The Rich Man and Lazarus
-the intermediate state-
 

ABSENT FROM THE BODY - 2 CORINTHIANS 5:6,8

The third passage, II Corinthians 5:6, 8, we have dealt with in Things to Come for July, 1902 (Volume 9, page 3), and in The Church Epistles, page 103, where we have shown that “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord,” was the inspired desire of the Apostle, which could be realized only in resurrection. Resurrection (and not death) is the subject of the whole context.

These words are generally misquoted “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 the quotation is thus popularly made. 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.”

We might with equal justice quote the words “hang all the law and the prophets,” and leave out “on these two commandments”(Matt. 22:40); or say “there is no God” and leave out “The fool hath said in his heart” (Psalm 53:1), or say “Ye shall not drink wine,” and leave out “Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but (ye shall not drink wine) of them” (Amos 5:11); or talk about “the restitution of all things” and leave out “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).  All these partial quotations are correct so far as the text is concerned, but what about the context? 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 bold the sense is entirely changed. Being “at home in the body” in both verses is explained, in verse 3 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. This brings us to the expression:

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. (Philippians 1:23-24)

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