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5:1-5. Here again, as between i and ii, and between iii and iv, the division of chapters is not well made. There is no clear break at this point, and vv. 1-5, or indeed vv. 1-10, have a closer connexion with what precedes than with what follows them. In vv. 1-5 the subject of the sufferings and compensations of Christ’s servants in reference to the hope of the Resurrection is continued.
The opening words show that once more we have an explanation of what has just been stated, especially οκἐκκῦε. Οδμνγρhere is equivalent to εδτςin 4:14, ‘because we know, fide magna (Beng.). In both cases St Paul goes far beyond human experience, and yet he says, ‘we know.’ He could say that experience had taught him that the Lord Jesus had been raised from the dead, and that he himself had been often rescued from imminent death. But experience had not taught him that God will raise us from the dead, if we die before the Lord comes; or that He will supply us with spiritual bodies, in exchange for our material bodies, if we are still alive when He comes. Yet he has a sureness of conviction which we may perhaps call a Divine intuition. He is confident that in these matters he possesses knowledge which transcends experience, and with the inspiration of a Prophet he declares what has been revealed to him. See on 1Co_15:20 and 51. For some there will be a resurrection: for others there will be a transformation; for all there will be a spiritual body suitable to the new state of existence. The contrast between material bodies which are daily being wasted and spirits which are daily being renewed, will not continue much longer. Cf. 1Th_4:15.
Men of science have contended that in this last point St Paul is confirmed by science; “The same principles which guide us from the continuous existence of the outer world to acknowledge an Unseen, lead us, on the assumption of our own existence after death, to acknowledge a spiritual body. …We certainly hold that, if we are to accept scientific principles, one of the necessary conditions of immortality is a spiritual body, but we as resolutely maintain that of the nature of this spiritual body we are and must probably remain profoundly ignorant” (The Unseen Universe, by Balfour Stewart and P. G. Tait, 4th ed. PP. 7, 8; see also p. 203).
1. οδμνγρ St Paul frequently uses this verb of things which are known by experience and which any Christian may come to know (1Co_8:1, 1Co_8:4; Rom_2:2, Rom_2:3:19, Rom_2:8:28; etc.), although for such knowledge γνσενwould be the more suitable word. But here οδμνis used of intuitive knowledge. Haec scientia non est humani ingenii, sed ex Spiritus sancti revelatione manat (Calvin). Comp. the οδ γρof Job_19:25, Job_19:27, where there is much which resembles this passage, and see on 1Co_15:51. Bousset thinks that St Paul is appealing to apocalyptic traditions known to him and the Corinthians, but no longer known to us.*
ὅιἐν ‘That if our earthly tent-dwelling were taken down.’ There is no κί and we must not translate ‘that even if, etc.’ He is merely taking the case of those who do not live to see the Lord’s return, which he still thinks will be exceptional; most people will live to see it.
ἡἐίεο ἡῶ οκατῦσήος ‘The earthly house of our tabernacle.’ Vulg. is interesting, but not accurate; Scimus enim quoniam si terrestris domus nostra hujus habitationis dissolvatur, quod aedificationem ex Deo habeamus. Here ὅιis translated twice, by quoniam, and then superfluously by θο. Hujus is also superfluous, but it is meant to represent τῦ In 1Co_1:20, ὁκσο is rendered hoc seculum, and in 3:19, 4:13, 5:10, 14:10, hic mundus.†Habitatio is trebly unsatisfactory. (1) It makes no sufficient contrast to aedificatio, the one being temporary and fragile, the other permanent and solid. (2) In v. 2, habitatio is used to translate the permanent οκτρο. (3) In v. 4, σῆο is rendered tabernaculum. The metaphor of a tent to indicate the human body would readily occur to a σηοοό (Act_18:3), but St Paul employs it only this once, and it is common enough in literature, although not in N.T. (cf. Joh_1:14; 2Pe_1:13, 2Pe_1:14) or in O.T. (cf. Isa_38:12). Modern writers may have had this passage in their minds, as in J. Montgomery’s well-known verse;
Here in the body pent
Absent from Him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day’s march nearer home.
Ἐίεο certainly means ‘earthly’ and not ‘earthy’ or ‘earthen’; it is opposed to ἐορνο (1Co_15:40; Php_2:10; Joh_3:12), and denotes what exists on earth and is connected with this world. Vulg. commonly renders it terrestris, which likewise cannot mean ‘earthen,’ but in Php_2:10 and Jam_3:15 has terrenus, which might mean that. Clem. Alex. (Strom. v. 14, p. 703, ed. Potter) says that Plato called man’s body γιο σῆο, and in Wisd. 9:15 we have τ γῶε σῆο, but in neither case does the epithet seem to be quite congruous. It is probable that St Paul knew Wisdom, and that here and elsewhere that book has influenced his language, if not his thought; the verse runs φατνγρσμ βρνιψχνκὶβίε τ γῶο σῆο νῦ πλφότδ. With this passage comp. Wisd. 3:1-4, and see Sanday and Headlam, Romans, pp. 51, 52, 267. In Job_4:19, οκα πλνς ‘houses of clay,’ there is no incongruity, and there the reference to the material of which man was made is expressed; ἐ ὧ κὶατὶἐ τῦατῦπλῦἐμν There is no doubt that ἡἐίεο οκατῦσήοςmeans the body, but some understand ἐίεο of the earth on which we dwell. The genitive is one of apposition, a house that is a tent, a ‘tabernacle-house’ or ‘tent-dwelling.’
Field thinks that the use of σῆο for the human body comes from Pythagorean philosophy. In this he follows Wetstein, who says that the Pythagoreans compared man’s skin to the skins of which tents were made. Wetstein gives abundant quotations in which the body is called σῆο. Hippocrates, “the Father of Medicine,” has ἀοεπυαἡψχ τῦσμτςσῆο (Aph. viii. 18), and he may have been a disciple of Hippocrates the Pythagorean. Philo (De Somn. i. 20) uses the less depreciatory term οκς τνσμυ τςψχςοκν τ σμ, and it is οκαwhich is the leading term here; τῦσήοςis adjectival. An allusion to the camp-life of the Israelites is possible, but the passage is quite intelligible without it; see Lightfoot on Php_1:23. The general meaning is that life here is only a pilgrimage. Christians are citizens of a realm that is in heaven, and on earth they are only sojourners; see Hort on πριο and πρπδμςin 1Pe_2:2.
The idea that life in this world is only a pilgrimage towards a better and permanent abode is not peculiar to Christianity. Cicero has it often. He says that animos, cum e corporibus excesserint, in caelum, quasi in domicilium serum, pervenire (Tusc. 1. xi. 24); and again, that the soul is in the body as in a house that does not belong to it, aliena domus; heaven is its home (Tusc. I. xxii. 51).* Again, Ex vita ita discedo tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam e domo; commorandi enim natura diversorium nobis, non habitandi, dedit (De Sen. xxiii. 84). And Pope (Essay on Man, i. 97) follows him.
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
So also in the well-known lines of the Emperor Hadrian, who, however, is doubtful about the future home; Animula, vagula, blandula, hospis comesque corporis, quae nunc abibis in loca, Pallidula, rigida, nudula? See the account which Josephus (B.J. ii. viii. 11) gives of the creed of the Essenes; the freed souls are borne aloft, μτώοςφρσα.
Two genitives, depending in different relations on the same substantive, ἡῶ οκατῦσήος are not rare either in Greek or Latin, the most common instances being, as here, where one is of a person, the other of a thing; Php_2:30; 2Pe_3:2; Heb_13:7. Cicero (Tusc. 1. xv. 35) defines labor as functio quaedam vel animi vel corporis gravioris operis.
κτλθ. ‘Dissolved’ (AV, RV), ‘destroyed’ (Tyn. Cran. Genevan). Neither houses nor tents are ‘dissolved,’ although the human body may be. ‘Pulled down’ would apply to both houses and tents, and would not be inappropriate to our bodily frames. Bengel calls κτλθ mite verbum, but in the case of buildings it commonly implies destruction (Mat_24:2; Mar_14:58; Luk_21:26; Act_6:14), being the opposite of οκδμῖ (Gal_2:18).
οκδμνἐ Θο ἔοε. If ἐ Θο belonged to ἔοε, it would have been placed first or last. It belongs to οκδμν ‘a building proceeding from God as Builder.’ In 1Co_3:9 (see note there), οκδμ is the building process, which results in an edifice. Here we seem to be half-way between the process and the result, ‘a building in course of erection,’ the result being οκα, a word in which there is no intimation of a process. The inner man is being renewed day by day, and the production of the spiritual body is connected with that. The shade of difference between the words is well preserved in AV and RV. by ‘building’ for οκδμνand ‘house’ for οκα, as in Vulg. by aedificatio and domus. In N.T., οκδμ is almost peculiar to Paul (15/3), and chiefly in 1 and 2 Cor. (9/6). See Lightfoot on 1Co_3:9 and J. A. Robinson on Eph_2:21. By ἔοε is meant ‘we come into possession of.’
ἐ Θο. Cf. 1Co_1:30, 1Co_8:6, 1Co_11:12. It is true that the σῆο, the material body, proceeds from God (see on 1Co_12:18, 1Co_12:24), but man takes part in the production of it. The spiritual body is wholly His creation (see on 1Co_15:38).
Lietzmann, A. Sabatier, and Bousset would press ἔοε to mean that the spiritual bodies of those who are still in the flesh on earth are awaiting them in heaven, “created perhaps from all eternity.” It is not necessary to believe that this is the Apostle’s meaning. The present tense is often used of a future which is absolutely certain. The spiritual body is so certain to take the place of the material frame when the latter is pulled down, that we may be said to have it already. See on 1Jn_5:15. The idea of a disembodied spirit was abhorrent to both Jew and Gentile. A spirit which survives death must have a body of some kind, and it is this spiritual body which is raised. Its relation to the material body is real, but it cannot be defined.*
οκα ἀερπίτν ‘A house not made with hands,’ i.e., supernatural, immaterial, spiritual; Heb_9:11, Heb_9:24. The human body is not made with hands, but it is natural and material. The difference is that between πεμτκςand ψχκς(see on 1Co_15:44). In LXX χιοοηαis used of idols.
αώιν Here, as in 4:18, the idea may be that of indefinite durability rather than of timelessness; cf. Luk_16:9.
ἐ τῖ ορνῖ. It is in heaven that this supernatural habitation has its proper environment, but heaven is not the habitation. We often think of heaven as the home of departed spirits; but St Paul thinks of each departed spirit as having an οκαof its own, the site of which is in heaven. The three attributes, ἀερπίτν αώιν and ἐ τῖ ορνῖ, are in antithesis to ἐίεο τῦσήος: ἐ τῖ ορνῖ does not belong to ἔοε, ‘we already possess in heaven.’
D E F G, Latt. Goth. insert a second ὅιbefore οκδμν In English there is a tendency to insert a superfluous ‘that’ in such sentences; ‘We know that, if the makeshift dwelling which we have in this world be pulled down, [that] there is a much better one to replace it.’
2. κὶγρἐ τύῳ AV ignores the κί‘For in this.’ The κίis either intensive, ‘For verily’ (RV), ‘For in fact,’ ‘For indeed,’ introducing some important reason; or argumentative, ‘For also,’ ‘For moreover,’ introducing an additional reason. Either of these makes good sense. Again, ἐ τύῳmay be either ‘in this tent-dwelling’ (v. 1), or ‘hereby,’ or ‘herein,’ lit. ‘in this fact’; Joh_15:8; 1Jn_2:3, 1Jn_2:5; see on 1Co_4:4. The last meaning is specially freq. in the Johannine writings, where it commonly points forward to what is about to be stated. The first meaning is simplest here; ‘For truly in this tabernacle-house we groan.’* The words which immediately follow (τ οκτρο κτλ seem to show that St Paul is still thinking of the σῆο when he says ἐ τύῳ Comp. Rom_8:12, Rom_8:13 and 18-23. But ‘herein’ makes good sense, looking forward to ἐιοονε.
τ οκτρο …ἐιοονε. The participle explains and gives the reason for σεάοε: ‘we groan, because we yearn.’ St Paul has ἐιοενin all four groups (1Th_3:6; Rom_1:11; Php_1:8, Php_1:2:26; 2Ti_1:4). Elsewhere in N.T., Jam_4:5 and 1Pe_2:2, where see Hort. Everywhere else in Paul it expresses the longing for absent friends, to which the longing for a permanent and glorious home is analogous. He regards this yearning as evidence of the reality of the thing yearned for: si desiderium naturae non est frustra, multo minus desiderium gratiae frustra est (Aquinas). In late Greek, compounds take the place of simple verbs without much increase of meaning, and in N.T. πθῖ does not occur. The ἐι may indicate direction; cf. ἐιόηι (7:7, 11). In LXX πθῖ is rare, except in Wisdom. See Index. IV.
τ οκτρο. Not a diminutive; it denotes a permanent abode or home (Jud_1:6); cf. λγζμνςτνπλνἝλσνοκτρο πισι (2 Macc. 11:2). The difference between οκαand οκτρο is that the latter implies an οκτρ an inhabitant, while the former does not.
ἐεδσσα. A double compound which is not found elsewhere in N.T. or LXX. Cf. ἐεδτς(Joh_21:7; Lev_8:7; the A text of 1Sa_18:4). The body may be regarded either as a dwelling or as a garment, and here we have the two ideas combined; ‘longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven.’ The more permanent dwelling is to be drawn over the less permanent one, as one garment is drawn over another, and is to take its place. In some way not described, the now useless σῆο is destroyed, without being dissolved in the grave, as in the case of those who die before the Lord comes. The change from the carnal to the spiritual body is regarded as instantaneous (1Co_15:52), and the change is longed for.
We may therefore be content to adopt as the more probable rendering; ‘For indeed, in this tent-dwelling we groan, because we long to put on over it our true habitation, which comes to us from heaven.’ This last point is a repetition of ἐ Θο in v. 1. In all cases it is God who furnishes the spiritual body, through Christ (Php_3:21), but the method differs: the dead receive their spiritual body through resurrection, the living through transfiguration (1Co_15:38, 1Co_15:51), and it is the living who are described here. Comp. μτσηαιόεο εςἀθρίν(4 Macc. 9:22). See Briggs, The Messiah of the Apostles, p. 130.
We may set aside as improbable, if not impossible, the suggestion that σεάοε ἐιοονε is to be treated as equivalent to ἐιοομνσεάοτς the main idea being in the participle, and not in the finite verb. It is doubtful whether any such usage is found in N.T. Nor is it likely that the ἐίin ἐεδσσα indicates mere succession; that the clothing with the οκτρο comes after the clothing with the σῆο. The context, especially v. 4, shows that the former comes over the latter and extinguishes or absorbs it. It is probable that fondness for alliteration has led to the juxtaposition of the two compounds, ἐεδσσα ἐιοονε.
It is not easy to decide how far this idea of clothing living Christians with spiritual bodies is to be identified with that of the bright robes which adorn the saints in glory. In some passages the two seem to be identical, while in others the identification is doubtful. In Rev_3:5, Rev_3:18, Rev_3:4:4, the saints have ἱάι λυά in 6:11, 7:9, 13, σοα λυα: in 2 (4) Esdr. 2:39, splendidae tunicae: in Herm. Sim. 8:2, ἱαιμςλυό. These “garments of glory,” and “garments of life,” which will not grow old (Enoch 62:15, 16) are a frequent feature in Jewish apocalypses, and in some of them we have an approach to what is stated here. In 2 (4) Esdr. 2:45, Hi sunt qui mortalem tunicam deposuerunt, et immortalem sumpserunt, et confessi sunt nomen Dei; modo coronantur, et accipiunt palmas. In the Book of the Secrets of Enoch 22:8, “And the Lord said to Michael, Go and take from Enoch his earthly robe, and anoint him with My holy oil, and clothe him with the raiment of My glory.” In the Ascension of Isa_9:16 this raiment is said to be stored in heaven; “But the saints shall come with the Lord, with their garments which are laid up on high (supra repositae sunt) in the seventh heaven; with the Lord they shall come, those whose spirits are reclothed, they shall descend and shall be in the world (1Th_4:15-17); and He will confirm (?) those who shall be found in the flesh with the saints, in the garments of the saints, and the Lord will serve those who shall have watched in this world (Luk_12:37; cf. Joh_13:4). And after that, they shall be changed in their garments [from] on high, and their flesh shall be left in the world.” Again, 9:9, “I saw those who had put off their garments of flesh and were now in garments from on high (exutos stolis carnalibus et existentes in stolis excelsis), and they were as angels”; and 9:17, “Then shall there ascend with Him many of the just, whose souls have not received their garments until the Lord Christ is ascended and they have ascended with Him”; and 11:40 we have the final charge; “And do you watch in the Holy Spirit, to receive your garments, thrones, and crowns of glory, which are laid up in the seventh heaven.”
AV places a full stop at the end of v. 2, RV. a colon: a comma is all that is needed.
3. ε γ κὶἐδσμνι Here the metaphor of the garment becomes more distinct; ‘if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked,’ i.e. without either a material or a spiritual body.* This possibility is excluded by the fact that the heavenly οκτρο envelops the earthly σῆο, which is not destroyed until it is replaced by something very much better. The force of the κίis to strengthen the doubt expressed by ε γ, and this may be done by emphasizing the ‘if.’ Comp. Xen. Mem. III. vi. 13, Λγι πμέαε πᾶμ, ε γ κὶτντιύω ἐιεεσα δήε. ‘Of course, on the supposition that,’ is the meaning. The ἐδσμνιrefers to the same fact as ἐεδσσα, for here the simple verb suffices, and its relation to ερσμθ shows that it refers to some future clothing, which, when it takes place, will prevent the calamity of being found γμο, like the souls in Sheol, without form, and void of all power of activity.†Some would place a comma after ἐδσμνι and treat ἐδσμνι ο γμο as a case of asyndeton, like γλ, ο βῶα(1Co_3:2), ποώῳ ο κρι (1Th_2:17); ‘on the supposition that we shall be found clothed, not naked.’ The construction is not admissible, and the instances quoted in support of it are not parallel to it, being both of them pairs of substantives, not an aorist participle with an adjective. Others would understand some such word as ‘wondering’ or ‘doubting’ before ε γ, which might be implied in σε. ἐιοονε, ‘we groan, wondering whether we really shall be found clothed, not naked.’
The sentence is a kind of afterthought, added to v. 2, as if to anticipate a misgiving, or objection. Some might suggest that our σεάοε ἑιοονε proves no more than that we have a strong desire to be freed from the suffering body; it gives no security for the acquisition of a better body. Such an objection might easily be felt by those Corinthians who doubted about a resurrection. The Apostle rejects it with decision. No one yearns for the γμόη of being a bodiless spirit, and God has better things in store for us.
ε γ (אC K L P) is perhaps to be preferred to επρ(B D F G 17). ἐδσμνι(אB C D3 E K L P, Vulg. Syrr. Copt. Arm. Aeth. Goth.) is certainly to be preferred to ἐδσμνι(D* F G, d e g, Tert.), which is an early alteration to avoid apparent tautology. Pseudo-Primasius adopts the Vulg. vestiti and yet explains expoliati corpore.
4. κὶγρο ὄτςἐ τ σήε. ‘For verily we that are still in the tent’—the tent-dwelling mentioned in v. 1; ‘we who are in no immediate danger of being separated from our mortal body by death.’ After the supplementary remark in v. 3, he returns to the contents of v. 2, viz. our present deplorable condition; and here the plur. seems to mean all Christians.
σεάοε βρὺεο. Not a mere repetition of σεάοε ἐιοονε. In the one case groaning is caused by a feeling of intense longing, in the other by a feeling of intense depression. At first sight this seems to mean, ‘we groan because we are oppressed by the sufferings of the body.’ But these sufferings would lead to a desire to be rid of the body,* and what follows shows that there is no such desire. The groaning is caused by the oppressive thought that death may come before the Lord returns, and may leave us γμο, without any bodies at all. The use of βρύεο here looks like another reminiscence of Wisd. 9:15; see on v. 1 and 2:6 (ἐιιί). Aug., after quoting these verses, remarks that “the cause of the burdensomeness is not the nature and substance of the body, but its corruptible character. We do not desire to be deprived of the body, but to be clothed with its immortality. For then also there will be a body, but it will no longer be a burden, being no longer corruptible” (De Civ. Dei, 14. 3). For κὶγρ Vulg. has Nam et in both v. 2 and v. 4; Aug. is more accurate with etenim, which serves to subjoin a corroborative clause, ‘For verily’; a freq. use in Cicero.
ἐʼᾧ This may mean either ‘wherefore’ (Lightfoot on Php_3:12) or ‘because,’ ἐὶτύῳὃι propterea quod (Rom_5:12). The latter is better here. ‘We feel oppressed, because we do not wish to be unclothed, i.e. to be divested of our body by death’; in other words, ‘because we shrink from the idea of being left without a body.’†AV and RV. transpose the negative, in order to smooth the construction, ‘not for that we would be unclothed’; but the smoothness weakens the sense. The ο belongs to θλ, and, as in the case of ο θλ ὐᾶ ἀνεν(see on 1:8), there is something which is very far from being wished; the total loss of the body is a thought of horror. Tantam vim habet corporis et animae dulce consortium. …Sub terrena tunica gemimus, ad coelestem festinamus, illam volumus accipere, istam nolumus ponere (Herveius). St Paul regards this instinctive horror of being without a body as strong evidence that a heavenly body will be given to us. To him, as to many Greeks, a disembodied spirit seemed to be utterly against nature. But there is no intimation here or elsewhere of a third body, an interim body, to be occupied between the earthly body and the resurrection body.
ἀλ ἐεδσσα. ‘But (we wish) to be clothed upon,’ to be invested with the heavenly body before the earthly one is taken away, so that there may be no interval of separation between soul and body.
ἵακτπθ ‘In order that the mortality of the one may be swallowed up by the immortal life of the other.’ In Irenaeus (IV. xxxvi. 6) we have Nolumus exspoliari, sed superindui, uti absorbeatur mortale ab immortalitate; and (v. xiii. 3) ut absorbeatur mortale a vita. Only what is mortal perishes; the personality, consisting of soul and body, survives. The Apostle again seems to have Isa_25:8 in his mind; see on 1Co_15:54. Theodoret says that the imperishable life makes corruption to vanish in much the same way as the entrance of light counteracts darkness. Conversely, Chrys. says that corruption can no more conquer incorruption than wax can conquer fire.
After σήε, D E F G, Syrr. Copt. Aeth. Goth. add τύ. אB C K L P, Vulg. Arm. omit. For ἐʼᾦ(all uncials) a few cursives have ἐεδ.
5. ὁδ κτραάεο ἡᾶ. Both AV and RV have ‘Now’ for δ, yet it seems to imply a certain amount of contrast; ‘You may think that this is fanciful, and that our feelings of longing or of horror prove nothing as to the reality of what is desired or dreaded; but He who wrought us out for this very thing, viz. to expect that our mortal garb will be absorbed by a heavenly one, is God.’ As in 1:21, Θό comes at the close with great emphasis; cf. Heb_3:4 and see Westcott’s additional note on 1Jn_4:12. Chrys. refers κτραάεο to the creation; it refers rather to the κιὴκίι, to our regeneration, as what follows shows. The Latins vary between operari, facere, perficere, efficere, and consummare for κτράεθι and Vulg. has all five in different places, e.g. 4:17, 12:12; Rom_7:18; 2Co_5:5; 1Pe_4:3, operari being the usual translation, e.g. 4:17, 7:10, 11, 9:11; etc. But nowhere does instruere, praeparare, disponere, concinnare or elaborare seem to be used. The fact that no less than five different translations have been allowed to remain is further evidence that Jerome’s revision of the Epistles was somewhat perfunctory. In the Gospels κτράεθιdoes not occur. See Index IV. and footnote on v. 1.
ὁδὺ ἡῖ. This explains how God prepared us for this sure hope of receiving a spiritual body; ‘He gave us the earnest of the Spirit.’ That implies that He has placed Himself in the position of a debtor who has paid an instalment; and He is a debtor who is sure to pay the remainder in full. The Spirit inspires the longing and is the security that our longing for the spiritual body, the σμ τςδζς(Cf. 3:18, 4:17), will be satisfied. See on 1:22 for the doctrine that the Spirit is given to us as an instalment. On this difficult verse see Salmond, Christian Doctrine of Immortality, pp. 565-575: also Briggs, The Messiah of the Apostles, p. 130, who takes a different view.
ὁδύ (א B C D* G P 67*, Vulg. Syr-Pesh. Copt. Arm. Aeth.) rather than ὁκὶδύ (א D2 and 3 E K L, Syr-Hark. Goth.).
6-8. ‘Confident, therefore, at all times, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are in exile from the Lord,—for we walk by means of faith and not by means of what we can see,—we are confident, I say, and are well pleased to go into exile from the body and to go home unto the Lord.’ The construction of v. 6 is broken by the parenthetical v. 7, and then a new construction is started in v. 8.
St Paul does not mean that while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord; our union with Him both in life and in death is one of his leading doctrines (4:10, 11; 1Th_5:10). He is speaking relatively. The life of faith is less close and intimate than the life of sight and converse. The passage assumes that the dead are conscious, conscious of the Lord (Php_1:20-23; Luk_23:43; Act_7:59); otherwise departure from the body would be a worse condition, with regard to Him, than being in the body. In agreement with this, Polycarp (Phil. 9), following Clement of Rome (Cor. 5), says that St Paul and other Apostles εςτνὀελμννατῖ τπνεσνπρ τ Κρῳ See on 3:2.
6. θρονε ονπνοε Both in LXX (Pro_1:21) and in N.T. (7:16, 10:1, 2; Heb_13:6) θρενis rare, θρενbeing the common form. Vulg. varies between audere (here and 10:2) and confidere (7:16 and 10:1). Confidere would be better here, for the notion of ‘daring’ is foreign to the passage. Θρενis a favourite word with the Stoics. See Epictetus, Dis. ii. 1, where he shows in what sense we can be both confident and cautious. The ονmeans, ‘because we have God as our security’ (v. 5), and πνοε(2:14, 4:10, 9:8) means that ‘in every event,’ whether we die soon or live till the Lord returns, we have this confidence. It is worth while to distinguish between πνοεand ἀί Vulg. has semper, and AV and RV. have ‘always’ for both. See on 4:10.
κὶεδτς Co-ordinately with θρονε, εδτςlooks onwards to εδκῦε.
ἐδμῦτς ἐδμῦε. Neither verb is found in LXX, and neither occurs in N.T. except in these verses.* Tertullian has immorari and peregrinari throughout. Vulg. varies the translation of both verbs capriciously; dum sumus in corpore peregrinamur a Domino (6); peregrinari a corpore et praesentes esse ad Deum (8); sive absentes sive praesentes (9). Domi esse and exsulare would express the respective meanings better. Quamdiu domi sumus in hoc corporis habitaculo is the paraphrase of Erasmus; and it is evident that St Paul is thinking of the house in which we dwell rather than of the city or country in which we dwell. But ἐδμis a great deal more than ‘out of the house’; it means ‘away from home.’ The true home is with the Lord; nam peregrinator patriam habet, sive cito sive tardius eo perventurus (Beng.). In papyri we have both ἐδμῖ and ἀοηεν ‘to go abroad’ and ‘to be abroad,’ in opposition to ἐδμῖ, ‘to stay at home’ or to ‘be at home.’ See critical note below.
ἀὸτῦΚρο. ‘Separate from the Lord’; cf. Rom_9:3. This is true, in spite of His constant presence (Mat_28:20) and of our union with Him (1Co_6:15, 1Co_12:27); quia non exhibet se coram videndum, quia adhuc exulamus ab ejus regno, et beata immortalitate, qua fruuntur angeli qui cum eo sunt, adhuc caremus (Calvin).
For ἐδμῦτς D G have ἐιηονε, and for ἐοηομν D E G have ἀοηομν For Κρο, D G, Copt. have θο.
7. δὰπσεςγρκτλ The Apostle seems to feel that ἐδμ ἀὸτῦΚρο may cause perplexity, and he hastens to explain in what sense such an expression is true. ‘It is through a world of faith that we walk here, not through a world of visible form’; and non videre prope tantundem est atque disjunctum esse (Beng.). In this life we have to walk under conditions of faith, not under conditions of what is seen. Belief, however strong, cannot be the same as sight; and from a Christ whom we cannot see we are to that extent separated, just as a blind man is cut off from the world to which he nevertheless belongs; ννατντῖ τῦσμτςὀθλοςοχὁῶε, ττ δ κὶὀόεακὶσνσμθ (Thdrt.). AV and RV. give the general sense of the verse correctly, but εδςcannot mean ‘sight.’ It means ‘that which is seen,’ species. Cf. ἐ εδικὶο δʼανγάω (Num_12:8 ); τ δ εδςτςδξςΚρο (Exo_24:17), species gloriae Domini. Haec erit species, Augustine says, quando faciet quod dixit, Ostendam me ipsum illi. And again, Neque enim jam fides erit qua credantur quae non videantur, sed species, qua videantur quae credebantur (De Trin. xiv. 2). There is a slight change from δὰπσεςto δὰεδυ, the former being subjective and the latter objective, but it causes no difficulty. In this world the Christian is under the condition of belief in Christ, not under the condition of His visible form. Here we have faith only; hereafter both faith and sight.* Faith is a virtue which ‘abideth’; see on 1Co_13:13.
8. θρομνδ κὶεδκῦε. After the parenthetical explanation in v. 7 the θρονε of v. 6. is taken up again by the δ, for which ‘I say’ (AV, RV) is a good equivalent. Without the injected explanation the sentence would have run θρονε …εδκῦε, but in his emotion at the thought the Apostle forgets the original construction and resumes with θρομνκὶεδκῦε, ‘we are confident and are well pleased.’ The emphatic word, as is shown in both places by its position and here by its repetition, is θρεν It takes the place of σεάενin vv. 4 and 6. The thought which there suggested sighing and groaning, now that it is further considered, suggests confidence. Even the possibility of being left γμό for a time loses its terrors, when it is remembered that getting away from the temporary shelter furnished by the body means getting home to closer converse with the Lord.†The change from presents (ἐδμῦτς ἐδμῦε) to aorists (ἐδμσι ἐδμσι must be observed, and the force of the aorists may be expressed by ‘getting.’ With ἐδμσιcomp. ‘He has got away,’ which in the North of England is a common expression for ‘He is dead’; and with ἐδμσιcomp. the German heimgegangen.
εδκῦε. ‘We are well pleased, ’ as both AV and RV in Mat_3:17, Mat_3:12:18, Mat_3:17:5; Mar_1:11; Luk_3:22; 1Co_10:5; 2Pe_1:17; and as RV. in 1Th_2:8. The verb is used both of God and of men. When used of men (12:10; Rom_15:26, Rom_15:27; 1Th_2:8, 1Th_2:3:1; 2Th_2:12), it expresses hearty goodwill and perfect contentment, and it is often used of giving consent, especially in legal transactions. This goodwill and contentment is not quite the same as θλμν(v. 4) or ἐιθῦτς(v. 2). It is possible to long for one thing, and yet be content with, or even prefer, another, because one knows that the latter is well worth having, and perhaps better for one. St Paul longed to have a spiritual body, in exchange for his material body, without dying: but rather than remain in his material body he was quite ready to die. It was better to see the Lord than to be deprived of this bliss through being in the body: and to be sure of seeing Him robbed death of its terrors. Comp. Proinde intrepidus horam illam decretoriam prospice: non est animo suprema, sed corpori. Quidquid circa te jacet rerum, tanquam hospitalis loci sarcinas specta: transeundum est. Detrahetur tibi haec circumjecta, novissimum velamentum tui cutis: detrahetur caro et suffusus sanguis. Dies iste, quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est (Seneca, Ep. ciii. 24, 25).
Perhaps in no other case is the caprice of the Vulg. so conspicuous as in the translation of εδκῖ. The verb occurs fifteen times in the Epistles, and it is translated in ten different ways;— bonam voluntatem habemus (here), placeo mihi (12:10), placuit with a dat. (1Co_1:21; Rom_15:27; Gal_1:15; 1Th_3:1; Heb_10:6, Heb_10:38), beneplacitum est Deo (1Co_10:5), probaverunt (Rom_15:26), complacuit (Col_1:19), cupide volebamus (1Th_2:8), consensuerunt (2Th_2:12), placita sunt tibi (Heb_10:8), mihi complacui (2Pe_1:17). And in this case the Gospels are not more uniform than the Epistles. The verb occurs six times in them, and it is translated in five different ways, three of which differ from all the renderings in the Epistles; mihi complacui (Mat_3:17), bene placuit animae meae (Mat_12:18), mihi bene complacui (Mat_17:5), complacui (Mar_1:11), complacuit with a dat. (Luk_3:22, Luk_12:32).
πὸ τνΚρο. Here, as in Php_1:23-25, his reason for wishing to depart from the body is the same, viz. to be with the Lord, σνχιτ ενι πλῷμλο κεσο. But his reasons for wishing to remain in the body differ. There it is for the sake of others, because his beloved Philippians still need him. Here it is for his own sake, because he desires to be alive when the Lord comes, and thus to escape dying. In both passages he implies that at death there is immediate entrance into closer fellowship with Christ. Comp. Seneca, Ep. cii. 22; Cum venerit dies ille qui mixtum hoc divini humanique secernat, corpus hoc, ubi inveni, relinquam: ipse me diis reddam. Nec nunc sine illis, sum, sed terreno detineor carcere.
Once more Plato (Apol. 40, 41), followed by Cicero (Tusc. 1. xli. 98), to some extent anticipates Christian thought. “If indeed when the pilgrim arrives in the world below, he finds sons of God who were righteous in their own life, that pilgrimage will be worth making. What would not a man give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer? What infinite delight would there be in conversing with them and asking them questions!” Still more closely Philo (Leg. Alleg. 3:14), “It is not possible for one who is dwelling in the body, in a race that is mortal, to hold communion with God, but God floods one who is free from the prison.” And again (De Migr. Abr. §34, 466 Mang.); “Rouse yourselves and seek for that migration hence which proclaims to us, not death, but deathlessness.” Non est vivere, sed valere, vita (Mart. vi. lxx. 15).
For θρομν א17, Orig. Tert. have θρονε. For Κρο, D* 17, Vulg. have θό.
9. δὸκὶφλτμύεα ‘Wherefore also we make it our aim.’ Both δό which looks back to εδκῦε, and κί which adds something to it, show that a new section does not begin here, as Calvin and Bachmann suppose. The verb may in this place retain its classical meaning (Haec una ambitio legitima, as Beng. says); but in late Greek (1Th_4:11; Rom_15:20) it need not mean more than ‘desire earnestly,’ or ‘make it one’s aim’ (RV), which is probably right here. Xenophon and Plato seem sometimes to use it in this sense, followed, as here, by an infinitive. In meaning and construction it is thus equivalent to σοδζι (1Th_2:17; Gal_2:10; Eph_4:3; 2Ti_2:15). ‘We make it a point of honour,’ wir setzen unsre Ehre darein (Bousset, Bachmann), is a translation which looks neat, but is not preferable to ‘desire earnestly’ or ‘make it our aim.’
ετ ἐδμῦτςετ ἐδμῦτς Two questions have been much discussed with regard to these two participles. (1) How are they to be understood? (2) Do they belong to φλτμύεαor to εάετιατ ενι The answer to the second question depends upon the answer to the first.
(1) As to the meaning of the participles there are three suggestions. (α They refer to one’s place of abode in this world; ‘whether we are at home or away from home.’ This interpretation may be safely rejected as having no point and as unworthy of the dignity of the passage. (β They refer to the communion with Christ just mentioned, πὸ τνΚρο being understood with ἐδμῦτςand ἀὸτῦΚρο with ἐδμῦτ. This is better, but the order is against it, for the Apostle would hardly have mentioned the future condition before the present one; he would have written ετ ἐδ ετ ἐδ and a few authorities have this order; see critical note below. (γ The participles refer to the body just mentioned, ἐ τ σμτ being understood with ἐδμῦτςand ἐ τῦσμτςwith ἐδμῦτς This is almost certainly right. It makes good sense in itself and it fits the context. ‘Whether we are at home in the body, or away from home out of it,’ is the meaning. But ἐδμῦτςis not to be rendered ‘going from home,’ ‘migrating from the body,’ i.e. dying. The alternative is not between staying and