Chapter 3 – The Great Change (part 2)

Though the ministration of the old covenant was one of “death,” nevertheless, it was “glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:7). Judaism was not of human invention, but of Divine institution. In it there was a solemn and yet glorious revelation of the moral perfections of God. In it there was a wondrous and blessed foreshadowing of the person, office, and work of the Redeemer. In it there was a wise and necessary paving of the way for the introduction and establishment of Christianity. That “glory” was adumbrated on the countenance of the mediator of that covenant (Deuteronomy 5:4-5, Gal 3:19) when he returned to the people after speaking with Jehovah in the mount, for the “skin of his face shone” (Exodus 34:29-30). That radiance of his features was emblematic of the glory pertaining to the old covenant—and that, in two noticeable respects.

First, it was only an external one; whereas a glorious work of grace is wrought within the beneficiaries of the new covenant.

Second, it was but a transient glory, as the quickly-fading brightness of Moses’ face symbolized; whereas that connected with the new covenant is one that “fades not away” (1 Peter 1:4). Christians, beholding the glory of the Lord, “are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Any one who gives an attentive reading to 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 should have no difficulty at all in understanding what the apostle was referring to when he said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “old things are passed away.” First, he tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:7 that the glory connected with the old covenant “was to be done away.” But he went further, saying, second, “For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:11)—the old economy and its ministry were but temporary and had even then been set aside. The sacrificing of bulls and goats was no longer valid now the Antitype had appeared. Third, in verse 13, he uses still stronger language: “That which is abolished” (2 Corinthians 3:13) or “destroyed.” In the former epistle (1 Corinthians 13:10), Paul had laid down the maxim that “when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away;” so here, he declares the new covenant annulled the old, for that was never designed to have anything more than a transient existence. The “old things” which are “passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17) are circumcision, the temple ritual, the Levitical priesthood, the whole of the ceremonial law; in a word, Judaism and all that marked it as a system.

In 2 Corinthians 4, the apostle continues the same subject. The “this ministry” of verse 1 is that of “the new testament” [or “covenant”] spoken of in 2 Corinthians 3:6 and termed, “the ministration of the spirit” and “of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 3:8-9). In 2 Corinthians 3:14, speaking of the great body of the Jewish nation, he said, “but their minds were blinded;” and in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, he declares, “but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the God of this world [that is Satan, as the director of its religions] has blinded the minds of them which believe not.” In 2 Corinthians 3:9-10, he affirmed that while indeed there was a “glory” connected with the old covenant, yet that of the new “excelled” it. Amplification of that is made in 2 Corinthians 4:6. The pillar of the cloud and of fire which guided Israel during their journeying was but external and temporary, but Jehovah has now “shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That inward illumination abides in the believer forever—immeasurably superior are the “new things” which have displaced the old! In 2 Corinthians 4:8-18, the apostle mentioned some of the trials which a faithful discharge of his commission had entailed.

After a characteristic digression in which the apostle described the rich compensations God has provided for His servants—and His people in general (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)—he returns to the subject of his ministerial labors, making known the springs from which they issued (2 Corinthians 5:11-14). As in chapter 3, when vindicating his apostleship, he had interwoven important doctrinal instruction, so here. First, it should be carefully noted that Paul was still engaged in closing the mouths of his detractors, yes, furnishing his converts with material to silence them ( see 2 Corinthians 5:12), speaking of his adversaries as those who “glory in appearance, and not in heart.”

In what follows, he adduces that which could not be gainsaid. “Because we thus judge [or “reason”] that if one died for all, then were all dead” (2 Corinthians 5:14)—a most misleading translation, which is corrected in the Revised Version: “One died for all, therefore all died.” It is quite true that those for whom Christ died were spiritually dead, but that is not what is here referred to—their being unregenerate was a fact without Christ dying for them! Rather was Paul showing the legal effect, or what follows as the consequence of Christ’s having died for them.

“Having judged this, that if one died for all, then the all died” (Bagster’s Interlinear). The apostle there enunciates a theological axiom: it expresses the principle of federal representation. The act of one is, in the sight of the law, the act of all those on whose behalf he transacts. The whole election of grace “died” judicially in the death of their Surety. Christ’s death—so far as the claims of the Divine Law or the end of the Divine government were concerned—is the same as though they had all personally died. “Died” unto what? The consequences of their sins, the curse of the Law? Yes, though that is not the main thing which is here in view. What then? This, rather that they had “died” to their old standing in the flesh: they no longer had any status in that realm where such distinctions as Jew and Gentile obtained. They had not only died unto sin, but unto all natural relations. Death levels all distinctions!

But that is only negative; the apostle goes further and brings in the positive side: “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” (2 Corinthians 5:15). “That they which live” does not here signify those quickened into newness of life by the Spirit, but those who lived legally when their Representative came forth from the tomb. It is premier “life” which is in view—that life which the Law awards unto those who have fulfilled all its requirements. It is the legal oneness of Christ and His Church on resurrection-ground. Having borne the curse, they are dead in law; living now through Christ’s resurrection, they cannot but “live unto him” (Luke 20:38), because judicially, they are one with Him. His resurrection was as vicarious as His death, and the same individuals were the objects of both. The pertinency of this reasoning, this blessed truth and fact to the apostle’s case should at once be apparent. Christ’s own relation to Judaism terminated at His death, and when He came forth from the grave, it was onto resurrection—entirely new—ground; and thus it is with all those He legally represented.

What has just been pointed out above is made yet clearer in 2 Corinthians 5:16, where the apostle shows the conclusion which must be drawn from what he had just proved: “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yes, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him [so] no more.” To know a man after the flesh is to own him according to his natural state, his racial distinction. To know Christ “after the flesh” was to approve Him as the “seed of David” (Romans 1:3), the Jewish Messiah. But the death of Christ annulled such relations: His resurrection brought Him a new and higher relationship.

Therefore, in the exercise of his ministry, Paul showed no respect to a man merely because he was a Jew, nor did he esteem Christ on account of His being the Son of David—rather did he adore Him as being the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike. Thus, the sinful partiality of those who were seeking to Judaize the Corinthian saints was conclusively exposed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states the grand conclusion to be drawn from what has been established in the context.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Familiar as are those words, simple and plain as their meaning appears to be; yet like almost every verse in the Epistles, this one can only be rightly understood by ascertaining its connection with the context. Nay, we go further: Unless this verse be interpreted in strict accord with its setting, we are certain to err in our apprehension of it. The very fact that it is introduced with “therefore” shows it is inseparably connected with what goes before, that it introduces an inference, or draws a conclusion therefrom; and if we ignore it, we reject the key which alone will open its contents. In our last, we took up the preceding verses, though we by no means attempted to give a full exposition of the same. Our design was simply to supply a sufficient explanation of their terms, as would enable the reader to perceive the apostle’s drift. That required us to point out the general conditions prevailing in the Corinthian assembly (so that it might appear why Paul wrote to them as he did), and then to indicate the trend of what he said in chapters 3 and 4.

In 2 Corinthians 5:12, the apostle tells them, “For we commend not ourselves again unto you [see 2 Corinthians 3:1-2], but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.” Those who gloried in appearance were the Judaizers, who boasted of their lineage from Abraham and of belonging to the Circumcision. In what follows, Paul furnishes his converts with arguments which the false teachers could not answer, employing language which set aside the exclusivism of Judaism. First, he pointed out that “if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). That thrice repeated “all” emphasized the international scope of Christ’s federal work: He died as truly on the behalf and in the stead of God’s elect among the Gentiles as for the elect Jews, and as verse 15 goes on to show, the one benefits therefrom as much as do the other. The cross of Christ effected and introduced a great change in the kingdom of God. Whatever peculiar position of honor the Jews had previously occupied, whatever special privileges had been theirs under the Mosaic economy, they obtained no longer. The glorious inheritance which Christ purchased was to be the portion of all for whom He endured the curse, and of all for whom He earned the reward of the Law.

Next, the apostle showed the logical inferences which must be drawn forth from what he had established in verses 14-15.

First, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yes, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him [so] no more” (2 Corinthians 5:16). Notice first the words which we have placed in italics: they are time marks defining the revolutionary transition, calling attention to the great dispensational change, which the redemptive work of Christ had produced. That change consisted of the complete setting aside of the old order of things, which had held sway during the fifteen centuries preceding, under which a fleshly relation had predominated. Christ had ushered in an order of things, wherein such distinctions, as Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female, had no virtue and conferred no special privilege. For one who had been redeemed, it mattered nothing whether his brethren and sisters in Christ were formerly members of the Jewish nation or aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. He knew or esteemed no man according to his natural descent. The true Circumcision are they “which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh”—or their genealogy (Philippians 3:3).

Not only had the death and resurrection of Christ resulted in the setting aside of Judaism—which was based upon a fleshly descent from Abraham, and whose privileges could only be enjoyed by those bearing in their bodies the covenant sign of circumcision (Judaism being displaced by Christianity, which is based upon a spiritual relation to Christ, the privileges of which are enjoyed by those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the sign and seal of the new covenant)—but Christ Himself is now known or esteemed after a different and higher manner. It was as their promised Messiah He had appeared unto the Jews, and it was as such His disciples had believed on Him (Luke 24:21; John 1:41, 45).

Accordingly, He had bidden His apostles, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter you not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6)—contrast Matthew 28:19 after His resurrection! So far from knowing Christ as the Jewish Messiah, they worship Him as exalted above all principality and power. “Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision” (Romans 15:8), but He is now seated “on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the [heavenly] sanctuary” (Hebrews 8:1-2).

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the apostle draws a further conclusion from what he had stated in verse 15: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”—yes, “any man,” be he a Jew or Gentile. Before we can ascertain the force of “a new creature,” we have to carefully weigh the opening word, for its absence or presence entirely changes the character of the sentence: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” is a simple statement of fact, but “therefore if” is a conclusion drawn from something preceding. That one consideration should be sufficient to show our verse is not treating of regeneration, for if it signified “any person who is vitally united to Christ has been born again,” the “therefore” would be entirely superfluous—he either is or he is not a spiritually-quickened soul, and no reasoning, no inference can alter the fact. Or is there anything in the context from which regeneration can be deduced, for the apostle is not treating of the gift and operations of the Spirit, but of the judicial consequences of Christ’s federal work. Instead of describing Christian experience in this 17th verse, Paul is stating one of the legal effects which necessarily results from what Christ did for His people.

In 2 Corinthians 5:13 and 14, Christ is set forth as the federal Head of His Church, first in death, then in resurrection. From that doctrinal statement of fact, a twofold inference is pointed. First and negatively (2 Corinthians 5:16), those whom Christ represented died in Him to their old status or natural standing, so that henceforth, they are no longer influenced by fleshly relationships.

Second and positively (2 Corinthians 5:17), those whom Christ represented rose in Him and were inducted into a new status or spiritual standing. Christ was transacting as the Covenant Head of His people, and He rose as the Head of the new creation (as Adam was the head of the old); and therefore, if I be federally in a risen Christ, I must legally be “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15), having judicially

“passed from death unto life” (John 5:24; 1 John 3:14). As Romans 8:1 declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”—and why? Because being legally one with Him, they died in Him. In like manner, they are therefore new creatures in Christ—and why? Because being legally one with Him, they rose in Him: “Who is the beginning [that is of the new creation—compare Rev 3:14], the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18). Judicially, they are “risen with Christ” (Colossians 3:1).

Not only does the context and its opening, “therefore” preclude us from regarding 2 Corinthians 5:17 as describing what takes place in a soul at regeneration, but the contents of the verse itself forbid such an interpretation. It is indeed true that such a miracle of grace effects a most blessed transformation in the one who is the subject of it, yet not such as comes up to the terms here used. What is the principal thing which affects the character and conduct of a person before he is born again? Is it not “the flesh?” Beyond dispute it is. Equally indubitable is it that the old nature does not “pass away” when God quickens a spiritually dead soul. It is also true that regeneration is an entrance upon a new life, yet it certainly is not the case that “all things are become new,” for he receives neither a new memory nor a new body. If verse 17 be describing some aspect of Christian experience, then it is glorification, for most assuredly its language does not suit regeneration.

“And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us [the ministers of the new covenant—2 Corinthians 3:6] the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). This also is quite against the popular interpretation of the foregoing. Let it be duly noted that verse 18 opens with “And,” which indicates it continues the same line of thought. “All [‘the’—Greek] things” which are of God refer not to the universe as proceeding from Him, nor to His providential agency by which all events are controlled, but rather to those particular things spoken of from verse 13 onwards: All that Christ accomplished—the great dispensational change which has resulted from His death and resurrection, the preaching of the ministers of the new covenant—have God for their Author. The outcome of what Christ did is that those for whom He transacted are “reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20); and reconciliation, be it particularly noted, is like justification—entirely objective, and not subjective as is regeneration! Reconciliation is—as we have fully demonstrated in our articles on that doctrine—wholly a matter of relationship: God’s laying aside His wrath and being at peace with us. “And has given to us [His ambassadors] the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world [‘a world’—Greek] unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). From there to the end of 2 Corinthians 6:10, the apostle informs us what this “ministry” consisted of. First, it was that God “was in Christ, reconciling” not merely an apostate Judaism, but an alienated “world”—that is, the whole election of grace, the “all” of 2 Corinthians 5:14 and 15.

Then he states the negative side of “reconciliation”—namely, “not imputing their trespasses unto them,” which again brings in the legal side of things. The positive side of reconciliation is given in verse 21: “That we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” which is entirely objective and judicial, and in no sense subjective and experimental. How vastly different is that than if he had said, “reconciling a world unto Himself, imparting unto them a new nature” or “subduing their iniquities!” It is not what God works in His people, but what by Christ He has done for them, that the whole passage treats of.

Turning back again to verse 17, “Therefore:” In view of what has been established in the preceding verses, it necessarily follows that—”if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”—he has a new standing before God; being representatively one with Christ, he has been brought onto resurrection ground, he is a member of that new creation of which Christ is the federal Head; and consequently, he is under an entirely new Covenant. This is the grand and incontrovertible conclusion which must be drawn: The “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The natural and national distinctions which obtained under the old covenant find no place on resurrection ground: They were connected with the flesh; whereas, the relationship which obtains, and the privileges which are enjoyed under the new covenant are entirely spiritual. Once that was clearly apprehended and laid hold of by faith, it rendered nugatory the contentions of the Judaizers.

It is by no means easy for us at this late date to conceive of what that revolutionary transaction from Judaism to Christianity involved, to Jew and Gentile alike. It was the greatest change this world has ever witnessed. For fifteen centuries, God’s kingdom on earth had been confined unto one favored nation, during which time all others had been left to walk in their own ways. The gulf which divided Judaism from Paganism was far more real and very much wider than that which exists between Romanism and orthodox Christianity. The divisive spirit between Jew and Gentile was more intense than that which obtains between the several castes in India. But at the Cross, the Mosaic economy “passed away,” the middle wall of petition was broken down; and upon Christ’s resurrection, the “Go not into the way of the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:5) gave place to “Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Fleshly relationships which had so markedly characterized Judaism, now gave place to spiritual ones; yet it was only with the greatest difficulty that converted Jews could be brought to realize that fact; and much in the New Testament is devoted unto a proving of the same.

The principal design of the entire epistle to the Hebrews was to demonstrate that “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)! In it, the apostle makes it manifest that the “old covenant” which Jehovah had entered into with Israel, at Sinai, with all its ordinances of worship and the peculiar privileges connected therewith, was disannulled, that it was superseded by a new and better economy. Therein, it is declared that Christ has “obtained a more excellent ministry” in proportion to His being “the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6); and after quoting from Jeremiah 31, where the new covenant was announced, pointed out that the former one “which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). The transcendent superiority of the new above the old is brought out in many details: The former was but temporary, the latter is eternal; the one contained only the shadow of good things to come, the latter the substance. The Aaronic priesthood has been displaced by Christ’s—an earthly inheritance by an heavenly. The blessed contrast between them is set forth most fully in Hebrews 12:18-24.

Not only did the converted Jews find it difficult to adjust themselves to the great change produced by the new covenant displacing the old, but unconverted Jews caused much trouble in the Christian assemblies, insisting that their descent from Abraham conferred special privileges upon them, and that Gentiles could only participate in them by being circumcised and becoming subject to the ceremonial law. Not a little in Paul’s epistles is devoted to a refutation of such errors. That the Corinthians were being harassed by such Judaizers, we have already shown—further evidence is supplied by 2 Corinthians 11:18, where the apostle refers to “many glory after the flesh”—that is their natural lineage.

But all ground had been cut from under their feet by what he had declared in 2 Corinthians 3 and his unanswerable argument in 2 Corinthians 5:13-18. Christ’s death and resurrection had caused “old things” to pass away: The old covenant, the Mosaic economy, Judaism, was no more. “All things are become new:” A new covenant, Christianity—with better relationships and privileges, a superior standing before God, different ordinances of worship—had been introduced.

The same is true of the epistle to the Galatians, wherein there are many parallels to what has been before us in Corinthians. The churches of Galatia were also troubled by teachers of error, who were seeking to Judaise them, and Paul uses much the same method in exposing their sophistries. “There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . bond nor free . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28) is an echo of “henceforth know we no man after the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16). In several respects, the contents of Galatians 4:21-31 are similar to what is found in 2 Corinthians 3—for in both, the two covenants are contrasted; and in Galatians 4, under the allegory of Hagar and Sarah and their sons, the superiority of the latter is shown. “You that desire to be under the law” (Galatians 4:21) means under the old covenant. “Born after the flesh” in verse 23 signifies according to nature, “by promise” equals supernaturally.

“These are” means that “represent the two covenants” (Galatians 4:24). “Cast out the bondwoman and her son” of verse 30 has the force of act, in accordance with the fact that the old things are “passed away;” while the “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (the only other place in the New Testament that expression occurs!!) of Galatians 6:15 is enforcing the same truth as 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Once the meaning of 2 Corinthians 5:16 be perceived, there is no place for any dispute as to the signification of what immediately follows. In the light of 2 Corinthians 5:12; 10:7; 11:18, it is unmistakably clear that the apostle was dissuading the Corinthian saints from a carnal and sinful partiality, namely, of regarding men according to “outward appearance,” or fleshly descent; bidding them to esteem their brethren by their relation to Christ and not to Abraham, and to view Christ Himself not as “a minister of the circumcision” (Romans 15:8), but as “the mediator of a better covenant” (Hebrews 8:6) who has made “all things . . . become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old covenant was made with one nation only; the new covenant, with believers of all nations. Its sacrifices made nothing perfect; our Sacrifice has perfected us forever (Hebrews 10:1, 14). Circumcision was for the natural seed of Jacob; baptism is for the spiritual children of Christ. Only the Levites were permitted to enter the holy place, all the children of God have the right of immediate access to Him. The seventh day was the Sabbath under the Siniatic constitution; the first day celebrates the order of things introduced by a risen Christ. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!”