Глава пятая

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. Since he said above that as the outer man decays, the inner man is renewed, and thus said, it would seem, something new, he says that when this mortal and earthly body completely decays, then countless benefits will grow for us. At the same time, he again talks to them about the resurrection, although not as clearly as before, so that it does not seem that he considers them faulty. He called the body an earthly hut, and by calling it a hut, he indicated its short duration; for such is the hut. If the resting places of the righteous are often called huts (churches in Slavic), then with the addition, namely, “eternal churches” (Luke 16:9). Look how he contrasted the earthly house with the heavenly one, and the eternal house with the hut. Increasing the praise of the future glory of our body, he added: not made with hands, not to contrast this body, for it too is not made with hands. Some, by a man-made house, mean the life we ​​spend on earth, and by a hut the body itself, so this place takes on the following meaning: if the earthly life of our body is destroyed, which can also be called man-made, as if made by hands (for bread, wine and the like, from which our life is composed, are made by hands), we will have in heaven another life, indestructible and not made by hands, that is, not requiring the assistance of our hands. 2Cor.5:2. That is why we sigh, wanting to put on our heavenly dwelling, Which home? Into an incorruptible body. It calls it heavenly not because it will come from above, but because the grace of incorruption will be sent down from there. Therefore, we should not grieve when certain bodily temptations befall us; on the contrary, we should still groan because we have not put off our entire corruptible body in order to put on the incorruptible. The apostle did not call this body a hut, but a “dwelling,” because it abides forever. 2Cor.5:3. As long as we don’t end up naked even though we’re dressed. So that not everyone would rely on the incorruptibility of the body alone, he says: “If only we were clothed” in incorruption and received an incorruptible body, “we do not find ourselves naked,” i.e. glory and safety, as having the filth of sin. For the general resurrection, not honor. 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. Since what was said might seem painful: “we groan,” desiring to be freed from the body, for the attachment of the soul to the body is inexpressible, he says: we sigh not for the sake of simply being freed from the body, but for the fact that we wish to put on incorruptibility. We desire not to be stripped of the body, but to be freed from corruption, so that corruption, and not the body, is destroyed and destroyed in life. For we are burdened not because we have a body, but because it is perishable. This completely stops the mouths of heretics. For here we are not talking about this or that body, but about corruption and incorruption. 2 Cor.5:5. This is exactly what God created us for, And He who created us for this very purpose from the very beginning, says, is God, for He created us so that we would be incorruptible. And not only now did this please Him, but it was pleasing from the beginning. And this will exactly come true. Do you want proof, he says? I'll give you something else. He who gave us the Spirit through baptism also gave us a guarantee of incorruptibility, for He sanctified both soul and body, and made both of them divine, freeing us from sin, from which death occurred. Therefore, if he gave the Spirit, then it is clear that he freed from sin. Thus, the guarantee of future immortality is the Spirit. Or in other words: having now given us the Spirit in part, he gave us a certain guarantee that he will give us the whole. How will he give if we are not incorruptible in soul and body? So, having received a little here, that is, a pledge, hope that you will then have the whole. 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 vision, - 2 Cor.5:8. then we are complacent and wish better to leave the body and be with the Lord, Continues to confirm what was said above, namely that there is no need to worry about the dangers. For dangers and deaths, he says, bring us the longed-for gain - incorruption, for which we sigh, and quickly lead us to our Lord. “We are always in good spirits,” that is, without fear of persecution, slander, or death. Notice the wisdom how he hid the names of death and life and called the first a residence with the Lord, and the latter a departure from the Lord, so that no one would become attached to real life, as distracting from the Lord. Then, lest anyone say: so, what? does the body alienate us from God? - rejected this objection, saying: “for we walk by faith, and not by sight,” that is, although here we know Him, but in part, for this means: “by faith,” and not face to face, which means: “by sight.” If so, then “we would rather leave the body and be with the Lord.” He did not say: to achieve incorruption, but - what is more excellent - to be with the Lord, for this is more important than incorruption. 2Cor.5:9. and therefore we earnestly strive, whether in or out, to be pleasing to Him, The main thing to be concerned about is to please God in life. So that, hearing about the departure, you do not think that it alone is enough for you to be saved, he says: try to depart well, that is, lead a life here that is pleasing to God. 2 Cor.5:10. for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, Here it recalls the Last Judgment and the words “must appear” arouse fear. For do not think that there are walls, or veils, or the depths of the heart that will hide either deeds or thoughts; everything will be revealed there. so that everyone may receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad. Saying this, he strengthens those who lived regularly and piously with hope, and arouses the careless with fear to correction. At the same time, it confirms the doctrine of the resurrection of bodies. For that which has served either good or bad deeds is undoubtedly either rewarded or punished. Thus the mouths of heretics are stopped here. 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. Knowing, he says, about the Last Judgment, we do everything so as not to lead people into temptation, for this is what the words “admonish people” mean, that is, we heal them from temptations. For we are subject to condemnation not only when we have done something bad, but also when, being able to remove the reason for suspicion and remove the temptation, we do not do it. “We are open to God,” for He knows how we spend our lives, and there is no need to convince Him, as one convinces a doubter. “I hope that your consciences are also open,” as they know everything that concerns us well. Therefore, there is no need to convince you that you have suffered temptation from us. 2 Cor.5:12. We do not introduce ourselves to you again, but we give you reason to boast about us, He immediately eliminates the suspicion of imaginary vanity and says that with these words we do not praise ourselves, that is, we elevate, exalt with praise, but we give you a reason to boast and show off about us before the false apostles who revile us. so that you may have something to say to those who boast in appearance and not in heart. So that you have something to say and something to boast about about us before the false apostles, who boast “in appearance,” that is, they do everything for show, for show, for they were like that: they wore the guise of piety, but had nothing good in their hearts. He commands not always to boast, but only when the false apostles are exalted. 2 Cor.5:13. If we lose our temper, it is for God; if you are modest, then for you. If we say something sublime (the apostle calls this “losing our temper”, or, in other places, “madness”), then we do it for God, so that you, considering us weak, will not become proud and perish; if we say something humbly and humiliatingly, then we do it for you, so that you learn to be humble. Or in other words: if anyone suspects that we are insane, then we hope to receive a reward from God, for Whom we are subject to such suspicion, and if someone considers us humble, let him himself benefit from our humility. Or another way: if we are crazy, then we are crazy so that God can lead you to Him. Paul’s madness was the madness of love: loving God and living, like a lover, by Him alone, that is, the Beloved, he lost himself and completely clung to God, living not his own life, but the life of the Beloved, as the most beloved or beloved. So, if we, he says, “lose our temper, it is for God.” 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 love of God which He has manifested in us embraces us and causes us to run into danger for Him when we discuss well with ourselves the following. Since He died for everyone, it is clear that we were all lost, and that He died for the lost and dead, in order to quicken us. So, since He revived us, we should no longer live “for ourselves,” but for Him by whom we live, Who not only died for us, but also rose again, lifting up our firstfruits, that is, His body, into heaven, in order to lift us up completely. For what need did He have to be exalted if something similar had not happened to us? Therefore, since He died for us, since He quickened us, and since He gave us the guarantee of incorruptibility, we must live for Him, and not for our own lusts. 2 Cor.5:16. Therefore, from now on we do not know anyone according to the flesh. Since all who were killed by sin were made alive by Christ through baptism, he rightly says: we do not know any of the believers living in the flesh, that is, according to the ancient and carnal life. For all who are regenerated by the Spirit lead a new and spiritual life. Even if we knew Christ in the flesh, now we no longer know him. He shows that in not living according to the flesh, we have Christ as our leader, and says: although Christ was once according to the flesh, now He is not according to the flesh. So what? Did He lay aside His flesh? No. For as He came, so He will come, and He came in the flesh and with the flesh. So what does the apostle say? That we are called those who live according to the flesh when we are in sins, and those who do not live according to the flesh when we do not sin. Christ is called living according to the flesh when he was involved in life with natural and blameless infirmities, such as: hunger, thirst, sleep, fatigue. Now He is not “according to the flesh,” that is, He has freed himself from natural and blameless infirmities, having a flesh that is not involved in suffering and immortal, so that, he says, he can completely and abundantly teach us to no longer live according to the flesh and sinfully, but according to the Spirit. 2 Cor.5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, Whoever believed in Christ became a different creature and became a new creature. So, we should not live in the old way. the ancient has passed away, now everything is new. What is ancient? Sinful and Jewish. For ancient sin has ended and we have a new soul and a new body, and instead of everything Jewish we have everything new: instead of the law - the Gospel, instead of Jerusalem - heaven, instead of the church - “the innermost behind the veil” (Heb. 6:19), where the Trinity, instead of circumcision - baptism, instead of manna - the Body of God, instead of water - the Blood of the Lord, instead of the rod of Moses or Aaron - the Cross, instead of the lamb - the Son of God and so on. 2 Cor.5:18. All things from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ Yet all this has been given to us from God, who reconciled us to Himself through the intercession of His Son. For we did not ourselves run to Him, but He called us through the death of His Son. and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation, O abyss of philanthropy! For the Father, who sent the Son, when he saw Him killed by those who needed reconciliation, not only did not reject people, but gave, he says, to us, the apostles, “the ministry of reconciliation,” so that, going everywhere, we would be messengers to those who had fallen away from God and bring them to Him. 2 Cor.5:19. because God in Christ reconciled the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against people, He said that the Father had reconciled us to Himself. Lest anyone say: But He sent the Son? - now he says that although He sent the Son, however, He calls not only the Son, but also the Father, reconciling the world to Himself through Christ - for this means "in Christ" - and showing such kindness to people that not only did not punish them, but was reconciled with them, and not only forgave them, but also did not impute their sins. For if He wanted to demand an account, then everyone would perish. and gave us a word of reconciliation. Therefore, we have a command from God not to lay anything heavy on you, but to reconcile you to Him. Since, God says, they did not believe Me, do not stop exhorting them until you convince them. 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. “In the name of Christ,” that is, sent instead of Christ. For what He intended to do, we have now accepted, and just as the Father called us through Him, so now He calls you through us, so that you may be reconciled to Him. He did not say: reconcile God with yourself, but make peace with Him. For you are at enmity against Him, and not He against you: for God is also the Father. He, as if he had sinned against them, sends to them so that they forgive Him. O wealth of mercy and mercy! 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. “I,” he says, “don’t remember everything, that you dishonored the Benefactor, that He did not care about revenge, that, on the contrary, He Himself was the first to want to be reconciled: what He has done now, isn’t it enough for you to be reconciled with Him? What did He do? The fact that He gave His Son, “who knew no sin,” that is, the One who is righteousness itself, to death for us, as a sinner and an evildoer, for “cursed before God is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Deut. 21:23), and: “and is numbered with sinners.” And he did not say: “made” him a sinner; but “a sacrifice for sin,” which means more. Why was this done? That we might be justified, not by the works of the law, but by the grace of God. For this is the righteousness of God, when one is justified by grace, when no spot can be found. Therefore, he did not say: let us be righteous ourselves, but by the “righteousness” of God, pointing to the abundance of grace. You might be interested in: