The resurrection rocked the cosmos, offering new life to all of humanity.
Just as the beloved Lazarus has been resurrected into new life, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior we are no longer the same person we used to be. We are made new in Christ and our old self is gone. We are no longer slaves to sin but are free to live a new life for Christ.
Our passage is situated in Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, which was a wealthy, cosmopolitan city and ancient Greece known for commerce and trade. It was also a center for the worship of Aphrodite and sexual immorality was prevalent in the city that at this time was under the Roman Empire. Paul is addressing some issues in the church at the time. First there were false teachers challenging Paul’s authority as a legitimate apostle. They were introducing an “alt gospel” that emphasized intellectualism and rhetoric.
Paul fights this by pointing towards his own suffering and the immense power that is found at the cross for salvation even– and maybe especially–for the weak and the foolish. Secondly, there were divisions and conflicts within the church which reflected the cultural context of factionalism and social caste. Paul urges the church to set these aside and pursue reconciliation. Finally, Paul uses the idea of new creation along with the concept of citizenship to accentuate the new society in Christ as summa exemplar. In Roman society, citizenship was highly value and conveyed many rights and privileges. Paul uses the language of citizenship in Second Corinthians to describe the status of believers in Christ. He says that believers are citizens of the new kingdom with a new identity and new set of values.
If we zoom out, the Bible is the greatest love story ever told. It’s a story of God’s plan to renew and restore the whole creation, not simply individual, isolated souls.
As a church, we participate in this renewal of ourselves, reach other, our communities and our world.
— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, May 21, 2023