For indicates that what is to be mentioned is an explanation of what was spoken in 2 Cor. 4:13-18. In this chapter the apostle tells us of the apostles' aspiration for the redemption of their bodies (vv. 1-8; Rom. 8:23), their ambition, their determination, to please the Lord (vv. 9-15), and their commission from the Lord for His new creation (vv. 16-21).

Not made of earth but on the earth.

I.e., our physical body, in which our person dwells and which is not only for our living but also for our worshipping God (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19).

A building with a foundation, in contrast to the tabernacle, which had no foundation. This building is our resurrected, transfigured body, the spiritual body mentioned in 1 Cor. 15, and is in contrast to the dying, physical, natural body that we have today.

Lit., out of.

Our spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44).

In contrast to earthly, i.e., on the earth.

Referring to tabernacle in v. 1.

I.e., to have our body transfigured and conformed to the body of Christ's glory. The apostles were longing for this.

Referring to the dwelling in the heavens in the preceding verse.

Lit., out of.

I.e., 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 bodies, to be clothed with a spiritual body to meet the Lord before they died and were disembodied, that they might not be found naked.

I.e., Weighed down, depressed, oppressed.

The apostles groaned in the desire not to be unclothed, disembodied, that is, in the desire not to die but to be clothed, to put on the spiritual body, that is, to have their body transfigured (Phil. 3:21), to have their body redeemed (Rom. 8:23).

Our mortal body (2 Cor. 4:11; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:53).

The death in our mortal body is swallowed up by resurrection life. Through this our body will be transfigured (1 Cor. 15:54).

Or, 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, which He has prepared for us in Christ.

See note 2 Cor. 1:22^3b.

Our body is in the material realm; the Lord is in the spiritual realm. In this sense we are abroad from the Lord when we are at home in our body.

The apostles regulated their lives and conducted themselves by faith, as mentioned in Heb. 11, not by that which was seen. It was in this way that they realized they were away from the Lord while they were in their physical body. This corresponds with the word in 2 Cor. 4:18.

I.e., that which is seen; hence, sight.

I.e., to die, thus being released from the material realm to be with the Lord in the spiritual realm. The apostles, who were always being persecuted unto death (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:11; 11:23; 1 Cor. 15:31), were well pleased rather to die that they might be released from their confining body to be at home with the Lord in a better realm (Phil. 1:23).

Zealous with a strong aim, striving earnestly to be well pleasing to the Lord.

I.e., living and thus remaining in the body, or dying and thus being with the Lord.

For points to the reason for the determination mentioned in v. 9.

Where Christ will judge His believers at His coming back, not concerning their eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15). See note Rom. 14:10^1a.

The technical word for receiving wages" (Alford). "

While we are still at home in the body, we should do things through it to please the Lord that we may be rewarded by the Lord at His coming.

Or, worthless.

I.e., being conscious of fearing the Lord. Therefore indicates that this consciousness is due to the judgment seat of Christ mentioned in v. 10.

Not the Lord's being fearsome but our fearing the Lord.

The apostles, conscious of fearing the Lord, persuaded men concerning their integrity, concerning what kind of persons they were, toward both God and men. They did not need to persuade God, for what they were had already been made manifest to God; yet, the apostles hoped that they had been made manifest also in the believers' consciences.

I.e., have words to answer those who are boasting.

Lit., face. The outward appearance of the Judaizers.

Where the sincerity and reality of the virtues are.

I.e., mad, as a fool, for God's glory (Acts 26:24-25). The apostles' ecstasy was not an excitement out of folly, but it was to God and with God for His glory.

Self-controlled in love for others' good.

The love of Christ toward us, which was manifested on the cross through His dying for us (Gal. 2:20).

The Greek word means to press on...from all sides, to hold...to one end, to forcibly limit, to confine to one object within certain bounds, to shut up to one line and purpose (as in a narrow, walled road). (The same Greek word is used in Luke 4:38; 12:50; Acts 18:5; Phil. 1:23.) In such a way the apostles were constrained by the love of Christ to live to Him.

I.e., have concluded (probably at the time of conversion).

Christ's loving death is the motivating factor in the apostles' being constrained to live a loving life for Him.

Since Christ died as our Substitute, suffering the sentence of death on behalf of us all, in the eyes of God we all died. Hence, we do not need to die as has been reserved for men (Heb. 9:27).

Christ's death not only saves us from death so that we do not need to die, but also causes us, through His resurrection, to live no longer to ourselves but to Him.

Living to the Lord is deeper in significance than living for the Lord. Living for the Lord implies that I and the Lord are still two; living to the Lord indicates that I am one with the Lord, as the wife is one with the husband in married life.

Since the apostles judged that Christ's death made us all, through His resurrection, a new man, a man not according to the flesh, they would no longer know anyone according to the flesh. They had known Christ in that way, but now they knew Him so no longer.

The first know refers to the inward, subjective consciousness; known and the second know refer to the outward, objective knowledge. See note Rom. 6:6¹.

This confirms what is mentioned in the preceding verse. The apostles would no longer know anyone according to the flesh, because anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old things of the flesh have passed away through the death of Christ, and all has become new in Christ's resurrection.

To be in Christ is to be one with Him in life and nature. This is of God through our faith in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 3:26-28).

The old creation does not have the divine life and nature, but the new creation, constituted of the believers, who are born again of God, does (John 1:13; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Hence, the believers are a new creation (Gal. 6:15), not according to the old nature of the flesh but according to the new nature of the divine life.

Or, ancient.

A call to watch the marvelous change of the new creation.

Referring to the old things.

Referring to all the positive things mentioned in vv. 14-21, of which God is the Originator and Initiator. It is of God that Christ died to save us from death that we might live to Him. It is of God that we have become a new creation in Christ. It is of God that Christ was made sin for us that we might become God's righteousness in Him. It is of God that He reconciled the world to Himself. And it is of God that the apostles are made ambassadors of Christ, commissioned to represent Him for the reconciling of men to God, that men may become God's righteousness and a new creation for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose.

The word is for the ministry (v. 18).

The apostles were commissioned with a definite ministry, to represent Christ to accomplish God's purpose.

In the preceding verse it was the world that was reconciled to God; in this verse it is the believers, who have already been reconciled to God and are to be reconciled further to God. This clearly indicates that two steps are required for men to be fully reconciled to God. The first step is to reconcile sinners to God from sin. For this purpose Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) that they might be forgiven by God. This is the objective aspect of Christ's death. In this aspect He bore our sins on the cross that they might be judged by God upon Him for us. The second step is to reconcile believers living in the natural life to God from the flesh. For this purpose Christ died for us — the persons — that we might live to Him in the resurrection life (vv. 14-15). This is the subjective aspect of Christ's death. In this aspect He was made sin for us to be judged and done away with by God that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. By the two aspects of His death He has fully reconciled God's chosen people to God. These two steps of reconciliation are clearly portrayed by the two veils of the tabernacle. The first veil is called "the screen" (Exo. 26:37, lit.). A sinner who was brought to God through the reconciliation of the propitiating blood entered into the Holy Place by passing this screen. This typifies the first step of reconciliation. The second veil (Exo. 26:31-35; Heb. 9:3) still separated him from God, who was in the Holy of Holies. This veil needed to be rent that the sinner might be brought to God in the Holy of Holies. This is the second step of reconciliation. The Corinthian believers had been reconciled to God, having passed through the first veil and having entered into the Holy Place. Yet they still lived in the flesh. They needed to pass the second veil, which had been rent already (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:20), to enter into the Holy of Holies to live with God in their spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). The goal of this Epistle was to bring them there that they might be persons in the spirit (1 Cor. 2:15), in the Holy of Holies. This was what the apostle meant by saying, "Be reconciled to God." This was to present them full-grown in Christ (Col. 1:28).

Christ did not know sin in an experiential way by contact or personal experience (cf. John 8:46; 1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15; 7:26).

Sin came from Satan, who rebelled against God (Isa. 14:12-14). This sin, which came out of the evil one, entered into man (Rom. 5:12) and made man not only a sinner but sin itself under God's judgment. Hence, when Christ became a man in the flesh (John 1:14), He was made sin (not sinful) on our behalf to be judged by God (Rom. 8:3) that we might become God's righteousness in Him.

Righteousness issues from God for His administration (Psa. 89:14; 97:2; Isa. 32:1). This righteousness is Christ to be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30), making us God's righteousness in Him (not making us righteous before God). Through Christ's redemption, man, who is a sinner and is even sin, is made God's righteousness, being reconciled to the righteous God, and is made a new creation living to God for His eternal purpose. The apostles are commissioned to minister such a Christ, with all the glorious issues of His marvelous achievement, to His believers, who are the members that form His Body. Praise and glory be to Him forever!

In union with Him, not only positionally but also organically in resurrection. We were enemies of God (Col. 1:21) by becoming sin, which came from Satan, who rebelled against God. Christ was made sin for us by becoming one with us through being incarnated in the flesh. Through His death He was condemned in the flesh as sin for us by God that we might be one with Him in His resurrection to be God's righteousness. By this righteousness we, the enemies of God, could be and have been reconciled to God (vv. 18-20; Rom. 5:10).