The Resurrection Body (2 Cor. 4:16–5:5)

This sermon was preached on 12/4/2012

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul has highlighted the reality that God’s people, especially the apostle and his colleagues, are facing difficult and very painful situations. He summarises those problems in 4:8-10: ‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.’ Yet although their situations are difficult, Paul does not view them negatively because he says that their sufferings are ‘preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison’. Indeed such is the eternal weight of glory that it makes their current sufferings seem light and momentary. What is this eternal weight of glory? It is the resurrection body. Paul gives some details about his outlook in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4.

Before we look at particular details of what Paul says about the resurrection body, we should take notice of why he is able to say them. He begins by saying, ‘We know.’ How did Paul and the Corinthians know about the events he describes? The answer to this question is that he conveyed divine revelation to them previously, both when he was in Corinth planting the church there and in his subsequent letter to them, which we call 1 Corinthians. After all, he was an apostle, someone who was given special information by God.

1. Contrast between two bodies

The first detail to note is the contrast Paul makes between his current body and the resurrection body. Paul likens his current body to a flimsy tent and his future body to a solid building that will last. Indeed it will be so solid that it will last for as long as eternity. It is interesting to recall that Paul was a tentmaker, and he had worked at this trade, along with Priscilla and Aquila, when he first came to Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). So he would be very familiar with the flimsiness of a tent. Perhaps he had even used it as an illustration when he was teaching the church when he was in Corinth.

The obvious thing about a tent is that it is manmade. One could say the same about a solid building, except here Paul says that God is the maker of the building (v. 1). So it is likely that he is contrasting the origins of his earthly body and that which he will have at the resurrection. The physical body, although originally a divine creation with regard to Adam and Eve comes into existence because of a human action between a man and a woman whereas the resurrection body will appear only through a divine activity when the dead are raised.

Another idea suggested by likening our current body to a tent is that of travellers or pilgrims on a journey. Paul was very much aware that life in this world, even at its best, is transient and can come to an end very quickly. The storms of life can bring our existence here to an end. In contrast, a solid building indicates stability and permanence, especially if located where there are no storms to cause any damage.

In passing I should mention that there is a dispute among commentators about what Paul means by ‘a house not made with hands’ (v. 1). I have explained that I think it refers to the resurrection body and hopefully some further details that I will refer to will clarify and strengthen my interpretation. Yet it is the case that some writers believe that the phrase refers to where a believer goes when he dies and that it describes the same experience as Jesus indicated when he spoke about the Father’s house (John 14:2). Others also see it as a description of the temple in heaven because a similar phrase is used in Hebrews 10:24. Nevertheless it is hard to understand how the believer could put on a temple or put on heaven (v. 2), but taking the imagery as depicting the resurrection body fits with the subsequent imagery of putting on of clothes that Paul uses in verse 4 in connection with his new body.

2. Capability of the resurrection body

The second detail to note is the capability of the resurrection body in contrast to the current body. Our present body is almost unsuitable for life on earth because it is easily destroyed. But the resurrection body is capable of existing in another world which the apostle describes as in the heavens, which means that the world to come has not yet been revealed but is yet to appear when God brings it into existence.

We can see some aspects of the capability of the resurrection body in the description Paul gives of it in 1 Corinthians 15:42-43: ‘So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.’ Such a body will be able to live in the environment of glory that will permeate the new world.

3. Common experience for all believers

A third detail we should take note of is that this resurrection body will be common to all believers, and not only to those who have attained great amounts of devotion in Christian living. Recall that he is writing to the Corinthians and they were members of a church which had moved away from God’s requirements to the extent that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians as a letter of rebuke in which he criticised several of their attitudes and practices. Yet these Corinthians will experience the resurrection body. Of course, the reality that they are all going to share together this wonderful privilege should motivate brotherly love among the Lord’s people.

What Paul is stressing in this aspect of receiving a new body is that we should not let past sins that we have repented of prevent us looking forward to the time when we shall receive it. The Corinthians had repented of their sins (2 Cor. 6:8-9) and Paul can encourage them to share his determination to keep looking at the things which are currently unseen (2 Cor. 4:18).

This is important to keep in mind because there will be degrees of glory in the eternal state. While it is not possible to depict what this future glory will be like for God’s people, the New Testament uses different illustrations, such as ruling over ten cities or five cities, to indicate the distinction. Some may deduce that they are unlikely to receive much of a reward because they do not have a public activity in the church or because of past failures. Whether they will or not is not the point here; instead Paul is stressing that the weight of glory is given to all believers.

4. Certainty of glory expressed by Paul

A fourth detail to see is the certainty Paul has that he and other believers will receive their resurrection bodies. He expresses his certainty by using the present tense (‘we have’) rather than using a future tense (‘will have’) which we would have expected because he is describing a future event. The present tense is used in order to stress the certainty of possession, that nothing, not even death, can prevent God’s people from receiving their resurrection bodies.

Again, I should mention that some commentators have a different interpretation with regard to the present tense. They argue that the present tense points to the possibility that believers, when they die and go to heaven, will be given a temporary body that will be theirs until the resurrection. Such a notion is not found elsewhere in the Bible and should be rejected.

Returning to Paul’s use of the present tense to indicate certainty, it is the case that we are familiar with such use of language. Imagine a person about to begin work. Someone asks him what his salary is. He can reply by saying ‘I have a salary of £20,000 a year,’ even although he has not yet received it. All he has is the promise of the employer or even some of his salary. But the promise and the small possession can enable him to speak confidently about the total salary. Paul refers to this arrangement when he says in verse 5 that we have the Spirit as a guarantee. Therefore the apostle can speak confidently about receiving the resurrection body.

5. Paul’s concern

Fifth, we should observe Paul’s concern here. He does not want to be found naked. By the term ‘naked’, he means that he does not want to be without a body. It is this parallel description of nakedness that suggests the building Paul has in mind is not the disembodied experience believers will have in heaven.

Obviously Paul knows that if he should die before the second coming of Jesus, then he will leave his body behind on earth and go to heaven. He writes elsewhere that such an experience is far better than continuing to live on earth: ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Phil. 1:21). And he says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:8: ‘Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.’ Yet he knows that there is something even better than going to heaven as a disembodied spirit and that is for him not to die.

It is human to want to retain one’s body. While life here can be so difficult that our bodies become weak before they are expected to do so, we should still have a strong desire to have one’s body. Without our bodies, we are not complete. Total and final salvation will not occur until the resurrection. As Paul writes in Romans 8, we are waiting for the resurrection of the body.

6. Clothed with life

Sixth, Paul does not want merely to have his current body at the resurrection. He does want to retain it and not become naked, but he also wants at the resurrection to have something put on top of his current body. One way of explain what he has in mind is to imagine a person, already dressed, who then puts a very attractive garment over what he was wearing previously. Now he is wearing both his previous and his new attire. Paul tells us what that something is – life, and he uses a very graphic illustration of being swallowed up by life, an illustration that indicates a complete experience of immortality, with no part of his body not experiencing this profound development.

What is life in the sense of heavenly existence? The idea includes all that belongs to the notion of life – indefatigable energy, ongoing enjoyment, inner pleasure, increasing progress, delightful company, suitable provisions and freedom from troubles. All these are aspects of eternal life. Nevertheless, the most important aspect of eternal life is fellowship with God the Father and with Jesus the Saviour through the unending work of the Holy Spirit. Referring to the Spirit leads us to note a final detail here of Paul’s description of the resurrection body.

7. Prepared by God

In verse 5, Paul reminds his readers that it is God who has prepared them for this destiny. Spurgeon, in a sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:5, summarises this divine preparation and reminds us that it involves each divine person in the Trinity: ‘There is no fitness whatever in man by nature for communion with his God; it must be a divine work within him. The Father works in us fitness for heaven by separating us in the everlasting decree to be his own. Heaven is the place of God’s own abode; we must be God’s own people to be fit to be there. He fits us by adopting us into his family, by justifying us through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, by preserving us by his power. The Son of God has an equal share in the working of this fitness; he fits us by blotting out our iniquities, and by transferring to us his righteousness, by taking us into marriage union with himself. The Holy Spirit also, for ever to be blessed, hath his share in this work. It is he who first infuses the new nature, he who gives us spiritual food for the new nature, giving us to feed upon the flesh and blood of Christ; he who instructs and develops that new nature, and through the blood of Jesus makes the man meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Glory be unto the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, who thus in blessed union hath wrought us for the selfsame thing.’

Paul refers here to the fact that each believer has been given the indwelling Holy Spirit as the guarantee of receiving a resurrected body. The presence of the Spirit causes the believer to groan for what lies ahead. Paul also refers to this activity of the Spirit in Romans 8:22-27, where he describes the threefold groaning of creation, the believer and the Spirit in connection with the redemption of the bodies of believers. While it is true that current sins and temptations make a Christian long for a better world, the groaning here is for an enhanced existence marked by life, an existence that is superior to what can be experienced in heaven as a disembodied spirit at death. The Spirit is urging us from the inside to look ahead as at the same time he urges us from the outside, through the promises of the Bible, to look ahead to the wonderful transformation that will occur when we receive the resurrection body. Faith in a healthy state is always accompanied by hope, and hope here includes anticipating what the Lord will do for all his people at the second coming.