King James Version
2 Corinthians 5
21 verses with commentary
Our Heavenly Dwelling
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God</strong>—Paul uses <em>oikia</em> (οἰκία, "house/dwelling") and <em>skēnos</em> (σκῆνος, "tent/tabernacle") to contrast our temporary mortal bodies with the permanent resurrection body. The tent imagery echoes Israel's wilderness wanderings and the fragility of earthly existence. <strong>An h...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
V.
(1) **For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved.**—Better, *be broken up,* as more in harmony with the image of the tent. The words that follow give the secret of his calmness and courage in the midst of sufferings. He looks beyond them. A new train of imagery begins to rise in his mind: linked, perhaps, to that of the preceding chapter by the idea of the tabernacl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. I delivered unto you--**A short creed, or summary of articles of faith, was probably even then existing; and a profession in accordance with it was required of candidates for baptism (Ac 8:37).
**first of all--**literally, "among the foremost points" (He 6:2). The atonement is, in Paul's view, of primary importance.
**which I ... received--**from Christ Himself by special revelation (comp...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For in this we groan</strong>—The verb <em>stenazō</em> (στενάζω) expresses the deep inward groaning of creation under sin's curse (Romans 8:22-23). Paul describes the universal Christian experience of longing for redemption's completion. <strong>Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven</strong> uses <em>epipothountes</em> (ἐπιποθοῦντες, "earnestly longing"...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **For in this we groan.**—The “groaning” here, and in 2Corinthians 5:4, may, of course, be a strong way of expressing the burden and the weariness of life, but taken in connection with what we have already seen in the Epistle, as pointing to the pressure of disease, we can scarcely fail to find in it the utterance of a personal or special suffering. (See Notes on 2Corinthians 1:8-9.)
**Earnest...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. buried ... rose again--**His burial is more closely connected with His resurrection than His death. At the moment of His death, the power of His inextinguishable life exerted itself (Mt 27:52). The grave was to Him not the destined receptacle of corruption, but an apartment fitted for entering into life (Ac 2:26-28) [Bengel].
**rose again--**Greek, "hath risen": the state thus begun, and it...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked</strong>—This cryptic verse addresses the intermediate state between death and resurrection. <em>Gymnoi</em> (γυμνοί, "naked") suggests the vulnerable condition of a disembodied soul awaiting resurrection. The conditional "if so be" (<em>ei ge</em>, εἴ γε) expresses Paul's hope that believers will not experience extended nakedness but...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **If so be that being clothed . . .**—The Greek particles express rather more than the English phrase does, the truth of what follows. “If, as I believe . . .,” though not a translation, would be a fair paraphrase. The confident expectation thus expressed is that in the resurrection state the spirit will not be “naked,” will have, *i.e.,* its appropriate garment, a body—clothing it with the at...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. seen of Cephas--**Peter (Lu 24:34).
**the twelve--**The round number for "the Eleven" (Lu 24:33, 36). "The Twelve" was their ordinary appellation, even when their number was not full. However, very possibly Matthias was present (Ac 1:22, 23). Some of the oldest manuscripts and versions read, "the Eleven": but the best on the whole, "the Twelve."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened</strong>—Paul intensifies the groaning motif: <em>stenazomen</em> (στενάζομεν, present tense, "we continually groan") and <em>barounmenoi</em> (βαρούμενοι, "being weighed down/burdened"). The present participle emphasizes ongoing oppression under mortality's weight. Yet Paul clarifies: <strong>not for that we would be unclothed, b...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Being burdened.**—The whole passage is strikingly parallel to Wisdom Of Solomon 9:15. “The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things.” The *Wisdom of Solomon,* which no writer quotes before Clement of Rome, had probably been but recently written (possibly, as I believe, by Apollos), but St. Paul may well have becom...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. five hundred--**This appearance was probably on the mountain (Tabor, according to tradition), in Galilee, when His most solemn and public appearance, according to His special promise, was vouchsafed (Mt 26:32; 28:7, 10, 16). He "appointed" this place, as one remote from Jerusalem, so that believers might assemble there more freely and securely. Alford's theory of Jerusalem being the scene, is...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God</strong>—The verb <em>katergasamenos</em> (κατεργασάμενος, aorist participle of κατεργάζομαι) means "accomplished, prepared, fashioned for a purpose." God has specifically created and prepared believers (<em>eis auto touto</em>, εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, "for this very thing")—immortal glorification. This is no afterthought but God's original...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(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 past—redemption, the new birth, the gifts and graces of the Spirit—was looking to this as its result. He had given the “earnest of the Spirit” (s...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. seen of James--**the Less, the brother of our Lord (Ga 1:19). The Gospel according to the Hebrews, quoted by Jerome [On Illustrious Men, p. 170 D.], records that "James swore he would not eat bread from the hour that he drank the cup of the Lord, till he should see Him rising again from the dead."
**all the apostles--**The term here includes many others besides "the Twelve" already enumerat...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore we are always confident</strong>—<em>Tharrountes</em> (θαρροῦντες, present participle, "continually being courageous") is Paul's response to the Spirit's guarantee. Confidence (<em>tharreō</em>, θαρρέω) means bold courage in the face of mortality. <strong>Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord</strong>—Paul introduces spatial language: <em>en...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Therefore we are always confident.**—The Greek construction is participial: *being therefore always confident;* the sentence not being completed, but begun again with the same verb in 2Corinthians 5:8. The two verbs for being “at home” and “absent” are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. The latter conveys the special idea of being absent from a man’s own home or country. The knowledge...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. One born out of due time--**Greek, "the one abortively born": the abortion in the family of the apostles. As a child born before the due time is puny, and though born alive, yet not of the proper size, and scarcely worthy of the name of man, so "I am the least of the apostles," scarcely "meet to be called an apostle"; a supernumerary taken into the college of apostles out of regular course, n...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For we walk by faith, not by sight</strong>—Paul provides theological grounding for verse 6's tension. <em>Dia pisteōs peripatoumen</em> (διὰ πίστεως περιπατοῦμεν, "through faith we walk") versus <em>dia eidous</em> (διὰ εἴδους, "through sight/appearance"). <em>Eidos</em> (εἶδος) means visible form, outward appearance—what can be empirically verified. <em>Pistis</em> (πίστις, "faith") is c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **For we walk by faith, not by sight**—Better, *and not by what we see* (or, *by appearance*)*.* It seems almost sad to alter the wording of a familiar and favourite text, but it must be admitted that the word translated “sight” never means the faculty of seeing, but always the form and fashion of the thing seen. (Comp. Luke 3:22; Luke 9:29; John 5:37.) The fact is taken for granted; and it co...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. least--**The name, "Paulus," in Latin, means "least."
**I persecuted the church--**Though God has forgiven him, Paul can hardly forgive himself at the remembrance of his past sin.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord</strong>—Paul repeats <em>tharroumen</em> (θαρροῦμεν, "we are confident") and introduces <em>eudokoumen</em> (εὐδοκοῦμεν, "we are well-pleased, we prefer"). This is bold personal preference: death's prospect brings not dread but desire. <em>Ekdēmēsai</em> (ἐκδημῆσαι, aorist infinitive, "...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **We are confident, I say.**—The sentence begun in 2Corinthians 5:6 and half broken off is resumed. The apparent sense is that he prefers death to life, because it brings him to the presence of his Lord. At first, this seems at variance with what he had said in 2Corinthians 5:4, as to his not wishing to put off the garment of the present body. Here, however, the expression is not so strong. “W...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. by ... grace ... and his grace--**The repetition implies the prominence which God's grace had in his mind, as the sole cause of his marvellous conversion and subsequent labors. Though "not meet to be called an apostle," grace has given him, in Christ, the meetness needed for the office. Translate as the Greek, "His grace which was (showed) towards me."
**what I am--**occupying the honorabl...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 5
Chapter Outline
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory.(1-8)
This excited to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the Corinthians.(9-15)
The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation with God through Christ.(16-21)
**Verses 1-8**
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another and a happy life after this is ...
Read full commentary →Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. labour: or, endeavour
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him</strong>—<em>Philotimoumetha</em> (φιλοτιμούμεθα, "we make it our ambition, we earnestly strive") comes from <em>philos</em> ("loving") and <em>timē</em> ("honor")—literally, "to be honor-loving," meaning ambitious pursuit of what brings honor. Paul's supreme ambition: <em>euarestoi autō einai</em> (εὐάρεστοι α...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Wherefore we labour.**—Better, *we strive earnestly after.* The English “labour” is quite inadequate, the Greek expressing the thought of striving, as after some honour or prize. *Our ambition is that* . . . *we may be accepted* would be, perhaps, the best equivalent. For “accepted of him” read *acceptable,* or better, *well-pleasing to him:* the Greek word implying the quality on which acce...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. whether it were I or they--**(the apostles) who "labored more abundantly" (1Co 15:10) in preaching, such was the substance of our preaching, namely, the truths stated in 1Co 15:3, 4.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ</strong>—<em>Tous gar pantas hēmas phanērōthēnai dei</em> (τοὺς γὰρ πάντας ἡμᾶς φανερωθῆναι δεῖ, "for it is necessary that all of us be made manifest"). <em>Phaneroō</em> (φανερόω) means "to make visible, expose, reveal"—nothing hidden, all laid bare. The <em>bēma</em> (βῆμα, "judgment seat") was the raised platform where Roman offi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **For we must all appear.**—Better, *must all be made manifest.* The word is the same as that in 1Corinthians 4:5 (“shall *make manifest* the counsels of the heart”), and is obviously used with reference to it. It may be noted that it is specially characteristic of this Epistle, in which it occurs nine times. The English version, which can only be ascribed to the unintelligent desire of the t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. if--**Seeing that it is an admitted fact that Christ is announced by us eye-witnesses as having risen from the dead, how is it that some of you deny that which is a necessary consequence of Christ's resurrection, namely, the general resurrection?
**some--**Gentile reasoners (Ac 17:32; 26:8) who would not believe it because they did not see "how" it could be (1Co 15:35, 36).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →The Ministry of Reconciliation
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men</strong>—<em>Eidotes oun ton phobon tou Kyriou</em> (εἰδότες οὖν τὸν φόβον τοῦ Κυρίου, "knowing therefore the fear of the Lord"). <em>Phobos</em> (φόβος) ranges from reverential awe to terrified dread—here, the sobering reality of standing before Christ's <em>bēma</em>. This fear isn't slavish terror but appropriate seriousness abou...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord.**—Better, *the fear of the Lord.* The English word “terror” is unduly strong, and hinders the reader from seeing that what St. Paul speaks of is identical with “the fear of the Lord”—the temper not of slavish dread, but reverential awe, which had been described in the Old Testament as “the beginning of wisdom” (Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10). Tyndale’s an...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. If there be no general resurrection, which is the consequent, then there can have been no resurrection of Christ, which is the antecedent. The head and the members of the body stand on the same footing: what does not hold good of them, does not hold good of Him either: His resurrection and theirs are inseparably joined (compare 1Co 15:20-22; Joh 14:19).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. in appearance: Gr. in the face
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For we commend not ourselves again unto you</strong>—Paul addresses recurring accusations that he engages in self-promotion (<em>heautous synistanom en</em>, ἑαυτοὺς συνιστάνομεν, "we are commending ourselves"). His opponents apparently brought letters of recommendation (3:1) and boasted in credentials. Paul rejects self-commendation as ministry mode.<br><br><strong>But give you occasion t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **For we commend not ourselves again** **unto you.**—The better MSS. omit “For,” which may have been inserted for the sake of an apparent sequence of thought. In reality, however, what follows is more intelligible without it. He has scarcely uttered the words that precede this sentence when the poison of the barbed arrow of the sneer to which he had referred in 2Corinthians 3:1 again stings h...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. your faith ... vain--**(1Co 15:11). The Greek for "vain" here is, empty, unreal: in 1Co 15:17, on the other hand, it is, without use, frustrated. The principal argument of the first preachers in support of Christianity was that God had raised Christ from the dead (Ac 1:22; 2:32; 4:10, 33; 13:37; Ro 1:4). If this fact were false, the faith built on it must be false too.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause</strong>—<em>Eite gar exestēmen, Theō; eite sōphronoumen, hymin</em> (εἴτε γὰρ ἐξέστημεν, θεῷ· εἴτε σωφρονοῦμεν, ὑμῖν). <em>Existēmi</em> (ἐξίστημι) means "to be out of one's mind, ecstatic, beside oneself"—possibly referring to mystical experiences (12:1-4), speaking in tongues, or apostolic zea...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **For whether we be beside ourselves.**—The recollection of one sneer leads on to another. This also had been said of him, and the intense sensitiveness of his nature made him wince under it. Some there were at Corinth who spoke of his visions and revelations, his speaking with tongues as in ecstasy, his prophecies of future judgment, as so many signs of madness. “He was beside himself.” (Com...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. testified of God--**that is, concerning God. The rendering of others is, "against God" [Vulgate, Estius, Grotius]: the Greek preposition with the genitive implies, not direct antagonism (as the accusative would mean), but indirect to the dishonor of God. English Version is probably better.
**if so be--**as they assert. It is not right to tell untrue stories, though they are told and seem f...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For the love of Christ constraineth us</strong>—<em>Hē gar agapē tou Christou synechei hēmas</em> (ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνέχει ἡμᾶς). <em>Synechō</em> (συνέχω) means "to hold together, compress, constrain, compel." Genitive <em>tou Christou</em> (τοῦ Χριστοῦ) is likely objective—"the love FOR Christ" (our love toward Him) or subjective—"Christ's love FOR us." Context favors the latter:...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **For the love of Christ constraineth us.**—The Greek, like the English, admits of two interpretations—Christ’s love for us, or our love for Christ. St. Paul’s uniform use of this and like phrases, however, elsewhere (Romans 5:5; Romans 8:35; 1Corinthians 16:24; 2Corinthians 13:14), is decisive in favour of the former. It was the Apostle’s sense of the love that Christ had shown to him and to...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16. The repetition implies the unanswerable force of the argument.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves</strong>—<em>Kai hyper pantōn apethanen hina hoi zōntes mēketi heautois zōsin</em> (καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν). Christ's death has purpose (<em>hina</em>, ἵνα, "in order that")—ending self-centered existence. <em>Mēketi</em> (μηκέτι, "no longer") marks decisive break....
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Should not henceforth live unto themselves.**—St. Paul was not writing a theological treatise, and the statement was accordingly not meant to be an exhaustive presentment of all the purposes of God in the death of Christ. It was sufficient to give prominence to the thought that one purpose was that men should share at once His death and His life; should live not in selfishness, but in love;...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. vain--**Ye are, by the very fact (supposing the case to be as the skeptics maintained), frustrated of all which "your faith" appropriates: Ye are still under the everlasting condemnation of your sins (even in the disembodied state which is here referred to), from which Christ's resurrection is our justification (Ro 4:25): "saved by his life" (Ro 5:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-15**
The apostle quickens himself and others to acts of duty. Well-grounded hopes of heaven will not encourage sloth and sinful security. Let all consider the judgment to come, which is called, The terror of the Lord. Knowing what terrible vengeance the Lord would execute upon the workers of iniquity, the apostle and his brethren used every argument and persuasion, to lead men to be...
Read full commentary →Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh</strong>—<em>Hōste hēmeis apo tou nyn oudena oidamen kata sarka</em> (ὥστε ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν οὐδένα οἴδαμεν κατὰ σάρκα). <em>Apo tou nyn</em> (ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν, "from now on") marks decisive turning point. <em>Kata sarka</em> (κατὰ σάρκα, "according to the flesh") means evaluating by external criteria—ethnicity, status, appearance, credentials...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.**—The logical dependence of this sentence on the foregoing lies in the suppressed premise, that in living not to ourselves, but to Christ, we gain new standards of judgment, new ways of looking at things. To know a man “after the flesh” is to know him by the outward accidents and circumstances of his life: his wealth, rank, culture, knowl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. fallen asleep in Christ--**in communion with Christ as His members. "In Christ's case the term used is death, to assure us of the reality of His suffering; in our case, sleep, to give us consolation: In His case, His resurrection having actually taken place, Paul shrinks not from the term death; in ours, the resurrection being still only a matter of hope, he uses the term falling asleep" [Ph...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-21**
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward re...
Read full commentary →Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. he is: or, let him be
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature</strong>—<em>Hōste ei tis en Christō, kainē ktisis</em> (ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις). <em>En Christō</em> (ἐν Χριστῷ, "in Christ") is Paul's signature phrase (164x in epistles)—union with Christ through faith. <em>Kainē ktisis</em> (καινὴ κτίσις, "new creation") uses <em>kainos</em> (καινός, "new in quality") not <em>neos</em...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Therefore if any man be in Christ.**—To be in Christ, in St. Paul’s language, is for a man to be united with him by faith and by baptism (Romans 6:3-4), to claim personally what had been secured to him as a member of the race for whom Christ died. In such a case the man is born again (Titus 3:5)—there is a new creation; the man, as the result of that work, is a new creature. The old things ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. If our hopes in Christ were limited to this life only, we should be, of all men, most to be pitied; namely, because, while others live unmolested, we are exposed to every trial and persecution, and, after all, are doomed to bitter disappointment in our most cherished hope; for all our hope of salvation, even of the soul (not merely of the body), hangs on the resurrection of Christ, without whi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-21**
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward re...
Read full commentary →And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ</strong>—<em>Ta de panta ek tou Theou tou katalaxantos hēmas heautō dia Iēsou Christou</em> (τὰ δὲ πάντα ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ καταλλάξαντος ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). <em>Ek tou Theou</em> (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, "from God") identifies God as new creation's source—grace initiative, not human achievement. <em>Katallassō</em> ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **And all things are of God.**—The presence of the article in the Greek indicates that he is speaking, not of the universe at large, but of the new things belonging to the new creation of which he had spoken in the previous verse. The line of thought on which he has now entered raises him for the time above all that is personal and temporary, and leads him to one of his fullest and noblest ut...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. now--**as the case really is.
**and become--**omitted in the oldest manuscripts.
**the first-fruits--**the earnest or pledge, that the whole resurrection harvest will follow, so that our faith is not vain, nor our hope limited to this life. The time of writing this Epistle was probably about the Passover (1Co 5:7); the day after the Passover sabbath was that for offering the first-fruits...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-21**
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward re...
Read full commentary →To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. committed: Gr. put in us
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself</strong>—<em>Hōs hoti Theos ēn en Christō kosmon katallassōn heautō</em> (ὡς ὅτι θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ). <em>Hōs hoti</em> (ὡς ὅτι, "namely that, to wit") introduces content of reconciliation message. <em>Theos ēn en Christō</em> (θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ, "God was in Christ")—the incarnation's mystery: God re...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world.**—Better, perhaps, *How that it was God who was reconciling in Christ a world unto Himself.* Both “God” and “world” are, in the Greek, without the article. The English rendering is tenable grammatically, but the position of the words in the original suggests the construction given above. He seems to emphasise the greatness of the redeem...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. by man ... by man--**The first-fruits are of the same nature as the rest of the harvest; so Christ, the bringer of life, is of the same nature as the race of men to whom He brings it; just as Adam, the bringer of death, was of the same nature as the men on whom he brought it.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-21**
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward re...
Read full commentary →Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now then we are ambassadors for Christ</strong>—<em>Hyper Christou oun presbeuomen</em> (ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ οὖν πρεσβεύομεν). <em>Presbeuo</em> (πρεσβεύω) means "to serve as ambassador, represent officially." <em>Hyper Christou</em> (ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, "on behalf of Christ") indicates representative authority—ambassadors speak for absent kings. We represent heaven's kingdom on hostile earth, bearing ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Now then we are ambassadors for Christ**—The preposition “for” implies the same representative character as in 2Corinthians 5:14-15. The preachers of the Word were acting *on behalf of* Christ; they were acting also *in His stead.* The thought or word meets us again in Ephesians 6:20. “I am an ambassador in bonds.” The earlier versions (Tyndale, Geneva, Cranmer) give “messengers,” the Rhemi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. in Adam all--**in union of nature with Adam, as representative head of mankind in their fall.
**in Christ ... all--**in union of nature with Christ, the representative head of mankind in their recovery. The life brought in by Christ is co-extensive with the death brought in by Adam.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-21**
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward re...
Read full commentary →For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin</strong>—<em>Ton mē gnonta hamartian hyper hēmōn hamartian epoiēsen</em> (τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν). This verse is theology's summit—the great exchange. <em>Ton mē gnonta hamartian</em> (τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν, "the one not knowing sin") describes Christ's absolute sinlessness. <em>Ginōskō</em> (γινώσκω, "to k...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.**—The “for” is omitted in many of the best MSS., but there is clearly a sequence of thought such as it expresses. The Greek order of the words is more emphatic: *Him that knew no sin He made sin for us.* The words are, in the first instance, an assertion of the absolute sinlessness of Christ. All other men had an experience of its powe...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. But every man in his own order--**rather, "rank": the Greek is not in the abstract, but concrete: image from troops, "each in his own regiment." Though all shall rise again, let not any think all shall be saved; nay, each shall have his proper place, Christ first (Col 1:18), and after Him the godly who die in Christ (1Th 4:16), in a separate band from the ungodly, and then "the end," that is...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-21**
The renewed man acts upon new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. The believer is created anew; his heart is not merely set right, but a new heart is given him. He is the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Though the same as a man, he is changed in his character and conduct. These words must and do mean more than an outward re...
Read full commentary →