2 Coríntios 5

2 Coríntios 5

Lenski says "A little more (καί) must be said in explanation (γάρ) of the previous statement about our groaning." For indeed Paul is emphasizing the point of the believer's groaning (just noted in 2Co 5:2-+), Lenski writes "We are not Stoics, we feel the burden and we groan; not because we are cowards and just want to escape our burden, but because we want to put on the heavenly life. So both the groaning and the longing mentioned in v. 2 are further elucidated." While we are in this tent (skenos), we groan (stenazo), being burdened (bareo) - The literal idea is "‘we groan, being weighed down" (as under a continual, oppressive, depressing burden). Amplified = "For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)". This is a repeat of 2Co 5:1 changing house to tent (picturing transient existence, our life as "tent-like") and referring to our physical bodies exposed to afflictions on one hand (2Co 4:17), and at the same time groaning for our promised future glory. We groan (literally describes a deep, inarticulate sound of pain, displeasure or grief and whether literal or figurative in Paul's case is hard to determine, but probably figurative) is present tense describing continuous action. Groaning alludes to a condition which is unsatisfying and sorrowful (compared with our future hope of glory!). Groaning in a sense could represent Paul's cry for deliverance from our physical bodies and a desire for our new bodies. Lenski feels the heavy burden is what he had described in 2Co 4:8-9 (afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed) which of course would burden anyone. (Interpretation of 2 Corinthians) Hodge - The burden meant may be the affliction by which Paul was overwhelmed; or the body itself; or the longing after a better world. As this passage is intimately connected with the preceding chapter, in which the apostle had spoken so freely of his sufferings, and as his experience in view of death was determined by those sufferings, it is perfectly natural to understand him to refer to the burden of sorrow. It was because he suffered so much that he groaned to be delivered, i.e. to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians Commentary) Abernathy summarizes how numerous commentaries (abbreviated in brackets) interpret groaning and burdened - The groaning is from suffering [Ho, Lns, SP, TH, TNTC], or from a feeling of oppression [TG]. It expresses aversion to the thought of being bodiless [HNTC, ICC1, My, NTC, SP]. It expresses Paul’s aversion to the process of dying [ICC2]. It is a groaning from the burden that bodily existence entails [He]. It is a sigh of longing for better things [NCBC, NIC2], a yearning for the new spiritual body [WBC]. (On Burdened) = It is the apprehension concerning the bodiless state [HNTC, ICC1, My, NTC]. It is the burden of frailties and limitations [NIC1], or the mortal bodily existence [He]. It is the burden of his sufferings [Ho, ICC2, Lns, NCBC, NIC2, SP, TNTC, WBC] (An Exegetical Summary of 2 Corinthians)