For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Parallel Translations
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For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
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We knowe suerly yf oure erthy mancion wherin we now dwell were destroyed that we have a bildinge ordeyned of god an habitacion not made with hondes but eternall in heven.
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For we knowe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed, we haue a building giuen of God, that is, an house not made with handes, but eternall in the heauens.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to 2 Corinthians 5:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 19:25-26 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
- 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
- 2 Peter 1:13-14 I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
- Hebrews 9:24 For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
- 1 Corinthians 15:46-48 However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
- John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
- Hebrews 9:11 But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,
- Hebrews 11:10 For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
- Job 4:19 How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
- Mark 14:58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”
- 2 Corinthians 5:4 For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
- 1 Peter 1:4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
- Genesis 3:19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”
- Job 30:22 You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
- 1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
- Colossians 2:11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,
- 2 Peter 3:11 Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,
- 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.
- Psalms 56:9 Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this: that God is for me.
- 2 Timothy 1:12 For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
- 1 John 3:19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,
- 1 John 5:19-20 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. For we know. Here follows an amplification (επεξεργασια)…
1. For we know. Here follows an amplification (επεξεργασια) or embellishment of the foregoing statement. For Paul has it in view, to correct in us impatience, dread, and dislike of the cross, contempt for what is mean, and in fine, pride, and effeminacy; and this can only be accomplished by raising up our minds as high as heaven, through contempt of the world. Now he has recourse to two arguments. On the one hand, he shows the miserable condition of mankind in this life, and on the other hand, the supreme and perfect blessedness, which awaits believers in heaven after death. For what is it that keeps men so firmly bound in a misplaced attachment to this life, but their deceiving themselves with a false imagination — thinking themselves happy in living here? On the other hand, it is not enough to be aware of the miseries of this life, if we have not at the same time in view the felicity and glory of the future life. This is common to good and bad alike — that both are desirous to live. This, also, is common to both — that, when they consider, how many and how great miseries they are here exposed to, (with this difference, however, that unbelievers know of no adversities but those of the body merely, while the pious are more deeply affected by spiritual distresses,) they often groan, often deplore their condition, and desire a remedy for their evils. As, however, all naturally view death with horror, unbelievers never willingly quit this life, except when they throw it off in disgust or despair. Believers, on the other hand, depart willingly, because they have a better hope set before them beyond this world. This is the sum of the argument. Let us now examine the words one by one.
We know, says he. This knowledge does not spring from the human intellect, but takes its rise from the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Hence it is peculiar to believers. Even the heathens had some idea of the immortality of the soul, but there was not one of them, that had assurance of it — not one of them could boast that he spoke of a thing that was known to him. Believers alone can affirm this, to whom it has been testified of by the word and Spirit of God.
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Besides, it is to be observed, that this knowledge is not merely of a general kind, as though believers were merely in a general way persuaded, that the children of God will be in a better condition after death, and had no assurance as to themselves individually, for of how very little service this would be for affording a consolation, so difficult of attainment! On the contrary, every one must have a knowledge peculiar to himself, for this, and this only, can animate me to meet death with cheerfulness — if I am fully persuaded, that I am departing to a better life.
The body, such as we now have it, he calls a house of tabernacle For as tabernacles are constructed, for a temporary purpose, of slight materials, and without any firm foundation, and then shortly afterwards are thrown down, or fall of their own accord, so the mortal body is given to men as a frail hut, to be inhabited by them for a few days. The same metaphor is made use of, also, by Peter in his Second Epistle, (2 Peter 1:13, 14,) and by Job, (Job 4:19,) when he calls it a house of clay. He places in contrast with this a building of perpetual duration. It is not certain, whether he means by this term a state of blessed immortality, which awaits believers after death, or the incorruptible and glorious body, such as it will be after the resurrection. In whichever of these senses it is taken, it will not be unsuitable; though I prefer to understand it as meaning, that the blessed condition of the soul after death is the commencement of this building, and the glory of the final resurrection is the consummation of it. This exposition will correspond better with the Apostle’s context. The epithets, which he applies to this building, tend to confirm more fully its perpetuity.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Taking occasion by the former comparison, he compareth this…
Taking occasion by the former comparison, he compareth this miserable body, as it is in this life, to a frail and brickle tabernacle, against which he setteth the heavenly Tabernacle, so terming that sure and everlasting condition of this same body glorified in heaven, insomuch, saith he, that we are not only not addicted to this tabernacle, but also do with sobs and sighs desire rather that tabernacle. And so this place also concerning the glory to come, is put within the treatise of the dignity of the ministry, as the other was, whereof we spake in the beginning of the second Chapter.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1 For we know that if our earthly house…
1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Ver. 1. For we know] Not we think, or hope only; this is the top gallant of faith, the triumph of trust; this is, as Latimer calls it, the deserts of the feast of a good conscience. There are other dainty dishes in this feast, but this is the banquet. The cock on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel.
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Our earthly house] In the wonderful frame of man’s body the bones are the timberwork, the head the upper lodging, the eyes as windows, the eyelids as casements, the brows as penthouses, the ears as watchtowers, the mouth as a door to take in that which shall uphold the building, and keep it in reparations; the stomach as a kitchen to dress that which is conveyed into it; the guts and baser parts as sinks belonging to the house, &c., as one wittily descants.
Our earthly house of this tabernacle] Our clay cottage. Man is but terra friabilis, a piece of earth neatly made up. The first man is of the earth earthy; and his earthly house is ever mouldering over him, ready to fall upon his head, 1Co 15:47. Hence it is called "the life of his hands," because hardly held up with the labour of his hands, Isa 57:10. Paul, a tentmaker, elegantly compares man’s body to a tent. Plato also in his dialogue of death, calleth the body a tabernacle, το οκηνος. A house the body is called, as for the singular artifice showed in the framing of it (the woman’s body is, by a specialty, called God’s building, Gen 2:22, because her frame consisteth of rarer room; of a more exact composition, say some, than man’s doth), so, secondly, because the soul dwells in it; the reason whereof (besides God’s will, and for the order of the universe) Lombard gives this, that hereby man might learn and believe a possibility of the union of man with God in glory, notwithstanding the vast distance of nature and excellence.
We have a building of God] The ark, transportative till then, was settled in Solomon’s temple; so shall the soul be in heaven. As when one skin falls off, another comes on; so when our earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved or taken down, we shall have a heavenly house. The soul wears the body as a garment, which when it is worn out, we shall be clothed with a better suit, we shall change our rags for robes, &c. Itaque non plangimus, sod plaudimus, quando vitam claudimus, quia dies iste non tam fatalis quam natalis est.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The apostle had before said, that he looked at…
The apostle had before said, that he looked at the things not seen; in this verse he openeth himself, and showeth what those unseen things are:
We (saith he) know, we have a certain persuasion, we doubt not of it, but that if our body were dissolved. This body he calleth an earthly house, either because it is made of the dust of the earth, into which it must again be resolved; or because it is only the habitation of the soul, so long as the soul is on this side of heaven; and therefore he calleth it also, the
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earthly house of this tabernacle. A tabernacle is a moving house or booth built up for a time. This tabernacle (saith the apostle) must be pulled down, and taken in pieces; and we are certain, that if it be dissolved,
we have a building of God, either a blessed, eternal mansion, (according to that of our Saviour, Joh 14:2; In my Father’s house are many mansions), or else, God will give us a spiritual, glorious, incorruptible body; not
a house made with hands, nor a house that shall be dissolved and any more pulled down, but which shall be
eternal in the heavens; in such a state, as that it shall be incorruptible, and no more subject to any corruption or decay.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Observe here, 1. Our apostle compares the body of…
Observe here, 1. Our apostle compares the body of a believer to an house, to an earthly house, and to an house of tabernacle: to an house, because of its comely fabric and composure, as also in regard of the inhabitant that dwells in it, the never-dying soul; to an earthly house, in regard of the means by which it is sustained; and to an house of tabernacle, because such buildings consist of slight and mean materials, they are soon set up, and as soon taken down.
Observe, 2. The necessity of this earthly tabernacle of the body’s dissolution by death; it must lie down, and be dissolved.
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3. The believer’s future happiness, after the body’s present dissolution, asserted and declared: They have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Learn hence, 1. That it is the pleasure and will of God that his people should for a short time remain in this earthly tabernacle of the body.
Learn, 2. That this earthly tabernacle of the believer’s body, sooner or later, must by death be dissolved.
Learn, 3. That after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle of the body, all the faithful have an eternal habitation, a building of God, not made with hands, in the highest heavens.
Learn, 4. that it is both the duty and interest of every sincere and serious Christian, to labour for the certain knowledge and full assurance of this happy privilege, and be able to say, We know, &c.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The apostle in these verses pursues the argument of…
The apostle in these verses pursues the argument of the former chapter, concerning the grounds of their courage and patience under afflictions. And,
I. He mentions their expectation, and desire, and assurance, of eternal happiness after death, Co2 5:1-5. Observe particularly,
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1. The believer's expectation of eternal happiness after death, Co2 5:1. He does not only know, or is well assured by faith of the truth and reality of the thing itself - that there is another and a happy life after this present life is ended, but he has good hope through grace of his interest in that everlasting blessedness of the unseen world: "We know that we have a building of God, we have a firm and well-grounded expectation of the future felicity." Let us take notice, (1.) What heaven is in the eye and hope of a believer. He looks upon it as a house, or habitation, a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place, our Father's house, where there are many mansions, and our everlasting home. It is a house in the heavens, in that high and holy place which as far excels all the palaces of this earth as the heavens are high above the earth. It is a building of God, whose builder and maker is God, and therefore is worthy of its author; the happiness of the future state is what God hath prepared for those that love him. It is eternal in the heavens, everlasting habitations, not like the earthly tabernacles, the poor cottages of clay in which our souls now dwell, which are mouldering and decaying, and whose foundations are in the dust. (2.) When it is expected this happiness shall be enjoyed - immediately after death, so soon as our house of this earthly tabernacle is dissolved. Note, [1.] That the body, this earthly house, is but a tabernacle, that must be dissolved shortly; the nails or pins will be drawn, and the cords be loosed, and then the body will return to dust as it was. [2.] When this comes to pass, then comes the house not made with hands. The spirit returns to God who gave it; and such as have walked with God here shall dwell with God for ever.
2. The believer's earnest desire after this future blessedness, which is expressed by this word, stenazomen - we groan, which denotes, (1.) A groaning of sorrow under a heavy load; so believers groan under the burden of life: In this we groan earnestly, Co2 5:2. We that are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened, Co2 5:4. The body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are a heavy load. But believers groan because burdened with a body of sin, and the many corruptions that are still remaining and raging in them. This makes them complain, O wretched man that I am! Rom 7:24. (2.) There is a groaning of desire after the happiness of another life; and thus believers groan: Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven (Co2 5:2), to obtain a blessed immortality, that mortality might be swallowed up of life (Co2 5:4), that being found clothed, we may not be naked (Co2 5:3), that, if it were the will of God, we might not sleep, but be changed; for it is not desirable in itself to be unclothed. Death considered merely as a separation of soul and body is not to be desired, but rather dreaded; but, considered as a passage to glory, the believer is willing rather to die than live, to be absent from the body, that he may be present with the Lord (Co2 5:1), to leave this body that he may go to Christ, and to put off these rags of mortality that he may put on the robes of glory. Note, [1.] Death will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and all the comforts of life, as well as put an end to all our troubles here below. Naked we came into this world, and naked shall we go out of it. But, [2.] Gracious souls are not found naked in the other world; no, they are clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness and glory. They shall be delivered out of all their troubles, and shall have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev 7:14.
3. The believer's assurance of his interest in this future blessedness, on a double account: - (1.) From the experience of the grace of God, in preparing and making him meet for this blessedness. He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, Co2 5:5. Note, All who are designed for heaven hereafter are wrought or prepared for heaven while they are here; the stones of that spiritual building and temple above are squared and fashioned here below. And he that hath wrought us for this is God, because nothing less than a divine power can make a soul partaker of a divine nature; no hand less than the hand of God can work us for this thing. A great deal is to be done to prepare our souls for heaven, and that preparation of the heart is from the Lord. (2.) The earnest of the Spirit gave them this assurance: for an earnest is part of payment, and secures the full payment. The present graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of everlasting grace and comfort.
II. The apostle deduces an inference for the comfort of believers in their present state and condition in this world, Co2 5:6-8. Here observe, 1. What their present state or condition is: they are absent from the Lord (Co2 5:6); they are pilgrims and strangers in this world; they do but sojourn here in their earthly home, or in this tabernacle; and though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we hope to be: we cannot see his face while we live: For we walk by faith, not by sight, Co2 5:7. We have not the vision and fruition of God, as of an object that is present with us, and as we hope for hereafter, when we shall see as we are seen. Note, Faith is for this world, and sight is reserved for the other world: and it is our duty, and will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we come to live by sight. 2. How comfortable and courageous we ought to be in all the troubles of life, and in the hour of death: Therefore we are, or ought to be, always confident (Co2 5:6), and again (Co2 5:8), We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body. True Christians, if they duly considered the prospect faith gives them of another world, and the good reasons of their hope of blessedness after death, would be comforted under the troubles of life, and supported in the hour of death: they should take courage, when they are encountering the last enemy, and be willing rather to die than live, when it is the will of God that they should put off this tabernacle. Note, As those who are born from above long to be there, so it is but being absent from the body, and we shall very soon be present with the Lord - but to die, and be with Christ - but to close our eyes to all things in this world, and we shall open them in a world of glory. Faith will be turned into sight.
III. He proceeds to deduce an inference to excite and quicken himself and others to duty, Co2 5:9-11. So it is that well-grounded hopes of heaven will be far from giving the least encouragement to sloth and sinful security; on the contrary, they should stir us up to use the greatest care and diligence in religion: Wherefore, or because we hope to be present with the Lord, we labour and take pains, Co2 5:9. Philotimoumetha - We are ambitious, and labour as industriously as the most ambitious men do to obtain what they aim at. Here observe, 1. What it was that the apostle was thus ambitious of - acceptance with God. We labour that, living and dying, whether present in the body or absent from the body, we may be accepted of him, the Lord (Co2 5:9), that we may please him who hath chosen us, that our great Lord may say to us, Well done. This they coveted as the greatest favour and the highest honour: it was the summit of their ambition. 2. What further quickening motives they had to excite their diligence, from the consideration of the judgment to come, Co2 5:10, Co2 5:11. There are many things relating to this great matter that should awe the best of men into the utmost care and diligence in religion; for example, the certainty of this judgment, for we must appear; the universality of it, for we must all appear; the great Judge before whose judgment-seat we must appear, the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself will appear in flaming fire; the recompence to be then received, for things done in the body, which will be very particular (unto every one), and very just, according to what we have done, whether good or bad. The apostle calls this awful judgment the terror of the Lord (Co2 5:11), and, by the consideration thereof, was excited to persuade men to repent, and live a holy life, that, when Christ shall appear terribly, they may appear before him comfortably. And, concerning his fidelity and diligence, he comfortably appeals unto God, and the consciences of those he wrote to: We are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For we know, that if our earthly house,.... By…
For we know, that if our earthly house,.... By this house is meant the body, so called from its being like a well built house, a curious piece of architecture; as an house consists of a variety of parts fitly framed and put together in just symmetry and proportion, and with an entire usefulness in all, so is the body of man; which shows the power and wisdom of God the architect: likewise, because it is the dwelling place of the soul, which makes it appear, that the soul is more excellent than the body, is independent of it, and capable of a separate existence from it: it is said to be an "earthly" house, because it is from the earth; is supported by earthly things; has its present abode on the earth, and will quickly return to it: and the earthly house of this tabernacle, in allusion to the tabernacles the patriarchs and Israelites of old dwelt in; or to the tents and tabernacles of soldiers, shepherds, travellers, and such like persons, which are soon put up and taken down, and removed from place to place; and denotes the frailty and short continuance of our mortal bodies. So Plato (z) calls the body , "an earthly tabernacle"; so the Jews were wont to call the body an house, and a "tabernacle":
"every man (they say (a)) has two houses, , "the house of the body", and the house of the soul; the one is the outward, the other the inward house.''
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So Abarbinel (b) paraphrases those words, Isa 18:4.
""I will consider in my dwelling place; I will return", or again consider in my dwelling place, which is the body, for that is , "the tabernacle of the soul".''
Now this tabernacle may, and will be, "dissolved", unpinned, and taken down; which does not design an annihilation of it, but a dissolution of its union with the soul, and its separation from it: and when the apostle puts an "if" upon it, it is not to be understood as though it is uncertain whether it would be dissolved or not, unless it be said with a view to the change that will be on living saints at Christ's second coming; but it is rather a concession of the matter, and may be rendered, "though the earthly house", &c. or it points out the time when the saints' future happiness shall begin, "when the earthly house", &c. and signifies that being in the body, in some sense, retards the enjoyment of it. Now it is the saints' comfort whilst they are in it, and in a view of the dissolution of it, that they
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens? which some understand of the glorified body upon its resurrection, as opposed to its frail, mortal, earthly frame in its present situation; though rather all this designs the happiness of the saints, which will be begun, and they shall immediately enter into, at the dissolution of their bodies, and will be consummated at the resurrection; which is all of God's building and preparing; not made by the hands of the creature; or obtained by works of righteousness done by men; and it lies in the heavens, and will continue for ever. So the (c) Jews speak of , "the holy house", in the world to come, and which they suppose is intended in Isa 56:5. In this the saints have a present interest; they have it already built and prepared for them; they have an indubitate right and title to it through the righteousness of Christ; they have it secured to them in Christ, their feoffee in trust, their head and representative; and they have the earnest of it, the Spirit of God in their hearts; of all which they have sure and certain knowledge: "for we know"; they are well assured of the truth of this from the promise of God, who cannot lie, from the declaration of the Gospel, the testimony of the Spirit, and the close and inseparable connection there is between the grace they have already received, and the glory that shall be hereafter.
(z) In Clement. Alexandr. Stromat. l. 5. p. 593. (a) Sepher Caphtor, fol. 38. 2. (b) Mashmia Jeshua, fol. 11. 4. (c) Zohar in Exod. fol. 34. 3. & 35. 3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Our earthly house - Which is only a tabernacle,…
Our earthly house - Which is only a tabernacle, or tent, not designed for a lasting habitation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The apostle's strong hope of eternal glory, and earnest
CHAPTER V.
The apostle's strong hope of eternal glory, and earnest
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longings after that state of blessedness, 1-4.
The assurance that he had of it from the Holy Spirit, and his
carefulness to be always found pleasing to the Lord, 5-9.
All must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 10.
Knowing that this awful event must take place, he laboured to
convince men of the necessity of being prepared to meet the
Lord, being influenced to this work by his love of Christ,
11-13.
Jesus Christ having died for all, is a proof that all were
dead, 14.
Those for whom he died should live to him, 15.
We should know no man after the flesh, 16.
They who are in Christ are new creatures, 17.
The glorious ministry of reconciliation, 18-21.
NOTES ON CHAP. V.
Verse 1. If our earthly house of this tabernacle] By earthly house, the apostle most evidently means the body in which the soul is represented as dwelling or sojourning for a time, and from which it is to be liberated at death; for as death dissolves the tabernacle, it can then be no habitation for the soul. The apostle also alludes here to the ancient Jewish tabernacle, which, on all removals of the congregation, was dissolved and taken in pieces; and the ark of the covenant, covered with its own curtains, was carried by itself; and when they came to the place of rest, then the dissolved parts of the tabernacle were put together as before. When we consider this simile in connection with the doctrine of the resurrection, which the apostle has treated so much at large in these epistles, and which he keeps constantly in view, then we shall see that he intends to convey the following meaning: that as the tabernacle was taken down in order to be again put together, so the body is to be dissolved, in order to be re-edified; that as the ark of the covenant subsisted by itself, while the tabernacle was down, so can the soul when separated from the body; that as the ark had then its own veil for its covering, Ex 40:21, so the soul is to have some vehicle in which it shall subsist till it receives its body at the resurrection.
A building of God] Some think this refers to a certain celestial vehicle with which God invests holy souls on their dismissal from the body; others suppose it relates to the resurrection body; and some imagine that it relates merely to the state of blessedness which the saints shall possess in the kingdom of glory. See the following note.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Co 5:1-4. For we know — We pursue, not…
2Co 5:1-4. For we know — We pursue, not seen, but unseen things, and do not faint in our work, because we know that if our earthly house — Which is only a tabernacle or tent, a mere temporary habitation; were dissolved — Were mouldered back to the dust out of which it was formed; or if our zeal in the service of the gospel should expose us to martyrdom, which should destroy it before its time; we have — And should immediately enjoy; a building of God — A building of which he is the great architect and donor; a house not made with mortal hands — Nor to be compared with the most magnificent structure which hands ever raised, exceeding them all in its lustre, as much as in its duration, though that duration be eternal in the heavens — Placed far above either violence or decay. “Whether we consider this divine building as particularly signifying the body after the resurrection, in which sense Whitby takes it; or any vehicle with which the soul may be clothed during the intermediate state, considerable difficulties will arise.” “I therefore,” says Doddridge, “am inclinable rather to take it in a more general view, as referring to the whole provision God has made for the future happiness of his people, and which Christ represents as his Father’s house, in which there are many mansions.” For in this — While we are in this state of suffering, or while our soul sojourns in this mortal body; we groan earnestly — Eagerly long for that future state, and the felicity of it, and grieve that we do not yet enjoy it; desiring to be clothed upon — That is, upon this body, which is now covered with flesh and blood; with our house which is from heaven — To enter the heavenly mansion which God hath provided for us. To be clothed upon with a house, is a very strong figure; which yet the apostle uses here and in 2Co 5:4, having in his thoughts the glory which each should wear, instead of being clothed, as now, with that mortal flesh which he calls a tabernacle, as it is so mean, inconvenient, and precarious an abode. If so be that being clothed — With the image of God, while we are in the body; we shall not be found naked — Of the wedding garment. He seems to allude to Gen 3:7; Exo 32:25; our natural turpitude of sin being a nakedness abominable to God. See 1Pe 5:5; Col 3:12, where the same metaphor of being clothed with divine graces is made use of. For we that are in this tabernacle — Who still dwell in these frail and corruptible tents; do groan, being burdened therewith. The apostle speaks with exact propriety, a burden naturally exciting groans: and we are here burdened with numberless afflictions, infirmities, and temptations. Not that we would be unclothed — Stripped of our bodies, for that is what we cannot consider as in itself desirable;.but rather, if it might be left to our choice, we would desire to pass into the immortal state without dying, or to be clothed upon with the heavenly glory, such as that which will invest the saints after the resurrection; that mortality, το θνητον, that which is mortal — Corruptible, and obnoxious to so many infirmities, disorders, burdens, and sorrows; might be swallowed up of life — As if it were annihilated by the divine power, which at the resurrection will exert itself in and upon us; namely, as the case was with Enoch and Elijah when they were translated, and as it shall be with the saints that are found alive at Christ’s second coming. The meaning of this and the following verses is evidently this; “That though it appeared most desirable of all to pass to future glory without dying, yet a state in which mortality should be swallowed up of life, was, at all events, desirable; and an absence from the body to be not only submitted to, but wished for, in a view of being so present with the Lord, as even in the intermediate state they expected to be.” — Doddridge.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For we know - We who are engaged in…
For we know - We who are engaged in the work of the gospel ministry. Paul is giving a reason why he and his fellow-laborers did not become weary and faint in their work. The reason was, that they knew that even if their body should die, they had an inheritance reserved for them in heaven. The expression “we know” is the language of strong and unwavering assurance. They had no doubt on the subject. And it proves that there may be the assurance of eternal life; or such evidence of acceptance with God as to leave no doubt of a final admission into heaven. This language was often used by the Saviour in reference to the truths which he taught Joh 3:11; Joh 4:22; and it is used by the sacred writers in regard to the truths which they recorded, and in regard to their own personal piety; Joh 21:24; 1Jo 2:3, 1Jo 2:5,1Jo 2:18; 1Jo 3:2, 1Jo 3:14, 1Jo 3:19, 1Jo 3:24; 1Jo 4:6, 1Jo 4:13; 1Jo 5:2, 1Jo 5:15, 1Jo 5:19-20.
That if our earthly house - The word “earthly” here (ἐπιγειος epigeios) stands opposed to “heavenly,” or to the house eternal (ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς en tois ouranois) in the heavens.” The word properly means “upon earth, terrestrial, belonging to the earth, or on the earth,” and is applied to bodies 1Co 15:40; to earthly things Joh 3:12; to earthly, or worldly wisdom, Jam 3:15. The word “house” here refers doubtless to the body, as the habitation, or the dwelling-place of the mind or soul. The soul dwells in it as we dwell in a house, or tent.
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Of this tabernacle - This word means a booth, or tent - a movable dwelling. The use of the word here is not a mere redundancy, but the idea which Paul designs to convey is, doubtless, that the body - the house of the soul - was not a permanent dwelling-place, but was of the same nature as a booth or tent, that was set up for a temporary purpose, or that was easily taken down in migrating from one place to another. It refers here to the body as the frail and temporary abode of the soul. It is not a permanent dwelling; a fixed habitation, but is liable to be taken down at any moment, and was suited up with that view. Tyndale renders it, “if our earthly mansion wherein we now dwell.” The Syriac renders it, “for we know that if our house on earth, which is our body, were dissolved.” The idea is a beautiful one, that the body is a mere unfixed, movable dwelling. place; liable to be taken down at any moment, and not designed, anymore than a tent is, to be a permanent habitation.
Were dissolved - (καταλυθῇ kataluthē). This word means properly to disunite the parts of anything; and is applied to the act of throwing down, or destroying a building. It is applied here to the body, regarded as a temporary dwelling that might be taken down, and it refers, doubtless, to the dissolution of the body in the grave. The idea is, that if this body should moulder back to dust, and be resolved into its original elements; or if by great zeal and, labor it should be exhausted and worn out. Language like this is used by Eliphaz, the Temanite, in describing the body of man. “How much less in those that dwell in houses of clay,” etc.; Job 4:19; compare 2Pe 1:13-14.
We have a building of God - Robinson (Lexicon) supposes that it refers to “the future spiritual body as the abode of the soul.” Some have supposed that it refers to some “celestial vehicle” with which God invests the soul during the intermediate state. But the Scripture is silent about any such celestial vehicle. It is not easy to tell what was the precise idea which Paul here designed to convey. Perhaps a few remarks may enable us to arrive at the meaning:
(1) It was not to be temporary; not a tent or tabernacle that could be taken down.
(2) It was to be eternal in the heavens.
(3) It was to be such as to constitute a dwelling; a clothing, or such a protection as should keep the soul from being “naked.”
(4) It was to be such as should constitute “life” in contradistinction from “mortality.” These things will better agree with the supposition of its referring to the future body of the saints than any thing else; and probably the idea of Paul is, that the body there will be incorruptible and immortal. When he says it is a “building of God” (ἐκ Θεοῦ ek Theou), he evidently means that it is made by God; that he is the architect of that future and eternal dwelling. Macknight and some others, however, understood this of the mansions which God has prepared for His people in heaven, and which the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for them; compare Joh 14:2. But see the note on 2Co 5:3.
An house - A dwelling; an abode; that is, according to the interpretation above, a celestial, pure, immortal body; a body that shall have God for its immediate author, and that shall be suited to dwell in heaven forever.
Not made with hands - Not constructed by man; a habitation not like those which are made by human skill, and which are therefore easily taken down or removed, but one that is made by God himself. This does not imply that the “earthly house” which is to be superseded by that in heaven is made with hands, but the idea is, that the earthly dwelling has things about it which resemble that which is made by man, or as if it were made with hands; that is it is temporary, frail, easily taken down or removed. But that which is in heaven is permanent, fixed, eternal, as if made by God.
Eternal in the heavens - Immortal; to live forever. The future body shall never be taken down or dissolved by death. It is eternal, of course, only in respect to the future, and not in respect to the past. And it is not only eternal, but it is to abide forever in the heavens - in the world of glory. It is never to be subjected to a dwelling on the earth; never to be in a world of sin, suffering, and death.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Of this habitation.[1] In the Greek, of this tabernacle;…
Of this habitation.[1] In the Greek, of this tabernacle; i.e. of the body. St. John Chrysostom take notice that a tabernacle, or tent, is not to dwell in for a long time, but only to lodge in for a while, as this life is short; but the building God has prepared for his elect in heaven, is for eternity. (Witham) --- But, although the hopes of possessing the eternal mansion consoles us interiorly, and supports us under the pressure of evil, the obligation we have of purchasing it, even at the expense of our lives, does not fail to afflict us. (Bible de Vence)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Habitationis, Greek: tou skenous.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain 2 Corinthians Chapter 5
2 Corinthians Chapter 5
What then is the effect of the possession of life in Christ as applied to death and judgment, the two natural objects of men’s fears, the fruit of sin? If our bodies are not yet transformed; and if that which is mortal is not yet swallowed up, we are equally full of confidence, because, being formed for glory, and Christ (who has manifested the victorious power that opened the path of heaven to Him) being our life, if we should leave this tabernacle and be absent from the body before we are clothed upon with the glory, this life remains untouched; it has already in Jesus triumphed over all these effects of the power of death. We should be present with the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by the sight of these excellent things. Therefore we prefer to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. For this reason we seek to be well-pleasing to Him, whether we are found absent from this body, or present in this body, when Christ shall come to take us to Himself and make us share His glory.
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And this leads on to the second point-judgment. For we must all be manifested before the tribunal of Christ, in order that each may receive according to that which he shall have done in the body, be it good or evil. A happy and precious thought, after all, solemn as it may be; for, if we have really understood grace, if we are standing in grace, if we know what God is, all love for us, all light for us, we shall like to be in the full light. It is a blessed deliverance to be in it. It is a burden, an encumbrance, to have anything concealed, and although we have had much sin in us that no one knows (perhaps even some that we have committed, and which it would be no profit for any one to know), it is a comfort-if we know the perfect love of God-that all should be in perfect light since He is there. This is the case by faith and for faith, wherever there is solid peace: we are before God as He is, and as we are-all sin in ourselves alas! except so far as He has wrought in us by quickening us; and He is all love in this light in which we are placed; for God is light, and He reveals Himself. Without the knowledge of grace, we fear the light: it cannot be otherwise. But knowing grace, knowing that sin has been put away as regards the glory of God, and that the offence is no longer before His eyes, we like to be in the light, it is joy to us, it is that which the heart needs, without which it cannot be satisfied, when there is the life of the new man. Its nature is to love the light, to love purity in all that perfection which does not admit the evil of darkness, which shuts out all that is not itself. Now to be thus in the light, and to be manifested, is the same thing, for the light makes everything manifest.
We are in the light by faith when the conscience is in the presence of God. We shall be according to the perfection of that light when we appear before the tribunal of Christ. I have said that it is a solemn thing-and so it is, for everything is judged according to that light; but it is that which the heart loves, because-thanks to our God!-we are light in Christ.
But there is more than this. When the Christian is thus manifested, he is already glorified, and, perfectly like Christ, has then no remains of the evil nature in which he sinned. And he now can look back at all the way God has led him in grace, helped, lifted up, kept from falling, not withdrawn His eyes from the righteous. He knows as he is known. What a tale of grace and mercy! If I look back now, my sins do not rest on my conscience; though I have horror of them, they are put away behind God’s back. I am the righteousness of God in Christ, but what a sense of love and patience, and goodness and grace! How much more perfect then, when all is before me! Surely there is great gain as to light and love, in giving an account of ourselves to God; and not a trace remains of the evil in us. We are like Christ. If a person fears to have all out thus before God, I do not believe he is free in soul as to righteousness-being the righteousness of God in Christ, not fully in the light. And we have not to be judged for anything: Christ has put it all away.
But there is another idea in the passage-retribution. The apostle does not speak of judgment on persons, because the saints are included, and Christ has stood in their place for all that regards the judgment of their persons: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” They do not come into judgment. But they shall be manifested before His tribunal, and receive that which they have done in the body. The good deserves nothing: they received that by which they have wrought what is good-grace produced it in them; nevertheless they shall receive its reward. What they have done is counted as their own act. If, by neglecting grace and the witness of the Spirit in them, the fruits which He would have produced have been turned aside, they will bear the consequences. It is not that, in this case, God will have forsaken them; it is not that the Holy Ghost will not act in them with regard to the condition they are in; but it will be in their conscience that He acts, judging the flesh which has prevented the man’s bearing the natural fruit of His presence and operation in the new man. So that the Holy Ghost will have done all that is necessary with respect to their state of heart; and the perfect counsel of God with regard to the person will have been accomplished, His patience manifested, His wisdom, His ways in governing, the care which He deigns to take of each one individually in His most condescending love. Each one will have his place, as it was prepared for him of the Father. But the natural fruit of the presence and operation of the Holy Ghost in a soul which has (or, according to the advantages it has enjoyed, ought to have had) a certain measure of light, will not have been produced. It will be seen what it was that prevented. It will judge, according to the judgment of God, all that was good and evil in itself, with a solemn reverence for that which God is, and a fervent adoration on account of what He has been for us. The perfect light will be appreciated; the ways of God known and understood in all their perfection, by the application of the perfect light to the whole course of our life and of His dealings with us, in which we shall thoroughly recognise that love-perfect, sovereign above all things-has reigned, with ineffable grace.
Thus the majesty of God will have been maintained by His judgment, at the same time that the perfection and tenderness of His dealings will be the eternal recollection of our souls. Light without cloud or darkness will be understood in its own perfection. To understand it is to be in it and to enjoy it. And light is God Himself. How wonderful to be thus manifested! What love is that which in its perfect wisdom, in its marvellous ways overruling all evil, could bring such beings as we are to enjoy this unclouded light-beings knowing good and evil (the natural prerogative of those only of whom God can say “one of us”), under the yoke of the evil which they knew, and driven out by a bad conscience from the presence of God, to whom that knowledge belonged, having testimony enough in their conscience as to the judgment of God, to make them avoid Him and be miserable, but nothing to draw them to Him who alone could find a remedy! What love and holy wisdom which could bring such to the source of good, of pure happiness, in whom the power of good repels absolutely the evil which it judges!
With regard to the unrighteous, at the judgment-day they will have to answer personally for their sins, under a responsibility which rests entirely on themselves.
However great the happiness of being in the perfect light (and this happiness is complete and divine in its character), it is on the side of conscience that the subject is here presented. God maintains His majesty by the judgment which He executes, as it is written, “The Lord is known by the judgment that he executeth”: there, in His government of the world; here, final, eternal, and personal judgment. And, for my part, I believe that it is very profitable for the soul to have the judgment of God present to our minds, and the sense of the unchangeable majesty of God maintained in the conscience by this means. If we were not under grace, it would be-it ought to be-insupportable; but the maintenance of this sentiment does not contradict grace. It is indeed only under grace that it can be maintained in its truth; for who otherwise could bear the thought, for an instant, of receiving that which he had done in the body? None but he who is completely blinded.
But the authority, the holy authority of God, which asserts itself in judgment, forms a part of our relationship with Him; the maintenance of this sentiment, associated with the full enjoyment of grace, a part of our holy spiritual affections. It is the fear of the Lord. It is in this sense, that “Happy is he who feareth always.” If this weakens the conviction that the love of God rests fully, eternally, upon us, then we get off the only possible ground of any relation whatever with God, unless perdition could be so called. But, in the sweet and peaceful atmosphere of grace, conscience maintains its rights and its authority against the subtle encroachments of the flesh, through the sense of God’s judgment, in virtue of a holiness which cannot be separated from the character of God without denying that there is a God: for if there is a God, He is holy. This sentiment engages the heart of the accepted believer, to endeavour to please the Lord in every way; and, in the sense of how solemn a thing it is for a sinner to appear before God, the love that necessarily accompanies it in a believer’s heart urges him to persuade men with a view to their salvation, while maintaining his own conscience in the light. And he who is now walking in the light, whose conscience reflects that light, will not fear it in the day when it shall appear in its glory. We must be manifested; but, walking in the light in the sense of the fear of God, realising His judgment of evil, we are already manifested to God: nothing hinders the sweet and assured flow of His love. Accordingly the walk of such a one justifies itself in the end to the consciences of others; one is manifested as walking in the light.
These are therefore the two great practical principles of the ministry: to walk in the light, in the sense of God’s solemn judgment for every one; and, the conscience being thus pure in the light, the sense of the judgment (which in this case cannot trouble the soul for itself, or obscure its view of the love of God) impels the heart to seek in love those who are in danger of this judgment. This connects itself with the doctrine of Christ, the Saviour, through His death upon the cross; and the love of Christ constrains us, because we see that, if one died for all, it is that all were dead. This was the universal condition of souls. The apostle seeks them in order that they may live unto God by Christ. But this goes farther. First, as regards fallen man’s lot, death is gain. The saint, if absent from the body, is present with the Lord. As to judgment, he owns the solemnity of it, but it does not make him tremble. He is in Christ-will be like Christ; and Christ, before whom he is to appear, has put away all the sins he had to be judged for. The effect is the sanctifying one of bringing him fully manifested into the presence of God now. But it stimulates his love as to others, nor is it only by fear of judgment to come for them; Christ’s love constrains him-love manifested in death. But this proves more than the acts of sin which bring judgment: Christ died because all were dead. The Spirit of God goes to the source and spring of their whole condition, their state, not merely the fruits of an evil nature-all were dead. We find the same important instruction in Joh 5:24, “He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment [that which applies to sins], but is passed from death unto life”; he has come out of the whole state and condition, as an already lost one, into another and different one in Christ. This is a very important aspect of the truth. And the distinction, largely developed in Romans, is found in many passages.
The work of manifestation before God in the light is already true, in so far as we have realised the light. Cannot I, being now in peace, look back at what I was before conversion, and at all my failures since my conversion, humbled but adoring the grace of God in all He has done for me, but without a thought of fear, or imputation of sin? Does not this awaken a very deep sense of all that God is in holy grace and love, in unbounded patience towards me, both keeping and helping and restoring? Such will be the case perfectly when we are manifested, when we shall know as we are known.
That this point may be still more clear, for it is an important one, let me add some further observations here. What we find in this passage is the perfect manifestation of all that a person is and has been before a throne characterised by judgment, without judgment as to the person in question being guilty. No doubt when the wicked receives the things done in the body, he is condemned. But it is not said “judged” here, because all then must be condemned. But this manifestation is exactly what brings all morally before the heart, when it is capable of judging evil for itself: were it under judgment, it could not. Freed from all fear, and in the perfect light and with the comfort of perfect love (for where we have the conscience of sin, and of its not being imputed, we have the sense, though in a humbling way, of perfect love), and at the same time the sense of authority and divine government fully made good in the soul, all is judged by the soul itself as God judges it, and communion with Himself entered into. This is exceedingly precious.
We have to remember that, at our appearing before the judgment-seat of Christ, we are already glorified. Christ has come Himself in perfect love to fetch us; and has changed our vile body according to the resemblance of His glorious body. We are glorified and like Christ before the judgment takes place. And mark the effect on Paul. Does the thought of being manifested awaken anxiety or dread? Not the least. He realises all the solemnity of such a process. He knows the terror of the Lord; he has it before his eyes; and what is the consequence? He sets about to persuade others who are in need of it.
There are, so to speak, two parts in God’s nature and character: His righteousness, which judges everything; and His perfect love. These are one for us in Christ, ours in Christ. If indeed we realise what God is, both will have their place: but the believer in Christ is the righteousness which God, from His very nature, must have before Him on His throne, if we are to be with Him and enjoy Him. But the Christ, in the judgment-seat, before whom we are, is our righteousness. He judges by the righteousness which He is; but we are that righteousness, the righteousness of God in Him. Hence this point can raise no question in the soul, will make us adore such grace, but can raise no question, only enhance the sense we have of grace ourselves, make us understand it, as suited to man as he is, and feel the solemn and awful consequences of not having part in it, since there is such a judgment. Hence that other and indeed essential part of the divine nature, love, will work in us towards others; and, knowing the terror of the Lord, we shall persuade men. Thus Paul (it is conscience in view of that most solemn moment) possessed the righteousness which he saw in the Judge, for that which judged was His righteousness; but then he consequently seeks others earnestly, according to the work which had thus brought him near to God, to which he then turns (2Co 5:13-14). But this view of judgment and our complete manifestation in that day, has a present effect on the saint according to its own nature. He realises it by faith. He is manifested. He does not fear being manifested. It will unfold all God’s past ways towards him when he is in glory; but he is manifested now to God, his conscience exercised in the light. It has thus a present sanctifying power.
Observe here the assemblage of powerful motives, of pre-eminently important principles; contradictory in appearance, but which, to a soul which walks in light, instead of clashing and destroying each other, unite to give its complete and thoroughly furnished character to the Christian minister and ministry.
First of all, the glory, in such a power of life, that he who realises it does not desire death, because he sees in the power of life in Christ that which can absorb whatever in him is mortal, and he sees it with the certainty of enjoying it-such a consciousness of possessing this life (God having formed him for it, and given him the earnest of the Spirit), that death if it arrive to him is but a happy absence from the body in order to be present with the Lord.
Now the thought of ascending to Christ gives the desire of being acceptable to Him, and presents Him (the second motive or principle that gives a form to this ministry) as the Judge who will render to every one that which he has done. The solemn thought of how much this judgment is to be feared takes possession of the apostle’s heart. What a difference between this thought and the “building of God,” for which he was waiting with certainty! Nevertheless this thought does not alarm him; but, in the solemn sense of the reality of that judgment, it impels him to persuade others.
But here a third principle comes in, the love of Christ with reference to the condition of those whom Paul sought to persuade. Since this love of Christ’s shews itself in His death, there is in it the witness that all were already dead and lost.
Thus we have here set before us glory, with the personal certainty of enjoying it, and death become the means of being present with the Lord; the tribunal of Christ, and the necessity of being manifested before it; and the love of Christ in His death, all being already dead. How are such diverse principles as these to be reconciled and arranged in the heart? It is that the apostle was manifested to God. Hence the thought of being manifested before the tribunal produced, along with the present sanctification, no other effect on him than that of solemnity, for he was not to come into judgment; but it became an urgent motive for preaching to others, according to the love which Christ had manifested in His death. The idea of the tribunal did not in the least weaken his certainty of glory. [5] His soul, in the full light of God, reflected what was in that light, namely, the glory of Christ ascended on high as man. And the love of this same Jesus was strengthened in its active operation in him by the sense of the tribunal which awaits all men.
What a marvellous combination of motives we find in this passage, to form a ministry characterised by the development of all that in which God reveals Himself, and by which He acts on the heart and conscience of man! And it is in a pure conscience that these things can have their force together. If the conscience were not pure, the tribunal would obscure the glory, at least as belonging to oneself, and weaken the sense of His love. At any rate one would be occupied with self in connection with these things, and ought to be so. But when pure before God, it only sees a tribunal which excites no sense of personal uneasiness, and therefore has all its true moral effect, as an additional motive for seriousness in our walk, and a solemn energy in the appeal which the known love of Jesus impels it to address to man.
As to how far our own relations with God enter into the service which we have to render to others, the apostle adds another thing that characterised his walk, and that was the result of the death and resurrection of Christ. He lived in an entirely new sphere, in a new creation, which had left behind, as in another world, all that belonged to a natural existence in the flesh here below. The proof that Christ had died for all proved that all were dead; and that He died for all in order that those who live should live no longer to themselves but to Him who died for them and rose again. They are in connection with this new order of things in which Christ exists as risen. Death is on everything else. Everything is shut up under death. If I live, I live in a new order of things, in a new creation, of which Christ is the type and the head. Christ, so far as in connection with this world below, is dead. He might have been known as the Messiah, living on the earth, and in connection with promises made to men living on the earth in the flesh. The apostle no longer knew Him thus. In fact Christ, as bearing that character, was dead; and now, being risen, He has taken a new and a heavenly character.
Therefore if any one is in Christ, he belongs to this new creation, he is of the new creation. He belongs no more at all to the former; the old things have passed away; all things are I become new. The system is not the fruit of human nature and of sin, like all that surrounds us here below, according to the I flesh. Already, looked at as a system existing morally before God, in this new creation, all things are of God. All that is found in it is of God, of Him who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. We live in an order of things, a world, a new creation, entirely of God. We are there in peace, because God, who is its centre and its source, has reconciled us to Himself. We enjoy it, because we are new creatures in Christ; and everything in this new world is of Him, and corresponds with that new nature. He had also committed to the apostle a ministry of reconciliation, according to the order of things into which he had been himself introduced. Being reconciled, and knowing it by the revelation of God who had accomplished it for him, he proclaimed a reconciliation, the effect of which he was enjoying .
All this flowed from an immense and all-powerful truth. God was in Christ. But then, in order that others might have a part with him, and the apostle be the minister of this, it was also necessary that Christ should be made sin for us. One of these truths presents the character in which God has drawn nigh to us, the other, the efficacy of that which has been wrought for the believer.
Here is the first of these truths, in connection with the apostle’s ministry, which form the subject of these chapters. God was in Christ (that is to say, when Christ was on earth). The day of judgment had not been waited for. God had come down in love into the world alienated from Him. Such was Christ. Three things were connected with and characterised this great and essential truth: reconciling the world, not imputing transgression, and putting the word of reconciliation into the apostle. As the result of this third consequence of the incarnation, the apostle assumes the character of ambassador for Christ, as though God exhorted by his means, he besought men, in the name of Christ, to be reconciled to God. But such an embassy supposed the absence of Christ; His ambassador acted in His stead. It was in fact based upon another truth of immeasurable importance, namely, that God had made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, in order that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him. This was the true way to reconcile us, and that entirely, to God, according to the perfection of God fully revealed. For He had set His love upon us where we were, giving His Son, who was without spot or motion or principle of sin; and making Him (for He offered Himself to accomplish the will of God) sin for us, in order to make us in Him-who in that condition had perfectly glorified Him-the expression of His divine righteousness, before the heavenly principalities through all eternity; to make us His delight, as regards righteousness; “that we should be the righteousness of God in him.” Man has no righteousness for God: God has made the saints, in Jesus, His righteousness. It is in us that this divine righteousness is seen fully verified-of course in Christ first, in setting Him at His right hand, and in us as in Him. Marvellous truth! which, if its results in us cause thanksgiving and praise to resound when looking at Jesus, silences the heart, and bows it down in adoration, astonished at the sight of His wonderful acts in grace. [6]
Footnotes for 2 Corinthians Chapter 5
5: The truth is, the judgment-seat is what most brings out our assurance before God; for as He is, so are we in this world; and it is when Christ shall appear we shall be like Him.
6: It should be observed that, in2 Corinthians 5:20, the word “you” ought to be omitted. It was the way in which the apostle fulfilled his ministry to the world.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. For—In accordance with the glorious truths stated 2Co_4:17-18.
1. For—In accordance with the glorious truths stated 2Co_4:17-18.
Know—The spirit of faith, 2Co_4:13, is again (as in 2Co_4:14) a know. We say know of very different degrees of certainty. Most men think that seeing—for instance, a material object, a marble pillar, or an iron statue—is the strongest possible knowing. But the unseen laws of nature, as every philosopher understands, are objects of as certain knowing as any lump of matter whatever.
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Earthly house—What in 2Co_4:7 was earthly vessel, is now earthly house. It is an ancient and beautiful conception that our body is a house, and the soul is its resident. This conception is so universal, and so consonant with the feeling of our consciousness, that materialism is rejected by the best impulses of our nature.
House of… tabernacle—The this supplied by the translators may be omitted, and the phrase then would be equivalent to a house of tabernacle, a tabernacle residence. Paul’s expectation was, that the new body would be, in glory, very much what the temple was to the old tabernacle.
Dissolved—Gone to pieces.
We have—Not (as Meyer, Alford, Stanley, and others) we will have at death, but we now have in reversion, to be received at the resurrection. So, in 2Ti_4:8, St. Paul says, “There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.” The new house, like the crown, he has now in heaven; not that he believes that his resurrection body now literally exists in heaven, any more than he believed that there was a physical crown for him in heaven. Both crown and house are merely conceptional images. The house in heaven is the over-vestment of immortality, the glorifying formative power, or mould, which is to model the resurrection body to the image of Christ, who is the image of God, just as the “crown” is the glory of the glorified.
A house—A more dignified Greek word than that for house in 2Co_5:1—an edifice.
Not… with hands—It is, indeed, true, that our first bodies are also formed without hands, but Paul speaks not in comparison with former bodies, but with other edifices, which are hand-built.
Eternal—Note 2Co_4:18.
In the heavens—Opposed to earthly in 2Co_5:1. It may mean that the conceptual edifice is now in heaven, or will be after resurrection. We prefer the latter meaning from the position of the clause after eternal.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. 2Co_5:1. For we know] This verse gives the…
Ch. 2Co_5:1. For we know] This verse gives the reason for what has gone before. ‘We are consoled in our present afflictions, sustained in our hope of future glory, supported in our conviction that what is visible is speedily to be replaced by what is eternal, by the knowledge, spiritually acquired, that God has prepared a spiritual body (1Co_15:44) to replace the present frail and temporary habitation of the soul.’ Calvin remarks that this with St Paul is not a matter of opinion or belief, but of actual knowledge, a boast which no heathen dare have made.
our earthly house of this tabernacle] Earthly, not earthy. That which exists upon the earth, not what is made of earth. Compare 1Co_15:40; 1Co_15:47. See also Joh_3:12; Php_2:10. House of this tabernacle is better rendered tabernacle-house. The Hebraistic genitive is “to define the nature of the house” (Stanley), i.e. as temporary, a tent or tabernacle as opposed to a permanent dwelling. Stanley suggests our English word tenement as best expressing the idea of the original, and supposes the Greek word to have been suggested to St Paul by his Cilician house, as well as by his occupation of tent-making, Act_18:3. A similar expression is found in 2Pe_1:13, and in Wis_9:15.
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were dissolved] or, perhaps, were destroyed. Cf. Mat_5:17; Mat_24:2; Mat_26:61; Gal_2:18, where the same Greek word is used.
we have a building of God] i.e. a building originating with God. The present tense signifies either (1) that it awaits us “the moment our present house is destroyed” (Stanley), or (2) that it exists now in the eternal purpose of God. See next note but one.
a house not made with hand] So the earlier copies of the Authorized Version. The later—the innovation seems to have been made about 1661—have ‘hands,’ which is less correct. “Not as contrasted with the earthly body, which is also ‘not made with hand,’ but with other houses which are made with hand.” Alford. The expression is used to mark the Divine origin of the spiritual body.
in the heavens] These words should be joined with ‘we have,’ not as is usually done with ‘eternal.’ There is a difficulty here. The new body is said in 1Co_15:52; Php_3:21; 1Th_4:15-17 to be given us at the coming of Christ. The condition of the believer between death and the judgment is represented as a sleep. The explanation is that we possess our future body already in the mind and will of God. So the Hebrew prophets frequently speak of a future event as’ past, because it is already decreed in the providence of God. We are in said to ‘have it in the heavens’ because its organization and communication to us are not natural, but heavenly and spiritual.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) For we know that if our earthly house…
V.
(1) For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved.—Better, be broken up, as more in harmony with the image of the tent. The words that follow give the secret of his calmness and courage in the midst of sufferings. He looks beyond them. A new train of imagery begins to rise in his mind: linked, perhaps, to that of the preceding chapter by the idea of the tabernacle; in part, perhaps, suggested by his own occupation as a tentmaker. His daily work was to him as a parable, and as his hands were making the temporary shelter for those who were travellers on earth, he thought of the house “not made with hands,” eternal in the heavens. The comparison of the body to the house or dwelling-place of the Spirit was, of course, natural, and common enough, and, it may be noted, was common among the Greek medical writers (as, e.g., in Hippocrates, with whom St. Luke must have been familiar). The modification introduced by the idea of the “tent” emphasises the transitory character of the habitation. “What if the tent be broken up?” He, the true inward man, who dwells in the tent will find a more permanent, an eternal, home in heaven: a house which comes from God. What follows shows that he is thinking of that spiritual body of which he had said such glorious things in 1Co_15:42-49.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Continuation of the topic that hope is the chief…
Continuation of the topic that hope is the chief support of the preacher of the gospel (vers. 1-10). Their self-sacrifice in preaching the gospel of reconciliation (vers. 11-21).
Vers. 1-10. The hope of the future rife is the great support of our efforts.
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For. A further explanation of the hope expressed in 2Co_4:17. We know. This accent of certainty is found only in the Christian writers. Our earthly house. Not the "house of clay", (Job_4:19) but the house which serves us as the home of our souls on earth; as 1Co_15:40. Of this tabernacle; literally, the house of the tent; i.e. the tent of our mortality, the mortal body. In 2Pe_1:13, 14 it is called skenoma, and the expression, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,"is literally, "he tabernacled among us he wore "a tent like ours and of the same material." The figure would be specially natural to one whose occupation was that of a tentmaker. Compare
Here in the body pent, Afar from him I roam, But nightly pitch my wandering tent A day"s march nearer home.
A very, similar expression occurs in RAPC Wis 9:15, The earthly tabernacle (gewdev skhnov) weigheth down the mind." Be dissolved; rather, be taken to pieces. A building. Something more substantial than that moving tenement. Of God; literally, from God; namely, not one of the "many mansions" spoken of in Joh_14:2, but the resurrection body furnished to us by him. We have this building from God, for it exists now, and shall be ours at the same time that our tent home is done away with. Not made with hands. Not like those tent dwellings at which St. Paul was daily toiling with the hands which ministered to his own necessities. In the heavens . To be joined with "we have." Heaven is our general home and country, (Heb_11:16) but the present allusion is to the glorified bodies in which our souls shall live in heaven. (comp. 1Co_15:42-49)
Vers. 1-7.
Christian knowledge concerning the future body of the good.
we know that if our earthly house," etc. Two things are to be noticed at the outset.
1. Metaphorical representations of the body. The body is here spoken of under the figure of a "tabernacle" or a tent, and of a vestment or clothing. These two things would not be so distinct in the mind of the apostle as they are in ours, for both had the same qualities of movableness and protection. The "house" to which the apostle refers was not a building of bricks or stone, a superstructure that would be stationary, but a mere tent to be carried about.
2. The implied necessity of the body. Paul"s language implies that the body is a clothing or protection. As a clothing, or protection, for the soul it is necessary, both here and in the other world. The soul must have an organ wherever it is. Now what does the Christian know concerning the future body?
I He knows it will be BETTER THAN THE PRESENT.
1. It will be directly Divine. "A building of God." The present body is fromGod, but it comes from him through secondary instrumentalities. The future body will come direct, it will not be transmitted from sire to son.
2. It will be fitted for a higher sphere. "In the heavens." The present bodyis fitted for the earthly sphere, it is of the "earth, earthy." The future will be fitted for the more ethereal, and celestial.
3. It will be more enduring. "Eternal." This body is like the tent,temporary; it has no firm foundation; it is shaken by every gust. We "perish before the moth." The future body will be eternal, free from the elements of decay.
4. It will be more enjoyable. "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to beclothed upon with our house which is from heaven," etc. In this body we "groan, being burdened." To what pains and diseases is the present body subject! By implication the apostle states the future body will be free from all this, for all that is mortal will be "swallowed up of life." In that body there will be no groaning, no sighs or sorrows, no burden, no weight to depress the energies or to impede progress. The future body will be more fitted to receive the high things of God, and more fitted to communicate them also.
II He knows he is now BEING DIVINELY FITTED FOR THE BETTER BODY OF THE FUTURE. "Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." Every seed has its own body; it is the seed that makes the body; the organization does not produce the life, but the life the organization. And this spiritual life in man God is now preparing to pass into a higher body. Just as the chrysalis is being fitted to struggle into an organization with higher appetencies, more exquisite in form, and with faculties that shall bear it into mid-heaven. When will you have this body? When your soul has the life energy to produce it.
HOMILIES BY C. LIPSCOMB Vers. 1-10.
Assurance of eternal life; faith and its effects.
Death intervenes between the present state of affliction and the glory of heaven, but death is only the destruction of the body now existing. It is not an end to bodily form and life. This is no speculation of the apostle"s; it is an assurance, "for we know" that if this earthly tent be destroyed, it will be followed by an enduring habitation a mansion, not a tabernacle. In the earthly body he groans, not because it is a body, but because it is flesh and blood suffering under the effects of sin, and hence he longs for the "house which is from heaven." It is a heaven for body as well as soul that he so ardently desires. To be bodiless even in glory is repulsive to his nature, since it would be nakedness. Death is repugnant. The separation of soul and body, however, is only temporary; it is not for unclothing, but for a better clothing, one suited to the capacities of spirit. If the fourth verse repeats the second verse, it enlarges the idea and qualifies it by stating the reason why he would be "clothed upon," viz. "that mortality might be swallowed up of life." And this longing is no mere instinct or natural desire, but a feeling inspired of God, who "hath wrought us for the selfsame thing." A Divine preparation was going on in this provisional tabernacle a training of the spirit for the vision of Christ and a training of the body for the immortal companionship of the spirit. An "earnest" or pledge of this was already in possession. The sufferings sanctified by the Spirit, the longing, the animation of hope, were so many proofs and tokens of awaiting blessedness. How could he be otherwise than confident? Yea; he is always confident." Though now confined to the body, yet it is a home that admits of affections and loving fellowships; and though it necessitates absence from the Lord and the house of "many mansions," nevertheless it is a home illumined by faith. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." The home is in the midst of visible objects that exercise our sense of sight, but our Christian walk, or movement from one world to another, is not directed by the eye, but by faith, the sense of the invisible. We know what are the functions of the eye. If we did not, the antithesis would convey no meaning. The eye receives impressions from external things, communicates them to the soul, is a main organ in developing thought and feeling, acts on the imagination and the will, and is continually adding something to the contents of the inward nature. Faith is like it as a medium of reception, unlike it in all else. Faith is not conversant with appearances. We do not see Christ in his glory; we see him (using the term figuratively) in his Word by means of the Spirit; and this seeing is faith. How do we know when we have faith? It attests itself in our capacity to see the path leading to eternal glory, and it enables us to walk therein. The path is from one home to another from the home on the footstool to the home by the throne of Christ, and faith has the reality and vigour of a home sentiment. So strong and assuring is St. Paul"s confidence that he prefers to depart and be with Christ. "At home in the body;" yes, but it is a sad home at best, and trial and affliction had begun to make it dreary to him. To die is to be with the Lord, and he was "willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Whether absent or present, at home or away from home, we labour that we "may be accepted of him." To make himself and his life acceptable to Christ was paramount to every other desire; to labour was his absorbing thought. Such an energetic soul as his must have felt that its energies were immortal. There was no selfishness in his hope of heaven, no longing to be freed from work, no yearning for the luxury of mere rest. It was to be with Christ, for Christ was his heaven. If this was his confidence, if he was labouring untiringly to be acceptable to the Lord Jesus, was he understood and appreciated as Christ"s apostle and servant among men? The burden of life was not the work he did, but the obstacles thrown in his way the slanders he had to bear, the persecutions open and secret that followed him everywhere. He thinks of the "judgment seat of Christ." It will be a judicial inquiry into works done and "every one" shall "receive "receive back" the things done in his body." Measure for measure, whatsoever has been done hero shall return to every one. The individuality of the judgment, the complete unveiling of personal character, the correspondence between the reward and the good done on earth and between the retribution and the evil done here, he brings out distinctly. This was with him a fixed habit of thought. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." How near the two worlds are the growing field here, the harvest in another existence hereafter! But observe another idea. "We must all appear," we must be made manifest, every one shown in his true character. Not only will there be recompense as a judicial procedure, but a revelation "in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." St. Paul had vindicated himself again and again from the charges made against him; but the battle was now going on, nor was there any sign of its speedy abatement. It was natural that he should have the idea of manifestation prominent in his mind, since we all think of the future world very much according to some peculiarity in our experience on earth. How engrossed, heart and soul, in his apostleship is beautifully indicated by the fact that heaven itself was the heaven of St. Paul as the apostle of Christ. The sufferings of the man are never mentioned. First and last, we have the autobiography of an apostle, and hence, looking forward to the glory to be revealed, the supreme felicity is that he will appear in his true character as the Lord"s servant. L.
HOMILIES BY E. HURNDALL
Vers. 1-9.
The two bodies of the saint.
I THE BODY THAT NOW IS.
1. Frail.
2. Perishing.
3. Often a burden.
4. Frequently a temptation.
5. Not helpful to spiritual life.
6. Subject to many pains.
7. Debased.
II THE BODY THAT SHALL BE.
1. Eternal. (Ver. 1.) Having no tendencies towards decay, no marks of coming death. A body of life. Stamped with the eternalness of God.
2. Heavenly. (Ver. 1.) The first body is of the earth, earthy; the second body is spiritual and heavenly in origin and character. Capable of heavenly joys. Fitted for heavenly service. Free from earthly weaknesses, pains, and soil.
3. From God. (Ver. 1.) The present body is this in a certain sense, but it has passed through the hands of the devil. The resurrection body shall be of God and only of God, his unmarred workmanship. It shall be like the glorified body united to Deity in the person of Jesus Christ: "Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory". (Php_3:21)
III THE SAINT"S CONDITION WHILST IN THE EARTHLY BODY. Frequently a condition of sorrow. "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened" (ver. 4). There are
(1) the ordinary afflictions which befall mankind;
(2) the special chastisements of God inflicted for the saint"s welfare, but still painful;
(3) the sense of living in a strange country, not in his own uncongenial surroundings;
(4) struggles against temptations: the presence and power of hated sin.
IV THE SAINT"S ASSURANCE OF THE HEAVENLY BODY.
1. Revelation.
2. Preparation. "He that wrought us for this very thing" (ver. 5).
3. The Spirits witness. We have the earnest of the Spirit, which is a pledge of the fulness of the Spirit (ver. 5). In the next life we shall be dominated by the Spirit; shall have a spiritual body one pervaded by the Spirit. The apostle"s confidence is strong; he says, "We know; " there was no uncertainty about the matter.
V THE SAINT"S LONGING FOR THE HEAVENLY BODY. The desire is very intense especially when the lot is hard and the nature spiritual. "We groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven" (ver. 2). The paramount attraction is, however, not in the body itself, but. in the fact that the union with Christ will be closer. We shall be present with the Lordat home with the Lord (ver. 8). Now we walk by faith; then we shall see him as he is, and be like him. The gaining of the heavenly body will be the gain of closer access to our Lord, and will be the entering into our heavenly home, out of which we shall go no more forever.
VI THE SAINT"S DESIRE FOR A SPEEDY CHANGE FROM ONE BODY TO THE OTHER. (Ver. 4.)
1. The intermediate state between death and the resurrection will probablynot be so perfect as that which follows.
2. There is a natural shrinking from death. "Not for that we would beunclothed, but that we would be clothed upon" (ver. 4). The apostle seems to desire what is expressed in 1Th_4:17 a translation, not death and tarrying for the resurrection.
VII THE SAINT"S RESOLUTION WHETHER IN THE EARTHLY OR HEAVENLY BODY. To please Christ. This the apostle made his "aim" (ver. 9). This was his supreme ambition. He resolved to live, not to himself, but to Christ and for Christ. Note, that the life for the heavenly and earthly body is to be the same. We must do now what we hope to do by and by. Heavenly life in the earthly body is the preparation for the heavenly life in the heavenly body. H.
HOMILIES BY D. FRASER Ver. 1.
The tent and the house.
I THE CONTRAST EXPLAINED. The foundation of this passage is to be found in 2Co_4:18, where a contrast is drawn between "the things seen," viz. the toils and afflictions endured in the service of Christ, and "the things not yet seen," viz. the joys of resting in Christ from present labours and of receiving from him approval and reward. Pursuing this train of thought, St. Paul writes, "We are here in a tent upon the earth, surrounded, affected, and limited by the things which are seen. But this tent will be struck, to be set up no more. The things which are seen are temporal. The present conditions of our life of toil and suffering will cease, and we shall enter a house of everlasting habitation." The apostle mixes together the figures of a dwelling in which we reside and that of a garment with which we are clothed. It was not an unnatural combination of metaphors; for the haircloth tents with which Paul was familiar, and which his own hands had made, suggested almost equally the idea of a dwelling and that of a vesture. The tent is to be taken down, the clothing to be removed. The present condition of labour and trial will come to an end. What then? Things not yet seen; a building from God; a new condition of life and order of things which will be permanent. Hands of men have not provided it and cannot destroy it. It is a house where nothing fades, nothing falls to ruin, nothing decays or dies a house eternal in the heavens.
II THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF THE FUTURE. It was St. Paul"s habit to regard the state after death and the state after resurrection as from one angle of vision, and to describe them together. Probably he had no idea of the long interval which was to extend through all the Christian centuries. In his first letter to the Corinthians he had said, "We shall not all sleep," as though some of that generation might not see death. But now the feebleness of his body was as "a sentence of death" in himself. He expected and even wished to die; and yet his thoughts never paused on death or even on the rest of the departed, but rushed past death to the coming of Christ and the glory to be revealed. There is a real and obvious distinction between the post-decease and the post-resurrection state; but let us not overdo distinctions between conditions of blessedness which to an apostle"s eye were so intimately blended. If some of the things which belong to the ultimate state are supposed by any to belong to the proximate, no great harm is done. The future is not mapped out with the precision of a chart. It is not for definite knowledge, but for hope. St. Paul, as we have said, never paused on death, took no pleasure in the thought of being "unclothed." At the resurrection he would be clothed with a body of incorruption and immortality. Nay; before that great day of triumph over death, he knew that he would be well clothed or guarded. He would be in God"s building, "clothed upon" with the house which is from heaven.
III THE MOOD OF MIND THAT WISHES FOR DEATH. St. Paul wrote this in dejection of spirit. To his sickness, which had much enfeebled him, was added at that time much anxiety about the condition of the Churches in Greece and their feelings toward himself. So his heart, as tender and sensitive as it was ardent and brave, was bruised and weary; and he fell a-thinking of death as welcome. Let the outward man perish; let the earthen vessel break; let the weary spirit escape and be at rest. A mood this into which, at one time or other, many Christians tall; but it should not be elevated into a pattern or rule, as though it were the duty of every Christian to long and sigh for death. Our holy faith requires nothing so unnatural. They who are in health and well employed ought to make the most of life to value and not despise it. Enough that they do not forget death; andthey need not fear it if they live well. We must do Paul the justice to acknowledge that there was nothing peevish or impatient in his mood. So long as there was service for him to render to the Church on earth, he was willing to abide in the flesh and to endure any toil or suffering in order to finish his course. But the mood that was on him led him to long for the finish, when he might leave the little horsehair tent on earth and be at home in God"s building in the heavens. F.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1.
Our permanent building.
Taking the apostle"s words in a general way, and not confining them to the precise topic which he has under consideration, we are taught by them that, regarding all our present things as but shadows and symbols, we need not trouble ourselves overmuch about their changing forms, or even about their passing away. All our heart and all our efforts should go out in the endeavour to bring nearer, and make clearer and fuller, the sense of our dwelling in, breathing in, working in, the unseen, the spiritual, the eternal. Our sphere is God. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." The real is the unseen. The stable and lasting is the eternal. And this view of things alone can put us in right relations with the body, and set us upon the right use of things seen and temporal. Whenever we are brought lace to face with any passing, dissolving, removing, earthly thing, then God seems to call us, saying, "Remember the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Take for illustration
I THE TENT AND THE HOUSE. No figure could be more appropriate than this for the apostle, who gained his living as a tentmaker, and was familiar with its material, its construction, and its use. We can well imagine how, as he wrought, either at weaving the rough Cilician cloth, or at sewing together the various lengths, and the holes for the poles and ropes, he would meditate on the frailty of the tent which he was thus making, contrasting it with the stable marble and stone mansions found in such cities as Corinth. In his day tents were chiefly made for travellers; for those who journeyed from place to place, either for business or for pleasure, in districts where accommodation at inns could not be found. They had their settled homes in the great cities, and they went forth on their travels with quiet hearts, because of the cherished feeling that they had a home. They used the tent awhile, camping out in the open country; but if the wild storm did come, and even lift and carry away the tent; if the midnight robber did overthrow it, and seize the spoil, the traveller might bear the hardship and the loss, in pleasant confidence that he had a home. If the worst came, it could be but the shadow of his home passing away; in yonder city stood his secure dwelling.
II THE DOCTRINE AND THE TRUTH. For doctrine is like the frail tent, and truth is like the granite mansion that outlasts the passing ages. We cannot be too thankful for the forms in which sacred truth is conveyed to us, unfolded before us, or impressed upon us. We bless God for all holy and helpful words, full of tender and dear associations; words of simple catechism for our childhood"s weakness; words of formal doctrine fashioned to help us when, in our youth time, we tried to get personal hold of mysterious and many-sided truth. Let no man despise the doctrines which, like tents, have often given us their shelter and their help. And yet they are only like "earthly houses of this tabernacle." Truth is the "building of God, the house not made with hands," wherein alone human souls may find quietness from controversy or from fears. Doctrines are only symbols and shadows, the human representations of the Divine and eternal things, the unspeakable realities which yet our souls may apprehend. Within, behind, above, around, the doctrine ever dwells the truth; and, at first, we are very dependent on the forms which it gains for mortal eyes and ears and minds; but, as the soul grows, and gains its vision, its hearing, and its touch, we get loosened from our dependence on the forms, we can calmly see them change and pass. Resting in the stable house of truth, we calmly look on all transitory forms, even of doctrine, and say, "We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
III NATURE AND GOD. Nature, the world of things seen the firmament, golden-glowing, cloud-shaded, and star-sprinkled; earth, with its vales, and hills, and flowers, and trees; the great and wide sea is in a very serious sense God. It is God manifest to our senses. Behind what is called pantheism there is a deeply poetical and spiritual truth, Nature is God seen; God in toned picture for mortal eyes to see; God, if we may so say, in photograph. Earth is the plate which has caught all that human eyes may see of the figure of God. Nature is the tent symbol of the eternal house. The Jew called his mountains "the hills of God," because they brought to him the sense of the highness and almightiness of God. He called the splendid trees "the cedars of Jehovah," because they brought to him a sense of the stately beauty of God. Yet nature is not really God himself, only God in expression for our apprehending, only the veil that he shines through. Therefore we turn from the shadow to the substance which throws it; from the form to the reality which it does but exhibit. And if all nature passed away, we should lose nothing. It would be but dropping the veil that we might see the face .
IV OUR EARTHLY AND OUR HEAVENLY BODIES. St. Paul was plainly thinking of his body, the vehicle by means of which our souls come into contact with the world of created things. But he cherished the idea of a spiritual body, which could be the clothing and vehicle of his soul through the long, the eternal ages. Thinking of it he could say, "What matter if my tent body be destroyed? I have a building of God, a house not made with hands. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For we know that if our earthly house of…
2Co_5:1
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved.
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The certain knowledge of the future
1. The description which the apostle makes of the present state in which we now are.
2. His description of the future state, in which the faithful shall be hereafter.
3. The certainty of that happy state. The one habitation is certain as the other. But what certainty is there of such things, may some say? May we not abuse ourselves, if we look for that which no man ever saw? Is not this to build castles in the air? The apostle answers to such surmises, here, in my text: We know that we have a building of God, etc. We have solid grounds for this persuasion that it amounts to a knowledge.
I. He saith it was a thing known; a matter that was demonstrable by proper arguments. It was not a probable opinion, but an undoubted conclusion. There were sound arguments which led them to this unmovable belief. What were they?
1. For they knew that Jesus their Master, who made discovery of these things to them, had certain knowledge of them himself, and could not deceive them. He was not like to many idle persons, who draw maps of such territories as they never saw.
2. They knew likewise that this person, who could not but speak the truth, had promised to purified souls, that they should see God (Mat_5:8). How can we behold, then, the glory of God, unless all our powers be mightily widened beyond the highest of our present conceptions.
3. Of this change they saw an instance in our Lord Himself.
4. Accordingly they knew that He did ascend up to heaven forty days after His resurrection (Act_1:10-11).
5. For they knew withal that their very bodies should be made like unto His (Joh_17:24).
6. And this truly they knew, as well as anything else, that He lives for evermore, and can make good His kind intentions and gracious promises (Rev_1:18).
7. Especially they knew by the change that He had wrought in their souls that He could easily do as much for their bodies. It was no harder for Him to give a luminous body than it was to illuminate their minds; to turn this earthly house into an heavenly than to fill the spirits of common men with the spirit and wisdom of God.
8. To conclude, they knew likewise there had been some alteration already made, upon occasion in the body of some of them, and that others also felt an higher elevation of their soul. As for the body, St. Stephens face was seen as it had been the face of an angel (Act_6:1-15. ult.). Let us believe the testimony of men so well assured. For to think that there is no habitation for us in the heavens, because we were never there, is as foolish as if a man that had never stirred beyond the door of his cottage should imagine that all the goodly buildings he hears of at London are but so many clouds in the air, and have no real being. Let us but a little awaken our souls to look beyond this house of clay.
II. It is considerable then that this was a matter generally known; a thing wherein they were all agreed. They had a knowledge and not a mere opinion. And yet an opinion that is not private, but common, carries no small authority with it. We are all very much overawed by that which is universally received. They were all satisfied that this was the very truth of God, there was no dispute or division among them about this doctrine. It was the common faith of Gods elect; the common hope of their heavenly calling, and, in one word, the common salvation (Tit_1:1-2; Tit_1:4; Eph_4:4; Jud_1:3). It was not the belief of St. Paul alone. This shows that they had no superficial thoughts of the life to come, but that they were exceeding serious in the belief of it.
III. They knew these things so clearly that they made them the aim to which they directed all their desires and endeavours. This particle for sends our thoughts back to the words before, and gives us an account of that character which we there find of the Apostles of our Lord, who looked not at the things which were seen, but at the things which were not seen. They were so persuaded of this happy state hereafter that it was always in their eye. They slighted and trod upon all other things in compare with this, A great token of the sincerity of their belief; for otherwise they would not have been so foolish and unthrifty as not to have made some present temporal benefit of that great knowledge and power wherewith they were endowed.
IV. But more than this; they were so sure of this building of God in the heavens that they endured all sorts of miseries and pains in this life merely in expectation of it.
V. They were so sure of this that it seemed to them as if they had this house not made with hands in present possession. They speak as men that belong to two countries, and have estates in this and in another kingdom. Such men say, We have a building. Though they cannot dwell in both their houses at once, yet they call them both theirs. They had a right and title to it. They had good deeds and evidences to show for it, which proved that it was settled on them by the will and testament of Jesus Christ their Lord and Master, to which they had the witness of the Spirit in their hearts. They might challenge it as their own, and lay hold on eternal life, which words instruct us that we must work in this earthly house wherein we dwell. We are in a place of labour and not of idleness and sport. (Bp. Patrick.)
The nature of assurance and the way to attain it
I. I am to open to you the beauty and propriety of the several metaphors here used.
II. I am now to show you the force of the apostles argument that the assurance of eternal glory is the best support under all temporal calamities. For this reason we faint not, for we know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
1. This assures the soul that all the afflictions of this mortal life are but light and transient, and when longest and heaviest, if once compared with that eternal weight of glory which succeeds them are as nothing.
2. During the present short space of suffering this assured hope of a blessed immortality revives and entertains the soul with the most delightful views of it.
3. This assurance contributes further to the support of the afflicted mind as it disposes it to a meek and quiet resignation to the will of God.
III. To make some general observations on the doctrine of assurance, which is founded on the words of the text.
1. I observe that an assurance of heaven is attainable in this life.
2. I would observe that it is not easily nor suddenly to be attained. It requires much labour, self-denial, and vigilance.
3. I would further observe that there is no small danger of mistaking in this matter. Mention some of those sources from which false assurance arises.
(1) It is often the effect of wrong notions in religion, such as the Jews had, who must needs think themselves the favourites of heaven, because they were the children of Abraham.
(2) A too sanguine and confident temper of mind often betrays men into these false hopes.
(3) This false assurance often flows from gross ignorance, even when there is little or no bigotry or superstition in the case. Because, perhaps, they have done nobody any harm, and never committed those open immoralities which they see others to be guilty of.
(4) Some suddenly attain good hopes of themselves through mere indolence and aversion to thought. They hope, but they do not know why, and are fully persuaded of they know not what.
(5) That even infidelity is sometimes the means of inspiring men with false and confident hopes as to their future state. So that hence it appears that it is an easy thing to be mistaken in this matter.
4. I would observe that though this false assurance be very common it is very dangerous, and if continued in, of irreparable detriment. It is a dreadful thing to go down into the grave with a lie in the right hand.
5. We cannot be too careful in determining a matter which is in its consequences of so vast importance.
IV. To show in what manner we are to proceed in this affair, or how a right assurance of future happiness may be attained.
1. In order to a well-grounded assurance of future happiness there must be a well informed conscience and a good understanding in the right way to salvation. In order therefore to a well-established hope of heaven there must be a right knowledge of the nature of that happiness which is to be there enjoyed, the proper qualifications for it, and how those qualifications are to be attained.
2. In order to establish our hopes of future bliss there must be a sincere renunciation and departing from all known sins, those that are more secret as well as those which are more open to the eye of the world.
3. To this must be joined the love and practice of universal righteousness, or a sincere and humble obedience to all the precepts of the gospel.
4. To attain unwavering hopes of immortal glory there must be a large and particular experience of the power of religion in the government of our passions and propensions. This goes a great way to establish our hopes.
5. To all this must be joined a lively and active faith.
I shall now conclude all with two or three brief reflections.
1. Let it be well remembered that there may be a good and comfortable hope of heaven without a full assurance of it.
2. Let those who are of a more sanguine and confident temper learn hence to guard against a spirit of delusion.
3. Let us all then be persuaded to labour after it in the way now prescribed. (J. Mason, A. M.)
The good mans present and future house
I. The good mans present house. The mind occupies the body. We dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust.
1. This house is earthly.
(1) From the body returning to the earth, we see that it is composed of the same material.
(2) It draws our spirit down to sublunary objects.
2. Movable. A tent can be easily taken down.
3. Decaying. The term dissolve means properly to dis-unite the parts of anything.
4. Exposed. It is situated in a locality where it is liable to the ravages of time and rough usage.
5. Inconvenient (2Co_5:2). How much of our attention it requires in order to ensure its preservation! It needs daily cleansing, repairs, and protection. Often is it giving us extreme anxiety, putting us to considerable expense, or causing us severe pain.
6. Inferior. Paul desired a better, i.e., a suitable habitation. He longed for the period when his vile body should be fashioned like unto Christs glorious body.
II. The good mans future house. The redeemed souls final domicile wilt be the clay tenement in its changed and beautified condition (1Co_15:1-58.). This will be--
1. Superhuman. A building of God, a house not made with hands. Jehovah will be the architect of this future abode. Though built by the Almighty, the Christians present house decays as if it had been the work of some poor mortal. The latter, framed thoroughly by the Highest, will be more in harmony with the unchangeableness and excellence of our adorable Maker.
2. Eternal. The body the believer shall ultimately have will never be taken down by death.
3. Unexposed. Its site is to be in the heavens. There will be nothing to weaken it or mar its beauty.
4. Attractive. Hence the godly in every age have, like the apostle, longed to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
5. One for which the saint is prepared (2Co_5:5). Every one that wishes to possess the building of God, must be meetened for it.
6. Assured (2Co_5:5). God sends forth the Holy Ghost to witness with the believers spirit that he shall finally have the better body. Conclusion, have you such a house in prospect? (Homilist.)
The earthly and the heavenly house
I. The body is only the house of the soul. Note--
1. What kind of a house?
(1) It is only a lodging-house: The soul is not sent to dwell in it, but to sojourn in it, while on the way to another world. We are strangers and sojourners, as all our fathers were.
(2) It is a weak house. The soul in the body is not lodged as in a tower or castle.
(3) It is a house that is daily in danger.
(a) It is in danger from without. There are storms to blow it down, and a very small blast will sometimes do it.
(b) It is in danger from within. There are disorders to undermine the house. The seeds of diseases, when we know not, are digging like moles under the mud walls, and soon destroy the house.
(4) It is a dark house. How many dangers come to the house from without which are never perceived by the eyes till they arrive.
2. The peculiarities of this house.
(1) It is a curious house of brittle materials.
(a) The body is a stupendous piece of workmanship, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. The very outworks of the house are admirable. Observe the wisdom of God in that beauty and majesty that are in the face, in the faculty of speech, etc. How God has put the eyes and the ears in the head as in their watch tower, that they may the better serve for seeing and hearing. Two arms to defend ourselves. These are the guardians of the house. Nay, there is not a hair, nor nail in the body, but has its use. But what is all this to the curiosity within?
(b) But the more curious, the more easily marred. The greatest beauty is soonest tarnished. So we are exposed to the greatest danger by a small touch.
(2) It is a house that needs reparation daily. Your meanest houses, once right, need nothing for a year. But this earthly house needs reparation daily. Hence eating and drinking are necessary, the house must be patched up with more mud daily. And some are so taken up with repairing the body that all the day they do nothing else.
3. Uses from this doctrine.
(1) Prize your souls above your bodies, as you do the inhabitant above the house.
(2) Make not your body a war house against heaven.
(3) Take care of the house for the sake of its inhabitant.
(4) Never ruin the inhabitant for the house.
(5) Beware of defiling the house, seeing it has such a noble lodger.
(6) Take heed to the door of the house. Let it be duly shut and be discreetly opened. Open your mouth with wisdom.
(7) Take heed to the windows of the house. The soul got its death-wound at first by the eyes.
(8) Provide in time for a better house. You must depart from this.
II. Mans body is a Tabernacle or tent for his soul, Paul was a tent-maker, and he takes a lesson of his frailty from what was among his hands, teaching us to do the same. It is so-called--
1. Because it is easily taken down. Whatever force may be necessary to pull down a house, it is easy to pull down a tent.
2. A tent is a movable house, one that is carried from place to place. So while we are in the body, we are not come to the place of our rest or settled habitation.
3. Tents, though mean without, may be precious within. However mean outwardly the body be, it has a precious soul within, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, capable of enjoying God for ever.
4. Uses of this doctrine.
(1) We need not wonder at sudden death. It has often been seen that a tent has fallen down when not a hand touched it.
(2) Let us lay our accounts with hardships while we are in the body. They that dwell in tents do not expect the ease and conveniences which a house affords. The ease is coming in the building of God.
(3) Let us live like pilgrims and strangers who are quickly to remove.
(4) Let us be preparing for an abiding mansion, and be careful to secure our title to it.
III. The earthly house of the tabernacle of our body well be dissolved by death.
1. In what respects is death a dissolution?
(1) Death dissolves the union betwixt soul and body.
(2) Death dissolves the body itself.
(3) Death dissolves--
(a) The vital flame that kept the body in life.
(b) The communion betwixt the parts of the body. No more blood flows from the heart. No more spirits from the brain. Then all falls down together. The eyes see no more, and the ears hear no more.
(c) The joints and bands with which the body was united. In the grave the strongest arms fall from the shoulder blade, and every bone lies by itself.
(d) The most minute particles of the body, and though the bones last longer, yet they also moulder into dust at length.
2. This body shall be dissolved.
(1) There is an unalterable statute of death under which men are concluded. It is appointed unto men once to die.
(2) Daily observation tells us we must die.
(3) All men consist of perishing materials. Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.
(4) We have sinful souls, therefore dying bodies. The leprosy is in the wall of the house, therefore it must be pulled down.
(5) We are hasting to a dissolution. Our days are swifter than a weavers shuttle. They are passed as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
IV. When the tabernacle of the saints body is dissolved by death they have a house of glory in heaven ready for them.
1. It is a dwelling house, not a house in which to lodge, but to abide.
2. It is a royal house, a palace. They shall enter into the kings palace. Christ calls His saints to a kingdom, and their house is suitable to their dignity.
3. It is a holy house, a temple.
4. It is a heavenly house.
(1) It is situated in the better country, blessed with a perpetual spring, which yieldeth all things for necessity, conveniency, and delight. That land enjoys an everlasting day, for there shall be no night there. An eternal sunshine beautifies it.
(2) As for the city, this house stands in that great city, the holy Jerusalem, a city which shall flourish when all the cities below are in ashes. A city that never changeth its inhabitants. Blessed with perfect peace, nothing from any quarter can ever annoy it.
5. It is a fathers house.
6. It is a spacious house. This clay body is a narrow house, where the soul is caged up for a time. But that house hath many mansions.
7. It is a most convenient house. Every saint shall find his own mansion prepared and furnished with every conveniency for him. O believer, art thou in poverty and straits? There is an incorruptible treasure in that house. Are you groaning under the tyranny of sin? There you shall walk in the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
8. It is a safe house. The gates are not shut at all by day, for there is no danger there. No unclean thing can enter it.
9. It is a glorious house.
(1) The visible heavens are but the porch of the seat of the blessed.
(2) It is the house in which the Kings son is to dwell with the bride for ever.
(3) It was purchased at a vast expense, even the blood of the Son of God.
(4) The indispensable necessity for washing and purifying, to fit persons for dwelling in the house, shows it to be glorious.
10. It is all everlasting house. It is eternal in the heavens.
Conclusion--
1. Behold and admire the happiness of the saints.
2. Seek a house now into which you may be received when your earthly house is dissolved. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The tent dissolved and the mansion entered
My text begins with the word For. Pauls mind was argumentative. If able to defy the present and rejoice in the future, he had a solid reason for so doing. I like an enthusiast who yet in his fervour does not lose his balance. Let the heart be like a fiery, high-mettled steed, curbed and managed by discretion. Consider--
I. The catastrophe which Paul saw to be very possible. If our earthly house, etc. He did not fear that he himself would be dissolved. He does not say, If I were to be destroyed. The we is all unharmed and unmoved. Many people are in a great fright about the future; but Paul regards the worst thing that could happen to him as nothing worse than the pulling down of a tent.
1. The apostle perceived that the body he lived in was frail in itself. Most likely he had a tent or two to repair lying near which suggested the language of the text. A tent is but a frail structure, and Paul felt that no great force would be required to overthrow it; it was like the tent which the Midianite saw in his dream, which only needed to be struck by a barley cake, and, lo! it lay along. A house of solid masonry needs a crowbar and a pick to start its stones.
2. Paul had many signs about him that his body would be dissolved. His many labours were telling upon him, and so were the cold, hunger, nakedness, and sickness he endured, and, besides, his tent might come down any day through the violence of his persecutors. Once he most touchingly spoke of himself as such an one as Paul the Aged, and aged men cannot get away from the consciousness that their body is failing. Certain crumbling portions warn the old man that the house is dilapidated; the thatch which has grown thin or blanched tells its tale.
3. Paul knew that so many others whom he had known and loved had already died, and he gathered from this that he would himself die. Our crowded cemeteries supply ten thousand arguments why each of us must expect to die in due time. Now this was all that Paul expected on the sad side, and truly it is not much. Certain Swiss peasants were feeding their flocks when they heard a rumbling up in the lofty Alps, and knew what it meant. In a brief space their fears were realised, for a tremendous mass of snow came rushing from above. What did it destroy? Only their old, crazy chalets. Every man was safe; the event was rather to them a matter which caused a Te Deum to be sung in the village church below than a subject for mourning. So the avalanche of death will fall, but it will only dissolve your earthly house. To-day we are like birds in the egg; death breaks the shell. Does the fledgling lament the dissolution of the shell?
II. The provision of which the apostle most surely knew. He knew that if his tent-dwelling was overthrown he would not be without a home. He did not expect to be in purgatory for the next thousand years, and then to leap from purgatory to Paradise. He had not even the thought of lying unconscious till the resurrection. He says not we shall have but we have.
1. What did the apostle mean?
(1) That the moment his soul left its body it would at once enter into that house of which Jesus spoke in Joh_14:2. Do you want to know about that house? Bead the Book of the Revelation and learn of its gates of pearl, etc. If after that you desire to know more take the advice given by John Bunyan, who bade his friend live a godly life, and go to heaven, and see for himself.
(2) That in the fulness of time he would again be clothed upon with a body. At this present in this body we groan being burdened. We are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
2. How Paul could say he knew this. This enlightened century has produced an order of wise men who glory in their ignorance. How odd that a man should be proud of being an ignoramus, and yet that is the Latin for the Greek Agnostic. How different is our apostle! He says, we know. Whence came this confidence?
(1) Paul knew that he had a Father, for he felt the spirit of sonship; he knew also that his Father had a house, and he was certain that if he lost the tent in which he lived he would be welcomed into his Fathers house above. How do our children know that they can come home to us? Did they learn that at school? No, but by their childrens instinct, just as chickens run under the mother-hen without needing to be trained.
(2) He knew that he had an elder brother, and that this brother had gone before to see to the lodging of the younger brethren (Joh_14:2).
(3) He thought of the Holy Ghost, who condescends to dwell in these mortal bodies, and, therefore, when we leave our earthly house He will leave it too, and as He has been our guest, in His turn He will be our host.
(4) He knew that when he died there was a Paradise prepared, for he had been there already (chap. 12.). Remember that this is the place to which the. Lord Jesus admitted the dying thief, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.
(5) He knew that when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved there would be a new body for him, because Christ had risen from the dead. If Jesus be alive and in a place of rest He will never leave His own without house or home. There is such an attachment between Christ and the believer; yea, more, such a vital, indissoluble marriage union that separation is impossible.
III. The value of this knowledge to us. Secularists twit us with taking mens minds away from the practical present that they may dream over a fancied future. We answer that the best help to live for the present is to live in prospect of the eternal future. Pauls confident belief--
1. Kept him from fainting.
2. Made his present trials seem very light, for he felt like a man who sojourns for a night at a poor inn, but puts up with it gladly because he hopes to be home on the morrow.
3. Transformed death from a demon into an angel; it was but the removal of a tottering tent that he might enter into a permanent palace.
4. Made him always calm and brave. Why should he be afraid of a man that could not do him harm? Even if his persecutor killed him he would do him a service. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Views of life, death, and the future
I. We have the views which Christianity teaches us to take of life.
1. The first view which it gives us, suggested by the text, is that life is a pilgrimage. The text speaks of tabernacles, tents; we are dwelling in tents.
2. A second view of life, in the text, is, that it is uncertain.
3. The third view which the apostle takes of life is that, even as to believers, it is a life of trouble and affliction. We in this tabernacle do groan.
4. But there is a fourth view of life of which the apostle takes, at least in the verses which immediately succeed the text. He teaches us that life is to be subordinated to one great end, so to please God as to have the testimony that we are accepted of Him. The highest heaven of a good man is to be accepted of God. Such are the views which Christianity teaches us to take of life.
II. We have the views which Christianity teaches us to form of death. Meditate on that word, unclothed! Death, then, is not the termination of our being. Unclothed! Then there is no cessation of consciousness. Unclothed! Then, of course, everything in the body which obstructs the operation of the mind must necessarily be removed. Unclothed! Then there is a change of place as well as condition. The connection of our spirits with the body renders us inhabitants of the earth. Unclothed! Then must we become conscious, by virtue of this unclothing, of the presence of those spirits who have undergone the same process before us, and have been unclothed like ourselves. We are not now at all conscious of the presence of disembodied spirits; they are, for the while, lost to us. Unclothed! but the import of this word is not yet exhausted; then must we become conscious at once, in a manner we cannot be on earth, of the presence of God. The body hides God from us, and prevents the immediate recognition of God by the spirit.
III. We have here the views which Christianity teaches us to form of the future permanent state of believers. (J. Walker, D. D.)
The present and future of believers
I. The believers present state.
1. Temporary. To impress this the apostle compares the body to a house, composed of earthly materials, which must soon return again to its original element. The damps Of infirmity and waters of affliction soon undermine the frail tenement. The figure of a house, however, is too stable a metaphor. Hence the body is called a mere tabernacle (Neh_8:1-18.).
2. Afflictive (verse 2). Shall we illustrate it by an humble cottage buried in snow, whose inmates groan for deliverance? Or shall we take the fact that the atmosphere presses with a force of fourteen pounds on every square inch of surface? The tabernacle is oppressed, the weight is great, no man can remove it, or make his escape but with the loss of life itself. Though death cannot crush at once, he makes us feel his pressure. Ultimately it must succeed, but as the silver rises in the barometer by the pressure of the air, so the weight of affliction causes the believing soul to rise towards God.
3. A state of earnest longing and ardent hope--In this we groan, earnestly desiring. Grief is vocal, and from the heart soon finds its way to the lips. To groan, when oppressed, is natural, to desire heaven is supernatural. Here the believer stands distinguished from the vast masses of the creation which groaneth and travaileth in pain. It is a maxim among moralists that no man can desire evil for its own sake, which is just the sentiment of the apostle. We cannot desire death for its own sake; we cannot wish to be left naked, houseless, by the dissolution of the present tabernacle; but such are the happiness and glory found in the house not made with hands that we desire to exchange habitations.
4. One of certain knowledge, and Divine assurance of future glory (verse 1). But whence does this knowledge arise? Not by intuition. The mind possesses a capability of knowing it, but nothing more. Not from the senses, for its subject is altogether supersensual. The Divine testimony of revealed truth is the foundation, the Holy Ghost is the great agent, and faith the appointed instrument of this knowledge.
II. His intermediate state.
1. It is a state of simple abstract being. The apostle speaks of no new house, tabernacle, or clothing; but of a complete divestment of all, in being naked and unclothed. He speaks of the understanding, conscience, memory, imagination, will, and affections being laid naked and open before God, and the whole invisible world, while all the inhabitants thereof are equally laid open to the view of the soul when divested of mortality.
2. It is a state of conscious existence. Is it possible that insensibility can reign in the direct presence of Christ, who is the life and fountain of all knowledge and happiness? Was not Abraham conscious in Paradise when he replied to the rich man?
3. It is a state in which trial and probation are ended. An impassable gulf was fixed between good and bad spirits, according to the testimony of Abraham, as recorded by Luke.
4. It is a state of imperfection in relation to knowledge, the corporeal powers, and the manifestation of future glory.
III. His final and eternal state. What is the house not made with hands? Is it material covering or vehicle into which the soul enters on its departure from the body? This notion was entertained by Plato and his followers, but stands opposed to our text, which speaks of the soul being naked and unclothed. Besides, if a material covering be meant, the apostle says it must be eternal. It would therefore exclude the resurrection of the body. Neither can the house not made with hands mean the ethereal heavens, including sun, moon, and stars, they as well as the earthly house, pass away. The heavens, therefore, must mean the abode of God--the glorious city of the New Jerusalem. But mark that the house is not said to be the heavens, but a fabric in the heavens--viz., the resurrection body. We are now prepared to observe that the final and eternal state of the believer will be a state of--
1. Restitution. If we have lost by the sin and apostasy of the first Adam, we gain more by the death, resurrection, reign, and faithfulness of Jesus, the second Adam.
2. A state of reward.
3. A state of pure unmixed life. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (D. McAfee.)
The changeable and the permanent
I. All things sublunary are changeable.
1. God has condemned this world to dissolution (Heb_1:10-11). The individual house or tabernacle must be dissolved. Our fathers, where are they? It is appointed for man once to die. Neither wealth, temperance, nor medicine can protect the frail tabernacle from dissolution.
2. All our enjoyments are liable to the same change. They stand on two insecure legs, insufficiency and uncertainty.
3. It never was Gods design that this clay tabernacle should stand for ever. What a mercy it is for Christians that they are mortal (Joh_17:24).
II. Heavenly things are permanent and eternal.
1. The building itself is eternal; the leprosy of sin has never affected its walls; no curse hangs over the New Jerusalem. Adam was expelled from Paradise, and the Jews were expelled from an earthly Canaan; but the redeemed shall never be expelled from heaven. I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.
2. The perfections of heaven are eternal also, entire exemption from all sin. What does the proud man think of this? Is it a blessing to be humble? What does the covetous man think of this? Is it a blessing to be delivered from the bondage of a greedy disposition? Good men, in proportion to their being good men, love that heaven because there is no pride, envy, malignity, temptation.
III. The Christian duty of earnestly desiring the heavenly state.
1. A calm and settled conviction of its existence. We know!
2. A deep sense of our need of it (verse 2).
3. The exercise of walking in the road that leads to it.
Conclusion--
1. We must all die, our tents must be struck soon. The man who loves this world will not be pleased at this conclusion, but the Christian man will be delighted at it.
2. The believers best days are yet to come. There is an eternal house which the Saviour has gone to prepare. (A. Waugh, D. D.)
Tent and building
I. So my text mainly sets before us very strikingly the Christian certitude as to the final future. The dear, broad distinction between me and my physical frame. There is no more connection, says Paul, between us and the organisation in which we at present dwell than there is between a man and the house that he inhabits. The foolish senses crown Death and call him Lord; but the Christians certitude firmly draws the line, and declares that the man, the whole personality, is undisturbed by anything that befalls his residence; and that he may pass unimpaired from one to another, being in both the self-same person. Then, again, note, as part of the elements of this Christian certitude, the blessed thought that a body is part of the perfection of manhood. No mere dim, ghostly future, where consciousness somehow persists, without environment or tools to act upon an outer world. To dwell naked, as the apostle says in the context, is a thing from which man shudderingly recoils, and it is not to be his final fate. And now, if we turn to the characteristics of the two conditions with which my text deals, we get some familiar yet great and strengthening thoughts. The earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, or, more correctly, retaining the metaphor of the house, is to be pulled down, and in its place there comes a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The first outstanding difference which arises before the apostle is the contrast between the fragile dwelling-place, with its thin canvas, its bending poles, its certain removal some day, and the permanence of that which is not a tent, but a building, which is eternal. Involved in that is the thought that all the limitations and weaknesses which are necessarily associated with the perishableness of the present abode are at an end for ever. No more fatigue, no more working beyond the measure of power, no more need for recuperation. And the other contrast is no less glorious and wonderful. The earthly house of this tent does not merely define the composition, but also the whole relations and capacities of that to which it refers. The tent is earthly, not merely because, to use a kindred metaphor, it is a building of clay, but because, by all its capacities, it belongs to, corresponds with, and is fitted only for, this lower order of things, the seen and the perishable. And, on the other hand, the mansion is in the heavens, even whilst the future tenant is a nomad in his tent. That is so, because the power which can create that future abode is in the heavens. It is so in order to express the absolute security in which it is kept for those who shall one day enter upon it. And it is so, further, to express the order of things with which it brings its dwellers into contact. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Let no man say that such ideas of a possible future bodily frame are altogether inconsistent with all that we know of the)imitations and characteristics of what we call matter. There is one flesh of beasts and another of birds, says Paul. Do you know so fully all the possibilities of creation as that you are warranted in asserting that such a thing as a body which is the fit organ of the spirit, and is incorruptible, like the heavens in which it dwells, is an impossibility? The teaching of my text and its context casts great light on what the resurrection of the dead means. We have heard grand platitudes about the scattered dust being gathered from the four winds of heaven, and so on; but the teaching of my text is that resurrection does not mean the assuming again of the body that is left behind and done with, but the reinvestiture of the man with another body. It is a house in the heavens. We leave the tent; we enter the building. There is nothing here of some germ of immortality being somehow extricated from the ruins, and fostered into glorious growth. Or, to take another metaphor of the context, we strip off the garment and are naked, and then we are clothed with another garment and are not found naked. The resurrection of the dead is the clothing of the spirit with the house which is from heaven. And there is as much difference between the two habitations as there is between the grim, solid architecture of northern peoples, amidst snow and ice--needed to resist the blasts, and to keep the life within in an ungenial climate--and the light, graceful dwellings of those who walk in an atmosphere of perpetual sunshine in the tropics. Therefore let us, whilst we grope in the dark here, and live in a narrow hovel in a back street, look forward to the time when we shall dwell on the sunny heights in the great pavilion which God prepares for them that love Him.
II. And now note again how we come to this certitude. My text is very significantly followed by a for, which gives the reason of the knowledge in a very remarkable manner. We know … for in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Now that singular collocation of ideas may be set forth thus--whatever longing there is in a Christian, God-inspired soul, that longing is a prophecy of its own fulfilment. We know that there is a house, because of the yearning, which is deepest and strongest when we are nearest God. Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Of course such longing, such aspiration and revulsion are no proofs of a fact except there be some fact which changes them from mere vague desires, and makes these solid certainties. And such a fact we have in that which is the only proof that the world has received, of the persistence of life through death, and the continuance of personal identity unchanged by the grave, and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And let no man take exception to the apostles word here, we know, or tell us that Knowledge is of the things we see. That is true and not true. It is true in regard of what arrogates to itself the name of science. If it is meant to assert that we are less sure of the love of God, of immortality than we are of the existence of this piece of wood, or that flame of gas; then I humbly venture to say that there is another region of facts than those which are appreciable by sense; that the evidence upon which we rest our certitude of immortal blessedness is quite as valid as anything that can be produced, in the nature of evidence, for the things around us.
III. Lastly, note what this certitude does. The apostle tells us, by the for which lies at the beginning of my text, and makes it a reason for something that has preceded. And what has preceded is this, We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. That is to say, such a joyous, calm certitude draws mens thoughts away from this shabby and transitory present, and fixes them on the solemn majesties of that eternal future. Yes! and nothing else will. And we shall not let our thoughts willingly go out thither unless our own personal well-being there is very sure to us. And such a certitude will also make a man willing to accept the else unwelcome necessity of leaving the tent, and for awhile doing without the mansion. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Heaven anticipated
Note--
I. The appropriate description given us of the human body--the earthly house of this tabernacle. Notice
1. Its material origin. It is earthly. How mysterious and complicated soever may be the machinery of the human frame, it is, after all, a composition of earthly materials.
2. Its use. It is a house. Every house is built by some man, but He that built this house is God.
3. Its temporary existence.
4. Its ultimate dissolution.
II. The assurance the apostle indulged.
1. It is a building of God.
(1) God the Father is the efficient cause or architect of this building. Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
(2) The procuring and meritorious cause of this building is Jesus the Mediator. I go to prepare a place for you.
(3) It is a building worthy of God.
2. It is permanent, eternal in the heavens. All other buildings are weak and precarious. In Thy presence is fulness of joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
3. Where this building is situated. In the heavens. The inspired writers invariably speak of it as a place of ineffable blessedness and unspeakable glory. If permitted to arrive there, we shall be ready to exclaim, as the Queen of Sheba did when she beheld Solomons wisdom and prosperity, Behold the half was not told me.
III. The grounds on which this assurance rested.
1. The testimony of Gods word (2Co_4:13).
2. The consciousness which he himself had of being the subject of Divine grace (verse 5).
Conclusion--Let us learn from this subject--
1. To be habitually entertaining thoughts about death and another world.
2. The unspeakable value of the gospel. Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Dissolution no injury
Cicero tells of a prisoner who had always lived in prison; he had never once seen the outer world. And so when he had become an old man, and they began for some reason or other to pull down the walls of his prison, he broke into bitter lamentings because they would destroy the little window through whose bars he had got the only bit of light that had ever gladdened his eyes. He did not understand that the falling of the walls would let him into a broad, bright world, would open to him the wide glories of sun and sky and summer. And so when we see the body sinking in ruinous decay it seems as if we were about to lose everything, forgetting that the senses are but the dim windows of the soul, and that when the body of our humiliation is gone the walls of our prison-house are gone, and a new world of infinite light and beauty and liberty bursts upon us. (W. L. Watkinson.)
A larger house
Passing by a house a short time since I noticed the intimation, This House to Let. How is this? Is the former tenant dead? I asked. Oh, no, sir, said the caretaker; he has removed to a larger house in a better situation. Even thus, as we look upon the clay tenement in which some loved Christian friend has dwelt, we answer, No, he is not dead, but removed into the enduring house in the better country, where the better resurrection is, and where eternal life is. (Henry Varley.)
Christian knowledge concerning the future body of the good
The Christian knows that:--
I. It will be better than the present.
1. It will be directly Divine. A building of God. The present body is from God, but it comes from Him through secondary instrumentalities. The future body will come direct, it will not be transmitted from sire to son.
2. It will be fitted for a higher sphere--In the heavens. The present body is fitted for the earthly sphere.
3. It will be more enduring, eternal.
4. It will be more enjoyable.
II. He is now being divinely fitted for the better body of the future (verse 5). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Not made with hands
Is there anything not made with hands? Then there is something apart from manufactures. Some of you live in what you call the manufacturing districts. Now what do your manufactures amount to? But we have been proud of our hand-making. Within given limits that is perfectly proper. The prosperity of the world is due in no small measure to the work of the hands. And yet we are now face to face with something--is it home, church, mankind, temple, heaven?--something that hands have never touched. I must therefore get you to live elsewhere as well as in the manufacturing districts. Why, you do that in part already. I would press your logic to further issues. You do not live in the factory. Oh, you say, we live a mile or two out. Why? That we may have some little whiff of nature, some fresh air, some tolerable breathing space. Now that is not all. I want you to get a little further out under larger skies, to breathe fresher air, to see fairer downs. After all, what have the hands made? They have made nothing worth speaking about. Did the hands build the temple? No, except in a very narrow and literal sense of the term. Who built the temple? The man who thought it, the man who drew it, the man who saw it in aerial lines before he put pen or pencil to paper. He made the temple. The hands, they were mere hired servants. They would have pulled the temple down quite as easily and quite as readily. There is another very remarkable expression in Mar_9:3 : As no fuller on earth can white them. Then there is something above art as certainly as there is something above manufactures? Now ask the fuller to look at his work, and at this work on Tabor. Fuller, didst thou wash this robe on Tabor? No, no. Why not? Why, it was washed with lightning, it was cleansed in heaven, it was dipped in the fountains of eternity. No fuller on earth can white like that. So be it. Not made with hands. Manufactures? No. No fuller on earth can white them. The arts? No. What is left then? Nature. Is that so? Be careful. Admissions will be turned against us presently. So this brings us to a third remarkable expression (Act_26:13), Above the brightness of the sun. Then nature goes. What radiance is this? We thought the sun was bright. We used to say of that old glory, He puts the fire out. He blinds our little lamps.
1. Now this is exactly so with regard, for example, to character, saintly, holy, beauteous, inspired character. It is of a whiteness such as no fuller on earth can make it. Why, there be many fullers who are trying to whiten the world; rare fullers, costly fullers, energetic, fussy, busy fullers, but they get no further on. They are moralists, they lecture upon moral philosophy. There be many whitening fullers, persons who say that on such and such conditions they will renovate you. They will make new men of you if you will sign a vow, undergo a discipline, subject yourselves to certain scheduled operations, each coming in its own proper time, then at the end all will be well. Oh, poor fuller! What doth this great Christ do? He washes us in blood, and when we stand up from that catharism, the Fuller says, No fuller on earth can white it like that. If you despise a saint, you have never seen one. A saint is holy. Why, He would not have any fuller on earth touch our souls. He only who made the soul can touch it, redeem it and work that wondrous miracle of washing white by cleansing with blood. Your character is not what it is on the outside. Your character is the quality of your soul, your motive, your purpose, your innermost self, and no fuller on earth can put that through any process of cleansing. This is the Lords doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
2. It is the same with inspiration. It is not made with hands. What have I seen you do again and again? Have I not seen you searching for inspiration as if it were in black ink and in printers letters? Yes, I have. We must get away if we can from these people to whom everything is valuable in proportion as it is handmade. Why, the literalist never read the Bible. It was only when he left his literalism and began to touch the higherisms that want names, found in heaven, rightly to express their intent, that he came upon revelation. He said, This book told me all that ever I did, then it must be inspired. It is not made with hands.
3. And so with Divine hope. It is a light above the brightness of the sun. It is Christs hope. He did not stop at the Cross. He endured the Cross, despising the shame. Why? Because onward, far away on the horizon line there lay a light that meant immortality and glory inevitable. And what is the practical application of this? It needs but few words to express it. We must go from the things made with hands to the things hands cannot touch. Here are the lilies, Christ says. We have seen the lilies, we have touched the lilies. Have you? Yes. Then consider them. Why? Because your Father in heaven clothed them and made Solomon ashamed of himself in all his pomp, and if He clothed the lilies He will not leave you naked. And we must live the supernatural life. That is the hard part of it. Not made with hands. No fuller on earth can white like this. Sun, there is a light above thee. Until we get to these conceptions and exactions we shall be living a very poor life. I am tired of houses made with hands. I have seen it all. Yes, I am tired of this fullers work. It becomes dingy and poor in my eyes, And I get tired of nature. There is no monotony like the monotony of sunshine. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 13
Chapter 13
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE.- 2Co_5:1-10 (R.V)
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THAT outlook on the future, which at the close of 2Co_4:1-18. is presented in the most general terms, is here carried out by the Apostle into more definite detail. The passage is one of the most difficult in his writings, and has received the most various interpretations; yet the first impression it leaves on a simple reader is probably as near the truth as the subtlest ingenuity of exegesis. It is indeed to such first impressions that one often returns when the mind has ceased to sway this way and that under the impact of conflicting arguments.
The Apostle has been speaking about his life as a daily dying, and in the first verse of this chapter he looks at the possibility that this dying may be consummated in death. It is only a possibility, for to the end of his life it was always conceivable that Christ might come, and forestall the last enemy. Still, it is a possibility; the earthly house of our tabernacle may be dissolved; the tent in which we live may be taken down. With what hope does the Apostle confront such a contingency? "If this befall us," he says, "we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens." Every word here points the contrast between this new house and the old one, and points it in favor of the new. The old was a tent; the new is a building: the old, though not literally made with hands, had many of the qualities and defects of manufactured articles; the new is Gods work and Gods gift: the old was perishable; the new is eternal. When Paul says we have this house "in the heavens," it is plain that it is not heaven itself; it is a new body which replaces and surpasses the old. It is in the heavens in the sense that it is Gods gift; it is something which He has for us where He is, and which we shall wear there. "We have it" means "it is ours"; any more precise definition must be justified on grounds extraneous to the text.
The second verse {2Co_5:2} brings us to one of the ambiguities of the passage. "For verily," our R.V reads, "in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven." The meaning which the English reader finds in the words "in this we groan" is in all probability "in our present body we groan." This is also the meaning defended by Meyer, and by many scholars. But it cannot be denied that εν τουτω does not naturally refer to η επιγειος ημων οικια του σκηνους. If it means "in this body" it must be attached specially to σκηνους, and σκηνους is only a subordinate word in the clause. Elsewhere in the New Testament εν τουτω means "on this account," or "for this reason," (see 1Co_4:4; Joh_16:30 : Έν τούτῳ πιστεύομεν ὃτι ἀπὸ Θεοῦ έξῆλθες) and I prefer to take it in this sense here: "For this cause-i.e., because we are the heirs of such a hope - we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven." If Paul had no hope, he would not sigh for the future; but the very longing which pressed the sighs from his bosom became itself a witness to the glory which awaited him. The same argument, it has often been pointed out, is found in Rom_8:19 ff. The earnest expectation of the creation, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, is evidence that this manifestation will in due time take place. The spiritual instincts are prophetic. They have not been implanted in the soul by God only to be disappointed. It is of the longing hope of immortality that very hope which is in question here-that Jesus says: "If it were not so, I would have told you."
The third verse {2Co_5:3} states the great gain which lies in the fulfillment of this hope: "Since, of course, being clothed [with this new body], we shall not be found naked [i.e., without any body]." I cannot think, especially looking on to 2Co_5:4, that these two verses (2Co_5:2-3) mean anything else than that Paul longs for Christ to come before death. If Christ comes first, the Apostle will receive the new body by the transformation, instead of the putting off, of the old; he will, so to speak, put it on above the old (ἐπενδύσασθαι); he will be spared the shuddering fear of dying; he will not know what it is to have the old tent taken down, and to be left houseless and naked. We do not need to investigate the opinions of the Hebrews or the Greeks about the condition of souls in Hades in order to understand these words; the conception, figurative as it is, carries its own meaning and impression to every one. It is reiterated, rather than proved, in the fourth verse: "For we who are in the tabernacle groan also, being burdened, in that our will is not to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life." It is natural to take βαρουμενοι ("being burdened") as referring to the weight of care and suffering by which men are oppressed while in the body; but here also, as in the similar case of 2Co_5:2, the proper reference of the word is forward. What oppresses Paul, and makes him sigh, is the intensity of his desire to escape "being unclothed," his immense longing to see Jesus come, and, instead of passing through the terrible experience of death, to have the corruptible put on incorruption, and the mortal put on immortality, without that trial.
This seems plain enough, but we must remember that the confidence which Paul has been expressing in the first verse is meant to meet the very case in which this desire is not gratified, the case in which death has to be encountered, and the tabernacle taken down. "If this should befall us," he says, "we have another body awaiting us, far better than that which we leave, and hence we are confident." The confidence which this hope inspires would naturally, we think, be most perfect, if in the very act of dissolution the new body were assumed; if death were the initial stage in the transformation scene in which all that is mortal is swallowed up by life; if it were, not the ushering of the Christian into a condition of "nakedness," which, temporary though it be, is a mere blank to the mind and imagination, but his admission to celestial life; if "to be absent from the body" were immediately, and in the fullest sense of the words, the same thing as "to be at home with the Lord." This is, in point of fact, the sense in which the passage is understood by a good many scholars, and those who read it so find in it a decisive turning-point in the Apostles teaching on the last things. In the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, they say, and indeed in the First to the Corinthians also, Pauls eschatology was still essentially Jewish. The Christian dead are οι κοιμωμενοι, or οι κοιμηθεντες ("those that sleep"); nothing definite is said of their condition; only it is implied that they do not get the incorruptible body till Jesus comes again and raises them from the dead. In other words, those who die before the Parousia have the soul-chilling prospect of an unknown term of "nakedness." Here this terror is dispelled by the new revelation made to the Apostle, or the new insight to which he has attained: there is no longer any such interval between death and glory; the heavenly body is assumed at once; the state called κοιμασθαι ("being asleep") vanishes from the future. Sabatier and Schmiedel, who adopt this view, draw extreme consequences from it. It marks an advance, according to Schmiedel, of the highest importance. The religious postulate of an uninterrupted communion of life with Christ, violated by the conception of a κοιμασθαι, or falling asleep, is satisfied; Christs descent from heaven, and a simultaneous resurrection and judgment, become superfluous; judgment is transferred to the moment of death, or rather to the process of development during life on earth; and, finally, the place of eternal blessedness passes from earth (the Jewish and early Christian opinion, probably shared by Paul, as he gives no indication of the contrary) to heaven. All this, it is further pointed out, is an approximation, more or less close, to the Greek doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and may even have been excogitated in part under its influence; and it is at the same time a half-way house between the Pharisaic eschatology of First Thessalonians and the perfected Christian doctrine of a passage like Joh_5:24 : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life."
There is no objection to be made in principle to the idea that the Apostles outlook on the future was subject to modification-that he was capable of attaining, or even did attain, a deeper insight, with experience, into the connection between that which is and that which is to come. But it is surely somewhat against the above estimate of the alleged change here that Paul himself seems to have been quite unconscious of it. He was not a man whose mind wrought at unawares, and who passed unwittingly from one standpoint to another. He was nothing if not reflective. According to Sahatier and Schmiedel, he had made a revolutionary change in his opinions-a change so vast that on account of it Sabatier reckons this Epistle, and especially this passage, the most important in all his writings for the comprehension of his theological development; and yet, side by side with the new revolutionary ideas, uttered literally in the same breath with them, we find the old standing undisturbed. The simultaneous resurrection and judgment, according to Schmiedel, should be impossible now; but in 2Co_4:14 the resurrection appears precisely as in Thessalonians, and in 2Co_5:10 the judgment, precisely as in all his Epistles from the first to the last. As for the inconsistency between going to be at home with the Lord and the Lords coming, it also recurs in later years: Paul writes to the Philippians that he has a desire to depart and to be with Christ; and in the same letter that the Lord is at hand, and that we wait for the Savior from heaven. Probably the misleading idea in the study of the whole subject has been the assumption that the κοιμωμενοι -the dead in Christ- were in some dismal, dreary condition which could fairly be described as "nakedness." There is not a word in the New Testament which favors this idea. Where we see men die in faith, we see something quite different. "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." "I saw the souls of them which had been slain for the Word of God and there was given them, to each one, a white robe." When Paul speaks of those who have fallen asleep, in First Thessalonians, it is with the express intention of showing that those who survive to the Parousia have no advantage over them. "Jesus Christ died for us," he writes, {1Th_5:10} "that, whether we wake or sleep, we may live together with Him." And he uses one most expressive word in a similar connection: {1Th_4:14} "Them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring [αξει] with Him." Suave verbura, says Bengel: dicitur de viventibus. May we not say with equal cogency, not only "de viventibus," but "de viventibus cum lesu?" Those who are asleep are with Him; they are in blessedness with Him; what their mode of existence is it may be impossible for us to conceive, but it is certainly not a thing to shrink from with horror. The taking clown of the old tent in which we live here is a thing from which one cannot but shrink, and that is why Paul would rather have Christ come, and be saved the pain and fear of dying. With death in view he mentions the new body as the ground of his confidence, because it is the final realization of the Christian hope, the crown of redemption. {Rom_8:23} But he does not mean to say that, unless the new body were granted in the very instant of dying, death would usher him into an appalling void, and separate him from Christ. This assumption, on which the interpretation of Sabatier and Schmiedel rests, is entirely groundless, and therefore that interpretation, in spite of a superficial plausibility, is to be decidedly rejected. It is to be rejected all the more when we are invited to see the occasion which produced Pauls supposed change of opinion in the danger which he had lately incurred in 2Co_1:8-10. Paul, we are to imagine, who had always been confident that he would live to see the Parousia, had come to very close quarters with death, and this experience constrained him to seek in his religion a hope and consolation more adequate to the terribleness of death than any he had yet conceived. Hence the mighty advance explained above. But is it not absurd to say that a man, whose life was constantly in peril, had never thought of death till this time? Can any one seriously believe that, as Sabatier puts it, "the image of death, with which the Apostle had not hitherto concerned himself, (here) enters for the first time within the scope of his doctrine?" Can any one who knows the kind of man Paul was deliberately suggest that fear and self-pity conferred on him an enlargement of spiritual vision which no sympathy for bereaved disciples, and no sense of fellowship with those who had fallen asleep in Jesus, availed to bestow? Believe this who will, it seems utterly incredible to me. The passage says nothing inconsistent with Thessalonians, or First Corinthians, or Philippians, or Second Timothy, about the last things: it expresses in a special situation the constant Christian faith and hope-"the redemption of the body"; that is the possession of the believer (ἒχομεν); it is ours; and the Apostle is not concerned to fix the moment of time at which hope becomes sight. "Come what will," he says, "come death itself, this is ours; and because it is ours, though we dread the possible necessity of having to strip off the old body, and would fain escape it, we do not allow it to dismay us."
The Apostle cannot look to the end of the Christian hope without referring to its condition and guarantee. "He that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave us the earnest of the Spirit." The future is never considered in the New Testament in a speculative fashion; nothing could be less like an apostle than to discuss the immortality of the soul. The question of life beyond death is for Paul not a metaphysical but a Christian question; the pledge of anything worth the name of life is not the inherent constitution of human nature, but the possession of the Divine Spirit. Without the Spirit, Paul could have had no such certainty, no such triumphant hope, as he had; without the Spirit there can be no such certainty yet. Hence it is idle to criticize the Christian hope on purely speculative grounds, and as idle to try on such grounds to establish it. That hope is of a piece with the experience which comes when the Spirit of Him who raised up Christ from the dead dwells in us, and apart from this experience it cannot even be understood. But to say that there is no eternal life except in Christ is not to accept what is called "conditional immortality"; it is only to accept conditional glory.
The fifth verse {2Co_5:5} marks a pause: in the three which follow Paul describes the mood in which, possessed of the Christian hope, he confronts all the conditions of the present and the alternatives of the future. "We are of good courage at all times," he says. "We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from home as far as the Lord is concerned-at a distance from Him," This does not mean that fellowship is broken, or that the soul is separated from the love of Christ: it only means that earth is not heaven, and that Paul is painfully conscious of the fact. This is what is proved by 2Co_5:7 : We are absent from the Lord, our true home, "for in this world we are walking through the realm of faith, not through that of actual appearance." There is a world, a mode of existence, to which Paul looks forward, which is one of actual appearance: he will be in Christs presence there, and see Him face to face. {1Co_13:12} But the world through which his course lies meanwhile is not that world of immediate presence and manifestation; on the contrary, it is a world of faith, which realizes that future world of manifestation only by a strong spiritual conviction; it is through a faith-land that Pauls journey leads him. All along the way his faith keeps him in good heart; nay, when we think of all that it ensures, of all that is guaranteed by the Spirit, he is willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
"For, ah! the Master is so fair, His smile so sweet on banished men, That they who meet it unaware Can never turn to earth again; And they who see Him risen afar, At Gods right hand to welcome them, Forgetful stand of home and land Desiring fair Jerusalem."
If he had to make his choice, it would incline this way, rather than the other; but it is not his to make a choice, and so he does not express himself unconditionally. The whole tone of the passage anticipates that of Php_1:21 ff.: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if to live in the flesh, -if this is the fruit of my work, then what I shall choose I wot not. But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ; for it is very far better: yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake." Nothing could be less like the Apostle than a monkish, unmanly wish to die. He exulted in his calling. It was a joy to him above all joys to speak to men of the love of God in Jesus Christ. But nothing, on the other hand, could be less like him than to lose sight of the future in the present, and to forget amid the service of men the glory which is to be revealed. He stood between two worlds; he felt the whole attraction of both; in the earnest of the Spirit he knew that he had an inheritance there as well as here. It is this consciousness of the dimensions of life that makes him so immensely interesting; he never wrote a dull word; his soul was stirred incessantly by impulses from earth and from heaven, swept by breezes from the dark and troubled sea of mans life, touched by inspirations from the radiant heights where Christ dwelt. We do not need to be afraid of the reproach of "other worldliness" if we seek to live in this same spirit; the reproach is as false as it is threadbare. It would be an incalculable gain if we could recover the primitive hope in something like its primitive strength. It would not make us false to our duties in the world, but it would give us the victory over the world.
In bringing this subject to a close, the Apostle strikes a graver note. A certain moral, as well as a certain emotional temper, is evoked by the Christian hope. It fills men with courage, and with spiritual yearnings; it braces them also to moral earnestness and vigor. "Wherefore also we make it our aim"-literally, we are ambitious, the only lawful ambition-"whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto Him." Modes of being are not of so much consequence. It may agree with a mans feelings better to live till Christ comes, or to die before He comes, and go at once to be with Him; but the main thing is, in whatever mode of being, to be accepted in His sight. "For we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad." The Christian hope is not clouded by the judgment-seat of Christ; it is sustained at the holy height which befits it. We are forbidden to count upon it lightly. "Every man," we are reminded, "that hath this hope, set on Him purifieth himself even as He is pure." It is not necessary for us to seek a formal reconciliation of this verse with Pauls teaching that the faithful are accepted in Christ Jesus; we can feel that both must be true. And if the doctrine of justification freely, by Gods grace, is that which has to be preached to sinful men, the doctrine of exact retribution, taught in this passage, has its main interest and importance for Christians. It is Christians only who are in view here, and the law of requital is so exact that every one is said to get back, to carry off for himself, the very things done in the body. In this world, we have not seen the last of anything. We shall all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; all that we have hidden shall be revealed. The books are shut now, but they will be opened then. The things we have done in the body will come back to us, whether good or bad. Every pious thought, and every thought of sin; every secret prayer, and every secret curse; every unknown deed of charity, and every hidden deed of selfishness: we will see them all again, and though we have not remembered them for years, and perhaps have forgotten them altogether, we shall have to acknowledge that they are our own, and take them to ourselves. Is not that a solemn thing to stand at the end of life? Is it not a true thing? Even those who can say with the Apostle, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in hope of His glory," know how true it is. Nay, they most of all know, for they understand better than others the holiness of God, and they are especially addressed here. The moral consciousness is not maintained in its vigor and integrity if this doctrine of retribution disappears; and if we are called by a passage like this to encourage ourselves in the Lord, and in the hope which He has revealed, we are warned also that evil cannot dwell with God, and that He will by no means clear the guilty.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 1–4. For we know that if our earthly house…
1–4. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle. Paul has spoken of looking for the things that are unseen and eternal (4:18). He now describes the body as only a tent dwelling, a temporary abode, in which we are camping during a journey. If death should come and the body be dissolved, there is another dwelling for the redeemed, “the spiritual body” described in 1 Cor. 15:44, a heavenly and eternal body. To the saint, death is the exchange of the earthly tent dwelling for this eternal spiritual body.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 2Co_5:1.—Flow of thought quite continuous from 2Co_4:18. For (2Co_4:15).……
CRITICAL NOTES
2Co_5:1.—Flow of thought quite continuous from 2Co_4:18. For (2Co_4:15).… For
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(17).… For (2Co_5:1).… For
(2).… For
(4).… For
(10), etc.; a chain of “fors.” We know.—Partly from having seen the glorified Christ wearing His resurrection body; Paul and the other Apostolic “witnesses of the resurrection” (Act_1:22) could on this ground all say “we.” [Note how Peter is led from the “putting off” of his own “tabernacle” (cognate word) to the glorified body of Christ as seen on the Mount of Transfiguration (2Pe_1:13-18).] Earthly.—Belonging to, located upon this earth, contrasted with “in the heavens”; not “made of earth,” earthen. If.—Must not be pressed, to carry an inference that Paul doubted whether he should die, and indeed hoped he should not. 2Th_2:3, written earlier than this, postpones into the far future the Day of the Lord; and must govern all exegesis of other passages relating to the time of the Parousia. Tabernacle.—Remember he was a tent-maker. The garment and the tent occur together in Psa_104:2. [In later (and medical) Greek commonly used for the human body.] The tabernacle is a temporary dwelling; the “building” is for a permanence; like “mansions” (= abiding dwellings) in Joh_14:2. Observe in “from God” (“an immediate outworking of His miraculous power”); and also the comma after “eternal”; “in the heavens” is not merely appended to “eternal,” but is an additional predicate, parallel with “of God” and “eternal.” Building.—Four current views of this:
(1) Heaven;
(2) the Resurrection Body;
(3) a supposed bodily organisation clothing the soul in the interval between death and the resurrection;
(4) a spiritual enduement with the image of God; this last a Rabbinical use of the idea of being clothed. Against
(3) remember that this would not be “eternal,” and that Paul only knows of two kinds of body (1Co_15:44). For
(4) is pleaded the simpler sense thus given to “not be found naked”; of. Psa_17:15. For
(1) such parallels are adduced as Heb_11:10, and the surface impression of the phrase, “in the heavens,” coupled with Joh_14:2.
(2) now most in favour. Best explains “clothed,” “clothed upon,” “unclothed” (cf. “bare,” 1Co_15:37-38); better certainly than does
(1). Difficulty of
(2) is in “in the heavens.” For this and “we have,” choose between, e.g., Stanley: “The moment that our present house is destroyed, that very moment a new habitation awaits us in heaven”; and, e.g., Beet: “A secure place in which the dead have, though they do not yet wear, the resurrection body. Cf. Php_3:20; 1Pe_1:4. It is practically in heaven; for the power which will raise it is there. When Christ appears from heaven we shall receive our permanent bodily abode. Hence it is … from heaven, 2Co_5:2.”
2Co_5:2. For.—Argument of Rom_8:22 sqq. The groaning is wrought in us by God’s Spirit, and is thus a ground for belief that there is awaiting us a real fulfilment of our desire. Groan.—“With numberless afflictions, infirmities, temptations” (Wesley).
2Co_5:3.—The nearest Paul’s language brings us to a strong expression of hope that he should not know any “unclothed” interval of existence, but should put over him the new investment of his immaterial part, beneath which, as it were, the old should be stripped off or pass away. But perhaps desire rather than hope. The language is so guided by the Spirit that Paul’s expression of personal feeling, whatever it imply, is universally suited to the longing of the Church, even where there is no expectation of survival to the Parousia.
2Co_5:4. Not for that.—Difficult to trace link of thought; hence alternative of margin. Stanley: “The groans … are uttered, not so much because of the oppression of this outward frame, not so much from a wish to be entirely freed from the mortal part of our nature, as from the hope that it will be absorbed into a better life.” Swallowed up.—Recalls 1Co_15:54. Observe “what is mortal”; more exact than A.V.
2Co_5:5. This very thing.—Choose between
(1) the change just described;
(2) the yearning for it;
(3) the spiritual preparation for it.
(3) is true, but beside the mark here. Perhaps Paul’s thought wavered between, or comprised, both
(1) and
(2). Earnest.—Rom_8:23; Rom_5:5; Rom_8:11, are apposite, closely related, parallels to the argument here.
2Co_5:6.—Observe the broken construction: “Being of good courage … we are of good courage.” [The fact of these Epistles having been dictated may (as Dean Vaughan suggests in his Romans) account for many of these breaks in grammatical sequence of clauses.] Of good courage.—“Though troubles assail and dangers affright;” though death be in prospect. Php_1:20-23 a good practical illustration.
2Co_5:7.—See Separate Homily. Here, morally, the nobler walk is that of faith; yet walking by sight will, intrinsically, be a nobler thing there.
2Co_5:8. Willing.—With an active desire. Present.—“At home,” as in 2Co_5:5. “Absent” in Greek is also cognate in root; meaning “from home.”
2Co_5:9-10. Labour.—“Make it a point of honour with ourselves to accomplish this, viz.,” etc. Used in Rom_15:20; 1Th_4:11 [“Be ambitious to be unambitious”] “At home or from home;” in both their alternatives of meaning and relation. Observe, “well pleasing to Him,” i.e. to Christ, before Whose judgment seat (Joh_5:22; Joh_5:27) “we must appear”; not only standing there as arraigned before Him, but as being read through and through by Him, and then being by His judgment exhibited in our true character; whether as better or worse than men thought us. Illustrate by 1Jn_2:28 to 1Jn_3:3. Receive.—“Reap the fruits of” (Stanley). In the body.—Observe margin. Not bodily sins only, the excesses of its appetites, or acts wrought by the aid of its members; but wrought during the occupation by the soul. Good or bad.—Future rewards, as well as future punishments, are part of the Christian doctrine of retribution. Judgment seat.—The thing is Roman, not Greek; in Greek the word meant the orator’s pulpit. “The ‘Bema’ was a lofty seat, raised on an elevated platform, usually at the end of the Basilica, so that the figure of the judge must have been seen towering above the crowd which thronged the long nave of the building” (Stanley). The Corinthians would remember Gallio.
2Co_5:11. Persuade.—“You say we do, in a bad sense [as Act_12:20, and Gal_1:10]. I say I do, in a true sense,” viz. as 1Co_9:22; Rom_15:2. Terror.—“Fear” in, with many commentators. Yet even Stanley says: “Knowing that there is this fearful aspect of the Lord.” At most, “conscious that we walk in the fear of the Lord” [in the Old Testament sense] is only half the meaning. “Remembering also what a terror to the ungodly will in that day be the Lord Whom now we reverently fear.” I hope also.—As 2Co_1:14-15.
2Co_5:12. Commending ourselves.—“Ourselves” emphatic, q.d. as our enemies say we do, because we have no other letters of commendation (2Co_3:1; 2Co_4:2). “He assumes, with something of an ironical tone, that all they wished was to vindicate him” (Stanley).
2Co_5:13.—Takes up charges made by his enemies at Corinth. His “madness” was a fault to some; his “sobriety” to others. [Cf. the generation whom nothing could please (Mat_11:17).] The steadily-held middle course is often a rebuke, and often an offence, to the extremes on either side. Unto God.—Like a stream which moves unto Ocean but blesses all along its banks by the way, the Christian life is unto God, but on its way it is for man’s cause. If not unto God, then, like stream ceasing to flow, it makes marsh and miasma.
2Co_5:14-15. The love of Christ.—Choose between
(1) His love to us;
(2) our love to Him;
(3) His love for men, found in us (cf. Php_1:8). In fact,
(3) is uppermost, foremost, most apparent; but grows out of
(1) and
(2). As matter of experience the three are never dissociated. Constraineth.—“Christ’s love left him no choice as to what he should live for, brought him under the control of an irresistible yet most gracious necessity, hedged him in on the right hand and on the left, controlled him with a constancy like that with which the great forces of the universe rule the planets, and determine the orbit in which every one of them must move” (Dale, Atonement, p. 260). Note the use of the same verb in Php_1:23; and, most appositely, by Christ Himself (Luk_12:50). Judge.—In Rom_6:11, “reckon.” Paul does here of himself and others what he there urges each to do in regard to himself. All died.—See Appended Note from Dale. All.—Not to be pressed, to prove universal, saving, efficacy for the death of Christ. Still, every man may by grace bring himself within the circle of the “all” who “died.” Rom_6:1-11 compares throughout with this.
2Co_5:16. After the flesh.—As ordinary men do, in whom “the flesh” permits of no apprehension or understanding of anything but what is “natural.” As His enemies knew Him; as even His earthly relatives knew Him, until the Spirit taught them more about Him; as the party “of Christ” at Corinth knew Him; as His very disciples knew Him before His resurrection (with such occasional flashes of a deeper insight as Mat_16:17, “Flesh … not revealed, … but.”) The same expression used of the same opponents, 2Co_10:3; 2Co_11:18; Gal_6:12.
2Co_5:17.—See Homily. New creature.—In Gal_6:15 also. Common Rabbinical expression for the conversion of a proselyte. Observe the variant reading, which omits “all.” Passed away.—Study with this Mat_24:35; 2Pe_3:10. Go back also to Isa_43:18-19, and its New Testament derivative, Rev_21:4-5.
2Co_5:18-19.—See Homilies. Reconciled us to Himself.—This English phrase, somewhat archaic in form, must not be pressed into the service of any “Theory of the Atonement” which minifies or denies any real “wrath” in God, and makes the aversion which needs removing in order to a state of reconciliation, only to exist in man.
1. The modern English equivalent for the thought of the older English phraseology would, indeed, be more nearly “Reconciled Himself to us.”
The formula for our verse is A reconciles B to A;
In 1Sa_29:4 it is D reconciled D to S.
The aversion, the estrangement, which needs removing is, as we now oftener think of reconciliation, in the offended party, not in the offending one.
We should now rather say, C reconciles A to B, D reconciles S to D.
As between older and modern English the polarity of the word has got reversed.
2. So, again, the formula for 2Co_5:20 is: Let B be reconciled to A. Just as for 1Co_7:11 it is, Let Wife be reconciled to Husband (see below). And for Mat_5:24, Let Offending brother be reconciled to Offended. Where again the polarity needs, to our habit of thought, reversing. A needs reconciling to B. Heathen Husband (unjustly) offended needs reconciling to Christian Wife. Offended (justly) needs reconciling to Offender.
3. Clearly, however, “Be reconciled” in these latter cases—perhaps in all—means hardly anything more precise than, “Take the steps needed on your side to seek and to enjoy a new, reconciled relation between yourself and the offended party.” And, as clearly, the force of the Greek word, and not that of the English phrase, carries with it the final decision of interpretation. This (e.g. as Cremer, Lexicon, p. 91 sqq. shows) rather lays stress upon the reconciled, and now amicable, relations arrived at, than upon the process by which it has been reached, and, still less, upon the question which of the parties needed bringing to the other [or which of them made the first move towards a restored, happier relationship]. Of our text he says: “Neither the word, in and by itself, nor the grammatical connection can decide whether God is to be regarded as the antagonist of man or man of God.” [On 1Co_7:11 he thinks that the heathen husband has some cause of complaint that his Christian wife has left him.] “It is [in point of fact] God who forms the relation between Himself and humanity anew; the part of humanity is to accept this reinstatement (2Co_5:20).… It is a relation which is changed, which God changes, in that He desists from His claims.”
2Co_5:20-21.—These verses expound the method of the reconciliation; both so far as depends upon God, and so far as depends on man.
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS—2Co_5:1-21
Wishing and Working.
A. Looking into the Future (2Co_5:1-10). Key words: “Clothed upon” (1–5); “At home, from home” (6–8); “Christ the Judge” (9, 10).
B. Labouring in the Present (2Co_5:11-21).
A. I.
1. Often not a very profitable occupation.—The Present is our field, our life. “Do with thy might what thy hand findeth—close at hand—to do” is the first direction for all Christian activity. Dreaming over the Past—pleasurable, or mis-spent; peering into the Future—in hope, or fear, or curiosity; may be the idlest of occupations; fruitless, and diverting from the immediate fruit-bearing of to-day. “What shall this man do? What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” “Forgetting the things behind,” is a good deal done towards securing “This one thing I do,” with its strength—not of “narrowness,” but—of concentration and of consequent intensity and force. The best life-builder lays to-day’s “course” well and strongly, as the best security for the next, and the next, and all following “courses” in his work. Yet not without reference to the superposed “courses”; the design running through from foundation to topstone, will be traceable in to-day’s work—continued from the lower, preparatory for the upper. The climber is helped to make firm the step he is actually taking, by looking upward. Living in the future is useless, mischievous, to the strength and activities of to-day. Living for the future is essential to a large life. Paul draws strength for bearing the “burdens” of the Present, from the hopes of the Future. Paul “labours” in the Present, with a prospect in the Future which—whether to incite or encourage—“keeps him up to the mark” for present duty.
2. Paul is a prophet.—His teaching, his visions, of the future have so become the commonplaces of Christian thought about it, that it is hard to realise what amazing disclosures they are. One value of classical, philosophical literature to our time is that there is recorded the utmost which man could do for himself in the way of purifying life and making it happy,—the experiment whose results stand recorded having been conducted by some of the noblest minds of the race, with all material advantages for the trial, and with the ability to record in the most perfect fashion their methods and results. So, too, in regard to the future, it records for us, in most perfect form, all the best hopes and arguments of the best types of mind and heart, at the very best of their powers, and the “results,” such as they were, to which, under the most favourable conditions, they were able to arrive. And it is matter of common knowledge that not one ever got so far as to say, “We know that if,” etc. The humblest Christian has in the fact of a Risen Christ an evidence for, and a sample and a pledge of, a future life such as non-Christian thinkers and inquirers, ancient or modern, have never attained. Yet Paul is not merely falling back upon History. He may have known all the little that we know about the Risen Life, and the Risen Body of the Lord Christ, during the Forty Days. The one certain fact for us, in regard to the “house not made with hands,” is that His Body is the norm and pattern for ours. Yet we hardly assert even that much without questions arising, and qualifications accruing around our “certainty.” We cannot, for example, be certain that the Body of the Forty Days has not undergone further change and increase of glory since it passed into “the heavens.” On this bare fact alone can our hope or desire put its foot: Whatever His body in the heavenly places is to-day, that ours is to be by-and-by = “fashioned like unto the body of His glory” (Php_3:21). Paul is, however, carried in his confidence beyond mere argument and inference. The link given in the text just quoted, is one that must have been supplied to him as part of his prophetic message. Matter of course as it almost seems to us, we could have had no assurance of that,—he could have had none, “except it were given him from above.” With the facts of the Lord’s Resurrection and Glorified Life; with Paul’s revelations; with the assurance of our being “in Christ,” and, in all the senses and degrees of which our human nature is capable, of becoming thus “partakers with Him”; the believer of to-day looks forward to the future and to death and judgment, saying—singing—“We know,” etc. He works on “until the evening” (Psa_104:23), and then lies down for the long sleep, saying, “We know,” etc.
3. Are we to say of His Pattern-Body that it is “not made with hands,” “eternal” [happily, yes!] “in the heavens”? It is to “strive after wind” to attempt to fill out the hints of Scripture as to the nature of the “future house.” It is to try to solve a problem, where there are hardly any data at all. It is to attempt to be certain, where the scanty materials available to us for consideration are themselves of uncertain significance. Not that there is gratuitous or arbitrary reserve. “I would have told you” is entirely the mind of One Who said the strongest things He could, and all He could—we may be sure—to comfort friends whose faces, as they gazed at Him in a silence, which only now and again ventured to give birth to a question, showed them nearly broken-hearted, stunned, at the certainty now forced upon their unwilling heart, that they were to lose their Friend. The reserve, the reticence, is unavoidable. We have no experiences, no things, to be the alphabet, or the vocabulary, of the language in which a Revealer of more would need to speak. It is easy to speculate upon a body in which every power now possessed by us will be enhanced, and to which new powers will perhaps be given; “percipient all over.” It is much to know that the “groaning” will be done with; that the body will be no “burden” in itself, nor shall our life need to carry any “burden”; to live will be no “burden” then, as often, to very many, it is now. Tears gone; no pain, no death; all such hints full of sweetest suggestion to suffering, weeping, dying humanity. Here the very work of Christ overwhelms the servant of Christ with physical weariness, until he can only drop his unfinished task, too exhausted to collect his jaded mind for a word of prayer in which to commend himself to his Master. [Your strong arm and strong bow shoot its arrow up into the air; the perfected rifle may speed its bullet upward. Away they soar, as if they had done with earth altogether, and were never going to return. But gravitation has its grip upon them, and slowly, surely, asserts itself; they slacken, they stop, they are dragged down with accelerating speed. In the all eagerness of their upward rush, they still belonged to earth!] The body is made bitterly to feel the fetters of the gravitation earthward. But done with then! The very intensity of spiritual emotion cannot long be endured; body and mind would break down under long-continued afflux of large communications from God.
4. “In the heavens.”—Not to be too precise in exposition. Even now “in the heavens”? In what sense? Anything more in the “we have” than the confident expectation which makes “things hoped for” to be substantial, dealt with as confidently in the business of life, wrought into all our calculations with as much security, as if they were the actualities of to-day instead of the possibilities of the morrow? Anything more than the faith which counts the reversionary interest present-day wealth, an arithmetic of faith which makes no abatement from the future Principal Sum, but reckons its Present Worth as equal to the full amount? To faith, God’s bills of longest date are cash in hand without any discount. As in Hebrews 11 throughout, the heroes of faith accept and deal with the things unseen or future, on the assumption that they are as certainly assured realities as any most obviously real facts of the present and the seen. “We have” is faith’s anticipation; overleaping the interval, thinking itself into the future, when literally we shall “have,” and shall be wearing and using and enjoying. “We have” Him there, Whose body is the guarantee of our own. Ours is a certainty because His is a fact (2Co_4:14).
5. This strengthens us for the burdens and the labour.—“We are saved by (our) hope.” Hope gives a resilience to the spirit, so that when the burden is for the moment lifted off, the elasticity of vigorous life is found unimpaired; even whilst under the burden the spring is still elastic. The burdened Christian is not broken-spirited. “Cast down, but not destroyed.” From the top of the occasional Delectable Mountains a descent must be made to the River; but the glimpse of the distance and its glory (in which the central figure is to Paul his Glorious Lord, robed in a glorified human nature) is a real force, sustaining and urging onward, as the travellers go down into the valley and plunge into the river. Or, as John (1Jn_2:28; 1Jn_3:3) turns the truth, our hope is a purifying force. [As the boy at school in England is continually hearing from his father in India: “I am coming home” at such a date. “I want to find my son in education and manners and character worthy of me. I want to have joy in him when I see him again.” And the boy responds: “Father is coming home” at such a time. “I must try and be just such as he would like me to be.” (“Found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless,” 2Pe_3:14).]
6. “Not for that we would be unclothed,” etc.—This is not the heathen shrinking from the very conception of a disembodied spirit’s condition, as Achilles scorned the idea of being a king amongst the “shades.” [Hardly to be connected with the craving for embodiment, which Isaac Taylor, (Phys. Theory, chap. 17), sees suggested in the request of the demons, dispossessed from their human abode, to be allowed to enter into other bodies, though they were only those of swine.] Paul has grasped the New Testament—Christian—truth that the man is no complete man apart from his body. It is good to be “at home”—even whilst disembodied—“with the Lord.” But the perfected fellowship of the man who is even now “in Christ” with that Risen, Glorified God-man, will only begin in the day of the Parousia and Resurrection. We shall only have our “perfect consummation and bliss” when it is both “in body and in soul.”
7. The marvel of the revelation is that in the very “groaning” there is ground of hope. “He hath wrought us for the selfsame thing.” [Developed in Rom_8:19-27; where we have a groaning “creature”; a groaning Church, even though it is enriched with “the firstfruits,” viz. “the Spirit”; indeed, the very “groanings” after full release and full felicity are the breathings of a groaning Holy Spirit within the “sons of God.”] The “groaning” under the manifold burden—the flesh, the multiplied trials of the earthly lot, the burdensome conflict with the sin which the saved man hates—is no mere sigh of helpless oppression; it is a look, out, up, forward, toward the realised hope. What he is made to groan after, he is created to enjoy; and he is going to enjoy all that he is created to enjoy. His groans and his glory are “all of one piece”; they are parts of one whole scheme of a spiritual education of the children of God, Whose goal for the whole manhood—the body included—is anticipated and assured in the risen glory of the eternally embodied Christ, “eternal in the heavens.”
II. “At home; from home.”—[“Where is your home, little one?” “Where mother lives.” Not much help in the answer for one who sought to restore to its mother the lost child. But, for the child itself, the answer went to the root of the matter.]
1. The presence of Christ makes heaven real, and makes it dear to His people.—The son of an English family goes to India. All the family have learned the geography of India; what they were taught at school has been supplemented by newspapers and by general reading. The leading points are known. But the city to which his Government appointment takes the son of the house, if even “known,” has only been a name on a map, until he goes there. Then it becomes real, for he is real; it is the material setting of his very “material” life. The streets are real, and the people, for he sees them; the houses real, for he lives in one; the village tank and temple,—they see them with his eyes. His letters and himself enable them almost to live there too. And interesting as well as real. If even it were real before, it had no real hold upon them; it mattered nothing to them, practically. Now every bit of news of it is noted. Even the commonest engraving of it has a value. The stranger who has seen it is almost a friend of the family. The youngest child of the house shyly “sidles up” to the visitor, with a half-opened atlas, abundantly rewarded if he can attract attention that he may show the map of India, and point to the strange-sounding name; “My brother lives there.” So the visible, bodily departure—rather than a mere vanishing away, or a quitting of the disciples after some visit, never to return—has helped to make heaven real, and full of interest to the Christian. He loves his Elder Brother, and the place where He lives is dear for His sake. It is real, the real setting and environment of a tangible, visible Body, which, in full view, one fine May morning, went up into the heaven from the top of Olivet, and was not lost, but only hidden behind a veil of cloud. We hear the music with His ears; they are filled with its real melody. We see and deal with its very real inhabitants, for He very really sees and deals with them. His presence there locates “home” there.
2. “We,” “we.”—For the man of the world has no practical interest in, no sense of the reality of, any world but this. To the Christian man this is the way home; to the non-Christian this is home, so far as his life has any real home. “We are (only) journeying to the place.… Come with us” (Num_10:29). There were Amalekites and other desert tribes, to whom the wilderness was home; to Israel it was a mere place of passing sojourn. Canaan was Rest. There has been exaggeration of this. Paul’s feeling is the healthy one. If this world were wholly and merely evil, he would have been in no “strait betwixt two”; what to choose he would have known very well. He is in a difficulty just because, whilst that is “better,” this is good. And to live in either is Christ; “labour” for Christ, and “fruit” for Christ, and help to his dear Philippians, if he remain here; “to be with Christ,” if he go. Either way, “to live is Christ”; death only divides the one life in Christ into two sections (Php_1:21-24). The wise Christian man will “seek the peace of this (earthly) city,” where for a while His Master wishes him to reside and do His work (Jer_29:7). Yet as real an exaggeration to ridicule the “unworldliness” or “other worldliness” of Christian men. They who rise highest in “conformity to the image of” Christ feel most keenly the profound cleavage between the very bases of their life and the bases of the world’s life; they feel most sensitively the utter discrepancy of the whole direction of their life from, and its irreconcilableness with, that of the very men whose work they do, whose occupations they share. They often meet, as it were, at the same station, but are going in opposite directions; “up,” and “down.” As they many times stand side by side, their hands engaged in the same task, their faces are in opposite directions. The spirit of life is different. The saint cannot be entirely “at home” (in the homely sense of the phrase) with those to whom the Elder Brother is nothing, and whose interests and life are circumscribed by the horizon of time. The Christian man is a faithful servant of his generation (Act_13:36), or he is no true Christian. But he does not belong to it. [Cf. a German employé in a London business house. Faithful, competent, successful, taking a hearty interest in English life, having a home here. But “Where is home?” The eye kindles as you show him a photograph of his native place, or of the capital of the state to which he belongs, or of his Prince. He has a house in England, but Germany is “home.”] Where Paul’s Prince and Saviour and Elder Brother is, there is “home.” The Christian man should be interested in, faithful to, busy for, this temporary dwelling-place of his; his Master puts him here for a while; but he must keep his spirit detached; not rooting here. At length he will be summoned to go and live “at home” “with the Lord.”
3. Here again is “confidence.” “We know.”—In fact, to Paul, “walking not by sight” yet, “but by faith,” this world, which imprisons the thought, and enslaves the heart, and absorbs all the energies of the man who belongs to it only, often becomes the unreal, “recedes and disappears” into shadowiness; the Eternal becomes the real, not only seen through, but hiding altogether, the world of passing interests and dying men. To him there stands in clear vision the One Man; the circle which contains his life is struck from that Centre. He can bear up under anything; he can go through with anything; when the best desire of his best life, to be at home with Him, is every moment being brought nearer to its realisation.
III. “Willing rather.” And yet the first fact of the hereafter is to appear before Christ.—
1. Without discriminating between the successive incidents of the eschatological programme, extending from death to resurrection and judgment, it is to be remembered that a very real discrimination and pronouncement upon character, a real, immediate “judgment,” takes place as often, and in so far, as a man is brought into contact with Christ. He is even now the supreme Test of character. The touchstone-question for an unsaved man is, “What thinkest thou of Christ; whose Son is He?” (Mat_22:42). To the Christian man also is proposed, with perpetual, searching reiteration, the similar query, “Who say ye that I am?” Every man, saved and unsaved, is revealed,—perhaps to himself—certainly to observers “taught of God”—by the practical answer, as given and written out in his life. Every man who comes into contact with Christ is now in that very fact “judged.” Not only is a very real decision being made, and a verdict being pronounced; not only does the man inevitably pass “right” or “left” of Christ; but a very real sentence is being executed. Every man receives already a very real blessedness or punishment, according to the attitude he takes up toward Christ. [“For judgment I am come,” etc. (Joh_9:39).] Christ is even now the Test of character, the Norm of judgment, the Arbiter of destiny.
2. The first fact of the unseen world is the sight of Christ.—A man suddenly cut off in mid-career, falling shot in battle, dropping with heart-weakness upon the flagstones of the Exchange, in an instant steps out of the roar and rush of life’s busy street into the hush and calm of the solemn presence-chamber where He sits, before Whom the first and supreme question for the new comer is, “What was your attitude toward Christ, what did you do for Him, outside there, in that busy world of so many interests?” Outside there men were classified according to all sorts of tests. Within, standing before Christ, one only basis of classification is known and brought into use: “How did you stand related to Christ?” Men are already being set on “His right hand” or on “His left.” His final revelation is only the consummation of a judicial work which has been ever proceeding in the world. But further—
3. There is a Day of Judgment in which the Central Figure, the Judge, is Christ.—May strip away much as we will of the figurative, analogical dress of the truth; may acknowledge how often the continuous, present judgment, and the immediate judgment in the hour of death, and the final, open judgment, are hard to keep apart as matter of exegesis. Yet we cannot escape this irreducible minimum of fact. “Probation does not lead to probation, but to issues.” “Devil and his angels have hitherto proved but indifferent reformers” (Edw. Irving, Oration, Judgment, 7). “The last function of mediatorial sway will be the final judgment, when the High Priest shall no longer intercede for the world, nor the Prophet teach mankind, but the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory … all nations; gathered for the first and last time that He may separate them again to be united no more” (Pope). This is no delegation of universal judgment to a creature. “If the Redeemer were appointed Judge as simply man, … His function would only be the visible accompaniment of the judgment and sentence of the invisible God; but that is not the style of Scripture.” Yet we need the manhood. “In relation to no part of His office is the manhood of Christ more necessary to our failing hearts, and of no office is it more expressly declared.… Not of like passions with us, but flesh and blood. His experience of temptation—notwithstanding His necessary sinlessness—makes Him a sympathising High Priest and a merciful Judge, in whose Divine-human soul, now and ever, to the last extreme of what is consistent with inscrutable holiness and law, mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (Pope.) Would you not hear the sentence “Depart!” from the lips of anybody rather than of Christ? The Christ Who has “died in vain for you” (cf. Gal_2:21; 1Co_8:11), Who for years lavished on you a grace you would not return or repay, etc. “The wrath of the Lamb—the Lamb”—is the crowning terror of that day (Rev_6:16). There is, even amongst men, no displeasure so terrible as that of justly offended, slighted, insulted goodness,—calm, judicial, pitiful, but inexorable, inflexible; not to be turned aside from executing the necessary sentence which it did not desire, and did its best to render unnecessary.
4. Those judged. “We all.”—
(1) What an assemblage is suggested! Wonderful for size. The most impressive sight which London has to offer is a London crowd; the tens of thousands of orderly people in the streets, when some civic pageant or royal procession is passing. But no man ever saw all the inhabitants of London gathered together. Overwhelming; hard even to conceive five million people in one vast concourse. The mind is baffled as it tries to conceive of a thousand millions assembled, the present inhabitants of earth. Yet to realise this “all,” there must be added all the millions of the generations of the past, all those of the future. Wonderful for composition. Stand with Addison in Westminster Abbey, and imagine the day when these buried dead that people nave, aisles, transepts, chapels, shall all stand together to be contemporaries through an eternal existence. Hardly a mean person among them. Kings, queens, many more of royal stock. The greater kings and nobility of science, art, literature—the “pick” of the greatest, wisest, most eloquent, most good—and the worst!—of this richly dowered England for a thousand years. In this “all” are not only the “pick,” but the bulk, of not one nation only, but of a world, for all the ages since men were first found upon earth; not only the great, mighty, rich, learned, good, but the humble, poor, weak, ignorant, evil,—everybody. No escape possible. No personation possible. No obtaining a substitute. Writer, readers; preacher, hearers. Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth at the Abbey. Pilate, finding himself confronted with Jesus, and their relation reversed. [Men do not so easily wash their hands of wrong done to Christ.] Judas, to get a “look” far other than that with which the eye of Jesus broke the heart of Peter.
(2) “Every one.” The judgment is individual as well as universal. It is “the only thing absolutely both individual and universal; not even sin and sorrow can compare with this.” “It is hard to reconcile the infinite detail with the Divine dignity; but not harder to receive a special judgment than a special providence. Moreover, there is no common conscience; the conscience of every living man is the sure pledge and earnest of an individual judgment.” (Pope.) “Thou art the man” is the word of Redemption, Providence, Mercy, Judgment. We are born alone, we are saved by a personal faith, “we die alone.” There is no salvation en masse. [There was corporate redemption.] There is no judgment en masse.
(3) “Or bad” makes it clear that the “all” includes the wicked, who appear for punishment.The rebel citizens and the wicked servants (Luk_19:14; Luk_19:22) are all to be there. Yet with an obvious distinction from the judgment of the “saved.” It will not be true hereafter that the righteous shall “scarcely be saved” (Pope). Their ordeal will not then have in it anything of a doubtful issue; its peculiar severity and strictness belong only to the present life. The righteous “shall not come into condemnation” (Joh_5:24). The Judge is their Brother and Friend, Whom, when they awake from the dead, they shall find upon the throne of judgment. It is their glory that in that day judgment will to them be only the ratification and publication of a deliverance from curse and condemnation which long before, in the moment of their faith in Christ, was passed in the court of their consciousness. The real crisis, when they passed from condemnation to justification of life, is in their case behind them. [Just as, though they were long ago adopted, and received the Spirit of Adoption, they nevertheless “wait for the adoption,” the publication in the Great Forum, in that Day, of a gracious act which the Father had long ago intended and accomplished, a holy secret of love between Him and their soul.] These appear before the “judgment seat of Christ” without fear; they shall “stand in the judgment”; these may “dwell with the devouring fire” of “the Day,” which tests men and their work (Isa_33:14; 1Co_3:13). But, whether His people or His enemies, all “appear” therein, so to speak, transparent presence. An end of all hypocrisy, of all misconception and misjudgment and misrepresentation. An end of all self-deception. An end of all perplexity about the strange complex of one’s own motives and character and status. Everything—every man—stands there, revealed to himself and to all standing around; known at last in the very character which God has all along known. The light of the real world, the light of eternity, is turned upon even the hidden things of the heart. How some cower away from the blinding, searching scrutiny of the light of the Presence of the Judge! How some guilty ones—their own judges—will shrink away from themselves as they there “appear”! How amazed some humble one to find himself there “appearing” in the judgment of His Lord nothing less than a “saint,” a “good and faithful servant”!
4. Retribution follows; in both its phases, reward as well as penalty.—[Many tests of desert; many standards of reward; many aspects in which is presented the connection between the act and its recompense. Conscience and light; how much of the latter? How blessed with, how affected by, revealed truth? Faith. Works; these not as basis of merit, but as indications of character, and as measuring the amount of a reward which is all of grace.] “According to works,” “By thy words,” and the like expressions, all are distinct in idea from this of our paragraph: “Shall receive the things done.” [Perhaps over-subtle to press this too much; yet in other places more is said than “shall receive for the things done”; more is apparently asserted here.] Men’s reward does not only follow upon conduct, but is a harvest from seed which was sown by conduct, and springs out of conduct. Heaven and hell are life continued, and intensified, on lines essentially projected here, in position and direction, and only “produced” eternally there. Men are now making no small part of their own heaven and their own hell. Men do here literally often “receive the things done in the body.” No worse specimens of misery than old sinners, past the possibility of gratifying sinful appetites, yet still cursed with them, clinging to them; squeezing the sucked orange, in hope of getting a drop of the old pleasant juice. “Filled with his own ways” (Pro_14:14), abandoned to the curse of his own sins. Like, as Maclaren suggests, the man in Thalaba, who suffered the devil to kiss his shoulders, and from the kissed spot sprang serpents, fed by, and feeding upon, his very life. [Not the entire truth. There must be some form of punishment ab extra, or there is in no proper sense a pardon of sin. If the only hell is that which a sinner prepares for himself, within himself by his alienation of his heart and mind and will from God, and by the choosing and cherishing all things evil (“Myself am hell”), then the only pardon possible is through, if it is not itself, renewal and regeneration. The mere penalty of loss is a true penalty ab extra, whilst underneath all the symbolism and analogic language of judgment there is something beyond “loss.”] “Always the dreadful burden is laid upon the sinner himself. He is viewed as the author of his own character, and as responsible for his own ruin. In the integrity of his body and soul he reaps the fruit of his own devices; part of his sin was the sensuous misuse of his body; part … the turning away of his spirit from God; in the reunion of body and soul he suffers the result.… The final condemnation is that of a nature now fitted for it [self-“fitted for destruction” (Rom_9:22)]. The harvest is the character formed by the seedtime.… Not that the Judge assigns eternal punishment for temporal sin; but that sin is taken confirmed into eternity.… Not because man has sinned only, but because his nature is turned away from God.”
(1) [Pope, Compend. of Theol., 3:421. Remark the best reading in Mar_3:29, “eternal sin.” Also, in connection with the question raised,—perhaps, too urgently pressing the grapes in the wine-press of exegesis,—à propos of the Unmerciful Servant (Mat_18:23-34, with its commentary “so,” “thus,” Mat_18:35), whether sins once pardoned return upon the forgiven man, if by new sin he fall away from his mercy; remark that men are not punished, merely or chiefly, for having done such and so many sins, but for their whole attitude towards God and His Son. They are, in each one single act, sinners. (I.e. they are so now by their own choice, as well as by inborn bias. It may be questioned whether sin as a birth-principle is ever punished, now that the race has been redeemed by Christ.)] Men have “treasured up for themselves wrath” [like a huge reservoir at the head of a valley, behind whose retaining dam is accumulating a mass of water which one day bursts the barrier and sweeps down, carrying everything before the rush of its irresistible flood]. “Their sin—itself—finds them out.” On the other hand, a man’s life and faithful service “returns into his bosom.” “Their works do follow them.” “They receive the things done;” which is according to many analogies of God’s methods of reward and punishment on this side of death.
(2) It is also suggested that, whilst “done in the body” limits the matter of judicial inquiry to the actions of this earthly life, yet that these may be dealt with, not only in themselves, but, constructively, pregnantly; that, not the actions only, but their fruits, good or evil, in other characters and lives, reproductive also in successive generations, long after the actor himself is dead, are to be taken into account. The time occupied in committing a sin is in no sort of relation to the length of the punishment which it deserves. Yet if “an eternal penalty for a temporal sin” be a difficulty, this suggestion may perhaps lessen the difficulty. Certainly, to make new punishment continually accrue because of new sin committed in eternity, may be truth; but our passage limits the direct and immediate recompense of the Day of Christ’s Judgment to the “deeds done in the body.” And in any case the consummate reward is, to be “accepted of Him.”
B. Labouring in the Present (2Co_5:11-21).
I. A new man is labouring to bring other men into
II. A new relation to God, “reconciliation”; and this from
III. New motives and springs of action.
[In addition to the material given under Separate Homilies may be said:—]
I. The new creation of the individual is no isolated act of grace.—The Church is no aggregate of such individuals each of whom is a specimen of God’s work, whose significance begins and ends with that particular instance. Each single conversion is part of a great plan. “What does it matter that I should get converted? What if I do not?” It matters this, that God is straightening out the sin-entangled course of human history, and that each single life is one of the threads. It must be made to lie even with the rest. The new direction given to the “new man’s” life is but one of many lines, all convergent towards God’s goal for humanity and the world. [Hence the Saviour justifies His act of healing at Bethesda, by paralleling it with God’s incessant operativeness in the world which He has made, which Sin has marred, and He is making anew. God is spending the Sabbath of His rest from creation, in ceaseless recovery of man, soul and body, from the consequence and curse of the intruding Moral Evil in His world. The healing of the lame man was one act of the great Redeeming Activity, which reproduced in the physical sphere, and on a tiny scale, the great Work of God. Hence it was suitable work for the earthly Sabbath of the Son of God (Joh_5:17-30).] When His voice sounds through “the new heaven and the new earth” the proclamation “I make all things new,” these words will only be the latest, largest, grandest, of a series of such utterances. In every “new creature’s” heart it will have been anticipated long before. The man “in Christ” was made “a new creature,” that he might fall in with the march and movement of God’s fulfilment of His Redeeming Purpose, whose climax and consummation and goal are a new earth, peopled by a new Human Race, headed up by a new Adam. Man and environment, by a convergence of many lines of restorative operation, then find themselves brought together, each perfectly fitted for the other and both for God.
II. Travelling backward, the first step of the recovery is reached.—“Be reconciled to God.” Man’s relation to God, his attitude toward God, is all awry and out of joint. But the Recovery really began farther back. God needed to make reconciliation on His own side. God’s first advance needed making; now it needs meeting by a responsive advance by men. The balance of truth must be held even. A mechanical scheme—one which, at all events, became stiffened, hardened, into mechanical—may have set a wrathful God over against a merciful Son, in an exaggerated vividness of “dramatic” representation of a transaction between Father and Son re mankind. But all wrath must not be denied to God. The difficulty lies in adjusting what is true of the timeless being of God, to the historical sequence in the story of the world and in the life-story of the sinner. Historically we say that reconciliation was effected at Calvary; yet it was earlier proclaimed, in the Immanuel-Child of Bethlehem; and, as happy matter of fact, the fallen race has never had to do with a God out of—apart from—Christ. All His dealings with the race, all His dealings with the individual, have had reconciliation-grace as their background. Much “broad” theology, in endeavouring to find adequate expression for this truth, is apt to forget that this gracious leaning of God towards mankind, and towards the man, is from the first represented in Scripture as an altered relation. We cannot date the alteration by our chronology; it is certainly no later historically than the protevangelion of Gen_3:15. “Then all died.” Who shall say, in the profoundest sense, when? But in speaking of God thus “reconciling the world to Himself,” we look, naturally enough, to Calvary, but we hear—as not fathoming the meaning—of “a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev_13:8). [“My blood boils when I see a Frenchman,” said Nelson, a typical Englishman of his time in this. God is not Nelson; but the words illustrated and exhibited an antagonism not against the individual as such—the particular Frenchman was not in issue—but against the very nation and race of Frenchmen.] Conceivable—necessary as matter of clear thinking to conceive of—a wrath against the race as such, to which the individual was of necessity obnoxious and exposed. Not only conceivable, but certain, that now “in Christ” the world is so reconciled, that to be a man is no barrier to peace; there is no “wrath” against the race as such [the race are now “the men of God’s good will”]; nor any against the individual, unless he awaken it by his personal sin and personal evil character. It is for him now to say whether there shall be “reconciliation.” The ambassadors plead, “Be reconciled.”
III. New motives actuate and urge them.—And all centre in, radiate from, converge towards, Christ. “Constrain them.” The love of Christ constrains them. (See Critical Notes on this great word.) The “new man” now knows Christ in a new way. The very love of Christ is in him. Love understands love. And love begets an overmastering passion for saving men, and makes the plea “Be reconciled” intense in its earnestness of entreaty. “The terror of the Lord” rules them. No need to exclude either “fear” or “terror”; we want both, for faithful exegesis and for complete fact. “The Lord” is Christ. To the enemy His holiness is a terror, or should be. To the very reconciled man himself there is an awe, a reverence, a godly fear, in that same holiness, with all his love for his Master. He looks at himself who was once a rebel; he fears to grieve, or lose, the love which was, and is, such free grace. He looks at the rebel who will not “be reconciled”; and he trembles to think of the terror for him when, whether he will or no, he must come into contact—conflict—with the holiness of Christ the Judge. And he therefore persuades men; runs through all the gamut of a “changing voice” (Gal_4:20), if he may win them to surrender and reconciliation. No motion lower than these, or less intense, will keep the evangelist-heart in perpetual vigour in the settled pastor. The new man must see men who are what he was, with the new eyes; must feel towards them with the new heart and the new passion, which are those of Christ Himself. No wonder that he tries to be “sober.” Still less wonder if men call him “mad.” Sober or mad, men are in view; God is in view; that God and those men are somehow, if he can compass it, to be brought together “reconciled.” The Church, the world, the Redeeming Work of God, want a succession of such “madmen”!
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.—2Co_5:13-17
A Man in Christ a New Man.—He has three things new.
I. A new imperial impulse.—Wonderful is the power of a strong passion over our natures. It fires the brain, stirs the blood, bends every energy to its own use. The love of Christ thus filled and fired, pressed, urged, overbore Paul. It carried him on like a resistless torrent. It was the regnant impulse—everything else was subject to it. [“It is impossible to read his Epistles without discovering that Christ’s love had been so revealed to him that it had taken possession of his thought and of every active energy of his nature, and stirred the profoundest depths of his emotion. Sometimes in a long passage the name of Christ occurs in almost every alternate line; sometimes he breaks away from an argument at the bare mention of Christ’s name, unable to govern the vehement impulse to dwell upon Christ’s glory and grace; at other times just as a ship is gradually swept out of her course by a strong and silent current in the sea, St. Paul is gradually carried away from the point for which he seemed to be making, by the habitual drift of all his deepest affections towards Christ.” (Dale, Atonement, pp. 260, 261.)] This is incomprehensible to those who have it not. The Apostle’s contemporaries thought him, under its influence, to be “mad.” They could have understood ambition. [Paul’s only ambition was “to be accepted of Christ.”] They could have understood avarice. [When Lord Macaulay went to India it was evident that he felt keenly the parting from England and his family circle. “The pains—acute enough sometimes, God knows—of banishment.” But he went a vowedly to make a fortune—£10,000 a year; could save several thousands every year. Had hope of return at end of five or six years. “Comfortable, though modest, home; certain of a good fire, a good joint of meat, a good glass of wine, without incurring obligations to anybody, and perfectly indifferent—at least as far as our pecuniary interest is concerned—to the changes in the political world.” Not a bad set-off to the pangs of parting! Yet with none of these prospects for his days of return, with only isolation in his work, and a status by no means too highly accounted of in India, many a missionary has cast away bright prospects in England or Scotland or the States, and buried himself in that same Indian land, because the Love of Christ—Christ’s own love for souls—had got hold of him with a force the man of the world does not understand. See Trevelyan, Life of Macaulay.] A man must have this feeling to interpret it. This love alone understands itself. It arises from reflection upon the death of Christ. It is not an inbred passion or a blind impulse; it comes thus: “We thus judge,” etc. “All.” Take this away, and it is a mutilated Gospel. That all are not saved is no objection. In material nature much seems wasted. Rain and dew fall on the rock and on the desert sand. Light falls day after day, where no living thing seems to need or use it.
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene,” etc.
—Gray’s “Elegy.”
Fruit ripens and falls and rots where there has never been a man. Wealth sufficient to enrich the millions who die in want is buried beneath the mountains or the seas. Medicine for half the ills of life is shut up in minerals and plants, whilst generations die without knowing of the remedy which nature has provided. [See this in Butler, Analogy, part ii., chap. 3.] There are men coming after us who will discover and enjoy these; and who will similarly avail themselves of the blessings of that atonement which generations have either ignorantly rejected or wickedly despised. This contemplation suggested two strong reasons why Paul should be so zealous in the cause of Christ. The whole world was in a ruined condition [see Critical Notes on this]. The principle of self-sacrifice is the binding principle of action. Selfishness is the death of the world. We are all “links in being’s endless chain,” and we cannot move without influencing others. Yet man seeks to do so, and this is his sin and ruin. He who would help the world must get this love of Christ, and work by it. No other labour is of any service. Love to Christ is the Christian’s royal passion.
II. A new social standard.—The world has a variety of such standards—rank, wealth, social influence; by these canons it estimates and appraises men. Christianity regards such standards as false and evanescent. It estimates man by his righteousness, not by his rank; by his principles, not by his possessions. Paul once so knew men “after the flesh”; now he sees them all in the light of the Cross, as sinners dead in trespasses and sins. Let us try our own religion by this test. What kind of sympathy have we with Christ? There are views of His material condition adapted to awaken our mere natural sympathies. What kind of understanding of Him? There is no necessary religion in such sensuous sympathy with Him, and with the mere beauty of His human life and character. Our zeal for spreading Christianity will be regulated and guided by this new standard. Sufficient for us to know that men are men and morally dead; in any country, of any faith, in any social position. On this principle a Christian will form his friendships. Godly people rather than merely rich or influential or cultured people will be his choice for his own friends, for his children’s friends, wives, husbands. Godliness and all these, if he can have them; but godliness first. By this new standard of valuation he will regulate his activities. Principles before persons; spiritual considerations before material ones. When we are ruled by considerations of worldly interest or by the opinions of men, merely because they have secular influence or authority, we “judge after the flesh.” We should “know no man after the flesh” as authorities in creed or conduct; their spiritual excellence should alone influence us. [This wants guarding.]
III. A new spiritual history.—“A new creation.”
1. Unlike the old in some respects. That was out of nothing; here conversion only turns the head of the same vessel round, and gives it a new direction—[“converted to God”]. The same essential, neutral, natural manhood simply obeys the new law in all its faculties and their activities. The first creation presented no difficulties to the Creator. “Spake: done.” In the moral change there are resisting forces; the material is refractory under the Creator’s hand.
2. Yet like the old in some points. Something new is produced. This passion for Christ, for example, is a new thing in the universe. This new thing is produced by Divine agency. Man works with pre-existent materials; he rearranges in new order; makes ever new combinations. But in Nature, or in character, only God can create. Logic, eloquence, force of interest or will, can reform, rearrange a life, but not call forth a new one. This new something is produced according to a Divine Plan. In the moral creation we know not the plan, but all beings, under the Great Architect, are working for its accomplishment. [History for ages converged upon the Redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, and so really also upon the new creation of the individual Christian.] Heaven, earth, matter, mind, even hell unwittingly, working for it. This is for the Divine glory. To a gazing universe the new Race in Christ, and the new man “in Christ,” are the most consummate exhibition of “the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph_3:10; Eph_1:12, etc.). The new creation is the greatest marvel of all God’s works. So then the things without do not change. Nature, society, events around,—these are only the setting of the man and of life; they may remain the same, but the change is within. He sees with a new eye, hears with a new ear, interprets all things with a new judgment. The moment we look at the universe through the new medium of love to Christ, it becomes new, the old universe passes away, a “new heavens and a new earth” appear. And all “very good.”—Founded upon “Homilist,” Third Series, vii. 362, with added material.
SEPARATE HOMILIES
2Co_5:7. Faith v. Sight.
I. The world of “sight,” of “appearances,” revealed to sense, a very narrow one.—Taste knows nothing more distant than the tongue-tip. Touch only tells of a world whose radius is the reach of the arm. Hearing only widens it by the few thousand feet over which the vibrating air will still quiver with its message before trembling away into silence. Smell carries knowledge no farther than the winds may waft an odour. It may bring to a Columbus in mid-ocean tidings of a continent as yet below the horizon. Yet a narrow world, at its farthest. But sight, queen of the senses! It makes us free of worlds most distant, and puts us into communication with far depths in space which even the flashing light needs years to traverse. It can even carry us back into a world that is really past. Men have seen from earth the fires of a conflagration which perhaps long ages before destroyed a world. The rays of light have only just arrived at their eye, and make them, as it were, contemporary spectators of the climax of its history. In mere physical extent the world of the eye is widest, and wonderfully vast. Yet, how narrow! Within the sphere swept by sight how many things escape it. How many things, moreover, are hidden from each of the senses in turn, and known only to some other one of the five. And when man is armed with all five, and all at their best, they only tell him of the world of space and matter and time. There is a world close about him, of which these have nothing to say. Underneath the world of “appearances,” there lies another world which does not appear. The whole world of mind is there. Sight shows one man a flower: “A primrose by the river’s brim,” etc. An ox sees that much. Another man sees it, and behind, beneath, within it, imagination reveals to him another world. He speaks of this in words taught him not by sense, and he is a poet. Two men look upon the same face. Rays of the same light trace the same [practically, not exactly] picture on the screen which we call the retina. One man sees, and can put upon the canvas his interpretation of what he sees; it is a likeness, and a character too, and a piece of true workmanship which will rank as one of the world’s art treasures. Poet, painter, musician, mathematician, logician, all agree that not only the man who lives for eating and drinking and sleeping, having no higher pleasure in life than the satisfaction of a craving or the thrill of a nerve, but also that the man who knows nothing but of material interests, who never goes beyond immediate profit, and that expressible in “£ s. d.,” is living in a narrow world.
2. But the Christian man thinks even the widest world of these men circumscribed. Even these, unless they be also Christians, miss a world lying all around them, revealed not to sense, nor to intellect, but to faith.
II. The Christian lives upon that supposition.—He is at the very opposite pole to the “secularist” who (teste nomine) says, “I know of no world but this, now or hereafter.” Such a secularist lives expressly and professedly for this world, and for man, often spending life in a very noble endeavour to bring man to live his worthiest and to attain to his best for this, his “only” life. Man is to him the climax of creation, and this world is all. Paul says: “I know of a world above this, and outlasting this little life eternally. I know of One above me, to Whom every one of us must give account of himself.” The Christian man shapes his course accordingly. It is not, e.g., a thing unknown that a Christian man should refuse further extension of what is already a prosperous business, and should say: “I cannot undertake more. I have now scanty leisure and energy for God and for my larger, eternal life.” Not a mere idea, beautiful but chimerical, that a man, in life’s prime, and riding upon the very flood of a springtide of prosperity, should say: “I have enough for the comfort of our later years. Enough to ensure my boys and girls against the paralysing fear of want, but not to exempt my sons from the ennobling discipline of work. Whilst strength and health are yet full, I will turn aside and do something directly and wholly for God.” There are a few men who educate their sons and start them in life, there are mothers who train their daughters and mate them for life, regarding most the soul and its well-being, God and His claims; just in proportion as they are not “secularist” but Christian, “walking by faith, not by sight,” and “looking not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2Co_4:18).
III. This gives a new standard of measurement.—Things are important or trivial according as they affect the life of God and of eternity. Whatever helps these is to be cherished. Whatever even threatens to hinder, is to be kept subordinate and secondary. Trials and sorrows get a new importance, a new interpretation. The man of “sight” sees the scale heaped up with these, and sometimes sees no counterweight. The man of faith sees them, but sees heaven and the compensations of grace and of fellowship with God even on earth. The balance is seen to be more than redressed. The “secular” temper in its dark hour says, “Not worth while to live!” The Christian temper endures, rejoices in, all (Rom_5:3). “Our light affliction,” etc. (2Co_4:17). Indeed, what a comment upon the whole section 2Co_4:16 to 2Co_6:10 is the whole practice of Paul. How the perspective of life is adjusted by the new standpoint. How the proportions of things are regulated. “At home with the Lord.” Then this is not “home,” except as the sojourner in some distant land may call his house for the time being his “home.” The real home of Paul’s heart is where his Lord dwells. Men judge him, misjudge him. But there is the judgment of another world: “We must all appear—be manifest—before,” etc. (2Co_5:10). And he bears it, and goes on accordingly. Modern astronomy has long transferred the centre of things from the earth to the sun. Christianity transfers the centre of our life from earth to that world where Christ sits, the Centre of all life and love and labour. This short life, instead of being central, and all in all, takes its true place in the system of God’s order, fulfilling its little round, rotating upon its own axis of interest, but revolving around God as its true centre, and having Eternity for the full compass of its orbit!
IV. The Christian knows of the truths which belong to this world, by faith.—
1. He is a believer. He walks through the midst of “appearances” with a vivid apprehension of the things unseen, by means of faith. Take faith away, the pole-star of his course is hidden; he steers in the dark. Take faith away, all landmarks are gone; he loses himself in a pathless world. Not simply his lantern is taken, but his eye. The very faculty for perceiving things unseen and spiritual is gone. He does make use of reason; he does not shut eyes and ears, and swallow down any marvel proposed to him. It is very reasonable to believe, on such evidence as the Christian has. In very weighty matters, and on the same kind of evidence, often with much less of it, do men act every day. But there is no demonstration, no such evidence as can compel assent. Euclid can; the man who refuses assent is not capable of the reasoning. From Book I., prop. 1, to Book XII., prop, last, is forged one long chain of demonstration. But in reasoning about Divine facts a link is often wanting. Faith puts it in. Or the chain is not long enough to reach to the conclusion we see clearly enough to be necessary and right. Faith must supply the wanting length. Our mind tries to bridge over by inquiry the gulf between known and unknown. There are gaps in the series of arches. Faith supplies those missing or broken. Perhaps the bridge of demonstration can only bring us in sight of the opposite shore, and faith must make a leap to her footing on the sure land of knowledge. The arches are not there. But it is reasonable enough to complete the series by putting them in. There is room for doubt. There is only “moral” certainty, exceedingly high probability, no demonstration.
2. “Moral evidence,” “moral certainty,” common phrases which tell how often believing or not believing depends more or less upon the heart and will of the man—upon his mood, or wish, or interests, or prepossessions. If there be a bias against the conclusion, no evidence is demonstrative. If there be an honest readiness to accept the consequences of truth, then far less abundant proof is enough. I believe in a God, and a future, a soul, a judgment. There is much evidence, but certainty involves faith.
3. Very often by ordinary, natural methods we can arrive at no knowledge at all. We cannot build our bridge, but must be lifted “clean over” to the far shore, must commit ourselves blindfold and helpless to One Whom we trust, and let Him lift us into knowledge. Many things of the world of Divine facts can never be known, unless we yield ourselves utterly and simply to be told and taught. But faith is then rewarded and crowned with knowledge. There is a “demonstration of the Spirit” (1Co_2:4, where see Separate Homily and Analysis) which excludes doubt, given to the man who has Him. “I believed to see” (Psa_27:13) is a rule of wider application than to Providential deliverances.
4. Prayer, Atonement, inspiration, a Saviour Who is God,—these are to us the bases of life, but every one of them is environed with mystery. [See the worshippers passing onward to an Egyptian temple, down an avenue of towering statues, in the mist and the dim light of very early morning. See the band of Christians making their way homeward, these great truths the way-marks of his path, on either hand ranged in their grandeur. To them it is dim twilight—morning twilight, but dim yet. Every Christian believes every truth to have a form of perfect beauty. But all eyes are not equally keen in the scanty light. The best eyes see most of the Divine beauty in each truth; many eyes see how they range themselves in harmony and order; a few give close and careful examination, and are repaid by fuller knowledge of their beauty and strength. But for very much all must wait until the day dawns. It is folly in the critics of the company, to cavil at the order, or to deny the beauty, and, above all, to refuse to avail themselves of their guidance, because they cannot see more. For the man who wants to walk by them there is light enough; he sees enough to walk by. He sees them dimly, but they guide him safely. He is content to believe for the rest, and to walk by faith.] [
5. Let the “bridge” rather be the narrow causeway, stretching away toward knowledge, between two unbounded deep seas of mystery. The waves of mystery often sweep across the very pathway. There are gaps broken in the causeway itself. But reason bids faith go forward. Faith makes her plunge from the last bit of clear foothold of knowledge to the next, seen afar off. The eye sees no path, but faith sometimes finds footing beneath the waters. Sometimes none; when she must swim for it, until her foot touches ground again, and so goes forward to knowledge.]
V. In regard to God’s providence.—All know of the plunge from knowledge and certainty and clear walking, into dark waves of mysterious dealing which sweep over the path, and almost sweep them away also. Faith says: “Sight finds nothing, but I know the way lies right on. My Father’s path never swerves. I follow straight forward. I may have to swim for it, but that way lies dry land!” The experience is repeated again and again, until one last step, one last plunge, of faith puts the foot on the shore where at last men do walk amongst the realities, by sight in the glorious and most worthy sense.] [Here the men of sight are inferior to the men of faith. There sight is the nobler, greater life.]
2Co_5:16. Knowing Christ after the Flesh
I. Manifold agencies now are at work for bringing men’s minds into contact with Christ.—
1. His life is being studied as never before, with new earnestness, with new helps. Palestine is searched and surveyed from end to end, with the aid of the accumulated learning of eighteen centuries. The facts which bear upon His career are eagerly welcomed and at once widely published. That career is being studied from all points of view; by men actuated by the most widely differing motives; some defending, some attacking and destroying; with minds of every cast and calibre. Every doubter, every enemy, tries his hand on “Jesus of Nazareth.” The Socialist endeavours to claim Him as the first and greatest exponent of his philanthropic aims and methods. [Said a French revolutionary, “Le bon sansculotte.”] Everything conventional is at a discount, and the result is that we get a new, and often a more correct, idea of the externals of Jesus and His life than any preceding generation could obtain. Our time is full of “Lives” of Christ. Men full of learning, of poetical gifts, of philosophical power, are setting forth in new and beautiful lights His outward surroundings, and the influences which—at all events in the case of another, ordinary man—would influence and mould the inner life and character. His Galilæan home, the city of Jerusalem, His countrymen, their habits of thought and speech,—all are helping to make how He lived almost as familiar to our generation as how ourselves live. Pictorial illustration, accurate as never was possible before, is helping to bring all this vivid, realistic knowledge home to the simplest and the youngest of our people. And yet, with all this picturesque and novel setting of the history, with all the skilful dissection of motive and mental process, with all this appreciative study of His teaching, there is the possibility that men should only “know Him after the flesh.” Some of the writers of even “Lives” of Christ have themselves avowedly only come into contact with a human teacher, a Jewish Rabbi of unique independence, and of great beauty of teaching and personal character, marvellously influential upon the world’s history and thought. But to these He is at most the Greatest of the world’s greatest men. With some of them He is not even the greatest, but an amiable, pleasant enthusiast, who could and did make mistakes; who was hurried on, spite of Himself, into unintended, unexpected developments of His action, and to an entirely inopportune and undesired issue on the cross. They see, and present vividly to their readers, a conception, more or less accurate, of a Man Jesus who lived and died in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. They aim at doing this, and so thoroughly succeed in many cases that their readers see no more. Writers and readers get back into the position of a Nicodemus or a Caiaphas, and see just what a worshipper in the synagogue of Capernaum or of Nazareth saw and knew; the brother whom “His brethren and sisters” lived and grew up with; the strange Man with whom Pilate was one Friday morning a good deal “bothered,” until he “washed his hands” of the queer, dreamy, half-crazy peasant—“king,” who was only too near entangling him in a quarrel with those uncertain-tempered Jewish authorities and people.
2. Such a success in realising the human aspects and historical setting of the Man Christ Jesus is apt to be too successful with many Christian readers. It is distinctly reversing a process whose results are a remarkable characteristic of all the earliest Christian teaching. Of our text Stanley says: “Startling as this declaration is, … it involved a general truth. It is the same profound instinct or feeling which penetrated, more or less, the whole Apostolical, and even the succeeding, age with regard to our Lord’s earthly course. It is the same feeling which appears in the absence of local or personal traditions; no authentic or even pretended likeness of Christ has been handed down from the first century; the very site of His dwelling-place in Capernaum has been entirely obliterated from human memory; the very notion of seeking for relics of His life and death, though afterwards so abundant, did not begin till the age of Constantine.” [No attempt or desire amongst the early Christians to identify or perpetuate the memory of any scene of His life. God “hid” the burial-place of Moses. The Christian Church, seeing so much more than the Jesus “after the flesh,” let go the memory of birthplace and burial-place. (See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 471.) He also says: “Something akin to this feeling is that which is finally left on the mind after exploring the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. These localities have, indeed, no real connection with Him.… Their interest and instruction are secondary, not primary; their value is imaginative and historical, not religious.… He is not here, He is risen.”] “It is the same feeling which is perpetuated in the fact that our name … is taken not from the Man ‘Jesus,’ but from the Lord ‘Christ.’ It is the same feeling which, in the Gospel narratives themselves, is expressed in the almost entire absence of precision as to time and place—in the emphatic separation of our Lord from His kinsmen after the flesh, even from His mother herself—in His own solemn warning, ‘What and if …, the flesh profiteth nothing’ And this is the more observable when contrasted with the Apocryphal Gospels, which do to a great extent condescend to the natural, or Judaic, tendency, which the Gospels of the New Testament thus silently rebuke. There we find a ‘Gospel of the Infancy,’ filled with the fleshly marvels that delighted afterwards the fleshly minds of the Bedouin Arabs; there first are mentioned the local traditions of the scene of the Annunciation, of the Nativity, of the abode in Egypt; there is to be found the story, on which so great a superstructure has been built in later ages, of the parents and birth of her whom the Gospel history calls ‘blessed,’ but studiously conceals from view.” (Corinthians, pp. 604, 605.)
3. “Too successful.” For whilst the Humanity is precious, and necessary to the Christian scheme, the Divinity must not be obscured or forgotten. The Christ must be man, and born of our human stock, to be the Redeemer of man. His Jewish birth is an important link in the historical continuity and organic development of the Redemption and its story. His humanity assures all suffering lives of His sympathy. Because He is the Son of Man, He is to be the Judge of mankind. The Church or the Christian who knows the Christ of John and Paul, has always gladly [and with perfectly natural ease] combined with that conception of Him all the humanistic touches which (predominantly) characterise the portrait of the Synoptists. But it will be a difficulty, and even a disaster, if the very success in presenting with realistic fidelity and abundant “local colour” the Teacher of Galilee and Jerusalem, should issue in making it almost impossible to see in Him anything else. It would be to lead back the whole Christian world to the position of even the disciples before the Resurrection and Pentecost. It would go near to an undoing of the work of the Spirit, Who from the earliest days, with a wonderful rapidity of education, emancipated even the Apostolic company from the embarrassingly vivid memory of the dear personal friend, and enabled them to see a Person Whom they must trust and worship as God. After reading some vividly realistic “Life of Christ,” the reader is apt to be thrust into as close contact with the Man, as was the crowd in the narrow street of Capernaum (Luk_8:42), till the “flesh and blood” Christ is alone perceived or remembered. To know Christ too realistically as He was “according to the flesh” (Rom_1:3), and as men saw Him who knew no more of Him than “flesh and blood” (Mat_16:17)—ordinary human faculties, by ordinary observation and inference—could “reveal,” is retrogression, not growth, in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [An analogous difficulty is being created in regard to the Written Word. The close literary study of the Bible, its literary history, its literary component elements, the very helpful reading of the Bible “as if it were any other book,” are making it a difficulty to read it as that Divine Book, in a category apart from all others, which, with abundant and often-repeated verification, the experiment of many centuries of Christian reading, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has discovered it to be. The more appreciative historical study of the Bible is for many readers making more difficult the abundantly justified devotional reading of the Bible.]
4. The heart that is taught of the Spirit knows a Divine Christ. “No man can call Jesus ‘Lord’ but by the Spirit of the Lord.” The Divine Son [like the Inspired Written “Word of God”] is entirely a revelation. The tendency to a merely humanistic knowledge of the Saviour is betrayed in the growing habit of calling Him, in hymnology and devotional talk, “Jesus” rather than “Christ” and “Lord.” The Church lives in, as the Epistles in their Christology belong to, a stage far ahead of Jewish neighbours, or even devout disciples, of “Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth in Galilee.” The Comforter is come, to take of the things of Christ and show them to His people. John arrived at the discovery that he had “seen and handled the Word of Life.” The sinner who finds rest and life in Christ finds, as by a swift intuition, that he is trusting in One Who must be more than a “Christ after the flesh,” to be to him and to do for him all he needs, and all Christ does and is. Whole generations of simple believers, with no knowledge of Christ except what the Bible, often in a translation, gave them, and that Bible read without any “historic,” or literary, or antiquarian appreciation of it, or of the facts of the story of Christ, have more truly known Christ, than did not only Peter, or Nicodemus, or Caiaphas, in the days before Pentecost, but than does many an author of a brilliant “Life of Christ.” The Church and the individual do not need to work their way up through the human to the Divine. Nor do they ordinarily do so. The Spirit brings them directly into contact with the Divine. The “little child” “knows Him that is true, and is in Him that is true” … “the true God and Eternal Life” (1Jn_5:20). “From the time that we are created anew in Christ Jesus we do not think or speak or act with regard to our Lord as to a mere man. We do not now use any expression with relation to Christ which may not be applied to Him, not only as He is man, but as He is ‘God over all, blessed for ever.’ ” (Wesley, Works, vii. 291, 292.)
II. [Wesley also suggests another manifestation of the same humanistic feeling with regard to Christ.]
1. “Some of the hymns in [Watts’] Horœ Lyricœ, dedicated to Divine Love, are too amorous, and fitter to be addressed by a lover to his fellow-mortal, than by a sinner to the most high God. I doubt whether,” he says, “there are not some other writers who, though they believe in the Godhead of Christ, yet speak in the same unguarded manner. Some will probably think that [in translating many Moravian Hymns] I have been overscrupulous with regard to one particular word, which I never use myself either in prose or verse, in praying or preaching, though it is very frequently used by modern Divines, both of the Romish and Reformed Churches. It is the word dear. Many of them frequently say … ‘Dear Lord,’ ‘Dear Saviour’; and my brother used the same in many of his hymns, even as long as he lived. But may I not ask, Is not this using too much familiarity with the great Lord of heaven and earth? Is there any Scripture … which justifies this manner of speaking?… I cannot but advise all lovers of the Bible, if they use the expression at all, to use it very sparingly, seeing the Scripture affords neither command nor precedent for it.” This quotation is of interest, not only as incidentally revealing the writer, but as a note of a peril always lying near to every devout, warm-hearted follower of Christ; a tendency and habit carried to excess in Mystic devotion in every century. Yet it is after all a question rather of sanctified good taste, or rather of an instinct, “taught of God” and yet not of necessity tracing in all cases the same line of division between seemly and unseemly; only worth discussion just so far as, like that spoken of in I., it is both a symptom of, and a help to confirm, a humanistic conception of Christ, which may obscure His Godhead or hide it from the worshipper as if behind a veil of flesh. The devotional language of the Pentecostal Church must not “put back the clock” of the development of Revelation to the days “after the flesh.” A Divine Christ must be our norm. From the vantage-ground of the revelation of His Godhead, we may look back upon and incorporate with our knowledge, His manhood, with its sympathy and its capacity of an atoning death. We are arrived at St. John and St. Paul; we look back to, but do not go back to, Capernaum or Nazareth or even Bethlehem. At least, knowing Him now “after the Spirit,” we do not dwell back in Nazareth. The heart “after the flesh” has its overstated Kenosis doctrine, as certainly as has the intellect of the theologian.
2. To quote Wesley again: “Are we not in private conversation especially apt to speak of Him as a mere man. Particularly when we are describing His sufferings, how easily do we slide into this! [Cf. Farrar’s cautionary note to his vividly true description of crucifixion, Life of Christ, ii. 401.] We do well to be cautious in this matter. Here is room for indulging a warm imagination. I have sometimes almost scrupled singing (even in the midst of my brother’s excellent hymns), ‘That dear disfigured face,’ or that glowing expression, ‘Drop Thy warm blood upon my heart,’ lest it should seem to imply the forgetting I am speaking of ‘the Man that is my Fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts.’ ” It is striking, undesigned illustration of the text, to note how little is made even in the Gospels of the actual crucifying. “And they crucified Him,” is the brief, matter-of-fact record, without special comment, of (surely) an agonising experience to sympathetic onlookers. [When John does pause to comment, it is upon another, incidental, detail.] The Death of Christ, rather than the Crucifixion of Christ, is the central point of the developed Christian theology of the Spirit of God, and of His New Testament mediums of its communication. The details of the agony have some of them a value as connecting the history with prophecy; but for their own sake they are never dwelt upon or lingered over. [Similarly, it is a too urgent exegesis, in many cases, to press the details of crucifixion, e.g., in “I am crucified with Christ”; or, “Our old man is crucified with Him.” Death with and in His death is the main point; as it happened, His was death by crucifixion. But it would be very unlike the habit of the post-Pentecostal thought of the New Testament to make that of any importance, as deciding between a gradual or an instantaneous death of sin, of self, in the believer. In many cases, probably in most, any definite allusion to crucifixion might be deleted, and the more general “dying” or “death” substituted, without any least injustice to the thought of Paul or Peter.] The man who is “a new creation” knows a new Christ, a Christ Who is one of the facts of that world of “spiritual” things to which his own life now belongs. He does not forget that Christ died. The Atonement made by His death is the foundation of his own hope, and the strong appeal with which he seeks to bring men to reconciliation with God. But he sees and knows and has continually to deal with a Christ who has no “local colour,” Who belongs to the world of the universal, the world of all races, climes, ages, “the Son” (Hebrews 1). This Son once did, it is true, live, and move, and heal, and teach, as a peasant Rabbi of Galilee; but the man taught of the Spirit does not advert most to that. That Person did hang upon a cross, it is true. That is precious truth to him. He did once fill the manger of Bethlehem as babe. True; and he is grateful for the visible expression thus given to the truth in Immanuel. But as a “man in Christ” he knows and has to do with, he is joined to, and grafted into, a Christ Who is on the throne of heaven, the Lord. This knowledge is the starting-point of all his judgments upon the pre-Calvary Jesus; of all devotional language respecting Him; of all experiences of the Divine life in his soul. There is nothing in Paul which cannot be known by observation, inquiry, inference. The man “in Paul,” is inconceivable. The man “in Christ” rates all that could be “known after the flesh” as the least part of his knowledge of Christ (Php_3:10).
2Co_5:17. “A new creature [creation] in Christ Jesus.”
I. A condition.
II. A consequence.
I. A condition: “If … in Christ.”—
1. The phrase almost the peculiar property of Paul. Of all other New Testament writers Peter alone uses it, once. Paul’s letters are thickly sown with the phrase. When it does not appear in English, it will often appear in the Greek. When the phrase does not occur, the thought does. It is interwoven most intimately with Paul’s vocabulary of the Christian life. It lies at the foundation of all his thought about it. To be “in Christ” is almost exactly his definition of a Christian. When he desires to veil the personal reference—as John does with his phrase, “The disciple whom Jesus loved”—he says, not, “A Christian man whom I knew,” but, “A man in Christ, whom I know, caught up,” etc. (2Co_12:2). The salutation chapter which closes the Epistle to the Romans is fairly studded with the equivalent phrases: “in the Lord,” and “in Christ.” Aquila and Priscilla are “helpers in Christ.” Apollos is “approved in Christ,”—a character portrait in three strokes. And with a kind of holy envy he sends greetings to some who “were in Christ before” him, Christians of longer standing than even himself. Ask Paul, “What makes a Christian?” Baptism? True, that as between a Jewish child, or heathen, or Mahometan, and a “Christian,” a very real, and a very blessed, distinction has been made in that water has been applied to this last in the name of the Trinity. The Lord’s Supper? True, that it is the rallying place of all who “hold the Head” (Col_2:19), the spot where, in face of unbeliever and worldling, they avow their pledge to their Great, Divine Master, to hold Christian doctrine, and to live out the definitely Christian ethical code. All who gather there confess Christ. But the water may be applied and no inward washing take place. There may be fatal divorce between belief of doctrine and faith in the Divine Centre and Summary of doctrine. The font, and the table, and the creed do not alone make a Christian. Ask Paul. “To be in Christ” would be his unvaryingly consistent answer, the condition assumed in all his letters and talk.
2. How much is meant by the phrase?
(1) Men say of a David and Jonathan friendship, that each lives in the other. Indeed, “living in another” is one definition of Love. Take Jonathan from David, and to David it is all but death. Each fills the other’s thoughts during their days of separation. David is in thought with Jonathan at court. Jonathan is ever picturing the life which his friend David is just at that given moment living, in the wilderness or the cave. All true of Christ and the man “in Christ.” But is that all?
(2) Take two friends, of one of whom the whole temperament is to be dependent. He is distrustful of his own judgment, to a fault; it leads to indecision and inaction. He has that shrinking from conflict which some wrongly confound with cowardice; and is moreover conscious of his own want of strength for any struggle with opponents or difficulties of circumstance. But he has a friend who is, and has, all that his weakness needs. He is wise and bold and self-reliant, and on him he leans. With him near by to apply to for counsel, to decide for his indecision, to stand by him in conflict, he is another man. Now that he knows a stronger arm and a clearer judgment and a self-reliant sturdiness of character will be by him and behind him, to guide him, and to see him through, in his friend’s company he will dare to attempt and will persistently and successfully carry through, even against the strongest opposition, what he would fear even to contemplate if he were alone. All blessedly true again of the believer and his Lord. But when he is exhorted to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Eph_6:10), or “to stand fast in the Lord,” is that all?
(3) No. All this is true, because much more is true. There is a closer union than that of thought, sympathy, dependence. More than even the strong metaphor, “The soul of Jonathan was knit unto the soul of David” (1Sa_18:1). No metaphorical union, no figurative oneness of life, but a unity, a unification, so real, so complete, that Paul exclaims: “I live no longer; Christ liveth in me.” Paul is no independent, self-contained unit; he is but a member of the grand unit—“Christ.” He keeps his individuality; that is abundantly clear. But Paul the member is merged in His life, Who is Head, and all in all. In fact, there is compressed into his phrase all the teaching of John 15 and 1 Corinthians 12 All the Lord’s teaching about the Vine, all Paul’s own teaching about the Body, are packed away into this binomial of his devotional and theological notation, “in Christ.”
(4) Let Christians work up from the name Christian to the thought “in Christ.” “Between Him yonder at court and you here in the wilderness, there is a close bond. But there is a closer. Between Him on the throne, and the humblest, weakest, most obscure Christian on earth, it is not simply association of the most intimate, it is union. Not the attachment of a follower; but the grafting of a branch. Not the approximation of a band of disciples gathered round the Master; each is one of many members living in Him, an active hand, a keen eye, a swift foot; strong, intelligent, laborious, in the strength of a life which is His as well as theirs. This Vine is not the Stem and Root alone, any more than it is Branches alone; but Stem, and Root, and Branches; this Body is not the Head alone, but Head and Members; so in a very real, almost bottomless sense, we say, ‘Ye are nothing apart from Him, and He is not complete without you. You, and your fellow-Christians, and your Christ, are the Church, the Christ.’ All the rays of illustrative, of analogical, teaching are converged into a smaller but excessively brilliant focal spot: ‘In Christ.’
(5) Let believers think of it, for all hangs upon their faith. They ‘live in their faith in a Son of God who loved them,’ etc. (Gal_2:20).” They did not simply believe Him, or in Him, or even on Him, with full recumbency of soul casting themselves upon His saving power. They believed unto and into Him (e.g. Joh_3:18; Joh_3:36). He accepted them, grafted them, into Himself. There is community of interests, of joys, sufferings, point of view and of judgment, because there is community of life. The life of the Spirit of Christ (1Co_3:17; Php_1:19), the very life of the corporate Christ Himself, stirs in them. So utterly new a thing is that, so entirely foreign to all the natural life and its possibilities, that if any man be thus in Christ he is a new creature.
II. The consequence: “Old things are passed away,” “all become new,” “all of God.”—
1. The first phrase is pictorial. Winter-time. Earth wrapped in winter garment of snow. It lies stretching away mile after mile, rounding off all roughness into graceful curves; revealing, or concealing, the prominences of the surface beneath, just as the face-cloth half conceals, half reveals, the face of the dead beneath. That snow is a face-cloth laid over the face of a dead earth. Seeds are there, but dormant. No sap stirring in trees or hedgerows; buds waiting their time. Cold winds sweep howling over the open country, as if to bite back any too adventurous growth. Death reigns. Death, indeed, with the seed of life in its bosom, but potential rather than actual. But God’s south wind blows. Men rise some morning, and the pall is gone from the face. The snow has passed away. Sun shines; God “sends forth His breath,” and in a day or two the black soil of the ploughed fields shows a delicate green “down” upon its face. Sap stirring; buds swelling, bursting; every tree and hedgerow arraying itself in the first tender greenness of spring. Winter has passed away. Those are not last year’s buds, or sap, or verdure. We call springtime a resurrection. Rather, a new creation. Finish the passage just quoted (Psa_104:30): “they are created, and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” Old things have passed away; all things have become new; there is a new creation.
2. No analogy holds good everywhere.—This holds fairly well; it is one of God’s own. “Out of Christ” is death. Happily, death with the “seeds of life” in it. The grace of Christ has so far availed for all men, that the utter spiritual death of a devil, with no hope or possibility of life, has never—as an initial stage of man’s life [it may be the final]—been more than a necessary theological conception. “In Christ was life, and that life was the light of men,” light “that lighteth”—in some degree—“every man, coming into the world” (Joh_1:4; Joh_1:9). And thus even before Christ, and without a preacher, in even heathen hearts is hidden what may develop into the new creation. Nature is death, utter, total; this potential life is grace, only grace. The “breath of life” goes forth from God; the Spirit of God calls forth a new creature. The new sap stirs in the system; the new buddings, from which will grow the developed “fruit of the Spirit” [N. B. “works of the flesh”; “fruit—not fruits—of the Spirit” (Gal_5:19; Gal_5:22)] begin to appear. There is life, new life, a new kind of life, everywhere and in everything. [Wife finds she has a new husband. The master a new servant. The man has new haunts, and pleasures, and company. New class of books and literature come upon the table. New point of view from which men and conduct are judged; new direction to his own life—Godward now—and a new way of looking at other men’s lives. New view and estimate of Christ,—the point here. “If you don’t believe I am converted, ask my wife!” Child, known to H. J. F., said, “Why, I feel as if I were somebody else!”]
3. Science creates nothing.—In nature God now ordinarily creates nothing. In His seventh day He rested from His work, and has probably since then only upheld and maintained the life and order then established. [This is a matter of evidence in any given case of an apparent miracle of creation. E.g. the multiplying of the bread for the five thousand.] The nearest approach to a true creation with which we are now made familiar is the bringing of a new, infant life into the world. The new-born babe is perhaps a now creation; its life (ζωή) a real addition to the sum of existence. Certainly the new man “in Christ” is a new thing on the face of God’s earth; a distinctly new product of God’s own power. A Christian knows that no evolution-formula embraces all the facts of life. It is not true of his life “in Christ.” There is more evolved than was even potentially contained in the old. In the man that came from fallen Adam, there was nothing from which the new man in the second Adam could be formed. New in time. New in kind.
4. Note, “new,” not perfect or mature.—The Christian does not leap forth, Minerva-like, full-grown at the first instant. The members of the natural body possess from the first all their characteristic aptitudes and powers, but they need training. The eye needs to learn how to see, as certainly as foot or hand need to learn to do their work. The foot is made to support the body; it alone can do it; but it must learn to do it. The newly opened leaf lives, but must unfold into maturity and perfaction. Spring’s new creation does not mean leaf or flower or fruit perfect at once. The analogy holds fairly well of the “new” life of the man “in Christ.” Quickened into “newness of life” (Rom_6:4), because the Holy Spirit has entered into and dwells in him. New powers, new faculties, suited to a new world (see on 1Co_2:12-16, Homiletic Analysis); new tastes, motives, work. All new, but with the weakness and inexperience of infancy, with only the tender strength of the natural growths of Spring.
5. What an illustration is Paul himself of all this.—His affections no longer those of the natural man.
(1) Joy is “in the Holy Ghost,” or “in the Lord” (Rom_14:17; Php_4:10). His love is no mere natural affection; but sublimated, spiritualised “love in the Spirit,” a thing originating in God Himself (Col_1:8). He craves to see his Philippian friends, but with no merely natural longing; he “longs after them all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” (Php_1:18). It is Christ’s own love for them stirring in Paul. The throbs of feeling which pulsate through his heart have their centre of origin in Christ Himself.
(2) The impulses and determinations of his will are the outflow of a force which originates in another. Plans, purposes,—none are independent of Christ. He “trusts in the Lord to send Timothy” (Php_2:19).
(3) His intellect obeys new laws; he is “persuaded in the Lord Jesus,” etc. (Rom_14:14). He has not arrived at the conclusion by the exercise of unassisted human judgment. The indwelling life of Christ makes it Christ’s judgment too.
(4) Even old points of character and conduct have now a new root and motive. We may suppose him to have been always truthful and honourable (Act_23:1). But he does not speak “on his honour,” or as a truthful man; he “speaks the truth in Christ” (Rom_9:1). As now a member of Him Who is the Truth, with Whom falsehood cannot even in thought be associated, Paul’s word must now be the simple truth, the highest form of asseveration.
(5) This verse (2Co_5:17) a case in point. Men accused Paul of want of straightforwardness; of mercenary motives; of blustering when absent, and speaking very humbly when present; of fearing to come to Corinth. The natural heart meets such charges with appeals to a man’s honour, or with indignant or angry repudiation. He quietly says: “We are manifest to God. Other motives altogether now rule us. We do not now regard men, their threats, their favour, in that way. We live, judge, plan, feel, speak, as new creatures, because in Christ. Even our view and knowledge and estimate of Himself are now new.” Between Saul of Tarsus and Paul the Apostle there lies an act of Divine power, there is a new creation. He is a new creature. His life is a new life in all its manifestations.] “… Those of us whose infancy was sheltered from contamination, whose childhood was nurtured in holy doctrine and encouraged by saintly and sweet example, whose youth was watched by a vigilant ministry of inspection and loving solicitude, and yet the evil of whose nature, and the ungodliness of whose bias, received no effectual check. We respected the restraints of authority and family honour, and, it may be, conveyed a mistaken impression of the moral side of our life. But we knew that in spite of home and Church the heart within us was unchanged; and when the change did come, it was not through any fact or word we did not know before, it was as if a new sense had been uncovered; God and Christ and heaven and hell, instead of being images flitting through the mind, were entities; we lived in a new world; we walked by faith, and not by sight; life and death, and duty had each a new meaning; and above all and beyond all other revelations there was an indwelling Christ, redeeming a condemned sinner from guilt and saving a struggling soul from defeat.… This change was no more wrought by man than the heavens were created by man.” [“And all things are of God.”]—From address by Rev. E. E. Jenkins, D.D.
2Co_5:20. “The ministry of reconciliation.”
I. Must go to political world for illustration of The Arrangement, “We beseech you in Christ’s stead.”
1.
(1) Queen frequently gives assent to bills by commission. Lord Chancellor, with other noble lords, in due form and state appear—as she would—and signify her assent—as she would,—the quaint Norman-French formula being used, just as if she were personally present and acting. The Lord Chancellor and his companion commissioners are, for the time and the special purpose, the Queen.
(2) In the old, picturesque days of English history there was a great officer of state, of much importance in the Government—the Lord High Treasurer. There has beer so Lord High Treasurer since Shrewsbury resigned his office at the accession of George I. The office is “in commission.” The duties are discharged by commissioners: a First Lord of the Treasury and several Junior Lords They together are the Lord High Treasurer of olden days.
(3) William IV., as Duke of Clarence, was the last Lord High Admiral. The office is in commission. First Lord and Junior Lords of the Admiralty are in effect to-day the Lord High Admiral, holding his office, doing his work.
2. Once there dwelt on earth a Great Ambassador. He is back at Court to-day. His office has been in commission ever since He said, “Go ye; make disciples of all the nations.” That was the issue of the patent, the writ, constituting the commissioners. Paul is (to speak in the political dialect) First Lord of the Ambassadorship. The ministry of the Churches are his fellow-commissioners for executing the office of the Great Ambassador. Paul and his colleagues and successors are together the Great Ambassador. In their collective voice His voice is heard. He pleads with men individually in them. “We pray you,” yet not on our own account; on His—“in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled.”
3.
(1) Congregation may help ministers to remember this. For one thing, the ministry is recruited from the congregation; the sons will bring with them into the sacred office the habitual ideas, canons of judgment, whole estimate of the homes and circles from which they are drawn. Also, it is not unworthy of most faithful minister to feel that, if he knows that the ambassador’s evangelical earnestness is expected, respected, by his people, he will find it easier to cultivate and show it. If he knows that they never pray for him as an ambassador from God to guilty, alienated men—that they are impatient, intolerant, of such zeal as becomes his office—he will still of course be faithful to his commission; but they will create an added difficulty, where already there are many attaching to fidelity and success. The people should pray for, listen to, him; should train children, not to criticise, but to pray for and listen to him; as one who is speaking and appealing only in the name of the Great Ambassador. With what earnestness would the Great Ambassador Himself plead!]
(2) Within the Church, ministers are “those who bear rule over you, who watch for your souls as those that must give an account” (Heb_13:17); to the Flock they are “shepherds” (Eph_4:11). But to those outside the fold, the family, the kingdom, the Church, they are “ambassadors for Christ.” Christ has given to them a ministry of discipline, of instruction; but, first in order, a “ministry of reconciliation.”
II. “Reconciled.”—
1. What is the matter between God and man? Do men misunderstand God? More. Indifferent to His love and claims? More. Alienated from Him? Yes. “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God” (Rom_8:7). James says, bluntly, sternly, “Whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jas_4:4). Terrible words! And, on the other side, “the wrath of God.” Often in so many words. But it lies in the gracious word “propitiation.” A Propitiation is nothing but a gift which appeases and turns away displeasure. [David’s Philistine comrades would not have him to go to battle with them to Gilboa (1Sa_29:4). They feared his treachery. “Where-with should he reconcile himself to his master, Saul? Should it not be with our heads?” With such slain trophies should he propitiate his king, and pave the way for reconciliation.] If “Propitiation be a true [though by no means the complete or only] representation of the meaning and effect of the death of Christ, there must have been that to turn away which is best expressed to us by the human word “wrath.” “We ambassadors have peace with God.” [Or, “Let us have” (Rom_5:1). In either case it is a peace of relation, not of feeling.] “When we were enemies, we were reconciled,” etc. Then they who are not yet reconciled are—? Such words all speak of war, “enmity,” antagonism.
2. The very ambassadors know, in themselves, that it is nature to sin, but grace to deny and crucify self and “the flesh”; that it is easy to drift from God, but means conflict and struggle to keep by His side; easier to be slack than diligent; easier—and quite natural—to be worldly than godly. Nothing more wonderful, or more significant, than to see with what terrible facility a once godly man may drop out from good ways and let go the religious habits of a lifetime; no long interval is required for a foremost, genuine “worker” to become a merely formal, perfunctory Church member; one day of careless walking will cost a Christian man what weeks of struggle and prayer will not recover for him. [No trouble to grow weeds; much pains to grow flowers or fruit. Natural facts illustrate the spiritual: get twice the distance from the centre of light and heat, and the light and heat are diminished fourfold; a falling body drops with rapidly accelerating velocity, in the second second covering three times the space covered in the first, in the third five times the distance, and so on. These are also rules obtaining when a soul departs from its Centre, or falls into sin.] Such facts mean that religion is not natural, but of grace. All disposition towards God has come from without. “We (ambassadors) were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
3. Men know themselves; that they do not love religion,—not merely this or that unfortunate presentation of it, in persons or Churches, but the abiding, constant life of fellowship with God; that there is a real aversion from God—latent, dormant, disguised, so long as no occasion for its awakening or display, but capable of being aroused; that prayer is really infrequent or uninviting, the Bible unattractive. Men know the significance of these facts: that the conversion of wife or son or daughter would not be most welcome news; that to have Christ and His claims pressed with any urgency, arouses resistance, or even a real anger which may sweep away all perfectly trained, native politeness. [Mr. Gladstone told Mr. Stead (Review of Reviews, April 1892): “Lord Melbourne was one day seen coming from church in the country in a mighty fume. Finding a friend, he exclaimed: ‘It is too bad. I have always been a supporter of the Church, and I have always upheld the clergy; but it is really too bad to have to listen to a sermon like that we have had this morning. Why, the preacher actually insisted upon applying religion to a man’s private life.’ ”] [Two friends sitting silently smoking by the side of a Scotch burn, in the quiet evening, after a day’s hard fishing. One breaks the silence: “Let us get up and go. I cannot stand this. It makes me think of God.” (Case known to H. J. F.)] Friends may be of any creed, of any religion, except “spiritual” religion; such unwelcome. Between the pleasures men like, and the religion which claims the men, nobody more than the man of the world feels how deep a gulf is cleft. “Ni Dieu, ni maître,” “Our enemy is God,” are only extreme manifestations of what every man knows is a capability in himself. Think of the meaning of persecution, ecclesiastical or (not less significant) domestic. Good men know that there is no distance from God to which they might not go, no depth to which they might not sink, no enmity to Him of which they would not be capable, if the Spirit of God were withdrawn, and themselves left to the power of temptation. The relations between God and men out of joint. Men out of harmony with Him; He arrayed against them in holy “wrath.” “Be ye reconciled.”
III. “He [needed to be, and] is, reconciled.”—
1. “God was in Christ reconciling,” etc. Can date the death on Calvary; but cannot date the Reconciliation in Christ. Assumed and acted upon from Eden to Calvary, whilst as yet there was no Calvary; in the mind and heart of God “from times eternal.” As such words are suggested, they lead to a point where we gaze out into hopeless depths of unfathomable mystery. [Revolt alleged against doctrine of “wrath of God” and the “total” ruin of “fallen man.” Always has been something of such revolt. Further, if “Puritan” theology and preaching did draw portrait of an angry God and of guilty, helpless, God-hating, born sinner,—both in too hard lines,—let this extenuate their “fault”: the holier a man grows, the more deeply he understands the intense antagonism between holiness and sin, God and a sinful heart; the more deeply does he realise that stern, active, almighty wrath against sin is a necessity of the very nature of a holy God; he reads Bible with the light gained in a lifetime, and with the instincts of a holy heart. Nobody sterner than was John in the ripeness of age, knowledge, character. It only needs that the Puritan portrait be (not essentially altered, but the hard lines) softened, and the whole suffused, with the tender glory of the redeeming grace of a God in Christ Who “reconciled the world to Himself.”] As matter of happy fact there never has been a mere sinner; some good has been present from the first, because some grace has been given from the first. Happily, also, men never have to do with the mere wrath of God; never have known any God but the God of grace, on His part reconciled in Christ, and waiting for men to be reconciled. [Wellington and Soult fought at Toulouse (April 1814), in ignorance that an armistice had been signed at Paris. English sailors fought at New Orleans (January 1815), in ignorance that Treaty of Ghent had already been signed between England and United States. So] men are fighting on against a reconciled God, most of them in heart ignorance.
2Co_5:21. Reconciliation by the Sinless Substitute.
I. The Substitute.—No need to be ashamed of the doctrine of a vicarious Atonement. It has suffered much at the hands of its friends; it has been crudely presented, and in an untrue isolation of exhibition, without any suggestion of other complementary, guarding aspects of the meaning of the Death. In the endeavour to give it such clear, vivid exposition as may enable the untrained mind of the young, the ignorant, the heathen, to apprehend it for the comfort and rest of their heart and conscience, it has perhaps been almost caricatured. Yet granting true all the hardest things which have been said of it, and of those who preached it—they have not always been fair and true—yet there lies beneath it a deep-seated instinct of the human heart—the instinct of Atonement by Substitution. The doctrine has been ridiculed, but it has survived the ridicule; it has more than the proverbial “nine lives.” It has been denounced as unreasonable, immoral. [Yet an ancient sage saw, “Volenti non fit injuria”; see also Appended Note.] If it has been deemed slain and cast out in argument, yet it has had a wonderful resurrection power. Its enemies have sealed the stone and set the watch, but it has always come forth in perennial life. The instinct of substitution is rooted in all hearts, in all ages, in all religions. Even the base Caiaphas could say, with selfish policy—though like other prophets, far better men, there was more in his words than he knew (1Pe_1:11-12),—“It is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (Joh_11:50). It is not the result of a theological training, or even the formative influence of a Jewish sacrificial system, which makes Paul almost Christlike in his love for his nation, as in “great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart,” he almost volunteers his own ruin, if only it might be accepted to avert the eternal fulfilment of the anathema which hung over the Israel which would not “love the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_9:2-3). “If my damnation would accomplish their salvation”; it is a daringly tremendous conception, but it is the instinct of a true human heart. He had been anticipated long before (Exo_32:32). Moses the Mediator begins to ask for pardon, but his sentence hangs in mid-utterance unfinished, as if the enormity of the people’s guilt came upon him, choking back the request for pardon. And then, as the river is dammed up only to burst forward with redoubled volume and force, there breaks out from his heart a yet more daring request. He had halted in the very midst of his intercession a moment ago; now his instinct of self-sacrificing love for his people makes a bolder leap than before: “If not—if mere and simple forgiveness be not possible, blot me, I pray Thee, out,” etc. It was the nearest approach any man ever made to Psa_40:7-8. The offer could not be accepted. It could have availed nothing if it had been accepted. Still, to Moses the Mediator belongs the honour of being in the ages before Christ the one man who had volunteered to die to save his brethren, the guilty Israel. But that honour was reserved for the One Mediator only. Let any man read these words to a dying man, who must have the Gospel in a small compass, and that quickly; let him “explain” them to a company of children, or to a group of degraded, drunken men or women;—they will feel, he will feel—perhaps in spite of theological predispositions—that no other thought than a substitution is here [as in Gal_3:13] natural. No other reading will be of any practical service to him, or of any ready practical help to the clamorous conscience and the burdened heart.
II. A Sinless Substitute.—
1. The sinlessness of Jesus makes Him solitary amongst His brethren whose humanity He wore. Yet apologists rightly urge the fact, and its forceful value, as leading up to a belief in His Godhead, that He alone of all the noblest moral leaders of our race, never betrays any consciousness of such internal discord as makes many noblest lives bitter almost beyond bearing; or of any such discrepancy between His own moral standard, as He sets it before Himself or exhibits it to others, and the fact of His life; he never seems to need to distinguish between the official utterance and the personal performance. His teaching is highest, and He apparently is all He teaches. He never, though His life is prayer, prays for forgiveness. Not a word of moral regret, not a moment’s confession of the slightest moral failure, ever escapes Him or is volunteered. No suspicion of pride is possible, yet He moves in and out amongst His fellows, and lifts up His confident face to His father, without a trace of misgiving because of sin. No room to suspect any dulness of spiritual apprehension or perception; the sense of sin is always keenest in the holiest. There are no critics of themselves like the saints of God. [When the glare and glamour of the world are withdrawn, as in days of solitude, or of sanctified sickness or trouble, the soul’s eye sees a whole firmamentful of sins, which were indeed there all the time, but unseen and unsuspected. And as the astronomer’s eye grows more sensitive by practice, and sees what it could not when it began to observe, so is there no surer sign of growth in the grace of holiness than that the eye of the soul is becoming more sensitive to discover sin where in earlier days it condemned, because it saw—nothing.] The closer a man is drawn to God, the more intimate and habitual the fellowship which God vouchsafes to him, the keener the sense of unworthiness and imperfection.
“Eternal Light, Eternal Light,
How pure that soul must be
When, placed within Thy searching sight,
It shrinks not, but with calm delight
Can live and look on Thee.”
So sang Thomas Binney. But can any soul? This One Soul did; the Sinless Substitute.
2. Scripture assumes this of Him.—Heb_4:15 is typical in its pointed exception of Him. Peter had known Him as intimately as any one, except perhaps John. Our friends know us, and they know us not faultless. A sine quâ non of most friendship to choose not to see everything. Grace does produce noble characters. John Wesley wrote of John Fletcher: “I was intimately acquainted with him for above thirty years; I conversed with him morning, noon, and night, without the least reserve, during a journey of many hundred miles; and in all that time I never heard him speak one improper word, nor saw him do an improper action. Many exemplary men have I known, holy in heart and life within fourscore years, but one equal to him have I not known,—one so inwardly and outwardly devoted to God.” (Wesley, Works, vii. 449.) Yet who does not feel, when Peter says, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (1Pe_2:22), that we have a testimony to a holiness of another order, and of a higher degree of completeness? It is not merely Peter’s observation of the three memorable years of the ministry; it is the Spirit’s witness for the three-and-thirty years of the incarnate life on earth. If to those who know us best our outward life seems blameless, in our heart we say, “They don’t know me as I know myself.” [The world does not understand this. Lady Huntingdon profusely, earnestly declared herself to Lord Chesterfield “a great sinner.” Said he, with polished sarcasm, rising as if to leave the room, “Excuse me, madam, but I am not accustomed to keep such bad company.”] [F. W. Newman’s remarks in Liddon. See Appended Note.] We know little of James; what we know is saintly, of an ascetic pattern of saintliness. Yet no one would credit an assertion of sinlessness, if made concerning James. “No; he is only a man.” Blamelessness is far less than Sinlessness, and blamelessness is a question of the human limitation of requirement and knowledge. Paul here much stronger: “Knew no sin.” That man knows nothing of himself who does not know that he “knows sin.” The ripening holiness of a Christian man passes through a stage when, though all torturing sense of guilt and fear is gone, there is an intense sensitiveness of pain at the cleaving, clinging, defiling presence of sin within. The loathing of himself by the man longing for holiness is very deep; a well-ascertained fact of universal religious experience. “Universal,” but not including Him. He knew none. There came early to our race “a knowledge of good—and of evil.” And men know it, as men know the very sphere within whose round and range their life is spent. But it had never included Him. The Tempter sought to avail himself of the natural, neutral, innocent hunger after a long fast, and of the neutral, innocent, useful instinct to avoid pain; there was nothing else he could appeal to. These, he found, were not in Christ under any law but that of the most perfect self-surrender to do the whole will of God His Father; and apart from these “he had nothing in” Christ on which to begin his evil work (Joh_14:30). One of the necessary preliminaries of the Passover Sacrifice in the time of Christ had become the presentation of the lambs for inspection by duly appointed Levitical officers. The Temple court was full of lambs and their offerers. One of the many suggestions of the Transfiguration scene takes up that point. It is plain that about that time the mind of the Saviour was full of Calvary and its sacrifice, some twelve months forward (Luk_9:31). Cæsarea Philippi was, in other senses as well as the geographical, the farthest limit of His journeyings. Literally, from that time onwards His life was one long “going up to Jerusalem.” From that time God’s Passover Lamb went slowly forward to death. And on the Mount the Father formally and solemnly inspected His “Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Pe_1:19; Exo_12:5). It was faultless. “My beloved, … in Whom I am well pleased.”
3. Thus then the Substitute stands forth “apart from sin,” and apart from us; unique in an unapproachable holiness. In us holiness is induced; in Him inherent. In us all grace; in Him all nature. In us a deep moral discord and a paralysing moral schism; in Him peace. [Cf. “My peace I give unto you”; in its measure fulfilled in the Sanctifying work of the Spirit (Joh_14:27). The “God of peace” is the Sanctifier to Whom Paul appeals (1Th_5:23).] His communion with God was with an unclouded vision; so may ours be, but with a difference. Behind Him is no memory of days when sin hid that Face. May it be said that the inscrutable anguish of a Father’s hidden Face, upon the cross, was the harder to bear that He had never had even an instant’s experience of interrupted communion until that moment? Our highest holiness is a repaired ruin; His never knew the beginning of a fault. [The priceless Portland Vase in the British Museum was once dashed into fragments by a madman. With great patience and skill, every fragment, down to the tiniest, was recovered and all were put together. The vase stands to-day complete; but, like our highest holiness, is with the completeness of a restoration.] His had always, and at Calvary, the completeness of what had never known a flaw, the completeness of an original unviolated, Divine integrity. His holiness is manifested in all ordinary forms of human life; but it is a Divine holiness which chooses those forms for its manifestation. Our holiness is relative, and we ourselves are accepted as holy, only according to a standard of requirement tempered by Evangelical grace; His holiness is absolute. Our strength for holy living and for victorious conflict with evil is outside ourselves—in Him; He bore Himself in the wilderness and the world with the calm of self-sufficing strength within. [“To serve the present age” a man must belong to it; yet he must be before it, above it, if he is to lift it. So] to save our race its Saviour must belong to it. He did “take hold on the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2). To save our race He must be above it. The uniqueness, the isolation, of the holiness of our Substitute is the very prime necessity of His work.
III. The salvation through Him.—
1. Two points of exposition to be noticed:
(1) “Sin,” not “a sin offering”; a possible meaning indeed, favoured by Augustine, and from him downward; but not satisfying the antithesis to “righteousness.” The abstract words are noteworthy. As though almost—for one thing—God were viewed as dealing with Qualities rather than with Personalities. The Substitute steps into the place of sinners, indeed; but also He is, as it were, made Sin Embodied. The holy wrath and necessary, active antagonism between His holiness and all moral evil is all converging upon one point. We—I—ought to have stood there, on that spot of terrible convergence. What does occupy the place? His Son? Yes. But going more deeply—“Sin.” Our race, perhaps the other races of the universe, are seeing, in a fearful object-lesson, Holiness spending its stern strength upon Sin.
(2) Note the difference: “Made … for us,” “Righteousness in Him.” The forensic and the mystical theories of the Atoning work of Christ meet here. There is the honour done to the majesty, the supremacy, the very principle of moral Law, when He, Who is the Lawgiver, steps into the place of the lawbreakers, and outraged Law is avenged upon Him Who never broke it. There is the honour done to real Righteousness. The Salvation were not complete if only penalty were turned aside, law satisfied, the sinner suffered to go free. There is no real salvation which does not work out a real “righteousness,” and that manifestly “of God.” This also is given for His sake, certainly; but only in connection with that living, life-giving union which fills Paul’s phrases “in Christ,” “in the Lord.” [“When St. Paul says that we might be made, etc., the word γινώμεθα means more than the non-imputation of sin which has been spoken of before. That we might become: our forensic justification being included of necessity, our moral conformity to the Divine righteousness cannot be excluded. Those closing words are a resumption, but in a more emphatic and enlarged form, of the preceding paragraph, which ended with in Christ … a new creature. The righteousness of God in Him is the full realisation of the new method of conforming us to His attribute of righteousness. It is impossible to establish the distinction between in Christ for external righteousness and Christ in us for righteousness internal. These are only different aspects of one and the same union with Christ. Still, the distinction may be used for illustration.”]
2. Let it be remembered that this is God’s way of “reconciliation”; that all God designed and desired is not accomplished when the Substitute has stood and suffered where the Sinner and his Son should have stood: to be “in Christ” is part of God’s whole work and purpose. There is no true “salvation” unless there is a real righteousness flowing, growing, from a real union with Him. He cast in His lot with us; we must have a life grafted into His. Then at last the broken order is readjusted. Then indeed
“Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.”
“Glory to God in the highest!”
HOMILETIC SUGGESTIONS
2Co_5:1-5. Our Present and Future Houses.
I. The present house.—The physical structure. Mind occupies body. This house is:
1. Earthly. Consequently drags the tenant down to earth.
2. Movable. A tent, rather than a house. And how easily and quickly removable! How frail while it lasts!
3. Decaying. Gradually growing old, decomposing, ceaselessly returning to earth.
4. Inconvenient. “In it we groan, being burdened.”
5. Inferior. Paul desires a better.
II. The future house.—The resurrection body. Described in 1 Corinthians 15 This house is:
1. Superhuman. “Not made with hands.” Jehovah the Architect and Builder. So was this first, but it has evidently been tampered with; and was not meant for permanence.
2. Eternal.
3. Unexposed to the storms of earth. “In the heavens,” where all will contribute to its constant preservation and increasing adornment.
4. Attractive. Paul craves this.
5. The tenant is being prepared for it. “Wrought for this selfsame thing.”
6. He has the assurance of it. “The earnest of the Spirit.” Have you such a house in prospect?—More fully in “Homilist,” Third Series, iii. 33.
2Co_5:8-10. The Philosophy of True Courage.—Paul’s courage is based on three convictions; that Death will not endanger—
I. The interests of being.
II. The great purpose of being.
III. The rewards of being.—Homilist, iv. 107.
2Co_5:10. Christ’s Great Assize. Five watchwords sum up the principles of the Judgment.
I. Test; applied according to varying measures of probationary privilege.
II. Revelation of character.—[“Appear” is not only comparaître, “present ourselves before.” It is also be “made manifest.” No man knows himself “as he is known,” until that day.]
III. Separation of classes.
IV. Execution of the condemning sentence.—“There can be no doubt that the term ‘judgment’ is most frequently connected with condemnation; this, in fact, is the more common meaning of κρίσις. Judgment determining the sentence; condemnation pronouncing it; execution administering it; are almost synonymous terms with regard to the wicked; in Scripture, as in the common language of human justice.”
V. Confirmation or ratification of the acceptance of the saved.—See this suggestively filled up in Pope, “Compend. of Theol.,” 416 sqq.
2Co_5:14. “The words are: ‘The love of Christ constrains us, because this is our interpretation of it: [Denny says, antea, p. 106, “The work of Christ in relation to sin is not a naked fact, an impenetrable unintelligible fact; it is in the New Testament a luminous, interpretable, and interpreted fact.… Says St. Paul, We thus judge; i.e.… we can and do put a certain intellectual construction upon it.”] One died for all; so then all died.’ Battles have been fought here over the preposition ‘for,’ which is ὑπέρ, on behalf of, not ἀντί, instead of. This, it has been said, excludes the idea of substitution. This is a hasty inference. Paul might very well wish to say that Christ died on our behalf, without, so far as the preposition goes, thinking how it was that Christ’s death was to be an advantage to us. But observe the inference he draws: One died for all; so then all died. That is to say, His death is as good as theirs. That is why His death is an advantage to them; that is what rationally connects it with their benefit: it is a death which is really theirs; it is their death which has been died by Him. If any one denies this, it rests with him to explain, in the first place, how Christ’s death advantages us at all; and, in the second place, how Paul can draw from Christ’s death the immediate inference, ‘so then all died.’ We do not need to fight about the prepositions. Christ’s death benefits us, we are all agreed, whatever be the preposition used to express its relation to us, or to our sins, or to our good; but there is no coherence between the Apostle’s premises and his conclusion, except on the assumption that that death of Christ was really our death, which had come upon Him. It is on this deeper connection that all the advantages to us of that death depend. This interpretation is confirmed when we turn to the last verse of this chapter, which is virtually the Apostle’s own comment on 2Co_5:14 : ‘Him that knew no sin God made sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’ We sometimes hear the New Testament doctrine of the atonement objected to, on the ground of the contradictions it involves. I do not think the objection is very serious. St. Paul, when he wrote this sentence, had them all in his mind, logical and ethical, in their acutest form. He probably felt, as most people feel when redemption from sin becomes a practical interest to them, that the point at which God comes into contact with sin, even as a Redeemer, must involve contradictions of every kind: for it means that God is taking part with us against Himself. That in the atoning work a sinless One is made sin, and sinful ones become the righteousness of God, is not a primâ facie objection to the work in question; it is the very condition under which alone the work can be carried through. Paul condenses in this proposition, not only the infinite difficulties of the question, but its adequate solution; it is in these sharp, undisguised contradictions—if you like to say so, it is in this tragic, appalling event, the sinless One made sin by God—that the condemned soul recognises the very stamp and seal of a real work of atonement. That meeting of contradictories, that union of logical and moral opposites, is here the very guarantee of truth.… The idea underlying [the passage] is plainly that of an interchange of states. Christ is the Person who knew no sin; i.e. to whose conscience and will, though He confronted it all His life, sin remained an absolutely alien thing. The negative μή means that this is conceived as the judgment of another upon Christ; it is conceived as the judgment of God. He it is to whom Christ is sinless. As He looks down from Heaven, He sees Him alone, among the children of men, free from evil, and therefore free from condemnation. He alone is absolutely good, the beloved with whom the Father is well pleased. Yet Him God made sin, that by so doing He might destroy sin, and have the good news of reconciliation to proclaim to men. What is it, then, that this making sin covers? What are we to understand by it? It means precisely what is meant in the verse already quoted: tha Christ died for us, died that death o ours which is the wages of sin. In His death, all sinless as He was, God’s condemnation of our sin came upon Him; a Divine sentence was executed upon the sin of the world. It is all-important to observe that it was God who made Christ sin; the passage is habitually quoted ‘He became sin,’ or, indefinitely, ‘He was made sin,’ in a vague sense unconsciously willing to leave God out; and then the mind goes off at a tangent, and seeks moralising or rationalising senses in which such an expression might be used. But God is the subject of the sentence: it is God who is presented dealing in an awful way with the awful reality of sin, for its removal; and the way in which He removes it is to lay it on His Son. That is done, not in anything else, but in this alone, that Christ, by God’s appointment, dies the sinner’s death. The doom falls upon Him, and is exhausted there. The sense of the Apostle is given adequately in the well-known hymn:
“ ‘Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Scaled my pardon with His blood:
Hallelujah.’ ”
—Dr. Denny, “Studies in Theology,” pp. 109–112.
2Co_5:17. May be crystallised around four, all true, ways of reading this gnomic sentence.
I. If in Christ, there must follow a new creation.
II. As soon as in Christ, there begins a new creation.
III. So long as in Christ, there abides, and develops, a new creation.
IV. Because there is manifestly a new creation, therefore certainly the man is in Christ.
N.B.—Nothing less than a new creation will do. The water may open the bud into flower, but it cannot form the bud. It can give culture, but not life.
N.B.—Case analogous as between Genesis 1. and this:
1. “In beginning God created,” etc.
2. Spirit brooding.
3. Light.
4. Order.
5. Rest (Heb_4:7).
APPENDED NOTES
2Co_5:14. “Then all died.”—There is another way in which the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ is related to our redemption. I approach it with great hesitation, because it is involved in great obscurity.… These words (viz. 2Co_5:14), if they stood alone, might perhaps be fairly regarded as a strong rhetorical statement of the effect which ought to be produced upon our hearts by the infinite love of Christ in dying for us. It might be said that, since He died for us, the greatness of His love ought to dissolve all our relations to this present “evil world,” and bind us in perfect and eternal loyalty to Himself; that we ought to live as though death had already separated us from the common excitements and sorrows and triumphs of mankind; for us old things should have passed away, and all things become new. But in several other of his Epistles he speaks of Christ’s Death as though it were a real event in our own history. In the Epistle to the Romans (6, 7) he rests his elaborate arguments on what he takes for granted as known to those to whom he is writing,—the fact that Christ’s death was in some sense their own death.… The conception … reappears … in St. Paul’s writings … so frequently, and in such forms, that it cannot be treated as being nothing more than a rhetorical representation of the great moral effect which our belief in the Death of Christ ought to have on our spirit and character. It seems to have suggested the exhortation of St. Peter, to which it is difficult to give a very exact interpretation, “Forasmuch then,” etc. (1Pe_4:1-2). In his Epistle to the Galatians St. Paul affirms that he himself had thus died in Christ (Gal_2:20). And many Christian persons have declared that they are conscious that in the Death of Christ their old and evil life perished. It is far less difficult to apprehend the fact that we live in the life of Christ than the fact that we died in His death; but the teaching of St. Paul seems to be explicit. The destruction of evil within us is the effect and fulfilment in ourselves of the mystery of Christ’s Death, as the development of our positive holiness is of the power of His life. This is the Pauline doctrine, and I repeat that it has been verified in the consciousness of large numbers of Christian people. I accept this relation between the Death of Christ and the death of our own evil self as a fact, though I may be unable to offer any explanation of it. The fact, however inexplicable, is of great significance.… How many of us have cried, in the bitterness of our despair, “There is no redemption possible to us. We have waited for God, and He has not come to us.… Would to God that I could cease to be myself; that this evil nature of mine could be destroyed and leave nothing of itself behind; that I could die, if only I might have a new life, with better instincts, diviner impulses—that the passion, the sluggishness, the selfishness, the unbelief, which seem to constitute my very self, could be smitten with lightning from heaven, and perish—perish utterly, and perish for ever.” … The prayer receives its answer in Christ; in His Death our sin dies, and in His life the very life of God is made our own. How the Death of Christ effects the destruction of our sin we may be unable to tell. Perhaps that great moral act by which Christ consented to lose the consciousness of the Father’s presence and love—an act different in kind from any to which holy beings, in their normal relation to God, can be called—rendered it possible for us to sink to that complete renunciation of self which is the condition of the perfect Christian life; for that renunciation is also unique, and has no parallel in the normal development of a moral creature. But it is enough that we know the fact that in God’s idea, and according to the law of the kingdom of heaven, we are crucified in Christ. Sometimes through our union with Him sin may seem to perish as by a sudden blow. More frequently it dies slowly—dies as those died who were put to death by crucifixion.… But it is actually crucified, if only our union with Christ is complete; and though it may still live, its power over us is gone.… [A] moral security for the disappearance of sin has been created by the sufferings of Christ on the cross. The Death of Christ is the death of sin.—Dale, “Atonement,” pp. 425–430. Cf. also pp. 261, 262.
2Co_5:14. “Love of Christ constraineth me” [if regarded as equivalent to “Love to Christ”].—The Duke of Wellington regarded himself as a “retained servant of the monarch.” A customary phrase of his was, “The King’s government must be carried on.” Hence he sank personal differences and served under Peel, when Peel changed re Corn Laws. “Government is of far greater importance than any party opinions whatever.” So “Christ’s government must be carried on”!
No lower, feebler motive is in long-run sufficient. Dr. Hessey (Boyle Lectures, Moral Difficulties of the Bible) tells of a young man, in a newly founded colony, who went to a Bishop for ordination, professedly from the highest motives. The Bishop knew the young man, and, suspecting an admixture of lower motives (albeit hardly known to the man), sent him to a school for native children, miles up-country, to teach them everything. The test did its work. In two months the young man returned, owning he did not know his own heart fully, and no longer deeming the ministry his life-work.
2Co_5:17. “A new creature.”—If any man be in Christ, that is a new creation. That is enough. Let but this miracle be wrought, and the spirit has not missed the true rapture of life. The outward order may be wearily and monotonously the same. Reforms may be driven back; injustices may be perpetuated; the day of external deliverance may be far off. It is a small thing, if the soul is unchained. The slave who believed was still a slave to outward seeming. His bondage, it might well be, was to grow yet more stringent and cruel, and no help would reach him on this side of death. But he was a new creation. He beheld all things with new eyes, inhabited by a new spirit. He was no more the sport of a merciless master, but one of the children whom God gave to Christ. Though no arm of rebellion was lifted to overthrow the tyranny that crushed him, he was delivered from his heartbroken weariness, and he could do all things and bear all things through Christ that strengthened him.—Editorial, “British Weekly,” October 19th, 1893.
2Co_5:21. “Who knew no sin.”—Yet Jesus Christ never once confesses sin; He never once asks for pardon.… He never Himself lets fall a hint, He Himself never breathes a prayer, which implies any, the slightest, trace of a personal remorse. From no casual admission do we gather that any, the most venial, sin had ever been His Never for one moment does He associate Himself with any passing experience of that anxious dread of the penal future with which His own awful words must needs fill the sinner’s heart. If His Soul is troubled, at least His moral sorrows are not His own; they are a burden laid on Him by His love for others. Nay, He challenges His enemies to convince Him of sin. He declares positively that He always does the will of the Father. Even when speaking of Himself as Man, He always refers to eternal life as His inalienable possession. It might, so perchance we think, be the illusion of a moral dulness, if only He did not penetrate the sin of others with such relentless analysis. It might, we imagine, be a subtle pride, if we did not know Him to be as unrivalled in His great humility. This consciousness of an absolute sinlessness in such a soul as that of Jesus Christ points to a moral elevation unknown to our human experience. It is, at the very least, suggestive of a relation to the Perfect Moral Being altogther unique in human history.—Liddon, “Bampton Lectures,” iv. 1 (a). (The two paragraphs preceding, as well as the footnote from F. W. Newman, and Note C, will be full of serviceable suggestions to a homilist. Also if Luthardt, Fundamental Truths, be accessible, lect. x., pp. 311–313, is a good putting of the case.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 2Co 5:1-9.
GLORIFICATION
2Co 5:1-9.
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1. “For we know that if our earthly house of the tabernacle be taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.” The building here which is liable any time and destined very soon to be taken down, is this tenement of mortal clay. Paul triumphantly assures us that we have another house in Heaven that will never be taken down. It does not mean a mansion in Heaven. Those mansions are worlds innumerable which our Lord is fixing up for the eternal occupancy of His saints in glory. This earth is one of them, destined ere long to be redeemed, sanctified, renovated, celestialized and added back to the glorious retinue of unfallen celestial worlds where it sped its flight in first emanation from the omnific fiat. Paul means here none other than the glorified body which we will occupy and enjoy through all eternity.
2. “For in this we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven.” In these mortal bodies we suffer constant humiliation, aches, pains, wounds, bruises, colds, fevers and a thousand ills incident to mortal probation. Besides, the very weight of the body holds us down here on the earth and keeps us out of Heaven. Again, much attention that we have to give the body is servile and humiliating. Hence we groan in anticipation of coming emancipation.
3. “If indeed truly being clothed, we shall not be found naked.” Here we have another idea. While in these mortal bodies we groan and sigh and long for redemption, at the same time sweeping over the chasm of the disembodied state, we contemplate our house in Heaven, i. e., the glorified body, invested in which we will not be found naked.
4. “For truly being in the tabernacle we groan, being burdened, not in that we wished to be unclothed, but clothed upon, in order that mortality may be swallowed up of life.” Here we see that Paul’s climacteric aspiration was not simply to get out of this body, which would be a glorious victory, but he had his eye on a vastly grander and more glorious enterprise, i. e., “that mortality may be swallowed up of life,” i. e., that he may be transfigured without ever seeing death. Hence we see in this passage, so vividly portrayed, the uniform Pauline aspiration, i. e., that the Lord may come and translate him to Heaven, so that he may never see death.
5. “But He that wrought out us unto this same thing is God, who hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” The wonderful spiritual work already enjoyed by Paul was a prelibation of coming glorification. So the blessed work of entire sanctification in the heart is an advanced payment on the illustrious glorification that awaits us. The same is true of the healing of the body, a blessed privilege in this life. As the perfect and final healing of the body will utterly and eternally take away mortality, of course we can never get it till the body is glorified. Hence all the bodily healing we receive is an earnest of coming glorification.
6. “Therefore being always confident, and knowing that being present in the body we are absent from the Lord:
7. “For we walk by faith, not by sight:
8. “But we are confident and anxious rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.
9. “Therefore indeed we strive, whether being present or absent, to be well-pleasing unto Him.” Here we see the complexity of this attitude. His first choice and grandest aspiration is not to be “unclothed,” but to be “clothed upon” with the body which is from Heaven,” that mortality may be swallowed up of life.” Hence we see that the chief desideratum is that the Lord shall return, take up His saints and translate him. In that case he will never be unclothed, i. e., never evacuate his body, but remain in it and rise in his glorified body to meet the Lord in the air and ever be with Him. While that was his first choice (as well as yours and mine), he now expresses a second choice, i. e., to evacuate the body and go “unclothed” to the glorified presence. This he abundantly evinces in the statement that “to be present in the body is to be absent from the Lord.” Therefore, though he does not want to leave the body if he can take it with him, yet he prefers even to evacuate the body in order to go and be present with the Lord. This is his second choice. Then there is but one other alternative, and that is to remain in the body and be absent from the Lord. This is his last choice, and of course he is perfectly acquiescent in the will of God; e. g., first choice, to be translated and soul and body go together to the presence of God; secondly, to evacuate the body, go and leave it; and last of all, to abide in the body and still labor and suffer for the glory of God. So long as we remain in the body we “walk by faith and not by sight,” from the simple fact that we are still on probation and in this dark world, where we can not see God with the natural eye.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain 2Co 5:4
2Co 5:4
The Two Tabernacles.
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I. A tabernacle is a frail temporary dwelling, generally of cloth, which men make for shelter by night, when they expect to be so short a time in the place that it is not worth while to erect a more substantial edifice. The body is frequently compared to dust. It is glorious as the starry sky, and yet as fading as a summer flower.
II. This tabernacle. The house in which we now dwell is not our only dwelling-place. The design of the Spirit in this word is to preserve us from bestowing all our regard on this tabernacle while another is more worthy. When the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. "Blessed are the home-sick, for they shall get home."
III. Burdened. Our burdens are useful. They may be inventoried among the all things that work together for good. "The sorrows of earth will enhance the joys of heaven."
IV. "Not that we would be unclothed." Christians love life for many reasons. They love it with a deeper, more intelligent love than other creatures, because the gifts which are in their own nature sweet, are sweeter when they are received from a Father’s hand. This disciple fully comprehends and clearly expresses what he likes and what he does not like in connection with living and dying. He is willing to meet the necessity of putting off this mortal coil, for the sake of the glory that shall follow, but he frankly confesses that the act of putting off is not agreeable. He not only submits to it, he bounds forward to meet it joyfully; but the cause of his buoyancy is above—not of the fire and water of the passage, but of the large place to which the passage leads.
W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 288.
References: 2Co 5:4.—E. Garbett, The Soul’s Life, p. 396; T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 237. 2Co 5:4, 2Co 5:5.—T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 177.
2Co 5:5 (R.V.)
Detaching.
The idea of this passage is that the change from the mortal to the immortal is no accident. It is the result of a Divine intent. God wrought us for this very thing, and has given us the earnest, the foretaste and pledge of this change, through His Spirit. Our text, therefore, is the expression of the truth that in God’s economy this life is a process of disentangling and detachment from its own conditions. Mortal life, so far as related to itself, is a getting loose.
I. Consider the imagery of the text. We mortals are as dwellers in a tent. This tent is being gradually loosened down; such is the literal meaning of the word dissolved. Plainly enough the average man ignores this fact. He strikes out the tabernacle from the text and substitutes a building. He lives and plans as if both he and the world were eternal. God meant that our earthly house should be a tent and not a building; meant that it should be transitory and not eternal.
II. God has made us for the tent, but He has also made us for the building. It is God’s intent that the immortal, the spiritual life should be taking shape under the forms of mortal life; that in the tent man should be shaping for the eternal building; that in this frail, fleshly environment we should be growing familiar with the powers of the world to come; should be coming more and more under their influence; should be growing more and more into sympathy with the principles and ideas of the eternal world; growing in aspiration for their larger range, and even welcoming the dissolution of the tent as the signal and medium of entrance into the eternal building. The tent will fall. Shall you be left uncovered? Beware of the wrappings. They are folding you in too closely. You are growing in reputation and wealth, and the world is a very pleasant place to you. All well, perhaps, if these things are not all; if, under your busy life, there is the constant presence of God, a carefully fostered keen consciousness of the touch of God; an unbroken connection between heaven and your tent; a daily interchange between Christ and you; if, in short, your citizenship is in heaven, and the mark of heaven is on your words and your life and your spirit.
M. R. Vincent, The Covenant of Peace, p. 219.
2Co 5:5
The Expectation and the Earnest.
I. What is it that the Apostle here alludes to in the expression "the selfsame thing" to which believers are wrought of God? It is the confident hope of, and longing desire for, the glories and felicities of the resurrection state. In his bosom and that of his fellow-believers, this hope and desire dwelt fresh and vigorous. They had not a mere vague wish to enjoy a future felicity of some sort, they knew not what. Theirs was a firm anticipation of a well-understood and clearly realised futurity of blessedness and glory.
II. But to what was it owing that the Apostles had this confident expectation, which so inspired, cheered, and ennobled them in the service of the gospel? The answer of the Apostle, in the words before us, is to the effect that God was the Author and Source of the state of mind of which he speaks. He had wrought in them the blessed hope which they exultingly entertained. He had moulded them wholly to it.
III. But the Apostles had something more than mere hope to sustain them and cheer them amid the trials and conflicts of life. They had in actual possession a portion of the promised blessing, and in that the pledge and assurance of the whole. God had given them the earnest of the Spirit.
W. Lindsay Alexander, Sermons, p. 168.
References: 2Co 5:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 912; G. Dawson, Sermons on Disputed Points, p. 152; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 99; L. Mann, Life Problems, p. 91. 2Co 5:5-10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1303; Homilist, vol. iv., p. 107.
2Co 5:7
I. We walk by faith, in the conviction that what is right must end in peace, and what is wrong must end in misery. This assumes that there is a living and true God; that there is a real kingdom on earth—a government over men so constituted that right must come right, and wrong must come wrong; that by no possibility—by no combination of circumstances, by no power of men or devils—can wheat bring forth tares, or tares wheat; that never can there be separated the consequences from evil so long as evil continues; nor can anything but good and peace come from welldoing.
II. We walk by faith in reference to the agencies which God employs for the regeneration and salvation of man. (1) First and chief of these is the gospel of Christ. It is not that the gospel saves, but Jesus Christ of whom the gospel speaks, by reconciling the sinner to God, through faith in His atoning blood, and by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Sight is opposed to this. To lose faith in the gospel, to have faith in anything else accomplishing the things the gospel proposes, is to lose faith in Christ Himself, in His power, in His mercy, and in His will. (2) The Church of Christ is another agency the power or efficacy of which demands faith. Very often the agency is very poor—intellectually as well as spiritually. But walking by faith and not by sight, I perceive that the Church is the very best and purest society on the face of the earth. With all its dross it has the most gold. With all its darkness it has the most light. With all its earthly elements it is the best representative of heaven upon earth. Two thoughts of practical weight suggest themselves here. (1) One is this—encouragement in our duty. The great Captain of our salvation has tolerated us, borne with us, and not cast us off. He who sent such messages to the Seven Churches, recognising their standing and calling, and their glorious privileges, whilst revealing to them their sins, the same Lord who walks amongst the candlesticks does not put out our light. (2) Another thought is one of shame and confusion when we think how weak our faith is, and how slow, how unconstant our walk accordingly is as members of the Christian Church in fulfilling our Lord’s calling.
N. Macleod, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 12.
Walking by Faith.
In St. Paul’s hand these words were the key to what the heathen, who had no thoughts or desires beyond the present world, must have regarded as an enigma: note, not the resignation only, but the cheerfulness with which he and his fellow-Christians suffered wrong, though despised and obscure; the spoiling of their goods; how they sought death rather than shunned it, and rushed in the face of the King of Terrors, and gathered crowds as they went to the scaffold or stake, singing, rejoicing, radiant as a bride to the arms of her bridegroom. Paul speaks of scourging, stoning, prisonings, exiles, death itself, with a sort of Divine contempt. He calls them light afflictions: "Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And the reason why is given in our text: "We walk by faith, not by sight."
I. The believer walks by faith in the work and cross of Christ. By faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith David, and by faith many other Old Testament saints won themselves a place in the cloud of witnesses. The truth is that the faith of the humblest believers nowadays is, in some senses, a higher attainment than theirs, and there is no flight of human genius I ever saw like the faith of the poorest, weakest, humblest Christian.
II. The believer walks by faith in the providence of God. "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night teacheth knowledge of Him;" and this in every tongue savage or civilised. The whole world is vocal with His praise; nor is there any ear so deaf as may not hear that, as well in the songs of the happy birds as in the voice of the tempest and the peals of thunder. Though that may be true of the general providence of God, what may be called His special providence, at least so far as regards His own, is very often with them much more a thing of faith than it is a thing of sight.
III. The believer walks by faith in and to another world. It is no easy thing to walk by faith, not by sight; amid the things seen to love the unseen; to be in this world, and not of it; but we have the blessed promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be."
T. Guthrie, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 571.
The principle of walking by faith, not by sight, is reasonable and right,—
I. Because the principle of faith is more excellent in its object.
II. Because the principle of faith is more excellent in its effect upon the character and heart.
III. Because to walk by faith produces happiness.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 377.
References: 2Co 5:7.—Church Sermons, vol. ii., p. 289; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 73; vol. vii., p. 65; F. E. Paget, Sermons for Special Occasions, p. 1; Bishop Westcott, The Historic Faith, p. 173; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 677; J. L. Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxv., p. 244. 2Co 5:8.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 413; G. Bainton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x.,p. 205; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxiii., p. 266; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 113. 2Co 5:8, 2Co 5:9.—S. G. Green, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 177. 2Co 5:9.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ii., p. 160.
2Co 5:10
The Certainty of Judgment.
I. If it were a matter of choice whether we would be judged or not, whether we would be tried according to the terms of the gospel-covenant, or be utterly destroyed and perish for ever like the beasts, it is not to be doubted that very many persons, perhaps most, would choose the last. They would willingly enough part with the future rewards of religion, if they might but enjoy without fear or restraint the present pleasures of sin. If they could get rid of hell, they would not mind the loss of heaven. But, however, be it good or evil, it matters not; whatever we might wish, it is not now in our power to choose: we must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; we must give an account of our own works.
II. God knows us thoroughly, but there are some who do not yet know us—namely, the angels, other men, and ourselves. To these, therefore, we shall be laid open and made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ. (1) First of all, our whole hearts will be set forth before the angels; for though we are taught that those blessed spirits do continually watch over us for good, and are filled with heavenly joy when we serve God with regularity, order, and diligence, yet we have no reason to believe that they are now acquainted with the secrets of our hearts. If we are not quite hardened to all sense of shame, we must, at least in some degree, be affected by the consideration that our most secret sins, our most cunning deceits, shall be all laid open by the Judge Himself, before that mighty assembly of blessed and holy angels. (2) Let us remember again that our hearts and lives will be shown forth in their true and proper colours, to all men as well as all angels. Then it will be seen how different many of our outward actions and words were from our inward thoughts. Then will be seen how little use it is for man to approve, if God disapprove; how little harm it is for man to hate us, if God love us. There is nothing covered that shall not be then revealed, nor hid which shall not be then made known to the whole world.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. i., p. 9.
Human Judgment the Earnest of Divine.
I. The outward course of justice strikes a chord in our inward conscience. The man was lately perhaps free, fearless, among his fellows; the crime was past; no evidence, he thought, at hand. Justice, instructed he knows not how, makes him its prisoner; no need, mostly, of outward force; the accused lies helpless in the law’s inexorable power: pity has to yield to justice; one even course leads him on to his sentence. Guilt is so powerless. Conscience tells us that we too are amenable to justice—if not to human, to Divine. The earthly attribute of justice is awful because it awakens in us the thought of the Divine, which is so unspeakably holy and awful to us because we are sinners.
II. God’s justice, by those universal laws which express the divinely gifted reason of mankind, speaks further to the conscience by its minuteness. Human law does not leave petty offences unpunished. It imitates herein the merciful justice of God, who knows that the truest mercy to the sinner is to arrest him by light punishment in the beginning of his sin, and so deals to us in those offences which, not being amenable to human law, are a special province of His own immediate justice. Reason itself concurs with revelation that this judgment will be very minute, very searching. Judgment which did not take account of everything would be a partial, unjudging judgment: in man’s sight imperfect; in God, an impossible contradiction. "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Words are but the gushing forth of the inward self, the pouring out of the inward store, good or bad, laid up within us. Of every idle word shall men give account; for idle objectless words are the fruits of idle objectless souls, away from their centre, God. Words, tinged or steeped as they may be with the manifold evils of which men’s speech is made up, will condemn.
E. B. Pusey, University Sermons, p. 289.
References: 2Co 5:10.—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 313; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1076; G. Calthrop, Words Spoken to my Friends, p. 29; Bishop Westcott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxv., p. 252; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 259; vol. x., p. 367; J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church, p. 1.
2Co 5:11
Eternal Punishment.
Whatever the reason may be, men do not now think much about the terror of the Lord, and preachers do not now preach much about it. The spirit of the day is sceptical. The bold assertions of the past provoke nothing but a gently subdued contempt. Men are now proudly certain of but one thing, and that is that there is nothing of which they can be certain. And this spirit has diffused itself through the abodes of Christian belief. It has diluted itself until an uninfluential assent has taken the place of a realistic belief; the fires of faith have been put out and only the grey ashes remain, and the terror of the Lord has become "A tale of little meaning, though the words are strong."
I. But many of us, whose faith if not vivid is yet what is called sound, are in danger of perverting that great article of Christian belief, the remission of sins; and the spirit of profligacy does pervert it, and the spirit of moral vulgarity perverts it, and the spirit of cowardly improvidence longs to have it so. The perversion is, that the punishment of sin is to be remitted, that the forgiveness of sins practically means letting us off from the penalty of our sins, that it is going to be all right whatever we do, that there is no hell, and that men may make themselves quite comfortable, for there is nothing in the future to fear. Now against all this the Christian teacher must never cease to protest, for it is a great lie; it is a flat contradiction to the laws of nature. There is no remission of the punishment of sin. The saint must bear his punishment, and the impenitent sinner ever augment his. God is not the feeble, good-natured God of languid profligacy. In one sense He is unmerciful and unrelenting.
II. Sin is always a process of self-destruction, and its most fearful consequences are upon the moral and spiritual nature itself. Its first effect is pain, the pain inflicted by conscience when wrong has been consciously done. That lie, that lust, that cowardly cruelty, that self-seeking hypocrisy, all that thou hast done, has made its mark on thee, has made thee something other than thou mightest have been. On the unseen face which stands behind thine eyes, every sin has marked its line. Again, every sin will have this punishment, that it will entail a lower place in the kingdom of heaven than we might have had. The opportunity lost or misimproved today is an eternal perdition. "Wisdom can put away sin, but she cannot pardon it, and she is apt, in her haste, to put away the sinner as well, when the black aegis is on her breast." And now, whatever scepticism may say, and whatever sentimental religionism may say, this is what in her own way science says and this is what the Bible says: "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap."
W. Page-Roberts, Liberalism in Religion, p. 123.
References: 2Co 5:11.—R. L. Browne, Sussex Sermons, p. 165. 2Co 5:11-15.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiv., p. 35. 2Co 5:12-17.—F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 322; S. Martin, Sermons, p. 201. 2Co 5:13.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 213; A. J. Parry, Phases of Christian Truth, p. 144.
2Co 5:13-15
Paul’s Passion for Christ.
I. The Apostle affirms that the distinctive inspiration of his passionate fervour and entire consecration is the person and mission of Jesus Christ—"The love of Christ constraineth us." It is distinctively love for a person—"The truth as in Jesus." Everything in Christianity centres in Christ’s person. Christian doctrines are simply explanations of the facts of Christ’s personal history; so that Jesus Christ Himself is the personal and exclusive object of our religious trust and love. Take Christ away, and Christianity disappears. His acts as a personal Redeemer constitute it. Behind all Christian idea stands the ineffable Christ Himself—that wondrous personality of peerless sanctity, ineffable love, Divine characteristic, and human perfection: the embodiment, not of one class of excellences only, but of all.
II. Among even the supernatural characteristics of Christ’s personality and of His mission, Paul gives a singular and emphatic prominence to His death—"He died for all." Whenever Paul gives such account of his enthusiasm for Christ as makes Festus think him mad, as makes the Grecian philosophers write him down a fool, he always specifies the death on the cross as its distinctive inspiration—"He loved me and gave Himself for me." Accept Paul’s idea of the cross as a sacrifice for human sin, everything is natural and obvious; deny it, try to construct some other theory of His death, Paul’s sentiment and passion are the greatest of anomalies. Note two characteristics of this constraint. (1) Its intensity. The depth and passion of Paul’s personal and practical love for Jesus Christ are simply indescribable. (2) Much might be said about the humanity of this great inspiration—the marvellous way in which grateful love to Christ becomes a Christlike love, a philanthropic love, full of human sympathies, solicitudes, and services.
H. Allon, The Indwelling Christ, p. 83.
References: 2Co 5:13-15.—D. Bagot, Church of England Pulpit, vol. x., p. 373; W. M. Punshon, Sermons, p. 12.
2Co 5:14
I. St. Paul’s was, in every sense of the word, a great conversion. It was great (1) as showing the omnipotence of God. Nothing was more unlikely, humanly speaking, than that a man of perfect outward life, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, should sacrifice everything for this new sect of the Nazarenes. But although, as a general rule, God works in a quiet ordinary way,—though, as a general rule, "what a man sows he reaps," still God is pleased to keep, if I may so express myself, a reserve of supernatural force. God is able to bring a higher law, as yet unknown to us, to bear upon these lower laws with which we are familiar, and so to modify them that supernatural results are accomplished. (2) And it was a great conversion when we look at it in relation to the world. The conversion of the world was, humanly speaking, hanging upon the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. The individual life has wrapped up in it a power in the world which no one is able to calculate. And (3) it was a great conversion in relation to the individual Apostle. It was a great sacrifice nobly made.
II. And if we ask, What was the moving power of this great transformation—what was the secret of this change? I answer in the words of my text, It was the love of Christ that constrained him. The conversion of St. Paul was the result of the epiphany of Jesus Christ. It was a manifestation of a living Person taking hold of a living person’s will that conquered St. Paul and made him the fervent and believing Apostle. And if we want in our measure and degree the power of St. Paul to overcome obstacles, to break down prejudices, to crush the rebel flesh, to rise above the world, to be indifferent alike to its praise and its blame—if we wish to follow St. Paul, we also must know something of that love of Christ by which he was constrained.
G. Wilkinson, Penny Pulpit, No. 552.
Christ’s Love to us our Law of Life.
I. We love Christ, indeed, because He first loved us. Our love is the reflection of the original light—the heavenly ray bent back again towards its source; and where this love towards Him exists, it becomes a motive of perpetual service. But this is not St. Paul’s intention; he is here speaking of the motive of that motive. What is it that awakens our love to Him but His love first to us? Love is the principle of obedience, but the principle of love is love. And of this the Apostle speaks—the love which descends from Him to us. Let us begin at the source of all. God is love, and love is the law of His kingdom. There is a hierarchy of love, having its beginning in the eternal Three, descending from the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to all orders of created spirits, angelic and ministering, and to all creatures in earth and heaven, binding all in one. Love is the stooping of the higher to the lower, the Creator to the creature, the parent to the child, the stronger to the weaker, the sinless to the sinful—God stooping down to man. The penetrating exalting consciousness that we are objects of the love of God—this love, which has its fountains in eternity, has made apostles, martyrs, saints, and penitents. And this consciousness is awakened in us by a sense of the love of Christ.
II. See next how this motive works in us: what is the operation and effect of the love of Christ? (1) It constrains; that is, it lays a force upon us, as a strong hand draws us whithersoever it will. There are in creation powers of attraction which control whole orders of nature; as the loadstone, which draws its subjects to itself, and the sun, to which all nature answers. These are the constraining forces of the natural world—a parable of the attractions of the Spirit. We know this by familiar experience in our lower life. What awakens love like love? What constrains us to the presence of another but a consciousness of his love to us? The sense of Christ’s love is the mightiest of all constraining motives. It embraces our whole spiritual nature, touches it in all its springs, moves it in all its affections, stirs it in all its energies. (2) The love of Christ felt in the heart is the only source of unreserved devotion and of perfect sacrifice of self. Those who in all ages have done and suffered great things for the kingdom of God knew no motive but this. They had received the fire which falls from heaven, and as it kindled, their hearts pleaded with them in secret and pressing words: "He wholly gave Himself for me: shall I give less to Him?" (3) This Divine motive is the only principle of an enduring perseverance. It grows stronger as it acts; by acting it is made perfect. Long trials of Christ’s love in joy and sorrow, in storm and sunshine, reveal its Divine tenderness and depth. And this quickens the activity of our own hearts with a living, thirsting desire to love Him with a greater love again. Steadfast love is perseverance; it supports through all weariness and disappointment, all allurement and alarm. A true love to Christ moves in its path year by year, without haste but without tarrying, calm, bright, and onward as the light of heaven.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 1.
I. There can be but little wanting to the happiness of any person who can, with sincerity, say that these words describe the habitual state of his own mind. It is possible that faith, the deepest and liveliest faith in the excellence and worthiness of Christ, may be so mixed with fears for our own unworthiness, that we may not taste fully the comfort of Christ’s Spirit. But he who is constantly constrained by the love of Christ, who leaves evil things undone, who does good things actively, because his sense of Christ’s love is ever present with him, will feel what St. John expresses, no doubt from the experience of his own heart, that "perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment."
II. The facts which should naturally excite this love are known to all. Go back as far as we will, approach as closely to the time of our Lord’s appearing on earth as our existing records will allow, still we can trace no fuller knowledge of the facts of our Lord’s sufferings and death than we can all gain—than we have actually gained from the four Gospels now in our possession. That story which we know so well, but feel so little, is precisely the same which constrained so many of God’s servants in different ages, which constrains so many at this moment, to count all things but loss for Christ’s sake, to govern their whole lives and thoughts by the principle of love and gratitude to their Saviour. The difference is assuredly not in our knowledge, but in ourselves; that which has been the very bread of life to others is to us tasteless, weak, and ineffectual.
III. Christ’s Spirit is given to Christ’s redeemed; it is His promise to His people. Think you that you can obtain it of yourselves, before you offer yourselves to Him? No; it is not only a great truth of the gospel, but it is the very gospel itself, that all which is demanded of us, in the first instance, is, that the love of Christ should constrain us to come to Him, that feeling our own weakness and His power, we should come to Him in repentance and faith, grieving for our own evil and trusting to Him to cure us.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. III., p. 1.
References: 2Co 5:14.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1411; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 295; T. J. Crawford, The Preaching of the Cross, p. 277; W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 372; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 10; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 253; E. L. Hull, Sermons, 1st series, p. 102; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 25; F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians, p. 329; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 85; G. Wilkinson, Church Sermons, vol. i., p. 145.
2Co 5:14-15
Either there is a contradiction in this passage, or St. Paul’s conception of love and its power is not the same with the one which is most prevalent among us. "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we judge." Here seems to be a process of the understanding strangely mixed up with a compulsion acting on the feelings or the heart. If the Apostle had to argue with himself that Christ died for all, because all were dead, and that men might not live to themselves, how can he affirm that a mere sense or passion of devotion to his Master urged him on to act or to suffer? If he was under the influence of such a passion, what need or what possibility of thinking, of deliberating, of concluding?
I. I would remark, at the outset, that the love of Christ can scarcely mean the love which the Apostle had, or which any man has, for Christ. The very word "constrains" seems to suggest the thought of an atmosphere surrounding us, compressing us—of a power bearing upon us. It would be the strangest phrase imaginable if it meant something which proceeded from ourselves, a smoke or incense rising up to heaven. But a love coming down upon us, the love of a superior Being speaking to us, is not limited. The sunlight of a parent’s or a teacher’s countenance does not act merely on the affections of a child, it acts upon his intellect; it gives him courage to think, power to perceive, vivacity in all parts of his being. The love of Christ, then, might well constrain the judgment to a right and reasonable conclusion, as well as the hands to right and reasonable acts. If you suppose the Divine love to work on any creature, you would expect it to act generally, diffusively—to leave no faculty just as it was before, to bring those out into particular clearness and vigour which were most ready for the influence; sometimes to cause an immediate glow in the passive and susceptible feelings, sometimes to stir up the active powers; sometimes to reach the heart directly, sometimes to reach it through the narrow and winding passages of the understanding.
II. The sense in which these words were most applicable to the Apostle of the Gentiles, is the sense in which they are most applicable to us—to us as forming a society of men; to each one of us as an individual man; to the layman and to the priest. A man may confess the constraint of the love of Christ who is most conscious of his own struggle against it, of the effort he has made to be independent of it, of the fierce determination he has often come to that he will entirely break the bonds of love asunder and cast away its cords from him. Still the love of Christ has been pressing him round, above, beneath, seeking to penetrate and possess him. If he yields to it, it will not be less felt as a constraint; he will not boast that now it is his own choice which is governing him, and not another who is guiding and leading him. He must rejoice to feel that his will has been made captive by the true will which it was formed to obey. He must distinctly and deliberately judge that such authority, enforcing such obedience, is the true source of all freedom.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 223.
The Service of Love.
We have in these words a true answer to the question most important for us all; namely, What, in its true essence, stripped of all its accidents and outer garb, what is true religion? To St. Paul religion is not a service of fear, not a service of necessity, not that which a man does because he dreads, not that which he does because he must; but it is a service of love, that which he would wish to do even if he might leave it undone.
I. All true religion begins in the response of our hearts to the love of God as manifested in Jesus Christ our Lord. We begin to live a life which is a service of love, which has been rendered ever since, just so far as by God’s grace we have been able to render it, under the controlling influence of the love of Christ in our hearts.
II. It is a service of love, again, inasmuch as it is a service which is accepted and rewarded solely out of the great Father’s tenderness and love toward us. The loving Father, who has implanted these instincts within us, could not be content if His children served only from fear.
III. See what an error it is for us to be overanxious about success when engaged in rendering this service. Very often in the Christian service we miss success for the simple reason that we are too anxious for it. Be not overanxious about your spiritual success. Let the motto of the Apostle be the motto of your life. Whatever cometh, go forth joyously, gladly, untiringly, the love of Christ constraining you.
IV. See once more what a useful test this should apply, by which we are to judge the degree of the efforts we are making in seeking the direct spiritual good of those around us. It is very often wise for us to take counsel of our affection rather than of our intellect. Let us not be mean here; let us not stint in our measure here; let the love of Christ constrain us.
S. Newth, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiii., p. 300.
I. The love of Christ is an interpretation of the sorrows of the world. Nowhere are the mysteries and the sadness of life presented more impressively than in the Bible. The gospel does not in any way dissemble the evils by which we are saddened in manifold forms, the pitiless havoc wrought by the forces of nature, the terrible workings of human selfishness, the action of sin within us, of which we are severally conscious; it lays all bare that it may more surely conquer all: it reveals a Divine purpose in suffering; it spreads over all the pure, unsullied light which falls from the Father’s eye; it teaches still to look on the whole world as the work of God’s wisdom and the object of God’s love. Such a view of the world must present all things under a new aspect, and if with open hearts we allow the love of Christ, incarnate, crucified, ascended, to have its perfect work, it enables us to face the mysteries of earth and man with confidence and with hope. The fact of sonship presses upon us the utmost obligation of service as our answer to the Father’s will; and it also reveals a Father’s compassion as our sure refuge when we mourn over duties imperfectly fulfilled. The love of Christ affirms an unconquerable purpose where we see partial disaster, an inalienable fellowship where we mourn over jealousy and strife, the germ of a heavenly nature where we struggle with a masterful selfishness.
II. The love of Christ is a personal call. The hierarchy of nature is ruled by a scale of duties corresponding to endowments, of service corresponding to strength. All duties, all service alike are tempered together, and contribute to one end through the love of Christ towards us and in us. And here human love reveals the law of highest fellowship, which prejudices of race or class or caste or education are always trying to hinder and to hide. Nothing will go well with us till we have mastered the lesson, till the strong feel that they need the weak to teach them the grace of considerate tenderness, and the weak feel that they need the strong to inspire them with the joy of thankful reverence, till weak and strong alike feel that they are labourers together in Christ with God, joint-heirs of the grace of life.
Bishop Westcott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiv., p. 106.
References: 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15.—W. Cunningham, Sermons, p. 365; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 132; F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 90. 2Co 5:15.—F. Emerson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiv., p. 246; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 9. 2Co 5:16.—Ibid., p. 331; J. Vaughan, Sermons, vol. vii., p. 160. 2Co 5:16.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 129.
2Co 5:17
Such is the change which passes upon Christians through the power of Christ their Lord; they are made new creatures. And this deep mystery of our own renewed being flows out of the mystery of Christ’s incarnation. He took our manhood and made it new in Himself, that we might be made new in Him. He hallowed our manhood, and carried it up into the presence of His Father as the firstfruits of a new creation. And we shall be made new creatures through the same power by which He was made man—the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost.
I. We are made new creatures by a present change working in our moral nature; that is to say, through our regeneration in holy baptism. By the love of God electing us to a new birth of the spirit, and by the Holy Ghost working through that visible sacrament, we are translated from wrath to grace, from the power of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son. Old things pass away and all things become new round the regenerate man.
II. But further, Christians are new creatures by present, ever-growing holiness of life—by the renewing of their very inmost soul. They are absolutely new creatures—new in the truth of moral reality; new altogether, but still the same. It is moral contradiction, moral conflict, the clash of moral antagonists, that makes God and man to be two, and the race of man as divided as it is numerous; and so is it in every living soul changed by the grace of God. He was an evil creature, he is a holy one; that is, he was an old, he is new. When the flesh is subdued to the spirit, and Satan bruised under our feet, this old world passes away as a shadow, and the new stands out as the visible reality from which the shadow fell; and the whole man grows into a saint. The lowliest and most unlettered man, to whom written books are mysteries; the tiller of the ground, the toiling craftsman, the weary trader; the poor mother fostering her children for God; the little ones whose angels do always behold the face of their Father in heaven,—all these, by the Spirit of Christ working in them, are changed into a saintly newness and serve with angels, and look into the mystery of God with the cherubim and adore with the seraphim of glory.
III. Let us therefore learn some lessons of encouragement. Unlikely as it may seem, our most confident and cheering hopes will be found to arise out of the awful reality of our regeneration. In you old things are passed, as the night is passed when the darkness is driven before the coming day; and new things are come, as the day is come when the white morning steals up the sky. There may be thronging clouds and weeping showers before midday, but to every penitent man the noon shall come at last. Lastly, live above the world, as partakers of the new creation. He that is "the beginning of the creation of God" is knitting together in one His mystical body, making up the number of His elect; and to this end is He working in each one of us, cleansing and renewing us after His own image. All things about us teem with a new perfection. For a while it must needs be that our eyes are holden; were they but opened we should understand that even now are we in the heavenly city. Its walls stand round about us, and they that were seen in Dothan walk in its streets of gold.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. i., p. 19.
In considering this statement of the Apostle, there are two main thoughts which seem to occur for our examination. The former of them concerns itself with the enlargement of feeling and sentiment, with that elevation to a higher spiritual platform which St. Paul describes as characteristic of the Christian life. The second concerns itself with that connection subsisting between that elevation and the condition of being "in Christ."
I. Now the state out of which the Apostle describes himself as having arisen, is one in which he "knew men after the flesh" and he knew Christ after the flesh. In other words, he entertained the common, worldly, merely outward estimate of Christ, of man, and of human life, until his belief of the Saviour’s resurrection put that estimate aside and replaced it by another, which was nobler in itself and more in accordance with the actual facts of the case. There is something corresponding to this elevation of thought and feeling in the experience of those persons who in the present day are disciples and followers of the Saviour. They have become emancipated from unworthy thoughts of the Saviour’s person and character. They have arrived at a conception of Christ which is markedly and unmistakably above what is usually formed and entertained by the majority of mankind. The superiority of conception consists in a real acceptance of the godhead of Jesus Christ.
II. Let Jesus Christ enter your life, and the commonest act is ennobled by being done for Him. Let Christ into your life, and the present—no matter what it is—reaches out and fastens itself on to the distant eternity, and becomes the germ of a never-ending existence. The expression "in Christ" is a sort of keynote, to which the whole of St. Paul’s statements and arguments are set; and if we can grasp the meaning of this phrase, we are in a fair way to understand everything else. Our being new creatures, then, and therefore fit for the spiritual state of the Redeemed, depends upon our being in Christ. Our being in Christ depends upon our having sincerely accepted and taken to ourselves, by the Spirit’s help, the testimony of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ; upon our having appropriated, in fact, His death, and all that flows and follows from it.
G. Calthrop, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 853.
What must I do to be saved?
I. First of all, it may be right to mention that anxiety for the state of one’s soul may be equally real, and yet show itself in different persons in a very different manner. I believe that many good people have been very angry with themselves because they did not weep for their sins, and feel that lively grief which we read of so often in the Scriptures as accompanying repentance. It is of no use to examine nicely into the vehemence or soberness of our feelings, whether of joy or sorrow, of hope or of fear, nor should any one think himself not in earnest because he cannot pass sleepless nights or shed floods of tears for the sinful state in which he has been living.
II. I will suppose that a man is roused sincerely to ask the question, "What must I do to be saved?" and wants some plain and particular directions to serve as his answer. The first rule then to be given is, to be instant in prayer. We might say to such a man, "If you are indeed in earnest, draw near unto God without fear; you are pardoned already for Christ’s sake; be sure, therefore, that God loves you enough to give you His Holy Spirit, and to make you that new creature which you wish to be. Pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, that the promise of His Spirit may be fulfilled to you, to guide you safely on your way to heaven." With the practice of prayer, I should earnestly recommend the use of some book of devotion, like Jeremy Taylor’s "Holy Living and Dying" or Bishop Wilson’s "Sacra Privata." Books of this kind are sure to furnish, ready to our hand, the very passages of Scripture on which we can dwell most profitably.
III. It is wise to begin a Christian course sincerely, but quietly and soberly; to be not too hasty in endeavouring to reach a very high pitch at first, but to regulate our strength, that it may last out through our whole journey. Leave off at once every known sin; that is the first step, and without that we can do nothing; then be diligent and honest in the duties of your calling, striving to grow in humility and in love to God and man. If you go on with prayer and watchfulness, be not afraid that you will not reach in time the highest point of Christian perfection.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 10.
References: 2Co 5:17.—T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 8; J. J. S. Perowne, Sermons, p. 172; J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church, 2nd series, p. 94; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 881; vol. xx., No. 1183; vol. xxii., No. 1328; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 275; vol. iii., p. 93; G. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation, p. 94; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Marlborough College, p. 97; Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 186; G. Matheson, Ibid., vol. xxxv., p. 346; A. Parry, Phases of the Truth, p. 221. 2Co 5:17, 2Co 5:18.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 274.
2Co 5:18
The Christian Priest.
I. On the first two clauses of the text the third, of course, depends. "He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation." St. Paul could have no conception, therefore, of a Christian minister, except as a man who was sent to testify that all things were of God, and that He had in Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself. It is involved in the first proposition that the minister must regard himself as receiving his authority and commission from God. No Jew could think that he held any office whatsoever except by God’s appointment. If the priest had not been taught to consider himself as chosen and clothed by God for His service at the altar, he would have been the one exceptional man in the whole commonwealth. The continual assertions in St. Paul’s writings that he was an Apostle not of man nor by man are vouchers for this conviction, as far as he himself was concerned. He never suggests that the difference between the Old and the New Testament ministry is, that the one was appointed by God and the other not; that those who had the one might call themselves ministers of God, and that those who had the other might call themselves ministers of some society which had chosen them to do certain offices on its behalf. What he does say is, that the ministers of the Old Testament were, to a great extent, ministers of a letter written and graven in stone, and that those of the New Testament are ministers of the Spirit; that the one are ministers of condemnation, and the others of righteousness; that the one are to exhibit the glory of God under a veil, and that the others are to present it openly, as revealed in Jesus Christ.
II. In modern times, when people have become weary of the oppressions of a body calling itself the universal church on the one side of them, and of the sects which they see tearing nations into pieces on the other, the notion has gone forth that if men could but shake off all the associations which are connected with the priesthood as a Divine institution, and could merely elect officers to perform the devotional services which they think requisite for the satisfaction of their consciences or their religious impulses, a church might grow up suitable to our time, or to some better time that is approaching. If such persons lead us to think that there can be any reconstruction of a church which has not the doctrine that all things are of God at the basis of it, which does not lead us to regard all offices as more, not less Divine than we have regarded them hitherto, I believe we can expect nothing from such a change but the reproduction of all ancient corruptions and the removal of the good which has counteracted them. We have not believed wrongly that we are called by God to our work, and that we cannot perform it if we are not called to it. We have been very wrong in not making it evident that our calling is for your sakes, that we are witnesses of His care for you. We have not been wrong in asserting a communion between God and His children. We have been very wrong in limiting it according to notions and fancies of ours; in not believing and rejoicing that God may make the truth and the power of which we testify known without our testimony; in not desiring that all shall be prophets, that all shall have God’s Spirit; as that old legislator did, who would not suffer the order of the Priesthood to be changed, because it concerned not him, but the nation and its Lord.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. i., p. 42.
I. Consider one or two things which are not distinctly expressed in this passage, but which are necessarily implied, and must be regarded as underlying what is expressed for it to have any consistent meaning. (1) Humanity, in itself considered, is supposed to be in some way separated from God; in a state of estrangement, if not of antagonism. (2) A second thing implied is that God loved the world, even when it was dead in trespasses and sins. (3) It is also implied that God’s love, if it is to take effect in the highest sense, if it is to secure and accomplish the reconciling of the world, must be expressed and manifested in some form of supernatural interposition.
II. Consider what the text does distinctly express and declare. The pre-existing love of God takes a positive form and is made manifest by a Divine act. (1) There would seem to be two reconciliations referred to in the text; there is one which is accomplished by God, and there is another to be secured by man. (2) The reconciliation effected by God was accomplished by His doing two things: "He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin"; then, as the result of that, He did not impute to men their transgressions. The one thing became possible on the ground of the other. (3) In this reconciliation and return of God to the world, a foundation is laid for the return to and reconciliation of man with God.
III. Christianity is something more than (1) the mission of a teacher or prophet, (2) the embodiment in Christ of perfect virtue, (3) what was simply subjective in God, or even (4) the fatherly love of God. There is a true thought in each of these things, but neither includes the whole truth standing alone.
T. Binney, King’s Weighhouse Sermons, 2nd series, p. 51.
References: 2Co 5:18.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 318; Homilist, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 568; Spurgeon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 81; H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, p. 183. 2Co 5:18-21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1124; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 84; W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, vol. i., p. 272.
2Co 5:19
God in Christ.
I. "God was in Christ." In the Son of Man, as He loves best to call Himself, who bows His head in death, who suffers the common lot of humanity, that very circumstance of pain and ignominy shows something more than a Divine messenger from God, as some have described Him, or a Divine pleader before God and against God for man, as He has often been pictured. It is a real manifestation or revelation of, or rather a revealer of the very nature of God, that we have in Him. He is in the Father, the Father in Him, and His death is the close of a life in which this human nature, which we all share, has been raised and ennobled by close union with the Divine nature. The world has had before it the crowning act of God’s love for the race which He long ago had moulded in something of His own image. It is in the closest union with God that He who was born at Bethlehem and crucified at Calvary has lived and died. The Father and the Son have moved together in the great work of restoration and redemption. There is no crossing or thwarting of the Father’s will, no hard-won, dearly bought victory over an offended God.
II. The text is a blessed message, worthy, surely, of the name which the Apostle twice gives it, as one of reconciliation. And he adds one point more: "not imputing"—not reckoning, as our Revisers have more exactly rendered it—"their trespasses unto them." The metaphor, we see at a glance, is that of a debt, freely, frankly forgiven. This power of absolute and entire forgiveness, passing from God through Christ to man, is put among the very foremost attributes of the Divine nature as revealed to us in and by His Son; it is enshrined in our creed, it is embodied in the prayer of prayers, it is emphasised in the Sermon on the Mount, it is appealed to by the dying Sufferer on the Cross. We, whom it costs so hard a struggle, are bidden to forgive freely, "Yea, until seventy times seven"—never to be weary of forgiving.
G. G. Bradley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 257.
References: 2Co 5:19.—Homilist, 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 638; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 10. 2Co 5:20.—E. Garbett, The Soul’s Life, p. 37; J. Vaughan,Fifty Sermons, 8th series, p. 151; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 80. 2Co 5:20, 2Co 5:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1910.
2Co 5:20
The Gospel Embassy.
If any man should ask what is the chief work of the Christian ministry, here is the answer: God has sent us; we are ambassadors for Christ. God has given us our message, and that message is that He has reconciled the world unto Himself; and He sends us to pray and beseech every one in the world whom we can reach to be reconciled to Him.
I. We are ambassadors—men sent by a King. When an ambassador comes to our country, before he can be received as an ambassador he must show his credentials. St. Paul had proved to those to whom he wrote that he was sent by Christ. He went into the synagogue of the Jews first and testified that Jesus is the Christ. When the Jews refused to receive his message he went to the Gentiles, and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized. No doubt he did miracles also, but they are not mentioned in the account of his embassy to the people of Corinth. The power that went with the message proved that the message was from God. The effects of his message on the minds of the Corinthians were his credentials, for they were the handwriting and the seal of God Himself. They were a new creation. Old things were passed away; all things were become new. They had been renewed in the spirit of their minds, and therefore their life was a new life, and every one might read it for himself.
II. The message is the gospel. God has reconciled us to Himself, and we must be reconciled to Him. He offers us a full, free, eternal pardon for all sins, for all our acts, words, thoughts, done, spoken, and conceived against Him and His law. You must accept that pardon. He assures you that He loves you, loves you with a deep, mysterious, inconceivable love. You must believe that. He tells you that the exceeding great love led Him to give His only-begotten Son to become man, that He might suffer in your place what you deserve to suffer. You will be reconciled to God because you believe that He has reconciled you to Himself.
W. W. Champneys, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 405.
2Co 5:21
The Sinless made Sin and the Sinful made Righteous.
I. Jesus Christ was personally sinless.
II. As the voluntary representative of sinful men, Jesus Christ was through a limited period accounted by God a transgressor.
III. The object of God in treating Jesus Christ as a sinner was to place Himself in a position whence He might account sinful men righteous, and really work righteousness within them. The text shows (1) the riches of the goodness of God, (2) the unutterable love of Christ, (3) an absolute human necessity provided for, and (4) the security of such as participate in Christ’s mediation.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, 3rd series, p. 225.
References: 2Co 5:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., Nos. 141, 142; vol. vi., No. 310; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 95; Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 206; A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 320.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
TENT AND BUILDING
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2Co 5:1.
Knowledge and ignorance, doubt and certitude, are remarkably blended in these words. The Apostle knows what many men are not certain of; the Apostle doubts as to what all men now are certain of. ‘If our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved’-there is surely no if about that. But we must remember that the first Christians, and the Apostles with them, did not know whether they might not survive till the coming of Christ; and so not die, but ‘be changed.’ And this possibility, as appears from the context, is clearly before the Apostle’s mind. Such a limitation of his knowledge is in entire accordance with our Lord’s own words, ‘It is not for you to know the times and the seasons,’ and does not in the smallest degree derogate from his authority as an inspired teacher. But his certitude is as remarkable as his hesitation. He knows-and he modestly and calmly affirms the confidence, as possessed by all believers-that, in the event of death coming to him or them, he and they have a mansion waiting for their entrance; a body of glory like to that which Jesus already wears.
I. So my text mainly sets before us very strikingly the Christian certitude as to the final future.
I need not dwell, I suppose, upon that familiar metaphor by which the relation of man to his bodily environment is described as that of a man to his dwelling-place. Only I would desire, in a word, to emphasise this as being the first of the elements of the blessed certitude in which Christian people may expatiate-the clear, broad distinction between me and my physical frame. There is no more connection, says Paul, between us and the organisation in which we at present dwell than there is between a man and the house that he inhabits. ‘The foolish senses crown’ Death and call him lord; but the Christian’s certitude firmly draws the line, and declares that the man, the whole personality, is undisturbed by anything that befalls his residence; and that he may pass unimpaired from one house to another, being in both the self-same person. And that is something to keep firm hold of in these days when we are being told that life and consciousness are but a function of organisation, and that if the one be annihilated the other cannot persist. No; though all illustrations and metaphors must necessarily fail, the two which lie side by side here in my text and its context are far truer than that pseudo-science-which is not science at all, but only inference from science-which denies that the man is one thing and his house altogether another.
Then again, note, as part of the elements of this Christian certitude, the blessed thought that a body is part of the perfection of manhood. No mere dim, ghostly future, where consciousness somehow persists, without environment or tools to act upon an outer world, completes the idea of God in reference to man. But the old trinity is the eternal trinity for humanity, body, soul, and spirit. Corporeity, with all that it means of definiteness, with all that it means of relation to an external universe, is the perfection of manhood. To dwell naked, as the Apostle says in the context, is a thing from which man shudderingly recoils; and it is not to be his final fate. Let us take this as no small gain in reference to our conceptions of a future-the emphatic drawing into light of that thought that for his perfection man requires body, soul, and spirit.
And now, if we turn for a moment to the characteristics of the two conditions with which my text deals, we get some familiar enough but yet great and strengthening thoughts. The ‘earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved,’ or, more correctly, retaining the metaphor of the house, is to be pulled down-and in its place there comes a building of God, a ‘house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’
Now the contrast that is drawn here, whilst it would run out into a great many other particulars, about which we know nothing, and therefore had better say nothing, revolves in the Apostle’s mind mainly round these two ‘earthly’ as contrasted with ‘in the heavens’; and ‘tabernacle,’ or tent, as contrasted, first of all with a ‘building,’ and then with the predicate ‘eternal.’
That is to say, the first outstanding difference which arises before the Apostle as blessed and glorious, is the contrast between the fragile dwelling-place, with its thin canvas, its bending poles, its certain removal some day, and the permanence of that which is not a ‘tent,’ but a ‘building’ which is ‘eternal.’ Involved in that is the thought that all the limitations and weaknesses which are necessarily associated with the perishableness of the present abode are at an end for ever. No more fatigue, no more working beyond the measure of power, no more need for recuperation and repose; no more dread of sickness and weakness; no more possibility of decay, ‘It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption’-neither ‘can they die any more.’ Whether that be by reason of any inherent immortality, or by reason of the uninterrupted flow into the creature of the immortal life of Christ, to whom he is joined, is a question that need not trouble us now. Enough for us that the contrast between the Bedouin tent-which is folded up and carried away, and nothing left but the black circle where the cheerful hearth once glinted amidst the sands of the desert-and the stately mansion reared for eternity, is the contrast between the organ of the spirit in which we now dwell and that which shall be ours.
And the other contrast is no less glorious and wonderful. ‘The earthly house of this tent’ does not merely define the composition, but also the whole relations and capacities of that to which it refers. The ‘tent’ is ‘earthly’ , not merely because, to use a kindred metaphor, it is a ‘building of clay,’ but because, by all its capacities, it belongs to, corresponds with, and is fitted only for, this lower order of things, the seen and the perishable. And, on the other hand, the ‘mansion’ is in ‘the heavens,’ even whilst the future tenant is a nomad in his tent. That is so, because the power which can create that future abode is ‘in the heavens.’ It is so called in order to express the security in which it is kept for those who shall one day enter upon it. And it is so, further, to express the order of things with which it brings its dwellers into contact. ‘Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.’ That future home of the spirit will be congruous with the region in which it dwells; fitted for the heavens in which it is now preserved. And thus the two contrasts-adapted to the perishable, and itself perishable, belonging to the eternal and itself incorruptible-are the two which loom largest before the Apostle’s mind.
Let no man say that such ideas of a possible future bodily frame are altogether inconsistent with all that we know of the limitations and characteristics of what we call matter. ‘There is one flesh of beasts and another of birds,’ says Paul; ‘there is one glory of the sun and another of the moon.’ And his old-fashioned argument is perfectly sound to-day.
Do you know so fully all the possibilities of creation as that you are warranted in asserting that such a thing as a body which is the fit organ of the spirit, and is incorruptible like the heavens in which it dwells, is an impossibility? Surely the forms of matter are sufficiently varied to make us chary in asserting that other forms are impossible, to which there may belong, as characteristics, even these glorious ones of my text. The old story of the king in the tropics, who laughed to scorn some one who told him that water could be turned into a solid, may well be quoted in this connection. Let us be less confident that we know all that is to be known in regard to the sweep of God’s creative power; and let us thankfully accept the teaching by which we, too, in all our ignorance, may be able to say, ‘We know that . . . we have a building of God . . . eternal in the heavens.’
Now there is only one more remark that I wish to make about this part of my subject; and it is this, that the teaching of my text and its context casts great light-and I think by many people much-needed light-on what the resurrection of the dead means. That doctrine has been weighted with a great many incredibilities and I venture to say absurdities, by well-meaning misconceptions and exaggerations. We have heard grand platitudes about ‘the scattered dust being gathered from the four winds of heaven,’ and so on, but the teaching of my text is that the contrast between the present physical frame and the future bodily environment is utter and complete; and that resurrection does not mean the assuming again of the body that is left behind and done with, but the reinvestiture of the man with another body. And so the Scriptural phrase is, not ‘the resurrection of the body,’ but ‘the resurrection of the dead.’ It is a house ‘in the heavens.’ It comes ‘from heaven.’
We leave the tent. Life and thought
. . . have gone away, side by side,
Leaving doors and windows wide;
Careless tenants they!
And they may well be careless, because in the heavens they have another mansion, incorruptible and glorious.
We leave the ‘tent’; we enter the ‘building.’ There is nothing here of some germ of immortality being somehow extricated from the ruins, and fostered into glorious growth. Or, to take another metaphor of the context, we strip off the garment and are naked; and then we are clothed with another garment and are not found naked. The resurrection of the dead is the clothing of the spirit with the house which is from heaven. And there is as much difference between the two habitations as there is between the grim, solid architecture of northern peoples, amidst snow and ice, needed to resist the blasts, and to keep the life within in an ungenial climate, and the light, graceful dwellings of those who walk in an atmosphere of perpetual sunshine in the tropics, as there is between the close-knit and narrow-windowed and narrow-doored abode in which we now have to pass our days, and that large house, with broad windows that take in a mightier sweep and new senses that have relation with new qualities in the world then around us. Therefore let us, whilst we grope in the dark here, and live in a narrow hovel in a back street, look forward to the time when we shall dwell on the sunny heights in the great pavilion which God prepares for them that love Him.
II. And now note, again, how we come to this certitude.
My text is very significantly followed by a ‘for,’ which gives the reason of the knowledge in a very remarkable manner. ‘We know, . . . for in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.’ Now that singular collocation of ideas may be set forth thus-whatever longing there is in a Christian, God-inspired soul, that longing is a prophecy of its own fulfilment. We know that there is a house, because of the yearning, which is deepest and strongest when we are nearest God, and likest what He would have us to be-the yearning to be ‘clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.’ That is a truth that goes a long way; though to enlarge on it is irrelevant to our present purpose. It has its limitations, as is obvious from the context, in which are human elements which are not destined to be gratified, mingled with the yearning, which is of God, and which is destined to be satisfied. But this at least we may firmly hold by, that just because God will not put men to confusion intellectually, and does not let them entertain uncherished-still less Himself foster and excite-longings which He does not mean to gratify, a Christian yearning for immortality is, to the man who feels it, a declaration that immortality is sure for him. ‘Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.’ Whatsoever, in touching Him, we do deeply long for may have blended with it human elements, which will be dispersed unsatisfied, but the substance of it is a prophecy of its own fulfilment. And as surely as the stork in the heavens, flying southward, will reach the sunny lands which draw it from the grim northern winter, so surely may a man say, ‘I know that I have a house in heaven, because I long for it, and shrink from being found naked.’
Of course such longing, such aspiration and revulsion are no proofs of a fact except there be some fact which changes them, from mere vague desires, and makes these solid certainties. And such a fact we have in that which is the only proof that the world has received, of the persistence of life through death and the continuance of personal identity unchanged by the grave, and that is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our faith in immortality does not depend merely on our own subjective desires and longings, but these desires and longings are quickened, confirmed, and certified by this great fact that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead; and therefore we know that the yearnings in us are not in vain. So we come to this certitude, first, by reason of his experience; and, second, by reason of the longings which that experience fosters if it does not kindle, within our hearts.
And let no man take exception to the Apostle’s word here, ‘we know,’ or tell us that ‘Knowledge is of the things we see.’ That is true, and not true. It is true in regard to what arrogates to itself the name of science. And we are willing to admit the limitation if the men who insist upon it will, on their sides, admit that there are other sources of certitude than so-called ‘facts,’ by which they mean merely material facts. If it is meant to assert that we are less sure of the love of God, of immortality, than we are of the existence of this piece of wood, or that flame of gas; then I humbly venture to say that there is another region of facts than those which are appreciable by sense; that the evidence upon which we rest our certitude of immortal blessedness is quite as valid, quite as true, quite as able to bear the weight of a leaning heart as anything that can be produced, in the nature of evidence, for the things round us. It is not, ‘We fancy, we believe, we hope, we are pretty nearly sure,’ but it is ‘We know . . . that we have a building of God.’
III. Lastly, note what this certitude does.
The Apostle tells us by the ‘for’ which lies at the beginning of my text, and makes it a reason for something that has preceded, and what has preceded is this, ‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.’
That is to say, such a joyous, calm certitude draws men’s thoughts away from this shabby and transitory present, and fixes them on the solemn majesties of that eternal future. Yes! and nothing else will. Take away the idea of resurrection, and the remaining idea of immortality is a poor, shadowy, impotent thing. There is no force in it; there is no blessedness in it; there is nothing in it for a man to lay hold of. And, as a matter of fact, there is no vivid faith in a future life without belief in the resurrection and bodily existence of the perfected dead.
And we shall not let our thoughts willingly go out thither unless our own personal wellbeing there is very sure to us. When we know that for us individually there is that house waiting for us to enter into it, when the Lord comes, then we shall not be unwilling to turn our hearts and our desires thither. We look at the things which are not seen, for we know that we have a house eternal.
And such a certitude will also make a man willing to accept the else unwelcome necessity of leaving the tent, and for a while doing without the mansion. It is that which the Apostle is speaking of in subsequent verses, on which I cannot enter now. He says-and therein speaks a universal experience-that men recoil from the idea of having to lay aside this earthly body and be ‘naked.’ But we know that we have that glorious mansion waiting for us, and that till the day comes when we enter upon it we may be lapt in Christ instead, and, in that so-called intermediate state, may have Him to surround us, Him to be to us the medium by which we come into connection with anything external, and so can contentedly go away from our home in the body; and go to our home in Christ. ‘Wherefore, we are always confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.’
Oh, brethren! do we think of our future thus? If we do, then let us lay to heart the final words of our teacher in this part of his letter: ‘Wherefore we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto Him.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The subject of 2 Corinthians 4 is continued. St.…
The subject of 2 Corinthians 4 is continued. St. Paul has been pointing out that amid bodily weakness and decay he is encouraged by the thought that the temporal is transient, while the spiritual is eternal. He now goes on to speak more particularly of the great prospect that sustains him—the replacement of the earthly material body by an eternal heavenly one. He hopes to survive till Christ's coming, and receive the heavenly body without passing through the experience of death: but, if it should be ordered otherwise, he has no fear of being left by death in the disembodied condition so repugnant to the Hebrew mind, for the eternal, spiritual body will still be given him, in which he will be presented to the Lord.
1-5. Paraphrase. 'A further reason for my courage in presence of difficulty and affliction consists in my knowledge that if my body undergo the dissolution of death, I shall be endowed by God with an imperishable heavenly body. (2) My hope, however, and desire is that while still alive and in possession of this earthly body I may simply be transformed at the coming of the Lord, (3) since, if I receive it thus, I shall not be left a disembodied spirit in the state of death. (4) Our material body is a burden under which betimes we groan; but, however we may be called to part with it, we may confidently cherish the expectation of being endued with something better in its place, i.e. we may hope to be clothed with the heavenly, resurrection body, and not left naked spirits. (5) It is for this very purpose God has wrought in us: besides, He has given us His Spirit as the pledge and instalment of the resurrection life.'
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1. For] introduces an additional reason for courage. Even if his earthly tent be taken down, if his body be broken up by death, God has prepared a heavenly mansion for him, a resurrection body which is eternal. Tabernacle] rather, 'tent.' Building] contrasted with the temporary tent to which the earthly body is compared. Of God] RV 'from God.'
2. In this] i.e. in this present body. Clothed upon] St. Paul's idea was that the heavenly body would be superimposed upon the earthly one, at the same time transforming it. Conybeare and Howson render thus: 'Desiring to cover my earthly raiment with the robes of my heavenly mansion': cp. 1Co_15:51-54.
3. If so be, etc.] This is a parenthesis explaining clothed upon in the previous verse. AV and RV are both rather obscure: better, 'Since, once this heavenly body is assumed, we shall be in no danger of being found disembodied by death.' Naked] i.e. disembodied spirits. The shrinking of the ancients, both Jews and Greeks, from the disembodied state as they conceived it, is well known from its expressions in their literature. See, for example, the dreariness of the spirit-world portrayed in the eleventh book of the 'Odyssey.'
4. Burdened] by the anxiety of uncertainty. Not.. unclothed] The Apostle's desire was to gain the resurrection life without dying. He looked on Christ's coming as comparatively near at hand: cp. 1Co_4:5; 1Th_4:15.
5. He that hath wrought us] St. Paul here argues for immortality and the resurrection life from the instinctive longings of the human heart. God has planted these longings there; He has confirmed them by the pledge of His Spirit in conscience, aspiration, and all spiritual blessings; and He will not in the end disappoint us: cp. 'Thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption' (Psa_16:10)—'Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why:
He thinks he was not made to die; And Thou hast made him: Thou art just.' (Tennyson.)
6-8. Paraphrase. 'With this hope in our hearts we are always courageous. We know that while we live in this mortal body we are away from the Lord, and that when we put off this body we shall be in His presence; (7) (for we live in anticipation, not yet having realised the vision of Christ.) (8) We are courageous, I repeat; and are even ready to put off this mortal body and to be at home in the presence of the Lord.'
8. Absent from the body] St. Paul here grapples with the possibility of death before the second coming of Christ. To die was 'to be with Christ which is far better' (Php_1:23). Even death could not separate him from the love of Christ. If he did not then gain the full resurrection life, he would still be in Christ's presence. Perhaps his idea is that suggested in Rev_6:9-11.
9. Present or absent] i.e. living or dead.
Accepted] RV 'well-pleasing.'
10. Appear] RV 'be made manifest'; our conduct and character being disclosed. Receive the things] i.e. the recompense of them: cp. Mat_16:27; Rev_22:12.
(iv) 5:11-19. The Love of Christ the Apostle's Inspiration
In the recollection of this judgment the Apostle preaches. His motive is wholly unselfish. It is the love of Christ which constrains him. For the love of Christ was shown in His dying for all men in order to transform them into a new life. If any man, therefore, be in Christ, he lives a new life through the mercy of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by sending His Son to be our Saviour, and has given to His Apostles the message of reconciliation.
11-15. Paraphrase. 'Seeing, then, that we realise the awe inspired by Christ our judge, we try to convince men of our faithfulness and unselfishness: to God, indeed, our sincerity is already manifest, and also, I trust, to you in your secret thoughts. (12) Do not think that this is mere self-commendation. Look upon it rather as suggesting the answer you may make to our enemies when they try to belittle our work and boast of their external advantages. (13) For if in our enthusiasm we are mad (as they say), it is for God's glory; or, if we are sensible, it is for your benefit. (14) For the love of Christ to men is our incentive; because we are convinced that in Christ's death for the sin of all we all received power to die to sin, (15) so that we should live a new and transformed life, thinking not of our own desires, but of His will who died for us and rose again.'
11. Terror] the reverence or fear inspired by the thought that Christ is judge (2Co_5:10).
We persuade men] i.e. of our sincerity, with a view to winning them. In your consciences] The Corinthians as a Church believed in the Apostle.
12. Glory in appearance] The false teachers boasted of external advantages (perhaps of having seen the Lord), which were no evidence of character and spiritual life.
13. Beside ourselves] His enemies declared that he was mad; probably owing to his enthusiasm and vehemence in preaching: cp. Act_26:24.
14. The love of Christ] i.e. the love Christ has shown towards us. Judge] i.e. have come to this conclusion. One died for all] i.e. as the head and representative of the race. 'In Christ's saving death the moral transformation of all, which I may call death to sin, was included, and his saving death had this meaning and purpose; namely, that they who are quickened into a holy life in Him should not live selfishly, but should give themselves up to His service who died and rose to save them' (Stevens).
16-19. Paraphrase. 'Since, therefore, it is holiness alone that is of importance, we, unlike our opponents, pay no attention to men's outward appearance and circumstances; even in the case of Christ, though I once regarded Him as merely a man and a Jew, yet I look at Him in this way no longer, but rather as my Saviour and Risen Lord. (17) Whoever then knows Christ in this higher way is indeed a new man. He looks on life from a higher point of view. His ideals and aspirations have been transformed: all things are new to him. (18) And this change is due to God, who removed the barrier sin had made between Himself and us, and gave to us his Apostles the message of His saving grace. (19) And that message is this, that in Christ's life and work we see God casting down the barrier that divided us from Him, and proclaiming forgiveness and love to all mankind: and this is the message of reconciliation which He committed to us.'
16. After the flesh] i.e. have regard to what is outward rather than to what is inward, to circumstances and position rather than to character and personality. Known Christ after the flesh] St. Paul once looked for a Messiah as a Jewish conqueror, and in the light of this expectation regarded Jesus as (at best) a prophet who had made claims which he was unable to substantiate, and whose career had terminated (perhaps deservedly) at Calvary; but now he looks on Jesus in the light of His atoning death and glorious resurrection, and sees in Him the Christ of God.
17. A new creature] or, as we would say, a new man. He looks on things from a different standpoint, tries them by a different standard, because he is united to Christ in such a way that he lives always under Christ's indwelling, purifying, and transforming influence. Are become new] A new world opens to the new man.
18. All things] i.e. all these changes.
The ministry of reconciliation] the whole message of the gospel conveyed by preaching, teaching, the sacraments, and the example of Christians, assuring men of God's love and leading them to accept the will of God as revealed in Christ as their own.
19. God was in Christ, etc.] When we see Christ teaching, healing, forgiving, comforting, and dying for men, we are to see there the expression of God's love and deep desire. In this atoning work Christ was 'the express image of His Person.' Reconciling the world unto himself] The desire for reconciliation came from God.
(d) 5:20-7:1. Appeal for Purity of Life
As an ambassador of Christ St. Paul entreats them to be reconciled to God. And not only does he make this entreaty in words; he appeals to them by his life and conduct in all the varied experiences through which he has to pass. He asks them for greater affection towards himself, and reminding them of God's promises to the pure, bids them keep themselves 'unspotted from the world.'
20, 21. Paraphrase. 'We, then, are ambassadors in Christ's place, conveying to you God's message and desire; we ask you, speaking in Christ's name, to accept this great salvation. (21) It was to secure our salvation that God gave up His sinless Son to death, making Him bear the penalty of our guilt, that we might be made partakers of His divine nature by submitting ourselves wholly to Christ's transforming influence.
20. Be ye reconciled to God] It is not God who needs to be reconciled to man, but man who needs to be reconciled to God.
21. Made him to be sin for us] Christ had to bear not the guilt, but the burden of sin. He bore its penalty not as a punishment, but as the innocent suffers for the guilty; feeling all its shame and horror, but free from the sense of guilt and degradation. Hence St. Paul says not, 'He hath made Him to be a sinner,' but 'He hath made Him to be sin.' The spectacle of Christ thus bearing our penalty touches the heart and conscience, and makes us respond to the love wherewith He hath loved us: cp. Rom_8:3, Rom_8:4.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain For we know that if the earthly house of…
For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . [An allusion to the merging of the tabernacle into the temple of Solomon. As the Spirit of God dwelt in the frail tent during the pilgrimage in the wilderness, and afterwards took up his abode in the substantial and immovable temple in the midst of an established city, so the spirit of man sojourns in a tent-dwelling--a mortal body--while on his journey to the new Jerusalem, but at the journey's end he shall have a "house not made with hands;" i. e., not this present, material body which seems almost within the compass of human construction, but a spiritual body which is utterly beyond it (comp. Mar_14:58 ). Hence it is also spoken of as "from heaven," to distinguish it from this present body, the substance of which comes from the earth. The present tense "we have" is used, not because our spiritual bodies now exist in organic form (a mechanical view), but to give vivid expression to the certainty of our receiving such bodies (comp. 2Ti_4:8 ); and perhaps also to indicate that in divine contemplation and plan our future bodies are growing and taking form according to the daily growth and development of our inner man.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 6. Concerning the Future. The Ministry of Reconciliation.
6. Concerning the Future. The Ministry of Reconciliation.
CHAPTER 5
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1. The Earthly and the Heavenly House. (2Co 5:1-8.)
2. The Judgment Seat of Christ. (2Co 5:9-12.)
3. The Constraint of Love. (2Co 5:13-16.)
4. The Ministry of Reconciliation. (2Co 5:17-21.)
The certainty of the future things is brought more fully in view. The apostle had given the great doctrines concerning the resurrection of the body, the coming of the Lord and the blessed hope in his first epistle (chapter 15). In the closing verses of the preceding chapter, he mentioned again the fact of the believer’s resurrection and presentation in the presence of the Lord (2Co 4:14) and spoke of the eternal things, the coming glory. And so he continues: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The earthly house of this tabernacle is the body of the believer, the earthen vessel in the previous chapter. It is called a tabernacle (a tent) because it is only the temporary lodging of those who are by grace but strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Yet in this earthen vessel, this frail tabernacle, there is a divine indweller, the Holy Spirit. The apostle speaks of the dissolution of our earthly house, “if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved.” He does not say “when we die,” but only states the possibility that the tabernacle might be dissolved. The dissolution of the mortal body of the believer is not presented therefore by the apostle as a certainty, but only as a possibility. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” was the blessed mystery revealed through the apostle in his first epistle (1Co 15:51). The change of the body of the believer is the certainty, but its dissolution is not. But if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved “we know we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” What do these terms mean? What is the building of God, the eternal house in the heavens? Some have identified it with the Father’s house and its many mansions of which our Lord speaks. But this house of which the apostle writes cannot be heaven, the Father’s house, for it is said to be from heaven and in the heavens. Others have invented a temporary body. They teach that when the believer dies he gets at once a kind of an ethereal body which he will possess between death and resurrection. This is a speculation contradicted by the word “eternal.” Nowhere in the Word of God is it taught that the disembodied spirits of the redeemed are to be clothed with a body before resurrection takes place. The body of the believer in its present state is compared to a tabernacle; the building of God, the house not made with hands, refers to that which the believer shall possess in the future, no longer an earthly house, a tabernacle, but something permanent, of supernatural origin. It is quite evident that the apostle means by way of contrast the spiritual body (1Co 15:44), which is in store for the believer. This fact is stated once more, but the purpose of these words is not to convey the thought that this house is to be possessed immediately after death: the emphasis is upon “we know” and “we have.” The Spirit of God assures us of the certainty of it. Thus positively every child of God can speak.
“For in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” The groaning is not on account of infirmities, hardship, privations or unsatisfied desires. It is deeper than that. It is the longing for the promised glorified condition with which we shall be invested. “It is the groaning not of a disappointed sinner, nor of an undelivered saint, but of those who, assured of life and victory in Christ, feel the wretched contrast of the present with the glory of the future.” If we, beloved fellow-believer, live close to God, enjoy the fellowship with His Son into which grace has called us, then even in the fairest scenes and in the most attractive earthly conditions, we shall know something of this groaning and longing to be clothed upon with that which is from above and which will fit us to be the vessels of the exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. (The knowledge that at any moment one may change the prison garments of mortality, and as a chosen companion of the King of Kings be found in the likeness of the Lord of Life, must generate a longing for that moment to arrive. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”)
“If so be that being clothed upon we shall not be found naked.” This again is another warning corresponding to the one at the close of 1Co 9:1-27. All human beings will be clothed upon with a body, for there is a resurrection of the bodies of the just and the unjust. The wicked dead, standing before the great white throne, will be clothed upon, but, not having Christ, they will be found naked for their eternal shame. And so the apostle warned of the possibility that even among the Corinthians there may be some who, destitute of Christ, only professing to be Christ’s, would then be found naked.
Then again the apostle speaks of the groaning in this tabernacle, the body of our humiliation. His desire is not to be unclothed, that is, unclothed in death, when the body is put into the grave; he desires to be clothed upon, to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. For this the apostle groaned; and this is what we wait for and not for death. When the shout comes from the air and His voice opens the graves of His saints, we who are alive and remain shall be changed (1Th 4:13-18). No death then but mortality will be swallowed up of life. Then our mortal bodies will be quickened. And God has wrought us for this very thing; the evidence of it is the indwelling Spirit, who has made the body of the believer His temple. Then the apostle describes a twofold condition, “at home in the body (the tabernacle) we are absent from the Lord”; and “absent from the body, present with the Lord.” The latter statement is a complete refutation of that evil doctrine called “soul-sleep,” i.e., an unconscious state between death and resurrection. The believer who dies goes into the presence of the Lord and is consciously present there, waiting with the redeemed of all ages, “to be clothed upon with the house from heaven.”
Linked with all this blessed teaching is the judgment seat of Christ (2Co 5:10). All, whether saints or sinners, will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ; certainly not at the same time. There is no universal judgment, when the righteous and the unrighteous appear together before the judgment seat of Christ taught in the Bible. The Saints of God will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, when He has taken them from earth to glory, not at death, but when He comes with the shout in the air. But for His blood-bought people, who constitute His body, who will then be clothed with the house from heaven (the glorified body), there is no more judgment in the sense of condemnation. His own blessed lips have given us the assurance of this. (See Joh 5:24 --that blessed word!) Nevertheless, there is a judgment seat of Christ for believers. The word “appear” in 2Co 5:10 is “manifested”. We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. Our works and our ways as Christians will then be brought fully into view; all will be brought into the light. Nothing can be concealed, and the believer receives the things done in the body.
“But there is more than this. when the Christian is thus manifested, he is already glorified, and, perfectly like Christ, has then no remains of the evil nature in which he sinned. And he now can look back at all the way God has led him in grace, helped, lifted up, kept from falling, not withdrawn His eyes from the righteous. He knows as he is known. What a tale of grace and mercy! If I look back now, my sins do not rest on my conscience; though I have horror of them, they are put away behind God’s back. I am the righteousness of God in Christ, but what a sense of love and patience, and goodness and grace! How much more perfect then, when all is before me! Surely there is great gain as to light and love, in giving an account of ourselves to God; and not a trace remains of the evil in us. We are like Christ. If a person fears to have all out thus before God, I do not believe he is free in soul as to righteousness--being the righteousness of God in Christ, not fully in the light. And we have not to be judged for anything: Christ has put it all away” (Synopsis).
And thus the believer has no more fear of death, for he knows what awaits him; and the judgment seat of Christ has also no terror for him. But the words of the apostle apply equally to unbelievers. The occupant of the great white throne (Rev 20:1-15) before which the wicked dead appear and will be manifested, is the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be judged according to their works and condemned to eternal darkness and conscious punishment. In view of this the apostle states, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
And how can we persuade men to flee the wrath to come, unless we preach the Gospel to them? Beautifully linked with this is the constraining power of the love of Christ (2Co 5:14). In his ministry, service, walk and everything else, the great apostle knew this mighty constraint of love. And the cross and its glorious work looms up before his vision, in view of that love manifested there. In Him who, died and who liveth, we are called as well as equipped with power to live unto Him. In faith, as dead with Christ and risen with Him, we look to a risen and glorified Christ in whom we are a new creation, “old things have passed, behold all things are become new.”
Having reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ, He has also given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Having brought us into this blessed position through grace, He calls us to make it known to others and lead others to Him. What we have received we are to use in our ministry. And every reconciled one is called into this service to exercise the ministry of reconciliation and be a soul-winner. “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin, He hath made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is the great message of the true minister, and all believers can be true ministers and proclaim the message in Christ’s stead and point sinners to the cross, where He who knew no sin was made sin for us, where redemption full and free is offered to all.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Paul’s Longing for the Future Glory.
Paul’s Longing for the Future Glory.
Paul’s expectation of a glorified body:
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v. 1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
v. 2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,
v. 3. if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
v. 4. for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
v. 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit.
In comparing the afflictions of this present time with the future glory, chap. 4:17, Paul had declared the former to be light, insignificant, in comparison with the latter. And therefore he himself looks forward with the faith of hope to the realization of these glories in his own body: For we (Christians I know that if our earthly house of the tent dwelling be dissolved, we have a building from God. a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. The apostle speaks of the bodies of the Christians as flimsy and unstable tents, sheltering the soul for a time, Isa 38:12. The time will come, and that very soon, when this tent, this mortal body, will be destroyed by physical death. But he has the firm assurance that it will be replaced by a solid building, by a real house, not built up by the natural processes of physical growth, but the direct gift of God. The new dwelling which he hopes to enter will not be rude and temporary, but it will be permanent, it will last forever; and instead of being in this world, with its illusions and vanity, it will be in the heavens, in the home of Christ and the Father, where the only true and lasting joys will be found. Our earthly, mortal body will be laid into the grave, to become a prey of worms, but the body which we shall receive at the hands of God, the body of the resurrection, will partake of the immortality of Christ Himself.
That this is the apostle’s meaning appears plainly from the next statements: For indeed in this (tent-dwelling) we sigh, sincerely longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven. So long as a believer is still in the flesh of this life, he sighs and groans with longing for the time when the heavenly body which awaits him above will, as it were, be put on over the mortal flesh, like a garment which hides forever its perishable nature. Paul here expresses the same thought as in 1Co 15:52, where he speaks of a changing, by which our present vile body will become spiritual and immortal. The believers will, on the last day, "put on the lord’s dress of their heavenly habitation over the servant’s coat of the earthly hut, in the same manner as the human nature of Christ in the bosom of the Virgin Mary became the dwelling-place of eternal glory. " But the apostle adds a condition: If so be that we be found clothed, not naked. During their entire life on earth the believers put on Christ and the garment of His righteousness by means of the Word and the Sacraments, Gal 3:27: Rom 13:14. Without this covering of the innocence and righteousness of Christ the shame of a person’s nakedness will appear, Rev 3:18. and there will be no putting on of the garment of Christ’s heavenly glory.
The reason for our sighing and groaning is given by the apostle: For we that are in the tent-dwelling sigh because we are burdened, not for that we want to be unclothed, but clothed upon, in order that the mortal may be swallowed up by the life. While we are here on earth, the mortal body with its many weaknesses and ailments is a burden for the soul. But what Paul desired with groaning was not to be freed from this burden by a taking off of its heavy garment by physical death, but that his mortal body might, without passing through death, be absorbed into the heavenly body which he knew was awaiting him. God had not revealed to him whether he would die or live to the great day of the final revelation of God’s glory. He was also altogether willing to abide by God’s decision in the matter; nevertheless his great wish was not to pass through death, but to participate in the wonderful change of the last day, by which his mortal body would be changed directly into the spiritual, heavenly body. In this way his mortal body would be swallowed up by the life of eternity. But whatever the manner by which he would enter into the state of immortality in heaven, Paul was confident of one thing: Now He that has perfected us, that has fully made us ready for this same thing is God, who gave to us the earnest money of the Spirit. The believers are prepared for that end, that is the purpose for which God has destined them through the work which He has spent on them: they should be kept unto eternal life, they should enjoy the bliss of heaven. Of this fact we have a guarantee in the form of the Holy Spirit, who was given to us in the means of grace and has wrought this certainty in our hearts. He it is that makes us sure and keeps us sure of our heritage in heaven. As surely as the Spirit in our hearts cannot lie, so surely will our longing for eternal life and for the glorious liberty of the children of God be satisfied at the time fixed by God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul continues by contrasting believers' earthly bodies to the heavenly ones God will give.
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if the earthly dwelling that we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God
Here a temporary "earthly dwelling" is a metaphor for a person's physical body. Here a permanent "building from God" is a metaphor for the new body that God will give believers after they die. (See: Metaphor)
if the earthly dwelling that we live in is destroyed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "if people destroy the earthly dwelling that we live in" or "if people kill our bodies" (See: Active or Passive)
It is a house not made by human hands
Here "house" means the same thing as "building from God." Here "hands" is a synecdoche that represents the human as a whole. This can be stated in active form. AT: "It is a house that humans did not make" (See: Active or Passive and Synecdoche)
in this tent we groan
Here "this tent" means the same thing as "the earthly dwelling that we live in." The word groan is a sound that a person makes when they eagerly desire to have something that is good.
longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling
The words "our heavenly dwelling" means the same thing as "building from God." Paul speaks of the new body that believers receive after they die as if it were both a building and a piece of clothing that a person can put on. (See: Metaphor)
by putting it on
"by putting on our heavenly dwelling"
we will not be found to be naked
This can be stated in active form. AT: "we will not be naked" or "God will not find us naked" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
earth
life
God
eternity
heaven
tent
groan
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:1-10 The prospect of eternal hope is bright, with…
5:1-10 The prospect of eternal hope is bright, with heavenly bodies replacing the dying bodies of this present life. The God of resurrection will also raise us and present us to himself with all believers (4:14). The immediate stimulus for this statement of resurrection hope was what Paul had to face in Ephesus (1:8-11). The frailty of his body reminded him of what lies beyond death, when this earthly tent we live in—that is, our body—will be taken down in death and dissolution (see 1 Cor 15:42-57; Phil 3:20-21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.