2 Corinthians 5:1-10 - Longing To Be "at Home With The Lord"
This mortal life is a pilgrimage, and our body is a tent, so slight, so transitory, so easily taken down; but what does it matter, since there is awaiting us a mansion prepared by God? Often in this veil of flesh we groan. It cages us, anchors us down to earth, hampers us with its needs, obstructs our vision, and becomes the medium of temptation. How good it would be if our physical body could be suddenly transmuted into the glorified ethereal body which should be like the resurrection body of our Lord! It would be sweet to escape the wrench of death. But if not, then through death we shall carry with us the germ of the glorified body. That which shall be quickened will first die, but God will give it a body as it shall please Him.
The gate of death may look gloomy on this side, but on the other it is of burnished gold, and opens directly into the presence-chamber of Jesus. We long to see Him and to be with Him; and such desires are the work of the Holy Spirit and the first fruits of heaven. But remember that just inside the door there is Christ's judgment seat, where He will adjudge our life and apportion our reward. Prepare, my soul, to give an account of thy talents! [source]
Chapter Summary: 2 Corinthians 5
1That in his assured hope of immortal glory, 9and in expectation of it, he labors to keep a good conscience; 12not that he may boast of himself, 14but as one that, having received life from Christ, 17endeavors to live as a new creature to Christ only, 18and by his ministry of reconciliation, to reconcile others also in Christ to God
Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 5:7
By sight [δια ειδους] Rather, by appearance. [source]
By sight [διὰ εἴδους] The correct rendering is appearance. The word is not used actively in the sense of vision. Faith is contrasted with the actual appearance of heavenly things. Hence the marginal reading of the Rev. should go into the text. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 5:7
2 Corinthians 6:2Behold, now is the acceptable time [ιδου νυν καιρος ευπροσδεκτος] Here is another “Pauline parenthesis” (Plummer) as in 2 Corinthians 5:7 by the quotation from Isaiah 49:8. The lxx has δεκτος dektos (δεκτοι dektoi) verbal of δεχομαι dechomai but Paul employs the double compound (ευ προσ δεκτος euprosdektos), well-received. It occurs in Aristophanes, Plutarch, inscription, etc. [source]
1 Thessalonians 5:22Abstain from every form of evil [απο παντος ειδους πονηρου απεχεστε] Present middle (direct) imperative of απεχω aṗechō (contrast with κατεχω kaṫechō) and preposition απο apo repeated with ablative as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Note use of πονηρου ponērou here for evil without the article, common enough idiom. Ειδος Eidos (from ειδον eidon) naturally means look or appearance as in Luke 3:23; Luke 9:29; John 5:37; 2 Corinthians 5:7. But, if so taken, it is not semblance as opposed to reality (Milligan). The papyri give several examples of ειδος eidos in the sense of class or kind and that idea suits best here. Evil had a way of showing itself even in the spiritual gifts including prophecy. [source]
Titus 3:5Renewing [ἀνακαινώσεως] Only here and Romans 12:2. Comp. 2 Corinthians 5:7. Paul has ἀνακαινοῦν torenew, 2 Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:10: ἀνακαίνωσις renewing Romans 12:2. Ἁνακαινίζειν torenew, only Hebrews 6:6. The connection of the genitive is disputed. Some make it dependent on λουτροῦ bathso that the bath of baptism is conceived as implying regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Others construe with renewing only, ἀνακαινώσεως being dependent on διὰ ; through the laver of regeneration and (through) the renewing, etc. The former seems the more probable. The phrase renewing of the Holy Spirit only here. In N.T. the Spirit or the Holy Spirit is joined in the genitive with the following words: comfort, joy, power, love, demonstration, manifestation, earnest, ministration, fellowship, promise, fruit, unity, sword, sanctification. [source]
1 John 5:6By water and blood [δἰ ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος] Διά bymust be taken with ὁ ἐλθὼν Hethat came. It has not mere]y the sense of accompaniment, but also of instrumentality, i.e., by, through, by means of. Water and blood are thus the media through which Jesus the Mediator wrought, and which especially characterized the coming. See especially Hebrews 9:12: “Christ being come … neither by the blood ( δἰ αἵματος ) of goats and calves, but by His own blood ( διὰ δε τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος ”). Compare “we walk by faith not by sight ( διὰ πίστεως οὐ διὰ εἴδους, ” 2 Corinthians 5:7): we wait with (lit., through ) patience ( δἰ ὑπομονῆς, ” Romans 8:25). Water refers to Christ's baptism at the beginning of His Messianic work, through which He declared His purpose to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Blood refers to His bloody death upon the cross for the sin of the world. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Other explanations are substituted for this or combined with it. Some refer the words water and blood to the incident in John 19:34. To this it is justly objected that these words are evidently chosen to describe something characteristic of Christ's Messianic office, which could not be said of the incident in question. Nevertheless, as Alford justly remarks, “to deny all such allusion seems against probability. The apostle could hardly, both here and in that place, lay such evident stress on the water and the blood together, without having in his mind some link connecting this place and that.” The readers of the Epistle must have been familiar with the incident, from oral or from written teaching. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Others refer the words to the Christian sacraments. These, however, as Huther observes, are only the means for the appropriation of Christ's atonement; whereas the subject here is the accomplishment of the atonement itself. Αἷμα bloodstanding by itself, never signifies the Lord's Supper in the New Testament. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The true principle of interpretation appears to be laid down in the two canons of Düsterdieck. (1.) Water and blood must point both to some purely historical facts in the life of our Lord on earth, and to some still present witnesses for Christ. (2.) They must not be interpreted symbolically, but understood of something so real and powerful, as that by them God's testimony is given to believers, and eternal life assured to them. Thus the sacramental reference, though secondary, need not be excluded. Canon Westcott finds “an extension of the meaning” of water and blood in the following words: “Not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood,” followed by the reference to the present witness of the Spirit. He argues that the change of the prepositions ( ἐν infor διά by), the use of the article ( τῷ ), and the stress laid on actual experience (it is the Spirit that witnesseth ), these, together with the fact that that which was spoken of in its unity (by water and blood ) is now spoken of in its separate parts (in the water and in the blood )- “all show that St. John is speaking of a continuation of the first coming under some new but analogous form. The first proof of the Messiahship of Jesus lay in His complete historical fulfillment of Messiah's work once for all, in bringing purification and salvation; that proof is continued in the experience of the Church in its two separate parts.” Thus we are led to the ideas underlying the two sacraments. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The subject opened by the word blood is too large for discussion within these limits. The student is referred to Dr. Patrick Fairbairn's “Typology of Scripture; “Andrew Jukes, “The Law of the Offerings;” Professor William Milligan, “The Resurrection of our Lord,” note, p. 274 sqq.; Canon Westcott's “Additional Note” on 1 John 1:7, in his “Commentary on John's Epistles;” and Henry Clay Trumbull, “The Blood Covenant.” [source]
What do the individual words in 2 Corinthians 5:7 mean?
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: πίστις
Sense: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.
Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 5:7
Rather, by appearance. [source]
The correct rendering is appearance. The word is not used actively in the sense of vision. Faith is contrasted with the actual appearance of heavenly things. Hence the marginal reading of the Rev. should go into the text. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 5:7
Here is another “Pauline parenthesis” (Plummer) as in 2 Corinthians 5:7 by the quotation from Isaiah 49:8. The lxx has δεκτος dektos (δεκτοι dektoi) verbal of δεχομαι dechomai but Paul employs the double compound (ευ προσ δεκτος euprosdektos), well-received. It occurs in Aristophanes, Plutarch, inscription, etc. [source]
Present middle (direct) imperative of απεχω aṗechō (contrast with κατεχω kaṫechō) and preposition απο apo repeated with ablative as in 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Note use of πονηρου ponērou here for evil without the article, common enough idiom. Ειδος Eidos (from ειδον eidon) naturally means look or appearance as in Luke 3:23; Luke 9:29; John 5:37; 2 Corinthians 5:7. But, if so taken, it is not semblance as opposed to reality (Milligan). The papyri give several examples of ειδος eidos in the sense of class or kind and that idea suits best here. Evil had a way of showing itself even in the spiritual gifts including prophecy. [source]
Only here and Romans 12:2. Comp. 2 Corinthians 5:7. Paul has ἀνακαινοῦν torenew, 2 Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:10: ἀνακαίνωσις renewing Romans 12:2. Ἁνακαινίζειν torenew, only Hebrews 6:6. The connection of the genitive is disputed. Some make it dependent on λουτροῦ bathso that the bath of baptism is conceived as implying regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Others construe with renewing only, ἀνακαινώσεως being dependent on διὰ ; through the laver of regeneration and (through) the renewing, etc. The former seems the more probable. The phrase renewing of the Holy Spirit only here. In N.T. the Spirit or the Holy Spirit is joined in the genitive with the following words: comfort, joy, power, love, demonstration, manifestation, earnest, ministration, fellowship, promise, fruit, unity, sword, sanctification. [source]
Διά bymust be taken with ὁ ἐλθὼν Hethat came. It has not mere]y the sense of accompaniment, but also of instrumentality, i.e., by, through, by means of. Water and blood are thus the media through which Jesus the Mediator wrought, and which especially characterized the coming. See especially Hebrews 9:12: “Christ being come … neither by the blood ( δἰ αἵματος ) of goats and calves, but by His own blood ( διὰ δε τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος ”). Compare “we walk by faith not by sight ( διὰ πίστεως οὐ διὰ εἴδους, ” 2 Corinthians 5:7): we wait with (lit., through ) patience ( δἰ ὑπομονῆς, ” Romans 8:25). Water refers to Christ's baptism at the beginning of His Messianic work, through which He declared His purpose to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Blood refers to His bloody death upon the cross for the sin of the world. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Other explanations are substituted for this or combined with it. Some refer the words water and blood to the incident in John 19:34. To this it is justly objected that these words are evidently chosen to describe something characteristic of Christ's Messianic office, which could not be said of the incident in question. Nevertheless, as Alford justly remarks, “to deny all such allusion seems against probability. The apostle could hardly, both here and in that place, lay such evident stress on the water and the blood together, without having in his mind some link connecting this place and that.” The readers of the Epistle must have been familiar with the incident, from oral or from written teaching. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Others refer the words to the Christian sacraments. These, however, as Huther observes, are only the means for the appropriation of Christ's atonement; whereas the subject here is the accomplishment of the atonement itself. Αἷμα bloodstanding by itself, never signifies the Lord's Supper in the New Testament. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The true principle of interpretation appears to be laid down in the two canons of Düsterdieck. (1.) Water and blood must point both to some purely historical facts in the life of our Lord on earth, and to some still present witnesses for Christ. (2.) They must not be interpreted symbolically, but understood of something so real and powerful, as that by them God's testimony is given to believers, and eternal life assured to them. Thus the sacramental reference, though secondary, need not be excluded. Canon Westcott finds “an extension of the meaning” of water and blood in the following words: “Not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood,” followed by the reference to the present witness of the Spirit. He argues that the change of the prepositions ( ἐν infor διά by), the use of the article ( τῷ ), and the stress laid on actual experience (it is the Spirit that witnesseth ), these, together with the fact that that which was spoken of in its unity (by water and blood ) is now spoken of in its separate parts (in the water and in the blood )- “all show that St. John is speaking of a continuation of the first coming under some new but analogous form. The first proof of the Messiahship of Jesus lay in His complete historical fulfillment of Messiah's work once for all, in bringing purification and salvation; that proof is continued in the experience of the Church in its two separate parts.” Thus we are led to the ideas underlying the two sacraments. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The subject opened by the word blood is too large for discussion within these limits. The student is referred to Dr. Patrick Fairbairn's “Typology of Scripture; “Andrew Jukes, “The Law of the Offerings;” Professor William Milligan, “The Resurrection of our Lord,” note, p. 274 sqq.; Canon Westcott's “Additional Note” on 1 John 1:7, in his “Commentary on John's Epistles;” and Henry Clay Trumbull, “The Blood Covenant.” [source]