termined by those sufferings, it is perfectly natural to under- stand him to refer to the burden of sorrow. It was because he suffered so much that he groaned to be delivered, i. e. to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Not that vne would he unclothed. The words are €<^' w, which in Rom. 5,12 mean propterea quod^ * because that;* but here they more naturally mean quare^ 'wherefore.' They intro- duce the reason of what follows, not of what precedes. ' On which account,' i. e. because we are thus burdened we desire, &c. If l<i> w be taken in the sense of because that the sense is just the opposite. Then this clause states the nature of the burden under which the apostle groaned. 'We groan be- cause that we do not wish to be unclothed.' It was then the dread of death, or the desire to be glorified without the ne- cessity of dyuig, that was the object of the apostle's intense desire. This is altogether unworthy of the man and incon- sistent with the context. Paul says, ' We groan being bur- dened, icherefore^ i. e. because thus burdened, we do not wish to die ; death is not that for which we long, but that which comes after death. It is not mere exemption from the bur- den of life, from its duties, its labours or its sufierings, which is the object of desire, but to be in heaven.' The passage is in its spirit and meaning altogether parallel with v. 8. " Will- ing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord." To he unclothed means to lay aside our earthly taber- nacle. To he clothed upon means to enter the house not made with hands. As the earthly house is compared to a garment, so is the heavenly house. That mortality (to Svyjtov, that ichich is mortal) may he swallowed iqy of life^ i. e. absorbed by it so that the one ceases to appear and the other becomes dominant. Comp. 1 Cor. 15, 53. 54. This is the elevated ob- ject of the apostle's longing desire. It was not death, not annihilation, nor mere exemption from suffering ; but to be raised to that higher state of existence m which all that was mortal, earthly and corrupt about him should be absorbed in the life of God, that divine and eternal life arising from the beatific vision of God, and consisting in perfect knowledge, holiness and blessedness.
5. Now, he that hath wrought us for the selfsame
thing (is) God, who also hath given unto us the earnest
of the Spirit.
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