The Greek noun skenos refers to a tent or tabernacle — a temporary, portable dwelling. In the New Testament, it appears in 2 Corinthians 5:1–4 specifically to describe the human body as a tent that houses the spirit — temporary, fragile, and destined to be replaced by an eternal heavenly dwelling.
Paul's use of skenos in 2 Corinthians 5:1–4 is one of the most profound theological reflections on human embodiment and resurrection hope in all of Scripture: 'For we know that if the earthly tent (oikia tou skenous) we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.' The contrast is between the skenos (tent, temporary) and the oikodome (building, permanent). Paul's point is not Gnostic body-hatred but eschatological hope: the body is real, valuable, and will be transformed — not discarded. The resurrection body is not no-body but a glorified body, as permanent and substantial as a building compared to a tent. The word connects to the Tabernacle of Moses — also called skene (G4633) — and to John 1:14 where the Word 'tabernacled' (eskenosen) among us. The Incarnation was God pitching His tent in human flesh — the ultimate affirmation of bodily existence.