Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 5:5
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing [is] God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
5. wrought us ] Literally, wrought us out, i.e. fitted and prepared us by a course of training. See ch. 2Co 4:17.
for the selfsame thing ] The swallowing up of mortality by life.
the earnest of the Spirit ] For earnest, see ch. 2Co 1:22, a very similar passage. Cf. also Rom 8:1-11. It is because the Spirit dwells in us by faith while we are here that we are raised hereafter. The body thus possessing a principle of life is as a seed planted in the ground (1Co 15:36-38) to be raised again in God’s good time. See Introduction to First Epistle and notes on ch. 15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing – The phrase self-same thing here means this very thing, that is, the thing to which he had referred – the preparation for heaven, or the heavenly dwelling. The word wrought here ( katergasamenos) means that God had formed or made them for this; that is, he had by the influences of the Spirit, and by his agency on the heart, created them, as it were, for this, and adapted them to it. God has destined us to this change from corruption to incorruption; he has adapted us to it; he has formed us for it. It does not refer to the original creation of the body and the soul for this end, but it means that God, by his own renewing, and sanctifying, and sustaining agency, had formed them for this, and adapted them to it. The object of Paul in stating that it was done by God, is to keep this truth prominently before the mind. It was not by any native inclination, or strength, or power which they had, but it was all to be traced to God; compare Eph 2:10.
Who also hath given – In addition to the fitting for eternal glory he has given us the earnest of the Spirit to sustain us here. We are not only prepared to enter into heaven, but we have here also the support produced by the earnest of the Spirit.
The earnest of the Spirit – On the meaning of this, see the note on 2Co 1:22. He has given to us the Holy Spirit as the pledge or assurance of the eternal inheritance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 5:5
Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.
The patient Divine Workman and His purpose
These words penetrate deep into the secrets of God. To Paul everything is the Divine working. Life is to him no mere blind whirl of accidental forces, but the slow operation of the great Workman. And he believes that the clear perception of the Divine purpose will be a charm against all sorrow, doubt, despondency, or fear.
I. Gods purpose in all his working.
1. What is that self-same thing? The apostle has been speaking about the instinctive reluctance that even good men feel at the prospect of putting off the earthly house of this tabernacle. He distinguishes between three different conditions in which the human spirit may be–dwelling in the earthly body, stripped of that, and clothed with the house which is from heaven; and this last and highest state is the very thing for which God has wrought us–i.e., the highest aim of the Divine love in all its dealings with us is not merely a blessed spiritual life, but the completion of our humanity in a perfect spirit dwelling in a glorified body.
2. That glorified body is described in our context.
II. The slow process of the divine workman.
1. The apostle employs a term which conveys the idea of continuous and effortful work, as if against resistance. Like some sculptor with a hard bit of marble, or some metallurgist with rough ore, so the loving, patient, Divine Artificer labours long and earnestly with somewhat obstinate material, by manifold touches, here a little and there a little, and not discouraged when He comes upon a black vein in the white marble, nor when the hard stone turns the edge of His chisels. Learn, then–
(1) That God cannot make you fit for heaven all at a jump, or by a simple act of will. He can make a world so, not a saint. He cannot say, and He does not say, Let there be holiness, and it comes. Not so can God make man meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. And it takes Him all His energies, for all a lifetime, to prepare His child for what He wants to make of him.
(2) That God cannot give a man that glorified body of which I have been speaking unless the mans spirit is Christlike. By the necessities of the case it is confined to the purified, because it corresponds to their inward spiritual being. It is only a perfect spirit that can dwell in a perfect body. Some shall rise to glory and immortality, some to shame and everlasting contempt. If we are to stand at the last with the body of our humiliation changed into a body of glory, we must begin by being changed in the spirit of our mind.
2. Consider the three-fold processes which, in the Divine working, terminate in this great issue.
(1) God has wrought us for it in the very act of making us what we are. Human nature is an insoluble enigma if this world is its only field. Amidst all the mysterious waste of creation, there is no more profligate expenditure of powers than that which is involved in giving a man such faculties and capacities if this be the only field on which they are to be exercised. All other creatures fit their circumstances; nothing in them is bigger than their environment. They find in life a field for every power. But we have an infinitude of faculty lying half dormant in each of us which finds no work at all in this present world. What is the use of us if there is nothing except this poor present? God, or whoever made us, has made a mistake; and, strangely enough, if we were not made, but evolved, evolution has worked out faculties which have no correspondence with the things around them. Life, and man, is an insoluble enigma except on the hypothesis that this is a nursery-ground, and that the little plants will be pricked out some day, and planted where they are meant to grow.
(2) Another field of the Divine operation to this end is in what we roughly call providences. What is the meaning of all this discipline through which we are passed if there is nothing to be disciplined for? What is the good of an apprenticeship if there is no journeymans life to come after it, where the powers that have been slowly acquired shall be nobly exercised upon broader fields? Life is an insoluble riddle unless the purpose of it lie yonder, and unless all this patient training of our sorrows and our gladnesses is equally meant for training us for the perfect life of a perfect soul, moving a perfect body in a perfect universe. And who can think of life as anything but a wretched fragment unless he knows that all which begins here runs upwards into the room above, and there finds its explanation and its completion?
(3) So in all the work and mystery of our redemption this is the goal that God has in view. It was not worth Christs while to come and die if nothing more was to come of it than the imperfect reception of His blessings and gifts which the noblest Christian life in this world presents. The meaning and purpose of the Cross, the meaning and purpose of all the patient dealings of His whispering Spirit, is that we shall be like our Divine Lord in spirit first, and in body afterwards.
3. And everything about the experiences of a true Christian spirit is charged with a prophecy of immortality. The very desires which Gods good Spirit works in a believing soul are themselves confirmations of their own fulfilment.
III. The certainty and the confidence.
1. He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God. Then we may be sure that, as far as He is concerned, the work will not be suspended nor vain. This Workman has infinite resources, an unchanging purpose, and infinite long-suffering. In the quarries of Egypt you will find gigantic stones, half-dressed, and intended to have been transported to some great temple. But there they lie, the work incomplete, and they never carried to their place. There are no half-polished stones in Gods quarries. They are all finished where they lie, and then borne across the sea, like Hirams from Lebanon, to the temple on the hill.
2. But it is a certainty that you can thwart. It is an operation that you can counter-work. Oh! do not let all Gods work on you come to naught, but yield yourselves to it. Rejoice in the confidence that He is moulding your character, cheerfully welcome the providences, painful as they may be, by which He prepares you for heaven. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Preparation for heaven the work of God
There are five steps in orderly succession whereby we are wrought, made fit, for the kingdom of God.
I. The first of these is the divine call, by which we are excited and urged to seek salvation.
II. The second step in the preparation of the soul for heaven is divine illumination.
III. The spiritual illumination of the inner man is followed by repentance.
IV. And this conducts us to the fourth step in the process of religion–namely, faith in Christ.
V. The final step in the method of salvation is the sanctification of the soul. (J. A. Sartorius.)
Preparation for heaven
I. The work of preparation.
1. It is almost universally admitted that some preparation is essential. Whenever death is announced, you will hear the worst-instructed say, I hope, poor man! he was prepared.
(1) Men need something to be done for them.
(a) God declares that we are enemies to Him. We need, therefore, that some ambassador should come to us with terms of peace, and reconcile us to God.
(b) We are debtors also to our Creator–debtors to His law. Some mediator, then, must come in to pay the debt for us, for we cannot pay it, neither can we be exempted from it.
(c) In addition to this, we are all criminals–condemned already; in fear of execution unless some one come in between us and punishment. Say, then, has this been done for you? Many of you can answer, Blessed be God, I have been reconciled to Him through the death of His Son; my debts to God are paid; I have looked to Christ, my Substitute, and I am no longer condemned (Rom 8:1). Come, let us rejoice in this, that He hath wrought us for this self-same thing.
(2) Something must be wrought in us.
(a) We are all dead in trespasses and sins. Shall dead men sit at the feasts of the eternal God? Only the Jiving children can inherit the promises of the living God, for He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
(b) By nature we are all worldly. We mind earthly things; the worlds maxims govern us, its fears alarm us, its hopes and ambitions excite us. But we cannot go to heaven as worldly men, for there would be nothing there to gratify us. The joys and glories of heaven are all spiritual.
(c) We are unholy by nature; but in heaven they are without fault before the throne of God. No sin is tolerated there. What a change, then, must come over the carnal man to make him holy? What can wash him white but the blood of Christ? That a great change must be wrought in us even ungodly men will confess, since the Scriptural idea of heaven has never been agreeable to unconverted men. When Mahomet would charm the world into the belief that he was the prophet of God, the heaven he pictured was a heaven of unbridled sensualism. Could a wicked man enter into heaven, he would be wretched there. There is no heaven for him who has not been prepared for it by a work of grace in his soul.
2. If we have such a preparation, we must have it on this side of our death. As the tree falleth, so it must lie. While the nature is soft it is susceptible of impression, stamp what seal you may upon it; once let it grow cold and hard, you can do so no more; it is proof against any change. We have no intimation in the Word of God that any soul dying in unbelief will afterwards be converted. He that is holy, let him be holy still; he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Moreover, we ought to know, for it is possible for a man to know whether he is thoroughly prepared. Jesus Christ has not left us in such a dubious ease that we always need to be inquiring, Am I His, or am I not? He tells us that he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved. If we have obeyed these commands we shall be saved, for our God keepeth His word. We need not harbour endless questionings.
3. Mast how many put off all thoughts of being prepared to diet They are prepared for almost anything except the one thing needful. Prepare to meet your God.
II. The author of this preparation for death. Who made Adam fit for Paradise but God? And who must make us fit for the better Paradise above but God? That we cannot do it ourselves is evident. We are dead in trespasses and sins. Can the dead start from the grave of their own accord? The dead shall surely rise, but because God raises them. Conversion, which prepares us for heaven, is a new creation. The original creation was the work of God, and the new creation must likewise be of God. Think of what fitness for heaven is! To be fit for heaven a man must be perfect. Go, you who think you can prepare yourselves, be perfect for a day. Mans work is never perfect. God alone is perfect, and He alone is the Perfecter.
III. The seal of this preparation. The earnest of the Spirit. Masters frequently pay during the week a part of the wages which will be due on Saturday night. God gives His Holy Spirit, as it were, to be a part of the reward which He intends to give to His people when, like hirelings, they have fulfilled their duty. So God gives us His Holy Spirit to be in our hearts as an earnest of heaven. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you reply, How may I know? Wherever the Holy Spirit is, He works certain graces in the soul, such as repentance, patience, forgiveness, holy courage, joy, etc. This gift, moreover, will be conspicuously evidenced by a living faith in Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The great hope and its earnest
I. What this self-same thing is for which we are wrought. Studying the context, we find it to be a certain state of mind in regard to many things. We must go back to chap. 4. to understand this fully. And I think it must be allowed that it is a very great and heroic attitude. He who can take up the language of a passage like this, and honestly adopt it as the description of the state and feeling of his mind, is a -very king, and must be among the happiest of men. We have around us here and now the world–God-denying and anti-Christian–which was around the Apostle Paul. It is not changed! The apostle seems to have lived in a tough house, and yet a house that, after years of toil and hardship, became worn out and frail. If it was a great thing for him to triumph over bodily suffering, and to face death, must it not be a great thing for afflicted and suffering people to do the same now? And is it not a great thing, in these times, to be able to look to that beyond in faith and confidence, to cast anchor of thought and faith, as well as of desire and hope, in another life? While atheism spreads blackness over the universe, while materialism drags men down to the dust, while heartless philosophies and flippant literatures tell us it does not matter–in times like these it is a great thing to stand on the old watch-tower, and to look by faith clearly beyond the visible into the invisible, declaring, Yes, I see it. I know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle, etc.
II. It is wholly the result of a divine process. It is not a natural development. If it were so, the apostle might have said, He who created us, when we were born, for this self-same thing is God; or, He who gave us life, and gave us power to mould and renew our own nature till we rise into all goodness, is God. But his words take another line. He who hath wrought us–created us anew in Christ Jesus–wrought us, as the block of marble is wrought into the shape of the fair figure. So are we wrought by God. His work is marvellous. He must have wrought a great work in Stephen before he could stand up fearlessly, with an angel face, amid the shower of deathdealing stones. He works always along main lines, amid infinite variety of circumstance, but always with a view to the self-same thing, and therefore in some degree along the same road to reach it; and this is the road (Rom 8:29-30).
III. All this is made sure to us, not only in Divine promise, but by the earnest of the spirit. That is to say, this self-same thing means not merely a hope that something good and great is coming by and by, but that it is in part matter of experience now. There are estates in this world which you can enter by crossing a river, or going over a chain of hills. You are then in the estate, and if you know the proprietor, and he accounts you his friend, you have some feeling of safety as you travel on over moor and moss, through gloomy forest and dark defile; but if you are going to the mansion–that is twenty or thirty miles distant, perhaps, and many adventures may come to you by the way. Still, if you walk well, and walk right on–not stopping for every dog that barks, or sheltering from every shower that falls, but pressing always on–why, then, just about sunset, perhaps, the western sky all gold, sweet evening breathing peace over the earth, you will see the towers of the castle whither you are going. And the landscape will begin to soften and glow; the grass is greener now; the trees are more select; the road–how smooth it is, compared with some of the first miles you trod! And then you pass the great iron gate, and lo! yonder in the doorway is your friend who has sent for you, and who is lord of all the way by which you have come. Such is our heavenly way. Every step of it is on Kings ground. We are in heaven when we begin to live to heavens King. But it is a wide estate, and looking, and longing, and praying as they travel; and this is the earnest of the Spirit this is the witness in the man himself that he has passed from death unto life, and that he shall win the life immortal at length. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The glorious hereafter and ourselves
It is a very comforting thing to be able to see the work of God in our own hearts. We have not to search long for the foul handiwork of Satan within us. The apostle found indications of the Divine work in a groan. Believers may trace the finger of God in their holy joys, yet just as surely is the Holy Spirit present in their sorrows and groanings which cannot be uttered. So long as it is the work of God, it is comparatively a small matter whether our hearts utterance be song or sigh.
I. Gods work is seen in creating in us desires after being clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
1. The Christian is the most contented man in the world, but he is the least contented with the world. He is like a traveller, perfectly satisfied with the inn as an inn, but his desires are ever towards home. He is like a sailor, well content with the good ship for what it is, but he longs for harbour.
2. What is it that makes the Christian long for heaven?
(1) A desire for the unseen. The carnal mind is satisfied with what the eyes can see, etc., but the Christian has a spirit within him which the senses cannot gratify.
(2) A yearning after, holiness. He who is born again of incorruptible seed finds his worst trouble to be sin. What bliss to be without the tendency or possibility to sin!
(3) A sighing after rest, which we cannot, find here.
(4) A thirst for communion with God. Here we do enjoy fellowship with God, but it is remote and dark.
3. This desire is above ordinary nature. All flesh is grass, and the grass loves to strike its root deep into the earth; it has no tendrils with which to clasp the stars. Man by nature would be content to abide on earth for ever.
4. While they are contrary to the old nature, such aspirations prove the existence of the new nature. You may be quite sure thai you have the nature of God in you if you are pining after God.
5. Note the means by which the Holy Spirit quickens these desires within our spirits.
(1) They are infused in us by regeneration, which begets in us a spiritual nature, and the spiritual nature brings with it its own longings–viz., after perfection and God.
(2) They are further assisted by instruction. The more the Holy Ghost teaches us of the world to come, the more we long for it.
(3) They are further increased by sanctified afflictions. Thorns in our nest make us take to our wings; the embittering of this cup makes us earnestly desire to drink of the new wine of the kingdom.
(4) They are increased by the sweets as well as the bitters. Communion with Christ sharpens the edge of our desire for heaven. And so does elevation of soul. The more we are sanctified and conformed unto Jesus, the more we long for the world to come.
II. The fitness for heaven which is wrought in us.
1. Who fits us.
(1) God the Father, by adopting us into His family, by justifying us through Christ, by preserving us by His power.
(2) God the Son, by blotting out our iniquities, by transferring to us His righteousness, by taking us into union with Himself.
(3) The Holy Spirit, by giving us food for the new nature, instruction, etc.
2. In what this fitness consists.
(1) In the possession of a spiritual nature. The unregenerate would not by any possibility be able to enjoy the bliss of heaven. They would be quite out of their element. A bee in a garden is at home, and gathers honey from all the flowers; but admit a swine, and it sees no beauty in lilies and roses, and therefore it proceeds to root, and tear, and spoil in all directions.
(2) In a holy nature. If a man has no delight in God he has no fitness for heaven.
(3) In love to the saints. Those who do not love the people of God on earth would find their company very irksome for ever.
(4) In joy in service.
(5) In conformity to Christ. Much of heaven consists in this.
3. The unfitness of unrenewed souls for heaven may be illustrated by the incapacity of certain persons for elevated thoughts and intellectual pursuits. Alphonse Karr tells a story of a servant-man who asked his master to be allowed to leave his cottage and sleep over the stable. What was the matter with his cottage? Why, sir, the nightingales all around make such a jug, jug, jug at night that I cannot bear them. A man with a musical ear would be charmed with the nightingales song, but here was a man without a musical soul, who found the sweetest notes a nuisance.
III. The Lord has graciously given to us an earnest of glory. An earnest is unlike a pledge, which has to be returned when the matter which it ensures is obtained; it is a part of the thing itself. So the Holy Spirit is a part of heaven. His work in the soul is the bud of heaven.
1. His very dwelling in our soul is the earnest of heaven. If God Himself condescends to make these bodies His temples, is not this akin to heavens honours?
2. When He brings to us the joys of hope, this is an earnest. While singing some glowing hymn our spirit shakes off all her doubts and fears, and anticipates her everlasting heritage.
3. When we enjoy the full assurance of faith, and read our title clear to mansions in the skies; when faith knows whom she has believed, and is persuaded that He is able to keep that which she has committed to Him–this is an earnest of heaven.
4. Heaven is the place of victory, and when the Holy Spirit enables us to overcome sin we enjoy an earnest of the triumph of heaven.
5. When through the Spirit we enjoy fellowship with Christ, and with one another, we have a foretaste of the fellowship of heaven.
Conclusion: If these things be so, believers–
1. Be thankful. Remember these things are not your own productions; they have been planted in your soul by another hand, and watered by a superior power.
2. Be reverent. When a scholar knows that all he has learned has been taught him by his master, he looks up from his masters feet into his masters face with respectful esteem.
3. Be confident. If the good thing had been wrought by ourselves we might be sure that it would fail before long. Nothing of mortal man was ever perfect. But, if He that hath begun the good work be God, there is no fear that He will forsake or leave His work undone. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Detaching
I. In Gods economy this life is a process of disentangling from its own conditions. Mortal life is a getting loose.
1. Note the imagery of the context. We mortals are as dwellers in a tent. This tent is being gradually loosened down. The same word was used by our Lord of the stones of the temple at Jerusalem, and indicates a gradual destruction, stone after stone. So in striking a tent. Paul has a like figure in Philippians, where he desires to depart, or, literally, to break camp. This gradual loosening, this detachment, is a familiar fact of our life. We are breaking up, and God hath wrought us for this very thing. One of the most puzzling things about the world is that such superhuman ingenuity, such perfect finish of workmanship, will crumble to dust. How exquisite is the structure of a bee or of a butterfly, and yet how short-lived they are.
2. These are familiar facts. What is our attitude toward them?
(1) The average man ignores them. He strikes out the tabernacle from the text, and substitutes a building. He lives and plans as if both he and the world were eternal. The earlier stages of life are occupied with amassing instead of throwing off. The love and intimacy of the family circle are taking the boy deeper into themselves. Then his social nature is throwing out tendrils and attaching itself to school and college friends. Then comes social and business or professional life. The bonds multiply; more and more the man is getting wrapped round and tied up. Domestic life encircles him. Business becomes engrossing. So the world winds round him, coil after coil. If the house of his earthly habitation is a tent, it is a substantial tent, or so it seems. It has stood a good many hard blasts. The man himself, too, has been all along growing. All is increase, enlargement of range.
(2) But as time goes on you notice a change. The man has reached his altitude. The cords on the rear of the tent begin to slacken. A father or a mother dies. Brothers and sisters form homes for themselves, and their interests and his diverge. The old circle of kindred begins to break up. It goes on quietly, like the undermining of a bank. And as time goes on the connections with his own generation gradually break. The push of younger, fresher life crowds him back or on one side. Some day he realises that almost all his old comrades are gone. The break is heading towards the centres of life. He has lost some ambition. He is not so ready for the undertakings which make a drain on nerve and strength. He gives up more easily than of yore. And so the final stage sets in; physical wreck, mental feebleness, complete withdrawal from the busy world. Let it go on its way. He cares no longer. The tent, with its loosened cords, flaps and strains, then collapses. The earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved; and yet He that wrought us for this very thing is God. God meant this.
3. This is a very sad picture if this is all. Nay, it is an insult to common sense to ask us to believe that this wondrous frame of nature and of man are made merely to be destroyed. God did not make us for death, but for life. If He has appointed a tent for our sojourn, He has reared a building for our dwelling. Moses, in Psa 90:1-17., voices the truth. There is nothing eternal but God. There is no warrant of mans eternity but God. There is no eternal home for man but in God.
II. And so we turn to the other side of our text. God has made us for the tent, but He has also made us for the building.
1. The important point is that we should see these two things as part of one economy–the tent and the building as related to each other. Even if sin had never entered the world, I doubt whether this human life and body would have been any more than a temporary stage of existence through which men would have passed into a purely spiritual life. Because I find that this is according to the analogy of Gods working elsewhere. Gods plans unfold. They do not flash into consummation. They involve progressive stages. The line of His purpose runs out to eternity, but it runs through time.
2. Thought has tended too much to the violent separation of the mortal life from the eternal life–has tended to set them in contrast and opposition instead of in harmony. For instance, we draw the line sharply between life and death; and yet many a scientist will tell you that death is the beginning of life, and Christ and Paul tell you that in unmistakable terms. And what we want clearly to apprehend is that this mortal, transitory tent-life has a definite relation to the permanent spiritual life of the future; that it serves a purpose of preparation and development toward that life; that it furnishes a soil in which the seeds of the spiritual life are sown; and that, therefore, instead of being despised and neglected because it is temporary and destined to dissolution, it is to be cultivated as the effective ministrant of the eternal life. He that wrought us for this very thing is God.
3. We have in nature a great many illustrations and analogies of this. Take, e.g., the soil. Existence underground, in the dark, is a low form of life, and yet the seed must be cast into the ground, and remain there for a time, before the beauty and fruitfulness and nourishment of the fruit or grain can become facts. And that stage ministers directly to the higher form of life. So in animal life. What a delicate and beautiful structure is the egg of the fowl! It is made, as we all see, to be broken, and an egg-shell is a synonym for something worthless. And yet there have been lodged in that frail and temporary thing forces which minister to life. So the worm rolls himself up in the cocoon, but within the cocoon the purple and golden glories of the butterfly are silently elaborating themselves. Even so it is Gods intent that the immortal, the spiritual life should be taking shape under the forms of the mortal life–that in the tent man should be shaping for the eternal building.
4. This feature of our mortal life is intended to show itself early. The average human life, as we have seen, tends to become more and more enveloped in the wrappings of this world, and to consider nothing else; and many practically reason that attention to the interests of the next world may be deferred until the process of detachment from the things of time has fairly and consciously set in. On the contrary, the life should be shaped for eternity from the beginning. The ministry of the soil begins with the very first stage of the seed-life. The world to come does not appeal merely to manhood and old age. It is the child that is most inquisitive about the sky, to whom the stars are a wonder. Why not the same fact in spiritual life? Why should not heavenly aspirations characterise childhood? Why should not the child-life be touched and quickened by contact with heaven? Within and under the life of society, the life of business, the domestic life, an eternal, spiritual manhood may be outlining itself.
5. When men have undertaken to shut themselves out as much as possible from the contact of this life, they have not seen that He that hath wrought us for this very thing is God.
6. For years, as the traveller on the Rhine came in sight of Cologne, the first object which greeted his eye was the unsightly mass of scaffolding around the cathedral spires. It is all gone now, and the twin spires soar heavenward from their base, and cut the horizon with their clean, sharp lines of stone. Yet the scaffolds were necessary to the building. Whether this life is to be more than scaffolding depends on the man who lives–depends on whether or not he mistakes scaffolding for building. If the cocoon is all that the worm comes to, poor worm! Worthless cocoon! If business, politics, social life, fame, are all the man comes to, poor man! The tent will fall. Shall you be left uncovered? Beware, beware of these same wrappings. They are folding you in closely. Detachment may mean for you victory and immortality. God hath wrought you for the eternal building in the heavens no less than for the frail, perishing tent on earth. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.—
The earnest of the Spirit
I. What is given by way of earnest.
II. The nature of an earnest.
1. An earnest supposeth a bargain and contract. The right to eternal life cometh to believers in a way of covenant; they resign themselves to God by faith, and God bindeth Himself to give them forgiveness of sins.
2. Earnest is given when there is some delay of the thing bargained for. As soon as we enter into covenant with God we have a right; but our blessedness is deferred, not for want of love in God, but partly that in the meantime we may exercise our faith and love (Php 3:21; Rom 8:23), and partly that the heirs of salvation may glorify Him here upon earth (Mat 5:16; 1Pe 2:12).
3. An earnest is part of the whole bargain, though but a little part. So the saving gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit are a small beginning, ors part of that glory which shall then be revealed. Grace is begun glory, and they differ as an infant and a man. Regeneration is an immortal seed, a beginning of eternal life.
4. Earnest is given for the security of the party that receiveth it, not for him that giveth it. There is no danger of breaking on Gods part; but God was willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel; because of our frequent doubts and fears in the midst of our troubles and trials, we need this confirmation.
5. It is not taken away till all be consummated, and therein an earnest differeth from a pawn or pledge. A pledge is something left with us, to be restored or taken away from us; but an earnest is filled up with the whole sum. So God giveth part to assure us of obtaining the whole in due season (Php 1:6; 1Pe 1:9).
III. The use and end of an earnest is–
1. To raise our confidence of the certainty of these things. There is some place for doubts and fears, till we be in full possession, from weakness of grace and greatness of trials.
2. To quicken our earnest desires and illustrious diligence. The firstfruits are to show how good, as well as earnest how sure.
3. To bind us not to depart from these hopes. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing] God has given us our being and our body for this very purpose, that both might be made immortal, and both be glorified together. Or, God himself has given us this insatiable hungering and thirsting after righteousness and immortality. Mr. Addison has made a beautiful paraphrase of the sense of the apostle, whether he had his words in view or not:-
“—Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread and inward horror
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
‘Tis the Divinity that stirs within us;
‘Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.—
The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.”
The earnest of the Spirit.] See note on 2Co 1:22.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The selfsame thing is the life, the eternal life, mentioned in the former verse; the house in the heavens, not made with hands, 2Co 5:1. God
hath wrought us for it (as some interpret the text) in creation, and by his providence, forming our bodies in the womb: but it is much better interpreted by others concerning regeneration; for in the first birth (without respect to the decree of election) God hath no more wrought us for it, than the worst of men. The apostle therefore is, doubtless, to be understood, as speaking concerning the work of grace, which is here attributed to God; we have not wrought ourselves into or up to any fitness or any grounded expectation of the future blessed and glorious estate; but it is God who hath prepared us for it, and wrought such a lively hope of it in us.
Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit; and hath also given us his Holy Spirit as the pledge and earnest of it; (concerning this, see 2Co 1:22) he hath given us his Spirit to dwell and to work in us, and to assure us of what we speak of, viz. the house in the heavens, the building of God, that is not made with hands. The Spirit of grace given to the people of God, working and dwelling in them, is a certain pledge of that glory and life eternal, which he hath prepared for them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. wrought usframed us byredemption, justification, and sanctification.
for the selfsame thing“unto”it; namely, unto what is mortal of us being swallowed up in life (2Co5:4).
who alsoThe oldestmanuscripts omit “also.”
earnest of the Spirit(Seeon 2Co 1:22). It is the Spirit(as “the first-fruits”) who creates in us the groaningdesire for our coming deliverance and glory (Ro8:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing,…. By “the selfsame thing” is meant, either the cross, the burden of sorrows and afflictions, under which the saints groan whilst here, which God has appointed them unto, and therefore to be bore patiently by them; or that glory and immortality, which they, as vessels of mercy, were prepared by him for from everlasting; for which their bodies and souls are formed by him in creation, and for which they are made meet in regeneration, by the curious workmanship of his Spirit and grace upon them: and seeing he “is God”, and not man, who hath wrought them for this, either by his secret purposes and preparations of grace in eternity, or by his open works of creation and regeneration in time; there is no doubt but they shall certainly enjoy it, since his counsels are immutable, and he is a rock, and his work is perfect; whatever he begins he finishes, nor is he ever frustrated of his end: one of Stephens’s copies adds, “and hath anointed us”, which seems to have been transcribed from 2Co 1:21.
Who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit; and therefore may be assured of possessing the inheritance, of which he is the earnest; see 2Co 1:22.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Wrought [] . The compound is significant, indicating an accomplished fact. Through the various operations of His Spirit and the processes of His discipline, God has worked us out (Stanley, worked up) for this change. The process includes the dissolution of what is mortal no less than the renewal. The one is a step to the other. See 1Co 14:36.
Earnest of the Spirit. See on ch. 2Co 1:22, and compare Rom 8:11. Of the Spirit is appositional, the Spirit as the earnest.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now he that hath wrought us “ (ho de katergamenos hemas) “Now the one having wrought us; the one who wrought salvation and hope in us is God. He takes the initiative in salvation, by His word and spirit He seeks, finds, calls, and convicts the lost to repentance and faith, Pro 1:22-23; Joh 16:7-11; Rom 2:4-5; 2Co 7:11-12.
2) “For the selfsame thing is God.” (eis auto touto theos) “Regarding this selfsame thing (is) God;” God loved the lost (man and the universe) and so He gave and sent His Son, the Holy Spirit, His Word, and the church as instruments of salvation and redemption for all; Joh 3:16; Joh 16:7-13; Joh 20:1 to Joh 21:25.
3) “Who also hath given unto us,” (ho dous hemin) “The (same) one who has given to us,” doled out to us, Rom 8:15; 1Jn 4:11-13; Rom 5:5.
4) “The earnest of the Spirit,” (ton arrabona tou pneumatos) “The earnest (or surety) of the Spirit,” the security seal, Divine stamp, imprint of the Spirit, in salvation and securing us to the resurrection of the body, Rom 8:11; Rom 8:14; Rom 8:16; Rom 8:23; Eph 1:13-14; Eph 4:30.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. Now he that hath fitted us. This is added in order that we may know, that this disposition is supernatural. For mere natural feeling will not lead us forward to this, for it does not comprehend that hundredfold recompense which springs from the dying of a single grain. (Joh 12:24.) We must, therefore, be fitted for it by God. The manner of it is at the same time subjoined — that he confirms us by his Spirit, who is as it were an earnest At the same time the particle also seems to be added for the sake of amplification. “It is God who forms in us this desire, and, lest our courage should give way or waver, the Holy Spirit is given us as an earnest, because by his testimony he confirms, and ratifies the truth of the promise.” For these are two offices of the Holy Spirit — first, to show to believers what they ought to desire, and secondly, to influence their hearts efficaciously, and remove all their doubt, that they may steadfastly persevere in choosing what is good. There would, however, be nothing unsuitable in extending the word fitted, so as to denote that renovation of life, with which God adorns his people even in this life, for in this way he already separates them from others, and shows that they are, by means of his grace, marked out for a peculiar condition.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing.Better, he that wrought us for this very thing. The very thing is the consummation, by whatever stages it may be reached, in which mortality is swallowed up of life. The whole work of God in the pastredemption, the new birth, the gifts and graces of the Spiritwas looking to this as its result. He had given the earnest of the Spirit (see Note on 2Co. 1:22) as a pledge of the future victory of the higher life over the lower. Every gift of spiritual energy not dependent upon the material organism was an assurance that that organism was an impediment to the free action of the Spirit, which would one day be overcome. Our eyes, to take a striking instance, are limits, as well as instruments, to the spirits powers of perception.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Wrought us By constituting our nature, and by all the provisions of grace, preparing us.
For the selfsame thing The glorious resurrection.
Is God Repeatedly does our apostle, in dealing with his Gentile Corinthians, who but lately were worshipping “dumb idols,” trace Christianity up to the one sole Supreme.
Earnest Note on 2Co 1:22.
Spirit Proof that God alone is author of this grace, since he has given his Spirit within us to attest it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now he who wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave to us the earnest of the Spirit.’
And this glorious future is guaranteed to us because God has fashioned us for this very purpose (Php 3:21), working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure in ways beyond our understanding (Php 2:13), saving us, and moulding us in His image (Rom 8:29), that He might present us perfect before Him (Col 1:22; Eph 1:4; Eph 4:13; Eph 5:27; Heb 10:14). And this is all guaranteed to us because we have been given the Spirit as ‘an earnest’, a sample and guarantee of the future (compare 2Co 1:22), His seal on us until the day of redemption (Eph 4:30). That is why if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ he is none of His (Rom 8:9). And the Holy Spirit and all He is to us is a foretaste of the glory that one day we shall know.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Co 5:5. Now he that hath wrought us, &c. “To these noble views and sublime desires.” This is a most emphatical manner of speaking; not only asserting that God is the author of it, but ascribing Deity to the author. As if he had said, “None but God could have raised us to such a temper.” The Spirit is frequently mentioned as the pledge and earnest of immortality; more particularly Eph 1:13-14.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 5:5 . ] not antithetic (Hofmann), but continuative; this wish is no groundless longing, but we are placed by God in a position for the longed-for change which swallows up death. Now He who has made us ready for this very thing is God .
] for this very behalf, for this very thing , Rom 9:17 ; Rom 13:6 ; Eph 6:18 ; Eph 6:22 ; Col 4:8 . According to the context, it cannot apply to anything else than to the , whereby the mortal will be swallowed up of life. For this precisely Paul knew his individuality to be disposed by God , namely (see what follows) through the Holy Spirit, in the possession of which he had the divine guarantee that at the Parousia he should see his mortal part swallowed up of life, and consequently should not be amongst those liable to eternal destruction. In this way the usual reference of to the eternal glory is to be limited more exactly in accordance with the context; comp. also Maier. Bengel wrongly refers it to the sighing , pointing to Rom 8:23 . [217] But how inappropriate this is to the context! And how unsuitable in that case would be the description of the Holy Spirit as , since, according to Bengel, He is to be conceived as “suspiria operans”! Quite as unsuitable is the reference of . to the creation (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Beza, and others, also Schneckenburger), which has no place here even as the beginning of the preparation indicated (in opposition to Ewald); Rckert remains undecide.
. . .] predicative more precise definition of the previous . ; He who ( quippe qui ) has given to us the Spirit as earnest ; see on 2Co 1:22 . As earnest , namely, of the fact that we shall not fail to be clothed upon with the heavenly body at the Parousia (which Paul was convinced he would live to see). Comp. Rom 8:11 , and the Remark thereon. The usual reference of . .: arrham futurae gloriae , is here too general for the context. The view of Hofmann regarding . . ., that the possession of the Spirit, etc., cancels the distinction between being unclothed and being clothed over, and takes away the natural shrinking from death , falls with his explanation of . . ; see the Remark.
[217] This reference has been in substance repeated by Hofmann (comp. also his Schriftbew . II. 2, p. 475 f.). In place of his former misinterpretation, according to which he took as to work down , break the spirit (see, in opposition to this, my third edition, p. 115, Remark), he has substituted the other erroneous explanation, that is to be held as “ to bring one to the point of doing something ,” that applies to the disinclination to being unclothed , and that the means by which God brings us to the point of not wishing to be unclothed is obviously the terribleness of death . The last point is purely imported, and the whole explanation is excluded by its very inconsistency with the language used in the passage. For means, with Greek writers, to bring one to something , but always only in the sense to prevail on one for something for which we wish to get him, to win him for one’s ends , whether this be effected by persuasion or by other influence directed to the end. So also Jdg 16:16 ; Xen. Mem . ii. 3.11. Our expression to work on a person is similar. Comp. also Xen. Mem . ii. 3. 16; Herod. vii. 6 ( ), ix. 108; Strabo, x. 5, p. 483 ( ). In the N. T. the word never means anything else than to set at work, bring about , and in this sense it occurs frequently in Paul. Nor is it otherwise used here.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Ver. 5. He that hath wrought us ] Curiously wrought us in the lowermost parts of the earth, that is, in the womb, as curious workmen perfect their choice pieces in private, and then set them forth to public view, Psa 139:15 ; cf. Eph 4:9 . Others expound it byRom 9:23Rom 9:23 .
The earnest of the Spirit ] He saith not the pawn, but the earnest. A pawn is to be returned again, but an earnest is part of the whole bargain.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5. ] This great end, the , is justified as the object of the Apostle’s fervent wish, seeing that it is for this very end, that this may ultimately be accomplished, that God has wrought us (see below) and given us the pledge of the Spirit; But (and this my wish has reason: for) He who wrought us out (prepared us, by redemption, justification, sanctification, which are the qualifications for glory) unto this very purpose (viz. that last mentioned . , not , a mere accident of that glorious absorption: see below) is God, who gave unto us (a sign that our preparation is of Him: ‘ quippe qui dederit ’.) the earnest (reff. and note) of (gen. of apposition) the (Holy) Spirit . The Apostle in this verse, is no longer treating exclusively of his own wish for the more summary swallowing up of the mortal by the glorified, but is shewing that the end itself , which he individually, or in common with others then living, wishes accomplished in this particular form of , is, under whatever form brought about , that for which all the preparation, by grace, of Christians, is carried on, and to which the earnest of the Spirit points forward. Meyer would limit this verse entirely to the wish expressed in the last: but he is certainly wrong : for it forms a note of transition to in the next: see below.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 5:5 . . . .: now He that worked us up for this very thing, sc. , the change from mortality to life, is God ( cf. 2Co 4:6 and especially 2Co 1:21 for the form of the sentence), who gave to us the earnest of the Spirit; cf. Rom 8:11 . The “Holy Spirit of promise” is “an earnest of our inheritance” (Eph 1:14 ; see above on 2Co 1:22 ).
Some theologians, e.g. , Martensen, take a somewhat different view of 2Co 5:1-5 , and interpret them as implying St. Paul’s belief in a body of the intermediate state between death and judgment, distinct at once from the “earthly tabernacle” and the “heavenly house,” which latter will be “superindued” at the Second Advent. But ( a ) there is no hint elsewhere in the N.T. of such an ad interim body; ( b ) the “house” which “we have” at death is described in 2Co 5:1 not as temporary, but as “eternal”. This it is which enables him to face death with courage; he would shrink from any or disembodied condition, and so far as the “body” is concerned he does not contemplate any further change at the Day of Judgment. If it might be so, he is reverently anxious to live until the Parousia, and then to be “superindued”; but even if he is to pass through the gate of death he is content. See Salmond’s Christian Doctr. of Immortality , p. 565 ff.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
2 Corinthians
THE PATIENT WORKMAN
2Co 5:5
These words penetrate deep into the secrets of God. They assume to have read the riddle of life. To Paul everything which we experience, outwardly or inwardly, is from the divine working. Life is to him no mere blind whirl, or unintelligent play of accidental forces, nor is it the unguided result of our own or of others’ wills, but is the slow operation of the great Workman. Paul assumes to know the meaning of this protracted process, that it all has one design which we may know and grasp and further. And he believes that the clear perception of the divine purpose, and the habit of looking at everything as contributing thereto, will be a magic charm against all sorrow, doubt, despondency, or fear, for he adds, ‘Therefore we are always confident.’ So let us try to follow the course of thought which issues in such a blessed gift as that of a continual, courageous outlook, and buoyant though grave lightheartedness, because we discern what He means ‘Who worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will.’
I. The first thought here is, God’s purpose in all His working; ‘He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.’
Of course it is impossible that he can mean by this ‘very thing’ the second of the roads by which it was possible to reach the ultimate issue, because he did not know whether his brethren and he were to die or to be changed. He speaks in the context about death as a possible contingency for himself and for them,-’ If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,’ and so on. Therefore we must suppose that ‘the self-same thing’ of which he is thinking as the divine purpose in all His dealings with us, is not the manner in which we may attain that ultimate condition, but the condition itself which, by one road or another, God’s children shall attain. Or, in other words, the highest aim of the divine love in all its dealings with us Christian men, is not merely a blessed spiritual life, but the completion of our humanity in a perfect spirit dwelling in a glorified body. Corporeity-the dwelling in a body by which the pure spirit moves amidst pure universes-is the highest end of God’s will concerning us.
That glorified body is described in our context in wonderful words, which it would take me far too long to do more than just touch upon. Here we dwell in a tent, there we shall dwell in a building. Here in a house made with hands, a corporeal frame derived from parents by material transmission and intervention; there we shall dwell in a building of which God is the maker. Here we dwell in a crumbling clay tenement, which rains dissolve, which lightning strikes, and winds overthrow, and which finally lies on the ground a heap of tumbled ruin. There we dwell in a building, God’s direct work, eternal, and knowing no corruption nor change. Here we dwell in a body congruous with, and part of, the perishable earthly world in which it abides, and with which it stands in relation; there we dwell in a house partaking of the nature of the heavens in which it moves, a body that is the fit organ of a perfect spirit.
And so, says Paul, the end of what God means with us is not stated in all its wonderfulness, when we speak of spirits imbued with His wisdom and surcharged with His light and perfectness, but when we add to that the thought of a fitting organ in which these spirits dwell, whereby they can come into contact with an external universe, incorruptible, and so reach the summit of their destined completeness. ‘The house not made with hands,’ eternal, the building of God in the Heavens, is the end that God has in view for all His children.
II. So, then, secondly, note the slow process of the Divine Workman.
Now I would have you notice that there lies in this conception a very important thought, viz. God cannot make you fit for heaven all at a jump, or by a simple act of will. That is not His way of working. He can make a world so, He cannot make a saint so. He can speak and it is done when it is only a universe that has to be brought into being; or He can say, ‘Let there be light,’ and light springs at His word. But He cannot say, and He does not say, Let there be holiness, and it comes. Not so can God make man meet for the ‘inheritance of the saints in light.’ And it takes Him all His energies, for all a lifetime, to prepare His child for what He wants to make of him.
There is another thought here, which I can only touch, and that is that God cannot give a man that glorified body of which I have been speaking, unless the man’s spirit is Christlike. He cannot raise a bad man at the resurrection with the body of His glory. By the necessities of the case it is confined to the purified, because it corresponds to their inward spiritual being. It is only a perfect spirit that can dwell in a perfect body. You could not put a bad man, Godless and Christless, into the body which will be fit for them whom Christ has changed first of all in heart and spirit into His own likeness. He would be like those hermit crabs that you see on the beach who run into any kind of a shell, whether it fits them or not, in order to get a house.
There are two principles at work in the resurrection of the dead. The glorified body is not the physical outcome of the material body here, but is the issue and manifestation, in visible form, of the perfect and Christlike spirit. Some shall rise to glory and immortality, some to shame and everlasting contempt. If we are to stand at the last with the body of our humiliation changed into a body of glory, we must begin by being changed in the spirit of our mind. As the mind is, so will the body be one day. But, passing from such thoughts as these, and remembering that the Apostle here is speaking only about Christian people, and the divine operations upon them, we may still extend the meaning of this significant word ‘wrought’ somewhat further, and ask you just to consider, and that very briefly, the three-fold processes which, in the divine working, terminate in, and contemplate, this great issue.
God has wrought us for it in the very act of making us what we are. Human nature is an insoluble enigma, if this world is its only field. Amidst all the waste, the mysterious waste, of creation, there is no more profligate expenditure of powers than that which is involved in giving a man such faculties and capacities, if this be the only field on which they are to be exercised. If you think of what most of us do in this world, and of what it is in us to be, and to do, it is almost ludicrous to consider the disproportion. All other creatures fit their circumstances; nothing in them is bigger than their environment. They find in life a field for every power. You and I do not. ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have roosting-places.’ They all correspond to their circumstances, but we have an infinitude of faculty lying half dormant in each of us, which finds no work at all in this present world. And so, looking at men as they are with eternity in their hearts, with natures that go reaching out towards infinity, the question comes up: ‘Wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain? What is the use of us, and why should we be what we are, if there is nothing for us except this poor present?’ God, or whoever made us, has made a mistake; and strangely enough, if we were not made, but evolved, evolution has worked out faculties which have no correspondence with the things around them.
Life and man are an insoluble enigma except on one hypothesis, and that is that this is a nursery-ground, and that the plants will be pricked out some day, and planted where they are meant to grow. The hearts that feel after absolute and perfect love, the spirits that can conceive the idea of an infinite goodness, the dumb desires, the blank misgivings that wander homeless amidst the narrowness of this poor earth, all these things proclaim that there is a region where they will find their nutriment and expatiate, and when we look at a man we can only say, He that hath wrought him for an infinite world, and an endless communion with a perfect good, is God.
Still further, another field of the divine operation to this end is in what we roughly call ‘providences.’ What is the meaning of all this discipline through which we are passed, if there is nothing to be disciplined for? What is the good of an apprenticeship if there is no journeyman’s life to come after it, where the powers that have been slowly acquired shall be nobly exercised upon broader fields? Why should men be taken, as it were, and, like the rough iron from the ground,
‘Be heated hot with hopes and fears,
And plunged in baths of hissing tears,
And battered with the shocks of doom,’
But there is the third sphere of the divine operation. As in creation and in providence, so in all the work and mystery of our redemption, this is the goal that God has in view. It was not worth Christ’s while to come and die, if nothing more was to come of it than the imperfect reception of His blessings and gifts which the noblest Christian life in this world presents. The meaning and purpose of the Cross, the meaning and purpose of all the patient dealings of His whispering Spirit, are that we shall be like our Divine Lord in spirit first, and in body afterwards.
And everything about the experiences of a true Christian spirit is charged with a prophecy of immortality. I have not time to dwell upon one point gathered from the context, that I intended to have insisted upon, viz. that the very desires which God’s good Spirit works in a believing soul are themselves confirmations of their own fulfilment. But if you notice at your leisure the verses that precede my text, you will find that the Apostle adduces the groanings of ‘earnest desire to be clothed with our house which is from Heaven,’ as a proof that we have ‘a building of God, a house not made with hands.’ That is to say, every longing in a Christian heart when it is most filled with that Spirit, and most in contact with God, and which is the answer of that heart to a promise of Christ-every such longing carries with it the assurance of its own fulfilment. He that hath wrought it has wrought it in order that the desire may fit us for its answer, and that the open mouth may be ready for the abundant filling which His grace designs. He works upon us, therefore, by making us desire a gift, and then He gives that which He desires. So let us cherish these longings, not for the accident of escaping death, nor as choosing the path by which we shall reach the blessed issue, but longing for that great issue itself; and try to keep more distinct and clear before all our minds this thought, ‘God means for me the participation in Christ’s glorified Manhood, and my attaining of that Manhood is the end that He has in view in all that He does with me.’
III. So I must say one word about the last thought that is here, and that is the certainty and the confidence. ‘Therefore we are always confident,’ says the Apostle.
In the quarries of Egypt you will find gigantic stones, half-dressed, and intended to have been transported to some great temple. But there they lie, the work incomplete, and they never carried to their place. There are no half-polished stones in God’s quarries. They are all finished where they lie, and then borne across the sea, like Hiram’s from Lebanon, to the Temple on the hill. It is a certainty that God will finish His work; and since ‘He that hath wrought us is God,’ we may be sure that He will not stop till He has done.
But it is a certainty that you can thwart. It is an operation that you can counterwork. The potter in Jeremiah’s parable was making a vessel upon his wheel, and the vessel was marred in his hand, and did not turn out what he wanted it. The meaning of the metaphor, which has often been twisted to express the very opposite, is that the potter’s work may fail, that the artificer may be balked, that you can counterwork the divine dealing, and that all His purpose in your creation, in His providence and in His gift of His Son for your redemption, may come to nought as far as you are concerned. ‘I beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.’ ‘In vain have I smitten your children,’ wailed the Divine Love; ‘they have received no correction.’ In vain God lavishes upon some of us His mercies, in vain for some of us has Christ toiled and suffered and died. Oh, brother! do not let all God’s work on you come to nought, but yield yourselves to it. Rejoice in the confidence that He is moulding your character, cheerfully welcome and accept the providences, painful as they may be, by which He prepares you for heaven. The chisel is sharp that strikes off the superfluous pieces of marble, and when the chisel cuts, not into marble, but into a heart, there is a pang. Bear it, bear it! and understand the meaning of the blow of the sculptor’s mallet, and see in all life the divine hand working towards the accomplishment of His own loving purpose. Then if we turn to Him, amid the pains of His discipline and the joys of His gifts of grace, with recognition and acceptance of His meaning in them all, and cry to Him, ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever, forsake not the work of Thine own hands,’ we may be always confident, as knowing that ‘the Lord will perfect that which concerneth us.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
wrought, See 2Co 4:17.
for. Greek. cis. App-104.
also. Omit,
unto = to.
earnest. See 2Co 1:22. The transliteration of the Hebrew erabon.
Spirit, App-101.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5.] This great end, the , is justified as the object of the Apostles fervent wish, seeing that it is for this very end, that this may ultimately be accomplished, that God has wrought us (see below) and given us the pledge of the Spirit;-But (and this my wish has reason: for) He who wrought us out (prepared us, by redemption, justification, sanctification, which are the qualifications for glory) unto this very purpose (viz. that last mentioned- . ,-not , a mere accident of that glorious absorption: see below) is God, who gave unto us (a sign that our preparation is of Him: quippe qui dederit.) the earnest (reff. and note) of (gen. of apposition) the (Holy) Spirit. The Apostle in this verse, is no longer treating exclusively of his own wish for the more summary swallowing up of the mortal by the glorified, but is shewing that the end itself, which he individually, or in common with others then living, wishes accomplished in this particular form of , is, under whatever form brought about, that for which all the preparation, by grace, of Christians, is carried on, and to which the earnest of the Spirit points forward. Meyer would limit this verse entirely to the wish expressed in the last: but he is certainly wrong: for it forms a note of transition to in the next: see below.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 5:5. , He that hath wrought or prepared us) by faith.- , for this selfsame thing) viz. that we should thus groan, Rom 8:23.-) also; new proof [token to assure us] of our coming blessedness.- , the earnest) ch. 2Co 1:22, note.- , of the Spirit) who works in us that groaning.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 5:5
2Co 5:5
Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God,-Now he that prepared and made us ready for this state of immortality is God. He does this by the training and discipline he gives those who obey him while here in the flesh.
who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit.-He sent the Holy Spirit to train and fit his disciples for the mansions he prepared for them. An earnest is a pledge or assurance that a promise will be kept. God has confirmed what he teaches by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. (Heb 2:3-4). Thus God has attested all his promises and all his teaching concerning all things through the apostles. This assurance or pledge we now have, filling us with joyous anticipation and glorious hope of the resurrection and eternal life herein set forth. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1Th 4:15-18).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
wrought: 2Co 4:17, Isa 29:23, Isa 60:21, Isa 61:3, Eph 2:10
the earnest: 2Co 1:22, Num 13:23-27, Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14, Eph 4:30, 1Jo 3:24
Reciprocal: 1Ki 6:7 – built of stone Job 33:29 – all Psa 31:19 – wrought Rom 8:16 – Spirit 2Co 1:6 – effectual 2Co 1:21 – stablisheth Col 1:12 – made
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 5:5. Wrought us for the selfsame thing means that God has worked matters to accomplish this very result. Earnest means a pledge or foretaste of a more complete favor yet to come. Such an assurance was given in miraculous measure to the apostle, and is bestowed in a lesser measure upon all Christians. This is done in the church which is the body of Christ, and by the spiritual blessings that come to all faithful disciples of Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 5:5. Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit (i.e., the Spirit as the earnest). This groaning is not the mere feeling which nature forces out from many a weary spirit, especially under the manifold ills of life; it is that instinct of the new nature, wrought of God, which is eternal life itself begun in the souls of all that believe (Joh 5:24; Joh 11:26), and the earnest of all that this will yet be we have in the Spirit given unto us. This last thought is one the apostle often dwells on (see Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:23),
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, he that hath wrought and appointed us, he that hath prepared and fitted us, for this glorious change, and hath set our souls a-longing for this immortal state, is God; who hath also given us by his Spirit those holy affections, fervent desires, and faithful endeavours, which are the earnest of heaven before we enjoy it.
Learn hence, 1. That Almighty God doth fit and frame his people for that happy state of bliss and glory, which he has designed them for, and appointed them unto: He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.
Learn, 2. That to the intent his saints may look and long for that glorious and immortal state with the greater vehemency and desire, he has already given them an earnest and foretaste of it, by his Holy Spirit in their hearts.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 5 God told us about the immortal body which awaits us and how to reach it. He gave us the Holy Spirit as a pledge that He would keep the promise of a new body ( Heb 2:3-4 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
2Co 5:5-8. Now he that hath wrought us for Or to, this longing for immortality; is God For none but God, none less than the Almighty, could have wrought this in us; who also hath given us his Spirit In its various gifts and graces; as an earnest Of our obtaining the heavenly habitation. We are confident, therefore Or courageous in all dangers and sufferings, and dare venture even upon death itself; knowing that while we are at home Or rather sojourn (as here signifies) in the body, we are absent, , we are exiles; from the Lord
Christ, in the enjoyment of whom our chief happiness consists. For While on earth; we walk by faith Are influenced, guided, and governed in our whole course of life, by our faith in objects yet unseen; not by the sight Of heavenly glories. In other words, we cannot now see heavenly and eternal things, as we expect to do after death. It is true our faith gives us an evidence of them, (Heb 11:1,) which implies a kind of seeing him who is invisible, and the invisible world; yet this is as far beneath what we shall have in eternity, as that evidence of faith is above the evidence of bare, unassisted reason. We are confident, I say And bold, through the influence of these views which God hath given us; and willing , take complacency and delight, in the expectation of being absent from the body And from all intercourse with the persons and things of this world, however dear some of them may have been formerly to us; and present with the Lord This demonstrates that the apostle had no idea of his soul sleeping after death, but expected it to pass immediately into a state of felicity with Christ in paradise; and consequently that the happiness of the saints is not deferred till the resurrection. See 2Co 12:4.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit. [God designed man for such superinvestment, and hence placed in him the longing or groaning for its accomplishment. As an infallible guarantee that the longing should be satisfied, he has given to the redeemed an earnest of the Spirit. Having given unto us of his own Spirit, it is a light thing that he should give us the spiritual body (Rom 8:32).]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 5
The earnest of the Spirit; the influences of the Spirit as the earnest, or pledge of the divine love.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
5:5 Now he that hath {c} wrought us for the selfsame thing [is] God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
(c) He means that first creation, to show us that our bodies were made to this end, that they should be clothed with heavenly immortality.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The hope of an immortal body is not just wishful thinking. We already have the down payment of our inheritance in the Holy Spirit. In modern Greek the word translated "pledge" (NASB) or "deposit" (NIV) here, arrhabona, elsewhere describes an engagement ring (cf. 2Co 1:22). Our present possession of the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will provide all that we need in the future.
The Spirit may not seem like a very convincing guarantee since we cannot see Him. However, we can see what His presence in us produces, namely, our character and conduct transformation (cf. Joh 3:8). This should give us confidence that God will transform us completely in the future.