2 Corinthians 5

le were put together as before. When we consider this simile in connection with the doctrine of the resurrection, which the apostle has treated so much at large in these epistles, and which he keeps constantly in view, then we shall see that he intends to convey the following meaning: that as the tabernacle was taken down in order to be again put together, so the body is to be dissolved, in order to be re-edified; that as the ark of the covenant subsisted by itself, while the tabernacle was down, so can the soul when separated from the body; that as the ark had then its own veil for its covering, Exo 40:21 , so the soul is to have some vehicle in which it shall subsist till it receives its body at the resurrection. A building of God - Some think this refers to a certain celestial vehicle with which God invests holy souls on their dismissal from the body; others suppose it relates to the resurrection body; and some imagine that it relates merely to the state of blessedness which the saints shall possess in the kingdom of glory. See the following note. Verse 2 For in this we groan - While in this state, and in this body, we are encompassed with many infirmities, and exposed to many trials, so that life is a state of discipline and affliction, and every thing within and around us says, "Arise and depart, for this is not your rest!" Those who apply these words to what they call the apostle's sense of indwelling sin, abuse the passage. There is nothing of the kind either mentioned or intended. Desiring to be clothed upon with our house - This and the following verses are, in themselves, exceedingly obscure, and can be only interpreted by considering that the expressions used by the apostle are all Jewish, and should be interpreted according to their use of them. Schoettgen has entered largely into the argument here employed by the apostle, and brought forth much useful information. He observes, 1. That the Hebrew word לבש labash, which answers to the apostle's ενδυσασθαι, to be clothed, signifies to be surrounded, covered, or invested with any thing. So, to be clothed with the uncircumcision, signifies to be uncircumcised. Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 163. On the words, Exo 24:18 , Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount, Sohar Exod., fol. 77, has these words, He went into the midst of the cloud, as if one put on a garment; so he was Clothed with the Cloud. Sohar Levit., fol. 29: "The righteous are in the terrestrial paradise, where their souls are clothed with the lucid crown;" i.e. they are surrounded, encompassed with light, etc. 2. The word בית beith, House, in Hebrew often denotes a cover, case, or clothing. So, in the Targum of Onkelos, בית אפי beith appei, the House or the Face, is a veil; and so בית אצבעים beith etsbaim, the House of the Fingers, and בית יד beith yad, the House of the Hand, signify gloves; בית רגלים beith regalim, the House of the Feet, shoes. Therefore, οικητηριον - επενδυσασθαι, to be clothed on with a house, may signify any particular qualities of the soul; what we, following the very same form of speech, call a habit, i.e. a coat or vestment. So we say the man has got a habit of vice, a habit of virtue, a habit of swearing, of humility, etc., etc. 3. The Jews attribute garments to the soul, both in this and the other world; and as they hold that all human souls pre-exist, they say that, previously to their being appointed to bodies, they have a covering which answers the same end to them before they come into life as their bodies do afterwards. And they state that the design of God in sending souls into the world is, that they may get themselves a garment by the study of the law and good works. See several proofs in Schoettgen. 4. It is plain, also, that by this garment or covering of the soul they mean simply what we understand by acquiring the image of God - being made holy. This image they assert "Adam lost by his fall, and they represent man in a sinful state as being naked." So they represent the Israelites before their making the molten calf, as having received holy garments from Mount Sinai; but afterwards, having worshipped the calf, they were stripped of these, and left naked. 5. But notwithstanding they speak of this clothing as implying righteous and holy dispositions, and heavenly qualities, yet they all agree in assigning certain vehicles to separate spirits, in which they act; but of these vehicles they have strange notions; yet they acknowledge that without them, whether they be of light, fire, etc., or whatever else, they cannot see and contemplate the Supreme Wisdom. In Synopsis Sohar, page 137, we have these words: "When the time draws near in which a man is to depart from this world, the angel of death takes off his mortal garment and clothes him with one from paradise, in which he may see and contemplate the Supreme Wisdom; and therefore the angel of death is said to be very kind to man, because he takes off from him the garment of this world, and clothes him with a much more precious one prepared in paradise." When the apostle says that they earnestly desired to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, he certainly means that the great concern of all the genuine followers of God was to be fully prepared to enjoy the beatific vision of their Maker and Redeemer. Verse 3 If so be that being clothed - That is, fully prepared in this life for the glory of God; We shall not be found naked - Destitute in that future state of that Divine image which shall render us capable of enjoying an endless glory. Verse 4 For we that are in this tabernacle - We who are in this state of trial and difficulty do groan, being burdened; as if he had said: The whole of human life is a state of suffering, and especially our lot; who are troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down, bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus, and being always delivered unto death on the account of Jesus, 2Cor 4:8-11 . These were sufficient burdens, and sufficient causes of groaning. Not for that we would be unclothed - We do not desire death, nor to die, even with the full prospect of eternal glory before our eyes, an hour before that time which God in his wisdom has assigned. But clothed upon - To have the fullest preparation for eternal glory. We wish not to die, whatever tribulation we may be called to pass through, till the whole will of God is accomplished in us and by us. That mortality might be swallowed up of life - Being fully prepared for the eternal state we shall scarcely be said to die, all that is mortal being absorbed and annihilated by immortality and glory. See the notes on 1Cor 15:51-56 (note). From the use of these expressions among the Jews, this seems to be the general meaning of the apostle. Verse 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing - God has given us our being and our body for this very purpose, that both might be made immortal, and both be glorified together. Or, God himself has given us this insatiable hungering and thirsting after righteousness and immortality. Mr. Addison has made a beautiful paraphrase of the sense of the apostle, whether he had his words in view or not: - " - Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread and inward horror Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. - The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds." The earnest of the Spirit - See the note on 2Cor 1:22 . Verse 6 We are always confident - Θαρῥουντες ουν παντοτε· We are always full of courage; we never despond; we know where our help lies; and, having the earnest of the Spirit, we have the full assurance of hope. Whilst we are at home in the body, etc. - The original words in this sentence are very emphatic: ενδημειν signifies to dwell among one's own people; εκδημειν, to be a sojourner among a strange people. Heaven is the home of every genuine Christian, and is claimed by them as such; see Phi 1:23 . Yet, while here below, the body is the proper home of the soul; but as the soul is made for eternal glory, that glory is its country; and therefore it is considered as being from its proper home while below in the body. As all human souls are made for this glory, therefore all are considered, while here, to be absent from their own country. And it is not merely heaven that they have in view, but the Lord; without whom, to an immortal spirit possessed of infinite desires, heaven would neither be a home nor a place of rest. We see plainly that the apostle gives no intimation of an intermediate state between being at home in the body and being present with the Lord. There is not the slightest intimation here that the soul sleeps, or rather, that there is no soul; and, when the body is decomposed, that there is no more of the man till the resurrection: I mean, according to the sentiments of those who do condescend to allow us a resurrection, though they deny us a soul. But this is a philosophy in which St. Paul got no lessons, either from Gamaliel, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or in the third heaven, where he heard even unutterable things. Verse 7 For we walk by faith - While we are in the present state faith supplies the place of direct vision. In the future world we shall have sight - the utmost evidence of spiritual and eternal things; as we shall be present with them, and live in them. Here we have the testimony of God, and believe in their reality, because we cannot doubt his word. And to make this more convincing he gives us the earnest of his Spirit, which is a foretaste of glory. Verse 8 We are confident - We are of good courage, notwithstanding our many difficulties; because we have this earnest of the Spirit, and the unfailing testimony of God. And notwithstanding this, we are willing rather to be absent from the body - we certainly prefer a state of glory to a state of suffering, and the enjoyment of the beatific vision to even the anticipation of it by faith and hope; but, as Christians, we cannot desire to die before our time. Verse 9 Wherefore we labor - Φιλοτιμουμεθα· from φιλος, loving, and τιμη, honor; we act at all times on the principles of honor; we are, in the proper sense of the word, ambitious to do and say every thing consistently with our high vocation: and, as we claim kindred to the inhabitants of heaven, to act as they do. We may be accepted of him - Ευαρεστοι αυτῳ ειναι To be pleasing to him. Through the love we have to God, we study and labor to please him. This is and will be our heaven, to study to love, please, and serve him from whom we have received both our being and its blessings. Verse 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat - We labor to walk so as to please him, because we know that we shall have to give a solemn account of ourselves before the judgment seat of Christ; where he, whose religion we profess, will judge us according to its precepts, and according to the light and grace which it affords. That every one may receive the things - Κομισηται ἑκαστος· That each may receive to himself, into his own hand, his own reward and his own wages. The things done in his body - That is, while he was in this lower state; for in this sense the term body is taken often in this epistle. We may observe also that the soul is the grand agent, the body is but its instrument. And it shall receive according to what it has done in the body. Verse 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord - This, I think, is too harsh a translation of ειδοτες ουν τον φοβον του Κυριου, which should be rendered, knowing therefore the fear of the Lord; which, strange as it may at first appear, often signifies the worship of the Lord, or that religious reverence which we owe to him; Act 9:31 ; Rom 3:18 ; Rom 13:7 ; 1Pet 1:17 ; 1Pet 2:18 ; 1Pet 3:2 . As we know therefore what God requires of man, because we are favored with his own revelation, we persuade men to become Christians, and to labor to be acceptable to him, because they must all stand before the judgment seat; and if they receive not the grace of the Gospel here, they must there give up their accounts with sorrow and not with joy. In short, a man who is not saved from his sin in this life, will be separated from God and the glory of his power in the world to come. This is a powerful motive to persuade men to accept the salvation provided for them by Christ Jesus. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; the terror of God confounds and overpowers the soul. We lead men to God through his fear and love, and with the fear of God the love of God is ever consistent; but where the terror of the Lord reigns there can neither be fear, faith, nor love; nay, nor hope either. Men who vindicate their constant declamations on hell and perdition by quoting this text, know little of its meaning; and, what is worse, seem to know but little of the nature of man, and perhaps less of the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. Let them go and learn a lesson from Christ, sweeping over Jerusalem: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you together, as a hen would her brood under her wings!" And another from his last words on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" But we are made manifest unto God - God, who searches the heart, knows that we are upright in our endeavors to please him; and because we are fully persuaded of the reality of eternal things, therefore we are fully in earnest to get sinners converted to him. Manifest in your consciences - We have reason to believe that you have had such proof of our integrity and disinterestedness, that your consciences must acquit us of every unworthy motive, and of every sinister view. Verse 12 For we commend not ourselves? - I do not say these things to bespeak your good opinion, to procure your praise; but to give you an occasion to glory - to exult on our behalf; and to furnish you with an answer to all those who either malign us or our ministry, and who only glory in appearance - have no solid ground of exultation, and whose heart is dishonest and impure. St. Paul probably speaks here concerning the false apostle, who had been dividing the Church and endeavoring to raise a party to himself, by vilifying both the apostle and his doctrine. Verse 13 Beside ourselves - Probably he was reputed by some to be deranged. Festus thought so: Paul, thou art beside thyself; too much learning hath made thee mad. And his enemies at Corinth might insinuate not only that he was deranged, but attribute his derangement to a less worthy cause than intense study and deep learning. It is to God - If we do appear, in speaking of the glories of the eternal world, to be transported beyond ourselves, it is through the good hand of our God upon us, and we do it to promote his honor. Whether we be sober - Speak of Divine things in a more cool and dispassionate manner, it is that we may the better instruct and encourage you. Verse 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us - We have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, and this causes us to love God intensely, and to love and labor for the salvation of men. And it is the effect produced by this love which συνεχει ἡμας, bears us away with itself, which causes us to love after the similitude of that love by which we are influenced; and as God so loved the world as to give his Son for it, and as Christ so loved the world as to pour out his life for it, so we, influenced by the very same love, desire to spend and be spent for the glory of God, and the salvation of immortal souls. By the fear of God the apostles endeavored to persuade and convince men, and the love of Christ constrained them so to act. If one died for all, then were all dead - The first position the apostle takes for granted; viz. that Jesus Christ died for All mankind. This no apostolic man nor primitive Christian ever did doubt or could doubt. The second position he infers from the first, and justly too; for if all had not been guilty, and consigned to eternal death because of their sins there could have been no need of his death. Therefore, as he most certainly died for All, then all were dead, and needed his sacrifice, and the quickening power of his Spirit. Verse 15 And that he died for all, that they which live, etc. - This third position he draws from the preceding: If all were dead, and in danger of endless perdition; and if he died for all, to save them from that perdition; then it justly follows that they are not their own, that they are bought by his blood; and should not live unto themselves, for this is the way to final ruin; but unto him who died for them, and thus made an atonement for their sins, and rose again for their justification. Verse 16 Know we no man after the flesh - As we know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; and as we know that all are alienated from God, and are dead in trespasses and sins; therefore we esteem no man on account of his family relations, or the stock whence he proceeded, because we see all are shut up in unbelief, and all are children of wrath. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh - We cannot esteem a man who is a sinner, were he even allied to the blood royal of David, and were he of the same family with the man Christ himself; nor can we prize a man because he has seen Christ in the flesh; for many have seen him in the flesh to whom he will say; Depart from me, for I never knew you. So we: nothing weighs with us, nor in the sight of God, but redemption from this death, and living to him who died for them. We know that the Jews valued themselves much in having Abraham for their father; and some of the Judaizing teachers at Corinth might value themselves in having seen Christ in the flesh, which certainly St. Paul did not; hence he takes occasion to say here that this kind of privilege availed nothing; for the old creature, however noble, or well descended in the sight of men, is under the curse; and the new creature only is such as God can approve. Verse 17 If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature - It is vain for a man to profess affinity to Christ according to the flesh, while he is unchanged in his heart and life, and dead in trespasses and sins; for he that is in Christ, that is, a genuine Christian, having Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, is a new creature; his old state is changed: he was a child of Satan, he is now a child of God; he was a slave of sin, and his works were death; he is now made free from sin, and has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. He was before full of pride and wrath; he is now meek and humble. He formerly had his portion in this life, and lived for this world alone; he now hath God for his portion, and he looks not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are eternal. Therefore, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new - The man is not only mended, but he is new made; he is a new creature, καινη κτισις, a new creation, a little world in himself; formerly, all was in chaotic disorder; now, there is a new creation, which God himself owns as his workmanship, and which he can look on and pronounce very good. The conversion of a man from idolatry and wickedness was among the Jews denominated a new creation. He who converts a man to the true religion is the same, says R. Eliezer, as if he had created him. Verse 18 And all things are of God - As the thorough conversion of the soul is compared to a new creation, and creation is the proper work of an all-wise, almighty Being; then this total change of heart, soul, and life, which takes place under the preaching of the Gospel, is effected by the power and grace of God: this is salvation, and salvation must ever be of the Lord; and therefore men should apply to him, who alone can work this wondrous change. Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ - Having given Jesus Christ to die for sinners, they have through him access unto God; for his sake and on his account God can receive them; and it is only by the grace and Spirit of Christ that the proud, fierce, and diabolic nature of men can be changed and reconciled to God, and by and through this sacrifice God can be propitious to them. There is an enmity in the heart of man against sacred things; the grace of Christ alone can remove this enmity. The ministry of reconciliation - Διακονιαν της καταλλαγης· The Office or function of this reconciliation called, 2Cor 5:19 , the word; τον λογον της καταλλαγης· the Doctrine of this reconciliation. Καταλλαγη, reconciliation, comes from καταλλασσω, to change thoroughly; and the grand object of the Gospel is to make a complete change in men's minds and manners; but the first object is the removal of enmity from the heart of man, that he may be disposed to accept of the salvation God has provided for him, on the terms which God has promised. The enmity in the heart of man is the grand hinderance to his salvation. Verse 19 That God was in Christ - This is the doctrine which this ministry of reconciliation holds out, and the doctrine which it uses to bring about the reconciliation itself. God was in Christ: 1. Christ is the same as Messiah, the Anointed One, who was to be prophet, priest, and king, to the human race; not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles. There had been prophets, priests, and kings, among the Jews and their ancestors; and some who had been priest and prophet, king and priest, and king and prophet; but none have ever sustained in his own person the threefold office except Christ; for none have ever ministered in reference to the whole world but he. The functions of all the others were restrained to the ancient people of God alone. 2. Now all the others were appointed of God in reference to this Christ; and as his types, or representatives, till the fullness of the time should come. 3. And that this Christ might be adequate to the great work of reconciling the whole human race to God, by making atonement for their sins, God was in him. The man Jesus was the temple and shrine of the eternal Divinity; for in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Col 2:9 ; and he made peace by the blood of his cross. 4. Christ, by his offering upon the cross, made atonement for the sins of the world; and therefore one important branch of the doctrine of this reconciliation was to show that God would not impute or account their trespasses to them, so as to exact the penalty, because this Jesus had died in their stead. The whole of this important doctrine was short, simple, and plain. Let us consider it in all its connections: 1. You believe there is a God. 2. You know he has made you. 3. He requires you to love and serve him. 4. To show you how to do this he has given a revelation of himself, which is contained in his law, etc. 5. You have broken this law, and incurred the penalty, which is death. 6. Far from being able to undo your offenses, or make reparation to the offended majesty of God, your hearts, through the deceitfulness and influence of sin, are blinded, hardened, and filled with enmity, against your Father and your Judge. 7. To redeem you out of this most wretched and accursed state, God; in his endless love, has given his Son for you; who has assumed your nature, and died in your stead. 8. In consequence of this he has commanded repentance towards God, and remission of sins, to be published in his name in all the earth. 9. All who repent, and believe in Christ as having died for them as a sin-offering, ( 2Cor 5:21 ), shall receive remission of sins. 10. And if they abide in him they shall have an eternal inheritance among them that are sanctified. Verse 20 We are ambassadors for Christ - Ὑπερ Χριστου - πρεσβευομεν. We execute the function of ambassadors in Christ's stead. He came from the Father to mankind on this important embassy. He has left the world, and appointed us in his place. Ambassador is a person sent from one sovereign power to another; and is supposed to represent the person of the sovereign by whom he is deputed. Christ while on earth represented the person of the Sovereign of the world; his apostles and their successors represent the person of Christ. Christ declared the will of the Father to mankind; apostles, etc., declare the will of Christ to the world. We are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us - What we say to you we say on the authority of God; our entreaties are his entreaties; our warm love to you, a faint reflection of his infinite love; we pray you to return to God, it is his will that you should do so; we promise you remission of sins, we are authorized to do so by God himself. In Christ's stead we pray you to lay aside your enmity and be reconciled to God; i.e. accept pardon, peace, holiness, and heaven; which are all procured for you by his blood, and offered to you on his own authority. "What unparalleled condescension and divinely tender mercies are displayed in this verse! Did the judge ever beseech a condemned criminal to accept of pardon? Does the creditor ever beseech a ruined debtor to receive an acquittance in full? Yet our almighty Lord, and our eternal Judge, not only vouchsafes to offer these blessings, but invites us, entreats us, and with the most tender importunity solicits us not to reject them." The Rev. J. Wesley's notes in loc. This sentiment is farther expressed in the following beautiful poetic version of this place, by the Rev. Charles Wesley: - "God, the offended God most high, Ambassadors to rebels sends; His messengers his place supply, And Jesus begs us to be friends. Us, in the stead of Christ, they pray, Us, in the stead of Christ, entreat, To cast our arms, our sins, away, And find forgiveness at his feet. Our God, in Christ, thine embassy And proffer'd mercy we embrace; And, gladly reconciled to thee, Thy condescending mercy praise. Poor debtors, by our Lord's request A full acquittance we receive; And criminals, with pardon blest, We, at our Judge's instance, live." Verse 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us - Τον μη γνοντα ἁμαρτιαν, ὑπερ ἡμων ἁμαρτιαν εποιησεν· He made him who knew no sin, (who was innocent), a sin-offering for us. The word ἁμαρτια occurs here twice: in the first place it means sin, i.e. transgression and guilt; and of Christ it is said, He knew no sin, i.e. was innocent; for not to know sin is the same as to be conscious of innocence; so, nil conscire sibi, to be conscious of nothing against one's self, is the same as nulla pallescere culpa, to be unimpeachable. In the second place, it signifies a sin-offering, or sacrifice for sin, and answers to the חטאה chattaah and חטאת chattath of the Hebrew text; which signifies both sin and sin-offering in a great variety of places in the Pentateuch. The Septuagint translate the Hebrew word by ἁμαρτια in ninety-four places in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, where a sin-offering is meant; and where our version translates the word not sin, but an offering for sin. Had our translators attended to their own method of translating the word in other places where it means the same as here, they would not have given this false view of a passage which has been made the foundation of a most blasphemous doctrine; viz. that our sins were imputed to Christ, and that he was a proper object of the indignation of Divine justice, because he was blackened with imputed sin; and some have proceeded so far in this blasphemous career as to say, that Christ may be considered as the greatest of sinners, because all the sins of mankind, or of the elect, as they say, were imputed to him, and reckoned as his own. One of these writers translates the passage thus: Deus Christum pro maximo peccatore habuit, ut nos essemus maxime justi, God accounted Christ the greatest of sinners, that we might be supremely righteous. Thus they have confounded sin with the punishment due to sin. Christ suffered in our stead; died for us; bore our sins, (the punishment due to them), in his own body upon the tree, for the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all; that is, the punishment due to them; explained by making his soul - his life, an offering for sin; and healing us by his stripes. But that it may be plainly seen that sin-offering, not sin, is the meaning of the word in this verse, I shall set down the places from the Septuagint where the word occurs; and where it answers to the Hebrew words already quoted; and where our translators have rendered correctly what they render here incorrectly. In Exodus, Exo 29:14 , Exo 29:36 : Leviticus, Lev 4:3 , Lev 4:8 , Lev 4:20 , Lev 4:21 , Lev 4:24 , Lev 4:25 , Lev 4:29 , Lev 4:32-34 ; Lev 5:6 , Lev 5:7 , Lev 5:8 , Lev 5:9 , Lev 5:11 , Lev 5:12 ; Lev 6:17 , Lev 6:25 , Lev 6:30 ; Lev 7:7 , Lev 7:37 ; Lev 8:2 , Lev 8:14 ; Lev 9:2 , Lev 9:3 , Lev 9:7 , Lev 9:8 , Lev 9:10 , Lev 9:15 , Lev 9:22 ; Lev 10:16 , Lev 10:17 , Lev 10:19 ; Lev 12:6 , Lev 12:8 ; Lev 14:13 , Lev 14:19 , Lev 14:22 , Lev 14:31 ; Lev 15:15 , Lev 15:30 ; Lev 16:3 , Lev 16:5 , Lev 16:6 , Lev 16:9 , Lev 16:11 , Lev 16:15 , Lev 16:25 , Lev 16:27 ; Lev 23:19 : Numbers, Num 6:11 , Num 6:14 , Num 6:16 ; Num 7:16 , Num 7:22 , Num 7:28 , Num 7:34 , Num 7:40 , Num 7:46 , Num 7:52 , Num 7:58 , Num 7:70 , Num 7:76 , Num 7:82 , Num 7:87 ; Num 8:8 , Num 8:12 ; Num 15:24 , Num 15:25 , Num 15:27 ; Num 18:9 ; Num 28:15 , Num 28:22 ; Num 29:5 , Num 29:11 , Num 29:16 , Num 29:22 , Num 29:25 , Num 29:28 , Num 29:31 , Num 29:34 , Num 29:38 . Besides the above places, it occurs in the same signification, and is properly translated in our version, in the following places: - 2 Chronicles, 2Chr 29:21 , 2Chr 29:23 , 2Chr 29:24 : Ezra, Ezr 6:17 ; Ezr 8:35 : Nehemiah, Neh 10:33 : Job, Job 1:5 : Ezekiel, Eze 43:19 , Eze 43:22 , Eze 43:25 ; Eze 44:27 , Eze 44:29 ; Eze 45:17 , Eze 45:19 , Eze 45:22 , Eze 45:23 , Eze 45:25 . In all, one hundred and eight places, which, in the course of my own reading in the Septuagint, I have marked. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him - The righteousness of God signifies here the salvation of God, as comprehending justification through the blood of Christ, and sanctification through his Spirit or, as the mountains of God, the hail of God, the wind of God, mean exceeding high mountains, extraordinary hail, and most tempestuous wind; so, here, the righteousness of God may mean a thorough righteousness, complete justification, complete sanctification; such as none but God can give, such as the sinful nature and guilty conscience of man require, and such as is worthy of God to impart. And all this righteousness, justification, and holiness, we receive in, by, for, and through Him, as the grand, sacrificial, procuring, and meritorious cause of these, and every other blessing. Some render the passage: We are justified through him; before God; or, We are justified, according to God's plan of justification, through him. In many respects, this is a most important and instructive chapter. 1. The terms house, building, tabernacle, and others connected with them, have already been explained from the Jewish writings. But it has been thought by some that the apostle mentions these as readily offering themselves to him from his own avocation, that of a tentmaker; and it is supposed that he borrows these terms from his own trade in order to illustrate his doctrine; This supposition would be natural enough if we had not full evidence that these terms were used in the Jewish theology precisely in the sense in which the apostle uses them here. Therefore, it is more likely that he borrowed them from that theology, than from his own trade. 2. In the terms tabernacle, building of God, etc., he may refer also to the tabernacle in the wilderness, which was a building of God, and a house of God, and as God dwelt in that building, so he will dwell in the souls of those who believe in, love, and obey him. And this will be his transitory temple till mortality is swallowed up of life, and we have a glorified body and soul to be his eternal residence. 3. The doctrines of the resurrection of the same body; the witness of the Spirit; the immateriality of the soul; the fall and miserable condition of all mankind; the death of Jesus, as an atonement for the sins of the whole world; the necessity of obedience to the Divine will, and of the total change of the human heart, are all introduced here: and although only a few words are spoken on each, yet these are so plain and so forcible as to set those important doctrines in the most clear and striking point of view. 4. The chapter concludes with such a view of the mercy and goodness of God in the ministry of reconciliation, as is no where else to be found. He has here set forth the Divine mercy in all its heightenings; and who can take this view of it without having his heart melted down with love and gratitude to God, who has called him to such a state of salvation. 5. It is exceedingly remarkable that, through the whole of this chapter, the apostle speaks of himself in the first person plural; and though he may intend other apostles, and the Christians in general, yet it is very evident that he uses this form when only himself can be meant, as in 2Cor 5:12 and 2Cor 5:13 , as well as in several places of the following chapter. This may be esteemed rather more curious than important. Introduction We should not receive the grace of God in vain, having such promises of support from him, 2Cor 6:1 , 2Cor 6:2 . We should act so as to bring no disgrace on the Gospel, 2Cor 6:3 . How the apostles behaved themselves, preached, suffered, and rejoiced, 2Cor 6:4-10 . St. Paul's affectionate concern for the Corinthians, 2Cor 6:11-13 . He counsels them not to be yoked with unbelievers, and advances several arguments why they should avoid them, 2Cor 6:14-16 . Exhorts them to avoid evil companions and evil practices, on the promise that God will be their Father and that they shall be his sons and his daughters, 2Cor 6:17 , 2Cor 6:18 , Verse 1 We then, as workers together with him - Συνεργουντες δε και παρακαλουμεν. The two last words, with him, are not in the text, and some supply the place thus: we then, as workers together With You, and the Armenian version seems to have read it so; but no MS. has this reading, and no other version. For my own part I see nothing wanting in the text if we only suppose the term apostles; we, (i.e. apostles), being fellow workers, also entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain. By the grace of God, την χαριν του Θεου, this grace or benefit of God, the apostle certainly means the grand sacrificial offering of Christ for the sin of the world, which he had just before mentioned in speaking of the ministry of reconciliation. We learn, therefore, that it was possible to receive the grace of God and not ultimately benefit by it; or, in other words, to begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh. Should any one say that it is the ministry of reconciliation, that is, the benefit of apostolic preaching, that they might receive in vain; I

Our earthly house - Which is only a tabernacle, or tent, not designed for a lasting habitation.

Continuation of Notes of 2nd Corinthians 4:18 (20.) We have in this chapter an illustration of the sustaining power of religion in trials, 2Cor 4:8,9. The friends of Christianity have been called to endure every form of suffering. Poverty, want, tears, stripes, imprisonments, and deaths have been their portion. They have suffered under every form of torture which men could inflict on them. And yet the power of religion has never failed them. It has been amply tried; and has shown itself able to sustain them always, and to enable them always to triumph. Though troubled, they have not been so close pressed that they had no room to turn; though perplexed, they have not been without some resource; though persecuted by men, they have not been forsaken by God; though thrown down in the conflict, yet they have recovered strength, and been prepared to renew the strife, and to engage in new contentions with the foes of God. Who can estimate the value of a religion like this? Who does not see that it is adapted to man in a state of trial, and that it furnishes him with just what he needs in this world? (21.) Christianity will live, 2Cor 4:8,9. Nothing can destroy it. All the power that could be brought to bear on it to blot it from the earth has been tried, and yet it survives. No new attempt to destroy it can prevail; and it is now settled that this religion-is to live to the end of time. It has cost much to obtain this demonstration; but it is worth all it has cost, and the sufferings of apostles and martyrs, therefore, have not been for nought. (22.) Christians should be willing to endure anything in order that they may become like Christ on earth, and be like him in heaven, 2Cor 4:10. It is worth all their efforts, and all their sell-denials. It is the grand object before us; and we should deem no sufferings too severe, no sell-denial or sacrifice too great, if we may become like him here below, and may live with him above, 2Cor 4:10,11. (23.) In order to animate us in the work to which God has called us; to encourage us in our trials; and to prompt us to a faithful discharge of our duties, especially those who like Paul are called to preach the gospel, we should have, like him, the following views and feelings--views and feelings adapted to sustain us in all our trials, and to uphold us in all the conflicts of life: 1st. A firm and unwavering belief of the truth of the religion which we profess, and of the truth which we make known to others, 2Cor 4:12. No man can preach successfully, and no man can do much good, whose mind is vacillating and hesitating; who is filled with doubts, and who goes timidly to work or who declares that of which he has no practical acquaintance, and no deep-felt conviction, and who knows not whereof he affirms. A man to do good must have a faith which never wavers; a conviction of truth which is constant; a belief settled like the everlasting hills, which nothing can shake or overturn. With such a conviction of the truth of Christianity, and of the great doctrines which it inculcates, he cannot but speak of it, and make known his convictions. He that believes that men are in fact in danger of hell, WILL tell them of it; he that believes there is an awful bar of judgment, will tell them of it; he that believes that the Son of God became incarnate and died for men, will tell them of it; he that believes that there is a heaven, will invite them to it. And one reason why professing Christians are so reluctant to speak of these things is, that they have no very settled and definite conviction of their truth, and no correct view of their relative importance. 2nd. We should have a firm assurance that God has raised up the Lord Jesus, and that we also shall be raised from the dead, 2Cor 4:14. The hope and expectation of the resurrection of the dead was one of the sustaining principles which upheld Paul in his labours, and to attain to this was one of the grand objects of his life, Acts 23:6, Php 3:11. Under the influence of this hope and expectation, he was willing to encounter any danger, and to endure any trial. The prospect of being raised up to eternal life and glory was all that was needful to make trials welcome, and to uphold him in the midst of privations and toils. And so we, if we are assured of this great truth, shall welcome trial also, and shall be able to endure afflictions and persecutions. They will soon be ended; and the eternal glory in the morning of the resurrection shall be more than a compensation for all that we shall endure in this life. 3rd. We should have a sincere desire to promote the glory of God, and to bring as many as possible to join in his praise, and to celebrate his saving mercy, 2Cor 4:15. It was this which sustained and animated Paul; and a man who has this as the leading object of his life, and his great purpose and aim, will be willing to endure much trial, to suffer much persecution, and to encounter many dangers. No object is so noble as that of endeavouring to promote the Divine glory; and he who is influenced by that, will care little how many sufferings he is called to endure in this life. (24.) Christians should have such a belief of the truth of their religion as to be willing to speak of it at all times, and in all places, 2Cor 4:13. If we have such a belief we shall be willing to speak of it. We cannot help it. We shall so see its value, and so love it, and our hearts will be so full of it, and we shall see so much the danger of our fellow-men, that we shall be instinctively prompted to go to them and warn them of their danger, and tell them of the glories of the Redeemer. (25.) Christians may expect to be supported and comforted in the trials and toils of life, 2Cor 4:16. The "outward man" will indeed perish and decay. The body will become feeble, weary, jaded, decayed, decrepit. It will be filled with pain, and will languish under disease, and will endure the mortal agony, and will be corrupted in the tomb. But the "inward man" will be renewed. The faith will be invigorated, the hope become stronger, the intellect brighter, the heart better, the whole soul be more like God. While the body, therefore, the less important part, decays and dies, the immortal part shall live and ripen for glory. Of what consequence is it, therefore, how soon or how much the body decays-- or when, and where, and how it dies? Let the immortal part be preserved, let that live, and all is well. And while this is done, we should not, we shall not "faint." We shall be sustained; and shall find the consolations of religion to be fitted to all our wants, and adapted to all the necessities of our condition as weak, and frail, and dying creatures. (26.) We learn from this chapter how to bear affliction in a proper manner, 2Cor 4:17,18. It is by looking at eternity, and comparing our trials with the eternal weight of glory that awaits us. In themselves afflictions often seem heavy and long. Human nature is often ready to sink under them. The powers of the body fail, and the mortal frame is crushed. The day seems long while we suffer; and the night seems often to be almost endless, De 28:67. But compared with eternity, how short are all these trials! Compared with the weight of glory which awaits the believer, what a trifle are the severest sufferings of this life. Soon the ransomed spirit will be released, and will be admitted to the full fruition of the joys of the world above. In that world, all these sorrows will seem like the sufferings of childhood, that we have.now almost forgotten, and that now seem to us like trifles. (27.) We should not look to the things which are seen as our portion, 2Cor 4:17,18. They are light in their character, and are soon to fade away. Our great interests are beyond the grave. There all is weighty, and momentous, and eternal. Whatever great interests we have, are there. Eternity is stamped upon all the joys and all the sorrows which are beyond this life. Here all is temporary, changing, decaying, dying. There all is fixed, settled, unchanging, immortal. It becomes us then, as rational creatures, to look to that world, to act with reference to it, to feel and act as if we felt that all our interests were there. Were this life all, everything in relation to us would be trifling. But when we remember that there is an eternity; that we are near it; and that our conduct here is to determine our character and destiny there, life becomes invested with infinite importance. Who can estimate the magnitude of the interests at stake? Who can appreciate aright the importance of every step we take, and every plan we form? (28.) All here below is temporary, decaying, dying, 2Cor 4:17,18. Afflictions are temporary. They are but for a moment, and will soon be passed away. Our sorrows here will soon be ended. The last sigh on earth will soon be heaved; the last tear will have fallen on the cheek; the last pain will have shot across the seat of life! The last pang of parting with a beloved friend will soon have been endured; and the last step which we are to take in "the valley of the shadow of death" will soon have been trod. And in like manner we shall soon have tasted the last cup of earthly joy. All our comforts here below will soon pass from us. Our friends will die. Our sources of happiness will be dried up. Our health will fail, and darkness will come over our eyes, and we shall go down to the dead. All our property must be left, and all our honours be parted with for ever. In a little time--oh, how brief!--we shall have gone from all these, and shall be engaged in the deep and awful solemnities of the unchanging world. How vain and foolish, therefore, the attachment to earthly objects! How important to secure an interest in that future inheritance which shall never fade away! (29.) Let it not be inferred, however, that all affliction shall be light, and for a moment, or that all earthly trial shall of course work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. There are sorrows, beyond the grave, compared with which the most heavy and most protracted woes this side the tomb are "light," and are "but for a moment." And there are sorrows in this life--deep and prolonged afflictions--which by no means tend to prepare the soul for the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Such are those afflictions where there is no submission to the will of God; where there is murmuring, repining, impatience, and increased rebellion; where there is no looking to God for comfort, and no contemplation of eternal glory. Such are those afflictions where men look to philosophy or to earthly friends to comfort them; or where they plunge deeper into the business, the gaiety, or the vices of the world, to drown their sorrows and to obliterate the sense of their calamities. This is "the sorrow of the world which worketh death," 2Cor 7:10. In afflictions, therefore, it should be to us a matter of deep and anxious solicitude to know whether we have the right feelings, and whether we are seeking the right sources of consolation. And in such seasons it shall be the subject of our deep and earnest prayer to God that our trials may, by his grace, be made to work our for us "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." All are afflicted; all suffer in various ways; and all may find these trials terminate in eternal blessedness beyond the grave. Introduction to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5 THIS chapter is closely connected with the former; and indeed has been improperly separated from it, as is manifest from the word "For" (γαρ) with which it commences. It contains a further statement of reasons for what had been said in the previous chapter. The main subject there was the MINISTRY: the honesty and fidelity with which Paul and his fellow-labourers toiled, 2Cor 5:1-3; the trials and dangers which they encountered in the work of the ministry, 2Cor 5:7-12; and the consolations and supports which they had in its various trials, 2Cor 5:13-18. This chapter contains a continuation of the same subject, and a further statement of the motives which prompted them to their work, and of the supports which upheld them in the arduous duties to which they were called. It is a chapter full of exquisite beauties of sentiment and of language, and as well adapted to give consolation and support to all Christians now as it is to ministers; and the sentiments are as well adapted to sustain the humblest believer in his trials as they were to sustain the apostles themselves. The following are the points of consolation and support, and reasons for their zeal and self-denial, to which the apostle refers. (1.) They had the assured prospect of the resurrection, and of eternal life, 2Cor 5:1-4. The body might decay, and be worn but; it might sigh and groan; but they had a better home, a mansion of eternal' rest in the heavens. It was their earnest desire to reach heaven; though not such a desire as to make them unwilling to endure the toils, and trials which God should appoint to them here below, but still an earnest, anxious wish to reach safely their eternal home in the skies. In the prospect of their heavenly home, and their eternal rest, they were willing to endure all the trials which were appointed to them. (2.) God had appointed them to this; he had fitted them for these trials; he had endowed them with the graces of his Spirit; and they were, therefore, willing to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord, 2Cor 5:5-8. They had such a view of heaven, as their home, that they were willing at any time to depart and enter the world of rest; and they did not, therefore, shrink from the trials and dangers which would be likely soon to bring them there. (3.) They had a deep and constant conviction that they must soon appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, 2Cor 5:9-11. They laboured that they might be accepted by him, 2Cor 5:9; they knew that they must give a solemn accost to him, 2Cor 5:10; they had a clear view, and a-deep impression of the awful terrors of that day; and they laboured, therefore, to save as many as possible from the condemnation of the great Judge of all, and endeavoured to "persuade" them to be prepared for that scene, 2Cor 5:11. (4.) Though, to some they might appear to be under the influence of improper excitement, and even to be deranged, 2Cor 5:14, yet they were acting only under the proper influence of the love of Christ, 2Cor 5:14,15. They were constrained and urged on by his love; they knew that he had died for all, and that all men were dead in sin; and they felt themselves the constraining influence of that love prompting them to deny themselves, and to devote their all to his service and cause. (5.) Their views of all things had been changed, 2Cor 5:16,17. They had ceased to act under the influences which govern other men; but their own hearts had been changed, and they had become new creatures in Christ, and in. their lives they evinced the spirit which should govern those who were thus renewed. (6.) They had been solemnly commissioned by God as his ambassadors in this cause. They had been sent to make known the terms and the way of reconciliation, and their felt it to be their duty to proclaim those terms on as wide a scale as possible, and with the utmost zeal and self-denial. It was God's glorious plan of reconciliation; and on the ground of the atonement made by the Redeemer, they could now offer salvation to all mankind; and as all might be saved, they felt themselves bound to offer the terms of salvation to as many as possible, 2Cor 5:18-21. The grand argument for urging sinners to be reconciled to God, is the fact that Christ has died for their sins; and therefore the apostles, apprized of this fact, sought to urge as many as possible to become him friends, 2Cor 5:21. Verse 1. For we know. We who are engaged in the work of the gospel ministry. Paul is giving a reason whir he and his fellow-labourers did not become weary and faint in their work. The reason was, that they knew that even if their body should die, they had, an inheritance reserved for them in heaven. The expression "we know" is the language of strong and unwavering assurance. They had no doubt on the subject. And it proves that there may be the assurance of eternal life; or such evidence of acceptance with God as to leave no doubt of a final admission into heaven. This language was often used by the Saviour in reference to the truths which he taught, Jn 3:11, 4:22 and it is, used by the sacred writers in regard to the truths which they recorded, and in regard to their own personal piety, Jn 21:24, 1Jn 2:3,5,18; 1Jn 3:2,14,19,24, 4:6,13, 5:2,15,19,20. That if our earthly house. The word "earthly" here (επιγειος) stands opposed to "heavenly," or to the "house eternal (εντοιςουρανοις?) in the heavens." The word properly means, "upon earth, terrestrial, belonging to the earth, or on the earth;" and is applied to bodies, 1Cor 15:40; to earthly things, Jn 3:12; to earthly, or worldly wisdom, Jas 3:15. The word house here refers doubtless to the body, as the habitation, or the dwelling-place, of the mind or soul. The soul dwells in it as we dwell in a house, or tent. Of this tabernacle. This word means a booth, or tent--a movable dwelling. The use of the word here is not a mere redundancy; but the idea which Paul designs to convey is, doubtless, that the body--the house of the soul--was not a permanent dwelling-place, but was of the same nature as a booth or tent, that was set up for a temporary purpose, or that was easily taken down in migrating from one place to another. It refers here to the body as the frail and temporary abode of the soul. It is not a permanent dwelling--a fixed habitation; but is liable to be taken down at any moment, and was fitted up with that view. Tindal renders it, "if our earthly mansion wherein we now dwell." The Syriac renders it, "for we know that if our house on earth, which is our body, were dissolved." The idea is a beautiful one, that the body is a mere unfixed, movable dwelling-place; liable to be taken down at any moment, and not designed, any more than a tent is, to be a permanent habitation. Were dissolved. καταλυθη. This word means, properly, to disunite the parts of anything; and is applied to the act of throwing down, or destroying a building is applied here to the body, regarded as a temporary dwelling that might be taken down.; and it refers, doubtless, to the dissolution of the body in the grave. The idea is, that if this body should moulder back to dust, and be resolved into its original elements; or if by great zeal and labour it should be exhausted and worn out. Language like this is used by Eliphaz, the Temanite, in describing the body of man. "How much less in those that dwell in houses of clay," etc., Job 4:19, 2Pet 1:13,14. We have a building of God. Robinson ( Lexicon ) supposes that it refers to "the future spiritual body as the abode of the soul." Some have supposed that it refers to some "celestial vehicle" with which God invests the soul during the intermediate state. But the Scripture is silent about any such celestial vehicle. It is not easy to tell what was the precise idea which Paul here designed to convey, Perhaps a few remarks may enable us to arrive at the meaning. (1.) It was not to be temporary; not a tent or tabernacle that could be taken down. (2.) It was to be eternal-in the heavens. (3.) It was to be such as to constitute a dwelling; a clothing, or such a protection as should keep the soul from being "naked." (4.) It was to be such as should constitute "life" in contradistinction from "mortality." These things will better agree with the supposition of its referring to the future body of the saints than anything else; and probably the idea of Paul is, that the body there will be incorruptible and immortal. When he says it is a "building of God," (εκθεου,) he evidently means that it is made by God; that he is the architect of that future and eternal dwelling. Macknight and some others, however, understood this of the mansions which God has fitted up for his people in heaven, and which the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for them. Comp. Jn 14:2. But 2Cor 5:3. An house. A dwelling; an abode; that is, according to the interpretation above, a celestial, pure, immortal body; a body that shall have God for its immediate author, and that shall be fitted to dwell in heaven for ever. Not made with hands. Not constructed by man; a habitation not like those which are made by human skill, and which are therefore easily taken down or removed, but one that is made by God himself. This does not imply that the "earthly house" which is to be superseded by that in heaven is made with hands; but the idea is, that the earthly dwelling has things about it which resemble that which is made by man, or as if it were made with hands; i.e., it is temporary, frail, easily taken down or removed. But that which is in heaven is permanent, fixed, eternal, as if made by God. Eternal in the heavens. Immortal; to live for ever. The future body shall never be taken down or dissolved by death. It is eternal, of course, only in respect to the future, and not in respect to the past. And it is not only eternal, but it is to abide for ever in the heavens--in the world of glory. It is never to be subjected to a dwelling on the earth; never to be in a world of sin, suffering,, and death. (a) "this tabernacle were dissolved" Job 4:19 (b) "an house not made with hands" 1Pet 1:4 Verse 2. For in this. In this te

The Believer's Prospect beyond Death. ( a. d. 57.) 1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For 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. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore 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:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For 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. 11 Knowing 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. The apostle in these verses pursues the argument of the former chapter, concerning the grounds of their courage and patience under afflictions. And, I. He mentions their expectation, and desire, and assurance, of eternal happiness after death, v. 1-5 . Observe particularly, 1. The believer's expectation of eternal happiness after death, v. 1 . He does not only know, or is well assured by faith of the truth and reality of the thing itself—that there is another and a happy life after this present life is ended, but he has good hope through grace of his interest in that everlasting blessedness of the unseen world: "We know that we have a building of God, we have a firm and well-grounded expectation of the future felicity." Let us take notice, (1.) What heaven is in the eye and hope of a believer. He looks upon it as a house, or habitation, a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place, our Father's house, where there are many mansions, and our everlasting home. It is a house in the heavens, in that high and holy place which as far excels all the palaces of this earth as the heavens are high above the earth. It is a building of God, whose builder and maker is God, and therefore is worthy of its author; the happiness of the future state is what God hath prepared for those that love him. It is eternal in the heavens, everlasting habitations, not like the earthly tabernacles, the poor cottages of clay in which our souls now dwell, which are mouldering and decaying, and whose foundations are in the dust. (2.) When it is expected this happiness shall be enjoyed—immediately after death, so soon as our house of this earthly tabernacle is dissolved. Note, [1.] That the body, this earthly house, is but a tabernacle, that must be dissolved shortly; the nails or pins will be drawn, and the cords be loosed, and then the body will return to dust as it was. [2.] When this comes to pass, then comes the house not made with hands. The spirit returns to God who gave it; and such as have walked with God here shall dwell with God for ever. 2. The believer's earnest desire after this future blessedness, which is expressed by this word, stenazomen — we groan, which denotes, (1.) A groaning of sorrow under a heavy load; so believers groan under the burden of life: In this we groan earnestly, v. 2 . We that are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened, v. 4 . The body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are a heavy load. But believers groan because burdened with a body of sin, and the many corruptions that are still remaining and raging in them. This makes them complain, O wretched man that I am! Rom. vii. 24 . (2.) There is a groaning of desire after the happiness of another life; and thus believers groan: Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven ( v. 2 ), to obtain a blessed immortality, that mortality might be swallowed up of life ( v. 4 ), that being found clothed, we may not be naked ( v. 3 ), that, if it were the will of God, we might not sleep, but be changed; for it is not desirable in itself to be unclothed. Death considered merely as a separation of soul and body is not to be desired, but rather dreaded; but, considered as a passage to glory, the believer is willing rather to die than live, to be absent from the body, that he may be present with the Lord ( v. 1 ), to leave this body that he may go to Christ, and to put off these rags of mortality that he may put on the robes of glory. Note, [1.] Death will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and all the comforts of life, as well as put an end to all our troubles here below. Naked we came into this world, and naked shall we go out of it. But, [2.] Gracious souls are not found naked in the other world; no, they are clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness and glory. They shall be delivered out of all their troubles, and shall have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. vii. 14 . 3. The believer's assurance of his interest in this future blessedness, on a double account:—(1.) From the experience of the grace of God, in preparing and making him meet for this blessedness. He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, v. 5 . Note, All who are designed for heaven hereafter are wrought or prepared for heaven while they are here; the stones of that spiritual building and temple above are squared and fashioned here below. And he that hath wrought us for this is God, because nothing less than a divine power can make a soul partaker of a divine nature; no hand less than the hand of God can work us for this thing. A great deal is to be done to prepare our souls for heaven, and that preparation of the heart is from the Lord. (2.) The earnest of the Spirit gave them this assurance: for an earnest is part of payment, and secures the full payment. The present graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of everlasting grace and comfort. II. The apostle deduces an inference for the comfort of believers in their present state and condition in this world, v. 6-8 . Here observe, 1. What their present state or condition is: they are absent from the Lord ( v. 6 ); they are pilgrims and strangers in this world; they do but sojourn here in their earthly home, or in this tabernacle; and though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we hope to be: we cannot see his face while we live: For we walk by faith, not by sight, v. 7 . We have not the vision and fruition of God, as of an object that is present with us, and as we hope for hereafter, when we shall see as we are seen. Note, Faith is for this world, and sight is reserved for the other world: and it is our duty, and will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we come to live by sight. 2. How comfortable and courageous we ought to be in all the troubles of life, and in the hour of death: Therefore we are, or ought to be, always confident ( v. 6 ), and again ( v. 8 ), We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body. True Christians, if they duly considered the prospect faith gives them of another world, and the good reasons of their hope of blessedness after death, would be comforted under the troubles of life, and supported in the hour of death: they should take courage, when they are encountering the last enemy, and be willing rather to die than live, when it is the will of God that they should put off this tabernacle. Note, As those who are born from above long to be there, so it is but being absent from the body, and we shall very soon be present with the Lord—but to die, and be with Christ—but to close our eyes to all things in this world, and we shall open them in a world of glory. Faith will be turned into sight. III. He proceeds to deduce an inference to excite and quicken himself and others to duty, v. 9-11 . So it is that well-grounded hopes of heaven will be far from giving the least encouragement to sloth and sinful security; on the contrary, they should stir us up to use the greatest care and diligence in religion: Wherefore, or because we hope to be present with the Lord, we labour and take pains, v. 9 . Philotimoumetha — We are ambitious, and labour as industriously as the most ambitious men do to obtain what they aim at. Here observe, 1. What it was that the apostle was thus ambitious of— acceptance with God. We labour that, living and dying, whether present in the body or absent from the body, we may be accepted of him, the Lord ( v. 9 ), that we may please him who hath chosen us, that our great Lord may say to us, Well done. This they coveted as the greatest favour and the highest honour: it was the summit of their ambition. 2. What further quickening motives they had to excite their diligence, from the consideration of the judgment to come, v. 10, 11 . There are many things relating to this great matter that should awe the best of men into the utmost care and diligence in religion; for example, the certainty of this judgment, for we must appear; the universality of it, for we must all appear; the great Judge before whose judgment-seat we must appear, the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself will appear in flaming fire; the recompence to be then received, for things done in the body, which will be very particular (unto every one), and very just, according to what we have done, whether good or bad. The apostle calls this awful judgment the terror of the Lord ( v. 11 ), and, by the consideration thereof, was excited to persuade men to repent, and live a holy life, that, when Christ shall appear terribly, they may appear before him comfortably. And, concerning his fidelity and diligence, he comfortably appeals unto God, and the consciences of those he wrote to: We are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

Desiring to be clothed upon - This body, which is now covered with flesh and blood, with the glorious house which is from heaven. Instead of flesh and blood, which cannot enter heaven, the rising body will be clothed or covered with what is analogous thereto, but incorruptible and immortal. Macarius speaks largely of this.

nt, tabernacle, or dwelling. In our body here. We groan. Rom 8:22. The sense is, that we are subjected to so many trials and afflictions in the present body; that the body is subjected to so many pains, and to so much suffering, as to make us earnestly desire to be invested with that body which shall be free from all susceptibility to suffering. Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, etc. There is evidently here a change of the metaphor, which gives an apparent harshness to the construction. One idea of the apostle is, that the body here, and the spiritual body hereafter, is a house or a dwelling. Here he speaks of it as a garment which may be put on or laid off; and of himself as earnestly desiring to put on the immortal clothing or vestment which was in heaven. Both these figures are common in ancient writings; and a change in this manner in the popular style is not unusual. The Pythagoreans compared the body to a tent or hut for the soul; the Platonists liken it to a vestment.-- Bloomfield. The Jews speak of a vestment to the soul in this world and the next. They affirm that the soul had a covering when it was under the throne of God, and before it was clothed with the body. This vestment, they say, was "the image of God," which was lost by Adam. After the fall, they say, Adam and all his posterity were regarded as naked. In the future world they say the good will be clothed with a vestment for the soul, which they speak of as lucid and radiant, and such as no one on earth can attain.-- Schoettgen. But there is no reason to think that Paul referred to any such trifles as the Jews have believed on this subject. He evidently regarded man as composed of body and soul. The soul was the more important part, and the body constituted its mere habitation or dwelling. Yet a body was essential to the idea of the complete man; and since this was frail and dying; he looked forward to a union with the body that should be eternal in the heavens, as a more desirable and perfect habitation of the soul. Mr. Locke has given an interpretation of this in which he is probably alone, but which has so much appearance of plausibility that it is not improper to refer to it. He supposes that this whole passage has reference to the fact that at the coming of the Redeemer the body will be changed without experiencing death, (comp. 1Cor 15:51,52;) that Paul expected that this might soon occur; and that he earnestly desired to undergo this transformation without experiencing the pains of dying. He therefore paraphrases it, "For in this tabernacle I groan, earnestly desiring, without putting off this mortal, earthly body by death, to have that celestial body superinduced, if so be the coming of Christ shall overtake me in this life, before I put off this body" With our house. The phrase "to be clothed upon with our house" seems to be harsh and unusual. The sense is plain, however, that Paul desired to be invested with that pure, spiritual, and undecaying body which, was to be the eternal abode of his soul in heaven. That he speaks of as a house, (οικητηριον,) a more permanent and substantial dwelling than a tent, or tabernacle. (a) "earnestly desiring" Romm 8:23 Verse 3. If so be that being clothed. This

passage has been interpreted in a great many different ways. The view of Locke is given above. Rosenmuller renders it, "For in the other life we shall not be wholly destitute of a body, but we shall have a body." Tindal renders it, "If it happen that we be found clothed, and not naked." Doddridge supposes it to mean, "Since being so clothed upon, we shall not be found naked, and exposed to any evil and inconvenience, how, entirely soever we may be stripped of everything we can call our own here below." Hammond explains it to mean, "If, indeed, we shall happily be among the number of those faithful Christians, who will be found clothed upon, not naked." Various other expositions may be seen in the larger commentaries. The meaning is probably this: (1.) The word "clothed" refers to the future spiritual body of believers; the eternal habitation in which they shall reside. (2.) The expression implies an earnest desire of Paul to be thus invested with that body. (3.) It is the language of humility and of deep solicitude, as if it were possible that they might fail, and as if it demanded their utmost care and anxiety that they might thus be clothed with the spiritual body in heaven. (4.) It means that in that future state the soul will not be naked; that is, destitute of any body or covering. The present body will be laid aside. It will return to corruption, and the disembodied spirit will ascend to God and to heaven. It will be disencumbered of the body with which it has been so long clothed. But we are not thence to infer that it will be destitute of a body; that it will remain a naked soul. It will be clothed there in its appropriate glorified body; and will have an appropriate habitation there. This does not imply, as Bloomfield supposes, that the souls of the wicked will be destitute of any such habitation as the glorified body of the saints--which may be true; but it means simply that the soul shall not be destitute of an appropriate body in heaven, but that the union of body and soul there shall be known as well as on earth. (b) "found naked" Rev 3:18, 16:15 Verse 4. For we. We who are Christians. Al

If being clothed - That is, with the image of God, while we are in the body. We shall not be found naked - Of the wedding garment.

We groan being burdened - The apostle speaks with exact propriety. A burden naturally expresses groans. And we are here burdened with numberless afflictions, infirmities, temptations. Not that we would be unclothed - Not that we desire to remain without a body. Faith does not understand that philosophical contempt of what the wise Creator has given. But clothed upon - With the glorious, immortal, incorruptible, spiritual body. That what is mortal - This present mortal body. May be swallowed up of life - Covered with that which lives for ever.

l Christians. That are in this tabernacle. This frail and dying body. 2Cor 5:1. Do groan. See 2Cor 5:2. This is a further explanation of what is said in 2Cor 5:2. It implies an ardent and earnest desire to leave a world of toil and pain, and to enter into a world of rest and glory. Being burdened. Being borne down by the toils, and trials, and calamities of this life. 2Cor 4:7, 2Cor 4:8-10. Not for that we would be unclothed. Not that we are impatient, and unwilling to bear these burdens as long as God shall appoint. Not that we merely wish to lay aside this mortal body. We do not desire to die and depart merely because we suffer much, and because the body here is subjected to great trials. This is not the ground of our wish to depart. We are willing to bear trials. We are not impatient under, afflictions. The sentiment here is, that the mere fact that we may be afflicted much and long, should not be the principal reason why we should desire to depart. We should be willing to bear all this as long as God shall choose to appoint. The anxiety of Paul to enter the eternal world was from a higher motive than a mere desire to get away from trouble. But clothed upon. To be invested with our spiritual body. We desire to be clothed with that body. We desire to be in heaven, and to be clothed with immortality. We wish to have a body that shall be pure, undecaying, ever glorious. It was not, therefore, a mere desire to be released from sufferings; it was an earnest wish to be admitted to the glories of the future world, and partake of the happiness which he would enjoy there. This is one of the reasons why Paul wished to be in heaven. Other reasons he has stated elsewhere. Thus in Php 1:23 he says he had "a desire to depart and to be with Christ." So in 2Cor 5:8 of this chapter he says he was "willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." In 2Ti 4:6-8, he speaks of the "crown of righteousness" laid up for him as a reason why he was willing to die. That mortality might be swallowed up of life. On the meaning of the word rendered "swallowed up," (καταποθη) 1Cor 15:54. The meaning here is, that it might be completely absorbed; that it might cease to be; that there might be no more mortality, but that he might pass to the immortal state --to the condition of eternal life in the heavens. The body here is mortal--the body there will be immortal; and Paul desired to pass away from the mortal state to one that shall be immortal --a world where there shall be no more death. Comp. 1Cor 15:53. (c) "mortality" 1Cor 15:53 Verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same

thing. The phrase "self-same thing" here means this very thing, i.e., the thing to which he had referred--the preparation for heaven, or the heavenly dwelling. The word "wrought" here (κατεργασαμενος) means, that God had formed, or made them for this; that is, he had by the influences of the Spirit, and by his agency on the heart, created them, as it were, for this, and adapted them to it. God has destined us to this change from corruption to incorruption; he has adapted us to it; he has formed us for it. It does not refer to the original creation of the body and the soul for this end; but it means that God, by his own renewing, and sanctifying, and sustaining agency, had formed them for this, and adapted them to it. The object of Paul in stating that it was done by God, is to keep this truth prominently before the mind. It was not by any native inclination, or strength, or power which they had, but it was all to be traced to God. Comp. Eph 2:10. Who also hath given. In addition to the fitting for eternal glory he has given us the earnest of the Spirit to sustain us here. We are not only prepared to enter into heaven, but we have here also the support produced by the earnest of the Spirit. The earnest of the Spirit. On the meaning of this, 2Cor 1:22 ". He has given to us the Holy Spirit as the pledge or assurance of the eternal inheritance. (a) "wrought us" Isa 29:23, Eph 2:10 (b) "earnest of" Eph 1:14 Verse 6. Therefore we are always confident. The word here used θ

Now he that hath wrought us to this very thing - This longing for immortality. Is God - For none but God, none less than the Almighty, could have wrought this in us.

Therefore we behave undauntedly - But most of all when we have death in view; knowing that our greatest happiness lies beyond the grave.

αρρουντες means, to be of good cheer; to have good courage; to be full of hope. The idea is, that Paul was not dejected, cast down, disheartened, discouraged. He was cheerful and happy. He was patient in his trials, and diligent in his calling. He was full of hope, and of the confident expectation of heaven; and this filled him with cheerfulness and with joy. Tindal renders it, "We are always of good cheer." And this was not occasional and transitory, it was constant, it was uniform, it always παντοτε existed. This is an instance of the uniform cheerfulness which will be produced by the assured prospect of heaven. It is an instance, too, when the hope of heaven will enable a man to face danger with courage; to endure toil with patience; and to submit to trials in any form with cheerfulness. Knowing. 2Cor 5:1. This is another instance in which the apostle expresses undoubted assurance. Whilst we are at home in the body. The word here used (ενδημουντες) means, literally, to be among one's own people, to be at home; to be present at any place. It is here equivalent to saying, "while we dwell in the body." 2Cor 5:1. Doddridge renders it, "sojourning in the body;" and remarks that it is improper to render it "at home in the body," since it is the apostle's design to intimate that this is not our home. But Bloomfield says that the word is never used in the sense of sojourning. The idea is not that of being "at home"--for this is an idea which is the very opposite of that which the apostle wishes to convey. His purpose is not at all to represent the body here as our home, and the original word does not imply that. It means here simply to be in the body; to be present in the body; that is, while we are in the body. We are absent from the Lord. The Lord Jesus. Acts 1:24. Comp. Php 1:23. Here he was in a strange world, and among strangers. His great desire and purpose was to be with the Lord; and hence he cared little how soon the frail tabernacle of the body was taken down, and was cheerful amidst all the labours and sufferings that tended to bring it to the grave, and to release him to go to his eternal home where he would be present for ever with the Lord. (*) "confident" "of good courage"Verse 7. For we walk. To walk, in the Scriptures, often denotes to live, to act, to conduct

For we cannot clearly see him in this life, wherein we walk by faith only: an evidence, indeed, that necessarily implies a kind of "seeing him who is invisible;" yet as far beneath what we shall have in eternity, as it is above that of bare, unassisted reason.

[one's self] in a certain way. Rom 4:12; Rom 6:4. It has reference to the fact that life is a journey, or a pilgrimage, and that the Christian is travelling to another country. The sense here is, that we conduct ourselves in our course of life with reference to the things which are unseen, and not with reference to the things which are seen. By faith. In the belief of those things which we do not see. We believe in the existence of objects which are invisible, and we are influenced by them. To walk by faith, is to live in the confident expectation of things that are to come; in the belief of the existence of unseen realities; and suffering them to influence us as if they were seen. The people of this world are influenced by the things that are seen. They live for wealth, honour, splendour, praise, for the objects which this world can furnish, and as if there were nothing which is unseen, or as if they ought not to be influenced by the things which are unseen. The Christian, on the contrary, has a firm conviction of the reality of the glories of heaven; of the fact that the Redeemer is there; of the fact that there is a crown of glory; and he lives and acts as if that were all real, and as if he saw it all. The simple account of faith, and of living by faith is, that we live and act as if these things were true, and suffer them to make an impression on our mind according to their real nature. Mk 16:16. It is contradistinguished from living simply under the influence of things that are seen. God is unseen--but the Christian lives, and thinks, and acts as if there were a God, and as if he saw him. Christ is unseen now by the bodily eye; but the Christian lives and acts as if he were seen; that is, as if his eye were known to be upon us, and as if he was now exalted to heaven, and was the only Saviour. The Holy Spirit is unseen; but he lives and acts as if there were such a Spirit, and as if his influences were needful to renew and purify the soul. Heaven is unseen; but the Christian lives, and thinks, and acts as if there were a heaven, and as if he now saw its glories. He has confidence in these and in kindred truths, and he acts as if they were real. Could man see all these--were they visible to the naked eye as they are to the eye of faith, no one would doubt the propriety of living and acting with reference to them. But if they exist, there is no more impropriety in acting with reference to them than if they were seen. Our seeing or not seeing them does not alter their nature or importance; and the fact that they are not seen does not make it improper to act with reference to them. There are many ways of being convinced of the existence and reality of objects besides seeing them; and it may be as rational to be influenced by the reason, the judgment, or by strong confidence, as it is to be influenced by sight. Besides, all men are influenced by things which they have not seen. They hope for objects that are future. They aspire to happiness which they have not yet beheld. They strive for honour and wealth which are unseen, and which are in the distant future. They live and act--influenced by strong faith and hope-- as if these things were attainable; and they deny themselves, and labour, and cross oceans and deserts, and breathe in pestilential air, to obtain those things which they have not seen, and which to them are in the distant future. And why should not the Christian endure like labour, and be willing to suffer in like manner, to gain the unseen crown which is incorruptible, and to acquire the unseen wealth which the moth does not corrupt? And further still, the men of this world strive for those objects which they have not beheld, without any promise or any assurance that they shall obtain them. No being, able to grant them, has promised them; no one has assured them that their lives shall be lengthened out to obtain them. In a moment they may be cut off, and all their plans frustrated; or they may be utterly disappointed, and all their plans fail; or if they gain the object, it may be unsatisfactory, and may furnish no pleasure such as they had anticipated. But not so the Christian. He has (1.) the promise of life. (2.) He has the assurance that sudden death cannot deprive him of it. It at once removes him to the object of pursuit, not from it. (3.) He has the assurance that when obtained, it shall not disgust, or satiate, or decay, but that it shall meet all the expectations of the soul, and shall be eternal. Not by sight. This may mean either that we are not influenced by a sight of these future glories, or that we are not influenced by the things which we see. The main idea is, that we are not influenced and governed by the sight. We are not governed and controlled by the things which we see, and we do not see those things which actually influence and control us. In both it is faith that controls us, and not sight. (c) "For we walk" Rom 8:24,25 Verse 8. We are confident. 2Cor 5:6. We are cheerful

, and courageous, and ready to bear our trial. Tindal renders it, "We are of good comfort." And willing rather to be absent from the body. We would prefer to die. The same idea occurs in Php 1:23: "Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better." The sense is, that Paul would have preferred to die, and to go to heaven, rather than to remain in a world of sin and trial. To be present with the Lord. The Lord Jesus. Acts 1:24. Comp. Php 1:23. The idea of Paul is, that the Lord Jesus would constitute the main glory of heaven, and that to be with him was equivalent to being in a place of perfect bliss. He had no idea of any heaven where the Lord Jesus was not; and to be with him was to be in heaven. That world where the Redeemer is, is heaven. This also proves that the spirits of the saints, when they depart, are with the Redeemer; that is, are at once taken to heaven. It demonstrates (1.) that they are not annihilated. (2.) That they do not sleep, and remain in an unconscious state, as Dr. Priestly supposes. (3.) That they are not in some intermediate state--either in a state of purgatory, as the Papists suppose, or a state where all the souls of the just and the unjust are assembled in a common abode, as many Protestants have supposed--but (4.) that they dwell WITH Christ; they are WITH the Lord, (προςτονκυριον.) They abide in his presence; they partake of his joy and his glory; they are permitted to sit with him in his throne, Rev 3:21. The same idea the Saviour expressed to the dying thief, when he said, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," Lk 23:43.Verse 9. Wherefore. διο. In view of the facts stated above. Since we have the prospect of a resurrection

Present with the Lord - This demonstrates that the happiness of the saints is not deferred till the resurrection.

and of future glory; since we have the assurance that there is a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; and since God has given to us this hope, and has granted to us the earnest of the Spirit, we make it our great object so to live as to be accepted by him. We labour. The word here used (φιλοτιμουμεθα, from φιλος and τιμη, loving honour) means, properly, to love honour; to be ambitious. This is its usual classical signification. In the New Testament, it means to be ambitious to do anything; to exert one's self; to strive, as if from a love or sense of honour. As in English, to make it a point of honour to do so and so.-- Robinson, (Lex.) See Rom 15:20, 1Thes 4:11. It means here, that Paul made it a point of constant effort; it was his leading and constant aim to live so as to be acceptable to God, and to meet his approbation wherever he was. Whether present or absent. Whether present with the Lord, ( 2Cor 5:8,) or absent from him, ( 2Cor 5:6;) that is, whether in this world or the next; whether we are here, or removed to heaven. Wherever we are, or may be, it is and will be our main purpose and object so to live as to secure his favour. Paul did not wish to live on earth regardless of his favour, or without evidence that he would be accepted by him. He did not make the fact that he was absent from him, and that he did not see him with the bodily eye, an excuse for walking in the ways of ambition, or seeking his own purposes and ends. The idea is, that so far as this point was concerned, it made no difference with him whether he lived or died; whether he was on earth or in heaven; whether in the body or out of the body; it was the great fixed principle of his nature so to live as to secure the approbation of the Lord. And this is the true principle on which the Christian should act, and will act. The fact that he is now absent from the Lord will be to him no reason why he should lead a life of sin and self-indulgence, any more than he would if he were in heaven; and the fact that he is soon to be with him is not the main reason why he seeks to live so as to please him. It is because this has become the fixed principle of the soul; the very purpose of the life; and this principle and this purpose will adhere to him and control him wherever he may be placed, or in whatever world he may dwell. We may be accepted of him. The phrase here used (ευαρεστοιειναι) means to be well-pleasing; and then to be acceptable, or approved, Rom 12:1, 14:18, Eph 5:10, Php 4:18, Tit 2:9. The sense here is, that Paul was earnestly desirous of so living as to please God, and to receive from him the tokens and marks of his favour. And the truth taught in this verse is, that this will be the great purpose of the Christian's life, and that it makes no difference as to the existence and operation of this principle whether a man is on earth or in heaven. He will equally desire it, and strive for it; and this is one of the ways in which religion makes a man conscientious and holy; and is a better guard and security for virtue than all human laws, and all the restraints which can be imposed by man. (1) "we labour" "endeavour" (*) "labour" "strive"Verse 10. For we must. δει. It is proper, fit, necessary that we should all appear there. This fact to which Paul now refers is another r

Therefore we are ambitious - The only ambition which has place in a Christian. Whether present - In the body. Or absent - From it.

eason why it was necessary to lead a holy life, and why Paul gave himself with so much diligence and self-denial to the arduous duties of his office. There is a necessity or a fitness that we should appear there to give up our account, for we are here on trial; we are responsible moral agents; we are placed here to form characters for eternity. Before we receive our eternal allotment, it is proper that we should render our account of the manner in which we have lived, and of the manner in which we have improved our talents and privileges. In the nature of things, it is proper that we should undergo a trial before we receive our reward, or before we are punished; and God has made it necessary and certain, by his direct and positive appointment, that we should stand at the bar of the final Judge. See Rom 14:10. All. Both Jews and Gentiles; old and young; bond and free; rich and poor; all of every class, and every age, and every nation. None shall escape by being unknown; none by virtue of their rank or wealth; none because they have a character too pure to be judged; All shall be arraigned in one vast assemblage, and with reference to their eternal doom. See Rev 20:12. Rosenmuller supposes that the apostle here alludes to an opinion that was common among the Jews, that the Gentiles only would be exposed to severe judgments in the future world, and that the Jews would be saved as a matter of course. But the idea seems rather to be, that as the trial of the great day was the most important that man could undergo, and as all must give account there, Paul and his fellow-labourers devoted themselves to untiring diligence and fidelity that they might be accepted in that great day. Appear. φανερωθηναι. This word properly means, to make apparent, manifest, known; to show openly, etc. Here it means that we must be manifest, or openly shown; that is, we must be seen there, and be publicly tried. We must not only stand there, but our character will be seen, our desert will be known, our trial will be public. All will be brought from their graves, and from their places of concealment, and will be seen at the judgment-seat. The secret things of the heart and the life will all be made manifest and known. The judgment seat of Christ. The tribunal of Christ, who is appointed to be the Judge of quick and dead. Jn 5:25 Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31. Christ is appointed to judge the world; and for this purpose he will assemble it before him, and assign to all their eternal allotments. See Mt 25. That every one may receive. The word rendered may receive (κομισηται) means, properly, to take care of, to provide for; and in the New Testament, to bear, to bring, ( Lk 7:37,) to acquire, to obtain, to receive. This is the sense here. Every individual shall take, receive, or bear away the appropriate reward for the transactions of this life of probation. See Eph 6:8, Col 3:25. The things. The appropriate reward of the actions of this life. Done in his body. Literally, "the things by or through (δια) the body." Tindal renders it, "the works of his body." The idea is, that every man shall receive an appropriate reward for the actions of this life. Observe here, (1.) that it is the works done in or through the body; not which the body itself has done. It is the mind, the man that has lived in the body, and acted by it, that is to be judged. (2.) It is to be for the deeds of this life; not for what is done after death. Men are not to be brought into judgment for what they do after they die. All beyond the grave is either reward or punishment; it is not probation. The destiny is to be settled for ever by what is done in this world of probation. (3.) It is to be for all the deeds done in the body; for all the thoughts, plans, purposes, words, as well as for all the outward actions of the man. All that has been thought or done must come into review, and man must give account for all. According to that he hath done. As an exact retribution for all that has been done. It is to be a suitable and proper recompense. The retribution is to be measured by what has been done in this life. Rewards shall be granted to the friends, and punishment to the foes of God, just in proportion to, or suitably to, their deeds in this life. Every man shall receive just what, under all the circumstances, he OUGHT to receive, and what will be impartial justice in the case. The judgment will be such that it will be capable of being seen to be right; and such as the universe at large, and as the individuals themselves, will see OUGHT to be rendered. Whether it be good or bad. Whether the life has been good or evil. The good will have no wish to escape the trial; the evil will not be able. No power of wickedness, however great, will be able to escape from the trial of that day; no crime that has been concealed in this life will be concealed there; no transgressor of law who may have long escaped the punishment due to his sins, and who may have evaded all human tribunals, will be able to escape there. (a) "For we must" Rom 14:10 (b) "the things" Eph 6:8, Rev 22:12 Verse 11. Knowing therefore. We who are apostles, and who are appointed to preach the gospel, having the fullest assurance of the terrors of the day of judgment, and of t

For we all - Apostles as well as other men, whether now present in the body, or absent from it. Must appear - Openly, without covering, where all hidden things will be revealed; probably the sins, even of the faithful, which were forgiven long before. For many of their good works, as their repentance, their revenge against sin, cannot other wise appear. But this will be done at their own desire, without grief, and without shame. According to what he hath done in the body, whether good or evil - In the body he did either good or evil; in the body he is recompensed accordingly.

he wrath of God, endeavour to persuade men to be prepared to meet Him, and to give up their account. The terror of the Lord. That is, of the Lord Jesus, who will be seated on the throne of judgment, and who will decide the destiny of all men, 2Cor 5:10 Mt 25. The sense is, knowing how much the Lord is to be feared; what an object of terror and alarm it will be to stand at the judgment-seat; how fearful and awful will be the consequences of the trial of that day. The Lord Jesus will be an object of terror and alarm or it will be a subject inspiring terror and alarm to stand there on that day, because (1.) he has all power, and is appointed to execute judgment; (2.) because all must there give a strict and impartial account of all that they have done; (3.) because the wrath of God will be shown in the condemnation of the guilty. It will be a day of awful wailing and alarm when all the living and the dead shall be arraigned on trial with reference to their eternal destiny; and when countless hosts of the guilty and impenitent shall be thrust down to an eternal hell. Who can describe the amazing terror of the scene? Who can fancy the horrors of the hosts of the guilty and the wretched who shall then hear that their doom is to be fixed for ever in a world of unspeakable woe? The influence of the knowledge of the terror of the Lord on the mind of the apostle'seems to have been two-fold: first, an apprehension of it as a personal concern, and a desire to escape it, which led him to constant self-denial and toil; and, secondly, a desire to save others from being overwhelmed in the wrath of that dreadful day. We persuade men. We endeavour to persuade them to flee from the wrath to come; to be prepared to stand before the judgment-seat, and to be fitted to enter into heaven. Observe here the peculiarity of the statement. It is not, we drive men; or we endeavour to alarm men; or we frighten men; or we appeal merely to their fears; but it is, we PERSUADE men--we endeavour to induce them, by all the arts of persuasion and argument, to flee from the wrath to come. The future judgment, and the scenes of future woe, are not proper topics for mere declamation. To declaim constantly on hell-fire and perdition--to appeal merely to the fears of men--is not the way in which Paul and the Saviour preached the gospel. The knowledge that there would be a judgment, and that the wicked would be sent to hell, was a powerful motive for Paul to endeavour to "persuade" men to escape from wrath; and was a motive for the Saviour to weep over Jerusalem, and to lament its folly and its doom, Lk 19:41. But they who fill their sermons with the denunciations of wrath; who dwell on the words hell and damnation for the purpose of rhetoric or declamation, to round a period, or merely to excite alarm; and who "deal damnation around the land" as if they rejoiced that men were to be condemned, and in a tone and manner as if they would be pleased to execute it, have yet to learn the true nature of the way to win men to God, and the proper effect of those awful truths on the mind. The true effect is to produce tenderness, deep feeling, and love; to prompt to the language of persuasion and of tender entreaty; to lead men to weep over dying sinners rather than to denounce them; to pray to God to have mercy on them rather than to use the language of severity, or to assume tones as if they would be pleased to execute the awful wrath of God. But we are made manifest unto God. The meaning of this is, probably, that God sees that we are sincere and upright in our aims and purposes. He is acquainted with our hearts. All our motives are known to him, and he sees that it is our aim to promote his glory, and to save the souls of men. This is probably said to counteract the charge which might have been brought against him by some of the disaffected in Corinth, that he was influenced by improper motives and guns. To meet this, Paul says that God knew that he was endeavouring to save souls, and that he was actuated by a sincere desire to rescue them from the impending terrors of the day of judgment. And I trust also, etc. And I trust also you are convinced of our integrity and uprightness of aim. The same sentiment is expressed in other words in 2Cor 4:2. It is an appeal which he makes to them, and the expression of an earnest and confident assurance that they knew and felt that his aim was upright, and his purpose sincere. (a) "terror of the Lord" Heb 10:31, Jude 1:23 (b) "but we are made" 2Cor 4:2 Verse 12. For we commend not ourselves again unto you. This refers to what he had said in the previous verse. He had there said that he had such a consciousness of integr

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we the more earnestly persuade men to seek his favour; and as God knoweth this, so, I trust, ye know it in your own consciences.

ity that he could appeal to God, and that he was persuaded that the Corinthians also approved his course, or admitted that he was influenced by right motives. He here states the reason why he had said this. It was not to commend himself to them. It was not to boast of his own character, nor was it in order to secure their praise or favour. Some might be disposed to misrepresent all that Paul said of himself, and to suppose that it was said for mere vain-glory, or the love of praise. He tells them, therefore, that his sole aim was necessary self-defence, and in order that they might have the fullest evidence that he, by whom they had been converted, was a true apostle; and that he whom they regarded as their friend and father in the gospel was a man of whom they need not be ashamed. But give you occasion. This is a very happy turn of expression. The sense is, "You have been converted under my labours. You profess to regard me as your spiritual father and friend. I have no reason to doubt of your attachment to me. Yet you often hear my name slandered, and hear me accused of wanting the evidence of being an apostle, and of being vain-glorious, and self-seeking. I know your desire to vindicate my character, and to show that you are my friends; I therefore say these things in regard to myself in order that. you may be thus able to show your respect for me, and to vindicate me from the false and slanderous accusations of my enemies. Thus doing, you will be able to answer them; to show that the man whom you thus respect is worthy of your confidence and esteem." On your behalf. For your own benefit, or as it were in self-vindication for adhering to me, and evincing attachment to me," That ye may have somewhat to answer them. That you may be furnished with a ready reply when you are charged with adhering to a man who has no claims to the apostleship,'or who is slandered in any other way. Which glory in appearance. The false teachers in Corinth. Probably they boasted of their rank, their eloquence, their talents, their external advantages; but not in the qualities of the heart--in sincerity, honesty, real love for souls. Their consciences would not allow them to do this; and they knew themselves that their boasting was mere vain pretence, and that there was no real and solid ground for it. The margin is, "in the face." The meaning is, probably, that their ground of boasting was external, and was such as can be seen of men; and was not rather the secret consciousness of right, which could exist only in the conscience and the heart. Paul, on the other hand, gloried mainly in his sincerity, his honesty, his desire for their salvation; in his conscious integrity before God; and not in any mere external advantages or professions, in his rank, eloquence, or talent. Accordingly, all his argument here turns on his sincerity, his conscious uprightness, and his real regard for their welfare. And the truth taught here is, that sincerity and conscious integrity are more valuable than any or all external advantages and endowments. (c) "For we commend" 2Cor 3:1 (1) "appearance" "the face"Verse 13. For whether we be beside ourselves. This is probably designed to meet some of the charges which the false teachers in Corinth brought against him, and to furnis

Apology for Seeming Self-Commendation. ( a. d. 57.) 12 For 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. 13 For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And 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. Here observe, I. The apostle makes an apology for seeming to commend himself and his fellow-labourers ( v. 13 ), and tells them, 1. It was not to commend themselves, nor for their own sakes, that he had spoken of their fidelity and diligence in the former verses ; nor was he willing to suspect their good opinion of him. But, 2. The true reason was this, to put an argument in their mouths wherewith to answer his accusers, who made vain boastings, and gloried in appearances only; that he might give them an occasion to glory on their behalf, or to defend them against the reproaches of their adversaries. And if the people can say that the word has been manifested to their consciences, and been effectual to their conversion and edification, this is the best defence they can make for the ministry of the word, when they are vilified and reproached. II. He gives good reasons for their great zeal and diligence. Some of Paul's adversaries had, it is likely, reproached him for his zeal and fervour, as if he had been a madman, or, in the language of our days, a fanatic; they imputed all to enthusiasm, as the Roman governor told him, Much learning has made thee mad, Acts xxvi. 24 . But the apostle tells them, 1. It was for the glory of God, and the good of the church, that he was thus zealous and industrious: " Whether we be beside ourselves, or whether we be sober (whether you or others do think the one or the other), it is to God, and for his glory: and it is for your cause, or to promote your good," v. 13 . If they manifested the greatest ardour and vehemency at some times, and used the greatest calmness in strong reasonings at other times, it was for the best ends; and in both methods they had good reason for what they did. For, 2. The love of Christ constrained them, v. 14 . They were under the sweetest and strongest constraints to do what they did. Love has a constraining virtue to excite ministers and private Christians in their duty. Our love to Christ will have this virtue; and Christ's love to us, which was manifested in this great instance of his dying for us, will have this effect upon us, if it be duly considered and rightly judged of. For observe how the apostle argues for the reasonableness of love's constraints, and declares, (1.) What we were before, and must have continued to be, had not Christ died for us: We were dead, v. 14 . If one died for all, then were all dead; dead in law, under sentence of death; dead in sins and trespasses, spiritually dead. Note, This was the deplorable condition of all those for whom Christ died: they were lost and undone, dead and ruined, and must have remained thus miserable for ever if Christ had not died for them. (2.) What such should do, for whom Christ died; namely, that they should live to him. This is what Christ designed, that those who live, who are made alive unto God by means of his death, should live to him that died for them, and rose again for their sakes also, and that they should not live to themselves, v. 15 . Note, We should not make ourselves, but Christ, the end of our living and actions: and it was one end of Christ's death to cure us of this self-love, and to excite us always to act under the commanding influence of his love. A Christian's life should be consecrated to Christ; and then do we live as we ought to live when we live to Christ, who died for us.

We do not say this, as if we thought there was any need of again recommending ourselves to you, but to give you an occasion of rejoicing and praising God, and to furnish you with an answer to those false apostles who glory in appearance, but not in heart, being condemned by their own conscience.

For if we are transported beyond ourselves - Or at least, appear so to others, treated of, 2Cor 5:15 - 21, speaking or writing with uncommon vehemence. It is to God - He understands (if men do not) the emotion which himself inspires. If we be sober - Treated of, 2Cor 6:1 - 10. If I proceed in a more calm, sedate manner. It is for your sakes - Even good men bear this, rather than the other method, in their teachers. But these must obey God, whoever is offended by it.

h his friends there with a ready answer, as well as to show them the true principles on which he acted, and his real love for them. It is altogether probable that he was charged with being deranged; that many who boasted themselves of prudence, and soberness, and wisdom, regarded him as acting like a madman. It has not been uncommon, by any means, for the cold and the prudent, for formal professors and for hypocrites, to regard the warm-hearted and zealous friends of religion as maniacs. Festus thought Paul was deranged, when he said, "Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad," ( Acts 26:24;) and the Saviour himself was regarded by his immediate relatives and friends as beside himself, Mk 3:21. And at all times there have been many, both in the church and out of it, who have regarded the friends of revivals, and of missions, and all those who have evinced any extraordinary zeal in religion, as deranged. The object of Paul here is to show, whatever might be the appearance or the estimate which they affixed to his conduct, what were the real principles which actuated him. These were zeal for God, love to the church, and the constraining influences of the love of Christ, 2Cor 5:14,15. The word here rendered "be beside ourselves" (εξεστημεν, from εξιστημι) means, properly, to put out of place; to be put out of place; and then to be put out of one's self, to astonish, to fill with wonder, Lk 24:22, Acts 8:9,11; and then to be out of one's mind, to be deranged. Here it means that they were charged with being deranged; or that others esteemed, or professed to esteem, Paul and his fellow-labourers deranged. It is to God. It is in the cause of God, and from love to him. It is such a zeal for him; such an absorbing interest in his cause; such love prompting to so great self-denial, and teaching us to act so much unlike other men, as to lead them to think that we are deranged. The doctrine here is, that there may be such a zeal for the glory of God, such an active and ardent desire to promote his honour, as to lead others to charge us with derangement. It does not prove, however, that a man is deranged on the subject of religion because he is unlike others, or because he pursues a course of life that differs materially from that of other professors of religion, and from the man of the world. He may be the truly sane man after all; and all the madness that may exist may be where there is a profession of religion without zeal; a professed belief in the existence of God and in the realities of eternity, that produces no difference in the conduct between the professor and other men; or an utter unconcern about eternal realities when a man is walking on the brink of death and of hell. There are few men that become deranged by religion; there are millions who act as madmen who have no religion. And the highest instances of madness in the world are those who walk over an eternal hell without apprehension or alarm. Or whether we be sober. Whether we are sane, or of sound mind. Comp. Mk 5:15. Tindal renders this whole passage, "For if we be too fervent, to God we are too fervent; if we keep measure, for our cause keep we measure." The sense seems to be, "If we are esteemed to be sane, and sober-minded, as we trust you will admit us to be, it is for your sake. Whatever may be the estimate in which we are held, we are influenced by love to God, and love to man. In such a cause, we cannot but evince zeal and self-denial which may expose us to the charge of mental derangement; but still we trust that by you we shall be regarded as influenced by a sound mind. We seek your welfare. We labour for you. And we trust that you will appreciate our motives, and regard us as truly sober-minded." (*) "beside" "transported beyond" (d) "it is" 2Cor 11:1,16,17 (**) "sober" "sober-minded"Verse 14. For the love of Christ. In this verse, Paul brings into view the principle which actuated him; the reason of his extraordinary and disinterested zeal. That was, that he was inf

luenced by the love which Christ had shown in dying for all men, and by the argument which was furnished by that death respecting the actual character and condition of man, (in this verse;) and of the obligation of those who professed to be his true friends, 2Cor 5:15. The phrase "the love of Christ" (αγαπητουχριστου) may denote either the love which Christ bears toward us, and which he has manifested, or our love toward, him. In the former sense the phrase "the love of God" is used in Rom 5:8, 2Cor 13:13; and the phrase "love of Christ" in Eph 3:17. The phrase is used in the latter sense in Jn 15:9,10, and Rom 8:35. It is impossible to determine the sense with certainty, and it is only by the view which shall be taken of the connexion and of the argument which will in any way determine the meaning. Expositors differ in regard to it. It seems to me that the phrase here means the love which Christ had toward us. Paul speaks of his dying for all as the reason why he was urged on to the course of self-denial which he evince& Christ died for all. All were dead. Christ evinced his great love for us, and for all, by giving himself to die; and it was this love which Christ had shown that impelled Paul to his own acts of love and self-denial. He gave himself to his great work, impelled by that love which Christ had shown; by the view of the ruined condition of man which that work furnished; and by a desire to emulate the Redeemer, and to possess the same spirit which he evinced. Constraineth us. συνεχει. This word (συνεχω) properly means, to hold together, to press together, to shut up; then to press on, urge, impel, or excite. Here it means, that the impelling, or exciting motive in the labours and self-denials of Paul, was the love of Christ--the love which he had showed to the children of men. Christ so loved the world as to give himself for it. His love for the world was a demonstration that men were dead in sins. And we, being urged by the same love, are prompted to like acts of zeal and self-denial to save the world from ruin. Because we thus judge. Greek, "We judging this;" that is, we thus determine in our own minds, or we thus decide; or this is our firm conviction and belief--we come to this conclusion. That if one died for all. On the supposition that one died for all; or taking it for granted that one died for all, then it follows that all were dead. The "one" who died for all here is undoubtedly the Lord Jesus. The word "for" (υπερ) means, in the place of, in the stead of. See Phm 1:13, and 2Cor 5:20 of this chapter. It means that Christ took the place of sinners, and died in their stead; that he endured what was an ample equivalent for all the punishment which would be inflicted if they were to suffer the just penalty of the law; that he endured so much suffering, and that God by his great substituted sorrows made such an expression of his hatred of sin, as to answer the same end in expressing his sense of the evil of sin, and in restraining others from transgression, the guilty were personally to suffer the full penalty of the law. If this was done, of course the guilty might be pardoned and saved, since all the ends which could be accomplished by their destruction have been accomplished by the substituted sufferings of the Lord Jesus. Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26, where this subject is considered at length, The phrase "for all," (υπερπαντων,) obviously means for all mankind; for every man. This is an exceedingly important expression in regard to the extent of the atonement which the Lord Jesus made; and while it proves that his death was vicarious, that is, in the place of others, and for their sakes, it demonstrates also that the atonement was general, and had, in itself considered, no limitation, and no particular reference to any class or condition of men, and no particular applicability to one class more than to another. There was nothing in the nature of the atonement that limited it to any one class or condition; there was nothing in the design that made it, in itself, any more applicable to one portion of mankind than to another. And whatever may be true in regard. to the fact as to its actual applicability, or in regard to the purpose of God to apply it, it is demonstrated by this passage that his death had an original applicability to all, and that the merits of that death were sufficient to save all. The argument in favour of the general atonement, from this passage, consists in the following points: (1.) That Paul assumes this as a matter that was well known, indisputable, and universally admitted, that Christ died for all. He did not deem it necessary to enter into the argument to prove it, nor even to state it formally. It was so well known, and so universally admitted, that he made it a first principle --an elementary position-- a maxim on which to base another important doctrine--to wit, that all were dead. It was a point which he assumed that no one would call in question; a doctrine which might be laid down as the basis of an argument--like one of the first principles or maxims in science. (2.) It is the plain and obvious meaning of the expression--the sense which strikes all men, unless they have some theory to support to the contrary; and it requires all the ingenuity which men can ever command to make it appear even plausible that this is consistent with the doctrine of a limited atonement--much more to make it out that it does not mean all. If a man is told that all the human family must die, the obvious interpretation is, that it applies to every individual. If told that all the passengers on board a steamboat were drowned, the obvious interpretation is, that every individual was meant. If told that a ship was wrecked, and that all the crew perished, the obvious interpretation would be that none escaped. If told that all the inmates of an hospital were sick, it would be understood that there was not an individual that was not sick. Such is the view which would be taken by nine hundred and ninety-nine persons out of a thousand, if told that Christ died for all; nor could they conceive how this could be consistent with the statement that he died only for the elect, and that the elect was only a small part of the human family. (3.) This interpretation is in accordance with all the explicit declarations on the design of the death of the Redeemer. Heb 2:9, "That he, by the grace of, God, should taste death for every man." Comp. Jn 3:16, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 1Timm 2:6, "Who gave himself a ransom for all." See Mt 20:28, "The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many." 1Jn 2:2, "And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (4.) The fact also, that on the ground of the atonement made by the Redeemer salvation is offered unto all men by God, is a proof that he died for all. The apostles were directed to go "into all the world, and to preach the gospel to every creature," with the assurance that "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," Mk 16:16, and everywhere in the Bible the most full and free offers of salvation are made to all mankind. Comp. Isa 55:1, Jn 7:37, Rev 22:17. These offers are made on the ground that the Lord Jesus died for men, Jn 3:16. They are offers of salvation through the gospel, of the pardon of sin, and of eternal life to be made "to every creature." But if Christ died only for a part; if there is a large portion of the human family for whom he died in no sense whatever; if there is no provision of any kind made for them, then God must know this, and then the offers cannot be made with sincerity, and God is tantalizing them with the offers of that which does not exist, and which he knows does not exist. It is of no use here to say that the preacher does not know who the elect are, and that he is obliged to make the offer to all in order that the elect may be reached. For it is not the preacher only who offers the gospel. It is God who does it, and he knows who the elect are, and yet he offers salvation to all. And if there is no salvation provided for all, and no possibility that all to whom the offer comes should be saved, then God is insincere; and there is no way possible of vindicating his character. (5.) If this interpretation is not correct, and if Christ did not die for all, then the argument of Paul here is a non sequitur, and is worthless. The demonstration that all are dead, according to him, is that Christ died for all. But suppose that he meant, or that he knew, that Christ died only for a part--for the elect--then how would the argument stand, and what would be its force? "Christ died only for a portion of the human race, therefore ALL are sinners. Medicine is provided only for a part of mankind, therefore all are sick. Pardon is offered to part only, therefore all are guilty." But Paul never reasoned in this way. He believed that Christ died for all mankind, and on the ground of that he inferred at once that all needed such an atonement; that all-were sinners, and that all were exposed to the wrath of God. And the argument is in this way, and in this way only, sound. But still it may be asked, what is the force of this argument? How does the fact that Christ died for all prove that all were sinners, or dead in sin? I answer, (a.) In the same way as to provide medicine for all, proves that all are sick, or liable to be sick; and to offer pardon to all who are in a prison, proves that all there are guilty. What insult is it to offer medicine to a man in health; or pardon to a man who has violated no law! And there would be the same insult in offering salvation to a man who was not a sinner, and who did not need forgiveness. (b.) The dignity of the Sufferer, and the extent of his sufferings, prove that all were under a deep and dreadful load of guilt. Such a Being would not have come to die unless the race had been apostate; nor would he have endured so great sorrows unless a deep and dreadful malady had spread over the world. The deep anxiety, the tears, the toils, the sufferings, and the groans of the Redeemer, show what was his sense of the condition of man, and prove that he regarded them as degraded, fallen, and lost. And if the Son of God, who knows all hearts, regarded them as lost, they are lost. He was not mistaken in regard to the character of man, and he did not lay down his life under the influence of delusion and error. If to the view which has been taken of this important passage it be objected that the work of the atonement must have been to a large extent in vain; that it has been actually applied to but comparatively a small portion of the human family, and that it is unreasonable to suppose that God would suffer so great sorrows to be endured for nought, we may reply, (1.) that it may not have been in vain, though it may have been rejected by a large portion of mankind. There may have been other purposes accomplished by it besides the direct salvation of men. It was doing much when it rendered it consistent for God to offer salvation to all; it is much that God could be seen to be just, and yet pardoning the sinner; it was much when his determined hatred of sin, and his purpose to honour his law, were evinced; and in regard to the benevolence and justice of God to other beings and to other worlds, much, very much was gained, though all the human race had rejected the plan and been lost; and in regard to all these objects, the plan was not in vain, and the sufferings of the Redeemer were not for nought. But (2.) it is in accordance with what we see everywhere, when much that God does seems to our eyes, though not to his, to be in vain. How much rain falls on ever sterile sands or on barren rocks, to our eyes in vain! What floods of light are poured each day on barren wastes, or untraversed oceans, to our eyes in vain! How many flowers shed forth their fragrance in the wilderness, and "waste their sweetness on the desert air," to us apparently for nought! How many pearls lie useless in the ocean; how much gold and silver in the earth; how many diamonds amidst rocks to us unknown, and apparently in vain! How many lofty trees rear their heads in the untraversed wilderness, and after standing for centuries fall on the earth and decay, to our eyes in vain! And how much medicinal virtue is created by God each year in the vegetable world that is unknown to man, and that decays and is lost without removing any disease, and that seems to be created in vain! And how long has it been before the most valuable medicines have been found out, and applied to alleviating pain, or removing disease! Year after year, and age after age, they existed in a suffering world, and men died perhaps within a few yards of the medicine which would have relieved or saved them, but it was unknown, or, if known, disregarded. But times were coming when their value would be appreciated, and when they would be applied to benefit the sufferer. So with the plan of salvation. It may be rejected, and the sufferings of the Redeemer may seem to have been for nought. But they will yet be of value to mankind; and when the time shall come for the whole world to embrace the Saviour, there will be found no want of sufficiency in the plan of redemption, and in the merits of the Redeemer, to save all the race. Then were all dead. All dead in sin; that is, all were sinners. The fact that he died for all proves that all were transgressors. The word "dead" is not unfrequently used in the Scriptures to denote the condition of sinners. See Eph 2:1. It means not that sinners are in all senses and in all respects like a lifeless corpse, for they are not. They are still moral agents, and have a conscience, and are capable of thinking, and speaking, and acting. It does not mean that they have no more power, than one in the grave, for they have more power. But it means that there is a striking similarity, in some respects, between one Who is dead and a sinner. That similarity does not extend to everything, but in many respects it is very striking. (1.) The sinner is as insensible to the glories of the heavenly world, and the appeals of the gospel, as a corpse is to what is going on around or above it. The body that lies in the grave is insensible to the voice of friendship, and the charms of music, and the hum of business, and the plans of gain and ambition; and so the sinner is insensible to all the glories of the heavenly world, and to all the appeals that are made to him, and to all the warnings of God. He lives as though there were no heaven and no hell; no God and no Saviour. (2.) There is need of the same Divine power to convert a sinner which is needful to raise up the dead. The same cause does not exist, making the existence of that power necessary; but it is a fact that a sinner will no more be converted by his own power than a dead man will rise from the grave by his own power. No man ever yet was converted without direct Divine agency, any more than Lazarus was raised without Divine agency. And there is no more just or melancholy description which can be given of man, than to say that he is dead in sins. He is insensible to all the appeals that God makes to him; he is insensible to all the sufferings of the Saviour, and to all the glories of heaven; he lives as though these did not exist, or as though he had no concern in them; his eyes see no more beauty in them than the sightless eyeballs of the dead do in the material world; his ear is as inattentive to the calls of God and the gospel as the ear of the dead is to the voice of friendship or the charms of melody; and in a world that is full of God, and that might be full of hope, he is living without God and without hope. (a) "of Christ" Song 8:6 (b) "then were all dead" Rom 5:15 Verse 15. And that he died for all, etc. This verse is designed still farther to explain the reasons of the conduct of the apostle. He had not lived for himself. He had not lived to amass wealth, or to enjoy pleasure, or to obtai

For the love of Christ - To us, and our love to him. Constraineth us - Both to the one and the other; beareth us on with such a strong, steady, prevailing influence, as winds and tides exert when they waft the vessel to its destined harbour. While we thus judge, that if Christ died for all, then are all, even the best of men, naturally dead - In a state of spiritual death, and liable to death eternal. For had any man been otherwise, Christ had not needed to have died for him.

And that he died for all - That all might be saved. That they who live - That all who live upon the earth. Should not henceforth - From the moment they know him. Live unto themselves - Seek their own honour, profit, pleasure. But unto him - In all righteousness and true holiness.

n a reputation. He had lived a life of self-denial and of toil; and he here states the reason why he had done it. It was because he felt that the great purpose of the death of the Redeemer was to secure this result. To that Saviour, therefore, who died for all, he consecrated his talents and his time, and sought in every way possible to promote his glory. That they which live. They who are true Christians; who are made alive unto God as the result of the dying love of the Redeemer. Sinners are dead in sins. Christians are alive to the worth of the soul, the presence of God, the importance of religion, the solemnities of eternity; i.e., they act and feel as if these things had a real existence, and as if they should exert a constant influence upon the heart and life. It is observable that Paul makes a distinction here between those for whom Christ died and those who actually "live;" thus demonstrating that there may be many for whom he died who do not live to God, or who are not savingly benefited by his death. The atonement was for all, but only apart are actually made alive to God, Multitudes reject it; but the fact that he died for all, that he tasted death for every man, that he not only died for the elect but for all others, that his benevolence was so great as to embrace the whole human family in the design of his death, is a reason why they who are actually made alive to God should consecrate themselves entirely to his service. The fact that he died for all erinted such unbounded and infinite benevolence, that it should induce us who are actually benefited by his death, and who have any just views of it, to devote all that we have to his service. Should not henceforth live unto themselves. Should not seek our own ease and pleasure; should not make it our great object to promote our own interest; but should make it the grand purpose of our lives to promote his honour, and to advance his cause. This is a vital principle in religion; and it is exceedingly important to know what is meant by living to ourselves, and whether we do it. It is done in the following, and perhaps in some other ways: (1.) When men seek pleasure, gain, or reputation, as the controlling principle of their lives. (2.) When they are regardless of the rights of others, and sacrifice all the claims which others have on them in order to secure the advancement of their own purposes and ends. (3.) When they are regardless of the wants of others, and turn a deaf ear to all the appeals which charity makes to them, and have no time to give to serve them, and no money to spare to alleviate their wants; and especially when they turn a deaf ear to the appeals which are made for the diffusion of the gospel to the benighted and perishing. (4.) When their main purpose is the aggrandizement of their own families --for their families are but a diffusion of self. And (5.) when they seek their own salvation only from selfish motives, and not from a desire to honour God. Multitudes are selfish even in their religion; and the main purpose which they have in view is to promote their own objects, and not the honour of the Master whom they profess to serve. They seek and profess religion only because they desire to escape from wrath, and to obtain the happiness of heaven, and not from any love to the Redeemer, or any desire to honour him. Or they seek to build up the interests of their own church and party, and all their zeal is expended on that, and that alone, without any real desire to honour the Saviour. Or though in the church, they are still selfish and live wholly to themselves. They live for fashion, for gain, for reputation. They practise no self-denial; they make no effort to advance the cause of God the Saviour. But unto him, etc. Unto the Lord Jesus Christ. To live to him is the opposite to living unto ourselves. It is to seek his honour; to feel that we belong to him; that all our time and talents--all our strength of intellect and body--all the avails of our skill and toil--all belong to him, and should be employed in his service. If we have talents by which we can influence other minds, they should be employed to honour the Saviour. If we have skill, or strength to labour, by which we can make money, we should feel that it all belongs to him, and should be employed in his service. If we have property, we should feel that it is his, and that he has a claim upon it all, and that it should be honestly consecrated to his cause. And if we are endowed with a spirit of enterprise, and are fitted by nature to encounter perils in distant and barbarous climes, as Paul was, we should feel like him that we are bound to devote all entirely to his service, and to the promotion of his cause. A servant, a slave, does not live to himself, but to his master. His person, his time, his limbs, his talents, and the avails of his industry are not regarded as his own. He is judged incapable of holding any property which is not at the disposal of his master. If he has strength, it is his master's. If he has skill, the avails of it are his master's. If he is an ingenious mechanic, or labours in any department; if he is amiable, kind, gentle, and faithful, and adapted to be useful in an eminent degree, it is regarded as all the property of his master. He is bound to go where his master chooses; to execute the task which he assigns; to deny himself at his master's will; and to come and lay the avails of all his toil and skill at his master's feet. He is regarded as having been purchased with money; and the purchase-money is supposed to give a right to his time, his talents, his services, and his soul. Such as the slave is supposed to become by purchase, and by the operation of human laws, the Christian becomes by the purchase of the Son of God, and by the voluntary recognition of him as the Master, and as having a right to all that we have and are. To him all belongs; and all should be employed in endeavouring to promote his glory, and in advancing his cause. Which died for them, and rose again. Paul here states the grounds of the obligation under which he felt himself placed, to live not unto himself but unto Christ. (1.) The first is, the fact that Christ had died for him, and for all his people. The effect of that death was the same as a purchase. It was a purchase. 1Cor 6:20 1Cor 7:23. Comp. 1Pet 1:18,19. (2.) The second is, that he had risen again from the dead. To this fact Paul traced all his hopes of eternal life, and of the resurrection from the dead. See Rom 4:25. As we have the hope of the resurrection from the dead only from the fact that he rose; as he has "brought life and immortality to light," and hath in this way "abolished death," ( 2Ti 1:10;) as all the prospect of entering a world where there is no death and no grave is to be traced to the resurrection of the Saviour, so we are bound by every obligation of gratitude to devote ourselves without any reserve to him. To him, and him alone, should we live; and in his cause our lives should be, as Paul's was, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable in his sight. (a) "that they which" Rom 14:7-9, 1Cor 6:19,20 Verse 16. Wherefore henceforth. In view of the fact that the Lord Jesus died for all men, and rose again. The effect of that has been to change all our feelings, and to give us entirely new views of men, of ourselves, and of the

Messiah, so that we have become new creatures. The word "henceforth" (αποτουνυν) means, properly, from the present time; but there is no impropriety in supposing that Paul refers to the time when he first obtained correct views of the Messiah, and that he means from that time. His mind seems to have been thrown back to the period when these new views burst upon his soul; and the sentiment is, that from the time when he obtained those new views, he had resolved to know no one after the flesh. Know we no man. The word know here (οιδαμεν,) is used in the sense of, we form our estimate of; we judge; we are influenced by. Our estimate of man is formed by other views than according to the flesh. After the flesh. A great many different interpretations have been proposed of this expression, which it is not needful here to repeat. The meaning is, probably, that in his estimate of men he was not influenced by the views which are taken by those who are unrenewed, and who are unacquainted with the truths of redemption. It may include a great many things, and perhaps the following: (1.) He was not influenced in his estimate of men by a regard to their birth or country, he did not form an attachment to a Jew because he was a Jew, or to a Gentile because he was a Gentile. He had learned that Christ died for all, and he felt disposed to regard all alike. (2.) He was not influenced in his estimate of men by their rank, and wealth, and office. Before his conversion he had been; but now he learned to look on their moral character, and to regard that as making the only permanent and really important distinction among men. He did not esteem one man highly because he was of elevated rank, or of great wealth, and another less because he was of a different rank in life. (3.) It may also include the idea, that he had left his own kindred and friends on account of superior attachment to Christ. He had parted from them to preach the gospel. He was not restrained by their opinions; he was not kept from going from land to land by love to them. is probable that they remained Jews. It may be that they were opposed to him, and to his efforts in the cause of the Redeemer. It may be that they would have dismissed him from a work so self-denying, and so arduous, and where he would be exposed to so much persecution and contempt. It may be that they would have set before him the advantages of his birth and education; would have reminded him of his early brilliant prospects; and would have used all the means possible to dissuade him from embarking in a cause like that in which he was engaged. The passage here means that Paul was influenced by none of these considerations. In early life he had been. He had prided himself on rank, and on talent. He was proud of his own advantages as a Jew; and he estimated worth by rank, and by national distinction, Php 3:4-6. He had despised Christians on account of their being the followers of the Man of Nazareth; and there can be no reason to doubt that he partook of the common feelings of his countrymen, and held in contempt the whole Gentile world. But his views were changed--so much changed as to make it proper to say that he was a new creature, 2Cor 5:17. When converted, he did not confer with flesh and blood, ( Gal 1:16;) and in the school of Christ, he had learned that if a man was his disciple, he must be willing to forsake father, and mother, and sister, and brother, and to hate his own life that he might honour him, Lk 14:26. He had formed his principle of action now from a higher standard than any regard to rank, or wealth, or national distinction, and had risen above them all; and now estimated men, not by these external and factitious advantages, but by a reference to their personal character and moral worth. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh. Though in common with the Jewish nation we expected a Messiah who would be a temporal prince, and who would be distinguished for the distinctions which are valued among men, yet we have changed our estimate of him, and judge of him in this way no longer. There can be no doubt that Paul, in common with his countrymen, had expected a Messiah who would be a magnificent temporal prince and conqueror, one who they supposed would be a worthy successor of David and Solomon. The coming of such a prince, Paul had confidently expected, he expected no other Messiah. He had fixed his hopes on that. This is what is meant by the expression "to know Christ after the flesh." It does not mean that he had seen him in the flesh, but that he had formed, so to speak, carnal views of him, and such as men of this world regard as grand and magnificent in a monarch and conqueror. He had had no correct views of his spiritual character, and of the pure and holy purposes for which he would come into the world. Yet now henceforth know we him no more. We know him no more in this manner. Our conceptions and views of him are changed. We no more regard him according to the flesh; we no longer esteem the Messiah who was to come as a temporal prince and warrior; but we look on him as a spiritual Saviour, a Redeemer from sin. The idea is, that his views of him had been entirely changed. It does not mean, as our translation would seem to imply, that Paul would have no further acquaintance with Christ, but it means that from the moment of his conversion he had laid aside all his views of his being a temporal sovereign, and all his feelings that he was to be honoured only because he supposed that he would have an elevated rank among the monarchs of the earth. Locke and Macknight, it seems to me, have strangely mistaken this passage. The former renders it, "For if I myself have gloried in this, that Christ was himself circumcised as I am, and was of my blood and nation, I do so now no more any longer." The same substantially is the view of Macknight. Clarke as strangely mistakes it, when he says that it means that Paul could not prize now a man who was a sinner because he was allied to the royal family of David, nor prize a man because he had seen Christ in the flesh. The correct view, as it seems to me, is given above. And the doctrine which is taught here is, that at conversion the views are essentially changed, and that the converted man has a view of the Saviour entirely different from what he had before. He may not, like Paul, have regarded him as a temporal prince; he may not have looked to him as a mighty monarch; but his views in regard to his person, character, work, and loveliness will be entirely changed. He will see a beauty in his character which he never saw before. Before, he regarded him as a root out. of dry ground; as the despised man of Nazareth; as having nothing in his character to be desired, or to render him lovely, ( Isa 53;) but at conversion the views are changed. He is seen to be the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely; as pure, and holy, and benevolent; as mighty, and great, and glorious; as infinitely benevolent; as lovely in his precepts, lovely in his life, lovely in his death, lovely in his resurrection, and as most glorious as he is seated on the right hand of God. He is seen to be a Saviour exactly adapted to the condition and wants of the soul; and the soul yields itself to him to be redeemed by him alone. There is no change of view so marked and decided as that of the sinner in regard to the Lord Jesus Christ at his conversion; and it is a clear proof that we have never been born again if our views in reference to him have never undergone any change. "What think ye of Christ?" is a question the answer to which will determine any man's character, and demonstrate whether he is or is not a child of God. Tindal has more correctly expressed the sense of this than our translation: "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, now henceforth know we him so no more." (*) "know" "regard" (+) "have known" "regarded"Verse 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ. The phrase, to "be in Christ," evidently means to be united to Christ by faith; or to be in him as the branch is in the vine--that is, so united to the vine, or so in it, as to derive all its nourishm

Ministry of the Apostles. ( a. d. 57.) 16 Wherefore 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. 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To 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. 20 Now 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. 21 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. In these verses the apostle mentions two things that are necessary in order to our living to Christ, both of which are the consequences of Christ's dying for us; namely, regeneration and reconciliation. I. Regeneration, which consists of two things; namely, 1. Weanedness from the world: " Henceforth we know no man after the flesh, v. 16 . We do not own nor affect any person or thing in this world for carnal ends and outward advantage: we are enabled, by divine grace, not to mind nor regard this world, nor the things of this world, but to live above it. The love of Christ is in our hearts, and the world is under our feet." Note, Good Christians must enjoy the comforts of this life, and their relations in this world, with a holy indifference. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet, says the apostle, we know him no more. It is questioned whether Paul had seen Christ in the flesh. However, the rest of the apostles had, and so might some among those he was now writing to. However, he would not have them value themselves upon that account; for even the bodily presence of Christ is not to be desired nor doted upon by his disciples. We must live upon his spiritual presence, and the comfort it affords. Note, Those who make images of Christ, and use them in their worship, do not take the way that God has appointed for strengthening their faith and quickening their affections; for it is the will of God that we should not know Christ any more after the flesh. 2. A thorough change of the heart: For if any man be in Christ, if any man be a Christian indeed, and will approve himself such, he is, or he must be, a new creature, v. 17 . Some read it, Let him be a new creature. This ought to be the care of all who profess the Christian faith, that they be new creatures; not only that they have a new name, and wear a new livery, but that they have a new heart and new nature. And so great is the change the grace of God makes in the soul, that, as it follows, old things are passed away —old thoughts, old principles, and old practices, are passed away; and all these things must become new. Note, Regenerating grace creates a new world in the soul; all things are new. The renewed man acts from new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company. II. Reconciliation, which is here spoken of under a double notion:— 1. As an unquestionable privilege, v. 18, 19 . Reconciliation supposes a quarrel, or breach of friendship; and sin has made a breach, it has broken the friendship between God and man. The heart of the sinner is filled with enmity against God, and God is justly offended with the sinner. Yet, behold, there may be a reconciliation; the offended Majesty of heaven is willing to be reconciled. And observe, 1. He has appointed the Mediator of reconciliation. He has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, v. 18 . God is to be owned from first to last in the undertaking and performance of the Mediator. All things relating to our reconciliation by Jesus Christ are of God, who by the mediation of Jesus Christ has reconciled the world to himself, and put himself into a capacity of being actually reconciled to offenders, without any wrong or injury to his justice or holiness, and does not impute to men their trespasses, but recedes from the rigour of the first covenant, which was broken, and does not insist upon the advantage he might justly take against us for the breach of that covenant, but is willing to enter into a new treaty, and into a new covenant of grace, and, according to the tenour thereof, freely to forgive us all our sins, and justify freely by his grace all those who do believe. 2. He has appointed the ministry of reconciliation, v. 18 . By the inspiration of God the scriptures were written, which contain the word of reconciliation, showing us that peace was made by the blood of the cross, that reconciliation is wrought, and directing us how we may be interested therein. And he has appointed the office of the ministry, which is a ministry of reconciliation: ministers are to open and proclaim to sinners the terms of mercy and reconciliation, and persuade them to comply therewith. For, 2. Reconciliation is here spoken of as our indispensable duty, v. 20 . As God is willing to be reconciled to us, we ought to be reconciled to God. And it is the great end and design of the gospel, that word of reconciliation, to prevail upon sinners to lay aside their enmity against God. Faithful ministers are Christ's ambassadors, sent to treat with sinners on peace and reconciliation: they come in God's name, with his entreaties, and act in Christ's stead, doing the very thing he did when he was upon this earth, and what he wills to be done now that he is in heaven. Wonderful condescension! Though God can be no loser by the quarrel, nor gainer by the peace, yet by his ministers he beseeches sinners to lay aside their enmity, and accept of the terms he offers, that they would be reconciled to him, to all his attributes, to all his laws, and to all his providences, to believe in the Mediator, to accept the atonement, and comply with his gospel, in all the parts of it and in the whole design of it. And for our encouragement so to do the apostle subjoins what should be well known and duly considered by us ( v. 21 ), namely, (1.) The purity of the Mediator: He knew no sin. (2.) The sacrifice he offered: He was made sin; not a sinner, but sin, that is, a sin-offering, a sacrifice for sin. (3.) The end and design of all this: that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, might be justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Note, [1.] As Christ, who knew no sin of his own, was made sin for us, so we, who have no righteousness of our own, are made the righteousness of God in him. [2.] Our reconciliation to God is only through Jesus Christ, and for the sake of his merit: on him therefore we must rely, and make mention of his righteousness and his only.

So that we from this time - That we knew the love of Christ. Know no one - Neither ourselves, nor you, neither the rest of the apostles, Gal 2:6 , nor any other person. After the flesh - According to his former state, country, descent, nobility, riches, power, wisdom. We fear not the great. We regard not the rich or wise. We account not the least less than ourselves. We consider all, only in order to save all. Who is he that thus knows no one after the flesh? ln what land do these Christians live? Yea, if we have known even Christ after the flesh - So as to love him barely with a natural love, so as to glory in having conversed with him on earth, so as to expect only temporal benefits from him.

ent and support from it, and to be sustained entirely by it. Jn 15:2, "Every branch in me;" Jn 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." See also Jn 15: 5-7. Jn 15:2. To be "in Christ" denotes a more tender and close union; and implies that all our support is from him. All our strength is derived from him; and denotes further that we shall partake of his fulness, and share in his felicity and glory, as the branch partakes of the strength and rigour of the parent vine. The word "therefore" (ωστε) here implies, that the reason why Paul infers that any one is a new creature who is in Christ is that which is stated in the previous verse; to wit, the change of views in regard to the Redeemer to which he there refers, and which was so great as to constitute a change like a new creation. The affirmation here is universal, "if any man be in Christ;" that is, all who become true Christians-- undergo such a change in their views and feelings as to make it proper to say of them that they are new creatures. No matter what they have been before, whether moral or immoral; whether infidels or speculative believers; whether amiable, or debased, sensual, and polluted, yet if they become Christians they all experience such a change as to make it proper to say they are a new creation. He is a new creature. Marg., "Let him be." This is one of the instances in which the margin has given a less correct translation than is in the text. The idea evidently is, not that he ought to be a new creature, but that he is in fact; not that he ought to live as becomes a new creature--which is true enough--but that he will in fact live in that way, and manifest the characteristics of the new creation. The phrase "a new creature" (καινηκτισις) occurs also in Gal 6:15. The word rendered "creature" (κτισις) means, properly, in the New Testament, creation. It denotes (1.) the act of creating, Rom 1:20; (2.) a created thing, a creature, Rom 1:25; and refers (a.) to the universe, or creation in general, Mk 10:6, 13:19, 2Pet 3:4; (b.) to man, mankind, Mk 16:15, Col 1:23. Here it means a new creation in a moral sense; and the phrase "new creature" is equivalent to the expression in Eph 4:24: "The new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." It means, evidently, that there is a change produced in the renewed heart of man that is equivalent to the act of creation, and that bears a strong resemblance to it--a change, so to speak, as if the man was made over again, and had become new. The mode or manner in which it is done is not described; nor should the words be pressed, to the quick, as if the process were the same in both cases--for the words are here evidently figurative. But the phrase implies evidently the following things: (1.) That there is an exertion of Divine power in the conversion of the sinner as really as in the act of creating the world out of nothing, and that this is as indispensable in the one case as in the other. (2.) That a change is produced so great as to make it proper to say that he is a new man. He has new views, new motives, new principles, new objects and plans of life. He seeks new purposes, and he lives for new ends. If a drunkard becomes reformed, there is no impropriety in saying that he is a new man. If a man who was licentious becomes pure, there is no impropriety in saying that he is not the same man that he was before. Such expressions are common in all languages, and they are as proper as they are common. There is such a change as to make the language proper. And so in the conversion of a sinner. There is a change so deep, so clear, so entire, and so abiding, that it is proper to say, here is a new creation of God--a work of the Divine power as decided and as glorious as when God created all things out of nothing. There is no other moral change that takes place on earth so deep, and radical, and thorough, as the change at conversion. And there is no other where there is so much propriety in ascribing it to the mighty power of God. Old things are passed away. The old views in regard to the Messiah, and in regard to men in general, 2Cor 5:16. But Paul also gives this a general form of expression, and says that old things in general have passed away--referring to everything. It was true of all who were converted that old things had passed away. And it may include the following things: (1.) In regard to the Jews--that their former prejudices against Christianity, their natural pride, and spirit of seducing others, their attachment to their rites and ceremonies, and dependence on them for salvation, had all passed away. They now renounced that dependence, relied on the merits of the Saviour, and embraced all as brethren who were of the family of Christ. (2.) In regard to the Gentiles--their attachment to idols, their love of sin, and degradation, their dependence on their own works, had passed away, and they had renounced all these things, and had come to mingle their hopes with those of the converted Jews, and with all who were the friends of the Redeemer. (3.) In regard to all, it is also true that old things pass away. Their former prejudices, opinions, habits, attachments pass away. Their supreme love of self passes away. Their love of sin passes away. Their love of the world passes away. Their supreme attachment to their earthly friends rather than God passes away. Their love of sin--their sensuality, pride, vanity, levity, ambition--passes away. There is a deep and radical change on all these subjects--a change which commences at the new birth; which is carried on by progressive sanctification; and which is consummated at death and in heaven. Behold, all things are become new. That is, all things in view of the mind. The purposes of life, the feelings of the heart, the principles of action, all become new. The understanding is consecrated to new objects, the body is employed in new service, the heart forms new attachments. Nothing can be more strikingly descriptive of the facts in conversion than this; nothing more entirely accords with the feelings of the new-born soul. All is new. There are new views of God and of Jesus Christ; new views of this world and of the world to come; new views of truth and of duty; and everything is seen in a new aspect and with new feelings. Nothing is more common in young converts than such feelings, and nothing is more common than for them to say that all things are new. The Bible seems to be a new book; and though they may have often read it before, yet there is a beauty about it which they never saw before, and which they wonder they have not before perceived. The whole face of nature seems to them to be changed, and they seem to be in a new world. The hills, and vales, and streams; the sun, the stars, the groves, the forests, seem to be new. A new beauty is spread over them all; and they now see them to be the work of God, and his glory is spread over them all, and they can now say--- "My Father made them all." The heavens and the earth are filled with new wonders, and all things seem now to speak forth the praise of God. Even the very countenances of friends seem to be new; and there are new feelings towards all men; a new kind of love to kindred and friends; a love before unfelt for enemies; and a new love for all mankind. (1) "he is" "Let him be" (a) "new creature" Jn 3:3, Gal 6:15 (b) "all things are become new" Isa 65:17, Rev 21:5 Verse 18. And all things are of God. This refers particularly to the things in question, the renewing of the heart, and the influences by which Paul had been brought to a state of willingness to forsake all, and to devote his life to the self-denying labours involve

Therefore if any one be in Christ - A true believer in him. There is a new creation - Only the power that makes a world can make a Christian. And when he is so created, the old things are passed away - Of their own accord, even as snow in spring. Behold - The present, visible, undeniable change! All things are become new - He has new life, new senses, new faculties, new affections, new appetites, new ideas and conceptions. His whole tenor of action and conversation is new, and he lives, as it were, in a new world. God, men, the whole creation, heaven, earth, and all therein, appear in a new light, and stand related to him in a new manner, since he was created anew in Christ Jesus.

And all these new things are from God, considered under this very notion, as reconciling us - The world, 2Co 5:19 , to himself.

d in the purpose of making the Saviour known. He makes the statement general, however, showing his belief that not only these things were produced by God, but that all things were under his direction, and subject to his control. Nothing that he had done was to be traced to his own agency or power, but God was to be acknowledged everywhere. This great truth Paul never forgot; and he never suffered himself to lose sight of it. It was in his view a cardinal and glorious truth; and he kept its influence always before his mind and his heart. In the important statement which follows, therefore, about the ministry of reconciliation, he deeply feels that the whole plan, and all the success which had attended the plan, was to be traced not to his zeal; or fidelity, or skill, but to the agency of God. 1Cor 3:6,7. Who hath reconciled us to himself. The word us here includes, doubtless, all who were Christians--whether Jews or Gentiles, or whatever was their rank. They had all been brought into a state of reconciliation, or agreement with God,,through the Lord Jesus Christ. Before, they were opposed to God. They had violated his laws. They were his enemies. But by the means of the plan of salvation they had been brought into a state of agreement, or harmony, and were united in feeling and in aim with him. Two men who have been alienated by prejudice, by passion, or by interest, are reconciled when the cause of their alienation is removed, on whichever side it may have existed, or if on both sides, and when they lay aside their enmity and become friends. Thenceforward they are agreed, and live together without alienation, heart-burnings, jealousies, and strife. So between God and man. There was a variance; there was an alienation. Man was alienated from God. He had no love for him. He disliked his government and laws. He was unwilling to be restrained. He sought his own pleasure. He was proud, vain, self-confident. He was not pleased with the character of God, or with his claims or his plans. And in like manner, God was displeased with the pride, the sensuality, the rebellion, the haughtiness of man. He was displeased that his law had been violated, and that man had cast off his government. Now reconciliation could take place only when these causes of alienation should be laid aside, and when God and man should be brought to harmony; when man should lay aside his love of sin, and should be pardoned, and when, therefore, God could consistently treat him as a friend. The Greek word which is here used (καταλλασσω) means, properly, to change against anything; to exchange for anything, for money, or for any article.-- Robinson. In the New Testament it means, to change one person towards another; that is, to reconcile to any one. Rom 5:10. It conveys the idea of producing a change so that one who is alienated should be brought to friendship. Of course, all the change which takes place must be on the part of man, for God will not change, and the purpose of the plan of reconciliation is to effect such a change in man as to make him in fact reconciled to God, and at agreement with him. There were indeed obstacles to the reconciliation on the part of God, but they did not arise from any unwillingness to be reconciled; from any reluctance to treat his creature as his friend; but they arose from the fact that man had sinned, and that God was just; that such is the perfection of God that he cannot treat the good and evil alike; and that therefore, if he should treat man as his friend, it was necessary that in some proper way he should maintain the honour of his law, and show his hatred of sin, and should secure the conversion and future obedience of the offender. All this God purposed to secure by the atonement made by the Redeemer, rendering it consistent for him to exercise the benevolence of his nature, and to pardon the offender. But God is not changed. The plan of reconciliation has made no change in his character. It has not made him a different being from what he was before. There is often a mistake on this subject; and men seem to suppose that God was originally stern, and unmerciful, and inexorable, and that he has been made mild and forgiving by the atonement. But it is not so. No change has been made in God; none needed to be made; none could be made. He was always mild, and merciful, and good; and the gift of a Saviour and the plan of reconciliation is just an expression of his original willingness to pardon. When a father sees a child struggling in the stream, and in danger of drowning, the peril and the cries of the child make no change in the character of the father; but such was his former love for the child that he would plunge into the stream at the hazard of his own life to save him. So it is with God. Such was his original love for man, and his disposition to show mercy, that he would submit to any sacrifice, except that of truth and justice, in order that he might save him. Hence he sent his only Son to die--not to change his own character; not to make himself a different Being from what he was, but in order to show his love and his readiness to forgive when it could be consistently, done. " God so loved the world THAT he sent his only begotten Son," Jn 3:16. By Jesus Christ. By the agency or medium of Jesus Christ. He was the Mediator to interpose in the work of reconciliation. And he was abundantly qualified for this work, and was the only Being that has lived in this world who was qualified for it. For (1.) he was endowed with a Divine and human nature--the nature of both the parties at issue, God and man, and thus, in the language of Job, could "lay his hand upon both," Job 9:33. (2.) He was intimately acquainted with both the parties, and knew what was needful to be done. He knew God the Father so well that he could say, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son," Mt 11:27. And he knew man so well that it could be said of him, he "needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man," Jn 2:25. No one can be a mediator who is not acquainted with the feelings, views, desires, claims, or prejudices of both the parties at issue. (3.) He was the Friend of both the parties. He loved God. No man ever doubted this, or had any reason to call it in question; and he was always desirous of securing all that God claimed, and of vindicating him, and he never abandoned anything that God had a right to claim. And he loved man. He showed this in all his life. He sought hiss welfare in every way possible, and gave himself for him. Yet no one is qualified to act the mediator's part who is not the common friend of both the parties at issue, and who will not seek the welfare, the right, or the honour of both. (4.) He was willing to suffer anything from either party in order to produce reconciliation. From the hand of God he was willing to endure all that he deemed to be necessary, in order to show his hatred of sin by his vicarious sufferings, and to make an atonement; and from the hand of man he was willing to endure all the reproach, and contumely, and scorn which could be possibly involved in the work of inducing man to be reconciled to God. And (5.) he has removed all the obstacles which existed to a reconciliation. On the part of God, he has made it consistent for him to pardon. He has made an atonement so that God can be just while he justifies the sinner. He has maintained his truth, and justice, and secured the stability of his moral government, while he admits offenders to his favour. And on the part of man, he, by the agency of his Spirit, overcomes the unwillingness of the sinner to be reconciled, humbles his pride, shows him his sin, changes his heart, subdues his enmity against God, and secures in fact a harmony of feeling and purpose between God and man, so that they shall be reconciled for ever. And hath given to us. To us the apostles and our fellow-labourers. The ministry of reconciliation. That is, of announcing to men the nature and the conditions of this plan of being reconciled. We have been appointed to make this known, and to press its acceptation on men. See 2Cor 5:20. (a) "reconciled us" Col 1:20 Verse 19. To wit. Greek, ωςοτι, namely. This verse is designed further to state the nature of the plan of reconciliation, and of the message with which they were intrusted. It contains an abstract, or an epitome of the whole plan; and is one of those emphatic passages

in which Paul compresses into a single sentence the substance of the whole plan of redemption. That God was in Christ. That God was by Christ, (ενχριστω,) by means of Christ; by the agency or mediatorship of Christ. Or it may mean that God was united to Christ, and manifested himself by him. So Doddridge interprets it. Christ was the Mediator by means of whom God designed to accomplish the great work of reconciliation. Reconciling the world unto himself. The world here evidently means the human race generally, without distinction of nation, age, or rank. The whole world was alienated from him, and he sought to have it reconciled. This is one incidental proof that God designed that the plan of salvation should be adapted to all men. 2Cor 5:14. It may be observed further, that God sought that the world should be reconciled. Man did not seek it. He had no plan for it. He did not desire it. He had no way to effect it. It was the offended party, not the offending, that sought to be reconciled; and this shows the strength of his love. It was love for enemies and alienated beings, and love evinced to them by a most earnest desire to become their friend, and to be at agreement with them. Rom 5:8. Tindal renders this very accurately, "For God was in Christ, and made agreement between the world and himself, and imputed not their sins unto them. Not imputing their trespasses. Not reckoning their transgressions to them; that is, forgiving them, pardoning them. On the meaning of the word impute, Rom 4:3. The idea here is, that God did not charge on them with inexorable severity and stern justice their offences, but graciously provided a plan of pardon, and offered to remit their sins on the conditions of the gospel. The plan of reconciliation demonstrated that he was not disposed to impute their sins to them, as he might have done, and to punish them with unmitigated severity for their crimes, but was more disposed to pardon and forgive. And it may be here asked, if God was not disposed to charge with unrelenting severity their own sins to their account, but was rather disposed to pardon them, can we believe that he is disposed to charge on them the sin of another? If he does not charge on them with inexorable and unmitigated severity their own transgressions, will he charge on them with unrelenting severity-- or at all --the sin of Adam? Rom 5:19. The sentiment here is, that God is not disposed or inclined to charge the transgressions of men upon them; he has no pleasure in doing it; and therefore he has provided a plan by which they may be pardoned. At the same time it is true that, unless their sins are pardoned, justice will charge or impute their sins to them, and will exact punishment to the uttermost. And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Marg., "put in us." Tindal renders this, "and hath committed unto us the preaching of the atonement." The meaning is, that the office of making known the nature of this plan, and the conditions on which God was willing to be reconciled to man, had been committed to the ministers of the gospel. (a) "trespasses" Rom 3:24,25 (1) "committed" "put in us"Verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. We are the ambassadors whom Christ has sent forth to negotiate with men in regard to their reconciliation to God. Tindal renders this, "Now then are we messengers in the room of Christ." The word here used (πρεσβευομεν, from πρεσβυς, an ag

Namely - The sum of which is, God - The whole Godhead, but more eminently God the Father. Was in Christ, reconciling the world - Which was before at enmity with God. To himself - So taking away that enmity, which could no otherwise be removed than by the blood of the Son of God.

ed man, an elder, and then an ambassador) means, to act as an ambassador, or sometimes merely to deliver a message for another, without being empowered to do anything more than to explain or enforce it.-- Bloomfield. See Thucyd. 7, 9. An ambassador is a minister of the highest rank, employed by one prince or state at the court of another, to manage the concerns of his own prince or state, and representing the dignity and power of his sovereign.-- Webster. He is sent to do what the sovereign would himself do were he present. They are sent to make known the will of the sovereign, and to negotiate matters of commerce, of war, or of peace, and in general everything affecting the interests of the sovereign among the people to whom they are sent. At all times, and in all countries, an ambassador is a sacred character, and his person is regarded as inviolable, he is bound implicitly to obey the instructions of his sovereign, and as far as possible to do only what the sovereign would do were he, himself present. Ministers are ambassadors for Christ, as they are sent to do what he would do were he personally present. They are to make known, and to explain, and enforce the terms on which God is willing to be reconciled to men. They are not to negotiate on any new terms, nor to change those which God has proposed, nor to follow their own plans or devices; but they are simply to urge, explain, state, and enforce the terms on which God is willing to be reconciled. Of course they are to seek the honour of the Sovereign who has sent them forth, and to seek to do only his will. They go not to promote their own welfare; not to seek honour, dignity, or emolument; but they go to transact the business which the Son of God would engage in were he again personally on the earth. It follows that their office is one of great dignity, and great responsibility, and that respect should be showed them as the ambassadors of the King of kings. As though God did beseech you by us. Our message is to be regarded as the message of God. It is God who speaks. What we say to you is said in his name and on his authority, and should be received with the respect which is due to a message directly from God. The gospel message is God speaking to men through the ministry, and entreating them to be reconciled. This invests the message which, the ministers of religion bear with infinite dignity and solemnity; and it makes it a fearful and awful thing to reject it. We pray you in Christ's stead. υπερχριστου. In the place of Christ; or doing what he did when on earth, and what he would do were he where we are. Be ye reconciled to God. This is the sum and burden of the message which the ministers of the gospel bear to their fellow-men. 2Cor 5:19. It implies that man has something to do in this work. He is to be reconciled to God, he is to give up his opposition, he is to submit to the terms of mercy. All the change in the case is to be in him, for God cannot change. God has removed all the obstacles to reconciliation which existed on his part. He has done all that he will do, all that needed to be done; in order to render reconciliation as easy as possible. And now it remains that man should lay aside his hostility, abandon his sins, embrace the terms of mercy, and become in fact reconciled to God. And the great object of the ministers of reconciliation is to urge this duty on their fellow-men. They are to do it in the name of Christ. They are to do it as if Christ were himself present, and were himself urging the message. They are to use the arguments which he would use; evince the zeal which he would show; and present the motives which he would present, to induce a dying world to become in fact reconciled to God. (b) "ambassadors" Job 33:23, Mal 2:7, Eph 6:20 Note: The notes on this verse are too large for a single file, they are continued on 2Cor 6:1 Verse 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us. The Greek here is, "For him who knew no sin, he hath made sin, or a sin-offering for us." The design of this very i

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ - we beseech you in Christ's stead - Herein the apostle might appear to some "transported beyond himself." In general he uses a more calm, sedate kind of exhortation, as in the beginning of the next chapter. What unparalleled condescension and divinely tender mercies are displayed in this verse! Did the judge ever beseech a condemned criminal to accept of pardon? Does the creditor ever beseech a ruined debtor to receive an acquittance in full? Yet our almighty Lord, and our eternal Judge, not only vouchsafes to offer these blessings, but invites us, entreats us, and, with the most tender importunity, solicits us, not to reject them.

mportant verse is to urge the strongest possible reason for being reconciled to God. This is implied in the word (γαρ) for. Paul might have urged other arguments, and presented other strong considerations; but he chooses to present this fact, that Christ has been made sin for us, as embodying and concentrating all. It is the most affecting of all arguments; it is the one that is likely to prove most effectual. It is not indeed improper to urge on men every other consideration to induce them to be reconciled to God. It is not improper to appeal to them by the conviction of duty; to appeal to their reason and conscience; to remind them of the claims, the power, the goodness, and the fear of the Creator; to remind them of the awful consequences of a continued hostility to God; to persuade them by the hope of heaven, and by the fear of hell, ( 2Cor 5:11 ) to become his friends; but, after all, the strongest argument, and that which is most adapted to melt the soul, is, the fact that the Son of God has become incarnate for our sins, and has suffered and died in our stead. When all other appeals fail, this is effectual; and this is in fact the strong argument by which the mass of those who become Christians are induced to abandon their opposition, and to become reconciled to God. To be sin. The words "to be" are not in the original. Literally it is, "he has made him sin, or a sin-offering," (αμαρτιανεποιησεν.) But what is meant by this? What is the exact idea which the apostle intended to convey? I answer--It cannot be (1.) that he was literally sin in the abstract, or sin as such. No one can pretend this. The expression must be therefore, in some sense, figurative. Nor (2.) can it mean that he was a sinner, for it is said in immediate connexion that he "knew no sin," and it is everywhere said that he was holy, harmless, undefiled. Nor (3.) can it mean that lie was, in any proper sense of the word, guilty, for no one is truly guilty who is not personally a transgressor of the law; and if he was, in any proper sense, guilty, then he deserved to die, and his death could have no more merit than that of any other guilty being; and if he was properly guilty, it would make no difference in this respect whether it was by his own fault or by imputation: a guilty being deserves to be punished; and where there is desert of punishment there can be no merit in sufferings. But all such views as go to make the holy Redeemer a sinner, or guilty, or deserving of the sufferings which he endured, border on blasphemy, and are abhorrent to the whole strain of the Scriptures. In no form, in no sense possible, is it to be maintained that the Lord Jesus was sinful or guilty. It is a corner-stone of the whole system of religion, that in all conceivable senses of the expression he was holy, and pure, and the object of the Divine approbation. And every view which fairly leads to the statement that he was in any sense guilty, or which implies that he deserved to die, is prima facie a false view, and should be at once abandoned. But (4.) if the declaration that he was made "sin" (αμαρτιαν) does not mean that he was sin itself, or a sinner, or guilty, then it must mean that he was a sin-offering --an offering or a sacrifice for sin; and this is the interpretation which is now generally adopted by expositors; or it must be taken as an abstract for the concrete, and mean that God treated him as if he were a sinner. The former interpretation, that it means that God made him a sin-offering, is adopted by Whitby, Doddridge, Macknight, Rosenmuller, and others; the latter, that it means that God treated him as a sinner, is adopted by Vorstius, Schoettgen, Robinson, (Lex.,) Bishop Bull, and others. There are many passages in the Old Testament where the word "sin" (αμαρτιαν) is used in the sense of sin-offering, or a sacrifice for sin. Thus, Hoss 4:8. "They eat up the sin of, my people;" i.e., the sin-offerings. See Eze 43:22,25, 44:29, 45:22,23,25. See Whitby's Notes on this verse. But whichever meaning is adopted, whether it means that he was a sacrifice for sin, or that God treated him as if he were a sinner, i.e., subjected him to sufferings which, if he had been personally a sinner, would have been a proper expression of his hatred of transgression, and a proper punishment for sin, in either case it means that he made an atonement; that he died for sin; that his death was not merely that of a martyr; but that it was designed by substituted sufferings to make reconciliation between man and God. Locke renders this, probably expressing the. true sense, "For God hath made him subject to suffering and death, the punishment and consequence of sin, as if he had been a sinner, though he were guilty of no sin." To me it seems probable that the sense is, that God treated him as if he had been a sinner; that he subjected him to such pains and woes as would have been a proper punishment if he had been guilty; that while he was, in fact, in all senses perfectly innocent, and while God knew this, yet that in consequence of the voluntary assumption of the place of man which the Lord Jesus took, it pleased the Father to lay on him the deep sorrows which would be the proper expression of his sense of the evil of sin; that he endured so much suffering, as would answer the same great ends in maintaining the truth, and honour, and justice of God, as if the guilty had themselves endured the penalty of the law. This, I suppose, is what is usually meant when it is said "our sins were imputed to him;" and though this language is not used in the Bible, and though it is liable to great misapprehension and perversion, yet if this is its meaning, there can be no objection to it. Who knew no sin. He was not guilty. He was perfectly holy and pure. This idea is thus expressed by Peter, ( 1Pet 2:22;) "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth;" and in Heb 7:26, it is said, he was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." In all respects, and in all conceivable senses, the Lord Jesus was pure and holy. If he had not been, he would not have been qualified to make an atonement. Hence the sacred writers are everywhere at great pains to keep this idea prominent, for on this depends the whole superstructure of the plan of salvation. The phrase "knew no sin" is an expression of great beauty and dignity. It indicates his entire and perfect purity. He was altogether unacquainted with sin; he was a stranger to transgression; he was conscious of no sin; he committed none. He had a mind and heart perfectly free from pollution, and his whole life was perfectly pure and holy in the sight of God. That we might be made the righteousness of God. This is a Hebraism, meaning the same as divinely righteous. It means that we are made righteous in the sight of God; that is, that we are accepted as righteous, and treated as righteous by God on account of what the Lord Jesus has done. There is here an evident and beautiful contrast between what is said of Christ, and what is said of us. He was made sin --we are made righteousness; that is, he was treated as if he were a sinner, though he was perfectly holy and pure--we are treated as if we were righteous, though we are defiled and depraved. The idea is, that on account of what the Lord Jesus has endured in our behalf we are treated as if we had ourselves entirely fulfilled the law of God, and had never become exposed to its penalty. In the phrase" righteousness of God " there is a reference to the fact that this is his plan of making men righteous, or of justifying them. They who thus become righteous, or are justified, are justified on his plan, and by a scheme which he has devised. Locke renders this, "that we, in and by him, might be made righteous, by a righteousness imputed to us by God." The idea is, that all our righteousness in the sight of God we receive in and through a Redeemer. All is to be traced to him. This verse contains a beautiful epitome of the whole plan of salvation, and the peculiarity of the Christian scheme. On the one hand, one who was perfectly innocent, by a voluntary substitution, is treated AS IF he were guilty; that is, is subjected to pains and sorrows which, if he were guilty, would be a proper punishment for sin: and on the other, they who are guilty, and who deserve to be punished, are treated, through his vicarious sufferings, as if they were perfectly innocent; that is, in a manner which would be a proper expression of God's approbation if they had not sinned. The whole plan, therefore, is one of substitution; and without such substitution there can be no salvation. Innocence voluntarily suffers for guilt, and the guilty are thus made pure and holy, and are saved. The greatness of the Divine compassion and love is thus shown for the guilty; and on the ground of this it is right and proper for God to call on men to be reconciled to him. It is the strongest argument that can be used. When God has given his only Son to the bitter suffering of death on the cross in order that we may be reconciled, it is the highest possible argument which can be used why we should cease our opposition to him, and become his friends. (c) "he hath made" Isa 53:6,9,12, Gal 3:13, 1Pet 2:22,24 (d) "the righteousness of God" Rom 5:19 REMARKS on 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5 (1.) It is possible for Christians to have the assurance that they shall enter into heaven, 2Cor 5:1. Paul said that he knew this; John knew this, ( 2Cor 5:1;) and there is no reason why others should not know it. If a man hates sin, he may know that as well as anything else; if he loves God, why should he not know that as well as to know that he loves an earthly friend? If he desires to be holy, to enter heaven, to be eternally pure, why should he have any doubt about that? If he loves to pray, to read the Bible, to converse of heaven--if his heart is truly in these things, he may know it, as well as know anything else about his own character or feelings. (2.) If a Christian may know it, he should know it. No other knowledge is so desirable as this. Nothing will produce so much comfort as this. Nothing will contribute so much to make him firm, decided, and consistent in his Christian walk as this. No other knowledge will give him so much support in temptation; so much comfort in trial; so much peace in death. And if a man is a Christian, he should give himself no rest till he obtains assurance on this subject; if he is not a Christian, he cannot know that too soon, or take too early measures to flee from the wrath to come. (3.) The body will soon be dissolved in death, 2Cor 5:1. It is a frail, crumbling, decaying dwelling, that must soon be taken down. It has none of the properties of a permanent abode. It can be held together but a little time. It is like a hut or cottage that is shaken by every gust of wind; like a tent when the pins are loose, and the cords unstranded, or rotten, and when the wind will soon sweep it away. And since this is the fact, we may as well know it, and not attempt to conceal it from the mind. All truth may be looked at calmly, and should be; and a man who is residing in a frail and shattered dwelling should be looking out far one that is more permanent and substantial. Death should be looked at. The fact that this tabernacle shall be taken down should be looked at; and every man should be asking with deep interest the question, whether there is not a more permanent dwelling for him in a better world. (4.) This life is burdened, and is full of cares, 2Cor 5:2,4. It is such as is fitted to make us desire a better state. We groan here under sin, amidst temptation, encompassed by the cares and toils of life. We are burdened with duties, and we are oppressed by trials; and under all we are sinking to the grave. Soon, under the accumulated burdens, the body will be crushed, and sink back to the dust. Man cannot endure the burden long, and he must soon die. These accumulated trials and cares are such as are adapted to make him desire a better inheritance, and to look forward to a better world. God designs that this shall be a world of care and anxiety, in order that we may be led to seek a better portion beyond the grave. (5.) The Christian has a permanent home in heaven, 2Cor 5:1,2,4. There is a house not made with hands; an eternal home; a world where mortality is unknown. There is his home; that is his eternal dwelling. Here he is a stranger, among strangers, in a strange world. In heaven is his home. The body here may be sick, feeble, dying; there it shall be vigorous, strong, immortal. He may have no comfortable dwelling here; he may be poor and afflicted; there he shall have an undecaying dwelling, an unchanging home. Who in a world like this should not desire to be a Christian? What other condition of life is so desirable as that of the man who is sure that after a few more days he shall be admitted to an eternal home in heaven, where the body never dies, and where sin and sorrow are known no more? (6.) The Christian should be willing to bear all the pain and sorrow which God shall appoint, 2Cor 5:1-4. Why should he not? He knows not only that God is good in all this; but he knows that it is but for a moment; that he is advancing toward heaven, and that he will soon be at home. Compared with that eternal rest, what trifles are all the sufferings' of this mortal life! (7.) We should not desire to die merely to get rid of pain, or to be absent from the body, 2Cor 5:4. It is not merely in order that we may be "unclothed," or that we may get away from a suffering body, that we should be willing to die. Many a sinner suffers so much here that he is willing to plunge into an awful eternity, as he supposes, to get rid of pain, when, alas! he plunges only into deeper and eternal woe. We should be willing to bear as much pain, and to bear it as long as God shall be pleased to appoint. We should submit to all without a murmur. We should submit to all without a murmur. We should be anxious to be relieved only when God shall judge it best for us to be away from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (8.) In a mere readiness to die there is no evidence that we are prepared for heaven. Comp. 2Cor 5:4. Many a man supposes that because he is ready to die, that therefore he is prepared. Many a one takes comfort because a dying friend was ready and willing to die. But in a mere willingness to die there is no evidence of a preparation for death, because a hundred causes may conspire to produce this besides piety. And let us not be deceived by supposing that because we have no alarm about death, and are willing to go to another world, that therefore we are prepared. It may be either stupidity, or insensibility; it may be a mere desire to get rid of suffering; it may be because we are cherishing a hope of heaven which is altogether vain and illusive. (9.) The Christian should and may desire to depart, and to be in heaven, 2Cor 5:2. Heaven is his home; and it is his privilege to desire to be there. Here he is in a world of trial and of sin. There he shall be in a world of joy and of holiness. Here he dwells in a frail, suffering, decaying body. There he shall be clothed with immortality. It is his privilege, therefore, to desire, as soon as it shall be the will of God, to depart, and to enter on his eternal inheritance in heaven. He should have a strong, fixed, firm desire for that world; and should be ready at the shortest notice to go and to be for ever with the Lord. (10.) The hopes and joys of Christians, and all their peace and calmness in the prospect of death, are to be traced to God, 2Cor 5:5. It is not that they are not naturally as timid and fearful of dying as others; it is not that they have any native courage or strength; but it is to be traced entirely to the mercy of God, and the influence of his Spirit, that they are enabled to look calmly at death, at the grave, at eternity. With the assured prospect of heaven, they have nothing to fear in dying; and if we have the "earnest of the Spirit"-- the pledge that heaven is ours--we have nothing to fear in the departure from this world. (11.) The Christian should be, and may be, always cheerful, 2Cor 5:6. Paul said that he was always confident, or cheerful. Afflictions did not depress him; trials did not cast him down. He was not disheartened by opposition; he did not lose his courage by being reviled and persecuted. In all this he was cheerful and bold. There is nothing in religion to make us melancholy and sad. The assurance of the favour of God, and the hope of heaven, should have, and will have, just the opposite effect. A sense of the presence of God, a conviction that we are sinners, a deep impression of the truth that we are to die, and of the infinite interest of the soul at stake, will indeed make us serious and solemn, and should do so. But this is not inconsistent with cheerfulness, but is rather fitted to produce it. It is favourable to a state of mind where all irritability is suppressed, and where the mind is made calm and settled; and this is favourable to cheerfulness. Besides, there is much, very much in religion to prevent sadness, and to remove gloom from the soul. The hope of heaven, and the prospect of dwelling with God and with holy beings for ever, is the best means of expelling the gloom which is caused by the disappointments and cares of the world. And much as many persons suppose that religion creates gloom, it is certain that nothing in this world has done so much to lighten care, to break the force of misfortune and disappointment, to support in times of trial, and to save from despair, as the religion of the Redeemer. And it is moreover certain, that there are no persons so habitually calm in their feelings, and cheerful in their tempers, as consistent and devoted Christians. If there are some Christians, like David Brainerd, who are melancholy and sad, as there are undoubtedly, it should be said, 1st: that they are few in number; 2nd: that their gloom is to be traced to constitutional propensity, and not to religion; 3rd: that they have, even with all their gloom, joys which the world never experiences, and which can never be found in sin; and, 4th: that their gloom is not produced by religion, but by the want of more of it. (12.) It is noble to act with reference to things unseen and eternal, 2Cor 5:7. It elevates the soul; lifts it above the earth; purifies the heart; and gives to man a new dignity. It prevents all the grovelling effect of acting from a view of present objects, and with reference to the things which are just around us. "Whatever withdraws us," says Dr. Johnson, "from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings."-- Tour to the Hebrides, p. 322, ed. Phil. 1810. Whatever directs the eye and the heart to heaven; whatever may make man feel and believe that there is a God, a Saviour, a heaven, a world of glory, elevates him with the consciousness of his immortality, and raises him above the grovelling objects that wither and debase the soul. Man should act with reference to eternity. He should be conscious of immortality. He should be deeply impressed with that high honour that awaits him of standing before God. He should feel that he may partake in the glories of the resurrection; that he may inherit an eternal heaven. Feeling thus, what trifles are the things of the earth! How little should he be moved by its trials! How little should he be influenced by its wealth, its pleasures, and its honours! (13.) The Christian, when he leaves the body, is at once with the Lord Jesus, 2Cor 5:8. He rushes, as it were instinctively, to his presence, and casts himself at his feet. He has no other home than where the Saviour is; he thinks of no future joy or glory but that which is to be enjoyed with him. Why, then, should we fear death! Lay out of view, as we may, the momentary pang, the chilliness, and the darkness of the grave, and think of that which will be the moment after death--the view of the Redeemer, the sight of the splendours of the heavenly world, the angels, the spirits of the just made perfect, the river of the paradise of God, and the harps of praise--and what has man to fear in the prospect of dying! Why should I shrink at pain or woe, Or feel at death dismay? I've Canaan's goodly land in view, And realms of endless day. Apostles, martyrs, prophets there, Around my Saviour stand; And soon my friends in Christ below Will join the glorious band. Jerusalem, my happy home! My soul still pants for thee; When shall my labours have an end In joy, and peace, and thee! C. Wesley The notes on this verse are continued on 2Cor 6:1

He made him a sin offering, who knew no sin - A commendation peculiar to Christ. For us - Who knew no righteousness, who were inwardly and outwardly nothing but sin; who must have been consumed by the divine justice, had not this atonement been made for our sins. That we might be made the righteousness of God through him - Might through him be invested wi th that righteousness, first imputed to us, then implanted in us, which is in every sense the righteousness of God.