Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 5:4

"For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life." — 2 Corinthians 5:4 (ASV)

These verses belong together, since v.4 expands v.2, while v.3 is parenthetical. One reason for Paul’s assurance of his future acquisition of a resurrection body was the raising up of the temple of Christ’s body (Mark 14:58), alluded to by the phrase “not built by human hands” in v.1. An additional reason was the experience of Spirit-inspired groaning (vv.2, 4; GK 5100; cf. Romans 8:23). Paul’s sighing did not stem from a desire to become permanently disembodied but from an intense longing to take up residence in his “heavenly dwelling.” The passage does not define the precise nature of the “groaning,” but the immediate context and Paul’s thought elsewhere (Romans 8:19–23) suggest it was his sense of frustration with the limitations and disabilities of mortal existence, knowing as he did that he was destined to possess a spiritual body perfectly adapted to the ecology of heaven. Paul sought liberation only from the imperfection of present embodiment (i.e., from “bondage to decay,”Romans 8:21), not from any and every form of corporeality. After all, Paul taught that the Christian will have a “spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:35–49).

But not all at Corinth shared Paul’s view of the Christian’s destiny. Some were teaching that one’s resurrection lay in the past (see 1 Corinthians 15:12), accomplished spiritually and corporately for all believers at the resurrection of Christ or else personally experienced at the moment of baptism (cf. 2 Timothy 2:17– 18); to them there was no future, bodily resurrection but only a disembodied immortality. To such people Paul asserts, “We do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” This background also affords a satisfying interpretation of v.3, where Paul seems to be repudiating the teaching that the Christian looks forward to a vague immortality: “when we are clothed, we will not be found naked [as some of you would like us to believe].” Another possible interpretation of vv.2–4a sees Paul expressing his own eager desire to avoid the unpleasantness or pain of a disembodied intermediate state between his own death and his receipt of a new body at the coming of Christ. He shrinks from the denudation of death and longs to put on his heavenly dwelling over his preserved earthly tent through the return of Christ before his death, though he is uncertain whether this will happen.

Verse 4b states the purpose and actual result of the receipt of the heavenly dwelling—the swallowing up of the mortal body by the revivifying action of the indwelling Spirit of life (Romans 8:2, 11; 2 Corinthians 3:6, 18). This transformation forms the climax of the incessant process of inward renewal (4:16b). In other words, 5:4b is related to 4:16b as 5:1a is related to 4:16a. For Paul, resurrection consummates rather than inaugurates the process of spiritual re-creation.