2 Corinthians 5

1. For we know, etc. The confidence expressed in iv. 16-18 springs from the belief that though the body die, there is another and better life in heaven.

a building of God. “A building from God,” i.e., originating with Him: a permanent indestructible body, in contrast with the “tent-dwelling.”

2. For in this we groan. “In this” earthly tent-dwelling we groan (Rom. viii. 23) with earnest longings for heaven (see 4).

3. If so be that. Or, “seeing that.” The “putting off” that body in which “we groan, being pressed down,” is not of itself the object of our “longing.” Our hope fixes upon the assurance that we shall not remain “naked,” but shall “put on over all” the glorified body, “the mortal being absorbed by life.”

4 mortality. “The mortal part.”

5 for the selfsame thing. That is, the change from the mortal to the immortal.

6. Therefore [we are] always confident, etc. “Emboldened” by expecting this result, we would gladly rather “be exiled from the body” by death, knowing that then we shall be “at home with the Lord” (ver. 8, R.V.). This language shows that the disembodied spirits of the saints enter into bliss immediately after death (cp. Phil. i. 23; Heb. xii. 23); although the resurrection of the body is necessary to complete their redemption: see Rom. viii. 23; 1 Cor. xv. 54-57.

7 by sight. By what we see. We are now absent from the Lord, and do not see Him; He is apprehended only by faith.

9 whether present (at home) or absent. That is, whether in the body or out of it.

10 appear. Rather, “be made manifest,” as R.V.—shown to be exactly what we are.

in [his] body. “During his bodily lifetime” (Speaker’s Commentary); “bei Leibes Leben” (Luther).

11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. Better, “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord.” we persuade men. That is, we seek to win them.

12,13. Paul appears to be led by the thought of the judgement day to allude to charges against him, which he afterwards more fully answers. I need not commend myself to you, in whose consciousness my uprightness is equally manifested; so that you have a good answer to those boasters (13). If I am “mad,” it is a holy enthusiasm for God’s glory. If I am “self-possessed,” it is to serve you the better. One great motive prompts and controls all my actions—“the love of Christ,” i.e., Christ’s love to us, not ours to Him.

14 because we thus judge, etc. Rather, “because we thus judged, that [as] one died for all, therefore all died”; i.e., Christ dying in behalf of man, man died too, in order to live no longer to “self” and “the flesh,” but to Him (cp. Rom. vi. 1-14). This takes effect in all who are “in Christ”; so that they regard men, and even the Lord Himself, not according to natural distinctions or connexions, but in their spiritual character.

15 died for them, and rose again. More precisely, “died and rose again for them.”

16 after the flesh. Paul’s opponents seem to have laid great stress on their own national relationship to Christ, and their personal acquaintance with Him (cp. x. 7; 1 Cor. i. 12). All this has “passed away” with me, and with all who have become “new creatures.”

18 all things. That is, all these new things (17).

They are all “from God” as part of His plan of mutual reconciliation; which comprises, first, the “not imputing” men’s trespasses to them, and then the “beseeching” them by His servants to “be reconciled to God.” And they are all “through” and “in Christ” the sinless, “the righteous” One (1 John ii. 1), whom “He made sin” for us.

20 as though God did beseech [you]. If any word is supplied here, it should be men, or sinners, not you; for the words “be ye reconciled to God” are part of the universal message.

in Christ’s stead. “On behalf of Christ.” So in the preceding part of the verse: “ambassadors on behalf of Christ,” the same preposition being used.

21. For He hath made Him [to be] sin for us, etc. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” etc. Many suppose that “sin” here means a sin-offering: others take it to mean the representative of sin. That this did not involve any personal contamination, Scripture clearly teaches, in both history (Matt. xxvii. 4, 54) and doctrine (Heb. iv. 15; vii. 26; 1 Pet. ii. 22).