MEMORY VERSE: ‘We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.’ 2 Corinthians 5:8.
LESSON AIM: To study Paul’s words about his desire to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
‘It is both illogical and unsafe to build any major doctrine on isolated passages, apart from the general tenor of Scripture. It is to be remembered that enormous errors have been built upon isolated verses. Thus, the tender solicitude, “Compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23), was made the pretext for the cruel horrors of the Inquisition. And the symbolic expression concerning the Lord’s Supper, “This is My body,” was made the basis of the dogma of transubstantiation by the Roman Church.’ L. E. Froom: The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, volume 1, page 324.
Compiler’s note: It has been wisely said that a text quoted out of context may turn out to be a pretext. In this lesson, we will examine the immediate context of this text, the passage in which these words appear, as well as what Paul wrote in other places on this subject, the wider context. Other lessons in this series have studied the broad context, the testimony of the other Bible writers on this topic.
1. What is Paul’s topic in this chapter? 2 Corinthians 5:1.
Compiler’s note: Paul is using figurative language in this passage. ‘Our earthly house of this tabernacle’ is our mortal body. ‘Tabernacle’ means ‘tent, a temporary dwelling.’ We will not inhabit our ‘tabernacle,’ our mortal body, after Jesus returns for us. Our mortal bodies will be ‘dissolved.’ But although this mortal body is dissolved, we have ‘a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’ This house is not a tabernacle, it is our eternal dwelling. Since the tabernacle is our mortal body, the eternal house must be our immortal body.
NOTE: ‘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.’ L. E. Froom: The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, volume 1, page 346.
‘There can be no question but that by the dissolution of this tabernacle, the apostle refers to death. Peter uses the same expression in referring to his decease. 2 Peter 1:13-15.’ E. J. Waggoner: Signs of the Times, November 6, 1884.
2. How does Paul express his earnest desire? 2 Corinthians 5:2. Compare verse 4.
NOTE: ‘The fourth verse, being partially a repetition of verse 2, affords data for determining when the second house is bestowed. “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Thus we see that when we are clothed upon with our heavenly house, immortality is bestowed, or, still better, that the being “clothed upon with our house which is from heaven” is the same as the putting on of immortality. We have already learned (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) that immortality is given only when the Lord comes; so we conclude that this heavenly house is not received at death.’ E. J. Waggoner: Signs of the Times, November 6, 1884.