“For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Corinthians 5:4 Mean?
"We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." Paul describes the Christian's current bodily existence as groaning — not because the body is evil but because it's incomplete. The groaning isn't about escaping the body ("not for that we would be unclothed") but about being further clothed — receiving the resurrection body that swallows mortality in life.
The tabernacle metaphor treats the current body as a temporary tent — the same word used for Israel's wilderness dwelling. The body is a tent you live in, not a house you own. It's meant to be temporary. It serves its purpose for a season and then is replaced by something permanent.
The phrase "mortality might be swallowed up of life" uses the image of life consuming death — not death winning and life disappearing, but life overwhelming death the way an ocean swallows a raindrop. The desired outcome isn't escape from the body but transformation of the body. Not unclothed but further clothed.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What is your body groaning about right now?
- 2.How does 'further clothed' differ from wanting to escape the body entirely?
- 3.What does 'mortality swallowed up of life' look like as a hope?
- 4.How does treating your body as a 'tent' change your relationship to its limitations?
Devotional
We groan. In this body. Not because the body is bad but because it's not done yet. We don't want to escape the body — we want the body to be transformed. Not unclothed but further clothed. Not death but life swallowing death.
The groaning is the sound of incompleteness. The current body works — it carries you through life, it experiences the world, it houses your soul. But it groans under the weight of mortality. It gets sick. It ages. It hurts. It deteriorates. The groaning is the body's honest assessment of its own limitation: I'm a tent, not a temple.
Paul doesn't want to get rid of the body. He wants it upgraded. Not unclothed — further clothed. The resurrection isn't escape from physical existence into pure spirit. It's physical existence so saturated with life that mortality is swallowed. The mortal puts on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:54). The tent becomes a temple.
The swallowing image is powerful: life doesn't just defeat death — it consumes it. The way an ocean absorbs a drop of water. The way sunlight absorbs a shadow. Death doesn't just lose; it disappears into life so completely that its former existence becomes unimaginable.
Your groaning is real. Your body's limitations are real. The aches, the aging, the decline — they're the groaning of a tent waiting to become a temple. The groaning isn't despair. It's anticipation. Your body knows it was made for more.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan,.... There are some of the saints who are not in the tabernacle, the body.…
For we - We who are Christians. All Christians. That are in this tabernacle - This frail and dying body; note, 2Co 5:1.…
For we that are in this tabernacle - We who are in this state of trial and difficulty do groan, being burdened; as if he…
The apostle in these verses pursues the argument of the former chapter, concerning the grounds of their courage and…
in this tabernacle Literally, in the tabernacle, i.e. the -tenement," of which we have already spoken (2Co 5:5).
do…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture