CHAPTIER 5 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER i. The Apostle goes on to remind the Corinthians of the glories of heaven, saying that in exile here and in the tabernacle of the flesh he longs for them, and wishes to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. II. He shows (ver. 9) that it is his endea... [ Continue Reading ]
_For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven._ That is, (1.) we long to be free, as the Syriac takes it, from the earthly house of our natural body, and receive the heavenly home of our glorified body. (2.) But a better meaning is: We groan because... [ Continue Reading ]
_For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened._ Being burdened, as the Syriac takes it, through the weight and load of the body. Yet we may say with S. Gregory Nazianzen: "Take from me, 0 Lord, this heavy robe" (this earthly, burdensome, and troublesome body), "but give me another, on... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God._ He that wrought, perfected, and formed us, _i.e._, (1.) He that created us for this eternal life of bliss, is God. (2.) He who by His eternal decree prepared and predestinated us for this same bliss, is God. (3.) Best of all, He who by Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_For we walk by faith, not by sight._ For we do not yet behold the nature and beauty of God face to face. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, and Œcumenius. Therefore they are wrong, whoever they be, that say that the Blessed see God, not directly in His Essence, but by means of some appearance w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Willing rather to be absent from the body_. "Having a good will" (the Latin version); "greatly desiring" (the Syriac); "wishing with all our heart" (Chrysostom). We choose rather to be absent from the body, that we may come to appear before the presence of God and enjoy the sight of His countenance... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore we labour._ We vie with each other in our zeal, our ministry, our endeavours to please God; we strive not to be surpassed by any one in this contest _Whether present or absent._ These are mutually opposed. If we are absent from God we are present with the body, and _vice versâ_. We shoul... [ Continue Reading ]
_For we must all appear._ The particle _for_ gives the reason of what has just been said. We strive to please the Lord in all our works, in order that, at the tribunal of Christ, before which we all must stand, we may be gifted with a glorious body, and with the blissful presence of God and the Beat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord._ Knowing what I have just said of Christ's judgment-seat, when each will receive the reward of his deeds; or, knowing that the Lord is to be feared as a Judge and Avenger, we therefore persuade men to fear Him also. _Fear_ has a twofold meaning (1.) active... [ Continue Reading ]
_For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause._ The Greek verb translated _beside ourselves_ denotes a rapt state, when the mind is carried out of itself, whether by some strong influence of nature, of disease, of melancholy, or of apprehension of ne... [ Continue Reading ]
_And that He died for all_, &c. We judge also that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live for their own glory, or pleasure, or their desires, but for Christ, who by right of redemption has made us His servants; and as a servant does not labour and live for himself but for h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh._ Because the love of Christ for us is so great, and constrains us, therefore we regard carnal things, that is things external and temporal, such as fame, health, friendships, kindred, of no account out of Christ. So Chrysostom takes _no one_ to s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature._ If any one is with me regenerate in Christ, and recreated and changed, as it were, into a new creature, even as I am not what I was, Saul being changed into Paul, then the old rites of Judaism, the old former affections and judgments, such a... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all things are of God._ All these new things were created and given by the gift and grace of God, _who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation_, in order that through our preaching we may persuade men to repent and receive the faith of... [ Continue Reading ]
_God was in Christ. I.e_., as the Son by oneness of Essence. So Ambrose and Primasius. Hence S. Ambrose (_de Fide ad Gratian_, lib. iii. c. 5) says that God, _i.e._, everlasting Divinity, was in Christ, and Christ reconciled the world because He was God. Secondly, and better: "God was in Christ," _i... [ Continue Reading ]
_We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God._ As Christ's ambassadors, even as if Christ were entreating you by us, we implore you to give up your wills to be reconciled to God. See what diligence, what energy, what zeal the Apostle displays in his endeavours to convert the Corinthians.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Him who knew no sin._ Experimentally, says S. Thomas, Christ knew no sin, though by simple knowledge He did, for He did no sin. _Hath made Him to be sin for us._ For us, says Illyricus, who were sin; because, he says, sin is the substance and form of our soul. But to say this of ourselves is folly,... [ Continue Reading ]