“that mortality may be swallowed up by life”(2 Cor. 5:4, NKJV)
To refresh your memory about the previous teaching: we looked at the prophetic promise of 2 Cor. 5:4 – “that mortality may be swallowed up by life”. And then we asked – can it still occur in this life? The answer is nestled in distinguishing between the spirit, soul and body of the natural man, which Scripture notes must die, and the spirit, soul and body of the spiritual man, which comes into being when the individual becomes born-again, and which does NOT die. Remember – because of the law of the spirit of sin and death you and I have been living in the realm of death since our birth, a place we call the world, because death reigns within it (Rom. 5:17). Now that we are born-again we however still physically reside there, but our born-again spiritual man lives in a different realm where life reigns.
The Scripture that supports this is the larger pericope in which 2 Cor. 5:4 is embedded: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:1-6).
A few important remarks we need to make about this section will helps us to better understand this complex matter:
- The chapter begins with “For we know,” which suggests that it is an explanation of a statement made prior to it. We thus need to have a look at the conclusion of chapter 4.
- At the end of chapter 4 we also find the word “for” being used (2 Cor. 4:17), which then seems to suggest that the statement has either two arguments, or that further explanation is offered for the first argument. Verses 2 and 4 also start with “for,” and the same argument thus goes as with verse 1’s “for.”
- 2 Cor. 4:16 is the important statement where the four “for”’s are presented: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward manis perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” The important distinction that we consistently make in the teachings is foregrounded here: the outer man (with his spirit/breath, soul and body) and the inner man (with his born-again spirit, part of the corporate soul and part of the corporate body). The inner man did, as it were, arise from the dead when he became born-again: “Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’” (Eph. 5:14). The principle is that as the outer man is perishing day by day [“be corrupted” (ABP), “is decaying” (ALTNT), “is being destroyed” (EMTV), “is getting feebler” (BBE), “is wasting away” (CENT), “is impaired” (LONT), “gradually dying” (CEV), “is consumed” (DBY), “is corrupted” (Douay-Rheims), “is becoming older and weaker” (ERV), “we are wearing out” (GW), “is wearing away” (NET), the inner man is being renewed.
- Verses 17 and 18 offer the first “for,” thus the first reason why the principle stands: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding andeternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Immediately two opposing scenarios are created:
| Outer man (perishes) | Inner man (renewed) |
| Experiences slight oppression for
a moment |
An all-encompassing eternal weight
of glory is wrought |
| Takes note of the visible,
temporary things |
Takes note of the invisible,
eternal things |
- From this it is clear that the one principle of the slow death of the natural body is absolutely necessary for the other principle of the renewal and multiplication in the spiritual body; it is wrought through this!
- The first verse of 2 Cor. 5 also begins with “for,” which makes it the second instance, and can be seen as an extension on either the previous ‘for,’ or as part of the main argument that continues from 2 Cor. 4:16. The parallel is continued here:
| Outer man (perishes) | Inner man (renewed) |
| Earthly tent is destroyed | A heavenly building of God (is
erected) |
| A building not built with
human hands, but erected by God. |
- Alas the metaphor “a building of God” has misled many people throughout the ages to believe all kinds of sensual deceptions. Please read the teachings of Day 534-535 and Day 587-589 again, in which these theological misconceptions are spelled out. The image of the tent home is particularly apt in this regard, as it suggests transience and mortality in an arresting manner, as we also find in Job. 4:19: “those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, whoare crushed before a moth?” It is also important to later ponder how this heavenly construction of which John 14:2-3 speaks, is in fact built by God, builder and maker (Heb. 11:10), and a construction “not of this creation” (Heb. 9:11). The Mirror Bible paraphrases it in beautifully clear terms: “Our skin-bodies have a sell-by date; our spirit-bodies are eternal. The same God who fashioned these skin-bodies in our mother’s womb, engineered our spirit-bodies to be our permanent dwelling.”
- The third and fourth “for” is found in 2 Cor. 5:3-4, which clearly continues to build on the main argument started in 2 Cor. 4:16. Here we however find a very important other metaphor that is brought in, that redefines the central image of the building in an exciting new way. The new metaphor is concerned with being clothed, specifically the building as garment that needs to be put on or taken off.
| Outer man (perishes) | Inner man (renewed) |
| Naked by being undressed | Clothed from heaven, with your heavenly building |
| Mortality is swallowed | Through life |
- It is of great importance to our current focus that we understand that this entire process occurs through two principles: the law of the Spirit of the incorruptible and unconquerable life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death. In other words, it will absolutely happen in this way.
- 2 Cor. 5:5 makes it clear: “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing isGod, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” Replace the phrase “this very thing” with the overarching theme of this entire pericope, “that mortality may be swallowed up by life,” and then it reads as follows: “Now He who has prepared us that mortality may be swallowed up by life, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” The term “guarantee” is the Greek arrhabōn, and it means “a part payment in advance for security” (New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance); “a pledge or down payment that the full amount will subsequently be paid” (Thayer); “the down payment of the Spirit” (WEB). [Also see 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:14.]. This is thus one of the most important consequences of the Spirit WITHIN us, and the Spirit WITHIN us is however still only partly in us, and will progressively increase to fill us as we “grow up in all things into Him who is the head” (Eph. 4:15). We need to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). The Bible Knowledge Commentary rightly calls this process “the surety of that consummation” which is wrought by the Holy Spirit, “whose presence and transforming work (2 Cor. 3:18) forms the beginning and is guaranteeing the completion of God’s gracious salvation (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30)”.
- According to The Complete WordStudy Dictionary the word “wrought” is a synonym for the word poiéō, which clearly also points to the process of the word in God’s poem, the “workmanship” of Eph. 2:10. Your identity in Christ thus plays an increasingly important role in establishing your inheritance. Selah.
- 2 Cor. 5:6 (Philips) then concludes this periscope by suggesting that “We realise that being ‘at home’ in the body means that to some extent we are ‘away’ from the Lord, for we have to live by trusting him without seeing him.” Perhaps the Mirror Bible states it in the clearest terms: “We are cheerfully courageous, knowing that our immediate address in our earthly bodies cannot distance us from the Lord, since we originate from Him.”
To conclude this subtheme of the teaching we want to examine a single Scripture in the next instalment, which seems as if it states the exact opposite of what our conclusion has been thus far, namely Rom. 8:11 – “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Interesting!
- Selah: Explain to someone how mortality can be “swallowed up by life”.
- Read: 4-12
- Memorise: 10:4
