5:1-10Paul contrasts our earthly body and our future resurrection body. Paul clearly states that our present body makes us groan, but when we die we will not be spirits without bodies. We will have new bodies that will be perfect for our everlasting life. Pau! wrote as he did because the church at Corinth was surrounded by Greek culture, and many believers had difficulty with the concept of bodily resurrection because the Greeks did not believe in it. Most saw the afterlife as something that happened only to the soul, with the real person imprisoned in a physical body. They
Life Application Study Bible2 CorinthiansChapter 5
2 Corinthians 5
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1966, 1967
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
52 Corinthians 5
1by God himself and not by human hands. 2We grow weary in our present bodies, and we 2Pet 1:13:14 jong to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; 32, 9.03 we will not be spirits without bodies.* While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and 4Cor 15:53-54 sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we 54 16:50-54 want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5God,. himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. Rom 8:23 6So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies 2 ote we are not at home with the LORD. 7For we live by believing and not by seeing. ®Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the LORD.
9So whether we are here in this body or away fromthisbody,ourgoal 5°),.5,is to please him. '°For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive 5.19whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. Matt 16:274:16 Greek our inner being is. 5:3 Greek we will not be naked.i5:74 Cor 13:12believed that at death the soul was released; there was no immor-tality for the body, and the soul enters an eternal state. But the Bibleteaches that the body and sou! are not permanently separated.Paul describes our resurrected body in more detail in 1 Corin-thians 15:46-58. We will still have personalities and recognizablecharacteristics in our resurrected body, but through Christ's work,our body will be better than we can imagine. The Bible does not tellus everything about our resurrected body, but we know that it willbe perfect, without sickness, disease, or pain (see Philippians 3:21;Revelation 21:4).5:4 Paul's knowledge that his dying body would be swallowed upby eternal life, is a universal hope. According to the writer of Eccle-siastes, God “has planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes3:11). Human beings have an innate sense of transcendence andlonging for ultimate reality experienced only in the eternal presenceof God. This spiritual desire is addressed by every world religionand cult and (at least secretly) desired by every person. Whatoccurrences in daily life can provide you an opportunity to witnessGod’s solution to this universal spiritual search? A baby’s birth,a parent's death, or the death of a dream all can be springboardsfor sharing the hope you have in Christ. Spread the Good News!5:5 The Holy Spirit is God’s “guarantee” of what will come. Hiswork in our lives today assures us that the healing process willbe thoroughly completed in Christ's presence. Each time the HolySpirit reminds you of Scripture, convicts you of sin, restrains youfrom selfish behavior, or prompts you to love, you have evidencethat he is present. You have the Spirit within you beginning thetransformation process. Whether you deal with aches and painsor even disabling limitations, trust God that his total renovationof your body and soul is in process.5:6-8 Paul was not afraid to die because he was confident ofspending eternity with Christ. Of course, facing the unknown maycause us anxiety, and leaving loved ones hurts deeply, but if webelieve in Jesus Christ, we can share Paul’s hope and confidenceof eternal life with Christ. Death is only a prelude to eternal lifewith God. We will continue to live. Let this hope give you conti-dence and inspire you to faithful service.5:9,
10While eternal life is a free gift given on the basis of God’sgrace (Ephesians 2:8, 9), each of us will still be judged by Christ.
We Are God’s Ambassadors
‘Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the LORD, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us,* so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13If it seems we are crazy, itis to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14Either way, Christ’s love controls us.* Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.* 15He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 16So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ‘For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,* so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Textual footnotes
- 5:12 Some manuscripts read proud of yourselves.
- 5:14a Or urges us on.
- 5:14b Greek Since one died for all,
- 5:21 Or to become sin itself.
Life Application Notes 1 note
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Study feature · page 1967
At conversion we do not merely turn over a new leaf; we begin a new life under a new Master. While this newness is true individually, Paul is saying much more. Not only are believers changed from within, but a whole new order of creative energy began with Christ. There is a new covenant, a new perspective, a new body, a new church. All of creation is being renewed. So take notice. This is not a superficial change that will be quickly superseded by another novelty. This is an entirely new order of all creation under Christ's authority. It requires a new way of looking at all people and all of creation Does your life reflect this new perspective? 5:18, 19 God brings us back to himself (reconciles us) by blotting out our sins (see also Ephesians 2:13-18) and making us right with him. When we trust in Christ, we are no longer God’s enemies, or strangers or foreigners to him. Because we have been reconciled to God, we have the privilege of encouraging others to do the same, and thus we are those who have the “task of reconciling people to him.” 5:20 An ambassador is an official representative of one country to another. As believers, we are Christ's ambassadors, sent with his message of reconciliation to the world. An ambassador of reconciliation has an important responsibility. We dare not take this responsibility lightly. How welt are you fulfilling your commission as Christ’s ambassador? 5:21 When we trust in Christ, we make an exchange: He takes our sin and makes us right with God. Our sin was laid on Christ at his crucifixion. His righteousness is given to us at our conversion. This is what Christians mean by Christ’s atonement for sin. In the world, bartering works only when two people exchange goods of relatively equal value. But God offers to trade his righteousness for our sin— something of immeasurable worth for something completely worthless. How grateful we should be for his kindness to us. 6:1 How could the Corinthian believers ignore God’s message? Perhaps they were doubting Paul and his words, confused by the false teachers, who taught a different message. The people heard God’s message but did not let it affect what they said and did. How often do you ignore God’s message? 6:2 God offers salvation to all people. Many people put off a
He will reward us for how we have lived. God’s gracious gift of salvation does not free us from the requirement of faithful obedience. All Christians must give account on the day of judgment of how they have lived (see Matthew 16:27; Romans 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). 5:11 Having a “fearful responsibility to the LORD” does not mean that believers become paralyzed. On the contrary, knowing God’s perfection and that he will judge everyone's actions (5:10) should spur Christians to good deeds, to what pleases our God. The fear of the LORD also frees believers from all of life’s anxieties and worries. Knowing that God is “for us” (Romans 8:31) can keep believers unafraid of earthly powers—people, governments, or the forces of nature (Proverbs 3:25, 26). God takes care of his own. The fear of God gives us uncommon courage in the face of life’s troubles. 5:12 Those who “brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart” are the false preachers (see 2:17), who were concerned only about getting ahead in this world. They were preaching the Good News for money and popularity, while Paul and his companions were preaching out of concern for eterhity. You can identify false preachers by finding out what really Motivates them. If they are more concerned about themselves than about Christ, avoid them and their message. §:13-15 Everything that Pau! and his companions did was to honor God. Not only did fear of God motivate them (5:11), but Christ's love controlled their actions. The word for “controls” means “to hold fast.” In other words, the love of Christ was constraining them to certain courses of action. They knew that Jesus, out of his great love, had given up his life for their sakes. He had not acted out of his own self-interest, selfishly holding on to the Qlory of heaven that he already possessed (Philippians 2:6). Instead, Jesus had willingly “died for everyone.” Because Christ died for us, we also are dead to our old life. Like Paul, we should no longer live to please ourselves; we should spend our life pleasing Christ. 5:17 Christians are brand-new people on the inside. The Holy Spirit gives them new life, and they are not the same anymore. We are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated—we are re-created (new creations), living in vital union with Christ (Colossians 2:6, 7).