ABSENT FROM THE BODY.

UPON what subject does Paul treat in 2 Cor.5:1-8?

“For we know that if our earthly house of this

tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God,
an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.” Verse l. In this verse the present and
future condition of the believer is spoken of.

2. While we are here “in our earthly house,” “in this

tabernacle,” that is in this present mortal state, what
is our condition?

“For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed

upon with our house which is from heaven.” “For we
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened;
not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon,
that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Verse
2,4.

3. Where else does the apostle express the same

fact?

“For we know that the whole creation growneth and

travaleth in pain together until now.” Rom.8:22.

4. How many conditions, or states of being, does the

apostle bring to view?

Three: First, a positive state in this present life –

clothed with “our earthly house” (2 Cor.5:1) “this
tabernacle” verse 4; Second, a negative state, called
in verse 3 “unclothed” or “naked”, that is, when in
death, in the grave; Third – Another positive
condition, when mortality is swallowed up of life,
when we are clothed upon with our house from
heaven. Verse 2,4.
5. Which one of these conditions did the apostle wait
for and desire?

“For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed

upon with our house which is from heaven.” Verse 6.

6. What disclaimer does he utter concerning the

second or middle state?

“Not for that we would be unclothed”. Verse 4.

7. How is it proved that Paul looked forward to the
resurrection, when he expressed a desire to be
clothed upon with the house from heaven?

By the parallel text in Rom.8:23: “And not only they,

but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of
our body.”

8. When is the body to be redeemed?

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with

a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
1Thess.4:16; See Phil.3:20,21

9. When is mortality to be swallowed up of life?

“Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruption must put on incorruption, and this moral
must put on immortality.” 1Cor.15:51-54.
NOTE: To be “naked”, or “unclothed”, must refer to
one’s condition in death. But how can it be said that
one is unclothed, if he, as a conscious disembodied
spirit, instantly enters the heavenly abode at death?
It can be plainly seen that if an immortal soul is the
“house from heaven”, when the “earthly” house, the
body, has been redeemed, an individual would have
two houses, - one more than he would have occasion
for. Then again, if the second house is the supposed
immortal soul, and one has is now in possession in his
body, it could not be true that it is “eternal in the
heavens”. On the whole, it is evident that the apostle
is here treating of the future redeemed body.

10. If the house from heaven is the future redeemed

immortal body, how can it be said that “we have” it?

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us

eternal life “and this life is in His Son”. 1John 5:11.
Hence, “he that hath the Son hath life”. Verse 12.
This life we have in prospect, by faith. This life is
equivalent to the redeemed state, which Paul calls
“our house which is from heaven”, and which we
have, or possess, in the same manner. It is eternal in
the heavens, because it is the fixed and unalterable
purpose of God to bestow it upon us.

11. When, only, is a person fitted to be present with

the Lord?

Not till he is redeemed from all that is mortal and

corruptible. 1Cor.15:50; 1Thess.4:17.

12. To what condition, then, does the apostle refer by

the words (2Cor.5:6), “At home in the body”?

To the first condition spoken of in verse 1.

13. To what condition does he refer by the expression
“to be present with the Lord”?

To the third condition. They are not necessarily

immediately connected. Some time may elapse
between them, as we have shown.

Taken from ‘Bible Readings For The Home Circle – 1st.

Ed. P.163,164.