It was sometliing very heroic and grand for a poor, perse- cuted man to stand thus erect in the presence of his enemies and in the immediate prospect of death, and avow such supe- riority to all suifering, and such confidence of a glorious im- mortality. The apostle, therefore, adds that neither the elevated feelings which he expressed, nor his preparation for the exalted state of existence which he so confidently expect- ed, was due to himself. He, icho hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God. The w^ords ets auro rovro^ to this very thing., naturally refers to what immediately precedes, the being clothed upon so that mortality should be swallowed up of life. For this elevated destiny God had prepared him ; not created him, but (6 Karepyao-a/^ievos) made him fit by giving the requisite qualifications. He was, as a believer, looking forward with joyful expectation to his home in heaven, the workmanship of God. Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the /Sjm'it. God had not only prepared him for future glory, but had given him the assurance of a blessed immortality, of which the indwelling of the Holy Ghost was the earnest, i. e. a foretaste and pledge. 1, 22. Eph. 1, 13. 14. Rom. 5, 5. 8, 10. Accordhig to the view given above of the context, the object of the apostle's desire Avas not the resurrection, nor the change which the living be- liever is to experience at Christ's coming, but the state of glory immediately subsequent to death. It is therefore of that the Holy Spirit is here declared to be the earnest. Else- where, as in Rom. 8, 11, the indwelling of the Spirit is repre- sented as the pledge of the future life of the body, because he is the source of that life which the believer derives from Christ, and which pertains to the body as well as to the soul. Comp. 1 Cor. 6, 1 9. All therefore in whom the Spirit dwells, i. e. manifests his i:)ermanent presence by producing within them the Christian graces, have the pledge of immediate ad- mission into heaven when they die, and of a glorious resurrec- tion when the Lord comes.
G. Therefore (we are) always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we arc absent from the Lord.
The grammjatical construction in this and the following verse, 8, is interrupted and irregular, which our translators