μοῦμεν 1 ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου 3: 7. διὰ πίστεως γὰρ " περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διὰ " εἴδους - 8. θαρροῦμεν * δὲ, καὶ " εὐδοκοῦμεν μᾶλλον ἐκδημῆσαι ἐκ ὅ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ ἐνδημῆσαι πρὸς τὸν Κύριον.
9. Διὸ καὶ ’ φιλοτιμούμεθα, etre’ ἐνδημοῦντες, εἴτε ἐκδημοῦντες,
Υ εὐάρεστοι αὐτῷ εἶναι.
tal a a “A , δεῖ ” ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ” βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα " κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ ὃ S149 τοῦ σώματος, πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθὸν, εἴτε κακόν.]0
8, iii, 1; 2 Thess. ii. 12.
10; Phil. iv. 18; Col. iii. 20; Wisd. iv. το, ix. 10. xxi. 36; Acts xviii. 17; 1 Thess. i. 3, ii. 19, iii. 9, 13. Ν a Eph, vi. 8; Col. iii. 25; 2 Macc. vili. 33.
Rom. xiv. το, etc.
1 DEG have αποδηµουµεν.
v Rom. xv. 20; 1 Thess, iv. 11 only.
67
> 3s Reff. iv. 2.
t Lk. iii. 22, ix. 29; John v. 37; 1 Thess. v. 22 only; Exod.
το. τοὺς γὰρ πάντας ἡμᾶς * φανερωθῆναι ne 17. u
om. Xv. 26, 27; chap. xii. 10; I : Thess. ii. ly w Rom. xii. 1, xiv. 18; Eph. v. x Reff. ii. 14. y Matt. x. 32, xxv. 32; Lk. z Matt. xxvii. 19; Acts xviii, 12, xxv. 6;
2 D*G, d, e, g and the Bohairic give Θεου for Kuptov.
3 G, ἢ, g have και ov δια. δν om. εκ.
4 17 have θαρρουντες. 5 D* 17 have Θεον for Κυριον.
7 The Peshitto and f, g give the order ειτε εκδ. ειτε ενδ.
8 D*G have a δια του σωματος επραξεν.
® The Latin vss. (propria corporis) testify to a variant ιδια for δια.
1 BDEGKLP have κακον; ΝΟ 17 have φαυλον (probably an early correction introduced from Rom. ix. 11; it is, however, adopted by Tisch. and W.H.).
Vv. 6-8. IN ANY CASE TO BE WITH CHRIST IS BEST.—Ver. 6. θαρροῦντες οὖν k.T.A.: being therefore, sc.,on account of “the earnest of the Spirit’ (ver. 5), always, sc., in any event, whether we die before the Day of Christ or survive to see it in the flesh, of good courage, and know- ing that whilst we are at home in the body (see reff.) we are absent from the Lord, sc., from Christ, our true home. The O.T. phrase that man is a sojourner only (παρεπίδημος) on the earth (Ps. XXxvili. 13; cf. Heb. xi. 13) is verbally comparable with this ἐνδημοῦντες .. . ἐκδημοῦμεν ; but the idea here is rather that of the body as the temporary habi- tation of the man’s self (cf. ver. 1). We are citizens of earth, but our true πολί- τευμα is ἐν οὐρανοῖς (Phil. iii. 20).
Ver. 7. διὰ πίστεως γὰρ K.T.A.: for we walk by faith (cf. John xx. 29, and chap. iv. 18),-7z.e., in a state of faith (see note on διά with the gen. of attendant circumstances ii. 4), not by appearance (εἶδος, as the reff. show, must be thus translated = quod aspicitur ; but neverthe- less the rendering of A.V. and R.V. ‘not by sight,” though verbally inexact, con- veys the sense. Cf. Heb. xi. 1, ἔστιν δὲ πίστις . . . πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων, and τ Cor. xiii. 12). The verse is parenthetical and explanatory of the sense in which we are ‘‘ absent from the Lord”’.
Ver. 8. θαρβοῦμεν δὲ κ.τ.λ.: nay (the δέ is resumptive of the thought in ver. 6, which has been interrupted by ver. 7, the grammatical structure involving an anacoluthon), we are of good courage (for this is demanded even of the most faithful by the prospect of death) and are well-pleased (see reff. for cases where εὐδοκεῖν is used of men, not of God) rather to be away from the home of the body and to be at home with the Lord (cf. John i. 1 for such a use of πρός). Even if we must die before the Second Advent, we would say, we are content, for this absence from the body will be presence with Christ (cf. Luke xxiii. 43, Phil, i. 21-23), though the glory of that Presence shall not be fully manifested until the Day of the Parousia.