SEV Biblia, Chapter 5:1
¶ Porque sabemos, que si la casa terrestre de esta nuestra habitacin se deshiciere, tenemos de Dios un edificio, una casa, no hecha de manos, eterna, en los cielos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 5:1
Verse 1. If our earthly house of this tabernacle] By earthly house, the apostle most evidently means the body in which the soul is represented as dwelling or sojourning for a time, and from which it is to be liberated at death; for as death dissolves the tabernacle, it can then be no habitation for the soul. The apostle also alludes here to the ancient Jewish tabernacle, which, on all removals of the congregation, was dissolved and taken in pieces; and the ark of the covenant, covered with its own curtains, was carried by itself; and when they came to the place of rest, then the dissolved parts of the tabernacle were put together as before. When we consider this simile in connection with the doctrine of the resurrection, which the apostle has treated so much at large in these epistles, and which he keeps constantly in view, then we shall see that he intends to convey the following meaning: that as the tabernacle was taken down in order to be again put together, so the body is to be dissolved, in order to be re-edified; that as the ark of the covenant subsisted by itself, while the tabernacle was down, so can the soul when separated from the body; that as the ark had then its own veil for its covering, Exod. xl. 21, so the soul is to have some vehicle in which it shall subsist till it receives its body at the resurrection. A building of God] Some think this refers to a certain celestial vehicle with which God invests holy souls on their dismissal from the body; others suppose it relates to the resurrection body; and some imagine that it relates merely to the state of blessedness which the saints shall possess in the kingdom of glory. See the following note.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. For we know, that if our earthly house , etc..] By this house is meant the body, so called from its being like a well built house, a curious piece of architecture; as an house consists of a variety of parts fitly framed and put together in just symmetry and proportion, and with an entire usefulness in all, so is the body of man; which shows the power and wisdom of God the architect: likewise, because it is the dwelling place of the soul, which makes it appear, that the soul is more excellent than the body, is independent of it, and capable of a separate existence from it: it is said to be an earthly house, because it is from the earth; is supported by earthly things; has its present abode on the earth, and will quickly return to it: and the earthly house of this tabernacle, in allusion to the tabernacles the patriarchs and Israelites of old dwelt in; or to the tents and tabernacles of soldiers, shepherds, travellers, and such like persons, which are soon put up and taken down, and removed from place to place; and denotes the frailty and short continuance of our mortal bodies. So Plato calls the body ghinon skhnov , an earthly tabernacle; so the Jews were wont to call the body an house, and a tabernacle: every man (they say f49 ) has two houses, Pwgh tyb , the house of the body, and the house of the soul; the one is the outward, the other the inward house.
So Abarbinel paraphrases those words, ( Isaiah 18:4). I will consider in my dwelling place; I will return, or again consider in my dwelling place, which is the body, for that is pnh km , the tabernacle of the soul.
Now this tabernacle may, and will be, dissolved, unpinned, and taken down; which does not design an annihilation of it, but a dissolution of its union with the soul, and its separation from it: and when the apostle puts an if upon it, it is not to be understood as though it is uncertain whether it would be dissolved or not, unless it be said with a view to the change that will be on living saints at Christ's second coming; but it is rather a concession of the matter, and may be rendered, though the earthly house, etc.. or it points out the time when the saints' future happiness shall begin, when the earthly house, etc.. and signifies that being in the body, in some sense, retards the enjoyment of it. Now it is the saints' comfort whilst they are in it, and in a view of the dissolution of it, that they have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ? which some understand of the glorified body upon its resurrection, as opposed to its frail, mortal, earthly frame in its present situation; though rather all this designs the happiness of the saints, which will be begun, and they shall immediately enter into, at the dissolution of their bodies, and will be consummated at the resurrection; which is all of God's building and preparing; not made by the hands of the creature; or obtained by works of righteousness done by men; and it lies in the heavens, and will continue for ever. So the Jews speak of aydq tyb , the holy house, in the world to come, and which they suppose is intended in ( Isaiah 56:5 Proverbs 24:3). In this the saints have a present interest; they have it already built and prepared for them; they have an indubitate right and title to it through the righteousness of Christ; they have it secured to them in Christ, their feoffee in trust, their head and representative; and they have the earnest of it, the Spirit of God in their hearts; of all which they have sure and certain knowledge: for we know; they are well assured of the truth of this from the promise of God, who cannot lie, from the declaration of the Gospel, the testimony of the Spirit, and the close and inseparable connection there is between the grace they have already received, and the glory that shall be hereafter.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - The believer not only is well assured by faith that there is anothe and a happy life after this is ended, but he has good hope, throug grace, of heaven as a dwelling-place, a resting-place, a hiding-place In our Father's house there are many mansions, whose Builder and Make is God. The happiness of the future state is what God has prepared for those that love him: everlasting habitations, not like the earthl tabernacles, the poor cottages of clay, in which our souls now dwell that are mouldering and decaying, whose foundations are in the dust The body of flesh is a heavy burden, the calamities of life are a heav load. But believers groan, being burdened with a body of sin, an because of the many corruptions remaining and raging within them. Deat will strip us of the clothing of flesh, and all the comforts of life as well as end all our troubles here below. But believing souls shal be clothed with garments of praise, with robes of righteousness an glory. The present graces and comforts of the Spirit are earnests of everlasting grace and comfort. And though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, yet we are not with him as we hope to be. Faith is for this world, and sight is for the other world. It is our duty, and it will be our interest, to walk by faith, till we liv by sight. This shows clearly the happiness to be enjoyed by the soul of believers when absent from the body, and where Jesus makes known his glorious presence. We are related to the body and to the Lord; eac claims a part in us. But how much more powerfully the Lord pleads for having the soul of the believer closely united with himself! Thou ar one of the souls I have loved and chosen; one of those given to me What is death, as an object of fear, compared with being absent from the Lord!
Greek Textus Receptus
οιδαμεν 1492 5758 V-RAI-1P γαρ 1063 CONJ οτι 3754 CONJ εαν 1437 COND η 3588 T-NSF επιγειος 1919 A-NSF ημων 2257 P-1GP οικια 3614 N-NSF του 3588 T-GSN σκηνους 4636 N-GSN καταλυθη 2647 5686 V-APS-3S οικοδομην 3619 N-ASF εκ 1537 PREP θεου 2316 N-GSM εχομεν 2192 5719 V-PAI-1P οικιαν 3614 N-ASF αχειροποιητον 886 A-ASF αιωνιον 166 A-ASF εν 1722 PREP τοις 3588 T-DPM ουρανοις 3772 N-DPM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. Our earthly house of this tabernacle (h epigeiov hmwn oikia tou skhnouv). 145 Earthly, not, made of earth, which would be coikov as 1 Corinthians xv. 47; but upon the earth, terrestrial, as 1 Cor. xv. 40; Philip. ii. 10. Tabernacle (skhnov) tent or hut. In later writers, especially the Platonists, Pythagoreans, and medical authors, used to denote the body. Thus Hippocrates: "A great vein by which the whole body (skhnov) is nourished." Some expositors think that Paul uses the word here simply in this sense - the house which is the body. But while Paul does mean the body, he preserves the figurative sense of the word tabernacle; for he never uses this term elsewhere as synonymous with the body. The figure of the tent suits the contrast with the building, and would naturally suggest itself to the tent-maker. 146 The phrase earthly house of the tabernacle expresses a single conception - the dwelling which is, or consists in the tabernacle, the tent-house. The transient character of the body is thus indicated. Compare houses of clay, Job iv. 19. See on the kindred words skhnwma tabernacle, 2 Pet. i. 13; and skhnow to dwell in or to fix a tabernacle, John i. 14. Tabernacle is so habitually associated with a house of worship, and is so often applied to durable structures, that the original sense of a tent is in danger of being lost. It would be better to translate here by tent. The word tabernacle is a diminutive of the Latin taberna a hut or shed, which appears in tavern. Its root is ta, tan, to stretch or spread out.Dissolved (kataluqh). Lit., loosened down. Appropriate to taking down a tent. See on Mark xiii. 2; Luke ix. 12; Acts v. 38; and compare 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12, and the figure of the parting of the silver cord on which the lamp is suspended, Eccl. xii. 6. Also Job iv. 21, where the correct rendering is: Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? So Rev. O.T.
We have. The building from God is an actual possession in virtue of the believer's union with Christ. It is just as we say of a minor, before he comes into possession of his property, that he has so much. Compare Matt. xix. 21.
Building of God (oikodomhn ek Qeou). In contrast with tent. The reference is to the resurrection body. Compare the city which hath the foundations, Heb. xi. 10. For of God, read, as Rev., from, God; proceeding from (ek). Heinrici, von Gott her: compare God giveth, 1 Corinthians xv. 38, and ecete ajpo Qeou ye have from God, where the reference is to the natural body, 1 Cor. vi. 19. Construe from God with building, not with we have.
In the heavens. Construe with we have.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
5:1 {If--be dissolved} (ean--kataluqei). Third class condition, ean and first aorist passive subjunctive. The very word used (kataluw) for striking down a tent. {The earthly house of our tabernacle} (he epigeios hemwn oikia tou skenous). Rather, "If our earthly (see on 1Co 15:40 for epigeios) house of the tent (skenos, another form of skene, tent, from root ska, to cover)." Appositive genitive, the house (oikia) is the tent. {We have} (ecomen). Present indicative. We possess the title to it now by faith. "Faith is the title-deed (hupostasis) to things hoped for" (#Heb 11:7). {A building from God} (oikodomen ek qeou). this oikodome (found in Aristotle, Plutarch, LXX, etc., and papyri, though condemned by Atticists) is more substantial than the skenos. {Not made with hands} (aceiropoieton). Found first in #Mr 14:58 in charge against Jesus before the Sanhedrin (both the common verbal ceiropoieton and the newly made vernacular aceiropoieton, same verbal with a privative). Elsewhere only here and #Col 2:11. Spiritual, eternal home.
