Understanding 2 Corinthians 5 in Paul's Epistles
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul writes to the Corinthians to comfort and defend his apostleship, urging them to continue their participation. He unfolds his ministry's perspective amidst conflicts and fears, emphasizing real success in ministry. Amid suffering, Paul points to the hope of resurrection and the eternal glory beyond earthly troubles.
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2 Corinthians 5 Mastering the Scriptures Paul s Early Epistles
Mastering the Scriptures Major series: Mastering the Scriptures o Completed: From Jesus to the Gospels o Matthew o Mark o Luke o John o Paul s epistles Paul s early letters Corinthians 2 Corinthians
2 Co 5.1-21 Context of Book Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians to comfort them and to defend his apostleship among them, so they would continue their participation with him, in his sphere of authority.
2 Co 5.1-21 Context of Book Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians to comfort them and to defend his apostleship among them, so they would continue their participation with him, in his sphere of authority.
2 Co 5.1-21 Context of Section Paul unfolds his perspective of ministry in the context of all his external conflicts and internal fears, which will enable us to see clearly what real success in ministry is. Extensive defense of his ministry over against a merely human point of view o Note: we, us, and our in 2 Co 5.1-21 refer primarily to Paul and his team
2 Co 5.1-21 Immediate Context Paul describes his suffering in ministry Points to the hope that the God who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us with Jesus and present us with you (4.14) For this reason we don t lose heart. Even if our outer humanity is decaying, our inner humanity is being renewed day by day. This slight momentary trouble of ours is working to produce a weight of glory, passing and surpassing everything, lasting forever; for we don t look at the things that can be seen, but at the things that can t be seen. After all, the things you can see are here today and gone tomorrow; but the things you can t see are everlasting. (4.16-18)
2 Co 5.1-21 For we know that if our earthly house, our present tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house no human hands have built; it is everlasting, in the heavenly places. At the present moment, you see, we are groaning, as we long to put on our heavenly building, in the belief that by putting it on we won t turn out to be naked. Yes: in the present tent, we groan under a great weight. But we don t want to put it off; we want to put on something else on top, so that what is doomed to die may be swallowed up with life. It is God who has been at work in us to do this, the God who has given us the spirit as the first installment and guarantee. So we are always confident: we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live our lives by faith, you
2 Co 5.1-21 see, not by sight. We are confident, and we would much prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we work hard, as a point of honor, to please him, whether we are at home or away. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each may receive what has been done through the body, whether good or bad. So we know the fear of the Lord; and that s why we are persuading people but we are open to God, and open as well, I hope, to your consciences. We aren t trying to recommend ourselves again! We are giving you a chance to be proud of us, to have something to say to those who take pride in appearances rather than
2 Co 5.1-21 in people s hearts. If we are beside ourselves, you see, it s for God; and if we are in our right mind, it s for you. For the Messiah s love makes us press on. We have come to the conviction that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all in order that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised on their behalf. From this moment on, therefore, we don t regard anybody from a merely human point of view. Even if we once regarded the Messiah that way, we don t do so any longer. Thus, if anyone is in the Messiah, there is a new creation! Old things have gone, and look everything has become new!
2 Co 5.1-21 It all comes from God. He reconciled us to himself through the Messiah, and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. This is how it came about: God was reconciling the world to himself in the Messiah, not counting their transgressions against them, and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors, speaking on behalf of the Messiah, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore people on the Messiah s behalf to be reconciled to God. The Messiah did not know sin, but God made him to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might embody God s faithfulness to the covenant.
Discuss Keeping in mind that us, we, and our refer primarily to Paul and his team, where do you see Paul defending his apostleship and ministry? On what grounds does Paul defend his apostleship? What does it mean to regard someone from a merely human point of view?
2 Co 5.1-21 The basic problem: a merely human point of view o 10.10: I know what they say: His letters are serious and powerful, but when he arrives in person he is weak, and his words aren t worth bothering about. o 12.1: I just have to boast ... I ll go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. o 12.10: I m delighted when I m weak, insulted, in difficulties, persecuted, and facing disasters, for the Messiah s sake. o 12.13: In what way have you been worse off then all the other churches, except in the fact that I myself didn t become a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice! o 12.21-23: Whatever anyone else dares to boast about I ll boast as well. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
2 Co 5.1-21 The super apostles had a merely human point of view They were Hellenized Jews who: o Put stock in flashy rhetoric and personal presentation o Emphasized spectacular spiritual gifts o Were skeptical of suffering o Took support from the Corinthians o Emphasized their Jewish pedigree [ ] Merely human point of view distorted vision
2 Co 5.1-21 The remedy: gospel thinking o 2 Co 5.1-21 resonates powerfully with 1 Co 15 Jeff: [1 Co 15] makes the gospel he proclaimed to them clear by stating it in the traditional formulaic form. McKnight: [1 Co 15] is the apostolic gospel tradition. (The King Jesus Gospel, 46) o 5.1-5 (earthly vs. heavenly dwelling): resurrection body, 1 Co 15.35-58 o 5.10 (judgment seat): 1 Co 15.24-28 (as well as 1 Co 3.10-15) o 5.13-15 ( he died for all in order that those who live should live no longer for themselves ): 1 Co 15.3-4, 21-22 [ ] o 5.18-21 (ministry of reconciliation): 1 Co 15.3
2 Co 5.1-21 He is still appealing to them to see the world with the new eyes of the gospel, instead of expecting everything, particularly his own style of apostleship, to conform to the fashions and customs of the world they were used to. The old world was a merely human world. Paul uses one of his favourite phrases for this, which literally means according to the flesh ; but he doesn t mean flesh as in physical body . He means flesh as in old, corruptible, passing away . A new world has come about, through the death of Jesus in the flesh in that sense, and the resurrection of Jesus in a new body, gloriously physical but not corruptible. (Wright, Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians, 64)
2 Co 5.1-21 We will be given new bodies like Christ s when our old one is destroyed, and we will appear before Christ in the future to give an account of our ministry as ambassadors for Christ; therefore, we need to press on in our ministry recognizing that we are new creations in process and see all believers though this lens. o 2 Co 3.18: all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another o 2 Co 4.16: Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
2 Co 5.1-21 We will be given new bodies like Christ s when our old one is destroyed, and we will appear before Christ in the future to give an account of our ministry as ambassadors for Christ; therefore, we need to press on in our ministry recognizing that we are new creations in process and see all believers though this lens.
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Discuss Why was Paul worried that the Corinthians would use a merely human point of view when they thought about him? What would have been wrong with that? What merely human points of view do you observe Christians taking on? Which do you have to struggle against? How might our thinking shift if we use gospel thinking, rather than the merely human point of view?
