What Is True Of Jesus Is True For His People

May 2, 2013           2 Corinthians 1: 3-7

What Is True Of Jesus Is True For His People

In the Apostle Paul’s prayer in 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7, he uses the word comfort, in one form or another, ten times. Ten times in five verses. In using this word, Paul does not mean comfort like someone giving you a hug and assuring you that they care for you. He means so much more. He means a comfort that meets you where you are and then raises you up to where you can see new hope, new possibilities, and a new way to move forward. This is the comfort of God for us when we are suffering. This comfort from God is so real that once you have experienced it, you can actually share God’s comfort with other people. In this brief passage, Paul reveals the essence of our Life in Christ: What is true of Jesus is true for His people. What was true for Jesus is that he was comforted by God. Jesus’ people can also experience the comfort of God. What was true for Jesus is that he comforted and healed others. Jesus’ people can share the comfort and healing of God with others.

Noted theologian and scholar Bishop N.T. Wright says that at the heart of the gospel proclaimed by the Apostle Paul is the fact that “what is true for the Messiah is true of his people.” For Paul this was not just a powerful thought or belief, but a fact of experience. Wright explains this truth this way: “the Messiah died, so his people die in him, sharing his suffering; the Messiah rose again, so his people rise again in him, knowing the power of the resurrection to comfort and heal, already in present time, and cherishing the hope that one day they will be given new, resurrection bodies like the one the Messiah himself has now” (Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone 2 Corinthians (London, SPCK) p.4).

Once again I’ll paraphrase Brennan Manning: Do you honestly believe that what is true of Jesus is true for his people? If you could answer, "Yes and Amen," there would come a relaxedness, a serenity and a compassionate attitude toward yourself that is a reflection of God’s own tenderness.

Sē’lah

  

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.