2 Corinthians 5:1

οἴδαμεν γάρ. The connexion with what precedes is shown by the γάρ and by community of subject. He is sure that temporary affliction works out an eternal weight of glory; for we know that if our earthly house of the tabernacle were taken down. Whatever doubts may have been raised on the subject, Christian ministers (or all Christians; comp. οἱ ὅντες in 2 Corinthians 5:4) know (2 Corinthians 4:14; comp. Romans 8:28) that the dissolution of the body means, not annihilation, but translation to a higher state of existence: comp. 1 John 3:2; 1 John 3:14. This knowledge comes from revelation. Philosophy and science can do no more than guess. The Vulgate has domus nostra hujus habitationis, and in 2 Corinthians 5:4 in hoc tabernaculo, where hujus and hoc represent the article. In the Epistles (not Gospels) hic mundus frequently represents ὁ κόσμος (Romans 3:6; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 4:3; 1 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 14:10; &c.).

οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους. Tent-dwelling, or tabernacle-house; a home that is only a tent. Seeing that neither houses nor tents are ‘dissolved,’ while both are ‘taken down,’ the latter is a better rendering of καταλύθῃ (Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2), which is the exact opposite of ‘build up’ (Galatians 2:18; Matthew 26:61; Matthew 27:40), and generally implies total destruction. Our earthly tent-dwelling will be taken down at our death. Lightfoot (on τὸ� in Philippians 1:23) remarks “that the camp-life of the Israelites in the wilderness, as commemorated by the annual feast of tabernacles, was a ready and appropriate symbol of man’s transitory life on earth.” The metaphor may have been suggested to S. Paul by his work as a σκηνοποιός (Acts 18:3), but it is common in literature, and he uses it nowhere else. Comp. Wis 9:15, which is rather close to this passage (see on 2 Corinthians 10:5), and 2 Peter 1:13-14; Isaiah 38:12. Field thinks that “the depreciatory term σκῆνος for the human body is borrowed from the Pythagorean philosophy.” Clement of Alexandria says that Plato called man’s body an earthy (not earthly) tabernacle, γήινον σκῆνος (Strom. v. xiv. p. 703 ed. Potter). The idea of man’s body being a tent fits in well with that of his life being a pilgrimage, and also with the idea that here we are only sojourners (1 Peter 2:11).

οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἔχομεν. We have a building from God, given by Him. The body also is His gift (1 Corinthians 12:18; 1 Corinthians 12:24), but man has a share in the production of it. The spiritual edifice is in a peculiar sense God’s creation: and οἰκοδομή implies something more permanent than a σκῆνος (Matthew 24:1; Mark 13:1; Ephesians 2:21). The word is a later form of οἱκοδόμημα: see Lightfoot on 1 Corinthians 3:9. The present tense (ἕχομεν) is used of what is absolutely certain: as soon as the tent-dwelling is taken down, a much better edifice is there. But we need not suppose that S. Paul thinks of the better edifice as already existing in heaven. It comes ἑκ θεοῦ and ἐξ οὐρανοῦ directly it is required. Till then it is only a possibility.

οἰκίαν�. The contrast is with the tent-dwelling, rather than with the body which it represents; for the body is not made with hands. But ἀχειροποίητος came to mean ‘immaterial, spiritual.’ Christ uses it of His own risen body (Mark 14:58), and S. Paul of the circumcision of the heart (Colossians 2:11, where see Lightfoot’s note). In the LXX. χειροποίητος is always used of objects connected with idolatry (Leviticus 26:1; Leviticus 26:30; Isaiah 2:18; Isaiah 10:11; Isaiah 16:12; Isaiah 19:1; Daniel 5:4; Daniel 5:23; Daniel 6:26); and therefore ἀχειροποίητος would come to mean ‘free from pollution, pure.’ Comp. Acts 7:47, and see Lightfoot on Colossians 2:11. This spiritual home is among τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα (2 Corinthians 4:18). Note the balanced contrast, as in 2 Corinthians 4:17. The present body is (1) earthly, (2) a tent-dwelling. The future body is (1) from God, in the heavens, (2) not made with hands, eternal. The R.V. rightly places a comma between ‘eternal’ and ‘in the heavens,’ for ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς belongs to ἔχομεν.