Texts in Conversation
Wisdom of Solomon and 2 Corinthians both call the body a temporary “tent” to describe human weakness. Wisdom says the body limits the mind and the soul, while Paul says it is a temporary home that will be exchanged for a permanent body.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 9:15
Deuterocanon
13 For what man will know the counsel of God? Or who will conceive what the Lord wills? 14 For the thoughts of mortals are unstable, and our plans are prone to fail. 15 For a corruptible body weighs down the soul. The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares. 16 We can hardly guess the things that are on earth, and we find the things that are close at hand with labor; but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens? 17 Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom, and sent your holy spirit from on high? 18 It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you. They were saved through wisdom.”
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
2 Corinthians 5:4
New Testament
1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed, after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked. 4 For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. 6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we live by faith, not by sight.
Date: 55–57 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Skēnos ("tent") was often used metaphorically of the physical body. See, for example, Wisdom of Solomon 9:15, 'this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind' and 2 Peter 1:13-14, 'as long as I live in the tent of this body' ..."
Linda L. Belleville, 2 Corinthians, IVPNTC (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011), 88.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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