If HE Died For All, All Have Died!

Hello! and happy TGIF to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" this Friday:

THE GOOD NEWS (22 July 2016)

"Indeed the love of CHRIST holds us and we realize that if HE died for all, all have died.  HE died for all so that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for HIM who died and rose again for them.  And so from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew CHRIST personally, we should now regard HIM in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in CHRIST is a new creature.  For him the old things have passed away; a new world has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 

(There are many ways of understanding faith: for each one of us, one or other aspect of Christian life makes more of an impact.  What Paul sees in CHRIST is the great messenger and artisan of reconciliation.

His first conviction is that, with the death of CHRIST, a new age has begun for divided humanity.  If HE died for all, all have died, namely, the whole history and wisdom of people before HIM have been surpassed and now GOD works among us in other ways.

We do not regard anyone from the human point of view.  Paul confides something of his affective life.  Those around him love him, even if they make difficulties for him, and in the Church each one has his friends, those on whom he may count.  Paul loves them, but doubtless not all in the same way. To begin with, he accepts persons with different criteria and is not guided [as are many Corinthians] by the appearance of the fine speakers.  And his affectivity has been renewed in the measure that he has been possessed by CHRIST: he loves them as GOD loves them and as GOD would like them to be.

Even if we once knew CHRIST personally... [Paul says: "If we have known HIM in the flesh" or, as HE was in HIS humanity.]  He no longer sees CHRIST as a Galilean preacher, enclosed in the context of Jewish life, but rather dominating history.  Without a doubt he is also alluding to certain adversaries who consider themselves superior to him because they have known JESUS or belong to HIS family.  He says to them: "we must" [which means: you must] see HIM differently: do not see HIM as your cousin!

The one who is in CHRIST is a new creature: first because the barriers that divide and separate people no longer exist [see Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 2:14-16].  Also because it is not human desires that guide him, but the spirit of GOD who recreates him at every instant [Galatians 5:13-21].)

The Spirit Of GOD

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