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5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— 3if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. 4For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. The Ministry of Reconciliation11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. 12We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
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8. We are confident, I say He again repeats, what he had said respecting the confidence of the pious — that they are so far from breaking down under the severity of the cross, and from being disheartened by afflictions, that they are made thereby more courageous. For the worst of evils is death, yet believers long to attain it, as being the commencement of perfect blessedness. Hence and may be regarded as equivalent to because, in this way: “Nothing can befall us, that can shake our confidence and courage, since death (which others so much dread) is to us great gain. (Philippians 1:21.) For nothing is better than to quit the body, that we may attain near intercourse with God, and may truly and openly enjoy his presence. Hence by the decay of the body we lose nothing that belongs to us.” Observe here — what has been once stated already — that true faith begets not merely a contempt of death, but even a desire for it, 522522 See p. 216. and that it is, accordingly, on the other hand, a token of unbelief, when dread of death predominates in us above the joy and consolation of hope. Believers, however, desire death — not as if they would, by an importunate desire, anticipate their Lord’s day, for they willingly retain their footing in their earthly station, so long as their Lord may see good, for they would rather live to the glory of Christ than die to themselves, (Romans 14:7,) and for their own advantage; 523523 “C’est ... dire pour leur propre proufit et vtilite;” — “That is to say, for their own profit and advantage.” for the desire, of which Paul speaks, springs from faith. Hence it is not at all at variance with the will of God. We may, also, gather from these words of Paul, that souls, when released from the body, live in the presence of God, for if, on being absent from the body, they have God present, 524524 “In this world,” says Howe, in a discourse on 2 Corinthians 5:8, “we find ourselves encompassed with objects that are suitable, grateful, and entertaining to our bodily senses, and the several principles, perceptions, and appetites that belong to the bodily life; and these things familiarize and habituate us to this world, and make us, as it were, one with it. There is particularly a bodily people, as is intimated in the text, that we are associated with, by our being in the body. The words ἐνδημὢσαι and ἐκδημὢσαι, in this verse, (and the same are used in 2 Corinthians 5:6 and 9,) signify there is such a people of which we are, and from which we would be disassociated; ἔνδημος is civis, incola, or indigena — an inhabitant or native among this or that people; an ἔκδημος is peregrinus, one that lives abroad, and is severed from the people he belonged unto. The apostle considers himself, while in the body, as living among such a sort of people as dwell in bodies, a like sort of people to himself, and would be no longer a home — dweller with them, but travel away from them, to join and be a dweller with another people. For also, on the other hand, he considers, ‘with the Lord,’ an invisible world where he resides, and an incorporeal people he presides over.” — Howe’s Works, (Lond. 1834,) p. 1023. — Ed. they assuredly live with him. Here it is asked by some — “How then did it happen that the holy fathers dreaded death so much, as for example David, Hezekiah, and the whole of the Israelitish Church, as appears from Psalm 4, from Isaiah 38:3, and from Psalm 115:17?” I am aware of the answer, that is usually returned — that the reason, why death was so much dreaded by them was, that the revelation of the future life was as yet obscure, and the consolation, consequently, was but small. Now I acknowledge, that this, in part, accounts for it, but not entirely, for the holy fathers of the ancient Church did not in every case tremble, on being forewarned of their death. Nay more, they embraced death with alacrity, and with joyful hearts. For Abraham departed without regret, full of days. 525525 “Rassassi de iours, et sans regret;” — “Satisfied with days and without regret.” “In the Hebrew,” says Poole in his Annotations, “it is only full or satisfied; but you must understand with days or years, as the phrase is fully expressed in Genesis 35:29; 1 Chronicles 23:1; 1 Chronicles 29:28; Job 42:17; Jeremiah 6:11. When he (Abraham) had lived as long as he desired, being in some sort weary of life, and desirous to be dissolved, or full of all good, as the Chaldee renders it — satisfied, as it is said of Naphtali, (Deuteronomy 33:23,) with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord upon himself and upon his children.” — Ed. (Genesis 25:8.) We do not read that Isaac was reluctant to die. (Genesis 35:29.) Jacob, with his last breath, declares that he is waiting for the salvation of the Lord. (Genesis 49:18.) David himself, too, dies peacefully, without any regrets, (1 Kings 2:10,) and in like manner Hezekiah. As to the circumstance, that David and Hezekiah did, each of them, on one occasion deprecate death with tears, the reason was, that they were punished by the Lord for certain sins, and, in consequence of this, they felt the anger of the Lord in death. Such was the cause of their alarm, and this believers might feel even at this day, under the reign of Christ. The desire, however, of which Paul speaks, is the disposition of a well-regulated mind. 526526 “Vn esprit bien pose, et deliure de trouble;” — “A mind well regulated, and free from alarm.” 9. Wherefore we strive. Having shown how magnanimous Christians ought to be in the endurance of afflictions, 531531 “Quelle constance et magnanimite doyuent auoir les Chrestiens en leurs afflictions;” — “What constancy and magnanimity Christians ought to have in their afflictions.” so that even in dying they may be conquerors over death, and that too, because by afflictions and death they attain to a blessed life, he now from the same source draws also another conclusion — that they must, by all means, make it their main desire to please God. And indeed it cannot but be, that the hope of a resurrection, and thoughtfulness as to the judgment, will awaken in us this desire; as, on the other hand, the true reason why we are so indolent and remiss in duty is, that we seldom, if ever, think of what ought to be constantly kept in remembrance, 532532 “Nous deurions auoir incessamment deuant les yeux et en memoire;” — “We ought to have unceasingly before our eyes and in our remembrance.” that we are here but lodgers 533533 “Nous sommes yci estrangers;” — “We are strangers here.” for a short time, that we may, after finishing our course, return to Christ. Observe, however, what he says — that this is the desire both of the living and of the dead, by which statement the immortality of the soul is again confirmed. |