Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 5:4
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.
4. in this tabernacle ] Literally, in the tabernacle, i.e. the ‘tenement,’ of which we have already spoken ( 2Co 5:1).
do groan, being burdened ] “Not because we desire to be delivered from the body, for of it we do not wish to be unclothed, but we hasten to be delivered from the corruption that is in it.” Chrysostom. This verse carries on the thought of v, 2 and explains it.
not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon ] Better with Tyndale and Cranmer (also Wiclif), for we wold not be unclothed, but wolde be clothed upon. “It is quite possible that men might conceive (of the future state) as a disembodied state and suppose the Apostle to represent life in a visible form as a degradation.” Robertson. Such was the view of Greek philosophers almost without exception (see note on 1Co 15:12). St Paul, affirming the old Jewish view that God had created all things, and made them very good, entirely repudiates this doctrine, and declares that he does not desire separation from the body, but only its spiritualization. “Paul regards it as an especial happiness not to taste death, not to be obliged to put off this body, but to be glorified living, like Elijah, drawing the heavenly body over the present mortal body as a garment, yet in such a manner that the mortal body is absorbed in the nature of the spiritual body.” Olshausen. So Tertullian, “not as wishing to undergo death, but that death should be anticipated by life.” The whole passage should be compared with 1Co 15:35-54. See also note on 2Co 5:2.
that mortality might be swallowed up of life ] i.e. “covered over and arrayed in the vesture of immortality.” Tertullian. ‘Mortality’ should rather be rendered what is mortal.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For we – We who are Christians. All Christians.
That are in this tabernacle – This frail and dying body; note, 2Co 5:1.
Do groan – see 2Co 5:2. This is a further explanation of what is said in 2Co 5:2. It implies an ardent and earnest desire to leave a world of toil and pain, and to enter into a world of rest and glory.
Being burdened – Being borne down by the toils, and trials, and calamities of this life; see the note, 2Co 3:7-10.
Not for that we would be unclothed – Not that we are impatient, and unwilling to bear these burdens as long as God shall appoint. Not that we merely wish to lay aside this mortal body. We do not desire to die and depart merely because we suffer much, and because the body here is subjected to great trials. This is not the ground of our wish to depart. We are willing to bear trials. We are not impatient under afflictions. The sentiment here is, that the mere fact that we may be afflicted much and long, should not be the principal reason why we should desire to depart. We should be willing to bear all this as long as God shall choose to appoint. The anxiety of Paul to enter the eternal world was from a higher motive than a mere desire to get away from trouble.
But clothed upon – To be invested with our spiritual body. We desire to be clothed with that body. We desire to be in heaven, and to be clothed with immortality. We wish to have a body that shall be pure, undecaying, ever glorious. It was not, therefore, a mere desire to be released from sufferings; it was an earnest wish to be admitted to the glories of the future world, and partake of the happiness which we would enjoy there. This is one of the reasons why Paul wished to be in heaven. Other reasons he has stated elsewhere. Thus, in Phi 1:23, he says he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ. So in 2Co 5:8 of this chapter, he says he was willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. In 2Ti 4:6-8, he speaks of the crown of righteousness laid up for him as a reason why he was willing to die.
That mortality might be swallowed up of life – On the meaning of the word rendered swallowed up ( katapothe); see the note on 1Co 15:54. The meaning here is, that it might be completely absorbed; that it might cease to be; that there might be no more mortality, but that he might pass to the immortal state – to the condition of eternal life in the heavens. The body here is mortal; the body there will be immortal; and Paul desired to pass away from the mortal state to one that shall be immortal, a world where there shall be no more death; compare 1Co 15:53.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 5:4
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.
The two tabernacles
Life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel. A feeble, fluttering guess was all that unaided men could ever reach regarding the life beyond. A jar may be charged with electric fire, and capable, in certain circumstances, of giving forth light and heat; yet, if it remain isolated, all is dark and silent. Thus there is in a human spirit a susceptibility and a capacity which lies dormant as long as man is left to himself, but which leaps into life as soon as the Word of God is pointed to the heart. Let us examine the text word by word.
I. Tabernacle is a frail, temporary dwelling. But, seeing that the body is made so perfect, why is it made so feeble?
1. An infant in a dark and dangerous path dare not stir from his fathers side, whereas a robust youth may select his own route. Our Father in heaven knows that it is difficult to keep His children close to Himself as matters stand, and it would have been still more difficult if the child had been entrusted with greater power.
2. When the spirit of a dear child has through Christ been attained, the frailty of the truster makes the trust more sweet. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
3. If we know that the abiding home is ready, the shaking of the temporary tabernacle will contribute to remind us of another rest, and quicken our desire for an abundant entrance on its blessedness.
II. This tabernacle. Our body is not our only dwelling-place, and the design of the Spirit here is to preserve us from bestowing all our regard on this tabernacle while another is more worthy.
III. Burdened.
1. There may be some who for a time could scarcely recognise this as a description of their condition. The young, healthy, and prosperous–their hearts for a time are as light as their limbs; they trip along lifo as if they were chasing butterflies in a flowery meadow. To a certain extent this is the Creators kind appointment. The cares of age laid on the heart of a child would crush his spirit, and render him incapable of fulfilling his task when he should come of age. But even in childhood some weights begin to press, and, when youth has passed, the cares of house and children, of business and company, of friendships and enmities, increase and multiply until the beams of the tabernacle are creaking prematurely under the accumulated weight.
2. These burdens may be inventoried among the all things that work together for good. The sorrows of earth will enhance the joys of heaven; the rugged rocks and scorching sand of the desert will make the golden streets of the New Jerusalem feel more smooth beneath the pilgrims feet.
IV. We groan. A groan is natures outlet for grief, and indicates also a desire for relief. This desire does not by itself constitute a mark of grace. It belongs to nature. The discontented make many changes in order to escape from suffering, but the suffering follows them into every sphere. Some are weary of this world who are by no means ready for the next.
V. Not that we would be unclothed. This means to put off this tabernacle. Even Paul, after he had attained triumphant faith and blessed hope, shrinks from the dissolution of the body. I learn here that positive love of closing with the King of Terrors is not a necessary mark of Christs redeemed people. I love this warm life. I shrink from death. And therein I think I do not sin. God is not displeased with me for loving that which He has bestowed. If, by faith in His Son, and through the ministry of His Spirit, He make me willing to give it up when He recalls it, enough: Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. Christians love life for many reasons.
1. As sentient beings, in common with those who know not Christ, but who see the sunlight, and feel the balmy air, and tread the flowery ground. They love it in common not only with their fellow-men, but in common with the brutes that perish, with the cattle that browse on the meadows, and the birds that warble in the trees, and the insects that flutter in the sunbeam.
2. With a deeper, more intelligent love than other creatures–
(1) Because the gifts which are in their own nature sweet are sweeter when they are received from a Fathers hand. It is a mistake to suppose that the worldly enjoy their portion here, and that Christians postpone the prospect of enjoyment until they pass through the gates of the grave. Those who hope in Christ for the world to come enjoy the world that now is better because of that hope.
(2) As a field of useful labour. Work may be done here which cannot be done beyond the boundary of the present life. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The groans of believers under their burdens
I. The first thing is to give you some account of the believers present lodging while in the body. And there are these two or three things that I remark about it which I find in the text and context.
1. Then, I find it is called a house in the first verse of this chapter. And it is fitly so called, because of its rare and curious structure and workmanship (Psa 139:14-15).
2. I remark, concerning the believers present lodging, that, however curious its structure be, yet it is but a house of earth. And it is so, especially in a threefold respect.
(1) In respect of its original; it is made of earth.
(2) It is a house of clay in respect of the means that support it; for the corn, wine, and oil wherewith the body of man is maintained do all spring out of the earth.
(3) It is a house of earth in respect of its end; it returns thither at its dissolution (Gen 3:19).
3. I remark, concerning the believers present lodging, that it is but at best a tabernacle. Tents are for soldiers and pilgrims.
4. Another thing that I remark concerning the believers lodging is that it is but a tottering house. The earthly house of this tabernacle is to be dissolved.
II. The second thing proposed was to speak of the believers burdens while in this tabernacle. This earthly house, it lies under many servitudes, and the believer pays a dear rent for his quarters. For–
1. The clay tabernacle itself is many times a very heavy burden to him. The crazy cottage of the body is liable to innumerable pains and distempers, which makes it lie like a dead weight upon the soul, whereby its vivacity and activity is exceedingly marred.
2. Not only is he burdened with a burden of clay, but also with a burden of sin–I mean indwelling corruption, enmity, unbelief, ignorance, pride, hypocrisy, and other abominations of his heart.
3. He is burdened many times with a sense of much actual guilt which he has contracted through the untenderness of his way and walk.
4. He is sometimes sadly burdened with the temptations of Satan.
5. Sometimes the believer is burdened with the burden of ill company.
6. Sometimes the believer is sadly burdened, not only with his own sins, but with the abounding sins and abominations of the day and place wherein he lives.
7. The believer is many times while in this tabernacle burdened with the public concerns of Christ. He is a person of a very grateful and public spirit.
8. The poor believer has many times the burden of great crosses and afflictions lying upon him, and these both of a bodily and spiritual nature.
III. The third thing in the method was to speak of the believers groaning under his burden. We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Upon this head I shall only suggest two or three considerations.
1. Consider that the working of the believers heart under the pressures of these burdens vents itself variously. Sometimes he is said to be in heaviness (1Pe 1:6). Sometimes he is said to sigh under his burdens, and to sigh to the breaking of his loins: My fighting cometh before I eat, says Job. Sometimes his burdens make him to cry. Sometimes he cries to his God (Psa 130:1).
2. For clearing this ye would know that there are three sorts of groans that we read of in Scripture.
(1) I say we read of groans of nature (Rom 8:22).
(2) We read of groans of reason, or of the reasonable creatures under their affliction (Exo 6:5).
(3) We read of groans of grace, or of spiritual groans (Rom 8:26).
3. A third remark I offer is this, that these groans of the gracious soul here spoken of seem to imply–
(1) A great deal of grief and sorrow of spirit on the account of sin, and melancholy effects of it on the believer, while in this embodied state.
(2) It implies a displeasure, or dissatisfaction, in the believer with his present burdened estate; he finds that this is not his resting-place. And–
(3) It implies a panting of soul after a better state, even the immediate enjoyment of God in glory. Verse 1: He groans with an earnest desire to be clothed upon with his house which is from heaven.
IV. But I proceed to the fourth thing in the method, which was the application of the doctrine. And the first use shall be of information.
1. Hence we may see the vast difference between heaven and earth. In a word, there is nothing but matter of groaning for the most part here, but all ground of groaning ceaseth for ever there.
2. See, hence, a consideration that may contribute to allay our griefs and groans for the death of godly relations; for while in this tabernacle they groan, being burdened, but now their groans are turned into songs, and their mourning into hallelujahs.
3. See, hence, that they are not the happiest folk that have the merriest life of it in the world.
4. See, hence, that death need not be a terror to the believer. Why? Because, by taking down this tabernacle, it takes off all his burdens, and puts a final period to all his groans. The second use of the doctrine may be of reproof unto two sorts of persons. It reproves these who are at home while in this tabernacle. A third use shall be of lamentation and humiliation.
Let us lament that the Lords people should have so much matter of groaning at this day and time wherein we live.
1. The abounding profanity and immorality of all sorts that are to be found among us.
2. The universal barrenness that is to be found among us at this day is matter of groaning unto the Lords people.
3. The lamentable divisions that are in our Reuben occasion great thoughts of heart and heaviness to the Lords people at this day.
4. The innumerable defections and backslidings of our day are a great burden to the Lords people, and make their hearts to groan within them. (R. Erskine, D. D.)
Mans dilemma
I. Man shrinks from death.
1. Man shows this in many ways.
(1) By the pensive regret with which he views its precursors, and the eagerness with which he sometimes seeks to shut out the prospect of it.
(2) By the plaintive awe with which he contemplates its prey.
(3) By the unaffected sorrow with which he mourns the consequences of it. Every object that he sees which formerly was endeared by pleasant associations brings only sorrow after death has inscribed his name around it. If experience shows us exceptions to this general rule, they have some special feature which renders them intelligible. They may occur where life has become burdensome, or, oftener, where some great end is to be attained by the sacrifice of it.
2. Why, then, is this universal recoil from death?
(1) Because it is unnatural. There could never be a natural revulsion from anything that was not in itself unnatural to us.
(2) Because of the deep and mysterious sympathies it disturbs.
(3) Because all, to unaided reason, is dark beyond it.
II. Man is dissatisfied with life. And we must here consider life as dividing itself into three departments–animal, intellectual, and moral. True wisdom lies in the right adjustment and harmony of these three different elements. The nearer they approach to harmony, the more this dissatisfaction increases, for it only shows how much yet remains to be attained. Man exhibits this dissatisfaction with life in various ways.
1. He seeks to change his position in it.
2. He shows it when he witnesses the failure of his purposes and plans.
3. Even should success attend him, that success fails to fulfil his desires. The attainment of success in this world almost invariably induces increasing ambition; it only sharpens the appetite for yet greater prosperity. Just as our view expands the higher we ascend the steep of a vast mountain, so do our wishes widen the further we advance in wealth.
4. If he cultivates his powers, his capabilities outgrow the resources of life. The keener our perceptions become, the more clearly do we perceive the inefficacy of these resources to feed our extending capacities.
5. On a retrospect of it, however extended, it appears to him as an unsubstantial dream.
III. Man pants for the perfection of his being. Some have professed to believe that at death we sink into annihilation. But no man ever yet really wished to be nothing, and those only have pretended to desire it who have felt that they were good for nothing. No! It is an instinct of our nature to look forward to immortality. The righteous shall be satisfied, for they shall awake in the likeness of their God. (A. Mursell.)
Not unclothed, but clothed upon
The doctrine of this text is that we do not wish to be disembodied spirits hereafter, but to have another higher body superinduced on this. I think the phrase indicates a desire for a process of gradual development. The body, in this passage, is first compared to a tabernacle–that is, a tent–and then to a building. Perhaps there flitted through his mind the idea of the Jewish tabernacle, or church tent, which they carried with them through the wilderness–a sort of travelling church where they had their sacrificial worship every day–which was so made that it could be taken to pieces and put up again. The present body is like that; the body to come is like the temple of Solomon on Mount Moriah, built of solid marble, immovable, incorruptible–a beauty and a wonder of the world. No doubt the corruptible body weighs down the soul. In one point of view there is no correspondence between them; they are deadly foes. Here is a poor soul struggling to get at some truth, some beauty, some love, some goodness, and it is imprisoned in a body which will not let it do so. The bodily organisation is dull and heavy, is unvivacious, is coarse and unrefined; it tends to irritability and wilfulness, instead of sweetness and beauty. The soul aspires, the body drags it down. In all men there is some hereditary depravity. Nevertheless the body is, with all its defects, the clothing for the soul. All clothing does, in some sort, begin to correspond with the wearer, and to express a little his tastes and ideas. We sees mans mind somewhat in his dress. The body has some kind of correspondence with the mind. The dress of a Turk corresponds with his dignified character, his quiet ways, his slowness and solemnity. Thus the human body has some sort of analogy to the soul that it wears. You look at a face, you hear a voice, you see the gestures, and an impression is made on you of character. That impression is often the best and most reliable means of knowing a mans character. It is spontaneous. Some people argue as though this body were all bad, and say that in heaven we shall have none, but be floating about the universe, pure disembodied spirits. Paul does not say that; body is to remain, but the mortal part of it is to be swallowed up of life. Body, in its lowest form, is a mystery of wonder; the human body is the most wonderful and beautiful thing on earth. It is a muddy vesture of decay, but it is also a transparent veil through which the soul shines. See it in its ideal forms in the statues of Greece; what grandeur and dignity in the Apollo of the Vatican; what overflowing grace in the Amazon of the Capitol, or the Flora of Naples! Now these forms give us hints of a more idealised and higher beauty. The thought the apostle expresses–that we do not wish to be unclothed, but clothed upon–is a very important one. It is an essentially Christian idea; it distinguishes the Christian view of morality from the natural view. Not unclothed, but clothed upon–let us see what it means. The Christian view of all growth and progress is by addition, not subtraction; by building up, not pulling down; by positive means, not negative; by attraction, not repulsion; by love of good, not fear of evil; by power of love, not power of law. Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfil. Most reforms and inventions come by improving what we have. The first farmer probably stirred the ground with a sharp stick. After a while came a man who fastened another to it, and so made the original plough. By and by a piece of iron was substituted for one of the sticks, and that is essentially the plough of to-day. The wool from a sheeps back was twisted with the fingers, next with a distaff, then with a spinning-wheel; at last the same thing is done by the spinning-jenny, and mule-spinning by steam. The Puritans and Quakers tried to unclothe religion of all its rites and ceremonies. They took off its royal robes of architecture, painting, statuary, music, and left it bare. That was a mistake. They should have exchanged the earthly dress for a higher and more heavenly one. This is the Christian principle, and it applies in a thousand ways. Here is a boy who has done wrong. He is a culprit; he has stolen, or he has committed some other offence. The law arrests him and puts him in prison. This the law must do, for the business of law is to prevent offences, to keep them from going on and from getting worse. But the law cannot cure the criminal; it can only stop him in his evil course. You must show the boy some good thing; you must attract him toward a better life; you must give him an opportunity for something better. Law takes off for a little while his clothing of sin; Christianity must clothe him with a house from heaven. Any home is better than none. If you cannot get a house, take a cabin. Mentally, we do not wish to be unclothed, but clothed upon. Mental progress does not consist in losing the old knowledge, but in adding to it new. The principle of conservatism is a sound one. Keep your present faith till you can get a better one. The man who believes something can go on and believe more. God furnishes us with a mental outfit of common and universal beliefs to begin with. We are not to be unclothed of them, either in this world or in the next, but clothed upon with more. Look at nature in this affluent season of spring, when the voice of God is saying, Let there be life. See how nature swallows up the old in the new; see how she absorbs the old vegetation in the coming grasses; how earth, bare and dead, is clothed upon with new and wonderful forms of growth. The affections are a clothing and a home for the heart. Gods method is to give us always better and higher affections, and to make the lower a step upward to the higher. He who loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how shall he love God whom he hath not seen? All human love leads up to Divine love. Everything which draws man out of himself does him good. Much of earthly affection is, no doubt, poor, weak, unworthy. It is idol-worship; it is a blind and foolish affection; it is also weak and changeable. But, such as it is, it is always better than nothing. Do not destroy it; fulfil it. All love, so far as it is love, is good; and it is good in this way, that it takes us out of ourselves, making us for the time unselfish, and also that it makes us for the time truly pure. Those who love are emancipated from doubts, hesitations, terrors. Every one needs to be able to be with those, sometimes, to whom he can speak of anything he chooses, without any doubt or anxiety or hesitation. Then he is at home. That is home, the home of the heart. These may, indeed, be only tents to live in till we reach the Promised Land; but we know that, when these are struck and folded, we have a building of God waiting us beyond the veil of time. God, who provides the tent for us here, will provide the house there. He who gives us in this life the wonders and beauties of nature, the lessons of truth, the opportunities of action and endeavour, the helps of friendship, the charm of love, the nobleness of life, and the pathos of death, will provide for us better things beyond, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard. Therefore, O human heart! trust and look forward, and do not doubt nor fear, but go from truth to truth, from love to higher love. We do not wish to be unclothed of this worlds affections and interests, but clothed upon with higher. This life is not the end, but the beginning. (Jas. Freeman Clarke.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. For we that are in this tabernacle] We who are in this state of trial and difficulty do groan, being burdened; as if he had said: The whole of human life is a state of suffering, and especially our lot; who are troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down, bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus, and being always delivered unto death on the account of Jesus, 2Co 4:8-11. These were sufficient burdens, and sufficient causes of groaning.
Not for that we would be unclothed] We do not desire death, nor to die, even with the full prospect of eternal glory before our eyes, an hour before that time which God in his wisdom has assigned.
But clothed upon] To have the fullest preparation for eternal glory. We wish not to die, whatever tribulation we may be called to pass through, till the whole will of God is accomplished in us and by us.
That mortality might be swallowed up of life.] Being fully prepared for the eternal state we shall scarcely be said to die, all that is mortal being absorbed and annihilated by immortality and glory. See the notes on 1Co 15:51-56. From the use of these expressions among the Jews, this seems to be the general meaning of the apostle.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By tarbenacle, he meaneth (as he had before expounded it) the earthly house of our body.
Do groan; both a groaning of grief, and also of desire.
Being burdened; either with the body of flesh; or with sin, the body of death, Rom 7:24; or with the load of trials and afflictions.
Not that we would be unclothed, that is, die, be unclothed of our flesh, (nature abhorreth death, and flieth from it),
but clothed upon; which is expounded, 1Co 15:54, our corruptible having put on incorruption, and our mortal having put on immortality. And this confirmeth what was observed before, that the apostles had some persuasion, (though not from any Divine revelation of that hour), that the resurrection, and day of judgment, would be before the determination of that age and generation; that so we might come into the possession of eternal life (for that the apostle meaneth by
mortality being swallowed up of life). Death is not desirable for its own sake, but upon the account of that immortal life into which it leadeth the souls of believers; nor (as was said before) doth the apostle here directly desire death, (which is that which in this verse he calleth unclothing), but rather the change mentioned 1Co 15:52, which he here calleth a clothing upon.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Forresuming 2Co5:2.
being burdened: not forthatrather, “in that we desire not to haveourselves unclothed (of our present body), but clothed upon (with ourheavenly body).
that mortality,c.rather, “that what is mortal (our mortal part) may beswallowed up of (absorbed and transformed into) life.” Believersshrink from, not the consequences, but the mere act ofdying especially as believing in the possibility of their being foundalive at the Lord’s coming (1Th4:15), and so of having their mortal body absorbed into theimmortal without death. Faith does not divest us of all naturalfeeling, but subordinates it to higher feeling. Scripture gives nosanction to the contempt for the body expressed by philosophers.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan,…. There are some of the saints who are not in the tabernacle, the body. They were in it, but now are not; their bodies are in the grave, the house appointed for all living; and their souls are in the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, in everlasting habitations, in the mansions prepared in Christ’s Father’s house; and they have done groaning, being delivered from every oppressor, sin, Satan, and the world; are at rest from all their labours, and ate free from every burden; only the saints who are in the tabernacle of the body, in an unsettled state, groan, being in the midst of tribulation, and not yet in the enjoyment of that happiness they are wishing for. The reason of their groaning is, because they are
burdened with the body itself, which is a clog and incumbrance to the soul in its spiritual exercises; and oftentimes by reason of its disorders and diseases a man becomes a burden to himself; but what the saints are mostly burdened with in this life, and which makes them groan the most, is the body of sin and death they carry about with them; the filth of it is nauseous, grievous, and intolerable; the guilt of it oftentimes lies very heavy on the conscience; the weight of it presses hard, and is a great hinderance to them in running their Christian race; nor have they any relief under this burden, but by looking to a sin bearing and sin atoning Saviour, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. They are also frequently burdened with Satan’s temptations, with blasphemous thoughts, solicitations to sin, the fears of death, the pangs of it, and what will follow upon it; though God is faithful, who will not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able to bear; however, these temptations are great burdens, and occasion many a groan: to which may be added the various afflictions of life, which though comparatively “light”, are in themselves heavy, grievous burdens, and hard to be bore; the nature, number, and continuance of them often make them so; and especially they are such, when God is pleased to hide his face, and withhold the discoveries of his love and mercy. The apostle goes on to explain what he means by desiring to be clothed,
not for that we would be unclothed; that is, of our bodies; and this he says, not through any love and liking he had to this animal life, or to the sensual methods of living here, which make natural men in love with life, and desirous of always living here; but from a principle of nature, which recoils at death, does not like a dissolution, chooses any other way of removing out of this world than by death; a translation of soul and body together to heaven, like that of Enoch and Elijah’s, is more eligible even to a good man; or such a change as will be upon the living saints at the coming of Christ, which the apostle seems to have in view, who will be not unclothed of their bodies, as men are at death,
but clothed upon; as is here desired, with incorruption and immortality:
that mortality might be swallowed up of life; not that the mortal body, or the substance of the body, which is mortal, might be consumed and destroyed, but that mortality, that quality to which it is subject by sin, might be no more: and he does not say, that “death may be swallowed up of life”, which will be done in the resurrection morn; but mortality, which being swallowed up by a translation, or such a change as will be at the last day, will prevent death: and the phrase, swallowed up, denotes the suddenness of the change, in an instant, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and that without any pain, or such agonies as usually attend death; and also the utter, final, and total abolition of mortality; so that there will never be more any appearance of it; his desire is, that it may be swallowed up “of the life”, which is properly and emphatically life, as this life is not; and means the glorious, immortal, and everlasting life, which saints enter into as soon as they are rid of their mortal bodies, and the mortality of them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Not for that we would be unclothed (‘ ). Rather, “For that (‘ ) we do not wish to put off the clothing, but to put it on” (‘ ). The transposition of the negative weakens the sense. Paul does not wish to be a mere disembodied spirit without his spiritual garment.
That what is mortal may be swallowed up of life ( ). “Only what is mortal perishes; the personality, consisting of soul and body, survives,” (Plummer). See on 1:22 for “the earnest of the spirit.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Being burdened [] . Compare weight [] of glory, ch. 4 17.
Not for that we would be unclothed [ ] . Lit., because we are not willing to divest ourselves (of the mortal body). Regarding the coming of the Lord as near, the apostle contemplates the possibility of living to behold it. The oppression of soul (groan) is not from pains and afflictions of the body, nor from the fear of death, but from the natural shrinking from death, especially if death is to deprive him of the body (unclothe) only to leave him without a new and higher organism. Therefore he desires, instead of dying, to have the new being come down upon him while still alive, investing him with the new spiritual organism (clothed upon), as a new garment is thrown over an old one, and absorbing (swallowed up) the old, sensuous life.
“For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleadng anxious being e’er resigned, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?” GRAY, “Elegy.”
Swallowed up. A new metaphor. Compare 1Co 14:54.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan,” (kai gar oi ontes en to skenei stenazomen) “For indeed, we, the ones being in the earthly (tent-like) dwelling do groan,” Rom 8:23; 2Co 5:2; Job 23:1-3; Job 14:1-2; Rom 8:15.
2) “Being burdened,” (Baroumenoi) “being in a burdened state or condition;” like a bird that has a broken pinion, a cripple with a cast upon a limb, held down or hobbled, Rom 7:24; Psa 55:6.
3) “Not for that we would be unclothed” (eph’ ho ou thelomen ekdusasthai) “Inasmuch as we do not wish or strongly will to put off,” or undress, be left without an earthly body.
4) “But clothed upon,” (all’ ependusasthai) “but we do strongly will to put on,” or be dressed up in, that spiritual body, free from want, toil, and pain, Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30.
5) “That mortality might be swallowed up of life,” (hina katapothe to theneton hupo tes zoes) “in order that the mortal may be swallowed up by the life,” the life-building of eternal life nature, from above. Paul yearned to have the old tent, clothed upon or covered over by the new, the spiritual body-garment, Php_3:20-21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. We groan, being burdened, because we desire not to be unclothed. The wicked, too, groan, because they are not contented with their present condition; but afterwards an opposite disposition prevails, that is, a clinging to life, so that they view death with horror, and do not feel the long continuance of this mortal life to be a burden. The groaning of believers, on the other hand, arises from this — that they know, that they are here in a state of exile from their native land, and that they know, that they are here shut up in the body as in a prison. Hence they feel this life to be a burden, because in it they cannot enjoy true and perfect blessedness, because they cannot escape from the bondage of sin otherwise than by death, and hence they aspire to be elsewhere.
As, however, it is natural for all animals to desire existence, how can it be, that believers are willing to cease to exist? The Apostle solves this question, when he says, that believers do not desire death for the sake of losing any thing, but as having regard to a better life. At the same time, the words express more than this. For he admits, that we have naturally an aversion to the quitting of this life, considered in itself, as no one willingly allows himself to be striped of his garments. Afterwards, however, he adds, that the natural horror of death is overcome by confidence; (515) as an individual will, without any reluctance, throw away a coarse, dirty, threadbare, and, in one word, tattered garment, with the view of his being arrayed in an elegant, handsome, new, and durable one.
Farther, he explains the metaphor by saying —
that what is mortal may be destroyed (516) by life. For as flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, (1Co 15:50,)
it is necessary, that what is corruptible in our nature should perish, in order that we may be thoroughly renewed, and restored to a state of perfection. On this account, our body is called a prison, in which we are confined.
(515) “ Par la fiance qu’ont les fideles;” — “By the confidence which believers have.”
(516) “ Soit englouti par la vie;” — “May be swallowed up by life.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Being burdened.The whole passage is strikingly parallel to Wis. 9:15. The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. The Wisdom of Solomon, which no writer quotes before Clement of Rome, had probably been but recently written (possibly, as I believe, by Apollos), but St. Paul may well have become acquainted with it.
Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon.Better, Seeing that we do not seek to put off, but to put on a garment. The thought is that of one who thinks that the Coming of the Lord is near. He wishes, as he expects, to remain till that Coming (comp. 1Co. 15:51; 1Th. 4:15), to let the incorruptible body supervene on the corruptible, to be changed instead of dying. In this way that which is mortal, subject to death, would be swallowed up of life, as death itself is swallowed up in victory. (1Co. 15:54.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Do groan Not only from the pressure of our mortal burden, but also for the future consummation. Not qualifies would.
For that Because that.
Be unclothed Rather, to unclothe ourselves, to put off our raiment.
But clothed But to super-invest ourselves. The middle voice of the Greek verb makes the act of clothing and unclothing our own. We groan because we do not wish to divest ourselves, but to super-invest ourselves. He did not wish to be divested of even a frail body, but to be overclad with immortality and renewal upon it. Death and naked spiritual being are not in themselves desirable, especially in comparison with the final life; yet the bliss that makes the condition they bring more desirable than this corrupt state, he will soon show. 2Co 5:6-9.
Mortality The mortal element or quality of our body.
Swallowed up Forever lost in life; the comprehensive term for all that is blessed in man’s highest destiny. See on 1Co 15:33.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For indeed we who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.’
Then he continues and expands on the thought, having very much in mind those who deny the resurrection body (1Co 15:12). It is true that in our earthly tents we groan because of our earthly state. But our burden and our groaning is not so that we will be released from an unworthy human body, as the Greeks believed, for we do not desire to be unclothed, but rather we desire that our present bodies with their frailty and weakness will be transformed, and that at the resurrection we will be ‘clothed upon’, clothed as with an additional outer garment, and become a superior body.
This is what 1Co 15:42-49 is telling us, where it says that the resurrection body will be in some ways a continuation of the spiritual aspects of our old body, receiving an eternal ‘covering’ in which it has a part, so that what is mortal may become eternal, ‘mortality swallowed up in (eternal) life’. The picture here is vivid, being swallowed up by ‘life’ like Jonah was by the whale. But in this case we become a part of what swallows us up. We become absorbed into eternal life, and that life becomes absorbed into us. (Just as Jonah would eventually have been absorbed into the whale had he stayed in the whale’s belly). The reason therefore that we groan is that we are awaiting the redemption of our body that we might be swallowed up in eternal life (Rom 8:23).
We must not overpress illustrations that speak of things beyond our understanding. The idea of being ‘clothed upon’ rather indicates that what we have at present is unsatisfactory and comes short and therefore needs enhancing. But it does not mean that we have to be stripped down. God has no intention of unclothing us, Paul says, rather He will improve our situation totally, He will more fully clothe us. Thus death for the Christian is not to be seen as an unclothing, but as resulting in a taking on of something far, far better, which relates to and vastly improves on the old.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Co 5:4 . An explanation defining more precisely, and therewith giving a reason for ( ), 2Co 5:3 , after a frequent practice of the apostle. Comp. 2Co 4:10-11 . In this , even , serves to emphasize the . ., just as with in 2Co 5:2 .
The of 2Co 5:2 is here more precisely defined by , in which is prefixed with emphasis: for even as those who are still in the tent, i.e . for even as those whose sojourn in the tent is not yet at an end; already while we are still in possession of the bodily life , which duration of time is opposed to the moment of the possible , when the tent is left , and when the longing and sighing after the new body would be still stronger; comp. on 2Co 5:2 . From the very position of the Hofmann is wrong in making its emphasis fall on , which extorts sighs from us, and then taking . . in antithetic reference to what is afterwards affirmed of these subjects, since they prefer to remain in the earthly life (comp. , 2Co 4:11 ). The . . can only, in fact, be the same as the of 2Co 5:2 , which, however, Hofmann has already wrongly understood in another way; the two expressions explain one anothe.
] The article expresses the tent which is defined by the connection (the body).
] definition assigning a reason for .: inasmuch as we are depressed ; not, however, propter calamitates (2Co 1:8 ), as Piscator, Emmerling, Schneckenburger, Fritzsche suppose without any ground in the context, but the cause of the pressure which extorts the sighs is expressed by the following . . ., so that , . . . is a more precise explanation of the of 2Co 5:2 .
] i.e. , propterea quod , as Rom 5:12 ; see on that passage. Comp. here particularly , Pind. Pyth. i. 162 f.; , Soph. El. 1291; Xen. Cyr. iv. 3. 3 : . We feel ourselves as oppressed by a burden, because we are not willing , i.e. have an antipathy, to unclothe , etc. The oppressive part of this , lies in the ever present possibility of the . Emmerling and Fritzsche take as quare (see Elsner, ad Rom. v. 12; Matthiae, p. 1373): “Nam in hoc corpore ad calamitates valde ingemisco ( . .) et propter hanc ipsam malorum molem ( ) nolo quidem, ut haec propulsetur , mortem oppetere ( .),” etc. But there is nothing of the malorum moles in the context; and if we should wish, as the context allowed, with Osiander and older commentators, to refer . to the pressure which the body as such (the ) causes to us by its onus peccati et crucis (comp. Wis 9:15 ), and then to explain : and in order to get rid of this pressure ; this would be at variance with the parallel in 2Co 5:2 , according to which the sighing must appear to be caused by the special longing (which in 2Co 5:4 is, by way of more precise definition, designated as an oppressing one), not by another pressure. [216] This, at the same time, in opposition to Usteri and Schneckenburger, who take it as whereupon (comp. Khner, II. p. 298). According to Beza, it means in quo , sc. tabernaculo, and, according to Flatt, even although . At variance with linguistic usage. Ewald, taking . of the burden of the whole earthly existence, explains it: “ in so far as we wish not to be unclothed , and so set forth as naked and guilty and cast into hell, but to be clothed over .” Against this it may be urged that does not mean quatenus ( ), and that the interpretation of “being unclothed” in the sense of reum fieri is not grounded in the text; see on 2Co 5:3 .
] Out of this we are not, with Grotius, Emmerling, and others, to make malumus ; otherwise must have stood instead of , 1Co 14:19 . The is the nolle , the not being willing (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 278; Ameis on Hom . Od . ii. 274), of the disinclination of natural feeling .
] sc. .
. . .] We wish to be clothed over, in order that , in this desired case, what is mortal in us may be swallowed up (may be annihilated, comp. 1Co 15:54 ) by life, i.e . by the new, immortal power of life which is imparted to us in the moment of the change (of the ). , , Theodoret.
[216] Osiander: “wherefore we long to have ourselves not unclothed, but clothed over, because in the very act of dying the pressure of the tabernacle becomes heaviest, when it, as it were, collapses over its inhabitant .” It is self-evident that of this explication of there is nothing in the text: even apart from the fact, that Osiander explains as if the words were . . .
REMARK.
There is not fear of death in this utterance of the apostle, but rather the shrinking from death, that pertains to human nature the shrinking from the process of death as a painful one. His wish was not to die first before the Parousia and then to be raised up, but to be transformed alive; and what man, to whom the nearness of the Parousia was so certain, could have wished otherwise? His courage in confronting death, which was no Stoical contempt of death, remained untouched by it.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 4. Do groan, being burdened ] viz. With sin and misery, whereof we have here our backburdens. And surely great shame it were (as that martyr, Mr Bradford, said) that all the whole creatures of God should desire, yea, groan in their kind for our liberty, and we ourselves to loathe it, as doubtless we do, if for the cross, yea, for death itself, we with joy swallow not up all sorrow that might let us from following the Lord’s call and obeying the Lord’s providence, &c.
Might be swallowed up of life ] Not as a gulf or fire swallows up that which is cast into it, but as perfection swallows up imperfection, as the perfecting of a picture swallows up the rude draught, as perfect skill swallows up bungling, or manhood childhood, not extinguishing, but drowning it that it is not seen. (Dr Preston.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. ] Confirmation and explanation of 2Co 5:2 . For also (a reason, why we . as in ver.2) we who are in the tabernacle (before spoken of, i.e. of the body), groan, being burdened (not by troubles and sufferings , nor by the body itself , which would be directly opposite to the sense: but for the reason which follows), because ( as in ref. Rom.) we are not willing to divest ourselves (of it), but to put on (that other) over it, that our mortal part may (not, die, but) be swallowed up by life (absorbed in and transmuted by that glorious principle of life which our new clothing shall superinduce upon us). The feeling expressed in these verses was one most natural to those who, as the Apostles, regarded the coming of the Lord as near , and conceived the possibility of their living to behold it. It was no terror of death as to its consequences but a natural reluctance to undergo the mere act of death as such , when it was within possibility that this mortal body might be superseded by the immortal one, without it.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 5:4 . . . .: for indeed we who are in the body (see 2Co 5:1 ) groan, being burdened ( cf. Wis 9:15 , ), not for that ( ; cf. Rom 5:12 ) we would be unclothed ( cf. 2Es 2:45 ) but clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life, i.e. , that the mortal body may, without passing through death, be absorbed, as it were, in the heavenly body which is to be superindued ( cf. Isa 25:8 ). The double metaphor in these verses from that of a house to that of a garment is quite in St. Paul’s manner. Stanley finds the explanation of both “in the image which both from his occupation and his birthplace would naturally occur to the Apostle, the tent of Cilician haircloth, which might almost equally suggest the idea of a habitation and of a vesture” ( cf. Psa 104:2 ). The truth is that no single metaphor could possibly convey to the mind a true conception of heaven or of the condition of the blessed. We may speak of the heavenly home as a place ( ), but we have to remind ourselves that it is rather a state here expressed by the image of heavenly vesture.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
for that. Greek. eph’ (App-104.) ho.
would = desire to. App-102.
unclothed. Greek. ekduo, as Mar 15:20 (took off).
that = in order that. Greek. hina.
mortality = the mortal (thing). See Rom 6:1
swallowed up. See 1Co 15:54
of = by, App-104.
life the life. App-170.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] Confirmation and explanation of 2Co 5:2. For also (a reason, why we . as in ver.2) we who are in the tabernacle (before spoken of, i.e. of the body), groan, being burdened (not by troubles and sufferings, nor by the body itself, which would be directly opposite to the sense: but for the reason which follows), because ( as in ref. Rom.) we are not willing to divest ourselves (of it), but to put on (that other) over it, that our mortal part may (not, die, but) be swallowed up by life (absorbed in and transmuted by that glorious principle of life which our new clothing shall superinduce upon us). The feeling expressed in these verses was one most natural to those who, as the Apostles, regarded the coming of the Lord as near, and conceived the possibility of their living to behold it. It was no terror of death as to its consequences-but a natural reluctance to undergo the mere act of death as such, when it was within possibility that this mortal body might be superseded by the immortal one, without it.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 5:4. , for even) The reason of the earnest desire [2Co 5:2.]- , we do groan being burdened) An appropriate phrase. A burden wrings out sighing and groaning.-) to be unclothed, to strip off the body. Faith does not acknowledge the philosophical contempt of the body, which was given by the Creator.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 5:4
2Co 5:4
For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened;-In the fleshly mortal tabernacle we suffer and groan.
not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.-Not that we would lay aside the outward covering, and be left naked, but that we would be clothed upon with the immortal in which there will be no more weariness and sorrow. [Our obedience to the call of the gospel was accompanied by rejoicing in hope of the glory of God; but this hope was tested, for it is possible not to hold fast the confidence of the hope firm unto the end. It is tested or tried by tribulations; if we receive these tribulations as coming from God and submit to them, then we have the confidence, the confidence of trial borne well, and this doubles our hope. We hope not only because of the general promises of the gospel, but because we are sure of Gods having given us such grace to sustain trials and persecutions that he intends us to partake of the future glory, according to the words of the apostle: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him: if we endure, we shall also reign with him. (2Ti 2:11-12).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
we that: 2Pe 1:13
do: 2Co 5:2
but: 2Co 5:3
that mortality: Isa 25:8, 1Co 15:53, 1Co 15:54
Reciprocal: 2Sa 17:16 – be swallowed 2Sa 20:19 – swallow 2Ki 2:12 – he saw him Hos 13:14 – O death Joh 21:18 – thou wouldest not Rom 6:12 – mortal Rom 8:11 – mortal Rom 8:26 – with Rom 8:38 – that 2Co 2:7 – swallowed 2Co 4:11 – our 2Co 5:1 – our 2Ti 1:10 – and hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 5:4. The first clause of this verse is the same as that in the beginning of verse 2. Being burdened with the weight of fleshly infirmities creates a desire for relief. The desire is not merely to be relieved of the fleshly weight, but also that we may receive another kind of body for our soul. Mortality is from THNETOS, which Thayer defines, “liable to death, mortal,” and hence life means the opposite. The saved will have their bodies changed into a form that will not be subject to death, for it will be like that of Jesus (Php 3:21; 1Jn 3:2).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 5:4. For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that mortality (Gr. that which is mortal) may be swallowed up of life:It is not that we are weary of a body, as if it were a mere cage from which it were bliss simply to make our escape; but we long that the mortality with which it is smitten, with all the ills which that carries with it, may pass away, and we may find ourselves wearing a form instinct with a life that cannot die. The sublime expression swallowed up was doubtless suggested by Isa 25:8, quoted in the former Epistle (1Co 15:54), where the same word is used (taken from the LXX., which gives the exact sense of the original).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Note here, That this groaning desire again mentioned by the apostle in this verse, with respect to the burden of the body, to get rid of it, is not either an unnatural desire, or a discontented desire, or a desire of death as death, or a desire to be unhoused, and without clothing for the soul; but he would be better clothed with a celestial body, that his mortal part might be swallowed up by immortal glory. As if the apostle had said, “As weary as I am of life, by means of sin and sorrow, by reason of corruption and affliction, yet I would not barely for the sake of that desire a dissolution, but for the hope’s sake of eternal and immortal life.”
Learn hence, 1. That whilst the saints live in this earthly, mortal body, they are burdened with a heavy load of sin and affliction.
2. That believers, thus burdened, do in an holy manner groan and long for a better state.
3. That in that better state mortality shall be swallowed up of life.
4. That in that life we shall be clothed again with our own bodies, glorious and heavenly: We groan, not to be unclothed, but clothed upon.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 4 Paul did not long for death because it brought separation of soul and body (or nakedness). Rather, he was willing to face death because of the new body awaiting him on the other side.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. [The apostle here expresses two wishes, suited to either contingency which confronted him. If he survived till the Lord’s coming, he longed to be clothed with the spiritual body which the redeemed shall then receive; and expressed the hope that if he survived to that day he would be found clothed in that body, and not be left naked as an outcast (Rev 3:18). If, on the other hand, it was his lot to die before the Lord came, he wished for the full consummation of God’s purpose. He had no desire to be a disembodied spirit, but he wished to pass through that state to his final spiritual body; just as a seed might say that it did not wish for the germinal death, but was ready to pass through that stage in order to reach its future as a new plant. Paul did not long for divestment, but for the superinvestment of immortality, the swallowing up of the carnal by the spiritual, as in the case of Enoch (Gen 5:24) and Elijah (2Ki 2:11). “The transition of figure from building to clothing is very easy, for our clothes are but a tighter house. One is a habit, the other a habitation” (Whedon).]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 4
Not for that we would be unclothed, &c. The feeling is not impatience to leave this scene of painful and laborious duty; but rather a desire to enjoy the happiness of the new spiritual existence.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
This verse expands 2Co 5:2. The Christian does not groan in his or her present body because he or she wants to get rid of it. At least that was not what Paul meant here. We groan because we long to receive the immortal bodies that God will give us. God’s promises of something better make us dissatisfied with what we have now. We long for the time when immortal life will in a sense consume what is mortal and dies. This is another paradox. Paul was confident that if death would destroy his present body he would certainly receive a glorious future body that God would provide. Paul’s concern in 2Co 5:1-4 seems to have been to contrast our mortal state and our immortal state, not to introduce the idea of an intermediate body. [Note: See Lowery, pp. 565-66, for a helpful summary of the views.]