For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 5:2 Go To 2 Corinthians 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What habitation? Tell me. The incorruptible body. And why do we groan now? Because that is far better. And from heaven he calls it because of its incorruptibleness. For it is not surely that a body will come down to us from above: but by this expression he signifies the grace which is sent from thence. So far then ought we to be from grieving at these trials which are in part that we ought to seek even for their fullness , as if he had said: Groanest thou, that you are persecuted, that this your man is decaying? Groan that this is not done unto excess and that it perishes not entirely. Do you see how he has turned round what was said unto the contrary; having proved that they ought to groan that those things were not done fully; for which because they were done partially; they groaned. Therefore he henceforth calls it not a tabernacle, but a house, and with great reason. For a tabernacle indeed is easily taken to pieces; but a house abides continually.
