Chapter Five
A new body (1–5). The conditions under which one can obtain future glorious life (6–10). Personal remarks of the Apostle (11–16). The significance of apostolic ministry (17–21).
2 Cor 5:1-5. The opposition between the inner greatness of believers and their crumbling corporeality cannot continue eternally. In exchange for their present body, believers will receive a new one which will correspond to their inner spiritual condition. God Himself strengthens this hope in us, having given us the Spirit as a pledge of this glorious state.
2 Corinthians 5:1. For we know that, if our earthly house, this tent, is demolished, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. “We know.” The Apostle has in mind, of course, all believers, not only himself, because he is not the only one who will receive the future glorious body. How did believers know this? Certainly from the teaching of Apostle Paul (1 Cor 15), and the Apostle himself—from special gracious illumination from God. “Our earthly house, this tent.” The Apostle calls our body this way, which is given to us only for a time and must be destroyed, as a tent or, more accurately, a tabernacle, which in general is set up somewhere for a time. “We have.” This does not mean that the new house already exists at the present time. If the Apostle thought so, he would contradict his own teaching about the future body as arising from the earthly body after its decay (cf. 1 Cor 15:42-43). The Apostle’s manner of speaking is simply explained by the fact that he here passes over life beyond the grave, until the resurrection—this did not occupy him in the present case. “From God a dwelling in the heavens.” In contrast to our present body, which we received through birth from our parents—people who had a coarse, earthy body of the first Adam (cf. 1 Cor 15:47)—our new body we will receive from God, and this serves as proof of its superiority over the present one. This body is intended for life in the heavens, that is, in a new perfect world. “Not made by hands, eternal.” Here the Apostle compares what God builds with what man makes. God’s house will stand eternally, while a house built by human hands must eventually be destroyed.
2 Corinthians 5:2. That is why we also sigh, desiring to be clothed in our heavenly dwelling; 2 Corinthians 5:3. if indeed, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. “That is why we also sigh.” The Apostle wants to find further proof for our faith in future glorification of the body and repeats what he said in the Letter to the Romans (Rom 8:23): “sighing” for a new body itself testifies that this new body will indeed be given to us. The new body the Apostle calls heavenly because it will be imperishable. According to the interpretation of blessed Theodoret, instead of “to be clothed” it is more correct to translate “to be clothed over” or “to put on over.” The latter expression indicates that we will not put on another body, but this corruptible body of yours will be clothed in incorruptibility. “If indeed... we shall not be found naked.” The Apostle reminds Christians that even in the new body they may find themselves as it were “naked”—naked with regard to virtue, which not everyone acquires here on earth. Consequently, Christians must themselves take care to acquire the clothing of virtue in which one can enter the hall of God.
2 Corinthians 5:4. For while we are in this tent, we groan, burdened—not that we want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. The Apostle explains that Christians do not strive to be completely freed from the body, but to receive another body, and, if this were possible, without dying (in the Apostle’s terminology, “without being unclothed”), so that at the second coming of Christ their bodies would suddenly be transformed into new ones (cf. 1 Cor 15:54). The new garment, which Christians would put on themselves if they lived to the second coming of Christ, would swallow up the old.
2 Corinthians 5:5. And He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who gave us the Spirit as a guarantee. The Apostle points out that the guarantee of our hope for future glorified body is the will of God. God Himself prepared us for life in such a body, as testified by the pledge received by us, Christians—the Holy Spirit. This Spirit produces in us an inner renewal, and corresponding to this inner renewal should in time our body be renewed, our external shell be changed (cf. Rom 8:28-30). 2 Cor 5:6-10. To obtain future glorious life—for this one must strive here to please the Lord. The Lord at the last judgment will judge all according to the deeds which people have done on earth.
2 Corinthians 5:6. Therefore we are always of good courage; and knowing that while we dwell in the body, we are absent from the Lord,— 2 Corinthians 5:7. for we walk by faith, and not by sight,— 2 Corinthians 5:8. we are of good courage and would prefer rather to be absent from the body and to dwell with the Lord. Death represented the most terrible thing for man, and the thought of it has always troubled the minds of people in Judaism and paganism. Such is not the attitude toward death in Christianity. A Christian awaits death calmly, because it will unite him with the Lord, with whom now he cannot enter into direct communion, since this earthly body of ours serves as an insurmountable barrier to this. We, as the Apostle expresses it, are “separated” or distant from the Lord. “We walk,” that is, live in a world where God cannot be seen, where one can only believe in Him. Therefore we would like—of course, if God’s will permits this—to soon cast off this earthly shell that hinders our dwelling with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:9. And therefore we also make it our goal, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him; 2 Corinthians 5:10. for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. But in this the Apostle considers it necessary to point out that after casting off the earthly shell, we will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ and give account of our deeds. Therefore we must strive in every way toward pleasing God. It should be noted that in this passage the Apostle clearly distinguishes two judgments of people. One is accomplished immediately after a man’s death and gives him the opportunity to “dwell with the Lord” (verse 8), although he does not yet have a new body in place of the destroyed one. The other will be accomplished at the end of all times, when believers will receive a new glorious body (1 Cor 15 and following). This latter judgment is indicated in verse 10 (Chrysostom). 2 Cor 5:11-16. The Apostle, being firmly confident in his future glorification, boldly preaches everywhere and with an open face looks at all: he has nothing to fear.
2 Corinthians 5:11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade people, while we are known to God; I trust we are also well known to your consciences. The Apostle Paul was reproached with the fact that he attracts people to himself by cunning and that his conduct is ambiguous. Paul responds to this: “Yes, I persuade and urge people, but at the same time the fear before the Lord as a Judge keeps me always within the bounds of permissible actions... I may seem to my opponents not to act entirely openly, but God sees that I act sincerely and according to conscience. You yourselves ought to know this” (well known to your consciences).
2 Corinthians 5:12. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you reason to boast about us, so that you may have something to say to those who boast in appearance and not in the heart. Compare 2 Cor 3:1. If the Apostle says anything in praise of himself, it is because by this he wants to put into the hands of the Corinthians a weapon for refuting the hostile slanders of his enemies, who unlawfully were too much exalting themselves.
2 Corinthians 5:13. If we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. The Apostle was reproached with the fact that he acted irrationally. This reproach was based on the fact that Paul had the gift of speaking in tongues more than all others (1 Cor 14:18), had many visions (2 Cor 12:1 and following), and had a very mobile temperament. His opponents took advantage of all this in order to present him to the Corinthians as mentally ill. Paul says to this that he becomes carried away by divine inspiration only when he prays to God, alone with himself and God (“for God”). In those cases, however, where the matter is that his speech be fully understood by those assembled in the church, the Apostle always spoke as a perfectly calm and reasoning person.
2 Corinthians 5:14. For the love of Christ compels us, reasoning thus: if one died for all, then all have died; 2 Corinthians 5:15. and Christ died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised. Such self-denial for the benefit of the Church was prompted in the Apostle by the “love of Christ” or love for the brethren, similar to Christ’s love for mankind. He reasoned thus: “If Christ died, then all believers in Christ died for themselves. They no longer live for themselves but for Christ and their neighbors.” Therefore, for the Apostle, every desire to distinguish himself in some way before other believers is now foreign. He does not try at any cost to use his ability to enter into an extraordinary state of rapture and strives to serve the edification of believers in the usual calm state.
2 Corinthians 5:16. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Since the Apostle Paul was reproached with the fact that he did not listen to Christ Himself, as other Apostles did, and yet Christ did not preach freedom from the law as Paul did, the Apostle considers it necessary to say that he indeed regards Christ not as one limited by the framework of Jewish nationality, as the earthly Jesus, but as the glorified Son of God, as He appeared to him on the road to Damascus. If he also received knowledge of Him as such at the very beginning of his entry into the Church (through conversations with Ananias), then for him this now has no significance. He has fully understood the very essence of Christ’s teaching, who was not at all on the side of the idea of the obligatory nature of the law of Moses for gentiles. The time of Christ’s being “in the flesh” has already passed, and He now stands before the Apostle’s consciousness in a different spiritual, heavenly, image. At the same time the Apostle does not take into account any human authorities, no matter how high they might be, which his opponents referred to. 2 Cor 5:17-21. After personal remarks, the Apostle once again praises the greatness of his ministry. We hear the Apostle proclaim the appearance of a new humanity, the creation of a new world, which the prophets foretold. This new humanity now appears in those who believe in Christ, who have received reconciliation with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, all things have become new. Compare Isa 43 and following.
2 Corinthians 5:18. And all things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation, On the part of people nothing has been done for this renewal: everything has been accomplished by God Himself, who reconciled people to Himself through Christ. God sent the Apostle to preach about this reconciliation to others as well.
2 Corinthians 5:19. namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning their trespasses to them, and has entrusted to us the word of reconciliation. In order for the reconciliation accomplished by God to become the possession of each individual person, someone must explain to “people” the essence of this reconciliation. And so for this purpose with the “word of reconciliation” Apostle Paul is sent into the world.
2 Corinthians 5:20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as God is pleading through us; on behalf of Christ, we implore you: be reconciled to God. How great is the ministry of the Apostle! Christ Himself stands behind him and calls people to accept reconciliation with God.
2 Corinthians 5:21. For He made Him who knew no sin to be a sacrifice for sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. To show how important this reconciliation is, the Apostle says that God made the sinless Christ “sin” (the addition in the Russian translation: “as a sacrifice”—is unnecessary), that is, He laid upon Christ the sins of all the world and treated Him as an actual sinner. Through this God’s righteousness was satisfied, and people became not only righteous but very righteousness itself, that is, in the truest sense were justified in God’s eyes. The new righteousness appears to the Apostle not as a garment, but as something constituting the very essence of a person, as a complete transformation of that essence.