(exo/xev) ice have. * If our earthly house be dissolved, we have in heaven a house of God, not made with hands, and eternal.'
2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
This verse must, from the force of the connecting particle (yap) for, be a confirmation of what precedes, but whether of what is said in v. 1, or at close of preceding chapter, is doubt- ful. The words koI ydp may mean either /br also, or for eve?!. If the former, this verse is condinate with v. 1, and assigns an additional reason why the apostle looked at the things unseen and eternal. He thus looked for he knew he had in heaven a house not made with hands, and because he earnestly desired to enter that house. If the latter explanation of the particles be preferred, the sense is, ' I know I have a house in heaven, for even in this I groan, desiring to be clothed with my house which is from heaven.' In this case the argument would be, ' There is such a house, for I long for it.' This, however, is hardly a scriptural argument. Paul's confidence in a state of blessedness beyond the grave was not founded on the obscure aspirations of his nature, but on express revelation from God. Rom. 8, 22 is not parallel, for there the groaning of the creation is presented, not as a proof of future blessedness, but to show that the creature is subject to vanity, 9iot loilllngly nor finally. In this, i. e. in this tabernacle, as the word o-ktjvos is used in v. 1, and also v. 4. We groan earnestly desiring, i. e. we groan be- cause we desire. The groaning is the expression of this long- ing after his heavenly home ; and not, as in v. 4, of suffering caused by afflictions. The liri in iTmro^vvTes is either inten- sive, earnestly desiring, or it expresses the tendency of the de- sire. The word and its cognates are always used in the New Testament to express strong desire or longing. What the apostle thus longed for was, eTrevSuVao-^at, to he clothed upon, i. e. to put on over, as an outer garment. With our house which is from heaven. As the body is familiarly compared sometimes to a house in which the soul dwells, and sometimes to a garment with which it is clothed, the two figures are here combined, and the apostle speaks of putting on a house as though it were a garment. Both are a covering and a pro- tection. Our house, olK-qriqpiov, i. e. dicelling, more sj^ecific than the general term oIkIo., a building. Which is from heaven, ii ovpavov, i. e. heavenly, as distinguished from a