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18 October. 2 Corinthians chapters 5-9
In chapter 5 Paul speaks of our present physical bodies (which he describes as like a ‘tent’ – a temporary dwelling) as if they do not really matter. In fact our whole viewpoint should shift so that heaven becomes “home”, and being in this body in this life becomes like an “away match”. Or (to keep to his preferred metaphor) like being on trek in a foreign country and sleeping in a tent, while longing for the comforts of our real home. The reason for this, he goes on to explain, is that we are a “new creation”, the idea that when someone repents of past wrongs and turns to Jesus Christ for a new life, it really is like a new birth. Therefore this life in the body already belongs to the past, and the anticipation of the future life in our resurrection bodies (about which he had written in his first letter to the Corinthians) is the present reality.
Such a true and complete repentance does not often come about at a single step. There are indeed those whose lives are transformed in a moment – drug addicts who drop the habit the moment they turn to Christ, prisoners who become Christians in jail and never return to crime when they are freed, violent people who never again speak a word in anger. But for most of us, repentance and a growth into Christ-likeness are a lifelong journey with constant challenges and setbacks. Paul explains how he had needed to write to the Corinthians (who had already declared their faith in Christ) in strong and critical terms in order to get them to see that they were still far short of a Christlike life. But now he rejoices that they have recognised that, and made the effort to repent and move on to a new level of faith. He separates this from ordinary criticism by making the distinction between two types of “grief”: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.” (7:10).
I know that certain good and holy Christians have challenged me at various times about different aspects of my life and personality, producing at first resentment, then acknowledgment of the truth of their words, and finally this “holy grief” of which Paul speaks, that leads to salvation.