“Departing and Being with Christ”
By W. H. Littlejohn
(Concluded from last week) THE Holy Scriptures are a unit. From Genesis to Revelation there is a complete harmony in the utterances of the sacred writers on all points of doctrine. He, therefore, who furnishes an interpretation of any given passage which conflicts with the teachings of other portions of the Word must be wrong in his exegesis. Applying this principle to Phil. 1: 23, 24, those who hold to the view that Paul in that passage expressed a desire to die in order that, through death, he might be brought immediately into the presence of Christ, are confronted by the fact that such an interpretation would bring the great apostle into conflict, not only with his own declarations, but also with the utterances of all the sacred writers who have spoken with regard to the condition of man in death. To prove that this is the case, a little space will be devoted to texts bearing upon this question. The majority of those who advocate the idea that the apostle Paul employs the word “depart” in Phil. 1: 23, 24 in the sense of death, do not claim that Paul passed through any experience, at the time of his demise, at variance with that common to all Christians, but they insist that all believers go through the gate of death to enter immediately into the presence of Christ. Hence if it can be shown that the condition of death is not one of glorification, but rather one in which the soul has no perception of spiritual things, being entirely unconscious, that exegesis of Phil. 1: 23, 24 which represents Paul as desiring to die in order that he might be united immediately with his Lord will prove wholly unsatisfactory. Let us turn therefore to the law and to the testimony on this point. “His [the dead man’s] sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not.” Job 14:21.
“In death there is no remembrance of Thee [God].” Ps. 6:5.
“In the land of forgetfulness [the grave].” Ps. 88:12.
“The dead praise not the Lord.” Ps. 115:17.
“His [man’s] breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146:4.
“The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5.
“There is no . . . wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:10. Paul’s Conception of Death
It will hardly be urged that the great apostle to the Gentiles, at the time that he wrote his epistle to the Philippians, had just been converted to a new theory respecting the future of the saints. Neither will it be insisted that his view of death and its desirability at the time in question differed in any way from that which he had held from the commencement of his Christian experience. If Paul, when writing to the brethren at Philippi, looked upon death as the gateway to the heavenly world and therefore greatly to be desired, we shall find him giving expression to this same thought in other portions of his epistles. What are the facts in the case? Let the following quotations decide: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Tim. 4: 6-8. Comment on this passage would seem to be superfluous. The great apostle was very far from believing that he would either go to heaven or receive his reward at death. “Henceforth,” he writes, “there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” The “henceforth” of this connection commenced to run from the time the apostle was martyred. Then and there it was to become an assured fact that he was to wear a heavenly crown at some time in the future; but it is distinctly taught that the time in question was not the one at which he was to receive his crown. “Henceforth,” he declares, “there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” To lay up a crown for a person is not to place it upon his head, but to reserve it securely for bestowment at some future time. If you would know when the time of that bestowment will be reached, listen once more to the great apostle, who certainly understood that about which he was talking: “Which [crown] the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” Verse 8. The expression “at that day” can not refer to the day of Paul’s death, for several reasons:- It was at the time of Paul’s death that this crown was to be laid up—a very different thing from presenting it to him.
- The phrase “at that day” is frequently applied in the New Testament, as it is here, to the day of Christ’s advent. The following citations are in point:
“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day [the day of the Lord] should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5:4.
“For that day [the day of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thess. 2:3.
“For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 2 Tim. 1:12.
“The Lord grant unto him [Onesiphorus] that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.” 2 Tim. 1:18. The apostle was not to receive his crown until all those who love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ receive their crowns (2 Tim. 4:8)—an event which did not take place on the day when Paul was offered. Thus we have seen that 2 Tim. 4: 6-8 is not in conflict with our exegesis of Phil. 1: 23, since it simply furnishes an instance in which the noun analusis was applied in a figurative sense to the death of Paul, while at the same time it presents abundant proof that Paul did not expect to go to Christ at death; as, otherwise, he would not have stated distinctly that he was not to receive his crown before the day of Christ, when all who love the appearing of the latter would receive their crowns along with him. “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” 2 Cor. 5:4. No candid person will deny that the apostle is here speaking of death. To be unclothed in the sense of this passage is to experience a dissolution of the body common to all who enter the grave. The apostle teaches distinctly that such an experience is not what he or the saints desired. They longed for something better; namely, to be “clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” But why should not the saints desire to be unclothed, or die, provided they go to heaven at death, even tho their final and complete glorification should not take place until the resurrection of the dead? Assuredly the delight of the heavenly home, the privilege of standing in the presence of God and enjoying the society of Christ, would be sufficient to nerve the devout soul to brave all the terrors which are supposed to surround death. Heaven in the unclothed state, were the soul conscious in that condition, were infinitely to be preferred to anything which this world could offer. The only satisfactory explanation, therefore, which can be given to the passage before us is found in the conception that Paul and his fellow Christians dreaded death because it involved not only the surrender of life, but also the absolute unconsciousness of the souls of its victims. This being true, the view of Phil. 1: 23, 24 which attributes to Paul a desire to die in order that he might be with Christ, must be unsound.