#2: 2 Corinthians 5:8
Another familiar verse, one readily used to support a traditional teaching.8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
So, I ask you, tell us, in your own words, what it has conveyed to you up to now.
You may also wish to answer one or more of these questions:
1. Why does Paul use the word "rather" in verse 8; what are the two alternatives hecompares(the first is in an earlier verse)?
2. What does Paul mean by "absent from the body"?
3. In verse 8, what does he mean by "present with the Lord"?
4. Is Paul saying we will be "present with the Lord" after we die, before Jesus comes back?
5. Is Paul also saying we will then, when "present with the Lord," have no body?
I now show verse 8 in its immediate context, Chapter 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.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4For 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. 5Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.