Useful Bible Studies > 2 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 5
In the previous verse, Paul wrote these words: ‘The things that we see are temporary. The things that we do not see will last always.’
Here, Paul shows how those words have special reference to the human body. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, he mentioned the outer and inner man, by which he meant a person’s body and spirit. God created people to have both a body and a spirit; but the nature of the body and the spirit is different.
Our bodies in the present world belong very much to this world. They are like a tent: a temporary home in which we live. We all know that these bodies are only temporary: death will certainly destroy them. For that reason, all that is most valuable for us, should be in heaven*.
Paul taught that the bodies of God’s people will live again*. Then, they will have a new kind of life, which comes from heaven and not from the earth. That is the meaning of the house that (human) hands did not make. A tent is temporary; but now Paul is referring to the type of building that is permanent. The new bodies of God’s people will never die; they have life that never ends.
Their bodies will be like Christ’s body after he rose from death. It is interesting that Christ made similar statements about himself*. In those passages, he described his body as a temple (the house of God). Paul expresses the same idea about the bodies of God’s people*. Their bodies are holy, because God lives in them by his Spirit.
Next part: A Christian’s deepest desire (5:2-4)
* See complete article for these Bible references.
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© 2016, Keith Simons.