2 Corinthians 5:9 NIV

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

The subject of 2 Corinthians 4 is continued. St. Paul has been pointing out that amid bodily weakness and decay he is encouraged by the thought that the temporal is transient, while the spiritual is eternal. He now goes on to speak more particularly of the great prospect that sustains him—the replacement of the earthly material body by an eternal heavenly one. He hopes to survive till Christ’s coming, and receive the heavenly body without passing through the experience of death: but, if it... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 2 Corinthians 5:9

(9) Wherefore we labour.—Better, we strive earnestly after. The English “labour” is quite inadequate, the Greek expressing the thought of striving, as after some honour or prize. Our ambition is that . . . we may be accepted would be, perhaps, the best equivalent. For “accepted of him” read acceptable, or better, well-pleasing to him: the Greek word implying the quality on which acceptance depends, rather than the act itself. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

2 Corinthians 5:10 Carts go along the streets; full of stript human corpses, thrown pell-mell; limbs sticking up: seest thou that cold Hand sticking up, through the heaped embrace of brother corpses, in its yellow paleness, in its cold rigour; the palm opened towards Heaven, as if in dumb prayer, in expostulation de profundis , take pity on the Sons of men! Mercier saw it, as he walked down 'the Rue Saint-Jacques from Mont-rouge, on the morrow of the Massacres': but not a Hand; it was a Foot,... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Chapter 13THE CHRISTIAN HOPE.2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (R.V)THAT outlook on the future, which at the close of 2 Corinthians 4:1-18. is presented in the most general terms, is here carried out by the Apostle into more definite detail. The passage is one of the most difficult in his writings, and has received the most various interpretations; yet the first impression it leaves on a simple reader is probably as near the truth as the subtlest ingenuity of exegesis. It is indeed to such first impressions... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

6. Concerning the Future. The Ministry of Reconciliation. CHAPTER 5 1. The Earthly and the Heavenly House. (2 Corinthians 5:1-8 .) 2. The Judgment Seat of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:9-12 .) 3. The Constraint of Love. (2 Corinthians 5:13-16 .) 4. The Ministry of Reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 .) The certainty of the future things is brought more fully in view. The apostle had given the great doctrines concerning the resurrection of the body, the coming of the Lord and the blessed... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - 2 Corinthians 5:9

5:9 Wherefore we {g} labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.(g) And seeing that it is so, we strive to live so, that both in this our pilgrimage here we may please him, and that at length we may be received home to him. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

Unquestioned certainty as to the future, and present confidence of faith are seen here further developed. "We know" is the proper language of Christianity. "The earthly house of this tabernacle" is of course what is called the "earthen vessel" and "outward man" in chapter 4: that is, our physical body as it is today. There is no cause for alarm if it is dissolved, for it is only intended to be temporary. In fact, it is said (though we are not in present possession of it) that "We have a... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

TRIAL OF PAUL ’S MINISTRY HIS SUFFERINGS (2 Corinthians 4:8-15 ) “Troubled,” “perplexed,” “persecuted,” “cast down” what a story! “Pressed on every side, yet not straitened,” not so hemmed in but that he could still proceed with his work; “perplexed, yet not in despair,” bewildered like a man going in a circle, put to it, yet not utterly put out; “pursued, yet not forsaken,” hunted like a wild animal, yet not abandoned to the foe; “smitten down, yet now destroyed,” thrown to the ground... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

Sustaining Truths 2 Corinthians 5:0 We need truths that can sustain us. Appearances are deceitful. Even in our most poetic moods, life is a struggle, a trial, a tragedy: even when we are in health we are not always just as well as we should like to be. There is a worm at the root of the flower: things do not fall squarely into place: we find in all the action of life a creaking and straining and groaning: nothing is harmonically complete. If that man were in another place the figure would be... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - 2 Corinthians 5:6-11

(6) Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (9) Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath... read more