2 Coríntios 5
Adam Clarke · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 5:9
Clarke - Through the love we have to God, we study and labour to please Him. This is and will be our heaven, to study to love, please, and serve Him from Whom we have received both our being and its blessings. (Adam Clarke Commentary) Whatever we do, it is because Christ's love controls us. HOW TO BE PLEASING TO THE LORD (1) We are pleasing to the Lord when we like Paul do not become entangled in the affairs of the world. 2 Timothy 2:3, 4 Suffer hardship (aorist imperative = command to do this now, to be willing to do it without hesitation when [not "if"] the suffering comes!) with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles (empleko and in the present tense describes intertwining with the world as a progressive process, not just an occasional "hiccup". E.g., we need to ask ourselves "Are my possessions possessing me?", "Where are my affections… my heart?" - see Col 3:1-+, Col 3:2-+, Mt 6:21-+, Mt 6:24-+) himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please (aresko - note that this verb is the root of euarestos which Paul uses here in 2Cor 5:9) the one who enlisted him as a soldier (Jesus has "enlisted" us in His "army"). Comment: So how can we fulfill the ambition to be pleasing to God? Clearly by making life choices that do not result in our becoming more and more entangled with the day to day affairs that occupy (and worry) the crooked and perverse generation (Php 2:15-+) that is "tethered" to this present, passing, perverted world. (As an aside, compare the destructive effects of the world on the sown seed of the Word = Mt 13:22, Lk 8:14, Mk 4:18, 19) (2) We are pleasing to the Lord when we walk like Enoch walked with God (by faith). Hebrews 11:5-+ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. Comment: From Hebrews 11:6 we see that Enoch's pleasing God was proof that he believed God and believed that He was a Rewarder of those who sought Him! Enoch walked by faith not sight. A walk of faith is reflected in obedience (not perfection but general direction of one's behavior and conduct.) A faith that is not accompanied not obedience gives no evidence that it is genuine (saving) faith! Do not misunderstand - obedience did not save Enoch, but it did demonstrate that he truly believed God was the only God and that He would reward him (which He did by rapturing him to Heaven!) Genesis 5:22 Then Enoch walked with (Hebrew = halak = speaks of movement, and thus means to physically walk but here figuratively describes one's behavior - see discussion below) God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. Resources related to Enoch's Walk with God: Enoch Walking with God - J C Ryle The Character and Translation of Enoch - J A James Enoch Walked with God by Edward Griffin Hebrews 11:5 Enoch's Translation - Charles Simeon Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = euaresteo = "well-pleasing to") God and he was not for God took him. Comment: The Septuagint (Lxx) translates both uses of the Hebrew verb "walked" with the Greek verb euaresteo = well pleasing. Brenton's English translation of the Lxx is "And Enoch was well-pleasing to God… ". It follows that the Hebrew verb halak clearly describes not just a physical walk but the general conduct of one's life. In all of the OT examples in this section we find depictions of men whose lives were characterized not by perfection but by direction, that is, by a general tendency toward godliness and toward their future promised home in heaven. As a corollary, if you believe you are headed for heaven in the future, your life should reflect it on earth in the present! If it does not, you might be deceiving yourself (study 2Cor 13:5-+) and your life might not be pleasing to God now or then! (cp Mt 7:21-+, Mt 7:22, 23-+) As an aside the Lxx translates "took" ("God took him") with the verb metatithemi which literally means to convey or transfer from one place to another! NET Bible has an additional interesting insight on the Hebrew verb halak: The construction translated "walked with" is used in Ge 5:22, 24 and in 1Sa 25:15, where it refers to David's and Nabal's men "rubbing shoulders" in the fields. Based on the use in 1Sa 25:15, the expression ("walked with") seems to mean "live in close proximity to," which may, by metonymy, mean "maintain cordial relations with." John Angell James: We now turn to the description of his character and conduct given by the writer of the Book of Genesis—"Enoch walked with God." Nothing can be more beautiful, comprehensive, or expressive than these few words. They contain a figure of speech—and what a figure! The allusion is to two people voluntarily and pleasantly walking together, and conversing confidentially with each other. They are friends, for "how can two walk together except they are agreed." They are conscious of each other's presence, as two people in such a situation necessarily must be. They are engaged in actual fellowship; there is communion and interchange of thought by speech. They are going the same way and engaged upon the same subject. Thus did Enoch walk with God. He was, like Abraham afterwards, the friend of God, having, as a sinner, come into a state of reconciliation with God by repentance and faith in the promised "Seed of the woman." He loved God as the effect of God's love to him, they were friends, and the patriarch knew and rejoiced in it. He lived as in the presence of God—he endured as seeing Him that is invisible, he acted "as ever in the great Taskmaster's eye," and was checked in temptation, stimulated in duty, and comforted in affliction, with Hagar's appeal, "O God, You see me." His private, domestic, and social life was ever regulated by the assured belief that he was always and everywhere in the presence and under the notice, even to the state of his heart, of an observant God. He maintained habitual communion with God, not only by those public acts of worship and sacrificial rites, which doubtless, he celebrated before the eyes of the scoffing generation amidst which he lived, not only at the domestic altar around which he gathered his household, nor even in the usual acts of his own private and personal devotion—but also in the constant frame and tenor of his devout and holy mind. His soul was in habitual communion with God, by its thoughts, its aspirations, and its unutterable breathings of confidence, affection, and intense desires. He exercised a divine friendship, a confidential, yet reverential familiarity, and talked with God as a man talks with his friend. In vain our fancy strives to paint The moment after death, The glories that surround the saint, When he resigns his breath! Thus much, and this is all we know— They are completely blessed, Are done with sin, and care, and woe, And with their Savior rest! HALLELUJAH! HOW THEN SHALL WE WALK BELOVED? Thomas Reade: O, blessed Jesus, open my understanding, that I may understand the Scriptures (Lk 24:45). Show me Yourself in all the fullness of Your power- in all the freeness of Your love. Guide me by Your Spirit, for it is not in man (not in our power, our self effort, our own natural strength) that walks to direct his steps. Study, O my soul, the records of eternal life. There you will discover, through the teaching of the Spirit of Truth, whether you are a pilgrim on the road to Zion. In that precious Book you are informed how you are not to walk, if a believer in Jesus– Walk not after the flesh. (Ro 8:13KJV-+) Walk not after the course of this world. (Eph 2:2-+) Walk not in darkness. (1Jn 1:6, Pr 2:13, Jn 8:12) Walk not by sight. (2Co 5:7-+) Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. (Eph 4:17KJV-+) These important passages stand as beacons, to guard you against the threatened danger… Lord! you have said, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." (Isa 42:16KJV) Fulfill this gracious promise to your servant, who is now seeking to walk in the light of your countenance, and by the guidance of your Holy Spirit. Cause me to walk in your statutes faithfully unto the end. Renew my strength that I may run and not be weary, and walk and not faint; yes, that I may mount with wings like an eagle, until I reach your abode of glory. (Isaiah 40:31-+) Search the Scriptures again, O my soul, and learn from these oracles of truth, how you are to walk as a believer, and how you may be assured that you are a believer, if your walk be correspondent to these sacred marks (Ed: Dear saint, let us make such a blessed walk our goal in this one brief life)– Walk with God. (Ge 5:22) Walk after (according to) the Spirit. (Ro 8:4, 5-+) Walk in Christ (Col 2:6-+). Walk by faith. (2Co 5:7-+) Walk in love. (Eph 5:2-+) Walk before God with all your heart (1Ki 8:23, 61, 11:4, 15:3,14, 2Ki 20:3 1Chr 12:38, 28:9, 29:19, 2Ch15:17, 16:9, 19:9, 25:2) Walk in truth. (1Ki 2:4, 3:14, Lev 26:3, 4, Lk 1:6, Ps 86:11-+) Walk in wisdom toward those who are without. (Col 4:5KJV-+) Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. (Eph 5:15KJV-+) Walk in the light. (1Jn 1:7, Jn 8:12, 12:35, Ps 56:13-+, Ps 89:15-+, Isa 2:5, Isa 9:2, Rev 21:24-+) Walk as a child of light. (Eph 5:8-+) Walk in the fear of the Lord. (Neh 5:9, Pr 23:17, Dt 8:6, 10:12, 2Chr 6:31, Acts 9:31) Walk worthy the vocation with which you are called. (Eph 4:1KJV-+) Walk in newness of life. (Ro 6:4-+) Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. (Col 1:10-+) Walk worthy of the Gospel of Christ (Php 1:27-+) Walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory. (1Th 2:12-+, cp 1Pe 2:9-+) Walk to please God (1Th 4:1-+) Walk as Christ walked. (1Pe 2:21-+, Jn 13:15, 1Jn 2:6) BELOVED OF THE LORD MAKE THIS YOUR PRAYER… Blessed Emmanuel! you know that I desire to walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, but to walk with my whole heart "in the way of your laws, and in obedience to your commandments," to walk by faith in your blood and righteousness, to the honor and glory of your holy name. Like Enoch and Noah may I walk with you. Like Abraham may I walk before you with a perfect heart. Like David may I set the Lord always before me. Oh! Allow me not to walk in the vain imagination of my heart; but in mercy teach me the good way wherein I should go. Then when I walk in the midst of trouble you will revive me; yes, when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil, for you will be with me, your rod and your staff they shall comfort me. O God, who declares your Almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity; mercifully grant unto me such a measure of your grace, that, running in the path of your commandments, I may obtain your gracious promises, and be made a partaker of your heavenly treasure through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. (Thomas Reade 1841 - Christian Meditations or The Believer's Companion in Solitude - Walking with God - Genesis 5:22 - a recommended read!) (Index to All 70 Christian Meditations) (Cross references added) Oh! that like Enoch I may walk With God in fellowship divine, Enjoy the witness of his love, And in his blessed image shine. When you shall call me hence away, I then shall prove the promise true; While hastening to the eternal world, Your glory, Lord, bursts on my view. Like Abraham may I talk with You, As friends converse who dearly love, And taste the comforts of your grace, 'Till I shall reach the world above. As blessed Elijah, strong in faith, Was borne aloft on wings of fire, So may my heart on You be fixed, Ascending on intense desire. O may I walk with You in love, And live, as ever in your sight, Until far removed from sin and woe, I walk with You arrayed in white. Below are the other OT (Lxx) uses of euaresteo… when it is used to translate the Hebrew verb halak, to walk with… Genesis 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with (Hebrew = halak ; Lxx = euaresteo = "well-pleasing to") God. Comment: Dearly beloved of the Father, if you sense the flames of your ambition to please Christ have cooled and your walk with Him is not what it once was, then let the prayerful poignant words of William Cowper's great hymn be in your heart and on your lips… Oh, for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame, A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb. Where is the blessedness I knew, When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word? What peaceful hours I once enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill. Return, O holy Dove, return, Sweet messenger of rest! I hate the sins that made Thee mourn And drove Thee from my breast. The dearest idol I have known, Whate’er that idol be Help me to tear it from Thy throne, And worship only Thee. So shall my walk be close with God, Calm and serene my frame; So purer light shall mark the road That leads me to the Lamb. Choral version; Vocal Version - uses 1st & last stanza Genesis 17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk (A reflexive [you yourself is the idea] imperative or command in Hebrew = halak ; Lxx = euaresteo = be "well-pleasing to" in the present imperative = make this the habitual practice of your life!) before Me, and be blameless. Genesis 24:40 "And he said to me (Isaac speaking), 'The LORD, before whom I have walked (Hebrew = halak ; Lxx = euaresteo = "well-pleasing to"), will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives, and from my father's house; Genesis 48:15 And he (Israel or Jacob is speaking - Ge 48:14) blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = euaresteo = "well-pleasing to"), the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, Psalm 26:3 (David writes) For Thy lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = euaresteo = "well-pleasing to") in Thy truth.
2 Coríntios 5:10
Clarke says "We labour (Ed: Note how we are to labor - Col 1:29+, He 13:20, 21+ - His supernatural provision and power, not our fleshly power!) to walk so as to please him, because we know that we shall have to give a solemn account of ourselves before the judgment seat of Christ; where he, whose religion we profess, will judge us according to its precepts, and according to the light and grace which it affords. (2 Corinthians Commentary) Appear - Literally "Be manifested". It follows that we each will appear before our Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge, but the "when" or time frame of this appearance is less certain. THE JUDGMENT SEAT A PLACE OF REVELATION Appear (5319) (phaneroo from phanerós = manifest, visible, conspicuous in turn from phaino = give light; become visible in turn from phos = light) is literally "to bring to light" and primarily means "to make visible", to cause to become visible, to be make known, to be clearly reveal, to be manifested or caused to be seen. And so it won't be just our exterior (our "good looks"), but our interior, especially our character (our "good works") which will be exposed to full view of our Righteous, Just Judge (Jn 5:22, 1Co 4:5, 2Ti 4:1+)! If this truth does not put a holy fear of the Lord in you beloved (cp 1Pe 1:17+, 2Co 7:1+), I don't know what will! Jesus (Whose eyes are like a flame of fire! Rev 1:14+) will be our "Fruit Inspector", looking beyond the quantity of our works to the quality of our works… Gulp! Arthur Way’s translation brings out this day of "full disclosure"… For we have all to stand, stripped of all disguise, before Messiah’s bar, that each may receive the recompense for deeds whereof the body was the instrument, Yea, even according to that which he hath done, Be it good, be it evil. (I don't agree however with his translating it as "evil" which is what the Textus Receptus has [kakos]. The Nestle Aland has "phaulos" which means useless or of no effect). Vine explains that phaneroo… in the passive voice (as in 2Co 5:10) means, “to be (in English "be" conveys the passive sense) manifested”… (Ed: In other words) A person may “appear” in a false guise or without a disclosure of what he truly is (but) to be manifested is to be revealed in one’s true character. (Online - Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words) (Bolding added) (Note: Hypocrites beware! cp Mt 6:2+, Mt 6:5+, See word study on hypocrisy = hupokrisis)
2 Coríntios 5:10
Clarke - That each may receive to himself (Ed: komizo is middle voice which is gives this reflective sense, the sense of initiating the act and participating in the fruit of it), into his own hand, his own reward and his own wages. Vine - the saints will receive rewards for their faithfulness to the Lord, and will there see the effects of the service rendered to Him in accordance with the will of God as revealed in His Word. See 1Th 2:19; 1Pe 5:4; 1Jn 2:28. For all that has been contrary to His will they will suffer loss; they will themselves be saved, “yet so as through fire” (1Co 3:15). The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery notes that "The motif of reward is deeply rooted in the faith of the Bible, which nowhere treats the godly life as a life devoid of reward. From God’s assurance to Abraham that “your reward shall be very great” (Ge15:1NRSV) to Christ’s statement in the last chapter of the Bible that “I am coming soon; my reward is with me” (Rev 22:12NRSV+), the Bible assumes that God rewards the righteous. This is not to say that reward is based on human merit; it is based on divine grace… The Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible for reward are rooted in the idea of payment, hire or wages. A correspondence is presupposed between work done or not done and the payment given to a person. Only once-in Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard who receive a payment that disregards the duration of their effort (Mt 20:1-16)—is this link severed, for the purpose of stressing that in the kingdom of God new values dominate, based on divine grace rather than human merit. The idea of reward is richly evoked throughout Scripture as the fruit, consequence and award for goodness or righteousness in living—living that reveals faithfulness to God’s commands. (In the NT) the focus of the rewards in the motivational section of each beatitude (“for… ”) is solidly otherworldly and even eschatological (Ed: Future focused). The rewards are now such things as possessing the kingdom of heaven, receiving God’s comfort and mercy, seeing God and being called children of God. And even when the imagery looks earthly (inheriting the earth) the reference probably is to a coming millennium or new creation. (Online - Dictionary of Biblical Imagery) J
2 Coríntios 5:11-13
Clarke - It is to God - If we do appear, in speaking of the glories of the eternal world, to be transported beyond ourselves, it is through the good hand of our God upon us, and we do it to promote his honour. Whether we be sober - Speak of Divine things in a more cool and dispassionate manner, it is that we may the better instruct and encourage you. (2 Corinthians 5 Commentary) Joseph Beet Gone-out-of-our-mind: become mad. These strange words can be accounted for only as being actually spoken by his enemies. The relatives of Christ said (Mk 3:21) the same of Him. We can well conceive that Paul’s ecstatic visions, (2Co 12:2ff, ) his transcendental teaching, which to many would seem absurd, his reckless daring in face of peril, and his complete rejection of all the motives which rule common men, would lead some to say and even to believe that he was not in full possession of his senses. The same has been said in all ages about similar men. For God: to work out His purposes. Of sound mind: exact opposite of madness. Same contrast in Mk 5:15; Ac 26:25. For you: to do you good. If, as our enemies say, we are mad, we have become so in order to serve God and do His work. And, therefore, our very madness claims respect. If we are men of sound sense we use our sense, not, as most others do, to enrich ourselves, but to do you good Paul thus appeals to his readers’ observation of his conduct. They knew that where human prudence might condemn his recklessness his purpose was to serve God; and that whatever mental power he possessed was used for the good of others. (2 Corinthians 5 Commentary) If we are of sound mind, it is for you - This most likely describes times when Paul was simply teaching in a calm manner. His goal was to edify and equip the saints at Corinth. In sum, if things I do look insane to some, I am doing them for God. If other things I do look sane and sober minded, I am doing those things for your sake. Paul is showing that there is a place for defending yourself in ministry -- If it is done for God's glory and if it is done for the benefit of the saints. Sound mind (4993)(sophroneo from sozo = to save {from sos = sound} + phren = mind, which would then literally describe a "saved mind"!) (Click studies on related words sophron and sophronismos) means literally to be of sound mind. The idea is to to keep one’s mind safe and sound or to be in one's right mind. To think of one's self soberly. To put a moderate estimate on one's self. To curb one's passions. It means to be able to reason and think properly and in a sane manner. It means to have understanding about practical matters and thus be able to act sensibly and implies reasonableness, moderation, good judgment, self-control.
2 Coríntios 5:17
Clarke has an interesting comment on new creature noting that… The man is… new made; he is a new creature, a new creation, a little world in himself; formerly, all was in chaotic disorder; now, there is a new creation, which God himself owns as His workmanship (Eph 2:10-+), and which He can look on and pronounce very good. J Philip Arthur asks… What is a Christian? What can we say about someone who is 'in Christ'? Is he little more than an unbeliever with a kind of moral facelift? Are the differences between saved and unsaved people merely cosmetic, or do they go deeper? Paul would have us understand that Christians are not people with one or two superficial changes, but new people altogether. Each one is a 'new creation'. Everything about them is different. (Welwyn Commentary Series – Strength in Weakness: 2 Corinthians Simply Explained) Creationist Henry