ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 5 v14

NO NEED TO BE SILENT ABOUT GIFTS FROM CHRIST. AMBROSIASTER: Because of the love of Christ the apostles were not silent about the gifts they received from him. Those who love him are surrounded by such gifts. They were not boasting about them but inviting their hearers to become Christ’s disciples. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE LOVE OF CHRIST. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Paul explains that although he is beside himself, the love of God controls him. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

ONE DEATH WORTH THE LIFE OF ALL. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: But how is it that “one died for all,” one who is worth all others, if the suffering is considered simply that of some man? If he suffered according to his human nature, since he made the sufferings of his body his own. … The death of him alone according to the flesh is known to be worth the life of all, not the death of one who is as we are, even though he became like to us, but we say that he, being God by nature, became flesh and was made man according to the confession of the Fathers. LETTER 50.

FREEDOM FROM DEATH TO SERVE FOR LIFE. AUGUSTINE: Paul said: “Therefore all died; and Christ died for all, in order that they who are alive may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.” All people, consequently, without a single exception, were dead through sin, original sin or original with personal sin superadded, either by ignorance of or conscious refusal to do what is right. And for all these dead souls one living man died—a man utterly free from sin—with the intention that those who come alive by forgiveness of their sins live no longer for themselves but for him who died for all on account of our sins and rose again for our justification. CITY OF GOD 20.6.

DEATH TO SIN. AUGUSTINE: As the apostle says, and as we have often repeated: “Since one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all in order that they who are alive may live no longer for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again.” The living are those for whom he who was living died in order that they might live; more plainly, they are freed from the chains of death, they for whom the one free among the dead died. Or, still more plainly: they have been freed from sin, for whom he who was never in sin died. Although he died once, he dies for each at that time when each, whatever his age, is baptized in his death; that is, the death of him who was without sin benefits each man at the time when, having been baptized in his death, he who was dead in sin shall also die to sin. AGAINST JULIAN 6.15.48.

THE LOVE OF THE APOSTLE’S HEART. CHRYSOSTOM: All this, in fact, blessed Paul had in mind, that fervent lover of Christ, who like a winged bird traversed the whole world. … See his uprightness, see the extraordinary degree of his virtue, see his fervent love. “The love of Christ,” he says, “constrains us,” that is, urges, impels, coerces us. Then, wishing to explain what had been said by him, he says, “convinced of this, that if one person [died] indeed for all, then all have died, he did die for all so that the living might live no longer for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.” Do you see how appropriate it was for him to say, “The love of Christ constrains us”? He is saying, you see, if he died for the sake of us all, he died for the purpose that we the living might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us. Accordingly, let us heed the apostolic exhortation, not living for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us. HOMILIES ON GENESIS 34.15.

2 Cor