2 Corinthians 5
| 2 Corinthians 5 | |
|---|---|
A folio of Papyrus 46 (written ca. AD 200), containing 2 Corinthians 11:33-12:9. This manuscript contains almost complete parts of the whole Pauline epistles.
|
|
| Book | Second Epistle to the Corinthians |
| Bible part | New Testament |
| Order in the Bible part | 8 |
| Category | Pauline epistles |
2 Corinthians 5 is the fifth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Saint Timothy.
This chapter can be grouped (with cross references to other parts of the Bible):
By this house is meant the body, so called from its being like a well built house, a curious piece of architecture; as a 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 calls the body (ghinon skhnov), "an earthly tabernacle"; so the Jews were wont to call the body a house, and a "tabernacle":
“every man (they say) has two houses, (Pwgh tyb) , "the house of the body", and the house of the soul; the one is the outward, the other the inward house.”
So Abarbinel paraphrases those words, (Isaiah 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 (vpnh Nkvm) , "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" or it points out the time when the saints' future happiness shall begin, "when the earthly house" 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
...
Wikipedia