POST OVERVIEW. This article is a detailed study of 2 Cor. 5:1-4, seeking to understand Paul’s teaching about the resurrection and about the believer’s anticipation of that event.

We begin our study by understanding the context of these verses in 2 Corinthians 5. Beginning in 2 Cor. 4:7, Paul has made the case that the immense value of the gospel and the certainty of the believer’s resurrection combine to give the disciple of Jesus great boldness in their proclamation of the gospel. The herald has been entrusted with this gospel treasure (4:7) and knows that declaring this message may cost him much (4:8-12). But he nevertheless proclaims the truth because his great salvation obligates him to do so (4:13) and the certainty of his resurrection supplies the courage to proclaim (4:14). For our minor, temporary suffering here on earth is storing up for us a great reward in heaven (4:16-18).

Now in 2 Cor. 5:1-4, Paul is going to give us more details of this eternal dwelling from heaven, this clothing for which we now groan, this resurrection body we will soon receive.

¹ For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, ³ inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. ⁴ For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. – 2 Cor. 5:1-4 (NASB)

5:1. Paul speaks figuratively about both our earthly body and about our resurrection body. “The earthly tent which is our house” is our earthly body and “torn down” refers to physical death. (Note that Paul says “if.” In the context of this verse, “If we physically die.” Although it may be pressing the point too much, this “if” here leaves room for the possibility that “the earthly tent” may not be torn down because the resurrection could come before the reader’s physical death.) If the believer dies physically, “we know that we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Thus Paul gives three characteristics to our resurrection bodies. They are “from God,” which means that they have already been prepared for us by God. Also, they are “not made with hands.” There is nothing man-made and nothing of human origin in these bodies. They are of divine origin. And they are of eternal duration. Our resurrection bodies will last until the end of eternity.

5:2. In this physical body “we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.” When we come to faith in Christ, we begin our life of groaning. Before we were disciples of Jesus, we shrieked, we screamed, we groped and we moaned as we muddled our way through the difficulties and miseries of this world, but now as believers we groan. We groan, first, because we know that heaven awaits and we know that there in heaven all will be peace and glory. And our longing for heaven produces groans here. But we also groan because here we still know the presence of sin and we still experience our own sin. We are still in a fallen world where many refuse to worship the King and this awareness of sin causes us to groan. But most of all we groan because we remain physically separated from our great God. We have been bought and redeemed and reconciled and adopted as His sons, but we remain here while He is there. So we groan until that day.

Groaning is the expression of our longing. We long for that day when we will be clothed “with our dwelling from heaven.” Notice that our glorified bodies will come from heaven. This speaks again of the divine origin of our resurrection bodies, teaching that our resurrection bodies will not be reconstituted from our old earthly bodies but will instead be delivered by God from heaven to be united with our redeemed souls.

5:3. Once we have put on our resurrection bodies, “we will not be found naked.” The word of interest here is naked. Paul teaches that, once we finally receive our glorified “dwelling from heaven,” “we will not be found naked.” This must mean that, until we receive our resurrection bodies (at the παρουσία), we will be found naked. Thus, from 5:2, in our earthly bodies we long to be clothed with our glorified bodies, but also from 5:3, when our souls are in heaven with the Lord, even then we will still long for our glorified bodies, because even then we will still sense that we are incomplete (“naked”) and not yet fully redeemed. We understand, then, that our nakedness, which we received from Adam as a result of his sin (Gen. 3:7, 10), will not be removed until we receive our resurrection bodies, “our dwelling from heaven.”

5:4. This verse is similar to 5:2 but adds this important phrase: “we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” Based on what we have learned so far in this passage, we can say that we remain mortal until we receive our glorified bodies. This is true because we know that “to be clothed” means “to receive our glorified body from heaven.” And here we see that the purpose (ἵνα, “so that”) of our being clothed is that “what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” (See 1 Cor. 15:53-54.) We can also state that “swallowed up by life” is equivalent to being “clothed with our dwelling from heaven.” But here we see that we remain mortal until we are “swallowed up by life” in the resurrection. Only in the resurrection does our mortality end. We received sinful mortality when Adam disobeyed, but all those who have trusted in Christ are guaranteed that, in the παρουσία, their mortality and their nakedness will be swallowed up by our heaven-sent, God-given resurrection bodies.

SUMMARY

Here we want to summarize what we have learned about the resurrection in this study.

• (v. 1) The believer knows that a resurrection body (“building from God”) is awaiting him.
• (v. 1) Our glorified body is “from God,” so it has been prepared for us by God; it is “not made with hands,” meaning that it is not of this creation, but is of divine origin; and it is eternal and so will last until the very end of eternity.
• (v. 2) Our “dwelling” (glorified body) is “from heaven,” teaching that our eternal body will not be reconstituted from our old “earthly tent” but will be delivered by God from heaven.
• (v. 3) Our nakedness, which we received from Adam as a result of his sin (Gen. 3:7) will not be removed until we receive our resurrection bodies, “our dwelling from heaven.”
• (v. 4) We remain mortal until we are “swallowed up by life” in the resurrection. Only in the resurrection does our mortality end.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 6/4/2024                     #705