2 Corinthians 5
If the earthly house of the tent is torn down, there is a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We groan, longing to put on over us the habitation from heaven — not to be unclothed but clothed over, so that the mortal is swallowed up by life. God gave the deposit of the Spirit. At home in the body we are abroad from the Lord — we walk by faith, not by appearance — and would rather be abroad from the body and at home with the Lord. All must be manifested before the judgement seat of Christ. Out of our mind, for God; of right mind, for you. The love of Christ grips us — one died for all, therefore all died. We know no one according to flesh now. In Christ — a new creation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself; we are ambassadors: be reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin he made sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.
Why this rendering
2Cor.5.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἔχομεν οἰκίαν ἀχειροποίητον αἰώνιον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς — For we know that if our earthly house of the tent is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. σκῆνος (vv.1, 4 — two places in the New Testament, both here) is a different word from the σκηνή, ‘tent’, of Luke 9:33; English has one word for both. Three house-words: οἰκία ‘house’ · οἰκοδομή ‘building’ (1 Cor 3:9) · in v.2 οἰκητήριον (two places — here and Jude) ‘habitation’. ἀχειροποίητος is the word of Mark 14:58, the sanctuary ‘not made with hands’. Verses 2-4 use three clothing verbs — ἐπενδύομαι (two places, both here) ‘put on over’ · ἐκδύω ‘put off’ · ἐνδύω ‘put on’ — and the base text reads ‘having put on’ in v.3 (⸀; the other reading is ‘having put off’). In v.4 ἐφ’ ᾧ is the phrase of Rom 5:12, kept open as ‘upon which’, and καταποθῇ is the verb of 1 Cor 15:54, ‘death is swallowed up in victory’ — here the mortal is swallowed up by life.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The genitive ‘of the tent’ is kept as a genitive rather than folded into an adjective; the word is not the tabernacle word.
Basis The familiar rendering, which paraphrases the genitive.
Rejected It drops the noun οἰκία and turns the genitive into a clause.
Basis οἰκητήριον by the rendering of σκήνωμα in Acts 7:46.
Rejected It merges the word with σκήνωμα, ‘dwelling’ — a different word.
Lost in translation
σκῆνος ↔ σκηνή — both are ‘tent’ in English; the two Greek words are not told apart.
ἐνδύω · ἐκδύω · ἐπενδύομαι — ‘put on · put off · put on over’ keep the three on one verb.
καταπίνω (v.4) — one word ‘swallowed up’ with 1 Cor 15:54.
Why this rendering
2Cor.5.6 Observation
Syntactic observation
Θαρροῦντες οὖν πάντοτε καὶ εἰδότες ὅτι ἐνδημοῦντες ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐκδημοῦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, διὰ πίστεως γὰρ περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διὰ εἴδους — So being of good courage always, and knowing that while at home in the body we are abroad from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by appearance —. ἐνδημέω · ἐκδημέω (three places each in the New Testament, all in vv.6-9) are δῆμος, ‘one’s own people, one’s home’, with ἐν- and ἐκ-: ‘at home / abroad’. Verse 6 opens with participles and has no main verb; v.7 is inserted, and v.8 restarts with θαρροῦμεν δέ (anacoluthon). θαρρέω (six places, five in this letter) is another form of the θαρσέω, ‘take courage’, of Mark 6:50. εἶδος (Luke 3:22 ‘bodily form’; 9:29 ‘the appearance of his face’) is the visible form, not the act of seeing.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The ἐν-/ἐκ- pair on δῆμος carried as a pair of opposites in English.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It loses the ‘home’ of δῆμος and breaks the pair with ‘at home with the Lord’ in v.8.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected εἶδος is the ‘form/appearance’ of Luke 3:22 and 9:29 — what is seen, not the seeing; ‘sight’ also collides with τὰ βλεπόμενα in 4:18.
Lost in translation
ἐνδημέω / ἐκδημέω — ‘at home / abroad’ stand as a pair, though ‘abroad’ does not repeat ‘home’.
θαρρέω ↔ θαρσέω (Mark 6:50) — two forms of one verb; ‘be of good courage / take courage’ share ‘courage’.
The anacoluthon of vv.6-8 — participles, no main verb, v.7 inserted, a restart in v.8 — is kept with dashes.
Why this rendering
2Cor.5.14 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνέχει ἡμᾶς, κρίναντας τοῦτο ὅτι εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν· ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον — For the love of Christ grips us, since we have judged this: that one died for all; therefore all died. συνέχω is the verb of Matt 4:24 (‘gripped by diseases’) and Acts 18:5 (‘gripped by the word’) — here love is the subject. The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ leaves open whether it is Christ’s love or love for Christ. ἀπέθανεν · ἀπέθανον are both aorist — ‘all died’ stands as something already done, set against οἱ ζῶντες, ‘those who live’, in v.15. ὅτι carries the base text’s ⸀.
Rendering options · 3
Basis As fixed at Matt 4:24 and Acts 18:5 — the verb that grips a man with disease or with the word is left as it is for love; the genitive stays ‘of Christ’.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It cuts the verb from Matt 4:24 and Acts 18:5 and adds a ‘making us act’ the word does not carry.
Basis Reading the aorist as a perfect.
Rejected The text puts both verbs in the same aorist — the one dying and the all dying share one form.
Lost in translation
συνέχω — one word with Matt 4:24 and Acts 18:5, ‘gripped’.
ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ — ‘the love of Christ’ keeps both readings of the genitive.
ἀπέθανεν / ἀπέθανον — two identical aorists, ‘died / died’.
Why this rendering
2Cor.5.17 Observation
Syntactic observation
ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις· τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονεν καινά — So if anyone is in Christ — a new creation: the old things have passed away; look, new things have come to be. Neither the condition nor the main clause has a verb — εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις. κτίσις carries in one word both the act (Mark 10:6 ‘creation’) and the thing made (Mark 16:15; Rom 8:19 ‘creation’, creature); ‘creation’ keeps both. τὰ ἀρχαῖα is the ἀρχαῖος of Matt 5:21, ‘those of old’. γέγονεν is a perfect singular with a neuter plural subject (καινά — ⸀; the Received Text reads ‘all things new’). Verse 16 uses two verbs of knowing, οἴδαμεν (οἶδα) and ἐγνώκαμεν · γινώσκομεν (γινώσκω); English has one ‘know’.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The text has no verb in the main clause; the dash keeps it without supplying ‘he is’.
Basis The familiar rendering, supplying subject and verb.
Rejected It supplies a subject the Greek lacks and closes the word toward the person, where the text leaves person and world both open.
Basis (English adopts this — one word carrying both act and thing.)
Rejected Not a rejection in English; listed to record that Korean must choose between ‘창조’ (act) and ‘피조물’ (thing made).
Lost in translation
κτίσις — one word for the act and the thing made; ‘creation’ keeps both.
εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις — the verbless main clause stays verbless behind a dash; the condition takes ‘is’.
v.16 οἶδα ↔ γινώσκω — two verbs, one ‘know’.
Why this rendering
2Cor.5.19 Observation
Syntactic observation
ὡς ὅτι θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ, μὴ λογιζόμενος αὐτοῖς τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον τῆς καταλλαγῆς — that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning their trespasses to them, and has placed in us the word of reconciliation. ἦν … καταλλάσσων can be read two ways — ‘God was in Christ, reconciling’ (ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ as predicate) or ‘God was, in Christ, reconciling’ (ἦν + participle as periphrasis); the English word order leaves both standing. καταλλάσσω is active in vv.18-19 (God reconciles us, the world) and a passive imperative in v.20 (καταλλάγητε — be reconciled to God) — the passive of Rom 5:10, differing only in voice. λογίζομαι is the verb of Rom 4, ‘reckon as righteousness’ — here trespasses are not reckoned. In v.20 πρεσβεύω (two places — here and Ephesians) is the ambassador’s verb.
Rendering options · 3
Basis Carrying the rendering fixed at Rom 5:10-11 across voices; ‘reconcile’ is kept apart from ‘propitiate’ and ‘make peace’.
Basis Familiar renderings.
Rejected ‘Peace’ belongs to the εἰρήνη family and ‘atonement’ to ἱλάσκομαι; both blur the word.
Basis Reading ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ as the predicate.
Rejected Both readings stand; English can keep both, so neither is chosen.
Lost in translation
καταλλάσσω · καταλλαγή (vv.18-20) — ‘reconcile / reconciliation’ keep verb and noun, active and passive, on one root.
θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ … καταλλάσσων — ‘God was in Christ reconciling’ keeps both readings.
λογίζομαι — one word ‘reckon’ with Rom 4 (righteousness reckoned / trespasses not reckoned).
Why this rendering
2Cor.5.21 Observation
Syntactic observation
τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ — Him who knew no sin he made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The sentence opens with the object and no conjunction (⸀ — the Received Text adds γάρ). ἁμαρτίαν comes twice — the sin not known and the sin made are one word, and the text does not say ‘sin offering’. The predicates are two bare nouns — he becomes ‘sin’ and we become ‘the righteousness of God’ (the phrase of Rom 1:17 and 3:21-22). γενώμεθα is an aorist subjunctive, ‘become’.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The text says only ἁμαρτίαν; ‘sin offering’ fills it from the Septuagint’s Leviticus usage.
Basis In the Septuagint ἁμαρτία can stand for the sin offering.
Rejected It adds ‘offering’ and cuts the second ἁμαρτίαν from the first, which is the same word.
Basis Turning the abstract noun into a person.
Rejected That is ἁμαρτωλός; the text sets two bare abstract nouns (sin · righteousness) against each other.
Lost in translation
ἁμαρτίαν … ἁμαρτίαν — the same word twice in one verse, ‘sin … sin’.
δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ — the same phrase as ‘the righteousness of God’ in Rom 1:17 and 3:21.
The object-first opening without a conjunction — English keeps ‘Him who knew no sin’ first.