For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 5:14 Go To 2 Corinthians 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
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.
