5:13
Paul and his friends were utterly committed to the gospel, carrying out the mission in a Christlike way, living by godly standards, not worldly ones. Therefore some thought Paul was mad, they couldn't understand what he was doing. In such cases Paul's life was for God, God appreciated it even if the Corinthians did not. If the Corinthians did appreciate it, did think Paul was acting wisely, then they would benefit from Paul's message. We need to be careful not to always judge our lives by "results", otherwise we will find our lives and churches being dictated to by the culture.
5:14
ESV has "the love of Christ controls us". NIV has "Christ's love compels us". We might think this verse is saying our love for Christ compels us, but what it is actually saying is that it is Christ's love that controls us. Paul's "methods" were dictated by Christ. "Christ died for all". Paul could not limit the extent of his ministry, for Christ died for all. Anyone could be saved. "For all have died". The corollary of Christ having died for all is that all needed Christ to die for them, everyone is dead in their sin. We are not preaching a message to a world that is basically doing OK and just needs a nudge in the right direction or a pep up. We are preaching to a world that is dead in sin and in desperate need of Christ, whether it realises it or not.
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