BIG IDEA:
THE LONGING FOR THE RESURRECTION BODY MOTIVATES US TO FOCUS ON SPIRITUAL MINISTRY EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF PHYSICAL SUFFERING –
FUTURE GLORY INSPIRES COURAGE AND COMMITMENT IN LIVING TO PLEASE OUR LORD
INTRODUCTION:
This passage has taken on special significance for me. When my Mom passed away Sept. 3, 2024, this was the Scripture text I was scheduled to study that day. I felt like God was giving a personal message to my family. I officiated at the graveside service Sept. 5 and used this for the basis for my brief reflections.
Richard Pratt: It is so easy to forget how temporary this life is. We tend to live as if nothing will ever change, as if life will keep going as it always has. We think we’ll always have tomorrow. But every now and then, reality breaks through and we see our lives for what they are: a fleeting moment. . .
The Christian gospel tells us that this fleeting life on earth is not our final end. If we are in Christ, we have a glorious destiny. Our descendants may forget us in this life, but God will not forget us in the world to come. Followers of Christ receive the hope of eternal life. This future hope gives us perspective on this life and its frailties and suffering. It gives us a destiny beyond imagination that empowers us to move forward in the service of Christ.
MAIN IDEA: As Christians, we should balance a realistic assessment of our human frailties with the honor that Christ gives us now and after death. When we do this, we will hold fast to faith in Christ and receive the salvation that God has offered in him.
John MacArthur: As he penned this letter, Paul was facing death on a daily basis. Hostility swirled around him, animosity was constant, and so was the reality and threat of opposition and terminal persecution. Both unbelieving Jews and Gentiles sought to take his life, viewing him as a danger to their religion (cf. Acts 13:50; 18:13), their economic prosperity (cf. Acts 19:23–27), and even to their political stability (cf. Acts 17:6). The apostle’s sense of imminent death comes through repeatedly in this epistle:
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. (2 Cor. 1:8–10)
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. (4:7–12)
He described his life as “dying yet behold, we live; punished yet not put to death” (6:9), and “often in danger of death” (11:23). How did he face the reality that he, like a soldier in the front lines, constantly lived on the brink of death?
Some might have expected Paul to tone down his fearless heralding of the gospel, since it was that preaching that enraged his enemies and thus jeopardized his life. Being less confrontive would have mitigated the threat he faced. But the more the hostility and persecution escalated, the bolder Paul became. He never wavered in courageously proclaiming the truth. Because he faced death confidently, even gladly, that triumphant perspective caused him to write, “[I] prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (5:8), and “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. … “I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Phil. 1:21, 23). And because he did not fear death, Paul did not fear persecution, pain, or suffering; he was able always to be “of good courage” (2 Cor. 5:6, 8). . .
Christians should not fear death. They should long “to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Phil. 1:23). That does not mean, of course, that they are to be foolishly reckless or careless with their lives; their bodies belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19–20). But an obsessive concern for one’s physical well-being or a morbid fear of death is inconsistent with a Christian perspective. Believers should long for heaven like a prisoner longs for freedom, like a sick man longs for health, like a hungry man longs for food, like a thirsty man longs for a drink, like a poor man longs for a payday, and like a soldier longs for peace. Hope and courage in facing death is the last opportunity for Christians to exhibit their faith in God, to prove their hope of heaven is genuine and to adorn their confidence in the promises of God.
From this passage four motives for facing death confidently emerge:
- The next body is the best,
- the next life is perfect,
- the next existence fulfills God’s purpose,
- and the next dwelling is with the Lord.
R. Kent Hughes: In fact, the image that Paul appears to have had in mind was the tabernacle tent that was superseded by the temple building. Just as the tabernacle was the temporary dwelling of God until the building of a permanent temple in Jerusalem, so also Paul’s mortal body is merely temporary and will be replaced by an imperishable resurrection body.
And more, just as there was continuity between the tabernacle and the temple, there is continuity between the mortal body and the imperishable body of the resurrection. This is Paul’s explicit teaching in Philippians 3:20, 21.
Frank Matera: In terms of structure, this unit consists of two parts.
- The first (vv. 1–5) deals most directly with the issue of the resurrection body for which the believer sighs. It can be divided into a number of subunits: a thematic statement that contrasts the present body with the resurrection body (v. 1), a description of Paul’s longing to be clothed with the resurrection body (vv. 2–4), and an affirmation that God has prepared this resurrection body for the believer (v. 5).
- The second part of the unit (vv. 6–10) describes the situation of believers as they long to be with the Lord, aware that they must stand before his judgment seat. It can also be divided into two subunits: the present situation of not yet being at home with the Lord (vv. 6–8); and the judgment that everyone must face (vv. 9–10).
I. (5:1-5) PRESENT SUFFERING SHOULD INTENSIFY THE LONGING FOR FUTURE GLORY (THE RESURRECTION BODY)
Context = extreme physical suffering in the ministry
Understood from previous section in Chapter 4
A. (:1) The Superiority of the Resurrection Body
- Prospect of Physical Death — Limitations of Our Physical Body
“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down”
For all of you campers out there, what are some of the drawbacks of living in a tent?
John MacArthur: Paul’s confident assertion for we know indicates that believers’ glorified bodies are not a remote possibility or a vague wish. They are a fixed reality, a settled fact based on the promise of God (Rom. 8:18, 23; 1 Cor. 15:35–49; Phil. 3:21), not philosophical speculation or mystical fantasy. . .
The phrase if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down refers metaphorically to death (cf. Isa. 38:12). As a tentmaker himself (Acts 18:3), Paul chose to use the analogy of an earthly tent (the physical body) to describe the soul’s temporary house in this world (cf. 2 Peter 1:13–14). Speaking of the incarnation of Christ, the apostle John used the verb skēnoō, (lit., “to live in a tent”) to depict the eternal God coming into the world and taking a human body (John 1:14). A tent is an apt metaphor for the human body, which is a temporary home for the eternal souls of those whose real home is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) and who are aliens and strangers in this world (Gen. 47:9; 1 Chron. 29:15; Ps. 119:19; Heb. 11:13; 1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11). Just as the tabernacle of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness was replaced with a permanent building when Israel entered the Promised Land, so the temporary tent in which believers now dwell will be replaced one day in heaven with an eternal, imperishable body (1 Cor. 15:42, 53–54).
David Garland: Tent life is a ready metaphor for humankind’s brief sojourn in this world, and it depicts “the instability, and thus the vulnerability, of one’s mortal existence.”
The verb translated “is destroyed” also means “to tear down,” and is particularly appropriate for the image of striking a tent. It refers to our physical death. Death remains a feared enemy, and the fear of death could deaden exercising boldness in ministry. Paul explains why, then, he does not recoil in the face of daily danger but continues to speak boldly. . .
If we want to learn from this passage specific details about what happens when we die, Paul will disappoint us. He does not give us a “blueprint of the next life but only hints about its nature.” Paul gives no systematic answers to such questions as when we receive the resurrection body (at death or at the Parousia), what the nature of an intermediate state is, if it exists, or how God transforms the earthly body and what it is like. Paul did not write this passage to answer questions we might have but only affirms his confidence in the Christian’s transformation in the life after death.
Charles Swindoll: Don’t forget that Paul himself was a tent-maker who had worked for a time in the very city of Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla, making and selling tents (Acts 18:1-3). . .
I have spent enough time in a tent to know it is not the best place for a permanent dwelling (no offense to my Bedouin readers!). In fact, if you have ever been on a camping trip that lasted long enough to encounter cold or rainy weather, you will agree that tents are no match for a strong brick home built on a sure foundation. Tents are temporary dwellings —fun to sleep in with the kids in the woods or at the lake, but you and I know that it gets cold in the winter and it gets hot in the summer. Tents begin to sag. They start to leak. Tent pegs get loose. Holes form, critters invite themselves in, and a strong wind blows them away. Before very long, you are groaning for something more permanent. . .
our future, incorruptible resurrection bodies will be like a permanent building, not constructed of perishable materials from this world, but conformed to the building code for heavenly existence —untainted perfection, spiritual immortality, heavenly glory.
“torn down” seems to suggest more than just death by old age
- Promise of Permanent Dwelling
a. Superstructure
“we have a building from God”
not from Bob the Builder or Bob Vila
b. Spiritual
“a house not made with hands”
c. Eternal
“eternal in the heavens”
Richard Pratt: Paul referred to the future resurrected bodies of believers, focusing on the eternal state without differentiating it from the intermediate state. According to this view, Paul did not address our heavenly experience before Christ’s return. Because the intermediate state is not the goal that believers are to keep in mind, it is overshadowed by the permanent state after Christ’s return.
B. (:2-4) The Preference for the Resurrection Body
- (:2a) The Groaning Associated with this Present Body
“For indeed in this house we groan”
Charles Ryrie: in this earthly body we groan because of the burdens of life (cf. Rom. 8:23).
Eric Mason: Paul says, “We groan”—meaning we vocally express pain, discomfort, or displeasure, which is even inarticulate at times. You make an involuntary facial sign or a groan that shows you’re not okay with being here. . .
We’re here on earth like the deer and antelope in the wilderness. I don’t know if you watch the National Geographic channel. The antelope go to the water hole to drink, and it’s real quiet. We are just like them. They go down, they drink, but their eyes continue looking all around. Behind them are lions, and coming toward them are alligators. So you can’t even drink—the alligator is trying to get you, and the lions are trying to get you, and you’ve got to run off. You should be like the antelope. You should be saying, “I’m sick of this. I can’t even drink water in peace. Can’t have a baby in peace. Can’t move the herd in peace.” Now I’m not speaking about complaining all the time, but every now and then you need to acknowledge your discomfort with earth.
John MacArthur: Paul was weary of the frustrations, disappointments, limitations, weaknesses, and sins of this present life and longed “for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). The apostle passionately longed to be clothed with his dwelling from heaven. Paul’s mixed metaphor (putting on a building as if it were clothing) refers to his resurrection body and the perfections of eternal life, which would replace forever the debilitating, sin-caused corruptions of life in this world and set him free from his fallen humanness.
- (:2b-3) The Longing for Permanent Glorious Clothing
“longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven;
inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked”
John MacArthur: Repeating his disdain for soul nakedness, Paul emphasized again that he did not want to be unclothed as a disembodied spirit, but to be clothed with his glorified body.
Alternate Interpretation:
George Shillington: The prefix (epi) in this case, as in so many similar instances in the NT, probably carries what is called a perfective force. That is, the prefix signifies being “really clothed,” “finally clothed,” clothed in a way that will not require any further exchange of clothing. The resurrection body is the ultimate form of identity for the person “baptized into Christ” and “clothed…with Christ” (Gal. 3:27). . .
A period of waiting in nakedness for the new body is a projection of history onto the eternal. “In the consciousness of the departed believer, there is no interval between dissolution and investiture, however long the interval may be by the calendar of earth-bound human history” (Bruce: 204).
Frank Matera: In light of what Paul has already said about his apostolic sufferings (4:7–15) and his inner person wasting away (4:16–18), the “nakedness” to which he refers here is best understood in terms of death, which is the ultimate destruction of the “earthen vessel” and the “outer person.” In the face of this threat Paul affirms that he will not be found “naked,” for he will be “covered over” with the resurrection body. In affirming this, Paul is not so much making a statement about what happens to people “between” the moment of death and resurrection, as he is affirming his hope in the resurrection (4:14) that God will not leave him naked (conquered by death), because God has prepared him for this heavenly building, his resurrection body.
- (:4) Summary: Preference for Immortality (clothed in Resurrection Body)
“For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened,
because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed,
in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
C. (:5) The Assurance of the Resurrection Body
- God’s Purpose — It Cannot Be Defeated
“Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God”
- God’s Pledge — The Indwelling Holy Spirit
“who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.”
Charles Swindoll: The full realization of salvation is not to be naked but to be clothed in new, immortal bodies at the time of the Resurrection. As Paul says in Philippians 3:20-21, “For our citizenship is [present tense] in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
We await the fulfillment of this promise because we know with certainty that it will one day come to pass. How? Because God gave us His Holy Spirit as a “pledge,” a priceless deposit that guarantees what has been promised will come to pass (2 Cor. 5:5). Though our present, earthly body is wasting away, we can count on a new, glorious body to replace it one day.
Scott Hafemann: The NIV obscures the fact that the same verb used in 5:5 to refer to God’s having prepared Paul for the future by granting him the Spirit (katergazomai) is used in 4:17 to describe his “achieving … an eternal glory” through his present afflictions. Here too, as in 2:14 – 3:3, suffering and the Spirit come together. Without the Spirit, the adversities of 4:17 would not seem temporary and slight. But without the adversities, the hope generated by the reception of the Spirit would lose its force. So God prepares his people by giving them a foretaste of the glory to come, in order that the suffering of this present age might be put into its proper perspective. And he gives them suffering so that the glory to come might be put into its proper perspective as well.
David Garland: He finds great joy and comfort in this life, despite its sufferings, because of the Spirit. The Spirit’s presence in the lives of believers betokens that some of the splendor of the world to come has already broken into this present evil age. The writer of Hebrews recognizes this truth when he speaks of those “who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age” (Heb 6:4–5).
How do Christians know that the promise of a heavenly existence is real? Paul’s answer is that the experience of the transforming and uplifting power of the Holy Spirit now in their lives is the one piece of empirical evidence that shows God’s promises are real. Paul had no need to convince the Corinthians of the Spirit’s transforming power, and he appeals to it to make his case for the amazing transformation that awaits Christians at death.
II. (5:6-10) TWO RESULTS OF THIS LONGING FOR FUTURE GLORY
A. (:6-8) Future Glory Inspires Courage
“Therefore, being always of good courage”
- Because We Recognize the Limitations of This Earthly Life
“and knowing that while we are at home in the body
we are absent from the Lord”
David Guzik: As it is true that to be absent from the body means we will be present with the Lord, it proves two false doctrines to be false. It refutes the false doctrine of “soul sleep,” (saying that the believing dead are held in some sort of suspended animation until the resurrection occurs) and the false doctrine of “purgatory” (saying that the believing dead must be “cleaned up” through their own suffering before coming into the presence of God).
- Because We Walk by Faith Not by Sight
“for we walk by faith, not by sight”
Scott Hafemann: Verses 8–9 restate verses 6–7, unpacking the implications of what it means to know that one is still “away from the Lord” and of what living by faith looks like. In regard to the former, viewing the present from the perspective of the future means that our values and desires are radically altered. Instead of desiring a prolonged life on earth, we prefer to be “at home with the Lord” (cf. Phil. 1:23). Concerning the latter, living by faith is being confident that the eternal glory of “what is unseen” is certain and secure for believers and that it “far outweighs” any suffering of this world (4:17–18), so that the believer would trade this world for the world to come in a moment (5:8). Hence, to live by faith also means that, “whether we are at home in the body or away from it”—that is, whether we live or die—we aim to please the Lord, not ourselves (5:9; cf. 5:15; Phil. 3:1–13; cf. Rom. 12:1–2; 14:17–18; Eph. 5:10; Phil. 4:18; Col. 3:20). . .
The main point of 5:1–10, therefore, is Paul’s ambition to please the Lord in walking by faith (5:7a, 9). This ambition is rooted in his courage during this life (5:6a, 8a) because of his confidence in the resurrection of the righteous (5:1–5) and his awareness of the universal judgment to come (5:10). He is thus motivated both by the positive appeal of God’s promises and by the negative prospect of Christ’s judgment against all that is “bad.” . . .
We often hear people say or imply that they have no trouble believing God, just obeying him. For Paul, such a dichotomy is nonsense, a self-contradiction. Any attempt to separate faith from works runs aground on the fact that in one and the same passage Paul can speak of living by faith (5:7) and of being judged by deeds (5:10). Indeed, the goal of Paul’s entire life as the apostle to the Gentiles is to bring them to “the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5; cf. 15:18; 16:26; 1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:11), since only this kind of faith in God’s promises glorifies God (cf. Rom. 4:18–25). . .
Love, as the fulfillment of the law, is the manifestation of genuine faith and hope (cf. Rom. 13:8–10; Gal. 5:6, 13–14; 6:2; 1 Thess. 1:3). For this reason, judgment takes place according to works, in order to vindicate publicly God’s work in the hearts of those who have been changed by the power of the Spirit. Deeds are the means of evaluation in the courtroom of God’s judgment, since they establish the genuine nature of the claim to trust God. In short, rather than being added to faith, obedience to God’s will is the visible manifestation of faith.
In order to bring this passage into our context, we must consequently be careful never to call into question the most fundamental fact of all reality: God in Christ is the one who saves (cf. 5:16–21). Nothing we do has or ever will earn or purchase our salvation. Salvation, including our trusting God for it, is the gift of God made possible by Christ (Rom. 4:1–8; 5:8–9; 6:23; Eph. 2:8–9). We must reject all attempts to consider our works our contribution to God’s saving work on our behalf. This is true whether they are the “bad works” that we think make us special or deserving in God’s sight before we are saved (cf. Rom. 4:2–4), or the “good works” that God himself brings about in our lives through his Spirit (cf. Eph. 2:10). All we bring to God is our desperate need for forgiveness and deliverance from sin. All our acts in Christ are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and of his own righteousness (Phil. 1:11), which therefore rebound to God’s glory, not ours (cf. Matt. 5:16).
- Because We Prefer Our Eternal Home
“we are of good courage, I say,
and prefer rather to be absent from the body
and to be at home with the Lord.”
Ray Stedman: I love that phrasing. Notice how it is put here. The word is used both for our life in the body and our coming presence with the Lord. They are both said to be an experience of being “at home.” What does that mean? Well, you feel “at home” in your body, don’t you, right now? You do not feel strange in it. You do not feel unnatural. You feel relaxed. You would feel very strained and unnatural if you did not have your body. You feel at home in it. That is what it means. Now, using the same language, the apostle says when you leave this earthly body and are given the body of glory that is awaiting you, you will be at home there too. It will be an experience not of strain or difference, but natural. In fact, later on in this letter, in Chapter 12, he speaks of being caught up into the third heaven into the very presence of God. He says, “I didn’t know whether I was in the body or out of it. I couldn’t tell. I felt so much at home it didn’t make any difference,” (cf., 2 Cor, 12:3).
That is an encouragement to us that what we are headed toward is not something dreadful or so terribly different that we need to be afraid. We will be at home with the Lord, in his very presence, seeing him no longer only with the Spirit within, but face to face. If it is true, as Peter puts it, that “Without having seen him you love him” (cf,, 1 Pet 1:8), how much more will that be true when we see him face to face? So we are nerved to go through the difficulty of these days and to be of good courage because we are heading into light instead of darkness.
Charles Swindoll: Yes, to be absent from this mortal body is to be present with the Lord, just as Jesus promised the thief on the cross, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). There is no hint of “soul sleep,” an unconscious hiatus before resurrection in which we rest until Christ returns. Also, the idea of a purgatorial cleansing in some intermediate state does not fit this passage. To depart this earthly life through physical death —to be absent from the body —means to be present with the Lord. Paul is not suggesting, however, that this is the final experience of our resurrection. Those who die before Christ returns, then, will be with Him, awaiting the time of His return to resurrect their bodies and rapture the church, when all of us will be rewarded for our faithful service in the glories of His kingdom (Matt. 19:28-29; Rev. 3:21).
In fact, it may be that when Paul says God will “bring with Him [Jesus] those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thes. 4:14), he is referring to Christ descending from heaven with the disembodied souls of the saints that had died prior to His second coming. These souls would then be reunited with their resurrected, glorified bodies (1 Thes. 4:16) and caught up with the transformed living saints (1 Thes. 4:17).
George Shillington: For Paul, the fulfillment is to be exiled from the mortal body and thus to be a home with the Lord. To be at home with the Lord requires a body like that of the Lord, a resurrection body (see again 1 Cor. 15:42-57). His preference is to live in full vision of his Lord in a body like the Lord’s. The point is not that “Paul prefers nakedness to present life” (R. Martin, 1986:112; cf. Kruse: 117). Nakedness is not at issue in this paragraph. The comparison, rather, is between the imperfect experience of Christ while at home in a tentlike body, and the full glory of being at home with Christ in a building from God, a resurrection body.
John MacArthur: The reality of death faces every believer who dies before the Lord raptures the church. Those who look forward to receiving their glorified bodies, to the perfections of life in heaven, to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for them, and to living forever in His presence will be able to say triumphantly with Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55).
R. Kent Hughes: Paul desired ultimate fellowship with the Lord. Certainly in his earthly body he knew the Lord, as does every believer. But to be “at home with the Lord” encompasses warmth of fellowship that is wholly active and reciprocal with live face-to-face exchange. Paul sees this in his future and thus longs assuredly for his resurrection body in which he will be at home with the Lord.
We must not fail to miss a telling implication — which is that Paul does not desire a prolonged life on earth!
B. (:9-10) Future Glory Inspires Commitment
- (:9) Single-minded Ambition
“Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent,
to be pleasing to Him.”
Jason Meyer: Paul aims only to please the Lord because he will answer only to the Lord.
- (:10) Sobering Accountability
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Charles Swindoll: Christ will not judge believers to determine innocence or guilt. That judgment of “not guilty” already was rendered when God declared us righteous at our conversion because of the saving death of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Because of the finished work of Christ, received as our own by faith in Him, our resurrection is guaranteed and our place in the kingdom of heaven is permanently assured (Eph. 1:13-14; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5). At the judgment seat of Christ, however, our future reward in the kingdom of God will be determined by the quality of our deeds and the motives behind them (see 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 4:4-5).
* * * * * * * * * *
PREACHING CHRIST:
1) Our eternal home is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We live as pilgrims in this world and in the tent of this temporary body. Our permanent dwelling is a building from God.
2) Presently we walk by faith in Jesus Christ, complete dependence upon His guidance and strength.
3) We measure everything we do up against the one motive of striving to please Jesus. That is the focus of all of our ambition. (cf. the movement: What Would Jesus Do?)
4) We live soberly in light of the absolute accountability we will face before the judgment seat of Christ.