2 Corinthians 5
Outline:
I. \\#2Corinthians 1:1-5:21\\ Paul’s Explanations
A. \\#2Corinthians 1:1-2\\ Paul’s Introduction
B. \\#2Corinthians 1:3-11\\ Paul’s Suffering
1. \\#1:3-7\\ Truths about All Suffering
2. \\#1:8-11\\ Truths about Paul’s Suffering
C. \\#2Corinthians 1:12-14\\ Paul’s Rejoicing
D. \\#2Corinthians 1:15-2:17\\ Paul’s Itinerary
1. \\#1:15-16\\ Paul’s Purpose
2. \\#2:17\\ The Corinthians’ Charge
3. \\#1:18-2:13\\ Paul’s Answers
4. \\#2:13-17\\ Paul’s Praise
E. \\#2Corinthians 3:1-5:21\\ Paul’s Ministry Facts
1. \\#3:1-5\\ Our Converts Are Our Credentials
2. \\#3:6-18\\ We Are Empowered through the Spirit
3. \\#4:1-18\\ We don’t quit.
4. \\#5:1-11\\ We have heavenly longings.
5. \\#5:12-21\\ We are driven by the love of Christ.
II. \\#2Corinthians 6:1-7:16\\ Paul’s Commands
A. \\#6:1-10\\ Don’t Waste God’s Grace
B. \\#6:11-18\\ Don’t Be Joined to the Lost
C. \\#7:1-16\\ Don’t Reject Us.
III. \\#2Corintihains 8:1-9:15\\ The Collection for the Saints
Paul’s Ministry Facts
IV. \\#5:1-11\\ We have heavenly longings.
A. \\#1\\ "For" - All of the "for"s connect what is about to be
said with what had already been said.
1. Because Paul’s focuses was in the eternal rather than the
temporal \\#2Cor 4:18\\, "we know… we have a
building… not made with hands."
2. Paul was speaking of the glorified body he would receive,
a. We receive it after "our earthly house" is
"dissolved."
b. It is "a building of God," designed and created by
God.
c. It is not mad with human "hands" but created by the
spoken word of God.
d. It is ‘eternal." It will not age, become infirm, die,
cease, or diminish in any way.
e. It is "in the heavens." Our new vehicle is not for
this world but abides in the heavens where we shall
be.
B. \\#2\\ "for in this we groan" - Another "for," connecting this
verse with the last.
1. To groan is to grieve over, to pray for, to sigh with an
ache.
a. The "we" is not merely a reference to Paul and his
group but to all Christians who face the troubles of
life.
b. We have a deep longing within us. For what?
2. "desiring to be cloth upon with our house" - We want that
new eternal body.
3. \\#3\\ "not be found naked"
a. The thought here has nothing to do with the immodesty
of the earthly body but with the immodesty of the
spirit after death, having no body at all.
b. I do not know what it is like to be bodiless but it
would appear all those in heaven now are in that
condition for they wait with patience to receive
their glorified form.
c. That would mean that it is not just those on earth who
long for their glorified bodies but the saints in
heaven as well.
4. \\#4\\ "not that we would be unclothed" - The longing of
the believer is not that we would be without a body,
"unclothed," but "clothed upon." Christians do not want
to die and be separated from this body as much as we want
to have the new body.
5. \\#5\\ God is the one who "wrought us," that is finished
or fashioned us, for this "selfsame thing."
a. God is the One who designed us to be the very "thing"
that we are.
b. What "thing" is that?
(1) It is God’s design and will that we be spiritual
beings inside of a fleshly tabernacle, both now
and in eternity.
(2) It also He who "hath given unto us the earnest of
the Spirit." God also designed that we be a
fleshy tabernacle filled with the Holy Ghost.
(3) "the earnest of the Spirit" - God designed our
present filling of the Holy Spirit to be but the
down payment of what we shall receive in the
glorified body.
(4) God has designed us to "groan" for that heavenly
tabernacle as this body gets old and feeble.
6. \\#6\\ Presently, we are "home in the body… absent from
the Lord"
a. This is the reverse statement of the better known
statement of verse 8.
2Cor 5:8 … to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord.
b. Between these two statements, we can always know where
our loved ones are.
(1) If they are absent from the Lord (not in his
presence), they are in the body.
(2) If they are absent from the body (not in the
body), they are with the Lord.
7. \\#7\\ "by faith, not by sight" - We know this not because
we can see it to be true but because God told us it is.
8. \\#8\\ "We are… willing" - Paul, speaking for the
Christians, states that we are willing to be absent from
the Lord during this time.
a. "willing" means that we take pleasure in being absent
from the Lord.
b. We groan to be in the eternal temple but we take
pleasure in the fact that we are still in the flesh
temple.
c. What do we take pleasure in?
9. \\#9\\ "whether present of absent"
a. But for now, regardless of whether we want to be or
not, "we labour, that… we may be accepted of him."
b. In other words, we long for home but we will work and
serve until we get there.
c. This is acceptable to our Lord.
10. \\#10\\ "For" - Another connection to what has already
been stated; namely, to labor to be accepted. (Paul was
about to teach that it is NOT acceptable NOT to labor.)
a. "we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ"
(1) Some may not want to labor, perhaps because they
are homesick for heaven but more likely for
other reasons.
(2) Paul wants Christians to know that all will stand
before Christ but at different judgments.
b. "the judgment seat of Christ"
(1) Many Christians call this by the Greek word for
"judgment seat," bema.
(2) The Bema Seat was the Greek’s term for the place
where the judge would sit in the Greek games.
He would determine who the winner was.
https://amos37.com/the-bema-seat/
(a) This judgment is different from the Great
White Throne in several ways although Paul
here only lists one.
(b) This judgment is specifically mentioned for
the Christians as opposed to "the dead,
small and great" \\#Rev 20:12\\
(3) But this judgment does have something in common
with the Great White Throne, both will deal
with judging the works of those who there.
(a) "that every one may receive the things done
in this body, according to that he hath
done…."
(b) \\#Rev 20:12\\ "the dead were judged out of
those things which were written in the
books, according to their works."
(4) But Paul made clear in an earlier letter to the
Corinthians that Christians works do not alter
their saved status just their reward status.
1Cor 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved;
yet so as by fire.
(5) Still, knowing this judgment awaits, every
Christians should be motivated to labor for the
Lord.
11. \\#11\\ "knowing… the terror of the Lord"
a. Christians should not think the Bema Seat will be a
comfortable place to be. The knowledge of it should
strike terror in our hearts.
b. "we persuade men" - These men are Christian men. Paul
would persuade them to serve the Lord.
c. "made manifest in your consciences" - Perhaps the
reason Paul has come to discuss this judgment is to
help the Corinthians better understand his zeal in
preaching to the saved about sin for they thought him
to be "contemptible" in the writings in which he had
rebuked them.
2Co 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty
and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak,
and his speech contemptible.
V. \\#5:12-21\\ We are driven by the love of Christ.
A. \\#12-15\\ We are motivated by the love of Christ.
1. \\#12\\ "we commend not ourselves" - Paul was not
interested in recommending himself to the Corinthians.
a. "but give you occasion to glory on our behalf" - But
Paul felt he must explain himself and his ministry.
In so doing, he would have to give those who liked
to brag something to brag about.
b. Who was he giving something to brag about?
(1) Those who had to answer other braggarts, those
"which glory in appearance and not in the heart."
(2) Paul had some who stood up for him against those
who only take note of the things they can see
and not the effects that the ministry had to the
heart and soul.
2. \\#13\\ It is for God and for you.
2Cor 5:13 For whether we be beside ourselves…
a. This is an express which means "If we be insane."
b. Paul was repeatedly considered insane because he
firmly believed that Jesus not only rose from the
dead but had appeared to him.
Ac 17:32 And when they (the people of Athens)
heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again
of this matter.
Ac 26:24 And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art
beside thyself; much learning doth make thee
mad.
25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus;
but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.
c. But for Paul to mention that accusation in this letter
indicates that some inside the church at Corinth
might have though him insane as well.
(1) Paul did not deny he was insane, but rather
stated that if he were:
(a) "to God" - It would be for God’s sake, to
accomplish what he felt God wanted him to
do.
(b) "for your cause" - And it was for people
like the Corinthians’ sake.
(2) These were Paul’s motives.
3. \\#14\\ "For the love of Christ constraineth us" - Paul
was driven by the love of Jesus for all people
everywhere.
a. And how would Paul know that Jesus loved all people
everywhere?
(1) "because… one died for all" - God’s universal
love is proven by the fact that Jesus died for
all people everywhere, including those that to
reach, Paul had to go through those who wanted
to hurt and kill him.
(2) "then were all dead" - Jesus dying for all also
proves that all needed to be saved. This was
not Paul’s main point but he cannot help but to
express that all need Jesus.
b. To what end?
(1) \\#15\\ "they which live should not… live unto
themselves" - The love that Christ has
demonstrated makes it impossible for one who
knows Christ to live for their own goals and
pleasures.
(2) Rather, he should live "unto him which died for
them."
B. \\#16-21\\ We deal with people based on the love of Christ
(not people’s behavior).
1. \\#16\\ "henceforth"
a. From that time forward.
b. From what time?
(1) Paul had not been treating people after their
flesh but after according to the love of Christ
since his salvation.
(2) However, he was reaffirming his intention to do
so.
2. "know we no man after the flesh" - Paul did not know
people based on the way their flesh behaved but rather
based on the love that Jesus had for them.
a. People’s flesh often tried to kill Paul, malign Paul,
insult Paul.
b. Such fleshly behavior was not how Paul dealt with
people.
c. He dealt with them lovingly, kindly, as Christ would
because Paul knew Jesus loved them as much as Jesus
had loved him.
d. No doubt, Paul was very thankful that some like
Barnabas had not dealt with Paul as he had behaved
toward Christians but as Jesus had loved him.
2Cor 5:16 …we have known Christ after the
flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
3. Paul mentioned that he would no longer know Christ after
the flesh either.
a. Paul had the opportunity to know Christ more like the
original disciples. That is why he was referred to
as an apostle born out of due time. \\#1Cor 15:8\\
b. However, you and I have never known Jesus that way.
Our relationship is one of knowing Jesus through the
Spirit.
c. Paul affirmed that would be the only way he would know
Jesus from that time forward.
4. \\#17\\ For the love of Jesus not only "constrained"
(forced) Paul to act differently toward those who now
hated him, it had also changed him.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.
a. This love of Christ, once accepted, changes every man
who believes "in Christ."
(1) The "old things" that he did, are now "passed
away."
(2) It makes him "a new creature."
(3) "All things are become new."
b. \\#18\\ "And all things are of God" - And God is the
One who is remaking all things.
(1) Why? Because God is "reconciling the world unto
himself."
(2) God is making everything in us new because He is
in the process of re-making all things to be in
harmony with Himself.
(3) God is not just re-making our eternal souls. He
is re-creating all of us and everything else.
(4) God is reconciling ALL THINGS to Himself.
5. "and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation" -
The love of Christ not only benefits us, but it also
calls us into the ministry of bringing others into God’s
love and beginning the reconciliation in them.
a. \\#19\\ "To wit" - Means "for example or in like
manner as…." Paul is about to explain how God uses
people to reconcile other people to Himself.
(1) "that God was in Christ"
(a) Paul used Jesus as an example of how God
uses people; but by doing so, Paul was
saying that Jesus was just a man for He was
not.
(b) Paul was merely giving the most obvious
example of how God can use one to bring
others to Himself.
(2) "reconciling the world to himself" - What God did
with Jesus was to reconcile not just one but the
whole world to Himself.
(3) How did God reconcile man to Himself? - By "not
imputing their trespasses unto them…."
(a) Impute means to lay to their account or to
put on their bill.
(b) Because of Jesus, God does not put the sins
of saved sinners on their bill.
(c) If our sin is removed, we are brought back
into harmony with God; hence, we are
reconciled.
b. So God "hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation." This is the work that God had called
Paul and his team to perform and the work from which
the Corinthians had greatly benefited.
(1) \\#20\\ "we are ambassadors for Christ"
(a) An ambassador is a citizen of another
country but they live on foreign soil to
establish and maintain a diplomatic
relationship between the two countries.
(b) Paul was a citizen of heaven but he lived on
earth so that God could have a relationship
with sinful men.
(2) "in Christ’s stead" - Serving in that capacity,
Paul spoke to the people for Jesus, telling
them what Jesus wanted them to hear.
(3) "be ye reconciled to God" - Paul spoke now to
all the people at Corinth: those saved and
lost, right with God and those rejecting God’s
Word, those who had repented of their bad
thoughts toward Paul and those who had not.
(4) \\#21\\ "For" or because.
(a) "he hath made him to be sin for us" - God
had made Jesus to be our sin or to be our
Sin-bearer.
(b) "who knew no sin" - Although Jesus never
committed any sin.
(c) "that we might be made the righteousness of
God" - That we might be made clean and
right with God.
(d) This is the offer of the great and eternal
substitution (i.e. Jesus taking our place
as a sinner so that we can take His place
as being right with God!)
(5) What a compelling reason to accept God’s offer
of reconciliation.
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