Being Clothed

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Good Morning, M____,

I am glad that you read and was edified by the e- mail post on Fullness Now – Lying With The Beast.
Now let’s consider your question about “being clothed.” Here are those verses you quoted. I have added verse ten because it helps to clarify what Paul has in mind. I will comment between each verse.

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.

Paul is contrasting “this… earthly house,” this temporary clay tabernacle, with the “building of God” we have promised us at the resurrection.

2Co 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

At this point, while still in this “earthen vessel,” we “groan together” with all the rest of creation, simply because as long as we are in this “sinful flesh” we will be constantly striving against our flesh by virtue of the “earnest of the spirit” we have been given while still in this flesh. I will indent farther the verses that bring this out:

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure [ Christ in us, verse six] in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. [ I hadn’t noticed this is the previous chapter of this same epistle]
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

‘Naked’ is Biblespeak for “shapen in iniquity conceived in sin.” But Paul is not speaking of nakedness in the flesh only. He is speaking of nakedness at resurrection. Since there are no ‘naked’ people at the first resurrection, Paul is, of necessity speaking of the second resurrection. What he is saying is that he is striving to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
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.
2Co 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

This is the same ‘earnest of the spirit’ Paul speaks of in Ephesians one:

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. [ That purchased possession, is that blessed and holy first resurrection to a spiritual body which is being purified, and judged, at this time.]
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The answer to Peter’s question, “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” is that they will be “raised a spiritual body” with “terrestrial glory,” yet in dire need of “being clothed.”

2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked [ at the resurrection of the dead]

1Co 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
1Co 15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: [ This is not primarily a physical statement. Those who leave this flesh while still having “enmity against God,” while still of a carnal terrestrial mind, are raised with that “terrestrial glory… unclothed… { spiritually} naked”]
2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

Paul is not saying that he does not have Christ within. He is not denying that he has been “sealed with the holy spirit of promise.” What he is saying is that “whist we are at home in this [ physical] body” we have not yet been given, “the redemption of the purchased possession.” We have at this time and in this clay body, the holy spirit as a down payment of “the redemption of the purchased possession.”

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8 We are confident, [ I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 5:9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present [ in “the body” of flesh] or absent [ from the body of flesh, in the grave, awaiting resurrection “and being present with the Lord”], we may be accepted of him.
2Co 5:10 For we must all [ those being judged now, who will be in that “blessed and holy first resurrection,” as well as those who will be judged as carnal minded spirits with terrestrial glory] appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his [ physical] body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

“The end of them that obey not the gospel” of whom Peter inquires, is to be judged later at the “great white throne…” judgment, raised up, “unclothed,” yet in “terrestrial glory.” It was all figuratively “written in thy book” for each person who was ever born of woman, and it was all written “When as yet there was none of them.” And it is out of all of these “books” that the second resurrection, white throne judgment is made and account is given:

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened [ of Psa 139:16]: and another book was opened, which is the book of life [“the book of Revelation of Jesus Christ]: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

1Co 15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [ first resurrection] is one, and the glory of the terrestrial [ second resurrection] is another.

The “glory of the terrestrial… has no glory at all by reason of that which excels.”

2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation [ second resurrection, terrestrial glory] be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness [ first resurrection] exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

No, I am not saying that 2Co 3:9-10 is speaking of the first and second resurrections, but what I am saying is that the principle of the glory of the first has no glory by reason of the glory that excels” is just as relevant to the resurrections at it is to the two covenants. The order is reversed, but the principle remains the same. Those who are blessed to be in that first resurrection are given heavenly glory, which makes the reflected glory of the earth, by comparison to “have no glory,” but rather to be in need of purification by either many or few stripes. Here again is the scriptural rule which governs all judgment:

Luk 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Paul, like Christ, is consumed with “the things of the spirit.” This physical body is merely a vessel, at this time, for the workings of the spirit. Being absent from this physical body, and being present with Christ, at the resurrection, is better for each of us. But for the sake of those to whom we minister, it is, as you so rightly note, better for them. Either way we must be clothed with Christ and not with the things of the flesh. If not we will be found to be “unclothed” at the second resurrection. But while we are still in a physical body we are “clothed” with this physical body, and “absent from Christ,” in the sense of not yet receiving the purchased possession, which is our spiritual body, at the resurrection of the dead.
I hope this helps you to see that Paul, in these verses, is dealing with both the physical and with the spiritual meaning of “being clothed.” That is why I included verse 10. Verse ten makes it clear that Paul is dealing with both those who are clothed with Christ in the resurrection and those who are not.

2Co 5:10 For we must all [ those being judged now, who will be in that “blessed and holy first resurrection,” as well as those who will be judged as carnal minded spirits with terrestrial glory] appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his [ physical] body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Paul is willing to be unclothed of his body of flesh, but he looks forward to being clothed with his spiritual body at the resurrection.
I will close by quoting a couple of verses in this very same chapter which I pray will give you more clarity on this subject of “being clothed.”

2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The “he is a new creature” is true “in earnest, until the redemption of the purchased possession.”

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also [ trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

These truths are in God’s Word for all to see but they truly are encoded as “the things of the spirit” and are intended to be understood only by the “few… chosen” while being considered as “foolishness,” by the “many called” masses of orthodox Christianity:

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [ even] the hidden [ wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this [ orthodox Christian] world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit o f God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Your brother in the Christ,
Mike

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