Being Absent From the Body
In 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul speaks of being absent from
the body and
present with the Lord.   Does this mean that when a
person dies, he leaves
his body and goes to be with the Lord?   Let's read the
whole context to
see what the apostle is saying.
In Chapter 4 Paul discusses the trouble and affliction
which come to us
in this life.   Yet, he says, this trouble is nothing
when compared to the
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (4:17)
which we will
receive in the future life.   We don't need to worry
about what happens to
this body.   We are now but earthen vessels (4:7).   The
Lord will one day
give us new bodies which will never deterioriate.
In Chapter 5 Paul discusses the two bodies, the
earthly, and the eternal.  
He metaphorically refers to them as houses.   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 (5:1).
Next, the apostle speaks of his longing to be clothed
with the immortal
body.   For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be
clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven (verse 2).   To be
clothed here means to be
living in a body.   In this life we are clothed in a
mortal body.   In the
next life we will be clothed in an immortal body.
Now notice Paul's emphasis in verse 3.   If so be that
being clothed we
shall not be found naked.   If clothed means to be in a
body, to be naked
is to be without a body.   Notice that Paul makes it
very clear that the
future life is a clothed state and not a naked state!  
He gives absolutely
no support to the teaching of life without a body.  
Speaking of the future
life, he says, Being clothed we shall not be found
naked.
In verse 4 he re-emphasizes the same thing.   For we
that are in this
tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we
would be unclothed,
but clothed upon.   It was not an unclothed, bodiless
state which Paul
anticipated, but a clothed state in a body.  
The next question is, When will we receive the
immortal body?   When will
mortality be swallowed up of life (verse 4)?   To the
Corinthians this was
no question.   Paul had already told them in his first
letter.   He had
devoted the whole of 1 Corinthians 15 to the subject
of the resurrection.  
There Paul had clearly told them when mortality is
swallowed up in
immortality: 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 corruptible must put
on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.   So when this
corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have
put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, Death is
swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:52-54).
When does it happen?   At the last trump, at the
resurrection, at the
coming of Jesus.   Then it will be said, O death, where
is thy sting?   O
grave, where is thy victory?   (1 Corinthians 15:55).
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive.   But
every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits;
afterward they that
are Christ's at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:22, 23).
So far we have learned that: (1) There is no life in
the unclothed,
bodiless state; and (2) It is at the time of Christ's
coming that we will
be made alive.
Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 5.   At this point in our
passage Paul
begins an evaluation of the two bodies the mortal body
which we have now,
and the immortal body which we will receive at the
resurrection.   Keep in
mind that the setting of this whole discussion is
Paul's encouragement to
his readers not to become discouraged with present
afflictions.   Not only
will the resurrected body be incorruptible and
eternal, there is another
factor which will make it far more to be desired than
the present life.  
That factor is the presence of the Lord.
This theme of being with the Lord is found also in
Paul's first letter to
the Thessalonians: 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: Then we which are
alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  
Wherefore comfort one
another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
As Paul considered the two bodies, the present and the
future life, he
longed for the privilege available only in the future
life, of being
bodily with the Lord.   Therefore, he continues in 2
Corinthians 5:6-8, we
are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at
home in the
[present] body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we
walk by faith, not
by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from
the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Keep in mind that Paul is not describing an unclothed,
bodiless state.   He
is referring to the time when he will receive the
immortal body.   The body
from which he will then be absent is his present
earthly body, but he
will not be bodiless (naked) at that time.   He has made
that very clear in
the preceding verses.
Notice again in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, how Paul
expected to get
present with the Lord.   He describes the glorious
coming of Christ, the
resurrection of the dead, and the translation of the
living saints.   Then
he says, And so shall we ever be with the Lord.   That
word so means, thus,
in this way, or by this means.   He is saying, This is
how we will get with
the Lord.
If, therefore, it is by means of the coming of Christ
and the
resurrection that we will get to be with the Lord,
then it is obvious
that we will not be with the Lord before that time.  
It is clear from the
above facts that when Paul spoke of being absent from
the body and
present with the Lord, he was not thinking of the time
when he would be
dead.   He was not earnestly desiring death.   He was
looking beyond the
grave, beyond the resurrection, to that glorious
moment when he would
greet Jesus face to face, and live with him for ever.
Paul's Desire to Depart and Be with Christ
Another passage which has confused some people is
Philippians 1:20-25.  
Some have used these verses to promote a doctrine
which is contrary to
Paul's own clear teachings on the subject of death.  
But when we look at
it objectively we find the passage to be fully
consistent with the rest
of the Bible.
Highlighting a few phrases in the passage will show us
Paul's train of
thought.   He is discussing my earnest expectation, my
hope, what I shall
choose, having a desire, and what is more needful.  
These are not
expressions one uses when presenting a doctrinal
discourse.   He is opening
to his readers his deepest personal aspirations.
Paul's greatest desire in this passage is that Christ
shall be magnified
in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.   The
problem is that he
cannot tell which is best, to live or to die.   He wants
to do that which
will best glorify Christ.
He longs to be with Christ.   He knows that he will be
with Him in the next
life.   This thought is wonderful to him.   Yet, realizing
that his labors
are still needed in this life, he concludes, I know
that I shall abide
and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy
of faith.
The phrase which some people have stumbled over is
Paul's desire to
depart, and to be with Christ.   Notice that he does not
say that he will
depart and immediately be with Christ.   Neither is he
discussing a
bodiless presence with Him; for his desire was that
Christ shall be
magnified in my body.
For the purposes of his present discussion he sees no
need to digress
into the details of the decomposition of his body, the
oblivion of
death's sleep, and the specifics of the resurrection.  
That is not the
subject at hand.   Yet, even so, the words he uses
describe the experience
of death most explicitly.   To the individual's
consciousness, death does
not register at all.   Thousands of years may pass.   The
dead know nothing
of it.   Their first conscious moment at the
resurrection knows of no lapse
since their last conscious moment before death.   After
Paul's death, the
next thing he would know, he would be with Christ.   His
description is
experiential rather than technical, and thus perfectly
harmonizes with
his direct doctrinal instruction on the state of the
dead.
When did Paul expect to be with Christ?   In 2
Thessalonians 2:1 he clearly
explains that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our gathering
together unto him take place at the same time.   In
Colossians 3:4 Paul
says, When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then
shall ye also
appear with him in glory.   We will not be with Christ
in glory until His
appearing, His glorious return in power and majesty.
Paul also speaks of the appearing of Christ in 2
Timothy 4:8.   Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to
me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing.   Paul realized
that his crown of
righteousness would be laid up in store for him, until
the coming of
Christ, not to be received until that day.
The Thief on the Cross
Some people have suggested that the dialog recorded in
Luke 23:42, 43
indicates that the righteous go immediately to
paradise when they die.
If so, in order for Christ to be true to His promise,
both He and the
thief would have to make it to heaven before the sun
set that very day.
Let's see if they actually did.   First, did Jesus go to
heaven that day?  
The Bible tells us that He did not.   For when He was
resurrected He said,
I am not yet ascended to my Father (John 20:17).   So
Jesus didn't go to
heaven that day.   What about the thief, did he?   The
Bible tells us in John
19:31-34 that at the end of the day the soldiers went
and found the two
thieves still hanging there on the cross, both still
alive.   Then they
broke their legs and let them down off the cross for
the Sabbath.   So the
thief didn't make it to heaven that day either.
Well then, did Jesus tell a lie?   No.   The problem is
easily solved when we
realize that when the Bible was written, there were no
punctuation marks.  
Commas were added hundreds of years later when the
Bible was translated
into English.   In Luke 23:43 the comma should have been
placed after,
rather than before, the word today.   It actually reads,
Verily I say unto
thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Jesus promised him that day a promise He will not
break.   For when the Son
of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him,...  then
shall the King say...  Inherit the kingdom prepared for
you (Matthew
25:31-34).   For the Son of man shall come in the glory
of his Father with
his angels; and then he shall reward every man
according to his works
(Matthew 16:27).  
And that's all the thief was asking for anyway.   He
didn't ask to go to
heaven that day.   He simply said, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into
thy kingdom (Luke 23:42).
Jesus Preaching to Dead People
Some have wondered if while Jesus was dead He could
have taken the
opportunity to preach to other people who were also
dead.   The question
comes from 1 Peter 3:18-20, a passage which now
deserves our close
attention.
It is always important to remember that the Bible does
not contradict
itself.   Whatever this verse says must be in harmony
with what the rest of
the Bible teaches on this subject.   Otherwise it could
not be the inspired
word of God.
Isaiah 38:18 says, The grave cannot praise thee, death
can not celebrate
thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for
thy truth.   There
would be no point in Jesus preaching to those who
cannot have hope.
The Bible also says that the dead know not any thing
(Ecclesiastes 9:5).  
Preaching to the dead does not fit in with the
Biblical description of
death.
Let's look at 1 Peter 3:18-20 to see what it says and
does not say.   Verse
18 tells us that Jesus was put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by
the Spirit.   The word quickened means brought to life.  
It is when they are
raised to life again that the dead are quickened (John
5:21).
Our passage in 1 Peter 3 does not tell us when Jesus
was quickened.   We
are simply told two things: (1) that Jesus was put to
death, and (2) that
He was brought back to life.   To find out when He was
brought to life we
must go to the actual account in the gospels.   It tells
us that He was
crucified on the day of the preparation (Matthew
27:62), and brought back
to life on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1).  
The Scriptural
account is clear.
Our passage says that Jesus was quickened by the
Spirit.   That is, the
Holy Spirit.   Jesus Himself declared that it is the
spirit that quickeneth
(John 6:63).
So by comparing Scripture with Scripture we have a
very good explanation
of verse 18.   Jesus was put to death in the flesh on
Friday afternoon, and
raised to life again by the Spirit on Sunday morning.
The next three words in our passage are by which also.  
The word also
indicates the introduction of a different event, the
common factor being
the involvement of the Holy Spirit.   Christ was
resurrected by the Spirit,
He also by the Spirit preached.
Christ, by the Spirit, preached unto the spirits in
prison.   The word
spirits in this verse simply means people.   Often in
the Bible a figure of
speech is used by which a characteristic part of a
thing stands for the
whole.   Since the spirit or breath of a person is a
characteristic part of
the person, the word spirit is sometimes used to
represent the person.  
For example, in 1 Corinthians 16:18 my spirit simply
means me.   In
Galatians 6:18 and 2 Timothy 4:22 your (thy) spirit
simply means you.
The prison concept is elsewhere used in the Bible in
reference to the
condition of those who are entrapped in sin.   The
wicked...  shall be
holden with the cords of his sins (Proverbs 5:22).   For
of whom a man is
overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage (2
Peter 2:19).   The work
of the gospel is to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of
the prison to them that are bound (Isaiah 61:1.   See
also Isaiah 42:7,
22).
With that thought, 1 Peter 3:19 simply says that it
was through His Holy
Spirit also that Christ preached to people bound in
sin.   Notice that
verse 19 does not tell us when this preaching took
place.   To find that
out we must go to verse 20 which says: Which sometime
were disobedient,
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days
of Noah, while the
ark was a preparing.   There it is.   Verses 19 and 20 are
talking about what
happened in the days of Noah!
Noah was called a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter
2:5).   Through his
preaching the Holy Spirit worked upon the hearts of
the people.   But
because of the wickedness of that generation and their
refusal to obey
God, the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive
with man, for that
he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and
twenty years
(Genesis 6:3).   For 120 years Noah preached.   Those
people had more
opportunity to hear and accept the gospel than any
other generation.   Yet,
few, that is, eight souls were saved.   When those 120
years were up, their
opportunity for salvation was forever gone.   They would
hear no more
preaching.
Peter does not say that Jesus did anything while He
was dead.   He, by the
Spirit, preached to the people in the days of Noah,
while the ark was being prepared.
And that's all the text says.   It says nothing about a
purgatory.   It makes
no mention of disembodied spirits.   It says nothing
about preaching to
dead people.
1 Peter 4:6 tells us that the gospel was (past tense)
preached to people
who are (present tense) dead.   They are dead now, but
nowhere does it say
that they were dead at the time the gospel was
preached to them.   Such a
claim would contradict everything the Bible teaches
about death,
salvation, and the justice of God.   The living, the
living, he shall
praise thee,...  the father to the children shall
make known thy truth
(Isaiah 38:19).
Stephen's Spirit
What happened to Stephen's spirit when he died?   The
same thing that
happens to everyone else's spirit when they die.   The
verse is Acts 7:59,
60.   As Stephen was being stoned, he was calling upon
God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Your spirit is simply the spark of life which belongs
to God.   You lose it
when you die.   When the Bible says that the breath of
life returns to God,
it does not say that it carries with it any portion of
your mental
capacity.   Human consciousness is a physiological
process which is
dependent upon nerve and tissue.   In reference to man,
the Bible never
speaks of any consciousness of disembodied spirits.
Baptism for the Dead
Does Paul teach in 1 Corinthians 15:29 that we should
be baptized for the
dead?   No, he does not.
This chapter is discussing the resurrection.   Whatever
conclusion we reach
as to the meaning of the verse, we must recognize it
as an argument in
favor of the resurrection.   The line of reasoning goes
as follows: Else
what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if
the dead rise not
at all?   Why are they then baptized for the dead?   He is
promoting, not
consciousness during death, but resurrection after
death.
Paul here may have been referring to a pagan custom of
being baptized for
the dead.   Notice that he uses the word they rather
than we.   He does not
say, we should be baptized for the dead.   He simply
says that they are.  
Without actually endorsing their practice, he was
saying, Even the pagans
who are baptized for the dead believe there will be a
resurrection.   Else
why would they be baptized for them?   The argument is
similar to verses
16-18 where Paul says, For if the dead rise not,... 
then they also
which are fallen asleep...  are perished.   The only
hope for the dead is
in the resurrection.
The Bible clearly teaches that a man must personally
repent, believe in
Christ, confess his sins, and be baptized in order to
be saved (Acts
2:38; John 3:16; 1 John 1:9).   You can only work out
your own salvation
(Philippians 2:12).   They shall deliver neither son nor
daughter; they
shall but deliver their own souls by their
righteousness (Ezekiel 14:20).  
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor
give to God a
ransom for him (Psalm 49:7).   The soul that sinneth, it
shall die.   The son
shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither
shall the father bear
the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon
him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
him (Ezekiel 18:20).
Those who die in sin have no more opportunity to
repent.   Behold, now is
the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation
(2 Corinthians
6:2).   Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might; for there
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in
the grave, whither
thou goest (Ecclesiastes 9:10).   Now, while we are
still alive, while the
blood still flows in our veins, while we are still
capable of responding
to Christ's invitation now is the time for us to give
ourselves fully to
Jesus.
(Author: Ken LeBrun, North American Bible
Correspondence School)