Hello
@Curtis,
I would like to refer to your use of the verse 2 Corinthians 5:8,
'We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.'.
Those words expressed the desire of the Apostle Paul, didn't it? To be present with the Lord. Yet this would necessitate resurrection. Resurrection (
and not death) is the subject of the context of that verse.
These words are generally misquoted, by saying, “
Absent from the body, present with the Lord”, as though it said that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord. But no such sentence can be found. No less than nine words are deliberately omitted from the context when this verse is quoted in that way. The omission of these words creates quite a new sense, and puts the verse out of all harmony with the context; the object of which is to show that we cannot be “
present with the Lord” except by being clothed upon with our RESURRECTION body, our “
house which is from heaven”.
The context is, “
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be - absent from the body, -
and to be -
present with the Lord” (v. 8). By omitting the words printed in italics the sense is entirely changed. Being “at home in the body” in both verses is explained, in verse 4 as being in
“this tabernacle”, which, in v. 1, is called “
our earthly house of this tabernacle”; and being “
present (or at home with)
the Lord” is explained in verse 2 as being “
clothed upon with our house which is from heaven”. The Apostle distinctly says, on the one hand, that he did not wish to die (v. 4,
“not that we would be unclothed”); and on the other hand, he was not merely “
willing rather” but
“earnestly desiring to be clothed upon” (v.2). It is true that some years later he did say “
to die is gain”; but as we have seen above, the circumstances were very different, for he was then in prison.
Is this how you view this verse, Curtis?
Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris
