2 Corinthians 5:15
“And he died for all,” he repeats, “that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (1 Cor. 5:15).
Jesus fulfilled the law by fulfilling the prophecies contained in the law. His birth, life, and ministry had been predicted in great detail, and these prophecies he fulfilled. Among them all, the great central event in history was his death, by which he simultaneously brought the law to completion and abolished it. He brought it to completion by becoming the sacrificial lamb to satisfy the demands of the law once for all. He “abolished” it by destroying the power of the law to condemn. By enacting the reality foreshadowed in the symbolism of the ceremonial laws, he brought them to an end (Heb. 7:26-28; 9:1, 9-10, 23-27). Jesus Christ fulfilled the entire system of ceremonial laws and thus set them aside.
This explanation of the meaning of Christ’s death after he accomplished it fits perfectly with the pattern of his life and teaching. He consistently affirmed the authority of the “law,” but his teaching was ever centered in the moral law. He never affirmed the ceremonial elements of the law. Christ’s death was more than the fulfillment of the law in the sense of paying the penalty demanded by the law. It is also our example of supreme godlikeness. In fact, he put on display the highest form of love—complete sacrifice of self, even for one’s enemy (Rom. 5:8). Never had the world even imagined such love. And it became the foundation for Christian behavior as well as the source of Christian life.
The preaching of Christ and him crucified is the only enduring foundation for sound morality. “For God,” Paul insists, “has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness” (1 Thess. 4:7).
In this fact he finds the motive for holy living. That is why Paul never tires of relating the obligations of morality to the fact that Christ died for us. Is it a matter concerning domestic relationship? “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). Is it a matter concerning the weaker brother? “Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died” (Rom. 14:15). In fact, he rather did the opposite on occasion. For example, he “declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:19) even before the Cross, thus setting aside all the dietary regulations. Is it a matter of ambitious rivalry? Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5-8) Is it a matter of daily living? “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2). Is it a matter of sexual morality? “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit . . . ? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
The writers of the New Testament consistently appeal to the work of the Cross—to an accomplished redemption—as a ground and a motive of holy living.[102] How do measure yourself? Do you live for yourself or for Him who gave himself up for you? Today ponder what yardstick you use to evaluate your own walk of love. How well do you measure up?
[102] IBE (2014), 78-80.