The big picture
Paul, a messenger of Jesus, turns from the strain of his work to his hope after death. He writes to the church in Corinth, a city in Greece. Jesus Christ, the risen Lord he serves, gives him both hope and a task. His body is frail, but he trusts God to give lasting life. He also expects to answer to Christ for his conduct. These hopes shape how he sees other people. He urges his hearers to accept the peace with God that he announces.
In this chapter
- A Lasting Home from God 2 Corinthians 5:1-5
Paul compares the present body to a tent that can be taken down.
- Hope with an Account to Give 2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Paul remains confident, though living in the present body means distance from the Lord.
- Love Changes the Reason for Living 2 Corinthians 5:11-15
Awareness of the Lord’s judgment leads Paul to persuade people.
- People Seen with Fresh Eyes 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
Outward status no longer decides how Paul views people.
- God Offers Peace Through Christ 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
God is the source of this new life, Paul says.
Central truth
Paul connects hope of life with Christ to a new way of seeing people and God’s offer of restored peace.
Scripture beside the summary
2 Corinthians · King James Version · 212 Corinthians 5:1-5
A Lasting Home from God
Paul compares the present body to a tent that can be taken down. God, he says, provides a lasting home that human hands have not built. The strain of present life makes him long for that gift. He does not want to lose bodily life and remain bare. He wants life from God to absorb what now dies. Christians differ over the timing and form of this promised life. God has prepared it, Paul says, and gives his Spirit, God's own presence, as a pledge that it will come.
In everyday life
A displaced tenant folds the damp blanket inside her temporary tent. A housing officer brings the signed papers for a permanent home. She longs to leave the tent because she wants secure shelter. She holds the papers close while checking the date she can move in. Paul expects new life that overcomes death, rather than a change of address.
Notice
2 Corinthians 5:4 Paul’s wish is to be clothed, not left without a body. His image points toward fuller life rather than delight in losing human life.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5
King James Version1For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
5Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Hope with an Account to Give
Paul remains confident, though living in the present body means distance from the Lord. Trust guides him where direct sight does not. He would prefer to leave this body and be with the Lord. Yet either way, his aim is to please Christ. Everyone must appear before Christ to have their deeds judged. Good and evil done during bodily life both matter. Hope of being with the Lord therefore does not make conduct unimportant. Paul joins that hope to a serious account of how people live.
In everyday life
The driving candidate settles behind the wheel for her final road test. She wants the freedom her licence will bring. That hope does not remove the need to answer for each choice she makes on the road. The assessor watches both safe and careless actions. Christ's judgment concerns a whole life, not one test.
Notice
2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul includes everyone in the coming judgment, including himself. His confidence about life with Christ does not exempt his own conduct from an account.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
King James Version6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:11-15
Love Changes the Reason for Living
Awareness of the Lord’s judgment leads Paul to persuade people. God already knows his heart, and he hopes the church does too. He gives them grounds to answer those who value outward show. Whether others call him mad or sensible, he serves God and their good. Christ’s love drives him. Paul reasons that Christ died for all, so all share in that death. Those who now live should no longer make themselves life’s centre. Their life belongs to the one who died and rose for them.
In everyday life
One blood recipient pins a list of transport requests to a board in a volunteer drivers' garage. A gift she did not earn has kept her alive. Now she hands out car keys and pairs drivers with patients who need lifts. Christ dies for those he helps; this donor gives blood and lives.
Notice
2 Corinthians 5:14 Paul treats Christ’s death as something that involves others, not an isolated loss. That is why he links it to a changed purpose for life.
2 Corinthians 5:11-15
King James Version11Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
12For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.
13For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
14For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
People Seen with Fresh Eyes
Outward status no longer decides how Paul views people. Even his view of Christ has changed from that kind of judgment. Belonging to Christ makes a person new. The old order has passed, and a fresh life has begun. Paul means more than improved manners or a better public image. A person's bond with Christ changes how that life is understood. So the church must not weigh Paul's work by how impressive he looks. The change he describes reaches deeper than the public face his critics value.
In everyday life
An adopted adult signs her new surname on a family document at the court clerk's desk. She is the same woman who entered the room. Now the clerk records a new family bond, and she leaves with her parents beside her. Paul speaks of new life through Christ, which no legal change of name can give.
Notice
2 Corinthians 5:17 The newness belongs to a person in Christ. Paul ties the change to that bond, rather than to a claim that all earlier experiences disappear.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
King James Version16Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
God Offers Peace Through Christ
God is the source of this new life, Paul says. Through Christ, God restores peace with people instead of charging their wrongs against them. Paul and his companions receive the work of announcing that peace. They speak as Christ’s envoys and urge their hearers to be reconciled to God. Christ himself knew no sin, yet God made him bear sin for their sake. Christians explain that exchange in different ways. Paul’s stated aim is that people become right with God through Christ.
In everyday life
The neighbour mediator carries an offer across a shared courtyard. The household that was wronged has opened a path to peace instead of sending another bill for damage. She asks the other family to accept it and end the feud. She brings an offer she did not create. Christ bears sin himself; this mediator only carries a message.
Notice
2 Corinthians 5:19 God takes the first step in restoring peace. Paul’s message follows that act, so the messenger does not create the welcome he announces.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
King James Version18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
2 Corinthians 5:1 begins with “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Where the chapter turns
2 Corinthians 5:6 forms a natural hinge: “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:”
The final note
2 Corinthians 5:21 leaves the reader with “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Christ, absent, body, clothed, died, henceforth help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- tabernacle
- A tent or temporary dwelling, used here as a picture of the body.
- reconciled
- Brought back into peace after a broken or hostile relationship.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
