2 Corinthians 5

2 Corinthians 5:1

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. See Acts 18:8. Note the three facts which Paul declares to be the gospel, or the facts on which it rests; viz.: the death, the burial, and the resurrection. The facts Paul received by revelation as well as from men (Galatians 1:12). How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Isaiah 53:1-12 is especially exact in the outlines of our Lord’s suffering. He quotes it in Lu 22:37.

2 Corinthians 5:2

According to the scriptures. Paul himself quotes Psalms 16:10 as predicting the resurrection. See Acts 13:35.

2 Corinthians 5:3

That he was seen by Cephas. He now gives the proof of these facts. The women saw Christ before Peter (Cephas), but Paul names the witnesses who would carry most weight to the Corinthians. For the appearance to Peter, see Lu 24:34. Then by the twelve. See Matthew 28:17 John 20:19,25.

2 Corinthians 5:4

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. No other account of this appearance is recorded. It is probable that it took place in Galilee where Christ repeatedly directed the disciples to gather. It is possible that Matthew 28:16 refers to it. Paul had no doubt seen some of “the five hundred brethren”, “the greater part” of whom were still alive when he wrote.

2 Corinthians 5:5

After that, he was seen of James. James, the Lord’s brother, not James the apostle. This James was prominent, when Paul wrote, as the chief bishop at Jerusalem (Acts 15:13 21:18) and the author of the epistle of James. James, the apostle, had been killed by Herod (Acts 12:2). Then by all the apostles. See Lu 24:50.

2 Corinthians 5:6

Last of all he was seen by me. See Acts 9:4.

2 Corinthians 5:7

For I am the least of the apostles. As far as human worth is concerned, not fit to be called an apostle. Because I persecuted the church of God. He could never forget that he had been a persecutor. See Acts 9:1,2 22:4 26:11 Ga 1:13 Philippians 3:6 1 Timothy 1:13.

2 Corinthians 5:8

But by the grace of God I am what I am. Not by his own merit, which he considered so small, but by God’s grace he had been enabled to do a more abundant work than any other apostle.

2 Corinthians 5:9

Whether [it were] I, or they, so we preach. I and all the apostles preach the same gospel of a risen Lord and this you accepted when you believed. Their faith was built on the resurrection.

2 Corinthians 5:10

How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? These seemed to admit that Christ was raised, but denied the resurrection of others. He now shows that if Christ be raised, the general resurrection must follow as a result.

2 Corinthians 5:11

If there is no resurrection, then is Christ not risen. If persons once dying cannot be raised, as these false teachers say, then Christ could not have risen.

2 Corinthians 5:12

If Christ be not risen, then [is] our preaching vain. For in that case we have preached what is false, and you have believed it, so that “your faith is vain”.

2 Corinthians 5:13

We are found false witnesses of God. In that case we have declared that God did what he never did do.

2 Corinthians 5:15

If Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain. In that case he is not the Savior. He is a dead man, who could not even save himself. Such a one has no power to pardon sins, and “ye are yet in your sins”.

2 Corinthians 5:16

Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. All the Christians who had died had fallen into eternal sleep. There is hope, in that case, only in this life; no hope of immortality.

2 Corinthians 5:17

If in this life only we have hope in Christ. If there is no life beyond, no hope of it, then Christians who deny themselves in this life and endure persecutions and sufferings for the sake of eternal life, are of all men most miserable. They “lose life” and gain no eternal life. Such are the consequences of this false belief.

2 Corinthians 5:18

But now is Christ risen from the dead. This is certain. Paul had seen the risen Lord. So had many other credible witnesses. But since he is risen, the resurrection of his disciples must follow. Become the first fruits of them that slept. Of those who have slept in death. On the morrow after the first Sabbaths of the passover a sheaf of the first fruits of the barley harvest was “waved before the Lord” (Leviticus 23:10-16) as a pledge of the harvest to come So on the morning after the first Sabbath of the passover, Christ, the first fruits arose and appeared living, “the first fruits” of the great harvest of souls gathered into eternal life.

2 Corinthians 5:19

Since by man [came] death. Man, the first man, sinned, and death came upon his race, because in him the race had sinned. By man [came] also the resurrection of the dead. By Christ, the Son of Man.

2 Corinthians 5:20

For as in Adam all die. All the race in Adam became subject to death. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. So in Christ all the race shall be raised from the dead to appear at the bar of eternal judgment. The passage does not affirm the final salvation of all, but the final resurrection of all. There is a “resurrection of the just and of the unjust” (Acts 24:15).

2 Corinthians 5:21

But every man in his own order. In his own rank or division. Christ the first fruits. The first order or division of Christ. Afterward. The second division is “they that are Christ’s”, who will be raised at his coming. The time of the third division, the wicked, is not named but hinted at in the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15:24. See also John 5:28,29 This is what Paul teaches here.