Dissolved (xatadvdf). Lit., loosened down. Appropriate to taking down a tent. See on Mark xiii. 2; Luke ix. 12; Acts v. 88; and compare 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12, and the figure of the parting of the silver cord on which the lamp is suspended, Eccl xii. 6. Also Job iv. 21, where the correct rendering is: Ls not their tent-cord plucked up within them ? So Rev. O.T.
We have. The building from God is an actual possession in virtue of the believer’s union with Christ. It is Just as we say of a minor, before he comes into possession of his property, that he has so much. Compare Matt. xix. 21.
Building of God (otxodouny éx @Oeod). In contrast with tent. The reference is to the resurrection-body. Compare the
* It should be noted that the Septuagint often renders the Hebrew tent by oikos dwelling. Similarly the Hebrew to dwell is frequently translated by xarae oKnvovv.
Cu. V.] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. S17
city which hath the foundations, Heb. xi. 10. For ef God, read, as Rev., from God; proceeding from (éx). Heinrici, von Gott her: compare God giveth, 1 Cor. xv. 38, and éyete azo Ocod ye have from God, where the reference is to the natural body, 1 Cor. vi. 19. Construe from God with building, not with we have.
In the heavens. Construe with we have.
2. Inthis. Tabernacle. As if pointing to his own body. See on 1 Cor. xv. 54.
Earnestly desiring (éeroSodvres). The participle has an explanatory force, as Acts xxvii. 7, “because the wind did not suffer us.” We groan because we long. Rev., longing. The compounded preposition é7ré does not mark the intensity of the desire, but its direction.
To be clothed upon (érevdtcac$ar). Only here and ver. 4. Compare ézevdurns fishers coat, John xxi. T (see note). Lit., to put on over. The metaphor changes from budding to clothing, a natural transformation in the mind of Paul, to whom the hair-cloth woven for tents would suggest a vesture.
House (oixntipiov). Not oixia house, as ver.1. This word regards the house with special reference to its inhabitant. The figure links itself with buclding, ver. 1, as contrasted with the unstable tent.
From heaven (é€ ovpavod). As from God, ver. 1. 3. If so be (ev ye). Assuming that. Being clothed. Compare Job x. 11.
Naked (yupvol). Without a body. The word was used by Greek writers of disembodied spirits. See the quotation from Plato’s “Gorgias” in note on Luke xii. 20; also “Cratylus,” 403, where, speaking of Pluto, Socrates says: “The foolish fears which people have of him, such as the fear of being al- ways with him after death, and of the soul denuded (yvpvn) of the body going to him.” Stanley cites Herodotus’ story of Melissa, the Corinthian queen, who appeared to her husband after death, entreating him to burn dresses for her as a cover-
318 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. V.
ing for her disembodied spirit (v., 92). The whole expression, being clothed—naked is equivalent to we shall not be found naked because we shall be clothed.
4. Being burdened (Gapovpevor). Compare weight (Bdpos) of glory, ch. iv. 17.
Not for that we would be unclothed (€¢’ 6 ov Jéropev €x- dtcacdat). Lit., because we are not willing to divest ourselves (of the mortal body). Regarding the coming of the Lord as near, the apostle contemplates the possibility of living to be- hold it. The oppression of soul (groan) is not from pains and afflictions of the body, nor from the fear of death, but from the natural shrinking from death, especially if death is to de- prive him of the body (wnclothe) only to leave him without a new and higher organism. Therefore he desires, instead of dying, to have the new being come down upon him while still alive, investing him with the new spiritual organism (clothed upon), as a new garment is thrown over an old one, and ab- sorbing (swallowed up) the old, sensuous life.