The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

VI. Expositional Survey of Passage by Verses

1. VERSE 1—EARTHLY HOUSE DISSOLVED; HEAVENLY HOUSE ETERNAL

Let us now traverse the passage verse by verse, in logical sequence, in the light of all factors, as diagramed or visualized by a chart. Paul speaks of our earthly “tent-house.” And tent and body are similar in several respects—the materials of both are made of earthly elements, they are transient dwelling places, and may be taken down and moved at any time. CFF1 340.1

It will also be recalled that Christ tented, or tabernacled, for some thirty-three years among us (John 1:14), when He assumed a human body at His incarnation, before returning to Heaven. Peter similarly compares the human body to a tent, or tabernacle, that is put off at death (2 Peter 1:13, 14). The figure is therefore apt. CFF1 340.2

Again, our present life state is followed by the death state, or state of dissolution. And this in turn is to be succeeded, through resurrection or translation, by the eternal life state. Our glorified life begins when, and only when, Christ returns. Then we receive our “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). CFF1 340.3

Paul casts his mind’s eye across the gloomy stretch of death and dissolution and fixes it yearningly upon the eternal state, which begins when, and only when, the intermediate state ends. His faith overleaps the chasm of gravedom, anticipating the “unseen” but “eternal” state of blessedness for which he hoped (2 Corinthians 4:18). CFF1 340.4

“Clothed,” “unclothed,” and “clothed upon” are thus the key words. While living on earth we are “clothed” with our mortal body. At death we are “unclothed” while in gravedom, this earthly body being laid aside and “dissolved.” That will be the lot of the vast majority of believers. Only those living when Christ returns will escape dissolution, for they will be translated. But we shall all become “clothed upon” when we exchange the mortal for the glorious immortal bodies. CFF1 340.5

This Life	The Life to Come
2 Corinthians 5:2, 4 In this (body) tabernacle we groan	Desiring to be clothed upon with our house from Heaven That mortality be swallowed up of life
Romans 8:22, 23 The whole creation groaneth	Waiting for the redemption of our body

Paul’s Three Consecutive States, or Conditions, of Man, Outlined

Two Houses—Temporary Earthly and Eternal Heavenly; With Intervening Death Between (2 Corinthians 5:1-9) CFF1 341.1

(1) “Clothed”	(2) “Unclothed”	(3) “Clothed Upon”
(Present State—Mortality)	(Death State)	(Future State—Immortality)
TRANSITORY (temporal)	INTERMEDIATE (gravedom)	ETERNAL (from Heaven)
Brief earthly tabernacle-tent (made with hands)	Tabernacle-tent dissolved	Eternal house from Heaven Not made with hands

Clothed	Unclothed (naked)	Clothed Upon
Groaning under burdens	(Released from suffering)	(Glorified spiritual body)
Mortality	(Interim cessation of life)	Swallowed up of eternal life
Walking by faith	(Sleeping in Jesus)	Living by sight in God’s presence
Having earnest of Spirit	(No perception of time)	Resurrected by power of Spirit
At home in body	Absent from the Lord	At home with the Lord
ABSENT FROM THE LORD	(Resting in the Lord)	PRESENT WITH THE LORD
		SECOND ADVENT Resurrection or translation

2. VERSE 2—GROANING FOR IMMORTALITY BEYOND RESURRECTION

We “groan,” or sigh in distress, because we earnestly desire our Lord’s return, and for the “change” of our bodies of humiliation into the likeness of His glorious body. Observe, in passing, Paul’s parallelism in 2 Corinthians 5:2 and 4, and Romans 8:22, 23. CFF1 342.1

Yes, the “house ... from heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:2), the immortal body, the state of immortality, awaits the redeemed beyond the resurrection, or translation, day. CFF1 342.2

3. VERSE 3—CLOTHED AGAIN AFTER NAKED STATE OF DEATH

There is often confusion over the term “naked,” in 2 Corinthians 5:3. But the nakedness Paul mentions is the dissolution state of the earthly house of verse 1, and in verse 4 it is denominated “unclothed.” Paul longs for the heavenly home, for when thus “clothed upon” we shall be no longer in the “naked” state to which death leads all men. And it is only of the intermediate state that Paul says this—not of this life, and surely not of the glorified future life. CFF1 342.3

In the glorified state we shall assuredly have our “eternal house” and home. The grave (hades—bereft of light and joy and consciousness) is not our home. It is indeed a state of uninviting nakedness. But Paul looks beyond this nakedness of death to the land of life. He thus rules out any possibility of a state between death and the resurrection in which, as disembodied spirits, men go to be present with the Lord. That cannot be the intent of “naked,” or “unclothed.” CFF1 342.4

The nature of the intervening state of death is that of sleep, without consciousness, and with no perception of time. A thousand years will seem no longer than an instant. The dead in Christ are “fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:18). If that sleep were unbroken by the call of the Life-giver, it would be tantamount to utter extinction—an eternal sleep. But all who sleep are destined to an inevitable awakening, either unto “life” or to “damnation.” So beyond the state of death looms the glorious state of immortality—with eternal life, joy, and light. CFF1 342.5

4. VERSE 4—MORTALITY TO BE SWALLOWED UP BY IMMORTALITY

In 2 Corinthians 5:4, Paul repeats the point that in “this tabernacle” we “groan, being burdened.” The world, Satan, sin, and temptation had made his life a burden. Yet all this cannot produce a desire to be “unclothed”—in the unclothed intermediate state that he disparages. Death is not the time of redemption, nor is the grave our home. It is only a temporary tarrying place until our Lord returns. Paul’s burden is for the future “clothed upon” state of the heavenly house, eternal in duration. The grave signifies the triumph of death. But death, or mortality, is to be “swallowed up of life,” a life that shall never end. And death itself is to be obliterated (Revelation 20:14). CFF1 343.1

This mortal must put on, or be invested with, immortality. This corruptible must become incorruptible by immortalizing transformation. Only then can it inherit the kingdom of God, with its endless life. Until and unless there is this tremendous creative “change,” there can be no immortal life for any of the human family. But when that is accomplished, then “mortality” is swallowed up of immortality, and we will be “clothed upon” with our eternal house from Heaven. As noted, this is not at death but at the last trump, when the Lord Jesus appears in glory, and the dead are “raised,” and the righteous living are “changed” in the twinkling of an eye. That is the great apostle’s unequivocal declaration. CFF1 343.2

And Paul categorically states that men are not clothed with immortality individually and separately at death, but simultaneously and “together,” at the resurrection-translation of the just (1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). And it is to be observed, further, that in translation the mortal body of the living is “changed” without a prior “dissolution.” This is definitely included in the phrases, “clothed upon,” and “mortality swallowed up of life”—Paul’s ardent hope. Paul’s mind is fully made up. He does not want to be “unclothed,” to die, to disintegrate. He would rather live on, and continue in the “clothed” state, with all its burdens and sufferings, than to die. But when the third possibility is considered, it at once takes first place in his heart. CFF1 343.3

Picture 2: Standing before God Clothed in Immortality:
The Host of the Redeemed-a Multitude No Man Can Number-Stand Before God Clothed Fadeless Immortality, Sealed for Eternity.
Page 345

Paul wishes above all things to be “clothed upon” with his promised “house ... from heaven”—when the Lord would come and fashion anew the body of his humiliation. At the Second Advent, when Christ shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory, being “clothed upon” with our heavenly house. CFF1 345.1

5. INDWELLING SPIRIT IS PLEDGE OF OUR RESURRECTION

The Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts is the “earnest” (down payment, assurance, pledge, token) that we shall finally receive the desire of our heart, and be “clothed upon” with immortality. The indwelling of the Spirit is the sure pledge that the Spirit that raised up Jesus will also raise us up (Romans 8:11). Compare this trio of texts: CFF1 345.2

PRESENT PLEDGE OF HOLY SPIRIT	FUTURE REDEMPTION OF BODY
2 Corinthians 5:5—“Hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”	That mortality might be swallowed up of life
Ephesians 1:13, 14—“Sealed with that holy Spirit”—“the earnest of our inheritance”	Until the redemption of the purchased possession
Romans 8:11—“The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus”—dwelling in you	He that raised up Jesus shall also quicken your mortal bodies
	All taking place at the Second Advent and the resurrection-translation (1 Corinthians 15:51-55).

6. VERSE 6—AT HOME IN BODY; ABSENT FROM THE LORD

To be in our “earthly” tabernacle-house is to be “at home in the body.” The chief characteristic of this temporary house is that it is mortal and may be dissolved. That is our present situation. To be “absent from the Lord” is to be living here on earth, or resting in the grave—not yet in His presence. To be “present” with Him is effected by being either “raised” or “changed”—these being the sole gateways to the glory land. CFF1 346.1

7. VERSE 8—INTERVAL OF DEATH SEPARATES FROM PRESENCE WITH LORD

There is nothing in verse 8 or in the context to justify the contention that being “present with the Lord” occurs immediately upon being “absent from the body.” The passage does not indicate when these experiences take place. We do not, immediately upon dying, take possession. From Paul’s other writings, and Scripture in general, it is established that the interval of the death state is the period that separates the two. We await the coming of the Lord. CFF1 346.2

Paul does not here deny his previous witness to the Corinthians—that this “corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53)—and that at the Second Advent, which is still future. Paul is uniformly consistent and very positive that “if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain .... Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (1 Corinthians 15:16, 18). His only hope, like the worthies of Hebrews 11, is in the resurrection of the dead. Thus he declares that there is no advantage in the martyrs fighting the beasts at Ephesus, “if the dead rise not” (1 Corinthians 15:32). Obviously, they were not already in Heaven. CFF1 346.3

“Absent from the body” (2 Corinthians 5:8) consequently denotes, not happiness in a disembodied state, but a period of relief from a suffering and dying body—of resting and sleeping in Jesus. CFF1 346.4

“The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Thus the present world is contrasted with the future. The present earth and its inhabitants are to continue but for a limited time; the world to come, with the redeemed children of God, is eternal. The portrayal is that of a tent versus a permanent home at the end of life’s journey. CFF1 346.5

8. RECAPITULATION: THREE STATES FOR MAN

So this problem passage, written under inspiration, presents three states, or conditions, each in sharp contrast with the other two. These are: (1) This present mortal life; (2) the intermediate state of death; and (3) the future immortal life of the redeemed. CFF1 347.1

The first is spoken of as “we that are in this [bodily] tabernacle do groan” (2 Corinthians 5:4). The second is described by, “If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,” we are “naked,” “unclothed” (2 Corinthians 5:1, 4). The third is alternately described as “a building of God” “eternal in the heavens,” “clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,” “mortality ... swallowed up of life,” and “present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:1, 2, 4, 8). CFF1 347.2

The second of these conditions—the state of death—is not one to be desired. But the third is so glorious that Paul groans for it. It is therefore clear that being “present with the Lord” cannot possibly mean his condition while this earthly house is “dissolved” in death. This second state Paul disparages, but the third he praises. These are definitely not descriptions of one and the same period and condition. Paul expected to be present with the Lord after the intermediate state and the resurrection—or through translation, without passing through death. Thus there is harmony and consistency in this impressive passage of the great theologian-apostle. The conditionalist position reconciles all factors. CFF1 347.3