Douglas Vandergraph

newcreation

There are passages of Scripture that feel like they were written for moments when the world no longer makes sense, when the pace of life feels too fast, when grief, pressure, ambition, and exhaustion collide in the same breath. Second Corinthians chapter five is one of those passages. It does not shout. It does not perform. It speaks quietly, confidently, almost stubbornly, about what is real when everything else feels temporary. Paul is not theorizing here. He is not preaching from comfort. He is writing as a man who has been beaten, misunderstood, accused, worn down, and yet somehow anchored. This chapter is not about escaping the world. It is about learning how to live in it without being owned by it.

Paul opens with an image that instantly reframes how we think about our bodies, our lives, and our fears. He calls the body a tent. Not a house. Not a fortress. A tent. Temporary. Portable. Vulnerable. Anyone who has ever camped knows the difference. A tent is useful, but it is not permanent. It is functional, but it is not final. You do not decorate a tent like you do a home. You do not build your identity around it. You live in it knowing you will eventually leave it behind. Paul is not dismissing the body. He is placing it in its proper category.

What makes this image so powerful is that Paul contrasts the tent with something else entirely. He speaks of a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This is not poetic exaggeration. This is theological grounding. Paul is reminding believers that the instability they feel in this life is not a flaw in God’s design. It is a feature of the journey. The discomfort you feel with injustice, sickness, aging, and loss is not because you are weak. It is because you were not meant to stay here forever.

Yet Paul does not romanticize death. He does not say he longs to be stripped of the tent and left exposed. He says something much more nuanced. He groans. He desires not to be unclothed, but to be clothed with his heavenly dwelling. This matters. Christianity is not about rejecting embodiment. It is about transformation. The hope is not disembodiment, but resurrection. Paul is not looking forward to becoming less real. He is looking forward to becoming more real than he has ever been.

There is something deeply human in Paul’s honesty here. He acknowledges the tension of living between what is and what will be. We live in bodies that ache. We carry memories that haunt. We hold responsibilities that exhaust us. And yet we sense, sometimes faintly and sometimes fiercely, that this is not the end of the story. That sense is not wishful thinking. Paul says it is evidence. God has prepared us for this very thing and has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

The word guarantee is critical. The Spirit is not just comfort. The Spirit is not just guidance. The Spirit is a down payment. A foretaste. A tangible sign that what God has promised is already in motion. This means that the Christian life is not sustained by optimism, but by assurance. You do not endure suffering because you hope things might work out. You endure because God has already committed Himself to the outcome.

From this foundation, Paul moves into one of the most misunderstood ideas in the New Testament: walking by faith, not by sight. This phrase is often used to justify denial of reality or blind optimism. That is not what Paul means. Paul is not saying that sight is irrelevant. He is saying that sight is incomplete. What we can see is real, but it is not ultimate. What we cannot see is not imaginary. It is eternal.

Walking by faith means ordering your life around what God has said, not just around what circumstances suggest. It means making decisions that make sense in light of eternity, not just in light of the next paycheck, the next crisis, or the next season. Paul’s confidence does not come from pretending hardship is not real. It comes from knowing hardship is not final.

This is why Paul can say that whether he is at home in the body or away from it, his aim is to please the Lord. That sentence is quietly revolutionary. Paul is not living to preserve comfort. He is not living to avoid pain. He is not living to protect reputation. He is living with a singular orientation. His life has a direction, not just a collection of goals.

Then Paul introduces another concept that modern Christianity often avoids: accountability. He says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. This is not about condemnation for believers. It is about evaluation. It is about truth coming into full view. It is about lives being weighed not by success metrics, but by faithfulness.

This idea can feel uncomfortable because we live in a culture that prefers affirmation over assessment. But Paul does not present this as a threat. He presents it as motivation. Knowing that our lives matter beyond this moment gives weight to our choices. It dignifies obedience. It means love is never wasted, sacrifice is never forgotten, and faithfulness always counts.

From here, Paul turns outward. He speaks of persuading others, not because he fears punishment, but because he understands the gravity of what is at stake. His ministry is not driven by ego or self-promotion. In fact, he addresses criticism directly. Some accuse him of being beside himself. Others question his motives. Paul is unmoved. If he is out of his mind, he says, it is for God. If he is in his right mind, it is for others.

Then comes one of the most defining statements in all of Paul’s writing: the love of Christ controls us. Not fear. Not ambition. Not guilt. Love. This is not emotional sentiment. This is directional force. The love of Christ constrains, compels, governs. It sets the boundaries of Paul’s life and the trajectory of his mission.

Paul explains why this love is so powerful. He says that one died for all, therefore all died. This is not abstract theology. This is identity transformation. If Christ died for all, then the old way of defining life by self-interest is over. And He died for all so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised.

This is where the chapter quietly dismantles modern individualism. Christianity is not self-improvement with religious language. It is self-surrender with resurrection power. To follow Christ is not to add spiritual habits to an otherwise unchanged life. It is to fundamentally redefine why you live at all.

Paul then draws a conclusion that reshapes how we see people. He says that from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. This does not mean we ignore reality. It means we refuse to reduce people to appearances, histories, failures, or labels. Even Christ, Paul says, was once known according to the flesh, but no longer. The resurrection changes how we see everything.

And then Paul arrives at a line so familiar that we risk missing its depth: if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Not will be. Is. The old has passed away. The new has come. This is not metaphorical encouragement. This is ontological truth. Something has actually changed. Identity is not merely rebranded. It is reborn.

This new creation is not self-generated. Paul is careful to anchor it in God’s initiative. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Notice the order. God reconciles us, then He involves us. We do not reconcile ourselves and then try to help others. We receive reconciliation and then become ambassadors of it.

Reconciliation is not just forgiveness. It is restoration of relationship. Paul says that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. This does not mean sin is ignored. It means sin is dealt with decisively at the cross. The debt is not dismissed. It is paid.

And having done this, God entrusts to us the message of reconciliation. This is staggering. The God who needs nothing chooses to involve fragile people in His redemptive work. Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. This is not symbolic language. This is functional reality. God speaks through surrendered lives.

Paul ends the chapter with a sentence so dense it could sustain a lifetime of meditation. For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. This is not merely legal exchange. It is relational transformation. Christ does not just remove guilt. He restores standing. He does not just forgive sinners. He makes them righteous.

This is where the tent meets the home. This is where the groaning finds its answer. This is where the temporary gives way to the eternal. Paul is not offering escape from the world. He is offering clarity within it. You live in a tent, but you belong to a house. You walk by faith, but not without assurance. You are accountable, but not abandoned. You are loved, controlled, transformed, and sent.

Second Corinthians five does not ask you to withdraw from life. It asks you to live it with the right horizon in view. The chapter does not minimize suffering. It reframes it. It does not inflate self-worth. It redefines it. It does not promise ease. It promises purpose.

And this is where we pause, not because the chapter is finished, but because its implications are still unfolding. The tent still stands. The groaning still echoes. The calling still presses forward. In the next movement, we will step fully into what it means to live as ambassadors in a world desperate for reconciliation, carrying a message that is not ours to invent, but ours to embody.

Paul does not end Second Corinthians chapter five with a conclusion that feels neat or comfortable. He ends it with a charge that presses directly into everyday life. Everything he has said about tents and eternal homes, faith and sight, judgment and love, reconciliation and new creation is not meant to remain abstract theology. It is meant to land inside real human decisions, real relationships, real suffering, and real hope. This chapter is not written for people standing at the edge of death alone. It is written for people standing in the middle of life.

What becomes clearer the longer you sit with this chapter is that Paul is teaching believers how to live while fully aware that they are temporary residents in a permanent story. He is not asking Christians to detach from the world emotionally. He is asking them to refuse to be defined by it spiritually. There is a difference. Detachment numbs. Faith clarifies. Paul’s confidence does not come from indifference toward life, but from certainty about where life is heading.

When Paul speaks about pleasing the Lord whether present or absent, he is not describing a checklist-driven faith. He is describing orientation. A compass does not tell you every step to take, but it tells you which direction matters. Pleasing God is not about constant self-surveillance or anxiety-driven obedience. It is about alignment. When your life is pointed toward Christ, decisions begin to take on coherence, even when circumstances remain chaotic.

This orientation changes how failure is understood. Paul knows his imperfections. He knows his past. He knows the accusations that follow him. Yet he does not live under the tyranny of self-condemnation. Why? Because accountability before Christ is not the same as condemnation from the world. The judgment seat Paul refers to is not a courtroom designed to humiliate. It is a place where truth is honored, motives are revealed, and faithfulness is acknowledged. This is not something to fear if your life is hidden in Christ. It is something that gives gravity to obedience and dignity to perseverance.

Modern faith often struggles with this balance. On one side, there is fear-based religion that uses judgment as leverage. On the other side, there is a diluted spirituality that avoids any notion of evaluation at all. Paul stands firmly in the middle. He knows grace deeply, and because of that, he takes holiness seriously. Grace does not erase responsibility. It transforms it.

Paul’s motivation is not rooted in terror of punishment but in the love of Christ. That phrase, “the love of Christ controls us,” is not passive language. The word implies being held together, restrained from drifting, compelled toward purpose. Love is not merely something Paul feels. It is something that governs him. This is one of the clearest markers of spiritual maturity. When love becomes the controlling force of your life, fear loses its authority.

Paul then makes a statement that quietly dismantles the ego-centered version of faith that often dominates religious culture. He says that Christ died so that those who live would no longer live for themselves. This sentence alone confronts a great deal of modern spirituality. Faith is not meant to be a tool for self-optimization. It is meant to be a surrender of self-direction. The gospel does not exist to help you become the center of a better life. It exists to remove you from the center altogether.

This does not mean you lose yourself. It means you finally find yourself rightly ordered. When Christ becomes the reference point, identity stabilizes. You are no longer tossed between success and failure, praise and criticism, strength and weakness. You live from a deeper center. This is why Paul can endure misunderstanding without bitterness and hardship without despair. His life is anchored somewhere beyond immediate outcomes.

The phrase “we regard no one according to the flesh” is one of the most countercultural statements in the chapter. Paul is not suggesting that physical reality or personal history should be ignored. He is saying they should not be final. When you see people primarily through the lens of the flesh, you categorize them by performance, appearance, politics, mistakes, or usefulness. When you see them through the lens of Christ, you recognize potential for transformation even when evidence is scarce.

This way of seeing people is costly. It requires patience. It resists cynicism. It refuses to define individuals by their worst moments. Paul himself is living proof of this truth. Once known primarily as a persecutor, he is now known as an apostle. If identity were fixed by the flesh, Paul would have no place in the church. But grace rewrites narratives.

This leads directly into the declaration of new creation. Paul does not say believers are improved versions of their former selves. He says they are something entirely new. This is not metaphorical exaggeration. It is spiritual reality. The old has passed away. This does not mean memory disappears or struggle evaporates. It means the governing power of the old life has been broken.

The new creation is not fragile. It does not depend on emotional consistency or moral perfection. It depends on union with Christ. This is why Paul is so insistent that reconciliation begins with God. All of this is from God, he says. Not from effort. Not from insight. Not from discipline. From God. This protects believers from pride when things go well and despair when things fall apart.

Reconciliation is one of the most misunderstood words in Christian vocabulary. It is often reduced to the idea of forgiveness alone. But reconciliation is relational restoration. It is the healing of separation. Paul is clear that God is not counting trespasses against us. This does not trivialize sin. It magnifies grace. The cross is not where God ignored sin. It is where He absorbed it.

What is astonishing is that after accomplishing reconciliation, God entrusts its message to human beings. Paul does not say we are consumers of reconciliation. He says we are ambassadors. An ambassador does not represent personal opinions. An ambassador represents the authority and intent of the one who sent them. This means Christian witness is not about self-expression. It is about faithful representation.

To be an ambassador of reconciliation is to live in a way that makes God’s appeal visible. It is not merely about words spoken, but about lives shaped. God makes His appeal through us, Paul says. This is humbling. It means that how we love, forgive, endure, and speak matters far more than we often realize. The gospel is not only proclaimed. It is embodied.

Paul’s final sentence brings everything together with breathtaking density. Christ, who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. This is not just substitution. It is participation. We do not merely receive righteousness as a label. We become it as a lived reality in Christ. Our standing changes, and from that standing, our living follows.

This is where the tension between the tent and the home becomes bearable. You can live in a fragile body without despair because you belong to an eternal future. You can face accountability without fear because you stand in grace. You can engage the world without being consumed by it because your identity is secure. You can love sacrificially because love is not your invention. It is your calling.

Second Corinthians five does not promise that life will become easier. It promises that life will become meaningful. It does not remove the groaning. It gives it context. It does not eliminate suffering. It places it inside a story that ends in resurrection. It does not deny reality. It reveals a deeper one.

The chapter leaves us living in the in-between. We are still in tents. We still walk by faith. We still face judgment. We still carry a message into a resistant world. But we do so with assurance. God has already prepared what comes next. He has already guaranteed it by His Spirit. He has already reconciled us through Christ. And He has already entrusted us with something eternal.

This is not a chapter to rush through. It is a chapter to inhabit. To let reorient how you see your body, your life, your failures, your relationships, and your calling. You are not merely surviving until heaven. You are representing heaven while you wait.

And that makes every moment matter far more than it first appears.

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There are chapters in Scripture that don’t just teach you something— they wake you.

Romans 6 is one of them.

It doesn’t whisper, “Try harder.” It declares, “You are someone completely new.”

And if you’ve ever wondered why the fight against sin feels like wrestling a shadow, why guilt tries to chain itself to your ankles, why people who believe in Jesus still struggle with old habits, old thoughts, old wounds— Romans 6 steps in like a floodlight and says one powerful, soul-altering truth:

You are not who you used to be.

This is not a chapter about self-improvement. It’s not a chapter about guilt management. It’s not a chapter about behavior modification.

Romans 6 is the moment Paul grabs us by the shoulders and says, “Wake up. You died. The old you is gone. Why are you still answering to a corpse?”

LIVING IN THE TENSION WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO NAME

Most believers live in a strange tension. They know Jesus has forgiven them, but they still feel guilty.

They know Jesus has made them new, but they still feel stuck.

They know Jesus has broken the chains, but they still hear the rattling.

Romans 6 shows us why. You can be set free and not fully understand how free you really are. You can have the door unlocked and still be sitting in the cell. You can be resurrected but still living like someone half-alive.

Paul speaks into that confusion with shocking clarity. He doesn’t say you should consider yourself new. He says you are new. You are not becoming a new creation—you are one. Your struggle now is not to defeat sin; your struggle is to stop living like someone who belongs to it.

THE MOST DANGEROUS QUESTION: “SHALL WE JUST GO ON SINNING?”

Paul begins the chapter with a question that sounds almost scandalous:

“Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound?”

Why is that question even possible? Because grace is so overwhelming— so deep, so wide, so relentless— people were actually wondering:

“If God forgives me fully, freely, permanently, then does it really matter how I live?”

Paul answers with a thunderclap: “By no means!” Not because fear is the motivator. Not because God will “get you” if you don’t behave. Not because heaven is at risk.

Paul says: You can’t continue in sin because you are no longer the person who used to serve it. You can’t live in your old patterns because the person who lived in them is gone.

THE OLD SELF DIDN’T GET A MAKEOVER— IT GOT A FUNERAL

Paul doesn’t say the old self is “being worked on.” He says it was crucified with Christ. Killed. Buried. Done.

This is not symbolic. This is spiritual reality with physical consequences.

When Jesus died, the version of you that was enslaved to sin died with Him.

When Jesus was buried, the past version of your identity— the guilt-soaked, shame-driven, fear-controlled self— was buried with Him.

When Jesus rose, the new you— clean, redeemed, Spirit-filled— rose with Him.

You did not join a religion. You joined a resurrection.

And resurrection doesn’t produce improved people. It produces new ones.

IF YOU’VE EVER FELT “TWO VERSIONS” OF YOURSELF

Romans 6 finally explains what so many believers feel: the tug of an old voice that no longer has authority.

Your old self is like a phone that keeps ringing— but the line is disconnected.

You hear the echo, but it can no longer command your obedience.

You feel the pull, but it no longer holds the key to your chains.

You remember the patterns, but they are no longer who you are.

Romans 6 gives the believer the power to say: “That voice is not me.” “That desire is not my identity.” “That temptation is not my nature.” “That shame is not my future.”

YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM —YOU ARE FIGHTING FROM IT

The believer doesn’t fight like a prisoner trying to break out. The believer fights like a free person refusing to go back in.

Think of the difference.

One fights from desperation. The other fights from identity.

One fights as a slave pleading for release. The other fights as a son refusing to surrender inheritance.

Paul says it like this: “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”

Why? Because you’re strong? Because you’re good? Because you behave well? Because you memorize verses?

No. Because you are under grace— not under the law.

Grace is not soft. Grace is not weak. Grace is not permission. Grace is power.

Grace does not merely forgive the sinner. Grace transforms them. Grace doesn’t negotiate with sin. Grace breaks its authority. Grace does not just clean the slate— it rewrites the identity.

THE MOMENT YOU FORGET WHO YOU ARE

Most Christians fall back into sin the same way: not because they want darkness, but because in a moment of weakness they forget that they are no longer part of it.

Every sinful choice begins with an identity lie:

“I’m still that person.” “I’m still broken.” “I’m still weak.” “I’m still dirty.” “I’m still stuck.” “I still can’t change.” “I’m just this way.”

Romans 6 breaks that lie at its root. You are not your past. You are not your failures. You are not your patterns. You are not your impulses. You are not your temptations. You are not your worst moments. You are not your shame.

You are raised with Christ. And resurrection does not make room for who you used to be.

THE GRACE THAT DISABLES SIN’S POWER

Grace doesn’t just save you— it changes the battlefield.

Before Christ, sin was your master. After Christ, sin is your intruder.

Before Christ, you obeyed sin because you belonged to it. After Christ, resisting sin is not about willpower— it’s about identity.

When you truly understand Romans 6, you stop trying to “become strong” and start learning to “stand in what God already made you.”

This is why Paul uses the word “reckon” —which means “count it as true,” “believe it to be reality.”

“Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God.”

You don’t achieve it. You recognize it.

WHAT YOU PRESENT YOURSELF TO SHAPES WHO YOU BECOME

The chapter contains one of the most powerful spiritual principles in the whole Bible:

“You are slaves to the one you obey.”

Not because of force— but because of surrender.

What you present yourself to, you become shaped by.

If you present yourself to fear, it becomes your master.

If you present yourself to guilt, it becomes your language.

If you present yourself to old patterns, they become familiar again.

But Paul says now you can “present yourselves to God” —not as people crawling back after failure, but as those raised from the dead.

You don’t come to God as someone begging for acceptance. You come to God as someone risen in Christ.

HOLINESS IS NOT A PERFORMANCE— IT’S A CONSEQUENCE OF RESURRECTION

Many believers think they must “act holy” to prove they belong to Jesus.

Romans 6 says the opposite.

Holiness is not something you perform. Holiness is something that naturally emerges from a resurrected identity.

When a tree’s roots change, its fruit changes automatically.

Holiness is not the cause of salvation. Holiness is the evidence of transformation.

WHY MANY PEOPLE STILL FEEL CHAINED

Because they’ve never understood the difference between: forgiveness and freedom.

Forgiveness says, “You’re not condemned.”

Freedom says, “You’re not controlled.”

Forgiveness washes away the penalty of sin. Freedom breaks the power of it.

Romans 6 is where freedom comes alive.

THE BATTLE IS REAL— BUT SO IS THE RESURRECTION

Paul never denies the battle. He denies sin’s authority.

You will feel temptation. But temptation is not identity.

You will feel weakness. But weakness is not ownership.

You will feel the pull of an old life. But the old life no longer defines you.

Sin may knock, but Christ changed the locks.

SANCTIFICATION IS A JOURNEY— BUT THE FOUNDATION IS INSTANT

Growing into Christlikeness takes a lifetime. But stepping into your new identity happens in a moment— the moment you believe.

You don’t grow into being new. You grow from being new.

You don’t fight to become alive. You fight because you are alive.

You don’t battle sin hoping God accepts you. You battle sin because He already has.

YOU ARE FREE— SO LIVE LIKE SOMEONE FREE

Romans 6 calls you to an awakening. A moment where you say:

“I refuse to live like a dead person. I refuse to answer to chains that have been broken. I refuse to bow to a master who no longer owns me. I refuse to believe lies about who I am. I refuse to return to graves God has emptied.”

Freedom in Christ is not fragile. Freedom in Christ is not partial. Freedom in Christ is not temporary. Freedom in Christ is not theoretical. Freedom in Christ is not symbolic.

Freedom in Christ is real. It is complete. It is permanent. It is sealed in His resurrection.

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVEN’T CHANGED ENOUGH

Romans 6 speaks to moments every believer knows: when you wonder why old temptations still show up, why old emotions still flare up, why old instincts still whisper.

Here’s why: Your spirit has been transformed, but your mind is still learning your new address.

Identity happens instantly. Maturity happens gradually. But both are certain.

And Paul says the more you “reckon” yourself alive in Christ, the more your life begins to reflect the truth you stand in.

BREATHING GRACE, WALKING FREE

Romans 6 is an invitation to breathe again.

To stop trying to resurrect shame. To stop trying to pay a debt Jesus erased. To stop pretending you’re still chained. To stop holding funerals for sins God already buried.

This chapter calls you out of the grave. Not to be perfect— but to be alive.

Not to avoid failure— but to walk in freedom.

Not to fear sin— but to know its power has been cut from the root.

Not to try harder— but to trust deeper.

Not to become someone new— but to finally live like the new creation you already are.

THE CORE MESSAGE OF ROMANS 6

You aren’t trying to improve the old you. That person is gone.

You aren’t trying to behave your way into holiness. Holiness flows from resurrection.

You aren’t trying to outrun guilt. Guilt is nailed to the cross and can’t keep up.

You aren’t trying to escape sin’s prison. The door has been wide open since the moment Christ rose.

You aren’t trying to drag God into your weakness. He stepped into your grave and walked you out.

THE CHAPTER ENDS WITH A SENTENCE THAT SHAKES THE WORLD

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Death is what sin pays. Life is what God gives.

Sin earns. God gifts.

Sin kills. God resurrects.

Sin enslaves. God frees.

Sin binds. God adopts.

Sin condemns. God embraces.

This is the gospel in one breath.

Not a transaction— a gift.

Not a negotiation— a resurrection.

Not a religion— a transformation.

Not a rulebook— a new birth.

Not a second chance— a brand-new identity.

SO WHAT DOES ROMANS 6 MEAN FOR YOU TODAY?

It means you don’t have to keep proving yourself. You only have to keep remembering yourself— the real you, the resurrected you, the Spirit-filled you, the blood-bought you.

It means you don’t fight for acceptance. You fight from it.

It means you don’t fear the old life returning. You proclaim that the old life is dead.

It means when temptation screams, you whisper back, “I died to that.”

It means when shame rises, you speak the truth, “My record is clean.”

It means when guilt tries to grab your ankles, you remind it, “I walk in resurrection.”

And when the world tells you that you haven’t changed enough— you look to the cross and the empty tomb and remember:

The deepest change has already happened.

You are alive in Christ. Alive with purpose. Alive with power. Alive with grace. Alive with freedom. Alive with the Spirit. Alive in a way death can never touch.

Romans 6 is not the story of a sinner trying harder. It is the anthem of a resurrected child of God learning to walk in the light of a victory that was sealed before you ever took your first breath.

THE FINAL WORD

You are dead to sin. You are alive to God. You are free. Now go walk like resurrection lives in your bones.


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Douglas Vandergraph

#Faith #Christian #BibleStudy #Hope #Encouragement #Jesus #NewCreation #SpiritualGrowth #ResurrectionLife

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