The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 120

tmnRit,,ry m(lrtal body. Do groan. a Oh ncRrnesa of presence and the clet\meea of w1'f'khC'<J mnn thot I atn I ...-ho shall dcli,•er ,·ision in that future life will be so muoh me from 1he body of this d!•ath?" (Rom. vii. l'lOflC1t Rnd brighter, I.hat here, by oomparieon, 24). Being burdened.. "The ooffllptible we are absent from him altogether. bod~- pre,,st>lb doWtl the 11eml, and the l'Brthy Ver. 7.-l"or W1I walk by faith (ob. iv.18: tsbernncle weigbetb down the mind thnt Heh. xi. 1; Rom. viii. 25). Not by sight; museth upon many things'' (Wied. ix. l5). rsthcr, ,wt by a,.,pea,·ane.,; not by anything Not for that ,n would be unolothed, but actuall.v 1een. We do not yet see " r,ice to c,lothed upon; more litemlly, ~inee toe do not faoc" (l Oor. xiii. 12), but are r,iided by ,rM, to ~trip off(our bodily garment) but t,o things which "eye bath not.seen.' put another garment o,,er it. St. Paul hPre Ver. 8.-To be ab1ent, eto.; litcmlly, t,o Px, repudiate!! tl1e ManichPan notion tbe.t the atMy frnm the home of the body, but to be aC hc>d.y is a disgrace, or in itself the source of home v,ilh tM Lord. To bs preaent with the evil. He was not like Plotinue, who" blushed Lord. The hol?,e expreBBed is exactly the that be hod ll body; " or like St. Francie ee.me 88 in Phil. i. 28, except that here of ABBiei. who e&lled hie body "my brother (BB in ver. -1) be expresses a desire not "to the MB;" or lik<> the Cure d'Ars, who (u depart," but to be quit of the body without we have paid) spoke of his body 88 "oe the necessity for death. ou.davre." He does not, therefore, desire t.o get Ver. 9.-We labonr; litemlly, v,e are rid of his bro v, but to " clothe it over " with emv!oue. This, 11&ys Bengel, is "the eole the f?Unneut • of immortality. lnaidcnte.lly legitimate ambition." The so.me word occurs this implies the wish that he may be aliN in Rom. xv. 20. Whether preaent or absent; 811d not dead when the Lord returns (1 Cor, litemlly, v,hetMr at home or au,ay from home; xv. 35-54). Kortality; rather, tl,e morlal; i.e. whether with Christ or separated from tJUJi ~Mel, i8 morl.al. Kight be nvallowed him (BB in ver. 8); or, "whether in the body up of life. As in the CBBe of Enoch (Gen. v. or out of the body" (os in ver. 6). The latter 24) and Elijah (2 Kinge ii. 11), who entered wonld resemble l These.!· 10, "Tbo.t u,hether into life otherwise than through "the grave v,e u,ake or sleep we ruay live with him." We a.nd gate of death." St. Paul wishes to may be aocepted of him; literolly, ro be u,ell- enter the " building from God " without ple.asing t,o him. having been :fir.t buried in the oolle.pee of the Ver. 10.-We mll8t all appear; rather,for •• soul's dark cottage bnttered and decayed." it u ft.SCl!884f'/I Uiat toe murt all be mC1de t11a- He desires to put on the robe of immortality nife.rt; that we must be shown in,our real without stripping off the rent garbof the body. nature and character. The verb is not the Ver. 5.-E.c who hath wrought 1111 for the 1!Bllle as in Rom. xiv. 10, which occurs in eh. Nl1llame thing. God prepa.recl. and pe.rlected iv. l f. Before the judgment-seat of Christ. 1J8 for this very result, namely, to put on The special fino.l judgment is represented &11 the robe of immortality. The aa.rnllllt (see taking place before the bemtt of Christ, al- eh. i. 22). The quickening life imparted by though in Rom. xiv. 10 the best reading is the Spirit oriife is a pledge a.nd part payment "of God" (Matt. llJCV. 31, 32). St. Paul of the inooffllptible etemRl life. The Spirit might naturally use this Romon o.nd Greek is •· the Earnest uf our inheritance" (Eph. i. idea of the bema, being too fomilior with 14; iv. 30). it in his own experience (comp. Acts xii. Ver. 6.-Therefare we are &lwa71 con- 21; xriii 12; xxv. 6; Rom. xiv. 10). The fidtmt; literally, being of gnod courage. The th.u1gl done in the body; litel"Blly, the thing, lllelltence in the Greek is unfiuished ( e.n (done) by tJ,,e instrumentality of the body. anacoluthon ), but ill resumed after the paren- Another reading (which only differs by a thesis by the repetition, " we a.re of good single letter from this) is, " the proper courage." .A.lu,ays (eh. iv. 8). 'We are at things of the body " ( Ta l'5uz Toil a,/,µ.aTos): home in the body. The tent is pitched in i.e. the thinge which belong to it,- which ii the desert, and even the pillar of fire can hu made iu oum. St. Paul, always intent onh shine through its folds. Yet the tent on one subject at a. time, does not soop may become bright.er and brighter BB life to co-ordinate this law of natural retribution goes on. and inexol"Bble Nemesis with that of the "forgivene11s of llins" (1 Cor. v. 11 ; Rom. "To me the thought of death is terrible, iii. 25), or with the apparently universal Having such hold on life. To you it ill not hopes which he seems sometimes t.o ellpreu M.ore thau a step into the open air (Rom. v. 17, 18; xi 32). Omnia exeunt in Out of a 1.t:nt 1<lready luminous mysterium. .6.ooording to that he h&th done; WitL light which l!Wllei! through its trans- l"Bther, v,ith re/erenu w tl1e thing, he did. parent fulds." The aorist show11 tha.t all life will be &11 it (Longfellow.) were concentrated to one point. 'J.'he Pela- .&.hlsnt from the Lord ( John xiv. 2, S). Christ gians railled questiona on this verse about Mi indeed with W! her~ and alway11; but the the sinleseness of infants, etc., all pf which olt, v. 1-21.) THE e!ECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 121