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2Co_5:5. Δέ ] not antithetic (Hofmann), but continuative; this wish is no groundless longing, but we are placed by God in a position for the longed-for change which swallows up death. Now He who has made us ready for this very thing is God.
εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ] for this very behalf, for this very thing, Rom_9:17; Rom_13:6; Eph_6:18; Eph_6:22; Col_4:8. According to the context, it cannot apply to anything else than to the ἐπενδύσασθαι , whereby the mortal will be swallowed up of life. For this precisely Paul knew his individuality to be disposed by God, namely (see what follows) through the Holy Spirit, in the possession of which he had the divine guarantee that at the Parousia he should see his mortal part swallowed up of life, and consequently should not be amongst those liable to eternal destruction. In this way the usual reference of αὐτὸ τοῦτο to the eternal glory is to be limited more exactly in accordance with the context; comp. also Maier. Bengel wrongly refers it to the sighing, pointing to Rom_8:23.[217] But how inappropriate this is to the context! And how unsuitable in that case would be the description of the Holy Spirit as ἀῤῥαβών , since, according to Bengel, He is to be conceived as “suspiria operans”! Quite as unsuitable is the reference of κατεργ . to the creation (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Beza, and others, also Schneckenburger), which has no place here even as the beginning of the preparation indicated (in opposition to Ewald); Rückert remains undecide.
ὁ δοὺς ἡμῖν κ . τ . λ .] predicative more precise definition of the previous ὁ δὲ κατεργ . ἡμᾶς … θεός ; He who (quippe qui) has given to us the Spirit as earnest; see on 2Co_1:22. As earnest, namely, of the fact that we shall not fail to be clothed upon with the heavenly body at the Parousia (which Paul was convinced he would live to see). Comp. Rom_8:11, and the Remark thereon. The usual reference of τ . ἀῤῥαβ .: arrham futurae gloriae, is here too general for the context. The view of Hofmann regarding ὁ δοὺς ἡμῖν κ . τ . λ ., that the possession of the Spirit, etc., cancels the distinction between being unclothed and being clothed over, and takes away the natural shrinking from death, falls with his explanation of κατεργασ . ἡμ . εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ; see the Remark.
[217] This reference has been in substance repeated by Hofmann (comp. also his Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 475 f.). In place of his former misinterpretation, according to which he took κατεργάζεσθαι as to work down, break the spirit (see, in opposition to this, my third edition, p. 115, Remark), he has substituted the other erroneous explanation, that κατεργάζεσθαι is to be held as “to bring one to the point of doing something,” that εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο applies to the disinclination to being unclothed, and that the means by which God brings us to the point of not wishing to be unclothed is obviously the terribleness of death. The last point is purely imported, and the whole explanation is excluded by its very inconsistency with the language used in the passage. For κατεργάζεσθαι means, with Greek writers, to bring one to something, but always only in the sense to prevail on one for something for which we wish to get him, to win him for one’s ends, whether this be effected by persuasion or by other influence directed to the end. So also Jdg_16:16; Xen. Mem. ii. 3.11. Our expression to work on a person is similar. Comp. also Xen. Mem. ii. 3. 16; Herod. vii. 6 ( κατεργάσατο καὶ ἀνέπεισε ), ix. 108; Strabo, x. 5, p. 483 ( πειθαῖ κατεργάζονται ). In the N. T. the word never means anything else than to set at work, bring about, and in this sense it occurs frequently in Paul. Nor is it otherwise used here.