2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Resurrection Hope
What happens when we die? This is one of the big questions that all humans ask – across cultures and throughout history.
Google is useful for telling you where the closest pizza store is or what year the Titanic sank but google won’t give you much help with this one.
There are plenty of theories out there, however.
Some religious traditions believe in reincarnation, some philosophies believe that our lives are merely a simulation (like a really complex video game or the movie “the Matrix”), some believe that there is no such thing as an after life (this has been popularized by the maxim YOLO – teen speak for “you only live once.”). Or in one of the latest TV shows about life after death called “The Good Place”, life after death is presented as a custom made heaven full of frozen yoghurt and whatever other delights your mind can conjure up, along with your true soulmate.
I’ve encountered all kinds of theories when talking with people about what happens post-mortem.
Today we continue in our series in 2 Corinthians.
In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul gets into the topic of life, death and beyond.
In this passage we don’t get an exhaustive Christian view of life after death, but we do get a robust theology of why it matters and how our thinking about what happens when we die shapes our lives and faith in the here and now.
Context
Context is always key.
Paul was writing to Christians in Corinth in a specific time and place and this shapes what he shares with them.
As we have explored this letter together so far, we have seen some major themes. Paul has been defending his ministry. His suffering and struggle as a Christian and as a messenger of the good news of Jesus has led some to claim that Paul is not the real deal.
It seems that some in the community at Corinth were making claims that Christians shouldn’t experience pain, problems, or weakness.
Paul was writing to a church struggling with the idea of suffering and weakness. In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul mockingly says to them: “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!” (1 Cor 4:8)
It seems that some of the Corinthians thought of themselves as having “made it.”
They see Paul’s scars and stories of struggle as evidence against him being an authentic follower of Jesus. Paul has made the opposite case – these troubles are a sign of him sharing in the suffering of Jesus.
What we see in chapter 5 is that Paul addresses questions about his future existence after death not as mere speculation but rather to make sense of the suffering he experiences in the present and to give an assurance of hope for a good future in God.
One commentator puts it succinctly:
“Paul did not write this passage to answer questions we might have about the when, what, or how; he only intends to affirm his confidence in the Christian’s transformation in the life after death.”[1]
Paul seeks to offer balance to the Corinthians theology by giving them a theology of Christian hope that can make sense of the difficulties of life in the present.
In my experience this is one of the key issues in life and faith:
How do we make sense of hardship, suffering and the brokenness of this world and do we have any cause for hope? Is there more to life than the day to day grind.
Paul passionately believes so because he believes in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and he also believes that those who in faith trust in him will share in this resurrection themselves.
Chapter 5:1-5 RESURRECTION TRANSFORMATION
Paul uses 3 central images to contrast life in the present age and life in the age to come…
He speaks of
1) An eternal building (in place of tent)
2) Being “clothed over” (instead of being naked)
3) What is mortal being swallowed up by life
Sometimes when we hear these images, we may be tempted to read them through a soul/body dualism. This is the idea that the true self is the soul, and the body is merely a shell, a temporary house for the real self and is of little significance.
This is a common idea, but not particularly biblical.
When the Bible speaks of resurrection it talks about receiving a resurrection body. The physical is affirmed, not degraded by a biblical theology of the resurrection.
As people our bodies matter.
We only know life in these bodies, we experience life as embodied.
What we see is not an escape from the body but a transformation. The Bible teaches that the bodies we have will be resurrected, not that God will scrap the old and start from scratch.
The go to chapter in my mind is in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in Chapter 15 where Paul wrestles with this question. He says:
(1 Cor 15:42-44) 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Paul’s theology affirms both a continuity and discontinuity when it comes to our resurrection bodies. The “it” he refers to is the same body going through transformation.
This makes sense in light of Jesus’ own resurrection body.
There is continuity – he appears to his disciples and they can touch him, and they also eat a meal with him. Very bodily, normal things that people do.
However, there is also discontinuity. This Jesus appears to them through a locked door, he is unrecognizable to certain people post-resurrection.
The images Paul uses reinforce this idea of transformation and continuity and discontinuity:
First – Paul speaks of a tent; our earthly home being destroyed and in its place a building from God.
We can see the continuity in the image – both are places we make our home. Yet there is also discontinuity. There is an upgrade from tent to house. The emphasis being that one is more permanent than the other.
The tent being taken or destroyed refers to the moment of death.
This captures the finality and the severity of death. Yet, Paul affirms that those who die in Christ will not be left homeless. They will be provided for with a house made by God.
This image leads one Biblical scholar to proclaim that: “Man is not immortal because he possesses or is a soul. He becomes immortal because God transforms him by raising him from the dead.”[2]
Paul moves from the image about a tent and a house to another one, this time about clothing.
Again, here we see continuity and discontinuity.
Paul affirms we won’t be found naked. Rather the image he uses is that of putting on kind of overgarment.
In Greek thinking the image of nudity was used to refer to a disembodied state, a soul stripped of its body. Paul rejects this and rather uses an image of putting on one garment over another. The point is that for Paul “redemption was not from the body, but redemption of the body.”[3]
The third image that Paul uses is an image of life swallowing up that which is mortal. In my mind this conjures up comical images of a fish being swallowed up by a bigger fish. The idea being that which is swallowed up is contained within but transformed by that which is doing the swallowing.
So, Paul uses three images – the tent, the clothing, and swallowing up all to refer to the transformation of the body in resurrection life.
It’s likely at this point I’ve raised more questions than answers. This is of course mysterious and there is a lot of speculation. But the firm point is this – Paul affirms the resurrection of the body after death for those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
Chapter 5:6-10 SO WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
The next question is this – so why do the details about the resurrection body matter? Why is Paul careful to use metaphors that stress the continuity as well as the discontinuity of life after death…
We see Paul address this in the next section.
Throughout chapter 5 Pauls speaks of groaning. This isn’t the kind of cynical groan you make when you roll your eyes, but an expectant groaning, a longing for more.
A similar image is used by Paul in Romans 8 where he talks about all of creation groaning in anticipation of resurrection life and newness.
In Romans 8:23-25 Paul says:
“And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
We walk by faith, trusting and hoping in Jesus.
Paul says we have been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, a taste of resurrection life to come but for now our life is one of anticipation.
We can have confidence and be of good courage because of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us.
Death is a source of anxiety and concern for all people. We live with its reality casting a shadow over our days. Yet for Christians, we are reminded by Paul that death is not the end and that we can have confidence in the hope of resurrection.
This hope gives us courage in the present.
For Paul this meant that in the midst of his suffering and his weakness and the hard times he faced, he could hold hope that the future was bright.
This deep hope has been the bed-rock for Christians throughout the centuries who have suffered for their faith, and who have found themselves living in hard times.
Belief in the resurrection isn’t pie in the sky, it shapes our reality today.
In verse 9 and 10 Paul affirms this saying:
“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
This isn’t saying – do good stuff and you’ll be right. We experience resurrection by faith in what Jesus has done.
Rather, Paul makes the point that we are to live in light of the resurrection day by day.
Not only will we be raised but we will also be judged.
Therefore, we are to live lives that please the Lord.
What we do counts.
Here again we see the continuity emphasized between now and eternity.
Our bodies matter, the planet we live on matters, how we relate to each other matters, whether we do justice and act with compassion and care. The work we do matters, the parenting, the way we use our resources. Our day to day life is the place our faith is expressed and the place where we partner with God in his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
If we think again of the context that Paul was writing to at Corinth we can see why this is so important.
If the Corinthians assumed they had arrived and that their wealth and status and success was all a sign of God’s blessing, then perhaps they felt there was little need to please the Lord.
If they were teaching a kind of superspirtuality in which they thought they had arrived in the present, Paul reminds them that there is more to come.
But what about our context? What is that challenges us as we hear Paul’s words about life after death.
I wonder if sometimes we live with a similar attitude to the Corinthians. Our context in the West for many is one of comfy materialism. We have many pleasures to turn to. Paul’s words in his first letter likely are stinging: “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!”
We also live in a culture that denies death as much as possible and isn’t sure what to do with it when it comes.
In recent days perhaps our cosiness and comfort has been disturbed by the global pandemic sweeping our world.
This has placed the inevitability and reality of death ever before our eyes.
As much as the Corinthians needed it, we too need to know the good news of the resurrection to eternal life.
We too need to know the hope we have in Jesus.
Jurgen Moltmann, a theologian who wrote a lot on this topic offer what he sees as two unhelpful ways of approaching life after death.
On the one hand we can come to this topic with presumption – as if we have it all sorted.
On the other hand we can come with despair – we can lack hope.
Moltmann says this:
“Presumption is a premature, self-willed anticipation of fulfilment of what we hope for from God. Despair is the premature, arbitrary anticipation of the non-fulfilment of what we hope for from God. Both forms of hopelessness . . . cancel the wayfaring character of hope. They rebel against the patience in which hope trusts in the God of promise.”
The invitation today is to trust – in the words of Paul to be of good courage.
If you’re not a follower of Jesus and you are here today, if you feel lost and unsure, we would love to pray for you and for you to receive in faith the hope of resurrection life.
[1] David E. Garland “THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY Volume 29 2 Corinthians.”
[2] M. J. Harris, “Resurrection and Immortality: Eight Theses,” Themelios 1 (1976) 53.
[3] David E. Garland “THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY Volume 29 2 Corinthians.”