This chapter 2 Corinthians 5 is closely connected with the former, and indeed has been improperly separated from it, as is manifest from the word “For” (γὰρ gar) with which it commences. It contains a further statement of reasons for what has been said in the previous chapter. The main subject there was the ministry; the honesty and fidelity with which Paul and his fellow-laborers toiled 2 Corinthians 4:1-3; the trials and dangers which they encountered in the work of the ministry 2 Corinthians 4:7-12; and the consolations and supports which they had in its various trials, 2 Corinthians 4:13-18. This chapter contains a continuation of the same subject, and a further statement of the motives which prompted them to their work, and of the supports which upheld them in the arduous duties to which they were called. It is a chapter full of exquisite beauties of sentiment and of language, and as well adapted to give consolation and support to all Christians now as it is to ministers; and the sentiments are as well adapted to sustain the humblest believer in his trials as they were to sustain the apostles themselves. The following are the points of consolation and support, and reasons for their zeal and self-denial, to which the apostle refers.
1. They had the assured prospect of the resurrection, and of eternal life, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4. The body might decay, and be worn out; it might sigh and groan, but they had a better home, a mansion of eternal rest in the heavens. It was their earnest desire to reach heaven; though not such a desire as to make them unwilling to endure the toils and trials which God should appoint to them here below, but still an earnest, anxious wish to reach safely their eternal home in the skies. In the prospect of their heavenly home, and their eternal rest, they were willing to endure all the trials which were appointed to them.
2. God had appointed them to this; he had suited them for these trials; he had endowed them with the graces of his Spirit; and they were, therefore, willing to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord; 2 Corinthians 5:5-8. They had such a view of heaven as their home that they were willing at any time to depart and enter the world of rest, and they did not, therefore, shrink from the trials and dangers which would be likely soon to bring them there.
3. They had a deep and constant conviction that they must soon appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11. They labored that they might be accepted by him 2 Corinthians 5:9; they knew that they must give a solemn account to him 2 Corinthians 5:10; they had a clear view, and a deep impression of the awful terrors of that day, and they labored, therefore, to save as many as possible from the condemnation of the great Judge of all, and endeavored to “persuade” them to be prepared for that scene; 2 Corinthians 5:11.
4. Though to some they might appear to be under the influence of improper excitement, and even to be deranged 2 Corinthians 5:14, yet they were acting only under the proper influence of the love of Christ; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. They were constrained and urged on by his love; they knew that he had died for all, and that all people were dead in sin; and they felt themselves the constraining influence of that love prompting them to deny themselves, and to devote their all to his service and cause.
5. Their views of all things had been changed; 2 Corinthians 5:16-17. They had ceased to act under the influences which govern other people; but their own hearts had been changed, and they had become new creatures in Christ, and in their lives they evinced the spirit which should govern those who were thus renewed.
6. They had been solemnly commissioned by God as his ambassadors in this cause. They had been sent to make known the terms and the way of reconciliation, and they felt it to be their duty to proclaim those terms on as wide a scale as possible, and with the utmost zeal and self-denial. It was God’s glorious plan of reconciliation; and on the ground of the atonement made by the Redeemer, they could now offer salvation to all mankind, and as all might be saved, they felt themselves bound to offer the terms of salvation to as many as possible; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21. The grand argument for urging sinners to be reconciled to God, is the fact that Christ has died for their sins, and, therefore, the apostles apprized of this fact, sought to urge as many as possible to become his friends; 2 Corinthians 5:21.