2 Corinthians 5 Footnotes

5:1-9 Paul spoke here about an intermediate state (“at home with the Lord,” v. 8) between death (putting off “this tent,” v. 4) and resurrection (“put on our heavenly dwelling,” v. 2). Of course, the soul’s disembodiment is not ideal (it is compared to being “naked,” v. 3); the fullest, richest existence is an embodied one. This intermediate state is strongly implied elsewhere in the NT (Lk 20:37-38; 23:43; Php 1:23-24).

5:21 This great atonement text (which is inseparable from the great incarnation text of 8:9) is packed with meaning: (1) Christ was sinless as a qualification, and so (2) in his death God made him “to be sin” (i.e., an accursed sin offering), (3) “for us” (i.e., in our place, substituting himself for us), (4) so that “in him” (through the ministry of the gospel) believers become the righteousness of God.