2 Corinthians 5:3

3 if indeed, even [after we] have taken [it] off, we will not be found naked.

2 Corinthians 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 5:3

If so be that being clothed
This supposition is made with respect to the saints who shall be alive at Christ's second coming, who will not be stripped of their bodies, and so will "not be found naked", or disembodied, and shall have a glory at once put upon them, both soul and body; or these words are an inference from the saints' present clothing, to their future clothing, thus; "seeing we are clothed", have not only put on the new man, and are clothed and adorned with the graces of the Spirit, but are arrayed with the best robe, the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness,

we shall not be found naked;
but shall be clothed upon with the heavenly glory, as soon as we are dismissed from hence. Some read these words as a wish, "O that we were clothed, that we might not be found naked!" and so is expressive of one of the sighs, and groans, and earnest desires of the saints in their present situation after the glories of another world.

2 Corinthians 5:3 In-Context

1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 For indeed, in this [house] we groan, [because we] desire to put on our dwelling from heaven,

3 if indeed, even [after we] have taken [it] off, we will not be found naked.

4 For indeed we who are in this tent groan, being burdened {for this reason, that} we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

5 Now the one who has prepared us for this very [thing] [is] God, who has given us the down payment, the Spirit.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("have taken off") which is understood as temporal
• [b]. A number of important early manuscripts read "have put [it] on" here