5:15
Jesus did not die only so that we could be forgiven. He died and rose again so that we could live a new life, and the hallmark of that new life is that we do not live for ourselves, but for Christ. This is so important. On the negative side it highlights the error of various parts of the “church”. It shows up the error of the prosperity gospel which essentially presents the gospel as being about us. Yes, it is based on Jesus dying for us, but then is about us living for us. It also shows up the error of the sin-affirming parts of the church that say it is fine to be part of the LGBT agenda. The fact that we have desires for something most definitely is no grounds whatsoever for living according to those desires.
5:16
“We regard no one from a worldly point of view”. The Corinthians were judging people, in particular preachers and teachers, essentially by how impressive they seemed. This is the wrong approach. The right approach is to regard people from Christ’s perspective. In terms of preachers and teachers the two prime criteria are (i) how consistent with the word of God is their teaching? And (ii) how Christlike is their lifestyle? We can also take this more widely. Someone may look as though they are a dead loss from a human perspective, but what if the grace of God got a hold of their life? The prospects are then radically changed. “We once regarded Christ in that way”. If we look at Christ from a purely worldly perspective we will not be impressed, and will not see the real truth of who He is.
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