2 Corinthians 5- 1 thru 10 -Corps-28
Publication Date: April 27, 1983
Walter J. Cummins graduated from the Power for Abundant Class in 1962.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Ohio State University in 1968 and his Master of Education degree in Secondary School Administration in 1978 from Wright State University.
He was ordained to the Christian by The Way International in 1968. He has studied at The Way International under Victor Paul Wierwille and K.C.Pillai. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he was director of the Research department of the Way International and served as assistant to the president.
April 27, 1983
Twenty-ninth Corps Night
"The Traveler" Section
UII Cor. 5:1
"tabernacle," - In Aramaic, literally means body. The Greek word means tent, or
tabernacle, however, it can also mean body. This word was used as the physical body in
profane literature as well as Biblical.
There is another Greek word used when referring to the physical body and that word is not
used here. Reason is - It is dwelling on the transitoriness or the temporariness of the body.
That it is not an eternal body but temporal — like a tent? A tent is only a temporary
dwelling place - it is not permanent like a house.
Tabernacle is used of the physical body. Temple is used of the body of Christ; never of the
physical body.
"were dissolved," - both the Aramaic and Greek word have the idea of loosing, to loose, to
release, to disunite. Also, used to put someone up or to lodge them for the night. When a
traveler traveled around the east and it became evening, he would untie, loosen his
garments, that is why this term began to be used of a traveler.
Luke 9:12 - "lodge," = loosen up is literal.
Luke 19:7 - "be guest," - same word.
UII Cor. 5:2.
"clothing," - that is what the traveler loosened up.
UII Cor. 5:3, 4
We were looking forward to the return of Christ when we get a new set of garments.
UII Cor. 5:1
It is talking here about the tabernacle being loosened, not the clothes, or the person lodging
at night, but the tent or the tabernacle. If you were to loosen up a tabernacle or tent you
would do it at the end (i.e. after the Rock of Ages, not before.) It is loosened up and you
don't have it all together anymore. That is how this word is used here. You pull up the
stakes and loosen the tent.
"not made with hands," = not hand made. The hand in the East was indicative of power or
ownership or of the works of man as opposed to God's works. To say something is hand
made means it is not God made.
II Cor. 5:1 Literal according to usage:
For we know that if our earthly house, our tabernacle [mortal body] is unloosed and
taken down, we will have, not a man made house, but an eternal and heavenly building
from God.
UII Cor. 5:2
"in this," - what? This body, this temporary dwelling place.
We are not going to groan in our new body. We groan today.
"groan," - used of groaning as in the sense of anticipation, hope. You groan because you
don't have it yet. Like in the hospital, in traction, you can stay in one position, and one
position only and you sorta groaningly anticipate for the day you can move. You do not
necessarily groan out loud, but it is that inner aching of the heart. When a man goes away
to war, the wife sorta groans within herself longing for the day when he will come back. It
is an inside longing for something, an aching of the heart.
"earnestly desiring," = it is more than a wish - or a simple desire, but a longing for, a fond
desire for. The Greek term used here was used in Classical Greek as one who longed for
an absent lover. It is a desire of the heart more so than of the mind.
II Cor. 5:2 Literal according to usage:
For while we are in this mortal body, we groan with an inner aching in anticipation,
earnestly desiring to be completely clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
"being clothed," = is the hope of all believers and the end of this administration. At no
time will the believer be naked in the sense like some thought at Corinth. The word,
"naked," was commonly used among the Greeks of spirits that did not have any bodies.
Like when you die your spirit still floats around. However, that is not Biblical. Because
when you die you are dead. Naked here means you are dead. You do not have a body, you
do not have clothing, you do not have a dwelling place, neither" a tent nor a permanent
dwelling place. So, it means dead, in contrast the dismembered spirits that the Greek
world believed in.
"being clothed," in this verse is interesting because some texts read "being unclothed."
That is just the opposite. Evidently, they were looking at naked in the sense of you die, and
you are naked because your spirit is floating around but you are unclothed. This was an
early forgery that crept into the text.
Phil. 3:20,21 - When Christ returns we are going to get a new body. Until that time you
are not some dismembered spirit floating around someplace trying to help someone out.
Your are dead! But when Christ returns then we will get a new body fashioned like to his
glorious body.
UII Cor. 5:3
He does not dwell on this point here because he just wrote I Corinthians a few months
earlier and he is assuming they read I Corinthians to really understand what it is all about.
I Cor. 15:52-55 - they know this already (too bad we have theologians who don't know
I Corinthians before they start wrongly dividing II Corinthians.)
II Cor. 5:3 Literal according to usage:
(Since, when we shall be clothed, we shall not be found naked, [dead without a body.])
UII Cor. 5:4
"groan," - inner aching of anticipation of what is to come.
If you were living in a tent year-round, you would start to crave that permanent dwelling
place.
"burdened," - were burdened with Romans 7:24. It is not that we want to be unclothed.
Cause when you are unclothed you don't have a tent or a permanent dwelling place. You
have nothing. We do not want to die, but we want Christ's return and our new body. If
you die before Christ returns, you are unclothed, you are naked, you are dead. But when
Christ returns, you get a new body, a new permanent dwelling place; incorruptible,
immortal.
"swallowed up," = totally consumed.
"life," = the resurrected life. (I Cor. 15:54.)
II Cor. 5:4 Literal according to usage:
For we that are in the tabernacle [mortal body] groan with an inner aching in
anticipation, being oppressed [by our mortal body,] not because we desire to be
unclothed [in death,] but to be clothed [with a new body,] that mortality may be
swallowed up and consumed by the resurrected life.
UII Cor. 5:5
"wrought," = to prepare, both in Greek and Aramaic Literally; it is to prepare someone for
something.
Here the "something," is "the selfsame thing," What's "the selfsame thing?" What has God
prepared us for? New bodies! We do not have that new body now, but God has given us
the earnest, the token the down payment of that which we are going to get. Eph. 1:14 and
II Cor. 1:22.
"spirit," = new birth and in manifestation (Usage 2a and 5)
II Cor. 5:5 Literal according to usage
Now He who has prepared us for this very same thing [the new body] is God, who has
given us the token, that is, the spirit,
UII Cor. 5:6
Talks about being home in the body and absent from the Lord. Verse 8, absent from body
and present or home with the Lord. Figure of Speech, UantimetaboleU, repetition of a pair of
words in reverse order, in order to contrast their condition. (Vs. 9)
UII Cor. 5:7
Is a parenthesis so it will not affect the structure of Verses 6 & 8. "faith," = believing. This
should remind you of I Cor. 4:18.
UII Cor. 5:6 & 8
"at home," = in Greek, the word is used of being among one's own people, not in a foreign
country.
"to be absent," = is just the opposite, is to be away from home in a foreign country.
I Th. 4:17 - "with," - next to, to be with him physically.
UII Cor. 5:8
"with," = pros, to be together with yet distinctly independent of. John 14:2, - many
mansions. To be at home with, live, lodge, does not mean you live in the same room,
cause there are many rooms in our Father's house, but we are still with Him.
Covered in UAre The Dead Alive NowU? Chapter 4, "Absent from the Body, Present with the
Lord." Read it!
It is not talking about death, but the gathering together.
II Cor. 5:6-8 Literals according to usage:
6. Because we know and are persuaded that while we lodge in the mortal body, we
are traveling abroad away from the Lord's home.
7. (For we walk by believing and not by sight.)
8. Because of this, we are confident and it would please us greatly to depart from the
mortal body and lodge with the Lord [at the gathering together.]
UII Cor. 5:9
You know that you cannot work to be accepted because Ephesians 1:6 says He made us
accepted. This in Greek and Aramaic means well pleasing. You can work to be well
pleasing, but you are already accepted. This word for well pleasing, is used 7 times in the
N.T.:
Romans 12:1 - we are well pleasing as we renew our minds.
Romans 14:18 - well pleasing by serving and waling in love.
Ephesians 5:10 - well pleasing to God by walking in light.
Philippians 4:18 - well pleasing to God as we ABS.
Colossians 3:20 - children are well pleasing to God as they are obedient to their
parents.
Hebrews 13:21 - well pleasing to God as God works in you to do His will.
II Corinthians 5:9 - well pleasing to God as we labor.
Labor is bigger than just work. In Aramaic and Greek it is being diligent.
methchaptin & philotimeomai - philos = brotherly love + timeo = to honor. It is a love of
honor or to consider it an honor.
It has the idea of being diligent or ambitious, to aspire, to be persistent; to really put your
whole heart, soul, mind, and strength into it and at the same time consider it an honor.
You could put everything into a task because you feel obligated to do it. Or you can
consider it an honor. It is your attitude in your work.
II Cor. 5:9 Literal according to usage:
Wherefore, whether we are lodging with Him or not, we are diligent because we
consider it an honor to be well pleasing to Him.
Whether Christ has returned or we are still here, we still have to work and with all
diligence because we consider it an honor!
UII Cor. 5:10
In Aramaic, it says to "stand," rather than "appear." Judgment seat = bēma, the platform for
judging, and in context of Church epistles it has to do with the rewards that are passed out.
It is not the chopping off of heads, but passing out of rewards.
"receive," = in Aramaic it is to receive retribution, or to be rewarded. In the Greek, it has
the idea of recovering what was one's own or to receive payment. This word used of future
rewards here, as well as in Eph. 6:8, Col. 3:25, I Pet. 5:4 and II Pet. 2:13.
He is assuming they have read I Cor. 3:13-15, which says if we do good we are rewarded
for it. But if we do not we do not get rewards - the works are burned yet the man is saved.
"the things in the body," = the body has to be the physical body because of the context.
"hath done," = prassō, (Greek) means to do, practice, perform. There is another Greek
word which means to do - poieō. This dwells on the object of what is done. Prassō,
dwells on the means by which it is done. It dwells on the ethical issues. Does the end
justify the means? We are rewarded not only for what we do, but how we do it. That is
the emphasis.
"bad,," = kakos, in an evil or destructive sense. In some of the mss.. In others its phaulos,
which is evil in an unproductive sense. In other words, there is no payment, no rewards for
it.
phaulos - fits the context the very best.
II Cor. 5:10 Literal according to usage:
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may be
rewarded for the things we have done and how we have done them while we were in
our mortal bodies, whether good works or unproductive, non-rewarding works.
End of Teaching