For Christ’s Love Compels Us

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” ~2 Corinthians 5:14-15

‘One died for all’ - that ‘One’ is Jesus. Jesus dies for ALL. And then there is ‘All died’. All is all. Not part of humanity, but all of them, past present and future. This is heavy stuff.

Romans 6:4 tells us that we were buried:  “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Paul writes in Colossians 3:1 “you have been raised with Christ”.

Let’s go way way back to the very first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1. “In the Beginning, God created….” We know from Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 3:14 that Jesus is The Beginning. Stitching together, we have “In Christ, God created…”

Where are we going with this? Well, Genesis 1:1 now makes sense of the verses that we died, were buried and raised with Jesus Christ. If we were created IN Him, what happens to Jesus also happens to us. It makes sense of the statements that we are His body and He is the head and that He abides IN us and we in Him. And one of the more difficult verses, that we share in His suffering.

Can you imagine telling a devote Muslim that he was created in Christ? Bad ending for you. I can’t WAIT to see the shock and awe on faces of those who have spent their lives hating Christians. Real life example was Paul - he went from being the master annihilator of Christianity to being the master builder. God can and will change everyone. Let’s not put Him in a box - He is bigger and greater than we can think or imagine. ~Ephesians 3:20