¹sn The expression the tent we live in refers to “our earthly house, our body.” Paul uses the metaphor of the physical body as a house or tent, the residence of the immaterial part of a person.
²tn Or “destroyed.”
³tn Or “dwelling place.”
⁴tn Or “to be clothed with.”
⁵tc ‡ Some mss read “taken off” (ejkdusavmenoi, ekdusamenoi) instead of “put on” (ejndusavmenoi, endusamenoi). This alternative reading would change the emphasis of the verse from putting on “our heavenly house” to taking off “our earthly house” (see the following note regarding the specification of the referent). The difference between the two readings is one letter (n or k), either of which may be mistaken for the other especially when written in uncial script. ejndusavmenoi enjoys strong support from the Alexandrian text (Ì46 Í B C 33 1739 1881), Byzantine witnesses, versions (lat sy co), and Clement of Alexandria. The Western text is the only texttype to differ: D*^,c reads ejkdusavmenoi, as does ar f^c Mcion Tert Spec; F and G read ekl for ekd which indirectly aligns them with D (and was surely due to confusion of letters in uncial script). Thus “put on” has the oldest and best external attestation by far. Internal evidence also favors this reading. At first glance, it may seem that “after we have put on our heavenly house we will not be found naked” is an obvious statement; the scribe of D may have thought so and changed the participle. But v. 3 seems parenthetical (so A. Plummer, Second Corinthians [ICC], 147), and the idea that “we do not want to be unclothed but clothed” is repeated in v. 4 with an explanatory “for.” This concept also shows up in v. 2 with the phrase “we desire to put on.” So the context can be construed to argue for “put on” as the original reading. B. M. Metzger argues against the reading of NA27, stating that ejkdusavmenoi is “an early alteration to avoid apparent tautology” (TCGNT 511; so also Plummer, 148). In addition, the reading ejndusavmenoi fits the Pauline pattern of equivalence between apodosis and protasis that is found often enough in his conditional clauses. Thus, “put on” has the mark of authenticity and should be considered original.
⁶tn Grk “it”; the referent (the “heavenly dwelling” of the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
⁷sn See the note in 5:1 on the phrase the tent we live in.
⁸tn Or “we are burdened.”
⁹tn Grk “for this very thing.”
¹⁰tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit” (see the note on the phrase “down payment” in 1:22).
¹¹tn Grk “we know that being at home in the body”; an idiom for being alive (L&N 23.91).
¹²tn Grk “we walk.”
¹³tn Or “be absent.”
¹⁴tn Grk “whether we are at home” [in the body]; an idiom for being alive (L&N 23.91).
¹⁵tn Grk “to be pleasing to him.”
¹⁶sn The judgment seat (bh'ma, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a common item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city. Use of the term in reference to Christ’s judgment would be familiar to Paul’s 1st century readers.
¹⁷tn Or “whether good or bad.”
¹⁸tn Or “because we know what it means to fear the Lord.”
¹⁹tn The present tense of peivqomen (peiqomen) has been translated as a conative present.
²⁰tn Grk “men”; but a[nqrwpo" (anqrwpo") is generic here since clearly both men and women are in view (Paul did not attempt to win only men to the gospel he preached).
²¹tn Or “clearly evident.” BDAG 1048 s.v. fanerovw 2.b.b has “qew/' pefanerwvmeqa we are well known to God 2 Cor 5:11a, cp. 11b; 11:6 v.l.”
²²tn The present tense of sunistavnomen (sunistanomen) has been translated as a conative present.
²³tn Or “to boast about us.”
²⁴tn Or “who boast.”
²⁵tn Or “in what is seen.”
²⁶tn The phrase hJ ajgavph tou' Cristou' (Jh agaph tou Cristou, “the love of Christ”) could be translated as either objective genitive (“our love for Christ”) or subjective genitive (“Christ’s love for us”). Either is grammatically possible, but with the reference to Christ’s death for all in the following clauses, a subjective genitive (“Christ’s love for us”) is more likely.
²⁷tn Grk “one”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
²⁸tn Or “but for him who died and was raised for them.”
²⁹tn Grk “we know.”
³⁰tn Grk “no one according to the flesh.”
³¹tn Grk “we have known Christ according to the flesh.”
³²tn Grk “old things have passed away.”
³³tc Most mss have the words taV pavnta (ta panta, “all things”; cf. KJV “behold, all things are become new”), some after kaivna (kaina, “new”; D2 K L P Y 104 326 945 2464 pm) and others before it (6 33 81 614 630 1241 1505 1881 pm). The reading without taV pavnta, however, has excellent support from both the Western and Alexandrian texttypes (Ì46 Í B C D* F G 048 0243 365 629 1175 1739 pc co), and the different word order of the phrase which includes it (“all things new” or “new all things”) in the ms tradition indicates its secondary character. This secondary addition may have taken place because of assimilation to taV deV pavnta (ta de panta, “and all [these] things”) that begins the following verse.
³⁴tn Grk “new things have come [about].”
³⁵tn Or “he has entrusted to us.”
³⁶tn Or “as though God were begging.”
³⁷tn Or “we beg you.”
³⁸tn Grk “He”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
³⁹sn The one who did not know sin is a reference to Jesus Christ.
⁴⁰sn That is, “in Christ.”