The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 119

EXPOSITION. which only the gree.test wrlter11 can venture CIJAl'TER V. Th0 corruptible yeome to clothe itaelf with OonUnu11Uon of the topio thot hope is the the incorruptible, the mortal with immor- chief Hnpport of the preooher of the gospel trility (1 Cor. xv. 53). The glorified body is compared to an over-garment. House; ('vore. 1-10). Their self-socriflce in pree.cb- rnther, habitation (oi1citerion). ing the gol!pel oheconcilie.tion (vers.11-21). Ver. 3.-If so be that. The verse may Vore. 1-10.-T/ie hope of thefutu,e life is be rendered, "If, that ie, being clothed, we the great aupport of our e,fforls. shall not be found naked." The word •. Ver. 1.-For, A further explanation of •• noked " must then mean "bodiless," and the hope expressed in eh. iv. 17. We know. the reference will be to those whom, at Thie 11cc.ent of cert11inty ie found only in the hie coming, Christ shall find cwthed in the,11 Cbristi11n writers. Our earthly ho111e. Not mortal bodies, and not separated from them, the "house of cle.y" (Job iv. 19), but tho i.e. quick and not dee.d (1 These. iv. 17; house which serves ueos the borne ofour souls I Cor. xv. 51). This seems to be the simplest on e11rth; e.s in I Cor. xv. 40. Of this te.ber- and most natural of the multitude of strange naole ; literally, the house of the tent; i.e. the interpretations with which the pages of com- tent of our morte.Iity, the morte.l body. In mentators a.re filled. It is tme that the 2 Pet. i. 13, 14 it is called aT,enoma, 11nd the e.orist endusamenoi, means litere.lly, "having •expression, "the Word hecnme flesh and dwelt clothed ourselves," and the.t, in taking this among ue,"ie literally, "hetabcrnacled among meaning, we should he.ve expected the perfect tie "-he wore" a tent like ours and of the participle endedumenoi, he.ving been clothed. same material." The figure would be If this be thought an insuperable difficulty, specially p,otural to one whose occupation we must suppose the verse to mean "If, the.t ·we.s that of a tentmaker. Com pore- is, in reality we shall be found [at Christ's coming] after he.ving put on some intermedi- " Here in the body pent, ate body, e.nd therefore not a.s mere disem- Afar from him I roam, bodied spirits." But there is no e.llusion in But nightly pitch my we.ndering tent Scripture toe.ny intermediate body, nor is any A day's me.rob nee.rer home." gleam of light shed on the mode of life among A·very simile.r expression occurs in Wied. ix. the dead between death and resurrection, 15," The earthly ta1iernacle (')'•oiBu o-,cijvos) though the Church rejects the dream of Psy- ·weigheth down the mind." Be dissolved; chopa.nnychia, or an interval of unconscious re.ther, be taken to piece,, A building. Some- sleep. The uncertainty of the meaning is in- thing more subste.utial than that moving creased by two various readings, ei per ius tee.d tenement. Of God; litemlly, from God; of ei ge, which le.tter expresses greater doubt namely, not one of the "many me.usions" about the matter;· and ekd11,Bame11oi ( D, F, spoken of in John xiv. 2, but the resurrection- G), which would mean "if in reality, after body furnished to us by liim. We have this unclothing ourselves [i.e. after 'shuffling off building from God, for it exists now, and this morte.l coil '], we shall not be found shall be ours e.t the same time that our tent- naked." This seems to be the conjecture of home ie done awe.y with. Not me.de with some puzzled copyists, who did not see that hands. Not like those tent-dwellings at a contrast, and not a coincitlence. between tha :~hich St. P,ml we.s de.ily toiling with the two expressions is intended. If th.ia reeding he.nds which ministered to his own neces- were correct, it would mean, e.s Chrysostom sities. In the heavens. To be joined with so.yd, " Even if we would lay aside the body, "we have." Heaven is ·our general home we she.II not there be presented withou.t a and country (Heb. xi. 16), but the present body, but with the aame body which he.s allusion is to the glorified bodies in which then become incorruptible.'" It ie quite our souls shall live in heaven (comp. l Cor. untenflble to make "clothed" mean "clothed xv. 42-49). with righteousness," as Olshausen does. In Ver. 2.-In this we groan, Since we have the Talmud. • She.bba.th' (f. 152, 2), the the firstrruits of the Spirit, who e.ssures us righteous a.re compared to men who keep of thot future building from God, we, in this from stain the robes given them by a kiug eorthly tent," groan within ourselves, waiting (i.e. their bodies), which robes the king for the adoption, to wit the redemption of our deposits in his treasury ond sends the wearers body " (Rom. viii. 23), To be alothed upon ; away (bodiless) in peace; but foolish servants iather, to further clothe ourselves with. Here stain these robes, and the king sends the tbe meta1;1hore of a tent ond a garment-the robes to the we.sh, and the wea.rers to prison. '' w1mder1ng tent" and the "mortal vesture Ver. 4.-l'or we that are, eto. : litemlly. of dec11y "-are interfused in a manner on ftYr indeed we who are i11 t/1e tent; i.e. in the ll!K) THE EIEOOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. (cu. "'• 1-11.