NOTES for Co2 4:13-5:1

The Christian commentators interpreted Paul's words concerning the earthly tent differently. For some it was associated with earthly life in general, with this earthly house, which sooner or later man will have to leave, others saw in this tent the not transformed body, which is called to change, and that will come a new body transformed by the breath of God. In a certain sense, probably both are just.

And it is necessary to pay all the same attention on the fact that the Greek word translated usually into English as "hut" or "tent", in the Greek translations of the books of the Old Testament is of the same root as the word "tabernacle", indicating this sacred hut, which for the Jews during decades was the only sanctuary. This sense does not also disappear in the texts of the New Testament: John for example says that the Word "lives among us in the tent" (or in "the tabernacle"; the King James Version translation proposes in this case "dwelt among us").

In such a context and Paul's words acquire a special meaning. It already begins to be not only about the earthly life or the not transformed body, but, maybe, first of all the Christians, as living sanctuaries, probably, approximately in the same sense, in which in another message Paul compare the Christians to the Temple, where dwells the breath of God.

Well then it turns out that the entire life of the Christian, current and future is defined by the measure of his participation in the life of the Kingdom. Actually, it is already not about two different lives, but about one, which, beginning in the not transformed world in the not transformed body, goes on later in the world transformed in forms corresponding to this transformed world. Probably, it can’t be otherwise in the Kingdom: because the Kingdom for the Christian is not the future, but the present; and for the rest it is not about the essence, but only the forms.

As the world changes, transforming and becoming more and more a part of the Kingdom, is also transformed, becoming more and more a part of the Kingdom, the life of each of its inhabitants. The essence remains besides invariable: no matter what was the form, a Christian always lives the life of the Kingdom, inhales his breath, and witnesses of it to the world. And the form and the timing of changes are defined by God.

Faith in the general resurrection appeared in the people of God not immediately. It is maybe impossible today to define the exact hour of its appearance. But we can say with certainty that one or two hundred years before even the coming of the Christ it was already spread everywhere, as well of course as in the evangelic period. But the traditional representations about the general resurrection supposed that this resurrection will become the anticipation of the last judgment and the day of the coming of the Messiah. Actually, it is in particular on the Judgment that had to be decided, who deserves to enter the Kingdom, and who is not. The apostle proposes to us another picture of the general resurrection.

As seen, he comes from the fact that the resurrection of Christ is not a certain supernatural event, exclusive in the history, that it marks by itself the beginning of another history, the history of the Kingdom entering into the world. And this whole history is the resurrection, the resurrection of those who make with the risen Christ a united spiritual whole, dwelling with Him in the same Kingdom. Here, as seen, for Paul, are bound together the history of the Kingdom and the spiritual biographies of its concrete inhabitants: every Christian passes the way of Christ, the way of the local, partial and incomplete losses, of the life for the entrance into a new life, the life of the Kingdom in all its plenitude.

And there, in the Kingdom, there’s already no historical time, such as we know it according to the not transformed world: all the resuscitated get up at the same time before Jesus, not because the time is an illusion, but because the world, becoming the Kingdom in all plenitude, meets around its center - the risen Christ, Who is the foundation of the whole history and the entire life of the Kingdom. So the triumph of Christ becomes the triumph of the Kingdom, and the triumph of the Kingdom – the triumph of everyone, which is involved there.

This idea - one of the central ideas in this epistle of Apostle Paul, opens us the intention of God for our salvation. The apostle sees it more in detail as follows. In the first place, on the base of all the intention lie the Embodiment of the Son of God and the creation of the Church.

When the Son of God shared voluntarily with us our human nature and our human life, becoming so similar to us in everything, except sin, by this He gave us the possibility of being together, with Him. This "together" is something rather mysterious; God Himself speaks about it "abide in me, as the branches abide in the vine". But Apostle Paul, according to ancient manuscripts, implied a simple sense of this word, and wrote "with Jesus", instead of "by Jesus ".

Further, in God’ plan, according to Paul, people living together with Jesus, become the participants of His resurrection.

The icon of the descent into hell, on which the Lord by hands pulls out of the grave Adam and Eve speaks about it most clearly. The Bible often calls the Christ the Shepherd of people, and in the East the Shepherd goes in front of the herd, clearing it the way.

Well, strictly speaking, that’s why the Church, which does not just represent a social institute, a "religious organization" in the terms of the civil law, but the real Body of the Christ, is so significant for us. The secret of the union with Christ in the baptism gives us this wonderful hope.

Apostle Paul speaks about "light afflictions" whereas he underwent in reality very heavy trials, few people can undergo such trials. He himself explains what’s the matter here, saying that he sees his afflictions transformed. The apostle sees them already finished, sees how their fruit is- the glory, sees them from the point of view of eternity, because now already - God sees our afflictions - when it is painful and it seems this will never end.

It will finish, and will be taken on in glory, quite as the Cross of the Christ ends with the Resurrection. And we already can approach today such a vision, if we look not "at the things which are seen, but which are not seen ".

We can look at things which are not seen only by faith, which Apostle Paul defines as "evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1: "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ").

Faith relieves our afflictions and all that our life consists of. Only by faith, looking at things not seen, that is keeping in our heart, as the greatest jewel trust in God - the Creator, Curator of everything on earth and the Redeemer, that we become sighted, capable of seeing the meaning of our afflictions, and our enjoyments.

Only by faith we can get up until the height of the Divine intention and God’s way of dispensation, up to the firm, solid support, which is not exposed to time, does not disappear, does not change, does not deceive, because this is God.

The idea according to which the afflictions endured by Christians in this world become in the Kingdom their glory, already probably became a commonplace. And nevertheless: what wants to say the apostle, speaking about afflictions, which in "the unseen", on which it is only necessary to look and of which it is only necessary to have in mind, turn around in glory? Do his words mean only that in the eternal life, in the fullness of the Kingdom "nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten", and every feat of faith of every Christian will receive in his new life a worthy evaluation? Probably, this also. But only it? What is it, in reality, this glory, about which Paul writes? The greatness, the celebrity? Probably, no all the same.

At least, in the Greek-speaking biblical books, this word corresponds to the Jew, which means glory, as God's presence, this very luminous presence, which accompanied the Jewish people throughout their history, beginning with the Exodus. And if to speak about such a glory, then it is necessary to speak already not about the memory and even not the rewards, here it is not about the encouragement of the heroes, even those who completely deserved it.

It is necessary to speak here about this measure of the fullness of God's presence, which is given to the man who seeks for the Kingdom and joins it. Well then it turns out that these persecutions and afflictions, that the Christian endures for his faith and for his faithfulness, open not only to himself the fullness of the life of the Kingdom, but also sanctify him, making him a bearer of this presence of God, which during centuries accompanied the people of God and that penetrated the Kingdom. And the problem here is not in the fact that the afflictions in themselves move the man closer to the Kingdom.

The problem is in what the Savior had already spoken Himself, calling back the inevitability of the persecutions: these persecutions are a kind of compass showing that the persecuted was not on the wrong way. Of course, these persecutions can take various forms, but the aversion by the fallen world of those who bring to this world God's presence, was, is and will be, otherwise the fallen world would stop being itself.

The time will come, when that will take place, the day of the triumph of the Kingdom, when its inhabitants and the carriers of the glory of God will become in the world his’. But for that the world has to be completely transformed, its nature itself has to become other, transparent for the actions of the breath of God and obeying it completely. But for the moment the conflict is inevitable, and "a light affliction open "an eternal weight of glory". "Light" because all which is connected to the fallen nature of the not transformed world is temporary. "Eternal weight" because the Kingdom is for ever.

For the apostle, Christian life is one in all its fullness and at all its stages. Before, prior to the coming of Christ, every person's life was clearly divided into "before" and "after," into life and life after death, which could not be called life in the full sense of the word even under the most optimistic view of it. For most people, life after death meant a world of shadows, where there is no life but only its likeness, where a person turns into his own shadow, forgetting earthly life and almost losing awareness of his own existence.

There were, of course, less pessimistic views of life after death, which assumed the immortality of the soul and recompense after death, but even then the matter concerned only the soul, not the whole person. Paul speaks of something else. He starts not from hope in the immortality of the soul, but from the expectation of the resurrection of the whole person, entirely and completely. And for him this process has already become reality, together with the Kingdom that has entered the world.

For a person living the life of the Kingdom, the difference between "before" and "after," if it does not disappear completely, becomes nonessential. The life of the Kingdom is one, and a person who has come to share in this life is no longer subject to death in the form in which it is present in the fallen world. Of course, insofar as the Kingdom has not yet entered the world completely, a person cannot be completely free from death. This refers first of all to the physical body, which in its fallen state can become a barrier between a person and God.

It was not intended to be this way. God created man so that he could remain with Him in the fullness of communion. But after the fall everything became different, and the embodied nature that had once been the place of meeting between man and God became a barrier separating man from God. A barrier that can, of course, be overcome, but one noticeable enough that it cannot be ignored. That is why the apostle says that the fullness of communion with God presupposes liberation from the body in its present state, not in the sense of complete rejection of it, but in the sense of its transformation, such a change in its nature that it would not hinder communion with God, but would instead help it.

In any case, this communion with God begins not somewhere in another world and not sometime after death, but here and now. The first stage of the path into the Kingdom begins when a person decides to follow Christ and enters the Church. And already at this first stage, more is decided than one might think when looking at fallen man.

At the first stage it is determined what the following stages will be, if not entirely, then to a great extent. God prepares the heavenly dwelling for a person, but the clothing that will be on that person when he stands at the threshold of that dwelling is prepared by the person himself during his earthly life. Life in the Kingdom begins here and now, and it is precisely here and now that what we will become later, at the next stage of our path, is determined. This is what the apostle reminds the readers of his letter.

Continuing the discussion of the ministry of a witness, Paul especially emphasizes the need to move the listeners' focus away from the witness's personality and toward God and Christ, so that no one would attribute the power of God and the breath of the Kingdom to the witness himself as a human being (v. 7). It is from this point of view that the apostle considers the persecutions and afflictions that often fell both on him and on his companions (vv. 8-9). Of course, the witness of a true witness would not become false or less significant even if he were surrounded by honor and respect. But in that case there would always be a danger that the minds and hearts of the listeners were being influenced not so much by the witness itself as by additional factors: the force of the witness's personality, the general respect shown to him, and the pressure of public opinion.

Of course, this influence is not dangerous in itself, at least as long as it directs a person in the right direction. But under such conditions a certain kind of self-deception is always possible, when a person considers himself, at times quite sincerely, a Christian not because he seeks the Kingdom and is ready to follow Christ, but because he has fallen under the spell of a famous, respected, and perhaps truly outstanding spiritual leader. It is always psychologically harder to follow a persecuted or at least unpopular preacher, but in that case the chances are noticeably higher that the follower shares the values and convictions of his leader, rather than merely yielding to his charm, though of course there are exceptions.

But another point is important as well: witness to the Kingdom there and then, where and when there appears to be no hope not only for the triumph of the ideas the preacher defends, but even simply for a favorable outcome (vv. 10-12). In such a situation the reality of the Kingdom is either experienced with utmost clarity or, if it remains only an abstraction for the listeners, is not experienced at all. It is no accident that Paul says the death overtaking the apostle and his companions turns into the fullness of the life of Christ and the Kingdom for those to whom they testify, including the Christians of Corinth (v. 12). Nothing is so convincing as the triumph of the Kingdom revealed in the life of a persecuted witness (vv. 13-15). That is what keeps Paul from losing heart: he truly experiences this triumph during persecutions, seeing the Kingdom expand and include ever new inhabitants (vv. 16-18).

The Epistle to the Corinthians speaks not only of the danger of the Christian path but also of suffering and death, without any obvious reward. For the only motive proves to be the desire “that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh,” while “the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” How far this is from our usual ideas about a person's calling, about fulfillment in this life, and, finally, about glory!

What does it mean to be a perfect Christian? In the preceding chapter, Paul speaks of humanity’s new, life-giving relationship with God. What, then, becomes of the person from whose heart the veil has fallen, who gains freedom and great boldness through knowing Christ and is transformed into his image? Perhaps that person becomes a model for many to imitate and enjoys universal admiration and trust? Perhaps that person gains vitality, succeeds in everything, develops, and achieves self-realization? Perhaps that person walks confidently along life’s road, where gifts have been laid out here and there...