Building in heaven or raised imperishable?

Upvote:0

In the context of 2 Corinthians, a key word that is easy to skip over is the word naked. In context, to be naked means that when we die, our spirit/soul/mind is/are separated from our mortal, earthly body. In other words, the believer's absence from the body leaves them, temporarily, without a glorified body--in other words, naked.

Had Adam and Eve not sinned, their bodies would have lived forever. That was God's design from the very beginning, though through their disobedience they became subject to death. "In Adam, all die" (1 Cor 15:22).

Now, since "to depart [from the body] . . . [is to] be with Christ" (Philippians 1:23 NIV), in what way will a believer be in Christ's presence when their spirit is flown? According to Paul, the believer will be without a physical body; in other words, he or she will be naked.

This is not to say that all the believers who have claimed to have been in heaven as the result of a near-death experience did not see what they believe they saw. There may be more than one way to see, a way that does not require physical eyes. When alive, we often say, "Oh, I see" or "I see what you mean" when we in fact mean we understand, or we "see" with our mind's eye.

In short, those who "die in Christ" still exist, even though they do not yet have their spiritual bodies. That is because the saints in heaven are waiting for resurrection day, which the apostle Paul elucidates in 1 Thessalonians 4. Worth noting is the saints who preceded us in death are resurrected first! They are naked no longer.

Upvote:2

The two verses are talking about the same thing.

1 Corinthians 15:51,52 talks about two groups of people, those that "sleep" (i.e. have died, and are currently unconscious) and those that are still alive. At Christ's return, both groups will be transformed into immortal spirit beings at that time:

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
— 1 Thessalonians 4:15

2 Corinthians 5:1 simply uses figurative language, referring to physical bodies as tents (temporary dwellings), and spirit bodies as buildings (permanent).

More post

Search Posts

Related post