Love That Lasts: From Corrupted Body to Eternal Reward
2 Corinthians 5:10
" For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."
The physical human (a unique blend of physical, metal, and spiritual essence) body is a temporary vessel, "earthen vessels" for the soul, not the eternal dwelling place for humanity. And one day every person's body will dissolve, the spirit will leave that body and become an eternal body, a "heavenly dwelling" that God prepares for them. The perishable body is raised imperishable, transformed into a spiritual body suited for eternity.
Sin is the corrupting factor in the human body, the corrupting force that affects the physical body, leading to its temporary and perishable nature. In Romans 5:12, Paul states that
"sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin,"
This suggests that sin introduced mortality and corruption into human existence, including the physical body. This "body of death" influenced by sin, contrasts with the hope of redemption. What all this means is humanity’s return to dust is a consequence of the Fall (Genesis 3:19). This underscores the causal link between the Fall, mortality, and the body’s corruption, with Paul’s "body of death" (Romans 7:24) encapsulating this struggle.
And so, this also suggests that the actions done in the corrupted body are judged, leading to eternal consequences. Not just the dissolution of the corrupted body, but consequences in heaven. The earthly deeds done in the body have everlasting impact, particularly in heaven or the afterlife, wherever one ends up. This earthly corruption must put on incorruptible love in order to endure the judgement and be renewed.
Biblically, love is often portrayed as the highest virtue, eternal and reflective of God’s nature.
1 John 4:8
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Love, specifically a pure, God-given love, is light, it is the means or quality through which the corrupted body is transformed for eternity. It's the spiritual quality that endures temporal life, death, and eternal life. How this is accomplished, from a physics point-of-view, is different discussion. As for me, I think that existence is something like a stack of books. And love is the force that transcends that layered stack. Slipping through the dimensional layers and transporting the human spirit through time and space. Probably this is what eternity looks like. Today we exist within one book, one layer, one dimension, and we are unable to move out of the existence, until death releases us. Then love, (light that transcends the fabric, the layers of dimensional existence), brings the human spirit into the fabric, the structures of God's creation in a way that can than move through it all seamlessly. Probably through crystalline structures that magnify the light and transport it. But of course, all this is conjecture in regard to how the spirit travels in eternity. But what's important to realize is that eternity is different. It's a perfection of our existence. It's full circle. Spherical really. And this is why it's outside of time and space. Love transcends all of this, because God is love, perfect, full circle complete.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10
"Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away."
There's one thing that lasts, that doesn't melt away or dissolve. This one thing transcends the temporal body in time, space and eternity. God-given love is the enduring, transformative force that transcends the sin-corrupted, temporary body, carrying our spirit through temporal life, death, and into eternal life. And God longs for us to spend eternity with Him in that love.
Unlike the perishable body, which dissolves due to sin’s corruption (Genesis 3:19), love endures, transcending time, space, and mortality. This love, rooted in God’s nature (1 John 4:8, “God is love”), is the spiritual quality that bridges the temporal and eternal, transforming the believer for the imperishable eternal state. Love remains constant, reflecting God’s eternal character. As 1 Corinthians 15:53 states, the perishable must "clothe itself with the imperishable," and love, is the imperishable quality that facilitates this change.
Actions rooted in God-given love, such as compassion, sacrifice, and obedience to Christ’s command to love (John 15:12); are the "gold, silver, and costly stones" that endure the fire of judgment, yielding eternal rewards.
1 Corinthians 3:13
"each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done."
God secures this love deposit in our spirit by sending the Holy Spirit to seal that love. God is securing this love through the Holy Spirit’s sealing, a dynamic element of divine empowerment, ensuring love’s endurance ("one thing that lasts" ) in the believer’s spirit. God does this.
Q: But Mike, how will I know what the deeds are (work done for Christ), deeds that are the love that lasts?
A: Matthew 25:35-40
Compassion, sacrifice, obedience. Such works, rooted in love, contrast with the sin-corrupted body’s frailty. While the body dissolves, love-driven deeds endure, yielding "eternal rewards" in heaven.
2 Timothy 4:8
"Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."
Love is the thing. Not the works in and of themselves, but the motive behind those works. Love determines those distinctions. Jesus cautioned us to not do our work as a show before men.
Matthew 6:1
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven."
What constrains you? Love for God, or to be seen by men as a righteous person?
Jesus is looking into the heart’s intent in our actions, contrasting love for God with the desire for human approval. Somehow our intent reflects the love light differently and exposes our true nature. Such acts, motivated by pride or self-righteousness, align with the sin-corrupted body’s frailty, and burn as "wood, hay, straw" in the fire of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:13).
For example, giving to the needy "in secret" (Matthew 6:4) reflects love for God and others, securing a heavenly reward. The audience is God, the love is from God, and the blessings are because of God's love. The work is done in our corrupted sinful body, but the love is from God. Only our intent contributes to our fate. If we love God, our intent will be born from above.
The love of Jesus Christ constrains us, compels us, motivating believers to transcend the sin-corrupted body’s frailty, and produce works that endure judgment.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."
The word "constrains" (or "compels" ) suggests a powerful, motivating force that directs and controls our actions, rooted in Christ’s sacrificial love on the cross. This love is the God-given love that empowers believers to act with pure motives, producing works that endure beyond the temporal body’s dissolution. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Once we were enemies with God, but God sent His Son as a peace maker, a sacrifice for us. This is our redemption. This is the heart of the Christian gospel. It's God's love. He is not imputing our trespasses against us anymore. He has imputed His Son's righteousness upon us. That is His judgment. He has judged sin. And He has imputed Christ's righteousness upon us.
Psalm 32:1-2
"Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit."
Paul quotes this in Romans 4:7-8. This concept of non-imputation of our sin connects deeply to this theological framework we've been studying. Sin, which corrupts the body and separates humanity from God, is forgiven through Christ’s redemption. Once enemies of God, in Christ, believers are reconciled through Christ’s peacemaking sacrifice, freeing them from sin’s penalty. This freedom from sin's penalty enables the believer to live in God's righteousness in Christ.
Colossians 1:21-22
"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him"
Did you see it?
Read Colossians 1:21-22 again.
Look at the judgement, "above reproach before him".
Love did that. God’s love expressed through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice. Believers, once alienated, are now judged righteous through Christ’s love.
And so we sing:
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Because He first loved me.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Because He first loved me.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Oh, how I love Jesus.
Because He first loved me.
Amen.