Chapter 5

Once this earthly tent-dwelling of ours has come to an end, God, we are sure, has a solid building waiting for us, a dwelling not made with hands, that will last eternally in heaven.

And indeed, it is for this that we sigh, longing for the shelter of that home which heaven will give us,

if death, when it comes, is to find us sheltered, not defenceless against the winds.

Yes, if we tent-dwellers here go sighing and heavy-hearted, it is not because we would be stripped of something; rather, we would clothe ourselves afresh; our mortal nature must be swallowed up in life.

For this, nothing else, God was preparing us, when he gave us the foretaste of his Spirit.

We take heart, then, continually, since we recognize that our spirits are exiled from the Lord’s presence so long as they are at home in the body,

with faith, instead of a clear view, to guide our steps.

We take heart, I say, and have a mind rather to be exiled from the body, and at home with the Lord;

to that end, at home or in exile, our ambition is to win his favour.

All of us have a scrutiny to undergo before Christ’s judgement-seat, for each to reap what his mortal life has earned, good or ill, according to his deeds.

It is, then, with the fear of the Lord before our minds that we try to win men over by persuasion; God recognizes us for what we are, and so I hope, does your better judgement.

No, we are not trying to recommend ourselves to your favour afresh; we are shewing you how to find material for boasting of us, to those who have so much to boast of outwardly, and nothing inwardly.

Are these wild words? Then take them as addressed to God. Or sober sense? Then take them as addressed to yourselves.

With us, Christ’s love is a compelling motive, and this is the conviction we have reached; if one man died on behalf of all, then all thereby became dead men;

Christ died for us all, so that being alive should no longer mean living with our own life, but with his life who died for us and has risen again;

and therefore, henceforward, we do not think of anybody in a merely human fashion; even if we used to think of Christ in a human fashion, we do so no longer;

it follows, in fact, that when a man becomes a new creature in Christ, his old life has disappeared, everything has become new about him.

This, as always, is God’s doing; it is he who, through Christ, has reconciled us to himself, and allowed us to minister this reconciliation of his to others.

Yes, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, establishing in our hearts his message of reconciliation, instead of holding men to account for their sins.

We are Christ’s ambassadors, then, and God appeals to you through us; we entreat you in Christ’s name, make your peace with God.

Christ never knew sin, and God made him into sin for us, so that in him we might be turned into the holiness of God.