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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:1-8
Second Corinthians 5 continues the description of the New Testament ministers. This description began in 3:12 with the word concerning their constitution. In chapter four we see the way these ministers conduct themselves (4:1-6), and we have a record regarding their living (4:7-18). They were constituted of the Triune God, they conducted themselves in such a way as to shine out the gospel of the glory of Christ, and they lived a crucified life for the manifestation of resurrection life. In 5:1-8 we see another characteristic: their longing to be clothed upon with the transfigured body.
As the ministers of the new covenant were conducting themselves according to their inner constitution and living a crucified life for the manifestation of resurrection life, they were longing, desiring, aspiring, to be clothed upon with the transfigured body. This means that they were longing for the redemption of their body. Their spirit had been regenerated and their soul had been renewed and transformed, but there was still a problem related to the fallen, mortal body. This body was a burden to them. They sighed, groaned, under this burden. They did not have any problems in their spirit or in their soul. Their soul had been constituted of the divine element. But they still had a problem with the mortal body.
In God’s full and complete salvation, there is a matter which takes care of our mortal body. This is transfiguration. Transfiguration changes our mortal body into a body of glory, just like the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus. This aspect of God’s salvation is very promising; it is the hope of glory.
After giving us a clear view of how the new covenant ministers have been constituted of the Triune God and how they conduct themselves for the shining of the gospel and live a crucified life, Paul goes on to speak of their longing to have the fallen body redeemed. In this Epistle, however, Paul does not speak of the redemption of our body, a term used in Romans 8. Rather, he chooses another kind of word, a somewhat deeper expression.
Second Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if our earthly tabernacle house is taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.” “For” indicates that what is to be mentioned is an explanation of what is spoken of in 4:13-18. In this chapter the apostle tells us of the apostles’ aspiration for the redemption of their body (Rom. 8:23), their ambition to please the Lord (2 Cor. 5:9-15), and their commission from the Lord for His new creation (vv. 16-21). They cared for the things that are not seen, not for the things that are seen.
The word “earthly” in verse 1 does not mean made of earth; it means upon the earth. The word “tabernacle” indicates that our physical body, in which our person dwells, is not only for living, but also for worshipping God (see 1 Cor. 6:19). The word “building” denotes a building with a foundation, not like a tabernacle without a foundation. This building is from, or out of, God, a “house” that is our spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44). In contrast to something upon the earth, it is a house in the heavens.
The expression “tabernacle house” is unusual. Our body is a house and also a tabernacle. The word house indicates that the body is our dwelling place, and the word tabernacle indicates that this house is a temporary dwelling place. It is not a building with a foundation, but a tabernacle similar to the one erected in the wilderness. As Paul indicates, some day this tabernacle-house will be taken down. Here Paul does not simply say that our mortal body will die. Instead, he speaks of the earthly tabernacle-house being taken down. When this happens, we shall have a building from God, not another tabernacle. This building will be solid and will have a foundation. Furthermore, this house is not heaven, but it is in the heavens in contrast to upon the earth.
This building will be our resurrected, transfigured body, the spiritual body mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. Today our body is a soulish one, but one day it will be transfigured into a spiritual body. As a soulish body, it is now animated by the soul. When it becomes a spiritual body, it will be directed by the spirit. That building will become our house, a house not made with human hands, but a house from God in the heavens.
In verse 2 Paul says, “For indeed in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our dwelling place from heaven.” The word “this” refers to the tabernacle in verse 1. To be clothed upon is to be transfigured and conformed to the body of Christ’s glory. The apostles were longing for this. Our dwelling place from heaven, or out of heaven, refers to the house in the heavens in verse 1.
In our spirit we rejoice and in our body we groan. If you want to rejoice, get into the spirit. But if you want to groan or sigh, remain in the body. As Paul says, in the body we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our dwelling place from heaven. Since we have not experienced this kind of clothing, we cannot say much about it. We know what it is to rejoice in the spirit and to groan in the body, but we do not know what it is to be clothed upon with the resurrected, spiritual, heavenly body. But according to what is prophesied in the New Testament, we shall eventually be clothed with such a body. This is one item in the New Testament, in the will. I have the full confidence this will happen, and I am waiting for it.
Verse 3 continues, “If indeed, being clothed, we shall not be found naked.” To be naked is to be without a body. A dead person, being disembodied, is naked, without a body as a covering before God. The apostles were expecting to be transfigured in their body, to be clothed with a spiritual body to meet the Lord before they died and were disembodied, that they might not be found naked.
Many Christians think that when a believer in Christ dies, he goes to heaven. If this is true, then there are a great many naked persons in heaven, for those who have died are now disembodied. God, however, will not allow such naked persons to come into His presence. In the Old Testament it says that someone who is not properly clothed cannot come into the presence of God. The priests, in particular, had to wear a long robe. This was a type. If we would be in the presence of God, we cannot be naked; that is, we cannot be disembodied.
When Paul said that he did not want to be found naked, this means that he did not want to die. To die is to be naked. Paul’s desire was to be clothed and thereby not to be found naked. Of course, after our bodies are transfigured, none of us will be found naked. We shall live eternally. The point here is that in verse 3 to be naked means to die.
In verse 4 Paul says, “For indeed, we who are in the tabernacle groan, being burdened, in that we do not desire to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” To be burdened here means to be weighed down, depressed, oppressed. The apostles groaned in the desire not to be unclothed, disembodied, that is, not to die but to be clothed upon, to put on the spiritual body. This is to have our body transfigured (Phil. 3:21), to have it redeemed (Rom. 8:23).
In verse 4 “what is mortal” denotes our mortal body (2 Cor. 4:11; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:53). To have our mortal body “swallowed up by life” is to have it transfigured by resurrection life swallowing the death in our mortal body (1 Cor. 15:54).
Our fallen, mortal body is a great burden to us. Under the weight of this burden, we groan, not that we would be unclothed, or be found naked, but that we would be clothed with a transfigured body.
Paul did not want to die, but he certainly did desire to be raptured. He wanted to be clothed upon, to have his body transfigured. Then what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. When we are raptured, transfigured, and clothed with the heavenly, spiritual, and resurrected body, then that which is mortal will be swallowed up by life. This was Paul’s longing. Most of us have not yet come to this stage in our Christian life. Rather, the younger ones may prefer to linger on earth. But those who are older desire to be raptured.
Verse 5 says, “Now He Who has wrought us for this very thing is God, Who has given to us the pledge of the Spirit.” The Greek word rendered “wrought” can also be translated fashioned, shaped, prepared, made fit. God has wrought us, fashioned us, shaped us, prepared us, made us fit, for the very purpose that our mortal body might be swallowed up by His resurrection life. Thus, our entire being will be saturated with Christ. God has given us the Spirit as the pledge, the earnest, the foretaste, the guarantee, of this wonderful and marvelous part of His complete salvation for us in Christ.
In what way has God prepared us? First, He has sown Himself into our being. This is indicated by the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. The Lord Jesus came as a sower to sow Himself into us. Our heart is the soil for growing Christ. Eventually Christ will grow in us and saturate our entire being. This is the preparation for Christ’s saturating our body. On the one hand, when we are transfigured, we shall be clothed with a spiritual body outwardly. On the other hand, transfiguration means that the indwelling Christ is saturating our body and swallowing up the element of death in it. He has been sown into our spirit and heart, and now He is saturating our soul. Then one day He will spread from the soul into the body and saturate the body. When our body has been saturated in full, it will become a new body, a new building, with which we shall be clothed.
According to verse 5, as the One who has wrought us for this very thing, God has given to us the pledge of the Spirit. The Spirit is the guarantee that God will accomplish this. The Spirit is Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of God. Actually, therefore, God has put Himself into our being as the guarantee that He will change our body so that we shall be entirely conformed to Christ in resurrection.
In verse 6 Paul continues, “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that being at home in the body, we are away from home from the Lord.” Our body is in the material realm; the Lord is in the spiritual realm. In this sense, we are absent from the Lord when we are present in our body.
Verse 7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by appearance.” Appearance refers to that which is seen; hence, to sight. The apostles regulate their life and conduct themselves by faith, as testified in Hebrews 11, not by that which is seen. It is in this way they realize that they are away from the Lord while they are in their physical body. This corresponds to the word in 4:18.
Today nearly all of mankind walks by appearance. Doctors, scientists, and professors take the lead to walk by what they can see. When we speak about a building in the heavens made by God and eternal, they regard this as nonsense. But eventually it will be proved that they are wrong to doubt this truth and that we are right to believe it. We shall have a heavenly body. Until we are transfigured, we walk by faith, not by appearance, not by what we see.
In verse 8 Paul says, “We are of good courage then, and well pleased rather to be away from home out of the body and to be at home with the Lord.” To be away from home out of the body is to die, to be out of the material realm and to be with the Lord in the spiritual realm. The apostles, who are always being persecuted unto death (1:8-9; 4:11; 11:23; 1 Cor. 15:31), are well pleased rather to die, to be out of their confining body that they may be released to be at home with the Lord in a better realm (Phil. 1:23).
As the apostles lived according to their spiritual constitution to shine out the glory of the gospel, and as they were living a crucified life, they were constantly longing to be clothed with a heavenly body. Their desire was to be raptured, to be transfigured. This is a description of the ministers of the new covenant. They are people who do not belong to the earth. Rather, they belong absolutely to another realm and are living in that realm. Although they are on earth, their aspiration is to be in another realm. Their desire is to be clothed with another body and to be in another home with the Lord.
