2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: We instantly feel that these words express the secret power by which the great deeds of Paul's life were done. But if We connect them with ver. 13 we see that his common acts and judgments were moulded by the same power. Note — I. THE POWER OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 1. Paul meant Christ's love to him, not his love to Christ. Many Christian men endeavour to work from their own feelings of consecration to the Lord; hence their energy is fitful, and depends upon excitements. The word "constrain" expresses the contrary of this. It suggests not an emotion in a man, but a power, not his, acting on him — an atmosphere surrounding his spirit, and pressing on it on every side. A feeling we possess is ever feeble and liable to change; a feeling possessing us is strong and enduring. This love, surrounding and resting on a man, takes him out of himself, and becomes a permanent influence. 2. It was the love of the living Christ in the present. "Who died and rose again" — "not knowing Christ after the flesh." The love shown on the Cross was not a transient manifestation, but an eternal revelation of the Christ as He is. 3. How this Jove constrains. Compare with our text Galatians 2:20. Here are two elements — (1) Personal sympathy — "who loved me." This is one of the mightiest forces in the world. Through all laws a man may break, but let a criminal once realise that there is some one who feels for him, and you gain a power over him which he cannot resist. Rise now one step — to the consciousness of having the sympathy of a greater soul than ours. Rise yet one step higher — a mighty step — to the love of Christ. The first beam of that love reveals the deadness and coldness of the past; and when the thought enters the man's heart, that amid all his coldness Christ cared for him, then the constraining power begins. (2) The infinite sacrifice: "He died for all." Under the power of this belief, all that tempts us to live for ourselves is instantly swept away. We may hear voices telling us of glory, of gain, and power; but we know that for us He left His throne, and then we are content, for Him, to live unnoticed and unknown. We are allured by the fascinations of pleasure — but we remember that for us He bore pain, and those fascinations fall shattered to the ground. We shrink back instinctively from hardships — but we measure our sacrifice with His, and then we accept it with calm and holy joy. II. HOW THIS CONSTRAINING POWER MANIFESTS ITSELF IN EARNESTNESS OF LIFE. There are three sources of the power that chains us in coldness and cramps our energy: — the monotony of our earthly labour; the depth of our spiritual infirmity; the feebleness of our vision into the everlasting. Now, this constraining love would remove them all. 1. It would consecrate our earthly work. No man can always be acting consciously under the power of Christ's love; but a memory of the Cross may unconsciously hallow our life. Is it not possible to accept life's daily tasks as God's discipline, and accept them patiently, because Christ loves us? Is it not possible to fulfil life's common duties right earnestly because Christ died for us? 2. It would strengthen our spiritual infirmity. Trifles exhaust our energy; great forces seem to deaden it; great fears perplex our trust. But if we heard the voice "I loved thee," would not that be like a clarion-call to summon us to heroic effort? Would it not clothe us in celestial power? 3. It would link us with the everlasting world. That love breaks down the barrier between the visible and the invisible worlds. Heaven is no idle dream of happiness, but a present fact; for the Christian's heaven is to be with and to be like the Saviour. III. THE WAY IN WHICH THE CONSTRAINING POWER OF THIS LOVE MAY BE REALISED. 1. Prayerful meditation. In lonely hours, when the voice of the world is still, that love comes near. Pray on until it flashes across the horizon of your soul, and baptizes you in its glory. 2. Carry into action its first impulses. Avoid all that opposes them... It is dangerous to enter any path of action on which the Cross-light does not gleam. (E. L. Hull, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: |
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