1
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2
Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
3
because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
4
For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7
We live by faith, not by sight.
8
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christnotes.org)
"Chapter Contents
The apostle's hope and desire of heavenly glory. (1-8) This excited
to diligence. The reasons of his being affected with zeal for the
Corinthians. (9-15) The necessity of regeneration, and of reconciliation
with God through Christ. (16-21)
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is another
and a happy life after this is ended, but he has good hope, through
grace, of heaven as a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place.
In our Father's house there are many mansions, whose Builder and Maker
is God. The happiness of the future state is what God has prepared for
those that love him: everlasting habitations, not like the earthly
tabernacles, the poor cottages of clay, in which our souls now dwell;
that are mouldering and decaying, whose foundations are in the dust. The
body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are a heavy
load. But believers groan, being burdened with a body of sin, and
because of the many corruptions remaining and raging within them. Death
will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and all the comforts of life, as
well as end all our troubles here below. But believing souls shall be
clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness and glory.
The present graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of
everlasting grace and comfort. 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.
Faith is for this world, and sight is for the other world. It is our
duty, and it will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we live by
sight. This shows clearly the happiness to be enjoyed by the souls of
believers when absent from the body, and where Jesus makes known his
glorious presence. We are related to the body and to the Lord; each
claims a part in us. But how much more powerfully the Lord pleads for
having the soul of the believer closely united with himself! Thou art
one of the souls I have loved and chosen; one of those given to me. What
is death, as an object of fear, compared with being absent from the
Lord!"
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