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2Co_4:7 to 2Co_5:10
2Co_5:1. For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle [tent-dwelling] were dissolved, we have [in the heavens] a building of [from, ἐê ] God, a house not made with hands, eternal [,] in the heavens [om. in the heavens]. 2For in this [also] we groan, earnestly 3desiringto be clothed upon with [to put on over this] our house which is from 4heaven: if so be that [since indeed, åἵãå êáὶ ] being clothed we shall not be found naked. For [even] we that are in this [the] tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, [because we are not willing to be unclothed], but clothed upon, 5that mortality [our mortal part] might be swallowed up of [by] life. Now [But] he that hath wrought us [out] for the self-same thing is God, who also [om. also] hath6given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are [Being] always confident, 7knowing that, whilst we are at [in our] home in the body, we are absent from [our home in] the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight [appearance]: 8we are confident, 9I say, and willing [well pleased] rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore [also] we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of [acceptable to] him. 10For we must all appear [be made manifest] before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in [through] his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be [were] good or bad.
2Co_4:8-10. [All the sentences in this passage are participial, and yet they are not inappropriately rendered in our A. V. in the first person of the present Indicative. “In each of these pairs of antitheses the signification of the second is cognate to that of the first; in those in 2Co_6:9-10, contrary: each second is also here the extreme of the first.” Webster & Wilkinson]. They are connected in signification with the preceding verse, in which had been announced the design or end God had in view. He thus asserts that the superabundant power which was exhibited in his Apostolical work belonged entirely to that God who helped him and carried him through all his distresses and infirmities.—We are pressed in every way but not straitened.—̓ Åí ðáíôὶ signifies here, not in all places, but in every way and on every occasion, as in 2Co_7:5. [Dr. Hodge also suggests that the words belong to all the following clauses, and not merely to the first]. Óôåíï÷ùñåῖóèáé signifies to be hemmed in a narrow space from which there is no exit. [Stanley: pressed for room, but still having room]. The noun occurs in 2Co_6:4; 2Co_12:10. As ïὐ óôåíï÷ùñïýìåíïé , in which God’s power is displayed, is related to èëéâüìåíïé , so is ïὐê ἐîáðïñïýìåíïé to ἀðïñïýìåíïé :—perplexed but not despairing.—The word ἀðïñïýìåíïé signifies, to come into perplexities and ἐîáðïñ . to come into such extreme despair, that one knows not what to do or where to look for help. [Stanley: losing our way, but not entirely; bewildered, but not benighted]. There is probably in this antithesis an allusion, not merely to his external, but to his internal state; for under distressing and straitened circumstances, under fatigue and hostile assaults, the mind becomes oppressed, and hence perplexed and in despair. In such a condition God’s power had been revealed, so that in the midst of his human infirmities, he had not been reduced to extremity, nor been without counsel or hope.—Persecuted, but not forsaken (2Co_4:9).—He here begins to speak of outward circumstances. In äéùêüìåíïé and ἐãêáôáëåéðüìåíïé the metaphor is not that of a foot-race [pursued, but not left behind, (Olshausen, Stanley,) for the Apostle is speaking, not of rivalry from those who as runners had the same end in view, but of troubles and persecutions” Alford]; for äéþêåóèáé , as in 1Co_4:12, signifies to be persecuted (so äéùãìïß in 2Co_12:10), and ἐãêáôáëåßðåóèáé , to be left under persecutions, to be abandoned without help (see Meyer). The word occurs also in 2Ti_4:16. The figure of a conflict runs through both clauses of the verse:—cast down, but not destroyed; êáôáâáëëüìåíïé is an advance beyond the meaning of äéùêüìåíïé , for it asserts that he was not only chased, but pulled or stricken down to the ground. Neander: “We have here the comparison of a combatant who is indeed thrown down by his antagonist in the conflict, and is awaiting his death blow, but who, after all, succeeds in rising again.” The Catholic interpretation is: “one who is seized in his flight, and is prostrated, but not slain.” Not being destroyed was the consequence of not being forsaken. In 2Co_4:10 the apostolic sufferings are set forth in their highest degree of intensity, as an extreme peril of life itself, a perpetual hanging in suspense:—always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus.(comp. 1Co_15:31; Rom_8:36).— ÍÝêñùóéò is a killing, or putting to death, but it has also an intransitive signification, a dying; here in a physical and not an ethical sense. (comp. 2Co_4:11). The dying of Jesus is represented as permanently connected with his body in such a way that he was never without it, and always carried it with him. [It was a perpetual íÝêñùóéò , a dying, but never a èÜíáôïò , death]. It was something which attached to him in consequence of his common fellowship with Jesus in his mode of life and his office, and accompanied him wherever he was. [Chrysostom: we are shown every day dying, that we may also be seen every day rising again]. Those explanations miss the true sense of the Apostle, which describe it as a violent death from wounds (Gal_6:17), or a sickness which contained the seeds of death (Rückert). The antithesis is introduced in the following final sentence—that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body—where we are told the purpose or design which God had in view when He permitted such sufferings (comp. 2Co_4:7). The life of Jesus. the æùὴ , contrasted with the íÝêñùóéò , signifies that life which is the triumphant result of the death of Jesus, viz: the life which He had in His resurrection. Its manifestation in the body of the Apostle was probably nothing but the fact that although he was always in danger of death, he always came forth alive out of his deadly perils. The idea is that of unity with Christ or resemblance to Christ in His life, as before in His dying. The context and the contrast suggest this. Though Jesus or the life of Jesus may have been the source of this life, such is not the assertion of the text, and such an assertion would not be suitable to the context. If we attempt to unite the two ideas in one explanation, we only mingle together two distinct representations (life in its unity and resemblance, and life in its energy). In a subsequent part of the Apostle’s discourse (2Co_4:14 ff.) the glorification of the body in the resurrection is perhaps a topic of consideration, but no allusion is made to it here. Still less is there any reference to a spiritual or moral influence, as though the Apostle would assert that the same living power through which Christ was raised and now lives, might be seen in the invincible energy of soul which he exhibited in the midst of all his adversities (de Wette). It is inconsistent with such a view that he uses the phrase, in our body ( ἐí ôῷ óþìáôé ἡìῶí ), and the corresponding expression, in our mortal flesh ( ἐí ôῇ èíῃôῇóáñêß ἡìῶí , 2Co_4:11, comp. also 2Co_6:9); and it is not a sufficient explanation of this idea to say, that his official influence is conceived of in its outward manifestation, in connection with and acting through the feeble members of his body (Osiander). [It is, however, against this wholly natural view of the life of Jesus acting in Paul’s body that, in 2Co_4:12, he speaks of it as acting through him upon the Corinthians, and in them producing spiritual effects (comp. Alford. But see notes on that ver.). “Perhaps Paul does not refer to any single thing in the life of the Lord Jesus, but means that he did this in order that in all things the same life, the same kind of living which characterized the Lord Jesus might be manifested in him; so that he resembled Him in his sufferings and trials, in order that in all things he might have the same life in his body.”—Barnes].
2Co_4:11. For we which live are ever delivered unto death.—This is an explanation and a confirmation of what had been said in 2Co_4:10. Corresponding with the bearing about the dying of Jesus in the body, we have here a being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake. And yet it does not follow that the dying of Jesus was precisely the same as the dying for Jesus’ sake. The thought (2Co_4:10) of the identity of the dying (in behalf of the same cause) is modified in 2Co_4:11 by becoming a deliverance unto death for Jesus’ sake. Both ideas, however, are fundamentally the same, so far as the cause of God’s kingdom, for which both Jesus and His Apostle endured such deadly sufferings, and the person and name of Jesus himself, were essentially connected. In äéὰ Ἰçóïῦí , here rendered, for Jesus’ sake, äéÜ indicates the true reason but not the object had in view (to glorify Jesus), although the cause and the design are closely united. Much less does this preposition mean the same thing as: auctoritate Jesu, for it cannot have reference to the motive of the action, inasmuch as the deliverance ( ðáñáäéäüìåèá ) is passive, and can have no allusion to the voluntariness of the subject of the action. The being delivered to death ( åἰò èÜí . ðáäéä .) is intensified by the contrast implied in, we who are alive ( ἡìåῖò ïἱ æῶíôåò .), as if they were delivered up to death in full life. Neander: “Now we seem in the midst of life and a moment afterwards we are given up to death.” This is neither an anticipation of what is said in the succeeding final sentence (as if the Apostle had intended to say: we who are kept alive), nor is it the same as to say: “as long as we live;” nor is it a feeble expression by which he would inform us: we who are still alive while so many of our fellow-Christians are dead; nor, moreover, is it to be taken as an emphatic description of the spiritual life (Osiander, Bisping); those in whom Jesus’ life acts to make them His organs of communication with men must have life through the spirit and power of faith (Joh_3:36; Joh_11:25; Gal_2:20). Such a view as is contained in this last mode of interpretation could derive support only from the final sentence in 2Co_4:10, as it is explained by de Wette. The deliverance to death was accomplished through the agency of men, but it must be referred ultimately to God ( ὑðὸ ôïῦ èåïῦ ), inasmuch as the final sentence indicates that there was a Divine purpose in the case.—that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.—In the inference which is drawn in this final sentence, the words, in our mortal flesh ( ἐí ôῆ èíçôῇ óáñêῖ ἡìῶí ), are emphatic, and are an augmentation of the thought expressed in 2Co_4:10 respecting the manifestation in our body ( ἐí ôῷ óþìáôé ); or perhaps they are a stronger expression to bring into more striking contrast the revelation of Jesus’ life, inasmuch as this life must become more manifest in the midst of this weakness and frailty of the body.
2Co_4:12. So then death worketh in as but life in you.—We have here the result of what he had just described, and its relation to the Corinthian Church. We should naturally have expected in such an expression ὁ ìὲí èÜíáôïò (lect. rec.), but the particle was probably left out by the Apostle intentionally, that the contrast might be the more striking. Death and life were both active powers (as in every other part of the New Testament ἐíåñãåῖôáé must be taken in an active and not in a passive signification.) Death was working in the Apostle, inasmuch as he was always exposed to death (2Co_4:10-11), but life was working in the Corinthians. But in what sense was this true of the Corinthians? Not directly but mediately, in the degree in which Jesus’ life was revealed in the Apostle’s body. The connection with 2Co_4:10-11 seems to demand this. It was by the Apostle’s dangers that he came into just the position to exert his apostolic powers for their good. While, therefore, he felt the continual influence of death, they were receiving a perpetual stream of quickening energies from his death. We are neither compelled to understand (with de Wette and Osiander) the life ( æùÞ ) here spoken of as meaning the higher spiritual life, the Divine power which was glorified in the Apostle’s sufferings and its working ( ἐíåñãåῖôáé ), as expressing the beneficial influence of his ministry in implanting and strengthening their faith, nor would we be justified in giving such a turn to the thought. [On the other hand Alford contends that the idea of Christ’s natural life acting upon the Corinthians through Paul, is much forced. “In Rom_8:10 f., the vivifying influence of His Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead is spoken of as extending to the body also; here the upholding influence of Him who delivers and preserves the body is spoken of as vivifying the whole man: life, in both places, being the higher and spiritual life, including the lower and natural. ‘And in our relative positions—ye are examples of this life since ye are a church of believers, alive to God through Christ in your various vocations, and not called upon to be èåáôñéæüìåíïé as we are, who are (not indeed excluded from that life—nay, it flows from us to you—but are) more especially examples of conformity to the death of our common Lord, in whom death works.” “Death and life are personified, and the one is operative in Paul and the other in the Corinthians.”—Hodge]. Entirely unsuitable to the whole tenor of the Epistle and of this particular section would be the supposition of an irony in which the Apostle contrasts his own extreme perils with the peace and prosperity of the Corinthians. Comp. 1Co_4:8 (Chrysostom, Calvin).
2Co_4:13-14.—But having the same spirit of faith (as it is written, I believed, therefore I spoke).—The Apostle now passes on to the spiritual side of the description he was giving of the Divine power in him (2Co_4:7). [But though you might think this working of death discouraging to us, it is not so in fact; for we are animated by two great principles: first, an assured faith that we shall participate with you in the benefits of the Gospel (2Co_4:13-16), and secondly, a confident hope of a glorious renovation (2Co_4:16-18). Our version omits the connecting particle äÝ which expresses the contrast between what follows and what precedes: death worketh indeed in us, but] the same spirit of faith impels us to speak to our fellow-men and to make known the Gospel, which had been expressed in that passage of Scripture, in which it is said: I believed, therefore I spoke. The äÝ also introduces an additional point in the discourse. The Spirit of faith denotes, not the spirit or disposition of faith, but the Spirit of God, which produced faith in the heart, the Spirit which he had received, which dwelt in him, and whose organ he was in the ministration of the Spirit. 2Co_3:8; comp. the spirit of meekness in 1Co_4:21; Gal_6:1, et al. Neander: “the Apostle is here speaking of that peculiar influence of the Holy Spirit by which he acquired a confirmed confidence in God that he would come forth triumphant over all death, and that every thing would promote the welfare of himself and of the whole Church.” Ôὸ áὐôü refers not to the faith of the Corinthians (the same which ye have), for the context suggests nothing of this kind, and the Apostle is speaking of the Corinthians only as the receivers or objects of his beneficial agency, but to the ôὸ ãåãñáììÝíïí with its contents: the same spirit of confidence in God which is expressed in the following passage of the Scriptures. The passage is found in Psa_116:10, though it is taken from the LXX., and does not give us the precise translation of the original Heb. úֶàֱîַðְúִé ëִé àֲãַáֵּø ,” believed, for I spoke.” [Comp. Hengstenberg on the Psalms.]. This, however, conducts us essentially to the same idea, for the speech, the discourse of the psalmist, expressive of prayerful submission, thankfulness and hope (2Co_4:1-9), is something in which faith is shown, and must have proceeded from faith. Bengel says: “No sooner does faith exist than she begins to speak to others, and while speaking recognizes herself and grows in power.”—Like the Psalmist, we also believe and therefore speak.—The believing of the Apostle, like that of the Psalmist, was a firm assurance that the quickening power of the Lord would help him through, and deliver him out of all his distresses. From this proceeds a spirit of praise for the deliverance given him; for in his preaching and in his testimony before the Church, his great object was to glorify God.—But the faith which moved him to speak involved also a confident hope that the power of God would ever afterwards be manifested in him, 2Co_4:14 :—Knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus.—We have åἰäüôåò in like manner in 1Co_15:58. The basis of this hope was the Divine fact on which all his faith and his salvation rested, 1Co_15:13 ff.; Rom_8:11, et al. The substance of this confidence was, that he who had raised up the Lord Jesus, will raise up us also with Jesus.—The most natural and probably the correct view of this passage leads our thoughts to the general resurrection. The fact that in other passages Paul holds before himself and his fellow-believers of that period the possibility that they might be changed without dying (1Co_15:52; 1Th_4:15 f.), does not militate against such a view, for he also intimates (2Co_5:8) that they miht possibly be called to die, and we may include under the general idea of being raised up, the more special one of a simple change (comp. on 1Co_6:14). Instead of óýí one would more naturally have expected äéὰ or ἐí , 1Co_15:21-22. But just as in ἅîåé óὺí áὐôῷ 1Th_4:14, the fellowship with him into which they were to be introduced, was pointed out, so the resurrection with Jesus in this place is a pattern which, in like manner, is founded upon a fellowship with Him, and is its highest realization and glorification, Eph_2:6; Col_2:12; Col_3:1. Of a resurrection with Jesus, in some other sense than that of a bodily resurrection, the Apostle never speaks, except in the past tense. No intimation is given of a deliverance from the peril of death (Meyer), and the words, with Jesus, are at least no more fitted to such an idea than they are to ἐãåßñåéí in the sense of a literal resurrection of the dead. If the former is a common fellowship in the lot of the risen Jesus, the latter is still more so. It is for this reason that he immediately adds:—and will present us with you.—This must refer to a presentation before the judgment seat of Christ for the reception of the great prize (2Co_1:14; 2Co_5:10; comp. 2Ti_4:8; 2 Thess. 2:19), or, which comes to the same result, a presentation of them as the companions of Christ in His kingdom. [This presentation by Christ is not the same with standing before His bar for judgment. The Apostle has here no allusion to the more awful scenes of the last judgment (2Co_5:10) but only to the more animating presentation with Christ and by Christ for final acceptance by the Father].
2Co_4:15. For all things are for your sakes.—This is immediately connected with the preceding phrase, in which he had declared that he would have fellowship with them in the future glory. The all things has reference to what he had said of his afflictions and his deliverances, of his faith and its fruits, and of his speaking and witnessing for the truth in the power of faith. In 2Co_4:12 he had said that life was energizing in them, and he now declares that all things he had mentioned ( ôὰ ðÜíôá ), would turn out for their good. (comp. 2Co_1:6; Php_1:25; 2Ti_2:10). He will present us with you, for all these things take place for your sakes. In the final sentence he tells them of the ultimate result to which all things would be conducted:—in order that the grace which abounds through many, might multiply thanksgivings to the glory of God.—The grace ( ÷Üñéò ) is here not the whole salvation sealed by the resurrection of Christ, for such an idea would not be expressed by a phrase like ôὰðÜíôá , but the gracious assistance of which he had just spoken. (2Co_4:10 ff.). ÐëåïíÜóáóá äéὰôῶí ðëåéüíùí signifies that the grace was increased or enlarged by the greater number of those who participate in it, or to whom it is extended. The persons here spoken of are not those who would become interested in the blessing in consequence of the Corinthians’ intercessions in his behalf, for his subject did not call for such an allusion (as in 2Co_1:11). The same general sense of the passage would be gained if we should connect äéὰ ôῶí ðëåéüíùí with the following ðåñéóóåýóῃ ):—that the abounding grace might multiply the thanksgivings by means of many.—In this case the increased number, who participated in the blessing, were those through whom the grace, extended or enlarged by their participation, would be the means of a more abundant thanksgiving. This is certainly better than passing over the intervening ôῶí ðëåéüíùí , to govern ôÞí ἐõ÷áñéóôßáí by äéÜ (in which case the genitive would have been more grammatical; comp. 2Co_9:12), and to take ðåñéóóåýóῃ in an intransitive sense. The word, however, is frequently used in either a transitive or an intransitive signification; comp. 2Co_9:8; 2Co_9:12. On the phrase, to the glory of God, comp. 1Co_10:31. [Alford presents us with four ways of translating this clause: 1.“that grace having abounded by means of the greater number (who have received it), may multiply the thanksgiving to the glory of God;” 2. “that grace having abounded, may, on account of the thanksgiving of the greater number, be multiplied to the glory of God.” (Luther, Bengel, etc.); 3. “that grace having abounded, may, by means of the greater number, multiply the thanksgiving to the glory of God.” (De Wette); 4. “that grace having multiplied by means of the greater number, the thanksgiving may abound to the glory of God.” (Proposed as possible, but not adopted by himself). He prefers the first as “most agreeable to the position of the words and to the emphasis.”]
2Co_4:16-18. For which cause we faint not.— Äéü refers back to 2Co_4:14. (2Co_4:15 was only an explanation of 2Co_4:14). We faint not ( ïὐê ἐêêáêïῦìåí ) occurs here in the same sense as in 2Co_4:1. In positive contrast with this, he says:—but even if our outward man is wasted away, our inward (man) is nevertheless renewed day by day.—The outward man (‘ ï ἕîù ἅíèñùðïò ), is an expression found only in this place, and it denotes the whole personal existence, so far as it is embodied in nature and the laws of the external common life. On the other hand, ὁ ἕóùèåí ἅíèñ denotes the same personal existence, so far as it is determined by the Divine law, and participates in the fulness of the Divine life. Comp. Rom_7:22; comp. 23 (where íïῦò is an equivalent word): Eph_3:16 comp. 19. (Beck, Seelenl., 68 f. comp. 42, 37). Meyer thinks the former expression denotes that which is visible in us, i.e., our corporeal nature, and the latter, our intellectual, rational and moral selves. Osiander understands by the latter term, the essential nature of man, kindred with God and capable of regeneration. [Hodge: “man’s higher nature—his soul as the subject of the Divine life.”] Comp. Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychol., pp. 145 f. 331, 333. [Alford, Stanley, Barnes and Bloomfield understand by it simply the soul in distinction from the body]. The doctrine of Collenbusch and Menken, that the inner man is an invisible body, existing in some concealed form within us, cannot be sustained by any natural exegesis, or by the plain meaning of these words. The attempt which Osiander has made to devise an intermediate doctrine according to which the inner man is the sphere of the higher spiritual life, which, however, communicates itself to the whole man by perpetually acting in an outward direction, and which, therefore, contains the germ of a higher bodily life and of a corporeal resurrection, is certainly problematical. The wasting away ( äéáöèåßñåóèáé ) of our outer man, i. e., the destruction of the outer man by the consuming, fretting, and disintegrating conflicts which his sufferings involved, is here alluded to as an actual process in the åἰ êáß (which cannot mean: even supposing that. Rückert), and was an actual fact of the Apostle’s experience, notwithstanding the salvation asserted in 2Co_4:10 f. In contrast with this perishing of the outer, he now places the renewal ( ἀíáêáéíïῦóèáé ) of the inner man. Neander: “the ἀíÜ presupposes an original image of God in man.” Both processes are represented as perpetually going on, but the inward man is said to be continually endued with new power, i. e., to be renewed, and sustained by the quickening Spirit ( ðíåῦìá æùïðïéïῦí ) which came to him from Christ. (2Co_3:17 f. and 2Co_4:6). ̔ ÇìÝñᾳ êáὶ ἡìÝñᾳ is like the Hebr. éåֹí éåֹí , Psa_68:20; Gen_39:10; Est_3:4). The second ἀëëÜ is equivalent to: yet, nevertheless, as is frequently the case in hypothetical conclusions in which the apodosis contains a contrast to the protasis. (comp. 2Co_5:16; 2Co_9:6; 2Co_13:4; 1Co_4:15; 1Co_9:2).—For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us exceeding abundantly, an eternal weight of glory. (2Co_4:17).—He here notices what it was which gave such continual refreshment to his inward man, under the exhausting influence of his sufferings. It was the hope of glory with which the Spirit of Christ had inspired him, and which showed him that these suffering were only the momentary and slight inconveniences of a transition state, and the necessary means of attaining a state of glory. (Comp. 2Co_4:14; Rom_5:6; Rom_8:17 ff.). Inasmuch as this view of his sufferings contained the reason for the renewal of which he had spoken ( ἀíáêáßíùóéò ), he introduces it with a ãÜñ The verse contains a sharp antithesis. There is on the one hand ôὸ ðáñáõôáßêá ἐëáöñὸí ôῆò èëßøåùò ,the momentary (coming and going in a moment) lightness (in respect to weight and therefore easily to be borne) of the affliction (an oxymoron, since èëῖøéò , oppression, implies something heavy), and on the other, the eternal weight of glory ( ôὸ áἰþíéïí âÜñïò äüîçò ). ÂÜñïò signifies weight, and therefore pressure, and would seem more appropriately connected with the affliction ( èëῖøéò ), but is here applied to the glory ( äüîá ) on account of the great extent or high degree of the glory. The meaning is: the affliction is soon over and light, while the glory is everlasting and weighty. Possibly the affliction was called momentary on account of the nearness of Christ’s second coming, i. e. the Parousia (Meyer). Certainly the everlasting duration and the magnitude of the glory, when contemplated by a steady eye of faith, would make afflictions seem but momentary and light.—But we must understand the Apostle as implying that the afflictions are the actual cause of the glory. The èëῖøéò is the means of producing and bringing to pass the äüîá , i. e. the glory of the heavenly kingdom. This is a consequence of that. What is represented in other passages as a reward (com. Mat_5:10; Luk_16:25; Rom_8:27; 2Ti_2:12; Rom_5:2-5), is here represented as a natural result. The affliction so exercises and purifies the believer, that he is qualified to enjoy the glory, or, it promotes the sanctification of both soul and body. Nothing is said, however, to imply that the sufferings have any merit in themselves, or have any intrinsic value in the matter of our justification.—The qualification êáè ̓ ὐðåñâïëÞí åἰò ὑðåñâïëÞí does not seem applicable to áἰþíéïí , and it must therefore be connected with êáôåñãÜæåôáé ; they work in a superabundant manner, even to a superfluity. Meyer explains it as: the measureless energy and the measureless results of the working ( êáôåñãÜæåôáé , comp. 2Co_1:8; 2Co_10:15; 1Co_12:31; Gal_1:13; Rom_7:13, et al.). It may then be indirectly connected with the äüîá (Osiander). A separation of the words so as to make the first êáè ̓ ὑðåñâ , have reference to ôῆò èëßøåùò (the exceedingly intense affliction), and the second åἰò ὑðåñâ . to the äüîáí (Bengel) is not sustained by grammatical usage.—Such an accumulation of epithets indicates the highest possible degree, but not a development of the glory from one super-eminent position of glory to another still higher. In 2Co_4:18 he notices still further the subjective reason for such a result: while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. To take this in the sense of something which must be presupposed is a condition to what had just been said, is not called for, since the Apostle in the context is not exhorting his readers, but is simply describing a fact, and ἡìῶí can be taken only by way of application to a more extensive class (to believers generally). Óêïðåῖí is: to take in sight, particularly to look upon the object of our exertion, as in Php_2:4. The things which are seen ( ôὰ âëåðüìåíá ) are the blessings of the áἰὼí ïí ̓͂ ôïò , the things we perceive by our senses; the things not seen ( ôὰ ìὴ âëåðüìåíá ) are those of the Üéõí ìÝëëùí , things which are beyond the perception of our senses, and yet not precisely the same as the ἀüñáôá (invisible things). Bengel says: “many things which are at present unseen, will be visible when faith’s journey is accomplished.” The ìὴ in connection with ìὴ óêïðïýíôùí ἡìῶí describes the subjective position in which believers are supposed to be (Winer ).—For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2Co_4:18).—He here gives the reason for the not looking at, etc., ðñüòêáéñá (temporary), is applicable to a definite period of time, that which continues only for a limited season, and hence means not so much temporal as transitory. It occurs also in Mat_13:21; Mar_4:17; Heb_9:25.
2Co_5:2-4.—For in this also we groan—earnestly desiring to put on over it our house which is from heaven:—We have here one proof or sign that what he had asserted in 2Co_5:1 was a reality. This proof was the fact that even while we remain in our earthly bodies we have an intense longing for a house from heaven. ̓ Åí ôïýôῷ has here not the sense of therefore, on this account, as in Joh_16:30, as if the succeeding participial sentence were merely an exposition of the previous verse; nor is its object simply to explain what was meant in 2Co_5:1 by the dissolution of the earthly habitation. It rather refers (comp. 2Co_5:4, we who are in this tabernacle) to the tabernacle ( óêῆíïò ) of 2Co_5:1, and presents a contrast to the supposition there made that it might be dissolved. The accent, therefore, should be placed upon ἐí ; and