DRAFT ONLY

Introduction
      In the section, 5:11-6:10, Paul speaks on the subject of "the ministry of reconciliation". These two verses form part of that wider section.

The passage
      v14. The compelling motivating force in the Christian life, is Christ's love, a love which is demonstrated in his atoning sacrifice for mankind. Christ's love drives us to live the Christian life. It is the motivating force which controls our ethical behaviour.
      This passage forces us to define the meaning of "Christ's love". The popular view is to see "Christ's love" in the terms of his act of love on the cross, his example. We then argue that the depth of his sacrifice on our behalf, with all the attendant blessings which are now ours in Christ, has the power to motivate us to love in return. That is, his sacrifice on our behalf fires our ethical behaviour. We focus, not so much on his example, but on the achievement of the cross. That is, his death serves as an atonement for sin. Thus, no longer under condemnation, we are now free to live a righteous life. Christ's act of love enables us to love in return, it releases us for service.
      A less popular view, and yet one which I think has greater merit, is to view "Christ's love" in the terms of his nature of love, which nature is being shaped in our lives through the indwelling Spirit of Christ. The character of Christ, best defined in the word "love", is being daily imaged in our life as we "walk by the Spirit". It is that renewing work of the person of the Holy Spirit which compels us, for we then begin to love as Christ loves.
      Of course, Paul may have in mind the whole package:
          We are "in Christ". In the death of Christ, which death exhibits perfect love, we are freed to serve our living God. No longer under condemnation, but now obedient sons, on the basis of Jesus death on our behalf.
          Christ is "in us". In the resurrection of Christ we are made alive. Christ is in us, that is, his compelling nature of love is renewing and shaping us into the person we are already in him.
      This love drives/compels us to respond in two ways, v13:
          First, we are driven to live selflessly "for the sake of God". "When men love God, that is the immediate reflection of the love which streams down from heaven upon the elect." Stauffer.
            Second we are compelled to live "for you", for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
      Paul says he knows that Christ's love compels us forward in the Christian life because he is "convinced" of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. This is indeed the theological gist of what follows.
      In trying to understand the phrase, "therefore all died" v14, we need to understand that behind this verse lies the full force of the doctrine of the atonement. This doctrine is central to our passage and to a proper understanding of God's supreme act of love in the atonement. Athanasius puts it this way. "Because we all were liable to the corruption of death, He surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father. This He did out of sheer love for us, so that, as all died in Him, the law relating to the corruption of men might be abolished". Tasker, commenting on the verse, says this. "Christ's death was the death of all, in the sense that He died the death they should have died; the penalty of their sins was borne by Him: He died in their place." Strachan on the same verse says, "Christ bore a doom that should have been ours." And finally Denney writes, Christ "is a person doing a service by filling our place and dying our death."
      The theology of our identification with Christ in his death is fully dealt with by Paul in Romans 5:12-21, 6:1-11. The point is that there is a consequential involvement of mankind in the activities of both Adam and Christ. With Adam, his act of sinfulness associates us in his rebellion and thus leads to our death. With Christ, his act of righteousness (his death on our behalf) associates us in his death (we die with him) and thus leads to our life. So, one dies for all, and those who associate themselves in that death die to sin ("therefore all died"). The sting of death, with its condemnation in the sight of God, no longer hangs over those who have associated themselves with Christ, for those who die with him, live with him. Don't be thrown by the "all". Christ dies for all of God's children, for all the elect. He dies for all those who seek to know God and be with him for eternity. Similarly with the "all" who have died. They are the ones who have come to Christ.
      v15. There are two implications that flow from this doctrine of Christ's atoning death on our behalf, both of which are implicit in v14:
          First, Christ dies and rises for me and in so doing meets the demands of God's justice on my behalf. ie. He secures my justification.
          Second, my death and rising with him means I reckon myself dead to sin and alive to God. ie. He assures my sanctification. It is this second implication that Paul touches on in v15. His death for me enables me to live, no longer in this old self-life, but in a new life lived for the one who rose to life. Paul spells this out with even more force in Galatians 2:20. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." As the Book of Common Prayer puts it, we pray for the person being baptized that they "die to sin and rise again to righteousness". Christ's love compels us to live, no longer for ourselves, but for him who died for us.
      That Christ's death achieves all that it promises, is guaranteed for us in his resurrection. Without resurrection there is no life. A dead saviour is a useless saviour. So Paul spells it out with, "and was raised again".

A driven people
      I suppose there are many things that motivate our behaviour. I remember many years ago a young couple telling me that the one thing they were sure of in their Christian life, was the guidance they had received from the Lord regarding their marriage to each other. They really knew that He wanted them to be married. Now there are times when Jesus opens a clear path before us, but in their case I am sure it was more hormones than guidance.
      In truth, we are driven creatures. Our mating instincts drive us to get married. Our territorial instincts drive us to acquire our first home and decorate it. Our survival instincts drive us to seek security in a profession and to raise our children with a strong desire for academic success. We are driven to increase our capital base, to take out superannuation and insurance (assurance). We are driven to identify ourselves in our possessions and so reassure our existence and worth. We are flesh and blood.
      Now there is no problem with any of that. God made us this way and just because we are his children does not mean that we are to be "other worldly". To be protected from the Evil One, yes, to be taken from the world, no. The danger lies in trying to gain the whole world at the loss of our real self. There is no danger in living in it. So like the rest of humanity we move through life touched by the same needs and desires as is common to the species. No! driven we are.
      The issue before us is not how those drives might be suppressed, but rather how they might be sanctified, made holy, given an eternal shape. Is there some compelling force that will sanctify the drives of the flesh and so shape our life energies toward a greater goal? The answer is, of course, yes. And it is this, a sure conviction that one died for all and therefore all died, v14. First and foremost we must be convinced of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith.
      I like Paul's words in the passage before us - "We are convinced". He understands fully the implications of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. He understands (he is "convinced") of two interlocking truths:
          First.... Christ died and rose again for us. Because of his death and resurrection on my behalf, I no longer stand condemned in the sight of God. As far as God is concerned, it's "just as if I'd" never sinned. Christ has suffered in my place, bearing my punishment, and freeing me from condemnation.
          Second... We die and rise with Christ. Our old life dies with him on the cross. We are no longer subject to the power of sin. And our new life, empowered, renewed by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, begins to take shape in us. He now lives in us, daily renewing us.
      The Apostle Paul is convinced that the power of sin is broken. Sin is no longer in control over our daily living. It can be revived, particularly if we place ourselves again under the law. Yet it is broken, it is dead. And he is convinced that the renewing power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ has taken residence in our beings and is beginning to shape us into the image of Christ.
      He is convinced that by grace through faith we are righteous in the sight of God and are being made righteous, day by day. He is convinced of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith.
      Paul is "convinced" of this truth, and its reality "compels" his right living. He lives that truth and in so doing, the truth breathes life into his being. It "compels" him. The indwelling nature of the living God, his character of love, "Christ's love", is daily at work within the life of a believer. This nature of love, so foreign to us, is shaping us, driving us, "constraining" us, "compelling" us. His life giving resurrection power, his indewlling character of love, is compelling us to live as he lived, to love as he loves.
      The nature of Christ's character of love compels us, as Paul put it in verse 13, to live "for the sake of God", and to live "for you", to live for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. This truth drives us to direct our energy more to the pleasing of God than self, more to the care of the brotherhood than self. It sanctifies the drives of the flesh. It sanctifies hormones.
      Let me illustrate. Within any close relationship between the sexes, there will always be a sensual element. It is very easy to feed the hormones, to promote the senses, and to move into adultery. But here's the rub, to deny or suppress the sensual self, to strive for "victory" over our sensual bonding feelings, to see them as evil and something to be opposed by an effort of the will; also effectively promotes them and gives them an undue dominance in our life. Sensual bonding feelings will always be there, but they can be daily sanctified, reshaped, redirected, reformed; into brotherly love. How can this be? By grace through faith. The compelling character of Christ's love will daily shape us into the image of Christ, and this a work of God's grace appropriated by faith.
      So be convinced about what Jesus has done for you and so be changed.