independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
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The earthly tent and the building from God 5:1–5
vv. 1–4 — the tent and the building: groaning to be over-clothed
1
For we knowindependent — γάρ grounds the courage of 4:16–18 — settled, perfect knowledge
that if our earthly house — the tent — is taken down,conditional — the ὅτι rides on the condition; καταλύω, the striking of a tent — death contemplated
we have a building from God,content — apodosis — a futuristic present: already ours, though future in enjoyment
a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.phrase modifier — apposition — the tent answered point for point
2
For indeed in this we groan,independent — καὶ γάρ — present experience corroborates the knowing
longing to put on over it our dwelling that is from heaven,participial — the groaning is yearning — ἐπενδύσασθαι, the house become a garment
3
if indeed, having put it on, we shall not be found naked.conditional — εἴ γε — backward qualification; some witnesses read ἐκδυσάμενοι ('having put off'); ἐνδυσάμενοι followed
4
For indeed we who are in the tent groan,independent — the restatement — the groaning clarified against misreading
being weighed down,participial — the burden of mortality (cf. 1:8; 4:17)
because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed over,cause — ἐφ' ᾧ causal (cf. Rom 5:12) — no death-wish, but transformation
so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.purpose — Isa 25:8 echoed (cf. 1 Cor 15:54) — life engulfs mortality
v. 5 — God's pledge: the Spirit as down-payment
5
Now the one who fashioned us for this very thing is God,independent — verbless — the hope no fancy: God himself prepared us for it
who gave us the down-payment of the Spirit.participial — ἀρραβών — the Spirit as first installment guaranteeing the rest (cf. 1:22)
Courage and the judgment seat 5:6–10
vv. 6–8 — the anacoluthon: courage suspended, then resumed
6
Therefore, being always confidentparticipial — sentence-opening participle, suspended — resumed by θαρροῦμεν in v. 8 (anacoluthon)
and knowingparticipial — the coordinate participle — likewise left hanging
that while at home in the body we are away from the Lord —content — the ἐνδημέω/ἐκδημέω wordplay — bodily residence as exile from the Lord
7
(for we walk by faith, not by sight) —cause — parenthetical ground of the 'away': the present mode is faith, not εἶδος
8
we are confident, I say,independent — the resumption — the suspended Θαρροῦντες finally made finite
and would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.independent — the preference — πρὸς τὸν κύριον, face-to-face nearness
vv. 9–10 — the one ambition, and the tribunal that grounds it
9
Therefore also we make it our ambition,independent — διό — the practical conclusion of the preference
whether at home or away,participial — the εἴτε-pair — neither state alters the aim
to be pleasing to him.content — complementary infinitive — the ambition's whole content
10
For we must all be laid opencause — γάρ — the ambition grounded in accountability; φανερωθῆναι, disclosed, not merely present
before the judgment seat of Christ,phrase modifier — the βῆμα — the magistrate's tribunal (cf. Acts 18:12), Christ's
so that each may receive back the things done through the body,purpose — κομίζω middle — requital, each one individually
according to what he practiced,relative — πρός of correspondence — recompense matched to conduct
whether good or worthless.phrase modifier — the two verdicts — φαῦλος, 'good-for-nothing,' not merely wicked
The ministry of persuasion — Christ's love constrains 5:11–15
vv. 11–13 — open persuasion, open motives
11
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord,participial — sentence-opening participle, leaning on the main verb below — the βῆμα drives the ministry
we persuade people;independent — the apostolic work — persuasion, of the gospel and of Paul's integrity
but to God we stand laid open;independent — the perfect — already fully disclosed before God (echoing v. 10)
and I hopeindependent — the shift to the singular — Paul's personal appeal
to stand laid open also in your consciences.content — perfect infinitive — the same openness lodged in their inner judgment
12
We are not commending ourselves to you again,independent — the disclaimer — πάλιν alludes to the old charge (cf. 3:1)
but giving you an occasion for boasting on our behalf,participial — the participle carries the weight of a finite verb — ἀφορμή, a base of operations
so that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.purpose — ἔχητε elliptical ('have something to say') — the rivals boast in πρόσωπον, not καρδία
13
For if we were beside ourselves,conditional — protasis — the charge of ecstatic excess conceded for argument (aorist ἐξέστημεν; cf. Mark 3:21)
it was for God;independent — apodosis — one bare dative of advantage
if we are sober-minded,conditional — protasis — the measured present, over against the ecstatic aorist
it is for you.independent — apodosis — either way, never for self
vv. 14–15 — one died for all: the constraining logic
14
For the love of Christ holds us in its grip,independent — the deepest motive — subjective genitive, Christ's love for us; συνέχω, hemmed in to one course
since we have concluded this:participial — causal participle on ἡμᾶς — a settled verdict; τοῦτο points forward
that one died for all;content — the content — the one representative death
therefore all died;content — ἄρα — the corporate inference, still inside the verdict (cf. Rom 6:6–8)
15
and he died for all,content — the content continued — the death restated to carry its purpose
so that the living might no longer live for themselvespurpose — the aim — μηκέτι, the decisive break with self-centered life
but for the one who died for them and was raised.phrase modifier — elliptical (ζῶσιν supplied) — the new center: the crucified and risen Lord
New creation and the ministry of reconciliation 5:16–21
vv. 16–17 — no one known by flesh: new creation
16
So then, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;independent — ὥστε — the result of the death-and-life logic: a new mode of evaluation
even if we have known Christ according to the flesh,conditional — εἰ καί concessive protasis — the supreme test case conceded
yet now we know him so no longer.independent — apodosis — οὐκέτι: the old estimate of Christ definitively abandoned
17
So then, if anyone is in Christ —conditional — verbless protasis — union with Christ the sole condition
new creation!independent — the verbless punch — the eschatological new order breaking in (Isa 65:17; Gal 6:15)
The old things have passed away;independent — the aorist — a finished transition
behold, new things have come.independent — ἰδού echoing Isa 43:19 — the perfect: arrived and abiding
vv. 18–20 — God reconciling: the embassy
18
And all this is from God,independent — verbless — the whole new creation traced to its source
who reconciled us to himself through Christparticipial — the first attributive participle — God the initiating reconciler
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:participial — the second — the reconciled made ministers of reconciliation
19
namely, that God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,content — ὡς ὅτι epexegetic — ἦν read with καταλλάσσων (quasi-periphrastic), not 'God was-in-Christ'
not counting their trespasses against them,participial — the manner — λογίζομαι, the ledger left unentered (cf. Rom 4:8; Ps 32:2)
and lodging in us the word of reconciliation.participial — on θεός — the aorist middle: the gospel deposited with the envoys
20
Therefore we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ,independent — πρεσβεύω — the imperial term: the sovereign's envoy
God, as it were, making his appeal through us —participial — ὡς + genitive absolute — the divine voice sounding through the envoy
we implore on Christ's behalf:independent — the entreaty — appeal, not command
'Be reconciled to God.'content — the quoted plea — passive imperative: accept the reconciliation God has wrought
v. 21 — the great exchange
21
The one who knew no sin he made sin for us,independent — asyndeton — the climactic ground; ἁμαρτίαν taken as 'sin' itself, not the LXX 'sin-offering'
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.purpose — the exchange completed — ἐν αὐτῷ: in union with Christ (cf. Rom 1:17; 3:21–26)
Analysis. 2 Corinthians 5 runs from the grave to the embassy in four movements, and the shape tells the story. In vv. 1–5 one perfect Οἴδαμεν carries the whole consolation: the ἐάν-protasis (the tent struck) leans forward on its apodosis οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἔχομεν, and twice καὶ γάρ grounds the knowing in groaning — a groaning that is longing (ἐπιποθοῦντες), not death-wish (ἐφ' ᾧ οὐ θέλομεν ἐκδύσασθαι ἀλλ' ἐπενδύσασθαι), until the ἵνα-line names the goal: the mortal swallowed up by life. Verses 6–10 open with a famous anacoluthon the layout shows rather than smooths: Θαρροῦντες and εἰδότες hang suspended (dashed) with the parenthetical 'by faith, not by sight' beneath them, resumed only by the flush-left θαρροῦμεν δέ of v. 8; the single ambition of v. 9 is then grounded in the βῆμα of Christ, the recompense chain stepping down to εἴτε ἀγαθὸν εἴτε φαῦλον. In vv. 11–15 open statement alternates with εἴτε-pairs (ecstasy for God, sobriety for you — both apodoses verbless datives), and the deepest motive stands at v. 14: Christ's love συνέχει, and from κρίναντας τοῦτο a content column descends — one died for all; therefore all died; and he died that the living might live no longer for themselves. Verses 16–21 stack two ὥστε results (no one known κατὰ σάρκα; the verbless καινὴ κτίσις under its leaning protasis), trace τὰ πάντα back to the reconciling God through twin attributive participles, unpack the ministry in the ὡς ὅτι declaration, and issue in the embassy — the quoted plea καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ — before the asyndetic climax of the great exchange. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: at v. 3 the text printed is ἐνδυσάμενοι ('having put on'), the well-attested variant ἐκδυσάμενοι ('having put off' — 'even stripped, we shall not be found naked') being noted but not followed; v. 13's aorist ἐξέστημεν is taken as the charge of ecstatic excess conceded for argument's sake ('if we were beside ourselves — it was for God'), not a confession of madness; ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ (v. 14) is read as subjective genitive — his love for us; θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ (v. 19) is construed with the participle — 'God was, in Christ, reconciling the world' (quasi-periphrastic) — rather than as an ontological 'God was-in-Christ'; and at v. 21 ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν is rendered 'made sin' — Christ's identification with sin itself in the exchange — not the narrower LXX idiom 'sin-offering,' though that resonance is real.