Life Study of 2 Corinthians

Message 12 THE MINISTERS OF THE NEW COVENANT (5)

Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:1-8

Second Corinthians 5 continues the description of

the New Testament ministers. This description began in
3:12 with the word concerning their constitution. In
chapter four we see the way these ministers conduct
themselves (4:1-6), and we have a record regarding
their living (4:7-18). They were constituted of the Triune
God, they conducted themselves in such a way as to
shine out the gospel of the glory of Christ, and they
lived a crucified life for the manifestation of
resurrection life. In 5:1-8 we see another characteristic:
their longing to be clothed upon with the transfigured
body.

LONGING TO BE CLOTHED UPON WITH THE

TRANSFIGURED BODY
As the ministers of the new covenant were
conducting themselves according to their inner
constitution and living a crucified life for the
manifestation of resurrection life, they were longing,
desiring, aspiring, to be clothed upon with the
transfigured body. This means that they were longing
for the redemption of their body. Their spirit had been
regenerated and their soul had been renewed and
transformed, but there was still a problem related to
the fallen, mortal body. This body was a burden to
them. They sighed, groaned, under this burden. They
did not have any problems in their spirit or in their soul.
Their soul had been constituted of the divine element.
But they still had a problem with the mortal body.
In God’s full and complete salvation, there is a
matter which takes care of our mortal body. This is
transfiguration. Transfiguration changes our mortal
body into a body of glory, just like the resurrected body
of the Lord Jesus. This aspect of God’s salvation is very
promising; it is the hope of glory.
After giving us a clear view of how the new
covenant ministers have been constituted of the Triune
God and how they conduct themselves for the shining
of the gospel and live a crucified life, Paul goes on to
speak of their longing to have the fallen body
redeemed. In this Epistle, however, Paul does not
speak of the redemption of our body, a term used in
Romans 8. Rather, he chooses another kind of word, a
somewhat deeper expression.

An Eternal House in the Heavens to Replace Their

Earthly Tabernacle-house
A Building from God
Second Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if
our earthly tabernacle house is taken down, we have
a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal, in the heavens.” “For” indicates that what is to
be mentioned is an explanation of what is spoken of in
4:13-18. In this chapter the apostle tells us of the
apostles’ aspiration for the redemption of their body
(Rom. 8:23), their ambition to please the Lord (2 Cor.
5:9-15), and their commission from the Lord for His new
creation (vv. 16-21). They cared for the things that are
not seen, not for the things that are seen.
The word “earthly” in verse 1 does not mean made
of earth; it means upon the earth. The word
“tabernacle” indicates that our physical body, in
which our person dwells, is not only for living, but also
for worshipping God (see 1 Cor. 6:19). The word
“building” denotes a building with a foundation, not
like a tabernacle without a foundation. This building is
from, or out of, God, a “house” that is our spiritual body
(1 Cor. 15:44). In contrast to something upon the earth,
it is a house in the heavens.
The expression “tabernacle house” is unusual. Our
body is a house and also a tabernacle. The word house
indicates that the body is our dwelling place, and the
word tabernacle indicates that this house is a
temporary dwelling place. It is not a building with a
foundation, but a tabernacle similar to the one
erected in the wilderness. As Paul indicates, some day
this tabernacle-house will be taken down. Here Paul
does not simply say that our mortal body will die.
Instead, he speaks of the earthly tabernacle-house
being taken down. When this happens, we shall have
a building from God, not another tabernacle. This
building will be solid and will have a foundation.
Furthermore, this house is not heaven, but it is in the
heavens in contrast to upon the earth.
This building will be our resurrected, transfigured
body, the spiritual body mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.
Today our body is a soulish one, but one day it will be
transfigured into a spiritual body. As a soulish body, it is
now animated by the soul. When it becomes a spiritual
body, it will be directed by the spirit. That building will
become our house, a house not made with human
hands, but a house from God in the heavens.
In verse 2 Paul says, “For indeed in this we groan,
longing to be clothed upon with our dwelling place
from heaven.” The word “this” refers to the tabernacle
in verse 1. To be clothed upon is to be transfigured and
conformed to the body of Christ’s glory. The apostles
were longing for this. Our dwelling place from heaven,
or out of heaven, refers to the house in the heavens in
verse 1.
 In our spirit we rejoice and in our body we groan. If
you want to rejoice, get into the spirit. But if you want
to groan or sigh, remain in the body. As Paul says, in the
body we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our
dwelling place from heaven. Since we have not
experienced this kind of clothing, we cannot say much
about it. We know what it is to rejoice in the spirit and
to groan in the body, but we do not know what it is to
be clothed upon with the resurrected, spiritual,
heavenly body. But according to what is prophesied in
the New Testament, we shall eventually be clothed
with such a body. This is one item in the New Testament,
in the will. I have the full confidence this will happen,
and I am waiting for it.
Not to Be Found Naked
Verse 3 continues, “If indeed, being clothed, we
shall not be found naked.” To be naked is to be without
a body. A dead person, being disembodied, is naked,
without a body as a covering before God. The apostles
were expecting to be transfigured in their body, to be
clothed with a spiritual body to meet the Lord before
they died and were disembodied, that they might not
be found naked.
Many Christians think that when a believer in Christ
dies, he goes to heaven. If this is true, then there are a
great many naked persons in heaven, for those who
have died are now disembodied. God, however, will
not allow such naked persons to come into His
presence. In the Old Testament it says that someone
who is not properly clothed cannot come into the
presence of God. The priests, in particular, had to wear
a long robe. This was a type. If we would be in the
presence of God, we cannot be naked; that is, we
cannot be disembodied.
When Paul said that he did not want to be found
naked, this means that he did not want to die. To die is
to be naked. Paul’s desire was to be clothed and
thereby not to be found naked. Of course, after our
bodies are transfigured, none of us will be found
naked. We shall live eternally. The point here is that in
verse 3 to be naked means to die.
Groaning, Being Burdened
In verse 4 Paul says, “For indeed, we who are in the
tabernacle groan, being burdened, in that we do not
desire to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that what is
mortal may be swallowed up by life.” To be burdened
here means to be weighed down, depressed,
oppressed. The apostles groaned in the desire not to
be unclothed, disembodied, that is, not to die but to
be clothed upon, to put on the spiritual body. This is to
have our body transfigured (Phil. 3:21), to have it
redeemed (Rom. 8:23).
 In verse 4 “what is mortal” denotes our mortal body
(2 Cor. 4:11; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:53). To have our mortal
body “swallowed up by life” is to have it transfigured
by resurrection life swallowing the death in our mortal
body (1 Cor. 15:54).
Our fallen, mortal body is a great burden to us.
Under the weight of this burden, we groan, not that we
would be unclothed, or be found naked, but that we
would be clothed with a transfigured body.
Paul did not want to die, but he certainly did desire
to be raptured. He wanted to be clothed upon, to
have his body transfigured. Then what is mortal will be
swallowed up by life. When we are raptured,
transfigured, and clothed with the heavenly, spiritual,
and resurrected body, then that which is mortal will be
swallowed up by life. This was Paul’s longing. Most of us
have not yet come to this stage in our Christian life.
Rather, the younger ones may prefer to linger on earth.
But those who are older desire to be raptured.
God Having Wrought Us for This
Verse 5 says, “Now He Who has wrought us for this
very thing is God, Who has given to us the pledge of
the Spirit.” The Greek word rendered “wrought” can
also be translated fashioned, shaped, prepared,
made fit. God has wrought us, fashioned us, shaped
us, prepared us, made us fit, for the very purpose that
our mortal body might be swallowed up by His
resurrection life. Thus, our entire being will be saturated
with Christ. God has given us the Spirit as the pledge,
the earnest, the foretaste, the guarantee, of this
wonderful and marvelous part of His complete
salvation for us in Christ.
In what way has God prepared us? First, He has
sown Himself into our being. This is indicated by the
parable of the sower in Matthew 13. The Lord Jesus
came as a sower to sow Himself into us. Our heart is the
soil for growing Christ. Eventually Christ will grow in us
and saturate our entire being. This is the preparation for
Christ’s saturating our body. On the one hand, when
we are transfigured, we shall be clothed with a spiritual
body outwardly. On the other hand, transfiguration
means that the indwelling Christ is saturating our body
and swallowing up the element of death in it. He has
been sown into our spirit and heart, and now He is
saturating our soul. Then one day He will spread from
the soul into the body and saturate the body. When
our body has been saturated in full, it will become a
new body, a new building, with which we shall be
clothed.
According to verse 5, as the One who has wrought
us for this very thing, God has given to us the pledge of
the Spirit. The Spirit is the guarantee that God will
accomplish this. The Spirit is Christ, and Christ is the
embodiment of God. Actually, therefore, God has put
Himself into our being as the guarantee that He will
change our body so that we shall be entirely
conformed to Christ in resurrection.
At Home in the Body
In verse 6 Paul continues, “Therefore, being always
of good courage, and knowing that being at home in
the body, we are away from home from the Lord.” Our
body is in the material realm; the Lord is in the spiritual
realm. In this sense, we are absent from the Lord when
we are present in our body.
Verse 7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by
appearance.” Appearance refers to that which is
seen; hence, to sight. The apostles regulate their life
and conduct themselves by faith, as testified in
Hebrews 11, not by that which is seen. It is in this way
they realize that they are away from the Lord while
they are in their physical body. This corresponds to the
word in 4:18.
Today nearly all of mankind walks by appearance.
Doctors, scientists, and professors take the lead to walk
by what they can see. When we speak about a
building in the heavens made by God and eternal,
they regard this as nonsense. But eventually it will be
proved that they are wrong to doubt this truth and that
we are right to believe it. We shall have a heavenly
body. Until we are transfigured, we walk by faith, not
by appearance, not by what we see.
In verse 8 Paul says, “We are of good courage then,
and well pleased rather to be away from home out of
the body and to be at home with the Lord.” To be
away from home out of the body is to die, to be out of
the material realm and to be with the Lord in the
spiritual realm. The apostles, who are always being
persecuted unto death (1:8-9; 4:11; 11:23; 1 Cor. 15:31),
are well pleased rather to die, to be out of their
confining body that they may be released to be at
home with the Lord in a better realm (Phil. 1:23).
As the apostles lived according to their spiritual
constitution to shine out the glory of the gospel, and as
they were living a crucified life, they were constantly
longing to be clothed with a heavenly body. Their
desire was to be raptured, to be transfigured. This is a
description of the ministers of the new covenant. They
are people who do not belong to the earth. Rather,
they belong absolutely to another realm and are living
in that realm. Although they are on earth, their
aspiration is to be in another realm. Their desire is to be
clothed with another body and to be in another home
with the Lord.