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2 CORINTHIANS 5: 1–10

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 20, 1881

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 3.

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2 CORINTHIANS 5: 1–10.

By Milton C. Wilcox

BY MILTON C. WILCOX.

This passage is one of the strongholds of "immortal-soulism," and yet we think it is in harmony with the declaration of Holy Writ, "The dead know not anything." Is the apostle, in the passage under consideration, speaking of an entity, or immortal soul, or spirit, that is "in this tabernacle," that can be "clothed" and "unclothed," "absent from the body," "present with the Lord," is "burdened and groans?" Our immortal soul friends say, "Yes." Or, does he refer to different states or conditions in which man may exist? We believe the latter, just as he speaks of "putting off the old man" and "putting on the new man" in Eph. 4: 22, 24, and Col. 3: 9, 10. The cases are exactly parallel in this respect,—both refer to the whole individual in different conditions.
Says my friend, "present with the Lord" refers to the soul when the body is dead." So also "Mortality swallowed up of life." Let us examine, 1. What does the apostle mean by "present with the Lord," and when did he expect it would be fulfilled in his case? In 1 Thess. 4: 15–17 the same apostle tells us it is at "the coming of the Lord," at the sounding of the "trump of God," the descending of the "Lord from heaven with a shout," when "the dead in Christ shall rise." " Then, " says Paul, " we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them [the dead in Christ] to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." This is conclusive testimony. It is at the resurrection which takes place at the second coming of Christ that Paul expected to be "with the Lord."
2. "Mortality swallowed up of life." This certainly could not refer to Paul's immortal soul, for that never was mortal, according to orthodox view. It must refer to that which is mortal, viz. the man. When does this event take place? What does he "groan" so "earnestly" for? Let the apostle answer. Rom. 8: 23: "We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Col. 3: 4: "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Also 1 Cor. 15: 51–54.
3. The apostle brings three conditions to view in the passage under consideration. 1. "In this tabernacle," or "clothed." 2. "Unclothed," or "naked." 3. "Clothed upon," or "mortality swallowed up of life."
The first condition is the present life; the second, death; and the third, the glorified immortal body, at the resurrection of the dead, the second coming of Christ. With this view all is consistent and harmonious. With the other all is confusion and contradiction.
The position we have taken is further strengthened by the apostle's conclusion, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."
May we so live, dear reader, that we may have "boldness in the day of judgment" because we have kept his commandments. Ox Bow, N. Y.