Here he said that he might die before Jesus Christ returns for His own. Paul earlier indicated that he expected that the Lord would probably return before he died ( 1 Thessalonians 4:15 1 Thessalonians 4:17 1 Corinthians 15:51). Our physical bodies are only temporary structures, but God is preparing new bodies for us that are superior to anything that human hands can produce and maintain. Since God had raised up Jesus’ "temple," Paul believed that He would also raise our "tents." In ancient times a tent was a familiar symbol of what was transitory. Jesus referred to His body as a temple, and He predicted that God would raise it up ( Mark 14:58 John 2:19-22). "The ’clothed upon’ and ’swallowed up by life’ imagery ( 2 Corinthians 5:2-4), when read alongside 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, leaves little doubt that this ’house’ is the individual’s resurrection body." Īs a tentmaker, Paul compared the human body to a tent. Here Paul contrasted our present and future bodies. gar) continues the contrast between things presently seen and things not yet seen ( 2 Corinthians 4:18). This becomes most evident in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, but also in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 and in chapters 8-9 where the metaphor describes the ministry of giving. He used the death and resurrection of Jesus metaphorically to describe his own ministry. As Jesus had died and been raised, Paul was similarly dying, but he was also experiencing the benefits of resurrection. To do this he described his own ministry as a projection or extension of Jesus’ ministry. In writing this epistle Paul wanted his readers to realize that his ministry was not faulty, as his critics charged, but that it was solidly within the will of God. Second Corinthians explains more of these paradoxes than any other New Testament book. The nature of Christianity is paradoxical. Paul proceeded to explain further the nature of ministry under the New Covenant so his readers would understand his ministry and theirs better. The sufferings and supports of a minister of the gospel 4:7-5:10
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