In 2 Corinthians 5:15 Paul says that the Lord Jesus “died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him.” Worldly people live to themselves. But the love of Christ constrains us to live to Him and not to ourselves. To live to ourselves means that we are under our own control, direction, and governing and that we care for our own aims and goals. This is to live not only for ourselves but also to live to ourselves, taking the self as the goal of our living. But the apostles had the single ambition of pleasing the Lord by living to Him. They were absolutely under the Lord. They were under His direction, control, and governing. Everything they did was to fulfill the Lord’s purpose and desire. As such persons, they did not live to themselves but to the Lord.
Paul did not live to himself but to his Master, Christ. He was very different from the rabbis who lived to the law and did everything with a view to the law. Paul’s only aim was to please his Master. Paul sought to please the Lord not by doing a work but by living to Him in every aspect of his daily life. Likewise, we should not seek to please ourselves, but seek to please the Lord by living to Him. All that we do must be to Him. Since we are to the Lord, our time and money are also to Him. Nothing is to ourselves, because none of us lives to himself but to Him.
We live to Christ, not to ourselves, because “the love of Christ constrains us” (2 Cor. 5:14). The love of Christ here is the love which was manifested on the cross through His death for us. This love constrains us.
The Greek word rendered “constrains” in 5:14 literally means presses on from all sides, holding to one end, forcibly limiting, confining to one object within certain bounds, shutting up to one line and purpose, as in a narrow, walled road. In such a way the apostles were constrained by the love of Christ to live to Him. Today we also are constrained by Christ’s love toward us. This love surely limits us, confines us to a narrow way, toward the unique goal-Christ Himself. We need to be impressed with the fact that to be constrained by the love of Christ means to be pressed by it from all sides and held by it to one end. When we are thus constrained, we are limited, as if walking on a narrow, walled road, and we are forced to go in a certain direction. Although we love the Lord Jesus, we are not always willing to take His way. Without being walled in by Him, we probably would have escaped from Him. But the love of Christ constrains us; it presses us from every side and holds us to one goal. We have no other way. There is no other way for us to take. Actually, this is not our choice. If the choice had truly been ours, we would probably be somewhere else today. No, it is not up to us to make the choice; it is the love of Christ that constrains us. We are constrained by the Lord’s love to live to Him.
In ourselves and by our natural life we are not able to live to the Lord. It is only in the resurrection of Christ, which is an issue of His death, that we are able to live to Him. Christ died on behalf of all so that we may no longer live to ourselves but to Him. Christ’s death, therefore, causes us, through His resurrection, to live to Him, not to ourselves.
When we are constrained, restricted, by the Lord’s love, we remain in His death. Actually, to be restricted in this way is to stay in His death. Christ’s death always issues in resurrection, and His resurrection life becomes our portion. Therefore, to be constrained by the love of Christ is to remain in His death, and remaining in the Lord’s death issues in the enjoyment of His resurrection. Then in the resurrection of Christ as an issue of His death we live to Him.
The believers’ living to Christ proves that they are the Lord’s and that Christ is their Lord who died to purchase them to Himself. Our living to the Lord is a declaration, a proclamation, that we belong to Him and thus live to Him as our goal. It is also a testimony that Christ is our Lord who died to purchase us to Himself (Rev. 5:9). As those who are the Lord’s, we are not living to our enjoyment, career, or future. Instead of caring for these things, we care only for Christ. He is our owner, for He paid the highest price- the price of His precious blood-to purchase us. Now that we belong to Him, in our living we take Him as our unique goal. We belong to Him, and we live to Him.
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