2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

The Focus of Salvation

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 11-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 11

Dictation Name: RR4166B

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] Not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory. For thy mercy, and for thy truths sake. Help us oh God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name, and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for Thy names sake. Let us pray.

Our most good and gracious God and heavenly Father, we praise you for your goodness to us each day. We thank you for your grace, and your so great salvation through Jesus Christ and His atonement. We thank you that you have given us your Spirit to lead us into righteousness, and to sustain us in this earth. We pray that you would be with all those; we thank you for your care, be with those who are not with us today through various necessities and activities that have sent them elsewhere, we pray that you would keep them safe and free from all harm. We thank you for your ever present care with us and with our loved ones; we pray that you would encourage us to rest secure that you care for us better than we can care for ourselves.

We thank you for your word, we pray that you would give us receptive hearts to receive it this morning. We pray that you would bless us and our families, we pray that you would guard them against all harm, both physical and spiritual. We pray that you would be with Thy church everywhere, we think especially this morning of those who are persecuted for the sake of Thy Sons name. We pray that you would encourage them, encourage those who seek to give them assistance. We pray that you would send revival amongst those who claim your name, we pray that we would see a renewed love and devotion to you and to your word. We pray that you would forgive us for our sins, and we pray that we would submit ourselves to you faithfully. We pray that you would give us a vision of our place in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Encourage us therein, we ask this in Christ our saviors name, amen.

[R. J. Rushdoony] Our Scripture lesson is 2nd Corinthians 5:11-21. Our subject: The Focus of Salvation. 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.

“11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.

13 For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.

14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

As we continue our study of Paul’s letter to Corinthians, his second letter, it is important to remind ourselves that Paul is writing to a church with problems, namely, they have sins, some serious sins, and some not as serious, within the congregation. But, even more, they have a clear cut misunderstanding of what the faith is about. Now, the importance of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is that we have the same problem today.

Let me begin by citing two people who were church members in good standing, well regarded, and yet, were they Christians? The first was a woman who had been a foreign missionary in Indonesia, and yet in talking to her, she had been a missionary for a fundamentalist organization, she would say she did not know whether anything in the Bible was true! But what was sensible, she insisted, was that: “Since we have no way of knowing whether when we die we are forever dead, or go to heaven or to hell, the safest course is to avoid hell because you are going to live eternally, by affirming everything in the Bible to be true.” Now, that was her faith, a former missionary.

The other was a man who was something of a rationalist; he was a church member, very active, very generous. He came to the faith if you can say he did, because as a rationalist he concluded that atheism did not make sense. It involved a faith in too many things that were impossible. So, while he didn’t know about much of the Bible and wasn’t going to pass any opinion on it, it was much more sensible and rational to say that there was a God and that Jesus Christ was His son, and to let it go at that.

Now, this kind of pragmatism is to be found throughout the church. Is it Christianity? Well, this is what Paul is dealing with. There were some very fine believers in the Corinthian Church, but there were a large number who were there because it seemed to be the best alternative, and the best way to avoid hell. They were highly critical of Paul, because Paul was troubling their consciences.

They wanted simply to say yes to Jesus, and let it go at that. But the focus of salvation, as all the Bible makes clear, and certainly Paul is this: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, His justice.”

The primary goal in our lives has to be God and His service, Christ and His kingdom. To know that this world was created by God, must be redeemed, and must be made His kingdom. We therefore when we are new creatures in Christ are the beginning of the new creation of the new heavens and the new earth, which in due time will be accomplished.

So Paul has a very urgent concern that the people in Corinth not only say: “Yes we believe this is a better way; it is better to be a Christian than to be a pagan, there is more sense to this.” Rather, they give themselves to Christ to be His servants, to believe in Him, to obey Him. For too many people, as for the Corinthians, then and now, it is just a question of saying a superficial yes to Jesus, and then spending your life doing your own thing.

After all, you have got the question of heaven settled. You have said yes to Jesus, so you aren’t going to hell. Well, this is what Paul is attacking throughout Corinthians. Then Paul goes on to say, in verse 12:

“For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.”

Paul is not boasting here, rather he gives the Corinthian church the opportunity of glorying not in themselves, but in God. In seeing the primacy of God and of Christ. It is important that they glory in the right things. And if they glory in God, if they glory in Christ, they will glory in Paul. “God is good to us,” they should say, “He has given us someone who can truly open the truth of His word to us.” But instead they did not like Paul because he troubled their conscience.

And this is a problem, a very great problem, especially in our day. It has always been present in the church, sometimes more than others. Just last Thursday when we had a staff meeting I was calling attention to a fact that very few people are now aware of; I cited the church, as I recall it in Maryland, and at the end of the forties, their pastor was called to a big church in Southern California, one of the biggest. He had gone to that church in Maryland, fresh out of seminary. They had expected him to stay there all his life. That was once commonplace. You went to a church and you stayed there for life. So that you grew up along with the people, you saw their children and their grandchildren and more.

In this particular case the church, since shortly before the War of Independence into the 1940’s it had three pastors, and this man was their fourth, their pastors had as was common still when I was a child, stayed there until they died. And they had lived, one of them, into his 90’s.

Now consider the difference in the church scene with that kind of situation. When I went to the Indian reservation, the pastor at the nearest church and town in (Alco?) had been there 50 years. They knew him thoroughly and he knew them. They had grown together in the faith. But, in Corinth, if a man did not please them, if he troubled their conscience, they did not want him. And of course in some areas of the church since WW2, the turnover in Pastors has been as little as three years, and at most 5 years.

Well, the results are all around us. It is wrong to dismiss a pastor simply because you feel that there are better ones to be had. No, together you grow in the faith.

Well, this is what Paul is talking about:

“For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.”

Paul is saying: ‘You may think I am crazy, beside myself. Why else would a man offend so many church members? Why would he call attention publicly to their offenses if they refused to listen to him?’ Paul has to be crazy. And Paul says: ‘Whether I am crazy as you think, or whether I am sober and good in your eyes, it is for your cause, for your behalf, that you might know the truth of God.’

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:”

Now Paul turns to a theological reason why he is doing this. ‘You were all dead in your sins and trespasses. The love of Christ compels me, because we know that you are sinners. Christ died for you, to redeem you. And having accepted Christ, having become a Christian, you now have an obligation to grow, and that is my function. To tell you when you are not growing, to rebuke you, to correct you.’

“And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

You are not slaves, so that you can say: “Oh boy, I have got the question of hell settled, I am not going to hell. Now I can relax and do as I please!” No. Paul says: ‘You have a duty. You have a duty to live for Christ, to be His people, His servants. Not to see the goal of salvation as you deliverance from hell, but the kingdom of God.’ After all, our Lord said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Or, using a more modern word, Justice. What does that mean? Why, it means the law of God.

‘So,’ Paul says, ‘You weren’t converted just to be saved from hell, you were converted to live in terms of the law of God, to obey it. To apply it to every area of life and thought.’

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.”

Paul says: ‘I once knew everybody humanistically, including Jesus. I saw Him as another teacher, and one who was upsetting the temple and the Synagogue with His teachings, and the religious leaders of the people were against Him, so I was against Him.’ And he says: ‘Now I know Him no more after the flesh, but only as Christ. And I cannot know you simply as human beings, but only as Gods creation; with a duty to believe in Him and serve Him all the days of your life.’

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:” (Or creation) “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

If you say you are a Christian, this is what it means. You are now a new creation. You are no longer the old man. That is why we are told elsewhere in the Bible that God with our recreation in Christ gives us a new name. We are a new creature, a new creation. “The old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” It is a new world. It is Gods world. It is a world that is a battle between God and the forces of darkness, and God shall triumph.

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”

The first part of that verse sums up Paul’s position: “All things are of God.” This is another way of saying, he affirms predestination. All things are of God. What He has done is to reconcile us to Himself by Jesus Christ. Now we have a ministry of reconciliation, to carry on the reconciliation. To say to a world that is at war with God, and at war with Gods law: “Be ye reconciled unto Christ.”

We have a message: “To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

This is Christ’s work, it is our task; to reconcile the world unto Christ. To bring every person in every area of life and thought into captivity to God and to Christ.

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

Paul now speaks of himself and other apostles, other evangelists and missionaries, to say: ‘We are ambassadors for Christ. We represent Him. We proclaim His word, not our word. And we have a task to reconcile you and all that we can to God.’

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Christ was sinless. But He became our substitutes, he became our sin, paid the penalty for us in our sin, dying in our stead, taking upon Himself the sentence of death for sin, that we might be reconciled to God, and that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him; to be made righteousness, the justice of God, in Christ.

So we are not called to be saved from hell, but to be made the justice of God; to represent Him, His law word, His righteousness, unto all men and nations. This is what it is all about. This is why we believe and obey the law word of God. This is why we establish Christian schools, to say that the righteousness of God cannot be furthered in any other way. This is why we write, we publish, we do everything we do, to set forth the justice of God. That others might be reconciled to God through Christ.

This is the focus of salvation, and this is Paul’s theme in one form or another, from one end of 2nd Corinthians in particular, to the other. Your salvation is not for your own purpose, not to make sure you don’t go to hell, but to make sure you are God’s people, God’s servants, all the days of your life and throughout eternity.

Revelation tells us of heaven, that there His servant shall serve Him. We don’t know here and now what our service, or what kind of work there is in heaven, but we are told that we have a service. Well, that service begins here and now, by our faith and by our obedience.

Let us pray. Oh Lord our God we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. And we thank Thee that in Christ Jesus we have been reconciled unto Thee. We pray that we may serve Thee with all our heart, mind and being, rejoice in Thee in Thy so great salvation, and love Thy word, because Thy word is Thy truth. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Well, as you have seen before and again today, Paul writes very bluntly in 2nd Corinthians. He does not spare them. His letter is a very plain spoken, and at times a harsh one, because his purpose was to wake the people up out of their complacency in sin, in their misunderstanding of the gospel, as though it were all intended to spare them the troubles of hell, rather than having as its purpose, they become members of Christ, citizens of the kingdom of God, and servants of the Lord in all their ways.

Is there a question?

[Audience Member] Yes, just that the people you describe as modern day Corinthians are plentiful, right?

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] There are many people who try to take rational approaches, but you have to admit that the veil which prevents you from having a personal relationship with God is very thick, and hard to do. And the preaching of Paul was not always well received because he is moralizing, and it gets tiresome, and people don’t want to hear it, and that is why there is 20,000 people at the fair right now, and 20 people in here.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] And I am sure many of the people who are at the fair are Christians. So, I am not sure, I just don’t know the extent to which I agree with this criticism.

[Rushdoony] With the criticism?

[Audience Member] People don’t know what to do.

[Rushdoony] A proclamation of the clear word of God is the only thing that will wake people up. If they will not be awakened, that’s their doom. But one of the problems in the church is that unpopular texts are not preached on more, or are not preached on clearly. 2nd Corinthians I the bluntest part of the Bible I think, in many ways. And yet it is a neglected book. So, what we have to do is to preach it, and what we have to do is to get back to more Bible reading. This is one of the things that has disappeared in this generation since the war; it used to be that family Bible reading and prayer were much more common, and as a result people knew what God had to say better. Now they don’t. A great deal that is in the Bible, when you tell them about it, I for one have heard over and over again the amazed question: “Is that really in the Bible?” That is how ignorant they are of it.

In fact, one pastor, a good friend, had a woman call him and ask, when he first went to the church, that she wanted to give a talk to a woman’s group and she couldn’t find the verse that she wanted to make her text, and would he please tell her where that verse was in the Bible? And he said, “Surely, what is the verse?” “Honesty is the best policy.” And he said: “That is Benjamin Franklin, not the word of God.” And she blew up at him, and said: “It’s terrible when a minister doesn’t know his own Bible.” And she hung up on him.

Now that kind of thing is, I am afraid, rather commonplace although not always concluding as bluntly as that woman did.

[Audience Member] May I say too, that Ben Franklin in particular is a good example of why the Corinthians would be confused, between rationalism and the straight word of God.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] Many people only have the Bible in their house, which is why Abraham Lincoln spoke, and all of those men, like they had read the Bible their whole lives, because they had. Then Ben Franklin comes along, and we have more printed material circulating through the streets, much more information to read. So, which one is the true work, it is hard to say, and “Honesty is the best policy” is a very good way of stating which of the ten commandments would that be.

[Rushdoony] It is pragmatism, and pragmatism is the order of the day today. It is interesting that in many respects in this century, Franklin is more popular than he was in his own day. We don’t know how many, many people thought very poorly of Franklin in his day; for one thing his son was a Tory who did everything he could to destroy the United States, Franklin himself was involved in a shady deal when he was ambassador for the colonial government during the war in France; he bought rifles for the continental army, and they were all the defective ones that had been discarded by the French army. So the whole deal was a bad one, and there was some thought of prosecuting him. He was chosen for the continental congress, but not very popular. He couldn’t get elected to any office, but now he is a great man because we like his outlook, and books that are critical of Franklin and tell the truth about his life are viewed with horror. I know a historian wrote a book about Franklin and how he was in the pay of the British government during the War of Independence, because it was his practice to try and be on both sides of everything. It was his play safe policy, pragmatism. And it killed that professors career. He was brilliant man. After that he couldn’t write a thing that would be accepted. So that is the difference in our view and theirs.

Well, if there are no further questions, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we given thanks unto Thee that Thou art on the throne, that all things will come to pass as Thou hast ordained them. We thank Thee that Thou hast called us to be Thy people and to serve Thee. Make us ever joyful in Thy word and in Thy service.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.