What should we do while we are waiting to be clothed upon with a transfigured body? Verse 9 gives the answer: “Wherefore also we are ambitious, whether at home or away from home, to be well-pleasing to Him.” The word “wherefore” at the beginning of verse 9 establishes the connection of verse 9 with verse 8. Because we are waiting to be clothed with a transfigured body, we are ambitious to please the Lord. Likewise, as we are waiting for the redemption of our body, we are ambitious to be well-pleasing to Him. What Paul says in verses 10 through 13 is related to his ambition to please the Lord.
In verse 14 Paul goes on to say, “For the love of Christ constrains us.” Once again the word “for” indicates a connection, a continuation. We are ambitious to please the Lord, for His love is constraining us. The love of Christ in verse 14 is the love which was manifested on the cross through His death for us.
The Greek word rendered constrains 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. The same Greek word is used in Luke 4:38; 12:50; Acts 18:5; and Philippians 1:23. In such a way the apostles were constrained by the love of Christ to live to Him and to be well-pleasing to Him.
We have seen that to be constrained means to be pressed from all sides and held to one end. When we are constrained, we are limited, as if walking on a narrow, walled road, and forced to go in a certain direction. Although we love the Lord, we are not always willing to take His way. Without being walled in by Him, we probably would have escaped from Christ and the church. 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 all 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.
According to 5:14 and 15, the love of Christ constrains us to live to Him. Verse 15 says, “And He died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him Who died for them and has been raised.” It is difficult to explain what it means to live to Christ, although it is easy to understand what it means to live for Him. Today both in Catholicism and in the denominations, people are doing many things for Christ. However, we may do something for the Lord without doing that thing unto the Lord.
If we consider the context, we shall see that to live to the Lord means to live the kind of life the Lord Jesus lived. In chapter four we see that the apostles experienced the putting to death of Jesus. When we experience the putting to death of Jesus, we can live the kind of life Jesus lived. This is to live to the Lord.
To live to the Lord is to live a crucified life. It is to live in such a way that the outward man is always put to death. The Lord Jesus lived this kind of life, and those who live such a life today are living to the Lord. This understanding of living to the Lord is according to the concept conveyed in chapter four.
Christians often try to live for the Lord according to their own concepts. In a previous message I illustrated this by telling how some southern Chinese forced me to eat the bread they had prepared for me, even though it was not thoroughly cooked and extremely difficult to digest. Although I preferred to eat rice, they insisted that I eat that bread. They prepared that bread for me, but they did not prepare it to me. Likewise, we may do many things for the Lord instead of to the Lord.
What the Lord wants is not that we be so active for Him. He wants us to experience the putting to death of Jesus so that our natural man and our active being may be terminated. Many are active or aggressive for the Lord in a natural way. They do things for Him by their natural aggressiveness. This offends the Lord, and it distracts us from enjoying Him. Therefore, what we need is to be constrained by the Lord’s love simply to live to Him.
If we would live to the Lord, we must deny our outward man. The outward man is the flesh. When we live to Christ, we do not live by our outward man, by our flesh. This means that living to Christ requires that we live by our inward man, by our regenerated spirit.
In verse 16, a continuation of verses 14 and 15, Paul says, “So that we, from now on, know no one according to flesh; even if we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer.” Not to know others according to the flesh means that we do not know them according to the outward man. In the proper church life, the leading ones and the serving ones do not know others according to the outward man. However, among Christians today it is common to know the believers according to the outward man. For example, people may be known according to their profession, position, talents, and capabilities. In the church, on the contrary, we should know others according to the inward man, according to the spirit.
As the continuation of verse 16, verse 17 says, “So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.” What is the new creation? The new creation is a person regenerated with the life of God and living in the inward man, not in the outward man. A person living in the outward man is in the flesh, in the old creation. Therefore, he is old. But the one who lives to the Lord in the inward man is in the new creation.
Now we can see how four important matters are connected. The ambition to please the Lord is connected to the aspiration to have a resurrected body. Living to the Lord is related to being ambitious to please the Lord. If we do not live to the Lord, we cannot please Him. If we would make the Lord happy, we must live to Him. In order to live to the Lord, we must put our natural being to death. Then we shall be able to please Him. If we have such a living, we shall certainly be a new creation, a person living in the spirit, in the inward man. Therefore, the aspiration to have a transfigured body is connected to the ambition to please the Lord, the ambition to please the Lord is connected to living to the Lord, and living to the Lord is connected to being a new creation.