Bible Gateway passage: 2 Corinthians 5 - New International Version (2024)

Awaiting the New Body

5For we know that if the earthly^(A) tent^(B) we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ²Meanwhile we groan,^(C) longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,^{(D) 3}because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴For while we are in this tent, we groan^(E) and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,^(F) so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.^(G)

⁶Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷For we live by faith, not by sight.^{(H) 8}We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.^{(I) 9}So we make it our goal to please him,^(J) whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us^(K) for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord,^(L) we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.^{(M) 12}We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again,^(N) but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us,^(O) so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³If we are “out of our mind,”^(P) as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.^{(Q) 15}And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves^(R) but for him who died for them^(S) and was raised again.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly^(T) point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,^(U) the new creation^(V) has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!^{(W) 18}All this is from God,^(X) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(Y) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.^(Z) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,^(AA) as though God were making his appeal through us.^(AB) We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.^{(AC) 21}God made him who had no sin^(AD) to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(AE)

Footnotes

1. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Or Christ, that person is a new creation.
2. 2 Corinthians 5:21 Or be a sin offering

Cross references

1. 2 Corinthians 5:1 : 1Co 15:47
2. 2 Corinthians 5:1 : Isa 38:12; 2Pe 1:13, 14
3. 2 Corinthians 5:2 : ver 4; Ro 8:23
4. 2 Corinthians 5:2 : ver 4; 1Co 15:53, 54
5. 2 Corinthians 5:4 : ver 2; Ro 8:23
6. 2 Corinthians 5:4 : ver 2; 1Co 15:53, 54
7. 2 Corinthians 5:5 : Ro 8:23; 2Co 1:22; Eph 1:13, 14
8. 2 Corinthians 5:7 : 1Co 13:12; S 2Co 4:18
9. 2 Corinthians 5:8 : S Jn 12:26
10. 2 Corinthians 5:9 : Ro 14:18; Eph 5:10; Col 1:10; 1Th 4:1
11. 2 Corinthians 5:10 : S Mt 16:27; Ac 10:42; Ro 2:16; 14:10; Eph 6:8
12. 2 Corinthians 5:11 : Job 23:15; Heb 10:31; 12:29; Jude 23
13. 2 Corinthians 5:11 : 2Co 4:2
14. 2 Corinthians 5:12 : S 2Co 3:1
15. 2 Corinthians 5:12 : 2Co 1:14
16. 2 Corinthians 5:13 : 2Co 11:1, 16, 17; 12:11
17. 2 Corinthians 5:14 : Ro 6:6, 7; Gal 2:20; Col 3:3
18. 2 Corinthians 5:15 : Ro 14:7-9
19. 2 Corinthians 5:15 : Ro 4:25
20. 2 Corinthians 5:16 : 2Co 10:4; 11:18
21. 2 Corinthians 5:17 : S Ro 16:3
22. 2 Corinthians 5:17 : S Jn 1:13; S Ro 6:4; Gal 6:15
23. 2 Corinthians 5:17 : Isa 65:17; Rev 21:4, 5
24. 2 Corinthians 5:18 : S Ro 11:36
25. 2 Corinthians 5:18 : S Ro 5:10
26. 2 Corinthians 5:19 : S Ro 4:8
27. 2 Corinthians 5:20 : 2Co 6:1; Eph 6:20
28. 2 Corinthians 5:20 : ver 18
29. 2 Corinthians 5:20 : Isa 27:5
30. 2 Corinthians 5:21 : Heb 4:15; 7:26; 1Pe 2:22, 24; 1Jn 3:5
31. 2 Corinthians 5:21 : S Ro 1:17; S 1Co 1:30