HOLY BIBLE: 2 Corinthians 5 (original) (raw)

1 Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἔχομεν οἰκίαν ἀχειροποίητον αἰώνιον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. 2 καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ στενάζομεν, τὸ οἰκητήριον ἡμῶν τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπενδύσασθαι ἐπιποθοῦντες, 3 εἴ γε καὶ ἐκδυσάμενοι οὐ γυμνοὶ εὑρεθησόμεθα. 4 καὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄντες ἐν τῷ σκήνει στενάζομεν βαρούμενοι, ἐφ' ᾧ οὐ θέλομεν ἐκδύσασθαι ἀλλ' ἐπενδύσασθαι, ἵνα καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς. 5 ὁ δὲ κατεργασάμενος ἡμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο θεός, ὁ δοὺς ἡμῖν τὸν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ πνεύματος. 6 θαρροῦντες οὖν πάντοτε καὶ εἰδότες ὅτι ἐνδημοῦντες ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐκδημοῦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, 7 διὰ πίστεως γὰρ περιπατοῦμεν οὐ διὰ εἴδους 8 θαρροῦμεν δὲ καὶ εὐδοκοῦμεν μᾶλλον ἐκδημῆσαι ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἐνδημῆσαι πρὸς τὸν κύριον. 9 διὸ καὶ φιλοτιμούμεθα, εἴτε ἐνδημοῦντες εἴτε ἐκδημοῦντες, εὐάρεστοι αὐτῷ εἶναι. 10 τοὺς γὰρ πάντας ἡμᾶς φανερωθῆναι δεῖ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθὸν εἴτε φαῦλον.

1 Once this earthly tent-dwelling of ours has come to an end, God, we are sure, has a solid building waiting for us, a dwelling not made with hands, that will last eternally in heaven.[1] 2 And indeed, it is for this that we sigh, longing for the shelter of that home which heaven will give us, 3 if death, when it comes, is to find us sheltered, not defenceless against the winds. 4 Yes, if we tent-dwellers here go sighing and heavy-hearted, it is not because we would be stripped of something; rather, we would clothe ourselves afresh; our mortal nature must be swallowed up in life. 5 For this, nothing else, God was preparing us, when he gave us the foretaste of his Spirit. 6 We take heart, then, continually, since we recognize that our spirits are exiled from the Lord’s presence so long as they are at home in the body, 7 with faith, instead of a clear view, to guide our steps. 8 We take heart, I say, and have a mind rather to be exiled from the body, and at home with the Lord; 9 to that end, at home or in exile, our ambition is to win his favour. 10 All of us have a scrutiny to undergo before Christ’s judgement-seat, for each to reap what his mortal life has earned, good or ill, according to his deeds.

1 Scimus enim quoniam si terrestris domus nostra hujus habitationis dissolvatur, quod ædificationem ex Deo habemus, domum non manufactam, æternam in cælis. 2 Nam et in hoc ingemiscimus, habitationem nostram, quæ de cælo est, superindui cupientes: 3 si tamen vestiti, non nudi inveniamur. 4 Nam et qui sumus in hoc tabernaculo, ingemiscimus gravati: eo quod nolumus expoliari, sed supervestiri, ut absorbeatur quod mortale est, a vita. 5 Qui autem efficit nos in hoc ipsum, Deus, qui dedit nobis pignus Spiritus. 6 Audentes igitur semper, scientes quoniam dum sumus in corpore, peregrinamur a Domino 7 (per fidem enim ambulamus, et non per speciem): 8 audemus autem, et bonam voluntatem habemus magis peregrinari a corpore, et præsentes esse ad Dominum. 9 Et ideo contendimus, sive absentes, sive præsentes, placere illi. 10 Omnes enim nos manifestari oportet ante tribunal Christi, ut referat unusquisque propria corporis, prout gessit, sive bonum, sive malum.

11 εἰδότες οὖν τὸν φόβον τοῦ κυρίου ἀνθρώπους πείθομεν, θεῷ δὲ πεφανερώμεθα: ἐλπίζω δὲ καὶ ἐν ταῖς συνειδήσεσιν ὑμῶν πεφανερῶσθαι. 12 οὐ πάλιν ἑαυτοὺς συνιστάνομεν ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ ἀφορμὴν διδόντες ὑμῖν καυχήματος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἵνα ἔχητε πρὸς τοὺς ἐν προσώπῳ καυχωμένους καὶ μὴ ἐν καρδίᾳ. 13 εἴτε γὰρ ἐξέστημεν, θεῷ: εἴτε σωφρονοῦμεν, ὑμῖν. 14 ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνέχει ἡμᾶς, κρίναντας τοῦτο, ὅτι εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν, ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον: 15 καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἐγερθέντι. 16 ὥστε ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν οὐδένα οἴδαμεν κατὰ σάρκα: εἰ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν. 17 ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις: τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονεν καινά: 18 τὰ δὲ πάντα ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ καταλλάξαντος ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ διὰ Χριστοῦ καὶ δόντος ἡμῖν τὴν διακονίαν τῆς καταλλαγῆς, 19 ὡς ὅτι θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ, μὴ λογιζόμενος αὐτοῖς τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον τῆς καταλλαγῆς.

11 It is, then, with the fear of the Lord before our minds that we try to win men over by persuasion; God recognizes us for what we are, and so I hope, does your better judgement.[2] 12 No, we are not trying to recommend ourselves to your favour afresh; we are shewing you how to find material for boasting of us, to those who have so much to boast of outwardly, and nothing inwardly. 13 Are these wild words? Then take them as addressed to God. Or sober sense? Then take them as addressed to yourselves.[3] 14 With us, Christ’s love is a compelling motive, and this is the conviction we have reached; if one man died on behalf of all, then all thereby became dead men; 15 Christ died for us all, so that being alive should no longer mean living with our own life, but with his life who died for us and has risen again; 16 and therefore, henceforward, we do not think of anybody in a merely human fashion; even if we used to think of Christ in a human fashion, we do so no longer;[4] 17 it follows, in fact, that when a man becomes a new creature in Christ, his old life has disappeared, everything has become new about him.[5] 18 This, as always, is God’s doing; it is he who, through Christ, has reconciled us to himself, and allowed us to minister this reconciliation of his to others. 19 Yes, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, establishing in our hearts his message of reconciliation, instead of holding men to account for their sins.

11 Scientes ergo timorem Domini, hominibus suademus, Deo autem manifesti sumus. Spero autem et in conscientiis vestris manifestos nos esse. 12 Non iterum commendamus nos vobis, sed occasionem damus vobis gloriandi pro nobis: ut habeatis ad eos qui in facie gloriantur, et non in corde. 13 Sive enim mente excedimus Deo: sive sobrii sumus, vobis. 14 Caritas enim Christi urget nos: æstimantes hoc, quoniam si unus pro omnibus mortuus est, ergo omnes mortui sunt: 15 et pro omnibus mortuus est Christus: ut, et qui vivunt, jam non sibi vivant, sed ei qui pro ipsis mortuus est et resurrexit. 16 Itaque nos ex hoc neminem novimus secundum carnem. Et si cognovimus secundum carnem Christum, sed nunc jam non novimus. 17 Si qua ergo in Christo nova creatura, vetera transierunt: ecce facta sunt omnia nova. 18 Omnia autem ex Deo, qui nos reconciliavit sibi per Christum: et dedit nobis ministerium reconciliationis, 19 quoniam quidem Deus erat in Christo mundum reconcilians sibi, non reputans illis delicta ipsorum, et posuit in nobis verbum reconciliationis.

[1] There may be an allusion here to the contrast between the tabernacle in the wilderness and the more solidly built temple which afterwards replaced it. Cf. Heb. 11.9, 10.

[2] The precise bearing of this verse is very doubtful; the general sense seems to be that God knows, without any need of persuasion, how sincere the Apostle’s intentions are, and the Corinthians ought, by this time, to be in the same position.

[3] Many interpretations are given of this verse, which reads literally, ‘Whether we are out of our senses, it is to God, or whether we are in our right mind, it is to you’.

[4] ‘We do not think of anybody in a merely human fashion’, literally, ‘We do not know anybody according to the flesh’. St Paul seems to contrast himself here with the persons mentioned in verse 12, who judge everything by outward appearances; for him, all outward considerations of nationality, kinship, etc., disappear in the new unity of the Christian family. It is not easy to suppose that St Paul knew Christ ‘after the flesh’ in the sense of knowing him before the Ascension; it is possible, however, that when he says ‘we’ he is thinking of the other apostles, who had known Christ as a friend and a teacher, some of them as a kinsman.

[5] The Greek here may also be rendered, ‘When a man is in Christ, he has become a new creature; his old life has disappeared’, etc.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd