2 Corinthians 5:8

Absent from the body. That is, from life in the present world.

Present with the Lord. From a superficial reading of vs. 6-8 some have concluded that at death the soul of the Christian goes immediately to be “present with the Lord,” and that Paul, ardently desiring to be with the Lord (v. 2), welcomed death. But in vs. 3, 4 Paul describes death as a state of being “naked,” or “unclothed.” He hopes, if at all possible, to avoid this intermediate state, and ardently desires to be “clothed” with his “house . . . from heaven.” In other words, he hopes to be translated without seeing death (see on vs. 2-4). Elsewhere (see on 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; etc.) Paul makes it certain that men are not “clothed” with immortality individually at death, but simultaneously at the resurrection of the just.

Or, to restate it in this way: In 2 Cor. 5:2-4 Paul has already declared that “life,” obviously meaning immortal life, comes when one is “clothed upon” with his “house . . . from heaven” at the resurrection (see on v. 4), not in the “naked,” or “unclothed,” state of death. In v. 8 he expresses the desire to be “absent from the body” and “present with the Lord,” but it is obvious that being “absent from the body” does not mean being disembodied (“naked,” or “unclothed”), for in vs. 2-4 he has stated clearly that he does not desire this intermediate state and would avoid it if at all possible. To have “life” (v. 4) and to be “present with the Lord” (v. 8) thus requires possession of the “house . . . from heaven” (v. 2). Careful scrutiny of Paul’s statements thus clearly and decisively rules out any possibility of a state between death and the resurrection in which, as disembodied (“naked,” or “unclothed”) spirits, men go to be “present with the Lord.” Compare Rom. 8:22, 23; see on Phil. 1:21-23.

The Bible declares death to be but a sleep from which believers will be awakened at the first resurrection (John 11:11-14,25,26; 1 Cor. 15:20,51-54; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; 5:10). It is not until then that both the living and the resurrected saints will be with the Lord (see on 1 Thess. 4:16-18). Neither group precedes the other (cf. Heb. 11:39, 40).