Desiring Heaven: "Absent from the Body and Present with the Lord"

“6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:6–10 ESV).

Introduction

Regarding the state of human beings in death, I firmly believe that the Bible teaches the doctrines of Christian mortalism and conditionalism. Christian mortalism is the belief that immortality is not a necessary or essential ontological attribute of human nature but is contingent. In other words, a human being is not innately or naturally immortal but entirely dependent upon God for all life, who alone has immortality necessarily (1 Tim 1:17; 6:15, 16).1 Immortality can be given to or taken away from humans. For example, God supplied the first humans with eternal life through the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:8–10). Subsequently, after their Fall, he took it away from them by cutting off their access to the Tree of Life (Gen 3:22–24). Death was and is always a potentiality in human nature, although it needed not to be realized. This leads us to a corollary concept.

Christian conditionalism, which is a logical extension of Christian mortalism, is the notion that immortality is a gift or reward (Rom 2:5–8)) that is freely received by the righteous from God at the second advent of Christ (1 Cor 15:53, 54) and conditionally given to them based on his grace through their living faith in Christ’s abundant provision for salvation (Gal 2:8, 9). Originally, immortality was provided to Adam and Eve on condition of their obedience to the covenant of works: (1) don't eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the midst of the garden and live or (2) eat from it and die (Gen 2:16, 17; cf. 3:2, 3). There were and continue to be only two options for human destiny: (1) the righteous are gifted immortality or eternal life on the basis of faith in Christ's substitutionary atonement, and (2) the wicked are paid their long-earned wages of eternal death (Rom 6:23; cf. Deut 30:15–20; Ezek 18:20; 33:11, 17–20; John 3:16; Jas 1:15; 1 John 5:12; Rev 21:8). Ultimately, our first parents decided to break the covenant with God (Gen 3:6). Accordingly, God imposed the clearly articulated punishment of death. As a result of Adam’s sin, all of his descendants were subjected to death because he stood soteriologically as their representative, federal (i.e., covenantal) head (Rom 5:12). However, those who embrace the one who is "'the way, and the truth, and the life'" (John 14:6 ESV) and "'the resurrection and the life'" (John 11:25, 26 ESV; cf. 5:21, 24) may escape this penalty and be granted immortality once again. Whoever “has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11–13 ESV; John 3:36).

From these two congruent ideas emerges the teaching that a person is not viewed as being instantaneously awarded or recompensed his/her eternal reward of life or judgment, respectively, at the time of death. When a person dies, he/she does not immediately ascend to the eternal bliss of heaven or descend to the everlasting punishment of hell, as is popularly believed.2 Rather, death is a lifeless, unconscious state.3 A person’s "spirit" (or “soul,” as some label it) in death has no awareness of anything (i.e., no operative senses) and is void of all cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and physiological processes and activities (Pss 6:5; 30:8; 88:10–12; 115:17; 146:3, 4; Eccl 9:5, 6, 10; Isa 38:18, 19). It is as if the person is in deep, dreamless sleep, aware of nothing. This restful condition continues until the pre-millennial parousía (παρουσία; i.e., Christ’s "appearing”), at which time the rewards and punishments for the righteous and the wicked are bestowed respectively (Isa 40:10; Matt 16:27; Rev 22:12). Every human person is awakened or raised from the dead by God, judged as righteous in the resurrection unto eternal life, beginning the millennium, or as wicked in the resurrection unto judgment (Dan 12:2; John 5:28, 29), following the millennium (Rev 20:5, 13–15).

However, there are some scriptural passages that, at first glance, appear to contradict Christian mortalism and conditionalism. One of those is 2 Cor 5:1–10. Notably, the apostle Paul’s statement in v. 8—“we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (ESV)—has led many to assume that, when the human body dies, the human spirit or soul (again, popularly believed to be naturally immortal) ascends to heaven in a conscious state to enjoy being with God in heaven eternally to the fullest capacity.

But, is this the only way to interpret this Pauline pericope, or is there an alternative reading that coheres with the Christian mortalism and conditionalism taught elsewhere in the Bible? I propose that there is a discernible, demonstrable, and defendable interpretation of 2 Cor 5:1–10 that is consistent with the biblical passages cited above that indeed affirm Christian mortalism and conditionalism.

Internal Data

What makes 2 Cor 5:1–10 complex to interpret is the extended metaphor utilized to portray different states of human existence. The popular reading of this passage understands Paul to have been describing only two distinct states of humanity: (1) the mortal tent or dwelling “that is our earthy home” (v. 1), which signifies our present, mortal life on earth, and (2) the “heavenly dwelling” or tent (v. 2) or the “building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” that is indicative of our future, eternal life in heaven. It is popularly believed that Paul understood death as the mediating instrument through which a believer passes from one state to another—a sort of deliverer from the "body-prison" of decay and death.4

While the above two states are most definitely present in the passage, a third, intermediary state of human existence seems to have been missed in the traditional reading. The acknowledgement of that third state seems to be a significant key to a Christian mortalist and conditionalist reading. Moving through 2 Cor 5:1–10 sequentially, the table below charts this intermediary state along with the two aforementioned states in the order in which they are given in the passage.5

Verse	State 1: Present, Mortal Life on Earth	State 2: Death	State 3: Future, Eternal Life in Heaven
v. 1	"the tent that is our earthly home"	"destroyed"	"a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"
v. 2	"this tent"		"our heavenly dwelling"
v. 3		"naked"
v. 4a	"this tent"	"unclothed"	"further clothed"
v. 4b	"what is mortal"		"swallowed up by life"
v. 5			"this very thing"
v. 6	"at home in the body we are away from the Lord"
v. 8			"away from the body and at home with the Lord"
v. 9	"at home"		"away"
v. 10	"in the body"

The first state is unanimously agreed to refer to this present, mortal life on earth. The “tent” that serves as our earthly home or dwelling is our earthly existence in the perishable body that is subject to sin and death (Rom 6:12, 13; 7:5, 14, 17, 22–25; 8:1–8). Biblical interpreters also concur that the second state represents the future, immortal life of believers in heaven (i.e., state 3). The “building from God” is the heavenly home or dwelling—our hope of existing eternally in the new spiritual body clothed with immortality (1 Cor 15:35–49). The central point of disagreement concerns the timing of one’s transition from state 1 to state 3. Thus, according to Paul, when does one transition from state 1 to state 3—at the time of death or at the second advent of Christ?

Understanding that there is a third, distinct state of human existence mentioned in 2 Cor 5:1–10 (i.e., state 2 charted in the table above) helps to clarify the question of the timing of one’s transition from state 1 to state 3. This third state is an intermediary state between state 1 and state 3, during which a person is depicted as being “naked” or “unclothed” in Paul’s metaphor—that is, being without the earthy “tent” that is “destroyed” at death (i.e., state 1) and being without the eternal, heavenly “building” (i.e., state 3). This internal, textual data alone suggests that a believer transitions from state 1 to state 3 not at death (i.e., state 2), which is an altogether different state, but afterward, when he/she is resurrected from the dead at the return of Christ. Therefore, in my reading, the apostle taught that one can be (1) clothed with the earthly “tent” (i.e., the mortal body), (2) unclothed (i.e., dead), or (3) clothed with the heavenly “building” (i.e., the immortal body). One cannot exist in more than one of these states at a given time. Thus, state 2 and state 3 are textually distinct states that occur at two different times. These two states should not be collapsed into one another, making them one and the same.

An illustration may be helpful at this point. The molecule of H2O has three states of existence, depending on the temperature, atmospheric pressure, and altitude. In more moderate temperatures and under normal conditions, H2O will maintain the state of a liquid called “water.” When H2O reaches its boiling-point temperature of 211.9 °F (99.97 °C) at sea level and under standard atmospheric pressure (i.e., 1 atm or 101.325 kPa), it enters into the state of a gas and becomes “vapor.” However, if H2O is cooled to a temperature at or below 32 °F (0 °C), it freezes into a solid state, transforming into “ice.” Interesting for our purposes is the fact that a particular H2O molecule can only exist in one of these three states at any given time.6

In this specific regard, the existence of H2O and its three possible states is similar to human existence and its three possible states. Just as a single molecule of H2O is capable of existing in only one of its three states at a single point in time, so too a human person cannot exist in more than one of his/her potential three states simultaneously. H2O is either a liquid, gas, or solid, and a human being is either mortal, dead, or immortal. Therefore, death is not the gateway to immortality but a distinct state absent from mortal or immortal, conscious embodiment.

Also instructive is to note which of these states Paul desired and did not desire, as he expressed in 2 Cor 5:1–10. He was overt that he did not want to be “found naked” and “unclothed” (vv. 3, 4); in other words, the apostle did not wish to go through the experience of death. From Paul’s perspective, death is an enemy of humanity (1 Cor 15:25, 26)—the final one to be destroyed (Isa 25:8, 9; 2 Tim 1:10; Rev 20:14; 21:4). Death is not a deliverer of the believer from mortality unto immortality. Death is a foe, not our friend. Instead, Paul expressed his earnest desire to experience state 3 (2 Cor 5:2, 8); he longed to possess an imperishable, spiritual body and be with the Lord in heaven forever. As such, being “away from the body and at home with the Lord” cannot be referencing the state of death (i.e., state 2) because, in death, the believer is not with the Lord but "asleep" in the grave, awaiting "awakening" (i.e., resurrection) at Christ's return. Therefore, the apostle seemingly intended to communicate his yearning to be directly translated from the earthly, mortal body (i.e., state 1) to the heavenly, spiritual body (i.e., state 3) without having to die first (state 2). He hoped to be one of the believers who will be alive and remain (1 Thess 4:16, 17) when Jesus comes again, who are changed "in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor 15:51–53 ESV) from state 1 to state 3 directly.

Intertextual Data

Life, Death, and Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15


Paul’s discussion of death and resurrection in his earlier letter to the Corinthian believers is linked conceptually and linguistically to 2 Cor 5:1–10, even using the same Greek terms: “mortal” (1 Cor 15:54), “clothed” (vv. 53–54), and “swallowed up” (v. 54). Furthermore, like 2 Cor 5:1–10, 1 Cor 15 presents three distinct categories of human states: (1) state 1, the perishable/mortal life in the “natural” or “earthy” body of “dust” and “flesh and blood” (e.g., vv. 6, 40, 42, 44–49, 50, 53–54); (2) state 2, the “sleep” of death (e.g., vv. 6, 51, 18, 20, 22, 54–55); and (3) state 3, the imperishable/immortal life in the “heavenly” or “spiritual” body received from God at the time of a believer’s resurrection (e.g., vv. 21–22, 40, 42, 44–49, 50, 52–54).

The question of when the transition from state 1 to state 3 occurs is explicitly answered in 1 Cor 15 as happening not at the point of death but “at the last trumpet” when the dead in Christ are resurrected (v. 52 ESV) and both dead and living believers are “changed” from having perishable/mortal bodies to possessing imperishable/immortal bodies fit for inheriting “the kingdom of God” (vv. 50–54 ESV). This, of course, is undoubtedly a reference to the second coming of Jesus when “the last enemy” death is destroyed (vv. 25–26 ESV) and “swallowed up in victory” (vv. 54–55 ESV). Not unlike in 2 Cor 5:2, 3 or 1 Cor 15, in Rom 8:18–23, Paul noted that all creation and believers “groan” for the time of “the redemption of our bodies.” He wrote that this will occur when the “glory” of Christ is revealed at his soon return. At that time, both “those who have fallen asleep” in Christ and those “who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together ... in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and ... always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:13–18 ESV); then they will be “away from the [earthly] body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8 ESV).

Remaining, Death, and Departure in Philippians 1:19–26


A portion of Paul’s letter, written from prison in Rome and addressed to the church in Philippi, also helps in understanding Paul’s thought in 2 Cor 5:1–10. Similar to 2 Cor 5:1–10, in Phil 1:19–26, Paul expressed a dilemma in relation to three categories of human states of being and which was preferred by him: (1) state 1, to “remain” and “live in the flesh” or mortal “body” for fruitful gospel labor (Phil 1:20–22 ESV); (2) state 2, “to die” (vv. 20, 21 ESV) and be at rest from his suffering and labor (cf. Rev 14:13); and (3) state 3, “to depart and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23 ESV). His question was whether he should strive to “remain” alive so that he could continue bearing fruit in his gospel labor for the Philippian believers and others (i.e., state 1) or surrender to death and gain rest from his labor (v. 21; i.e., state 2). He noted his awareness that the former would be best for his readers, and, in fact, “more necessary” (vv. 24–26 ESV), although the latter state was looking like a good option to him, considering his persecutory experience of being imprisoned by the Romans. Yet, what he really wanted to do was to depart from the present, mortal life, not to face death but to “be with Christ.” He wished to be directly translated into heaven (i.e., state 3) without meeting death (i.e., state 2); this option, to him, was “far better” than the two previously mentioned states (v. 23).

So, again, the question is, when did he expect the potential departure to occur? The apostle clearly pointed to the time of the second advent of Christ, not at death, as the very moment when believers “will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:17 ESV; cf. 2 Cor 5:8). Thus, as in 2 Cor 5:1–10, Paul in Phil 1:19–26 communicated his desire for direct translation from the body of flesh on earth to the spirit body in heaven so that he could be with the Lord Jesus Christ in forever, bypassing death altogether.

Conclusion

The above brief analysis of the internal and intertextual data of 2 Cor 5:1–10 has arguably demonstrated a biblically faithful, alternative reading of that passage, which supports the teachings of Christian mortalism and conditionalism. In this interpretation, death is not the time at which a believer is ushered into eternal life with the Lord in heaven. Instead, death is the last enemy of God’s people that will be destroyed in the lake of hellfire, following the millennial reign of the righteous with Christ. It is the intermediary state during which the earthly, mortal body decays and disintegrates into dust in the grave, and the heavenly, immortal body has not yet been received. The believer remains in this state, while dwelling in the grave, sleeping until his/her bodily resurrection from the dead. At that time, he/she will be “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” from perishable to imperishable, from mortality into immortality (1 Cor 15:51, 52 ESV), finally to be with the Lord forever.

May we share the apostle's eager desire to be "absent" from this body of sin, decay, and death and "present" with the Lord, awaiting with great anticipation "the blessed hope" (Titus 2:11–14 ESV)—the imminent return of our beloved God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Maranatha! (1 Cor 16:22).7 O "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20 ESV).

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Footnotes

1 This starkly contrasts with the popular and traditional teaching of Christianity that the human spirit or soul is naturally immortal and survives death. The doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is heavily influenced by pagan Greek philosophy. It is fascinating to see that the first lie recorded in the Bible is that of the serpent attempting to deceive Eve to believe in the natural immortality of the soul (“‘You will not surely die’” [Gen 3:4 ESV]).

2 A corollary doctrine to those of Christian mortalism and conditionalism is annihilationism—the belief that, in the final end-time judgment, the wicked are sentenced to eternal death that is brought about by the lake of hellfire, which consumes them wholly (cf. Ps 37:10, 20; Isa 47:14; Ezek 28:18, 19; Obad 15, 16; Mal 4:1, 3; Matt 10:28; 2 Pet 3:10). On this view, hell is not a place eternally and presently existent, but the wicked await in the grave (cf. Job 21:30, 32; John 12:48; 2 Pet 2:9) the event of judgment by fire executed in the future after the millennium (Matt 13:40–42; Rev 20:7–15). This stands in opposition to the popular Christian doctrine of eternal conscious torment (ECT, sometimes called “traditionalism”), which teaches that the wicked are eternally tormented by burning forever in the unquenchable fires of hell while being fully conscious. Seventh-day Adventists, such as myself, affirm annihilationism.

3 Sometimes this is called the doctrine of “soul-sleep” because of the consistent metaphor of sleep employed to describe human experience in death throughout the Old and New Testaments to highlight the lack of awareness and consciousness in death and its temporality (e.g., 1 Kgs 2:1–2, 10 [cf. Acts 2:29, 34]; Job 14:10–12; Ps 13:3; Dan 12:2; Matt 9:24; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52–53; John 11:11–14; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor 15:20; Eph 5:14; 1 Thess 4:13–18; Rev 14:13).

4 For more about the actual, biblical nature of death, see my blog post "God's Last Enemy Defeated and Destroyed!"

5 I am deeply indebted to my undergraduate professor of systematic theology and Christian ethics at Southern Adventist University (Collegedale, TN), Stephen Bauer, who first showed me this insight and demonstrated it via a similar table in his Christian Theology I class. The Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).

6 Sometimes, the triple point of water is highlighted as contradictory, wherein all three states of H2O can theoretically coexist simultaneously when at a temperature of 273.16 °K and under an atmospheric pressure of 611.73 Pa. The truth is that these conditions can really only be found in an experimental laboratory. Moreover, any one molecule of H2O can exist only as vapor, liquid, or solid, even at the so-called triple point. So, while multiple H2O molecules may be able to take on different states simultaneously under triple point conditions, any given H2O molecule is still only able to be in one state at any one specified point in time.

7 This is an Aramaic phrase (מרנאתא‎), meaning "Our Lord, come!" The Greek equivalent is μαράνα θα (marána tha).