasso, translates as reconciliation; it is a mutual exchange of equal value. This transaction was not to buy us back from “the Devil”; a thief never becomes an owner; it was God redeeming our minds from the lies that we believed about ourselves - reconciliation is the bold unveiling of the value of the hidden treasure in everyone! See 2 Cor 4:7 and Math 13:44.)
Mirror Bible 🤩❤️
