The Train of Thought in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

Prior Context
In the verses just prior to this passage, Paul has expressed his solidarity with Jesus in his sufferings. In my interpretation, Paul exercises the same faith in God during trial that Jesus exercised in trial. Christ said "I have exercised faith" (4:13) so also Paul and those who are suffering for Christ also assert--"we are exercising faith" (5:13). Paul has faith that the same God who saved Jesus out of death will also raise them.

4:16
Therefore, we are not losing heart. But even if our outward person is being corrupted, our inward person is nevertheless being renewed day by day.

This statement ties in with the theme of suffering Paul has just mentioned. His outward, visible body is physically suffering, but a part of him is a different story.

4:17-18
For the immediate, light matter of tribulation is exceedingly abundantly working for us an eternal weight of glory. For we are not looking at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporary but the things that are not seen are eternal.

From these verses we see a temporal and a visible contrast. The visible contrast is between the physical realm that we can see and the spiritual realm we cannot. These correspond to the present world and the world that is coming.

5:1
For we know that if our earthly tent-dwelling (οικια του σκηνους) should be destroyed, we have a domicile (οικοδομη) from God, an eternal dwelling (οικια) not made with hands in the heavens.

It is agreed that the "dwelling of a tent" that Paul has in mind is our earthly body. For it to be destroyed is thus for us to die. The "building" the "domicile" from God would thus appear to be our spiritual body.

To be sure, there have been those who have seen a shift in Paul's thinking here, from a resurrection body to a kind of reclothing immediately at death with a heavenly dwelling, a movement from a return to the earth after death to a heaven oriented eternity.

This verse does not require any shift from Paul's earlier thought. Paul does not say here that we get this dwelling at death. It is quite possible that he is still thinking of a resurrection body.

But is our body already prepared for us in heaven, like a suit waiting in some heavenly closet? 1 Corinthians 15 indicates that the resurrection body is a "spiritual body" (σωμα πνευματικον). What exactly this body might be in Paul's mind is difficult to say. It is not just a spirit--it is some kind of body. It is clearly of a different sort than our earthly, "soulish" body (σωμα ψυχικον).

Resurrection is to bear "the image of the heavenly man," Christ (1 Cor. 15:49). "The first man was dust from the earth. The second man was from heaven" (15:47). I don't think this last comment is about the incarnation. The issue is the nature of the resurrection body. Adam was dust whose source was the earth. The source of the second man's "stuff" is heaven.

Paul uses the imagery of clothing in 1 Corinthians 15 as he will use in 2 Corinthians. The corruptible will "put on" (ενδυω) incorruptibility. The immortal will put on immortality (ενδυω) (15:53). The timing is the point of resurrection.

5:2
For even at this time we groan, longing to put (επενδυω) on our dwelling (οικητηριον) from heaven...

The language is very similar to 1 Corinthians 15. There doesn't seem to be enough evidence to see more in this verse than a reference to the resurrection. It seems like we would need strong reason to see the heavenly body as pre-prepared in heaven waiting for us. The point is that as we suffer in our earthly bodies, we long for our (future) resurrection body, a heavenly body.

5:3
... if indeed also after we undress (εκδυω) we will not be found naked.

Nakedness here surely refers to the destiny of those who do not have a resurrection body in store for them. It is difficult to know what exactly Paul understands such nakedness to be. If we follow the model of 1 Corinthians 15, it is to "be lost" (15:18). Paul does not speak of punishment for these individuals. Their fate seems almost one of non-existence.

What is nakedness? A spirit without a body? A shade in the underworld? Hard to tell.

5:4
For even we who are in [this] tent groan and are burdened, in that we do not want to undress (εκδυω) but to dress (επενδυω) so that the mortal might be swallowed by life.

Although some have suggested it, this statement doesn't seem to refer to what happens at death but to the point of resurrection. We do not look forward to death, but we do look forward to getting our resurrection body. One important feature of this passage is the recognition that Paul does not likely anticipate a long time between death and resurrection. Indeed, it could be that the audience will still be alive when the resurrection takes place.

It is not clear what this verse has to say about the meantime for those who die before resurrection. Does Paul think that we will be "naked" in this period?

5:5
And the One who has made us for this very thing is God who has given to us the earnest of the Spirit.

Since the Spirit is a downpayment, a foretaste of glory divine, we once again get the sense that our spiritual body will be made of heavenly stuff, spirit stuff.

5:6
Therefore, since we are always bold and know that when we are at home (ενδημεω) in the body we are away from home (εκδημεω) from the Lord.

The image of a home fits well with the idea of a body. When we are in this body, we are not in the body that is with the Lord. So perhaps Paul is thinking of the body we will get at the second coming, at the resurrection.

At the same time, it is tempting to think of this statement in terms of death. We die and are at home with the Lord. Philippians 1:23 speaks of being with the Lord at death, even while this world continues on. But if that is what Paul is saying here, then he has changed his mind on when we get our resurrection body. If Paul is thinking we receive a resurrection body at death, then he has fundamentally shifted his understanding of resurrection.

Another possibility is that "at home" is not a reference to having our resurrection body but to being with the Lord in some way in between death and resurrection. In Paul's imagery here, it would be a reference to being "naked" in heaven with the Lord. It is an option to ponder.

5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
This apparently future reference--things to come--points more toward resurrection as what Paul continues to have in mind rather than some intermediate state.

5:8
And we are bold and we would rather be away from the home (εκδημεω) of our body and to be at home (ενδημεω) with the Lord.

It is a different expression here for "with the Lord" (προς τον κυριον) than it is in Philippians 1:23 (συν Χριστω). Whether that means there is a different sense to the expression remains to be seen. We are still left uncertain whether Paul has in mind the resurrection/second coming, which the context seems to point toward, or some intermediate state on death.

5:9
Therefore we also strive to be pleasing to him, whether at home (ενδημεω) or away from home (εκδημεω) [in terms of our bodies]...

How can we strive to please Christ when we are away from the body? The next verse seems to imply it is when we stand before Christ in judgment.

5:10
For it is necessary for us all to appear before the judgment seat of the Christ, so that each may get their due for the things that they did with the body, whether good or bad.

It would appear that whenever Paul has in mind that we might be "away from the home" of our body, it is at that point that we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Traditionally, this would be the resurrection. But we understand how some have suggested that Paul has altered his view somewhat from 1 Corinthians. They would suggest that Paul now equates resurrection with the point of death. This seems unlikely to me, as it has to the majority of scholars.