2 Corinthians 5:1

οἴδαμεν γὰρ κ. τ. λ.: for (in explanation of 2 Corinthians 4:17) we know, sc., we Christians (cf. Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 8:1), that if our earthly (ἐπίγειος as contrasted with ἐπουράνιος; see reff.) tabernacle-house be dissolved, etc. Despite the fact that he was himself a σκηνοποιός (Acts 18:3), this is the only place where St. Paul employs any of the terms correlative to σκηνή. It is natural to think of the temporary character of the σκῆναι used by the Chosen People in the desert wanderings, an idea which is probably present in 2 Peter 1:14, ἡ ἀπόθεσις τοῦ σκηνώματός μου; but the use of σκῆνος as a depreciatory term for the “bodily frame” (R.V. mg.) is borrowed, as Field has shown, from the Pythagorean philosophy. It is the “tenement house,” the “earthen vessel” (see 2 Corinthians 4:7), and is called in Wis 9:15, τὸ γεῶδες σκῆνος. καταλύειν (see reff.) is often used of the “destruction” of a house; and the application of the word “dissolution” for death is probably derived from this passage. οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ κ. τ. λ.: we have (i.e., at the very moment of bodily dissolution, when the Resurrection takes place, according to the Apostle's thought here; see Charles' Eschatology, pp. 395, 400) a building from God, sc., not built up by the natural processes of growth but the direct gift of God, a house not made with hands (this being added to emphasise its “supernatural” character; the σκῆνος of the natural body is also, of course, ἀχειροποίητον, and so the idea is not as fitly in place as at Hebrews 9:11; Hebrews 9:24, but it is suggested by the word οἰκία. It is just possible that his own trade of tent-making may have been in his mind at the moment), eternal, in the heavens. Cf. Luke 16:9, αἰωνίους σκηνάς; as he has just said (2 Corinthians 4:18) τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰωνία. It will be observed that here αἰωνίος is used with the special intention of emphasising the permanent character of the heavenly house, in contrast with the earthly house which is dissolved; it is therefore not accurate to say (as is sometimes said) that αἰωνίος never connotes length of time, although it is true that in St. John it is a “qualitative” rather than a “quantitative” term.