to make the same words have such different meanings in the same connection. In v. 2 we are said to be clothed with our house from heaven ; in v. 3 we are so clothed as not to be found naked, and in v. 4 Paul speaks of being unclothed. If in vs. 2 and 4 the word refers to a body or house, in v. 3 it cannot refer to the robe of righteousness. Being unclothed is evidently the opposite of being clothed. As the former re- fers to laying aside the earthly tabernacle, the latter must re- fer to our being invested with the house from heaven. Be- sides, any such distinction between the righteous and the wicked, or any caution that the unrighteous are not to be received into heaven, as this interjDretation supposes, is for- eign to the design of the passage. Paul is not speaking of the general destiny of men after death, but of his own per- sonal experience and conviction. ' I know,' he says, ' that if I die I have a house in heaven, and being clothed with that house I shall not be found naked.' There is no room here for a warning to the unrighteous. They are not at all brought into view.
2. The second general view of this passage is founded on the assumption that v. 2 speaks of the change to be effected in those who shall be alive when Christ comes. According to Grotuis the meaning is, ' We shall be clothed upon (i. e. in- vested with a new body over the jjresent one), if so be that day shall find us clothed (i. e. in the body) and not naked (i. e. bodiless spirits).' That is, we shall experience the change mentioned in v. 2, provided we are aUve when Christ comes. To this, however, it is objected, first, that as the event of Paul's being alive at that time was entirely uncertain, and is here so presented, the appropriate particle would be ctTrep {if so he) and not ctyc (?*/", as is sure to be the case) ; and second, that this interpretation is inconsistent with the force of the aorist participle cVSucra/xevot. The sense given to the passage would require the perfect erScSu/xeVoi, being then clothed. According to Meyer the meaning is, ' If, as is certain to be the case, we in fact '(KaT)' shall be found clothed, and not naked.' That is, ' K clothed upon with our house from heaven (i. e. the new body) we shall not be found bodiless v»hen Christ comes.' This interpretation suits the words, but not the connection. As before remarked, the whole passage pro- ceeds on the hypothesis of death. * If I die,' says the apostle, ' so and so will happen.' This being the case, he cannot be understood to state what would happen if he did not die, but