Quote:
Originally Posted by mfblume
I disagree. Our BODIES will be spiritual ones in the resurrection. The BODY not the spirit, is the subject of 1 Cor 15. 2 Cor 5 says we will be without bodies and naked when we go to be with the Lord upon absence from the body. Hence, a resurrection clothes us with a temple made from heaven.
That which is from the earth is not the SOUL, but the BODY. Christ's earthly body was changed and made heavenly in His resurrection. And Phil 3:21 says our body will likewise be fashioned and changed as His was. Man is not meant to remain in heaven forever, despite the hymn book theology going around the last century or so.
Man was created to have dominion in the earth, and a restoration of what Adam lost is not dying and going to heaven forever. Heaven is temporal for bodiless saints upon death. But the meek shall inherit the earth.
Psa 115:16 KJV The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. |
Adam became a soul when his flesh body was embued with spirit from God. "And Adam became a living soul". So then a soul is the combination of a flesh body with spirit (breath or ruach or pneuma of life). Adam WAS a soul, not merely a being who 'possessed a soul'.
One's soul is one's person, one's life, one's existence as a living being. Souls are resurrected, not merely bodies, for PEOPLE are resurrected (not just their bodies).
Nobody goes to heaven automatically. AFTER the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus, Peter declared that David is 'not ascended into heaven' but rather Jesus Christ was. Jesus Christ is the only human being in heaven right now.
Paul taught that we receive immortality at the resurrection. Therefore we are not immortal until then. We can say we have eternal life now, but only because we are set aside for the resurrection unto life at the coming of the Lord. What we have is an earnest until the purchased possession is actually redeemed in fact in the resurrection. Therefore, upon death the soul does not leave the body and fly away up to heaven. The Bible NEVER SAYS THAT. What it DOES say is that upon death the flesh body of man returns to the earth/dust from which it came, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Since body and spirit are separated at death, there is no living soul during that time. Only in the resurrection, when the dead are raised to life, when spirit and soul are reunited, can such a thing be possible.
The Bible says the dead know nothing, they do not praise God, they have nothing to do with anything going on here on earth, they 'sleep'. Those who die in Christ are said to 'sleep in Jesus'. If one is conscious up in heaven as a bodiless spirit then the term 'sleep' has no genuine application, for that is not at all like sleep.
As for being 'naked' upon death, Paul said this:
2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2 For in this we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed
we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4 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.
The goal of the apostolic faith in the first century was NOT to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon
that mortality might be swallowed up of life. That is a clear reference to the resurrection. The hope of the first Christians was resurrection, not dying and flying away to heaven. Paul does not explicitly state that being dead equals being naked.
This is an important point.
Paul says that being clothed (upon in resurrection) is to prevent being FOUND naked. Notice the following:
Rev_3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Paul is saying we earnestly desire ('groan') to be clothed upon (resurrected) IF SO BE THAT we do not appear 'naked'. The nakedness then is referring to not having our sins covered.
Rev_7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
And,
Rev_19:8 And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white:
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
So Paul is saying their hope was to attain to the resurrection of LIFE, not being found 'naked' but clothed - not merely with a resurrected body but clothed in righteousness.
He refers to a disembodied state NOT as 'naked' but as 'unclothed'. The fact the two terms are used in their specific contexts indicates Paul is making a theological distinction between the two concepts of on the one hand being 'naked' as to righteousness or sin, and on the other hand of being clothed as to resurrection bodies. '...IF SO BE that being clothed we shall not be found naked...'
The doctrine that people go to heaven immediately upon death PRIOR to the resurrection makes the resurrection itself superfluous. If you die and go to heaven, why would you WANT to have a body again and be on the earth? Your final destination would be LESS GLORIOUS and LESS BEATIFIC than the intermediate state.
Furthermore, immortality is given at resurrection. That is when we become immortal. To be immortal PRIOR to the resurrection, in heaven, is to receive the final reward BEFORE THE JUDGMENT DAY, which makes the Judgment Day either superfluous or ridiculous. In fact, it seems a slight variation of SDA doctrine who maintain the Day of Judgment is NOT when any decisions are made regarding final destinies, but simply when the already decreed decisions are carried out. And I find that concept utterly absent from the Bible (although it can be found all over Ms. White's writings...)
Now let's look at this:
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Notice the bolded part. Does this mean that the apostolic believers were WILLING to be 'absent from the body'? How can be when he just said the following:
2Co 5:4 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.
If verse 8 means Paul was desiring to be 'absent from the body',
and if absent from the body means in a disembodied state, then he flatly contradicted what he previously said just 4 verses earlier!
Therefore, it cannot mean THAT. Notice he did not say 'absent from our bodies' (plural), but WE (plural) are willing rather to be absent from THE BODY (singular). That might be a big clue as to what he is trying to get across to us...
Down boy....heel!
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