Глава V

New body (1–5). Conditions under which one can obtain a future glorious life (6–10). Personal Remarks of the Apostle (11–16). The meaning of apostolic ministry (17–21). 2 Cor.5:1–5. The opposition between the inner greatness of believers and their decaying physicality cannot last forever. In exchange for the present body, believers will receive a new one that will correspond to their inner spiritual state. This hope is strengthened in us by God Himself, who has given us His Spirit as a guarantee of this glorious state. 2Cor.5:1. For we know that when our earthly house, this hut, is destroyed, we have from God a dwelling in heaven, a house not made with hands, eternal. "We know". Ap. here he means, of course, all believers, and not just himself, because he is not the only one who will receive the future glorious body. How did believers know this? Of course, from the teachings of Ap. Paul (1 Cor. 15), and the Apostle himself - by special grace-filled illumination from God. - “Our earthly home, this hut.” Ap. so calls our body, which is given to us only for a while and must be ruined, just as a hut, or, more precisely, a tent, which is generally pitched somewhere for a while, is ruined. - “We have.” This does not mean that the new house already exists at the present time. If Ap. thought this way, then he would contradict his own teaching about the future body as having to come from the earthly body after its decay (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–43). The Apostle’s manner of speech is explained simply by the fact that here he will pass through the afterlife, until the resurrection - this did not concern him in the present case. - “The dwelling place in heaven is from God.” In contrast to our current body, which we received by birth from our parents - people who had the rough, earthy body of the primordial Adam (cf. 1 Cor 15:47), - we will receive our new body from God, and this serves as a guarantee of its superiority over the current one. This body is intended for life in heaven, that is, in a new perfect world. - “House not made with hands, eternal.” Here the Apostle compares what God builds and what man does. The house of God will stand forever, but the house built by human hands must eventually crumble. 2Cor.5:2. That is why we sigh, wanting to put on our heavenly dwelling; 2Cor.5:3. As long as we don’t end up naked even though we’re dressed. “That is why we sigh.” Ap. wants to find further evidence for our faith in the future glorification of the body and repeats what he said in Romans (Rom. 8:23): “groaning” for a new body in itself testifies that this new body will really be given to us. – The body is new Ap. calls it heavenly because it will be incorruptible. - According to the interpretation of bl. Theodorite, instead of “put on”, it is more correct to translate “to change clothes, to change clothes.” The last expression indicates that we will not put on another body, but this corruptible body of yours will put on incorruptibility. - “If only we...” Ap. reminds Christians that even in a new body they can find themselves, as it were, “naked” - naked in relation to virtue, which not everyone acquires here on earth. Consequently, Christians themselves must take care of acquiring for themselves the clothing of virtue, in which alone they can enter the palace of God. 2 Cor.5:4. For we, being in this hut, groan under the burden, because we do not want to be undressed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up with life. Ap. explains that Christians do not strive to be completely freed from the body, but to receive another body, and, moreover, if this were possible, without dying (in the terminology of the Apostle, “without stripping off”), so that at the second coming of Christ their bodies would suddenly turn into new ones (cf. 1 Cor 15:54). The new clothes that Christians would put on if they had to live to see the second coming of Christ would swallow up the old ones. 2 Cor.5:5. It is for this very reason that God created us and gave us the guarantee of the Spirit. Ap. indicates that the guarantee of our hope for a future glorified body is the will of God. God Himself prepared us for life in such a body, as evidenced by the pledge we, Christians, received—the Holy Spirit. This Spirit produces an internal renewal in us, and according to this internal renewal, our body must also be renewed over time, our outer shell must change (cf. Rom 8:28-30). 2 Corinthians 5:6–10. To get a future glorious life, you need to strive here to please the Lord. The Lord at the final judgment will judge everyone according to the deeds that people have done on earth. 2 Cor.5:6. So we are always in good spirits; and how we know that, being settled in the body, we are removed from the Lord, - 2 Cor.5:7. For we walk by faith and not by sight, 2 Cor.5:8. then we are complacent and wish better to leave the body and be with the Lord. Death is the most terrible thing for a person, and the thought of it has always troubled the minds of people in Judaism and paganism. This is not the attitude towards death in Christianity. The Christian calmly awaits death, because it will unite him with the Lord, with whom it is now impossible to enter into direct intercourse, since this earthly body of ours serves as an insurmountable barrier for this. We are, as Ap. puts it, “removed” or distant from the Lord. “We walk,” that is, we live in a world where it is impossible to see God, where one can only believe in Him. Therefore, we would like, of course, if it is God’s will, to quickly throw off this earthly shell that is hindering our settlement with the Lord. 2Cor.5:9. And therefore we zealously strive, whether in or out, to be pleasing to Him; 2 Cor.5:10. for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he did while living in the body, whether good or bad. But at the same time Ap. considers it necessary to point out that after the laying down of the earthly shell, we will have to appear at the judgment of Christ and give an account of our deeds. Therefore, we must strive in every possible way to please God. – It should be noted that in this department Ap. clearly distinguishes between a twofold posthumous judgment of people. One takes place immediately after a person’s death and makes it possible for a person to “be at home with the Lord” (v. 8), although not yet having a new body to replace the destroyed one. Another will take place at the end of all times, when believers receive a new glorious body (1 Cor. 15 et seq.). This last judgment is indicated in verse 10 (Zlat.). 2 Cor.5:11–16. The apostle, being firmly confident in his future glorification, boldly preaches everywhere and looks at everyone with an open face: he has nothing to fear. 2 Cor.5:11. So, knowing the fear of the Lord, we admonish people, but we are open to God; I hope that your consciences are also open. The Apostle Paul was reproached that he used cunning to attract people to himself and that his behavior was ambiguous. Paul responds to this: “yes, I convince, I persuade (in Russian inaccurately: “we admonish”) people, but at the same time, the fear of the Lord as the Judge always keeps me within the boundaries of permitted actions... I may seem to my opponents not a completely openly acting person, but God sees that I act sincerely and according to my conscience. You yourself should know this” (open to your consciences too). 2 Cor.5:12. We do not introduce ourselves to you again, but we give you a reason to boast about us, so that you may have something to say to those who boast in appearance and not in heart. Wed. 2Cor.3:1. If Ap. says something in his praise, then by this he wants to give the Corinthians a weapon to repel the slander that is hostile to him from his enemies, who unlawfully exalted themselves too much. 2 Cor.5:13. If we lose our temper, it is for God; if you are modest, then for you. The apostle was reproached for losing his temper. This reproach was based on the fact that Paul had the gift of speaking in tongues more than all others (1 Cor 14:18), had many visions (2 Cor 12:1 et seq.) and had a very flexible temperament. His opponents took advantage of all this in order to present him in the eyes of the Corinthians as mentally ill. Paul says to this that he is carried away by inspiration only when he prays to God, alone with himself and God (“for God”). In those cases where it is a question of making his speech completely understandable to those gathered in the church, the Apostle always spoke as a completely calmly reasoning person. 2 Cor.5:14. For the love of Christ embraces us, reasoning this way: if one died for all, then all died. 2 Cor.5:15. But Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. The Apostle was prompted to such self-restraint for the good of the Church by the “love of Christ” or love for the brethren, similar to the love of Christ for humanity. He reasoned like this: “if Christ died, then all those who believe in Christ died to themselves. They no longer live for themselves, but for Christ and their neighbors.” Therefore, any desire to distinguish himself in any way from other believers is now alien to the Apostle. He does not use at all costs his ability to come into an extreme state of delight and strives to serve the edification of believers in an ordinary calm state. 2 Cor.5:16. Therefore, from now on we do not know anyone according to the flesh; if we knew Christ in the flesh, now we no longer know him. Since the Apostle Paul was charged with the fact that he did not listen to Christ Himself, like the other Apostles, and yet Christ did not preach freedom from the law, like Paul, the Apostle considers it necessary to say that he really looks at Christ no longer as limited by the framework of Jewish nationality, as an earthly Jesus, but as the glorified Son of God, as He appeared to him on the way to Damascus. If he received knowledge of Him as such upon his very entry into the Church (through conversations with Ananias), then now all this no longer matters to him. He fully understood the very essence of the teachings of Christ, Who was not at all on the side of the idea that the Law of Moses was binding on the pagans. The time of Christ’s presence “in the flesh” has already passed, and He now stands before the consciousness of the Apostle in another spiritual, heavenly image. At the same time, the Apostle does not take into account human authorities, no matter how high they may be, to which his opponents referred. 2 Cor.5:17–21. After personal remarks, the Apostle once again extols the greatness of his ministry. We hear how the Apostle announces the emergence of a new humanity, the creation of a new world, which the prophets foretold. This new humanity now appears in the person of believers in Christ who have received reconciliation with God through Christ. 2 Cor.5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the ancient has passed away, now everything is new. 2 Cor.5:18. Yet from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, Nothing was done on the part of people for this renewal: everything was accomplished by God Himself, who reconciled people to Himself through Christ. God sent the Apostle to preach about this reconciliation to others. 2 Cor.5:19. because God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself, not imputing their crimes to people, and gave us the word of reconciliation. In order for the reconciliation accomplished by God to become the property of each individual person, it is necessary for someone to clarify to “people” the essence of this reconciliation. And for this, with a “word of reconciliation”, Ap is sent into the world. Paul. 2 Cor.5:20. So we are messengers on behalf of Christ, and it is as if God Himself exhorts through us; On behalf of Christ we ask: be reconciled with God. How great is the ministry of the Apostle! Christ himself stands behind it and calls people to accept reconciliation with God. 2 Cor.5:21. For He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. To show how important this reconciliation is, the Apostle says that God made the sinless Christ “sin” (adding the Russian translation: “as a sacrifice” is superfluous), that is, he laid the sins of the whole world on Christ and treated Him as a real sinner. Through this, the truth of God was satisfied, and people became not only righteous, but by the very righteousness of God, that is, they were most truly justified in the eyes of God. The new righteousness is presented to the Apostle not as clothing, but as something constituting the very being of man, as a complete change in this being. You might be interested in: