(This was preached at Hamilton Church of Christ in New Zealand 17th April 2011 )
( Luke 23:38-43 & 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)
Introduction
Last Sunday we considered how the Jewish writings, between the testaments, reflected some foreign ideas that were beginning to creep into what some Jews believed about what happens when we die. An appreciation for these developments helped us to form awareness that the parable that Jesus told about the Rich Man and Lazarus was in fact a part of the folklore of the Pharisees that is nowhere found in the OT. Similarly the clothing of martyrs in white robes, making up a full number of the slain, was not an original idea in the book of Revelation; it shows up in other Jewish apocalypses (see 1 Enoch 47:1-4; 2 Baruch 23:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:33-41; 4:33-37).
In concluding that the genres of Parable and Apocalyptic are unreliable sources, upon which to solidly build doctrinal beliefs, I made a reference to a top UK scholar by the name of Richard Bauckham who said this – “The NT hope for the Christian dead is concentrated on their participation in the resurrection (1 Thess 4:13-18), and there is therefore little evidence of belief about the ‘intermediate state’. Passages which indicate, or may indicate, that the Christian dead are with Christ are Lk. 23:43; Rom. 8:38f; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; cf. Heb.12:23. The difficult passage 2 Cor. 5:2-8 may mean that Paul conceives existence between death and resurrection as a bodiless existence in Christ’s presence.” Richard Bauckham. Eschatology.’ New Bible Dictionary, 2nd ed., ed. J.D.Douglas, et al. (Leicester: IVP, 1982), 346.
Having spent a couple of decades studying and understanding the development of Jewish thought on this subject Bauckham omits the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) and Souls under the Alter (Rev 6:9-11) from his list for the obvious reasons which we covered last week. Bauckham puts before us only 4 passages which might suggest a conscious intermediate state. I am aware that there are other odd verses that have been cited as support for a conscious intermediate state also and I am happy to consider those if anyone wants to talk about them. However, Bauckham does not acknowledge these “extras” as serious support for the traditional belief in a conscious disembodied intermediate state.
A 2004 Debate on Hell at the Baptist College
In 2004, when studying at the Baptist College, I remember the class having an organized debate as to the subject of hell. Half the class, with surnames A – M, had to argue for “hell” as a place of annihilation and the other half of the class, surnames N – Z were to argue for “hell” being a place of eternal unceasing conscious torment for the unsaved. Seeing I was border line with a surname beginning with N I decided to jump the chasm that divided the class to argue for “hell” as a place of annihilation. As part of my ammunition for the battle I took along my IVP Bible Dictionary from which I quoted this very reference from Bauckham to demonstrate how little support the NT offered for arguing for a conscious intermediate state that would be required to support the traditional view of eternal conscious torment. At the conclusion of reading the quote to the class our venerable lecturer, Dr. Martin Sutherland, said “even then I don’t believe you can make a convincing argument for a conscious ‘intermediate state’ from 2 Cor 5:2-8 [the difficult passage]. Christian hope is always portrayed as an embodied hope.”
So let’s have a look at these four passages that Bauckham has referred to as possible support for a conscious intermediate state.
(1.) Luke 23:43 The Thief on the Cross
In the first session in this series I made mention of two families that I knew back in Auckland who had both lost sons prematurely. One of these, a Dutch family; and I am told that the Dutch see things in a very “black and white” way, forcefully quoted this verse to me in defence of the hope and comfort that they had found in it. That is; that their deceased son was immediately present and conscious with Jesus as a disembodied “soul” or “spirit” in “paradise” at the point of death. In their understanding, as in many peoples, it is believed that Jesus was telling the thief on the cross next to him that he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day that they died.
What did the Thief request that Day?
Seldom is the context of this verse considered, in particular the thief’s request, when determining what Jesus meant in his answer to the request. In verse 42 the thief asks Jesus to remember him when he returns to establish the Kingdom of God. Some manuscripts say – “remember me when you come with your kingly power.” Obviously the thief hoped to be granted, by Jesus, a better resurrection into a future Kingdom once the present age is wound up; in other words, at the Second Coming. Jesus did not ignore, or replace, the thief’s request with a hope for an immediate intermediate state at the point in which he was to breathe his last. How do we know this?
We know this because on that very day when Jesus died his body was taken by Joseph of Arimathea and laid in state for 3 days. If, as some reason, Jesus went to “paradise” then death is nothing more than an illusion which we should all welcome as a release from the pains and ailments of this physical life. No, death is an enemy; it is the wage of Sin. Anyway, where is “paradise”?
Where is Paradise Anyway?
The word is only ever used 3 times in the NT. Although it is not used in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus some of the extra-biblical Jewish literature understood “paradise” as part of Hades in the subterranean underworld. Is that where Jesus went? The later Apostles Creed believes so – whereas one version of the creed states “he descended to the dead, on the third day he rose again” another says “he descended into hell” prior to His resurrection. Such a belief is supposed from a misunderstanding of 1 Peter 3:18-19 where it is thought that Jesus preached to the “spirits in prison”, in Hades, within that 3 day period. Verse 19, in fact, tells us that Jesus preached to these “spirits in prison’ after he was “made alive by the Spirit”, i.e. resurrected from the dead.
In 2 Cor 12:4 we get a different impression of where “paradise” might be. Paul speaks of “paradise” as the “third heaven”. Many Jews in the 1st century had come to believe that heaven had 7 levels, as reflected in the work The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah (7:24- 27), where disembodied souls were parted to the right and to the left of a throne, another spirit world above, where this physical world is “never spoken of”. Paul was himself unsure about such an experience because he is uncertain as to whether this was in the body or out of it.
And just to confuse things further; in Rev 2:7 “paradise” is synonymous with the New Jerusalem which was the anticipated hope at the end of the age (Cf. Rev 22:1-6.
So what did Jesus mean when speaking of “paradise”? He meant his coming again in kingly power in line with what the thief requested and understood of the future coming Kingdom. Therefore, the emphasis in this verse lies with the promise being given that day, and not the Kingdom being redefined as a spirit world. Let’s now read the verse by re-inserting the comma to create a emphasis in Jesus response; the original Greek does not supply a comma, this is the translators call. “Truly thee I tell to-day, with me thou wilt be in the paradise” (Marshalls Interlinear Greek-English). Even though the reputable scholar Leon Morris disagrees and argues for an immediate “paradise” he does, however, acknowledge that a future kingdom hope is another possible interpretation of Jesus words.
(2.) Romans 8:37-39 Not even Death can Separate us from the Love of God.
To say that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the “love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” does not define for us how God has made us as human beings. Therefore, what we understand on that foundational issue, in approaching this passage, will undoubtedly affect how we will interpret it. Defining what it is to be a human being is something that we wrestled with in the first session.
The whole of our earlier arguments were that the OT consistently portrayed being human as a psychosomatic whole. In other words everything lives and everything dies – nothing of us consciously survives. It is for this reason that the state of death can be spoken of in the NT by the use of the metaphor “sleep” (cf. John 11:11-15; 1 Cor 15:51-52). However, we believe that God holds every human being in His memory in view of the resurrection of the dead when Jesus Christ comes again. In that sense death does not separate us from God’s love that will raise the dead because we are not forgotten. To suppose that Paul is saying that the dead are conscious in an intermediate state is an inference from the passage that is based upon the preconceived notion of “soul immortality”. There is nothing explicit in this passage to say that the dead are conscious prior to the resurrection. Therefore, on the strength of the OT view of being human, I would reason that the memory of one’s life is not lost from the love of God by death in view of the resurrection of the dead – God will not forget us in the grave!
(3.) Philippians 1:23 cf. Hebrews 12:23 Paul desires to Depart and be with Christ
On this passage I’m going to offer an interpretation that you have never heard before; it’s new. In verse 20 Paul wants Jesus Christ to be exalted in his body whether by “death or by life”. In fact Paul is writing from prison in anticipation of what might be the death sentence (1:7). In other words a martyr’s death for Paul will exalt Jesus Christ as this will in some way identify Paul more fully with Christ who was crucified. In this sense there is a strange type of posthumous “gain” for Paul to die this way (1:21). Yet to be spared from such a death, in the mean time, will allow for some more fruitful labour to be achieved in the churches (1:22). Paul is torn between the two in verse 23 where on the one hand he sees a martyr’s death as a departure to be with Christ.
A Premature Departing Death just like Christ
What Paul might be suggesting here is not a conscious presence with Christ at the point of death but rather identification with Christ in the way he might die, as a martyr, in the hope of a more glorious resurrection. In the Greek we read – ejpiqumivan e[cwn eijV to; ajnalu:sai kai; ou;n Cristw:/ ei\nai – “the desire having for the to depart and with Christ to be”. This might be like saying “I want to depart and be like (with) Martin Luther King” who was assassinated in 1968 as a hero in many people’s eyes. In other words, I want to follow in his footsteps. Indeed to identify with him will be a gain to Paul in a way which natural death, as an old man, does not afford. Such a special privilege of dying as a faithful martyr is characteristic of the message of the book of Revelation and seen as becoming like “Christ who was slain” (Cf. Rev 13:8).
Can we back this Interpretation up?
How can I possibly come to such a conclusion you may ask? Well in Phil 3:10-11 Paul clearly tells us that he wants to know the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings so as to become like Christ in His death – martyrdom; this is a “gain” by way of identity. This is not to attain an immediate conscious presence with Christ; rather, it will lead on to somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead. So, Paul’s “gain” in a premature “departure” to be with Christ may be in the sense of identifying with Christ in death so as to attain a better resurrection. Philippians 1:23 should not be sought to be interpreted independently from weighing up the meaning alongside Phil 3:10-11 with an appreciation of Paul’s anticipated death sentence.
In regards to Bauckham offering Hebrews 12:23, as a comparison with Philippians 1:23, the Hebrews quote is clearly in the context of the End time “heavenly Jerusalem” when the things of this world will be “shaken”. Perhaps Bauckham is suggesting that the “departure to be with Christ” might be understood as Paul giving no thought for an intermediate state but rather having his thoughts completely focused on the resurrection hope; many Conditionalists would explain Phil 1:23 in this way.
(4.) 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 Paul wants to be Clothed with the Eternal House from Heaven
In verse 1 Paul talks of an “eternal house in heaven”. This is not an individualistic hope; he says we have this eternal house; not I have an eternal house. This sounds like the New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven at the end of the book of Revelation. When Paul says he groans with longing for this “eternal house” he is in effect saying he desperately wants to see the end of the age arrive along with God’s new house/Kingdom (v.2). Paul speaks of that day of cosmic transformation by the use of the metaphor “clothed” in verse 3. Notice very carefully that if he does not experience that clothing of the “eternal house” coming down from heaven within his life-time he will be found “naked”!
What does being “Found Naked” & “Unclothed” Mean?
What might being “found naked” mean as a metaphor? It means the state of death. In other words he doesn’t want to face an interim in the grave waiting for the “eternal house from heaven”; which is the collective hope of all the saints! Paul groans in this life/body because he doesn’t want to be “unclothed”, in verse 4, before the city from on high arrives. When that city arrives then the mortal will be swallowed up in life; as in 1 Cor 15:54, at the resurrection of the dead. When Paul says in verse 6 – “as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” he means Jesus Christ hasn’t returned yet. In verse 6 he is not considering the intermediate state. So in verse 8 he is saying I would prefer Jesus Christ to return with the corporate hope of the “eternal house in heaven” i.e. “at home with the Lord”. Rather than striving on in this life and age. He would much rather that this hope comes quickly than be “found naked” (v. 3) or “unclothed” (v.4), which means in the grave.
In all honesty, the passage which Bauckham says is the “difficult one” I find the easiest one to explain because an intermediate state is clearly distinguished form the resurrection hope of the “eternal house in heaven”.
Conclusion
So far in our series, in dealing with these few seemingly problematic passages in the NT, it might be thought, by some, that I am resorting to special pleading to get around them. I sincerely don’t believe this to be the case. These hand-full of passages would make up no more than 1 % of the data used to favour the traditional popular view which is mistakenly thought to be more robust than what it actually is!
If I were to list every passage in the NT that speaks of the return of Jesus Christ, the Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead it would soon become apparent that this is where the genuine emphasis on Christian hope lies.
It is to this hope of resurrection that we will turn next Sunday as we consider afresh the significance of the empty tomb as the only genuine key available for answering the question that every human being will grapple with in their life time – “what happens when we die?”
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What Happens When We Die Part 1
What Happens When We Die Part 2
