Key Verse:
2 Corinthians 5:1 NKJV
1 For we know that if our earthly [a]house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Even the Tabernacle spoke to us from the wilderness, didn’t it?
Where to begin?
2 Corinthians 1:23 NKJV
23 Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.
2 Corinthians 4:10 NKJV
10 always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Paul is writing to the Church at Corinth a second, or maybe, a third time according to most theologians. After his first letter (1 Corinthians), Paul actually visited the Corinthians in person to follow up on his first letter but, it was such an unpleasant visit that Paul decided not to visit them again, but rather, to write another letter to them. As was previously the case, Paul is writing because of a number of concerns he has concerning the focus and direction of this still young fellowship.
Throughout this epistle, Paul continually identifies with his audience and with Christ, thus connecting his readers, vicariously, with Christ. His hope is that they will note his gentleness toward them, even as they disagree, and follow him toward a clearer understanding of Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection as the central tenet of their faith. In essence, he wants them to become more Christ-centered. Paul’s desire for the young fellowship at Corinth mirrors God’s desire for us today. Let’s get started.
The Lesson
ox·y·mo·ron
/ˌäksəˈmôrˌän/
noun
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).
Tone is important. Because of some remaining contention between himself and some of the believers at Corinth, Paul uses a series of oxymoronic statements in order to gently, but firmly rebuke a mindset within the church that diminished the importance of the suffering of Christ for their sakes. The entire epistle of 2 Corinthians is a loving reminder that the promised glory of eternity far outweighs anything our temporal existence has to offer.
2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
In his first oxymoronic statement, Paul turns the attention of his audience from the outer, carnal man to the inner, new man, to whom they needed to yield. Beloved, I am getting older, and it’s a blessing! Our carnal man is indeed withering away. However, our inner man is getting closer… and closer… to home. Paul is preaching to a youthful audience, one that has no real sense of their own mortality yet. They are not necessarily looking toward Christ’s promise of eternity. No, they would rather experience Heaven on Earth. Paul has to draw them back on course. He has to convince them that eternity has its privileges. God is working on a spiritual plane. His eternal work begins the very moment we receive His Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
Now, in this second oxymoronic figure of speech, Paul points to the affliction he has suffered for preaching the gospel. By his use of the terms ‘our’, and ‘us’, Paul draws his audience into his metron; his sphere of influence, letting them know that they share in his ‘light affliction’ just by their association with them. Have they suffered as he has? Probably not. But Paul draws them to him by expressing to them that his suffering was for their sake. He was called by Christ to suffer much to preach the gospel to the gentiles. And he wants them to know that no matter how great the challenges he has faced for their sakes, Heaven offers them a reward so great that its magnitude knows no human bounds.
2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
In this third oxymoronic statement, Paul again directs his audience to the ‘known unknown’. This young church was sometimes ‘carried away with the charismas; the spiritual gifts at work among them through the power of the Holy Spirit, but not nearly enough energy focused on the eternal realm from which the Holy Spirit descended on the Day of Pentecost. Paul invites his audience to join him on a spiritual tour of the eternal.
2 Corinthians 5:1-4 NKJV
1 For we know that if our earthly [a]house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our [b]habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
Paul now makes a full turn toward the eternal, unseen Kingdom of God. He compares our earthy bodies to the tabernacle that Israel carried through the wilderness. That tabernacle was a temporary structure that could be disassembled, moved, and reassembled. It was only to serve as a temporary structure foreshadowing a permanent Temple in the Promised Land. In this way, Paul compared the Tabernacle, also known as the Tent of Meeting, to our earthly bodies, which we long to exchange for our promised, eternal bodies, embued forever by the Spirit of God, with whom we will dwell eternally if indeed He truly abides in us at present. Notice that all along the way, Paul gently chides this young body of believers, challenging them to embrace our eternal eventuality.
2 Corinthians 5:5 NKJV
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as [c]a guarantee.
Paul uses the same literary mechanism as he continues. He subtly reminds His audience that the Holy Spirit that they so revere was given by God and a deposit, a guarantee of God’s promise of eternal life. The focus was not to be on the ‘gifts’, but on the Giver (God) and the ‘Gift’ (Christ) who secured our salvation at the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:6 NKJV
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
So then, our confidence is not in our temporal bodies, but in our Lord who awaits us in Heaven. If we have any confidence, any boldness, let it rest in the knowledge of the great promise of entering into His Rest, an eternal Sabbath where we will ever be with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Paul sums it up in a simple, yet profound way: we who belong to Christ, walk by faith, not by sight. We are to walk in the shadow of the Almighty, so near to Him that we can sense the sweet fragrance of His Glorious Presence. Jesus is our heart’s desire. It is for Him that we yearn. It is by Him that we live and breathe. Let us be ever thankful for what we discern of Him by virtue of the Spirit of Truth who resides within us.
2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
2 Peter 3:11-12a NKJV
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,...
1 John 3:2 NKJV
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
So then, let our hearts not be divided. Let us not hold so tightly to the desires of the flesh, to the pride of life. Our youthful lusts for pleasure and wealth in this world must succumb to the greater desire to have His Kingdom come. Indeed, St. Peter encouraged us that by our holy conduct and godliness our anticipation of the Lord’s return would actually hasten His appearing. Let us stand therefore in this confidence: one day we will see Him as He is for we shall be like Him.
2 Corinthians 5:9 NKJV
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to Him.
Philippians 1:21 NKJV
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
As he draws near to his final point, Paul makes an allusion to the saints of have died in Christ and have entered into their reward; His Rest. In making this allusion he lumps the living with the dead: we who remain here to serve Christ with those who have passed on before us. His desire is that this young, vibrant body of believers identify with those who have gone before them in Christ, thereby identifying themselves with not only the death of Christ at the cross but His resurrection as well. In another place, Paul said it like this, “For me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain!” Paul did not want his audience to sell short the glorious promise of the new life that they (and we) have only just begun on this side of Heaven but will carry on in the indescribable glory in the richness of Christ’s everlasting Kingdom.
2 Corinthians 5:10 NKJV
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 NKJV
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1 Corinthians 6:2-4 NKJV
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
For before us lies the appearing of believers before the Mercy Seat of Christ. That’s right, the Mercy Seat. This is not the final White Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20:11-15. That judgment is God’s final judgment against all unbelievers who died outside of the realm of faith. For only the ‘Just shall live by Faith.” No, the judgment Paul speaks of here is the same judgment that he had written of in his first letter to the Corinthians, where the works of every believer would be tried by the fire of God’s glory to see if it would stand into eternity. The same fire that will purify the work of gold, silver, and brass will utterly destroy the useless works of vanity and pride, described as wood, stubble, and hay. Even though those useless works will not survive God’s purifying fire, the believer will be saved. This judgment occurs just prior to and heralds the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. During that thousand-year reign, the saints of God will reign with Christ, judging the affairs of men and of angels. This will be a time of great peace on earth. Paul wants his audience to know that the glory of what lies before them is immeasurably superior to any earthly treasure they could possibly imagine. Nothing compares to the glory God has set before us in Christ. Nothing.
Beloved, just as Paul reminded the Church at Corinth of the glory they were to await, let us be reminded as well that a time awaits us that far exceeds the trials that we face daily. Paul’s word of correction to the Corinthians has resulted in lasting encouragement to the Church which will carry her on into eternity.
Selah,
wb
Romans 1:16-17 NKJV
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel [c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
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