2 Corinthians 4:7--5:10

Context

An Eternal Weight of Glory

4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power¹ belongs to God and does not come from us. 4:8 We are experiencing trouble on every side,² but are not crushed; we are perplexed,³ but not driven to despair; 4:9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned;⁴ we are knocked down,⁵ but not destroyed, 4:10 always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus,⁶ so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible⁷ in our body. 4:11 For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible⁸ in our mortal body.⁹ 4:12 As a result,¹⁰ death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.¹¹ 4:13 But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in¹² what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,”¹³ we also believe, therefore we also speak. 4:14 We do so¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised up Jesus¹⁵ will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence. 4:15 For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including¹⁶ more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase¹⁷ to the glory of God. 4:16 Therefore we do not despair,¹⁸ but even if our physical body¹⁹ is wearing away, our inner person²⁰ is being renewed day by day. 4:17 For our momentary, light suffering²¹ is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Living by Faith, Not by Sight

5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in,²² is dismantled,²³ we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. 5:2 For in this earthly house²⁴ we groan, because we desire to put on²⁵ our heavenly dwelling, 5:3 if indeed, after we have put on²⁶ our heavenly house,²⁷ we will not be found naked. 5:4 For we groan while we are in this tent,²⁸ since we are weighed down,²⁹ because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5:5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose³⁰ is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.³¹ 5:6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth³² we are absent from the Lord – 5:7 for we live³³ by faith, not by sight. 5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away³⁴ from the body and at home with the Lord. 5:9 So then whether we are alive³⁵ or away, we make it our ambition to please him.³⁶ 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,³⁷ so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.³⁸

[4:7] ¹tn Grk “the surpassingness of the power”; δυνάμεως (dunamew") has been translated as an attributed genitive (“extraordinary power”).

[4:8] ²tn Grk “we are hard pressed [by crowds] on every side.”

[4:8] ³tn Or “at a loss.”

[4:9] ⁴tn Or “forsaken.”

[4:9] ⁵tn Or “badly hurt.” It is possible to interpret καταβαλλόμενοι (kataballomenoi) here as “badly hurt”: “[we are] badly hurt, but not destroyed” (L&N 20.21).

[4:10] ⁶tn The first clause of 2 Cor 4:10 is elliptical and apparently refers to the fact that Paul was constantly in danger of dying in the same way Jesus died (by violence at least). According to L&N 23.99 it could be translated, “at all times we live in the constant threat of being killed as Jesus was.”

[4:10] ⁷tn Or “may also be revealed.”

[4:11] ⁸tn Or “may also be revealed.”

[4:11] ⁹tn Grk “mortal flesh.”

[4:12] ¹⁰tn Or “So then.”

[4:12] ¹¹tn Grk “death is at work in us, but life in you”; the phrase “is at work in” is repeated in the translation for clarity.

[4:13] ¹²tn Grk “spirit of faith according to.”

[4:13] ¹³sn A quotation from Ps 116:10.

[4:14] ¹⁴tn Grk “speak, because.” A new sentence was started here in the translation, with the words “We do so” supplied to preserve the connection with the preceding statement.

[4:14] ¹⁵tc ‡ Several important witnesses (א C D F G Ψ 1881), as well as the Byzantine text, add κύριον (kurion) here, changing the reading to “the Lord Jesus.” Although the external evidence in favor of the shorter reading is slim, the witnesses are important, early, and diverse (Ì⁴⁶ B [0243 33] 629 [630] 1175* [1739] pc r sa). Very likely scribes with pietistic motives added the word κύριον, as they were prone to do, thus compounding this title for the Lord.

[4:15] ¹⁶tn Or “that is abounding to.”

[4:15] ¹⁷tn Or “to abound.”

[4:16] ¹⁸tn Or “do not lose heart.”

[4:16] ¹⁹tn Grk “our outer man.”

[4:16] ²⁰tn Grk “our inner [man].”

[4:17] ²¹tn Grk “momentary lightness of affliction.”

[5:1] ²²sn The expression the tent we live in refers to “our earthly house, our body.” Paul uses the metaphor of the physical body as a house or tent, the residence of the immaterial part of a person.

[5:1] ²³tn Or “destroyed.”

[5:2] ²⁴tn Or “dwelling place.”

[5:2] ²⁵tn Or “to be clothed with.”

[5:3] ²⁶tc ‡ Some mss read “taken off” (ἐκδυσάμενοι, ekdusamenoi) instead of “put on” (ἐνδυσάμενοι, endusamenoi). This alternative reading would change the emphasis of the verse from putting on “our heavenly house” to taking off “our earthly house” (see the following note regarding the specification of the referent). The difference between the two readings is one letter (ν or κ), either of which may be mistaken for the other especially when written in uncial script. ἐνδυσάμενοι enjoys strong support from the Alexandrian text (Ì⁴⁶ א B C 33 1739 1881), Byzantine witnesses, versions (lat sy co), and Clement of Alexandria. The Western text is the only texttype to differ: D*^,c reads ἐκδυσάμενοι, as does ar f^c Mcion Tert Spec; F and G read εκλ for εκδ which indirectly aligns them with D (and was surely due to confusion of letters in uncial script). Thus “put on” has the oldest and best external attestation by far. Internal evidence also favors this reading. At first glance, it may seem that “after we have put on our heavenly house we will not be found naked” is an obvious statement; the scribe of D may have thought so and changed the participle. But v. 3 seems parenthetical (so A. Plummer, Second Corinthians [ICC], 147), and the idea that “we do not want to be unclothed but clothed” is repeated in v. 4 with an explanatory “for.” This concept also shows up in v. 2 with the phrase “we desire to put on.” So the context can be construed to argue for “put on” as the original reading. B. M. Metzger argues against the reading of NA²⁷, stating that ἐκδυσάμενοι is “an early alteration to avoid apparent tautology” (TCGNT 511; so also Plummer, 148). In addition, the reading ἐνδυσάμενοι fits the Pauline pattern of equivalence between apodosis and protasis that is found often enough in his conditional clauses. Thus, “put on” has the mark of authenticity and should be considered original.

[5:3] ²⁷tn Grk “it”; the referent (the “heavenly dwelling” of the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4] ²⁸sn See the note in 5:1 on the phrase the tent we live in.

[5:4] ²⁹tn Or “we are burdened.”

[5:5] ³⁰tn Grk “for this very thing.”

[5:5] ³¹tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit” (see the note on the phrase “down payment” in 1:22).

[5:6] ³²tn Grk “we know that being at home in the body”; an idiom for being alive (L&N 23.91).

[5:7] ³³tn Grk “we walk.”

[5:8] ³⁴tn Or “be absent.”

[5:9] ³⁵tn Grk “whether we are at home” [in the body]; an idiom for being alive (L&N 23.91).

[5:9] ³⁶tn Grk “to be pleasing to him.”

[5:10] ³⁷sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a common item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city. Use of the term in reference to Christ’s judgment would be familiar to Paul’s 1st century readers.

[5:10] ³⁸tn Or “whether good or bad.”