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2 Corinthians 6
 1As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2For he says,
   ”In the time of my favor I heard you,
      and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul’s opening for 2 Cor. 6 is interesting.  He has just finished writing 2 Cor. 5, explaining to the Corinthians that the only distance they have from God is Christ.  Whatever distance they have, Christ spans it. He is now their “distance” from God… literally their “sin”.  Truly such a connection to God is by grace, because one could never accomplish it on our …

“If Young Earth Creationists are out of their mind, it is for the sake of God; if Old Earth Creationists are in their right mind, it is for you.” — 2 Corinthians 5:13

Okay, I’m kidding.  People who believe in a young earth are not insane, but they are out of their mind… in the way 2 Corinthians 5:13 says.  Oh wait.  That isn’t really 2 Corinthians 5:13, is it?  Sorry about that.  Couldn’t resist.  As much as I emphasize that YECs have admirable faith and should not be converted to being Evolutionists at the cost of their faith and fellowship, the very tension of the Creation debate sometimes finds its release in potentially offensive jokes.  So for that, I apologize.  …

Chapter 5 is interesting.  In verses 1 to 5 about how our body clothes us in this world, yet we fear being unclothed.  That fear began with Adam and Eve, and we still have it!  Well, Paul says, our home in Heaven will keep us clothed forever, so look forward to it!  Yet, our desire for remaining clothed is so great, that we tend to cling to what we have on earth.  It’s the human condition, clinging to this fleeting life, to fulfill the need Heaven was made to fulfill.

And so, as Paul says in verse 6 to 10, given how “at home” we feel here, if that is going to be our perspective, then we must make up our …

9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
The ministry that condemns refers to the Law of Moses, which outlines consequences for disobedience.
Where there is Law there is disobedience.
Where there is faith in Christ, there is obedience.  
Though both come with their own set of rules, there is a higher set of rules within which both sets operate.
Believe God and He will account it to you as righteousness
With righteousness, you can obey God
The difference is perspective.  The Law requires believing God and makes one fearful to disobey; faith in Christ requires believing God, and makes one capable of obedience.

In both cases, we are obedient on some counts, and disobedient on other counts.
In …

30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
We already know that the righteousness we have is really God’s choice to see us as such.  We know that our redemption is through justification, which is another word for Christian righteousness.  Finally, holiness is from God’s choice to fellowship with us.  Notice therefore, that Christ has become our righteousness, holiness, and wisdom… and that, just as is taught in the Old Testament, it is by choice.  He is our wisdom by choice.

Notice also that our justification, our salvation, …

 1Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Verses 1 and 2 are how I feel about a great many people I know, particularly many Jews and even many Christians.  They have what appears to be a relationship with …

 30What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” 

33As it is written:
   ”See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
      and a rock that makes them fall,
   and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Knowing the definitions of righteousness put forth in the Old Testament, this makes perfect sense.  Recalling all the countless times it …

 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  

 11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of …

Recall these verses from Romans 5: ”12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.”  Paul is drawing a distinction between legality and morality.  This is an important distinction for those who lived before the law, because even without a law to break, there was still sin.  There may have been no law upon which to base punishment, but sin was still in the world.  After all, “14 …death reigned from the time of Adam …

As I try and work out the different perspectives on righteousness between the Old and New Testaments, something occurs to me. I read (and wrote on) book after book about how the righteous are saved and the unrighteous are condemned, that the wicked can become righteous and the good can become wicked, and finally it is how you end up without regard to duration that determines whether you go to Heaven.  And the point is made in terms of how well Israel and Judah seek the Lord, how often and to what degree God disperses them, punishes them, or lets them die, and the conditions under which He lovingly returns them to their home, and welcomes them into His house.  …