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"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that One die for all,
therefore all died; and He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto
themselves, but unto Him Who for their sakes died and rose again" (5: 14, 15 R.V.).
The Greek sunecho constrain, is used in Luke 12: 50 of the compulsion the Lord
Jesus felt as He looked forward to the completion of His earthly work on the cross:
"I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened (R.S.V. constrained)
till it be accomplished."
Weymouth beautifully renders it `overmasters us'. The overwhelming love of Christ
Who gave His all for His people was so powerful an influence on the Apostle that he
gladly gave himself in service for others, the only adequate way of expressing his love in
return. We believe this is the only acceptable motive for Christian service. Do we do
this because it appeals to us, or because we have been asked to do it, or perhaps because
we want to please others? Not one of these motives is adequate. We should be able to
say truthfully that we serve Him because we love Him. It is the only practical thing that
we can do in response to His love for us which passeth knowledge' (Eph. 3: 19).
No.6.
5: 14 - 6: 18.
pp. 141 - 146
Having stressed the love of Christ as the great motive for Christian service, the
Apostle Paul continues:
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that One died for all,
therefore all died; and He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto
themselves, but unto Him Who for their sakes died and rose again" (5: 14, 15 R.V.).
The Lord Jesus has died as the representative of all His people and therefore by
identification, all of them are reckoned to have died in the Person of their Representative.
The second all has the article (hoi pantes) which shows that the reference is to the all for
whom One has died. Just as the disobedience of Adam brought death and ruin to the old
creation, so the life-giving death of the `last Adam' brings a new existence, a new
creation, so that those who live, (having died and risen with Christ) now belong to this
new order and for them the old creation with its worldly standards has for ever passed
away. The estimation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and the estimation concerning
other men has completely changed:
"Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more. Wherefore if any man is in
Christ, he is a new creation (R.V. margin): the old things are passed away; behold, they
are become new" (5: 16, 17 R.V.).
Paul is contrasting the standards and estimation of the old creation of unregeneracy
with the entire new mental outlook of one who is truly saved and therefore can be