"Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (Gk. Sarx). Though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
II Cor.16-17
"Therefore" introduces us to another Pauline conclusion that serves to explain the Gospel as a message of antithesis. The Gospel is not and cannot be a philosophical word on the human condition. As C.S. Lewis has well stated, "we have enough good advice from various philosophers. We are in need of a word that is not remote from us, nor do we need a word that leaves us spiritual beggars."
We find ourselves in the early part of the 21st century with drones threatening our "democratic" skies, and nano-technologies that can reprogram our cellular structure. Our children are being recruited by the State powers as village heralds of political designs that few understand. Gang rapes of young girls are sped across the internet in real time. Persons can vicariously participate the undoing of a child via hand held devices.
Politicians can do no better than to wed powerful technologies that can be a force for optimal global good to the ancient relic of socialism. The rhetoric of socialism is filled with the wine of social good but alas it is always the self-defined nobility of the few that 'force' the many to accept and live under the crushing mockery of socialist fictions. We need a new word that will supercede the mongrel emptiness of carefully constructed sound bites contrived to bait and hide the truth. We are asked to live on odious toxic fumes of idiological gas.
Therefore, we listen to Paul as a breath of fresh air in a musty and stale room. The Gospel is the message of hope that radically sets an individual within a new situation. The Gospel is the breath of God expressed in language that is cognitively apt to reach the executive center of the human brain. The human mind can respond either positively or negatively to the Gospel word. However, to respond in a positive manner to the Gospel means life in superabundance.
Paul's entire life was absorbed by the new word. The word of the Gospel does not come to take as the words of politicos and others do. The Gospel does not prey upon the frailty of persons. The Gospel is a radical No to the Yes of that which demands everything and gives nothing back to the person. The Gospel is the explosive Yes to the devouring No of the spiritually cancerous word.
The word of the Gospel meant for Paul that no man could be regarded as less than man. The Gospel meant, for Paul, that the Yes of skin hue is indicative of greater or lesser value as a person is a blinding lie. More importantly, though the Iesous was at one time looked upon by Paul from mere human viewpoint it was now no longer possible.
One of the gifts of the Gospel are new eyes unobstructed by human prejudice. The Gospel enables one to see into and above the alienation inherent in human relationships. The love of God expressed in the Gospel word is not overcome by human alienation. The love of God moves into human alienation and reveals the heart of God.
When an individual believes the Gospel word he or she is re-generated by the Spirit (breath) of the living God. In other words, that which looked alive is made truly alive by the living God. God can take the old word that hardened your life into stone and make you alive. God can take the word that took everything from you and give your life real meaning. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him would have (possess) life eternal." John 3:16
The Gospel is the word of decisive antithesis in this Brave New World that asks everything and gives back nothing. The new technologies have not liberated they have created hypnotized slaves who are awe-struck by the totalitarian state that appears to give only to dominate the will. People have become conditioned by the mere appearance of giving. They have yet to learn that the word of seduction invites greater enslavement.
The word of the Gospel makes one a new creation. The old word is a lie dipped in chagrin. Its promise is as empty as that presented in the play Waiting For Godet. The promised salvation in Waiting For Godet never comes. The word of the Gospel is the word of eternal life. Will you trust God today? Will you come to the cross of the Iesous and receive the Word of Life?
Blessings to you.
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