What Does “Absent From the Body And Present With the Lord” Mean?
In Paul’s second letter to the believers in Corinth and his letter to those in Philippi are found the following statements:
“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (II Cor. 5:6, 8 NKJV, emphasis added).
“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Now if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean productive work for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: I feel torn between the two, because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more vital for your sake that I remain in the body.” (Phil. 1:21-24 NET, emphasis added).
The popular interpretation that have been made out of the two passages, especially the emphasised words, is that a Christian goes straight to heaven, at the point of death, to be with the Lord. The corollary of this is that a sinner goes straight to the lake of fire the very moment death takes place. Does this interpretation bring out the mind of Paul in the two passages? If this popular conclusion is correct, it will not conflict with any other part of the Scriptures. If it does, it means those who teach it “have twisted his letters [Paul’s writing in these places] to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture.” (2 Pet. 3:16 NLT, words in square bracket added).
What did Paul mean by these words? In the immediate context in 2 Corinthians, the apostle likened our human body, made of earth, to a “tent” – a temporary structure. When the tent gets torn down or destroyed at the point of death, Paul said we will have a “building,” an eternal one, not made with human hands, from God. Paul used the word “building” which is a permanent structure as an illustration of the immortal body we will get from God before we are allowed to be with the Lord in his kingdom. Paul said the building is in the heavens, that is, the building is yet to be brought down and given to us.
The apostle went further to say that he longed to be “clothed” with the heavenly building, which is the same as saying he longed to put on immortality. The same Paul in his first letters to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians made known the time we will be clothed with immortality:
“Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Cor. 15:51-53 NET, emphasis added).
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thes. 4:16-17 NLT, emphases added).
In these two passages, Paul made it known that we will put on our eternal building, that is, immortal bodies at the resurrection of the righteous which will take place on the day of Christ’s return to the earth. Until that day of the first resurrection, all those who die in Christ will remain naked or unclothed in their graves. From these texts, it can be seen that Paul did not have the day of death in mind as the day he will be with the Lord. If Paul had the day of death in mind, then he would have contradicted himself in these and many other places in the Bible.
Be with Christ – Where?
Paul desired “to depart and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). In his letter written jointly with Silas (Silvanus) and Timothy to the Thessalonians, he said that after the resurrected and living saints have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air, “we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:17). Where will the saints always be with the Lord? In heaven? No! The Lord is returning from heaven to rule as king here on the earth. Jesus said the “catching up into the air” is the gathering of the people to himself (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27). See also 2 Thes. 2:1 where the three writers said, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.” (II Thes. 2:1-2 NKJV, emphasis added). These verses have shown that we will be gathered to be with Christ on the day of his return to the earth. It follows therefore that we will always be with Christ, not in heaven but here on the new or renewed earth.
Apostle Paul was not having the mind of going to be with the Lord as a disembodied soul because that will mean appearing before the Lord “naked.” And until one is clothed with the heavenly building from God, that is the resurrection body, that person cannot be with the Lord. Consider Rev. 3:17-18; 16:15.). Paul was desiring to be with the Lord on the day of his “appearing” which is the day of his return to the earth. It is on that day that his people will be clothed with the “building from God,” the immortal resurrection body. The apostle didn’t have the day of death in mind.
Neither the Lord Jesus nor any of his apostles taught the popular but false doctrine of any human being going to heaven to live with God and Christ. They confessed their faith in the following words:
”But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.” (2 Pet. 3:13 NET). They never had the false belief of going to heaven one day to live with God. That belief has its roots in the philosophy of Plato. It is not based on any true and exegetical interpretation of the Bible.
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