You Will Face Judgment-2 Cor 5:1-10

There is a judgment day. We don’t like thinking or taking about it. Many live as though life just goes on with no judgment day. But death and judgment is your destiny (Heb 9:27); you and I will stand before God’s judgment seat (2 Cor 5:10). This is not to scare you, but an undeniable fact. So…

• How will you fare on judgment day?
• Will you get a thumbs up? A thumbs down?
• Will you be told, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Mt 25:23)?
• Or will you be told, “I never knew you. Away from me!” (Mt 7:23)?
• Do you know that your destiny is to die and face judgment (Heb 9:27; 2 Cor 5:10)? That judgment is an appointment you won’t miss?
• Though crucial and of utmost importance, why is God‘s judgment not a popular or welcomed topic for conversation or discussion?

These are crucial questions that no one should ever avoid.

Longing for home. I’ve lived in Chicago for 40 years, and a U.S. citizen for 30 years. My 4 children and 6 grandchildren are born in the U.S. I should be right at home in the U.S. Yet I feel “at home” whenever I return to Malaysia, the land of my birth.

The assurance of the life to come changes everything for the Christian in the present. It gives meaning to his suffering in this mortal life and galvanizes his conduct and ministry. Following Jesus on this side of the divide provides no immediate escape from all of death’s burden:

1. human frailty
2. physical handicaps
3. declining strength in age
4. lack of prowess or success

Meanwhile, Christians must suffer with Christ, for all of Paul’s epistles has some reference to some form of dying. Against those who judged Paul with a failing grade, the ultimate judgment is yet to come and all will have to stand before the judgment seat (2 Cor 5:10). Paul is fully confident of his vindication, but he doesn’t take that acquittal for granted and serves Jesus as if everything were in doubt. Though many times God delivers the faithful, yet many times they are NOT delivered, for the human mortality rate remains steady at 100%. The triumphalistic who claim glory and victory now fail to understand that any allotment of glory in this life pales beside the glory which is to come in the future (2 Cor 4:16-17; Rom 8:17-18).

Heavenly dwelling (5:1-10) is often studied in isolation from 2 Cor for its importance about life after death. But 5:1-10 in context is Paul’s continuing defense of his ministry and frank speech [4:16 – 5:10 is one section]. The outward ‘wasting away’ (2 Cor 4:16) and the ‘light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’ (2 Cor 4:17) looks forward to ‘if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed’ (2 Cor 5:1)–the interpretive crux for the whole passage. Its interpretation determines what follows. “For” (gar) indicates that what follows is related to what precedes (the light and momentary troubles which are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory). “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor 5:1). This temple imagery recalls Jesus’ trial: ‘We heard him say, “I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands” ‘ (Mk 14:58). The heavenly temple–the church in heaven, or heaven itself–is the dwelling-place of God, the Christians eternal habitation. Jesus’ accusers misunderstood his statement, for ‘the temple he had spoken of was his body’ (Jn 2:21). The “building from God … not built by human hands” is the resurrected body of Jesus, and can also be understood corporately, so that those who believe in him share in it now.

Parallelism. What is earthly and will be destroyed (2 Cor 5:1a) and replaced by something heavenly and eternal (2 Cor 5:lb). The earthly tent is the physical body of the believer, then the building from God is another body–the resurrection body of the believer, which is permanent, cf. the impermanence of the present body Paul refers to as a tent. The suffering of believers in a parallel passage cf. the glory to be revealed (Rom 8:18-24). The believer looks forward to the redemption of the body (Rom 8:23)–through resurrection. Romans—written shortly after 2 Cor—treats a similar subject (2 Cor 4:16-5:10, 2 Cor 5:1b; Rom 8:23): “building from God … not built by human hands” is the resurrection body promised to the believer.

Is Paul emphasizing the permanency and the immediacy of having a resurrection body should we die? He’s certainly stressing its permanency (an eternal house), but will it be immediate (at death immediately receiving the resurrection body)? Though the universal resurrection has not yet arrived is it already being experienced by deceased believers? The intermediate state of those who die before the parousia is left open. “Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling” 2 Cor 5:2; Rom 8:18-24). Believers groan as they wait for their adoption, the redemption of their bodies (Rom 8:23-24). “Because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked” (2 Cor 5:3), i.e. when Christians puts on the heavenly dwelling it isn’t the nakedness of a disembodied spirit, which Paul, as a Jew, eschews. The future embodied state counters dualistic notions of salvation (the release of the soul from the prison of the body).”For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened” (2 Cor 5:4a)–our present experience when still in this tent–the physical body–and still exposed to afflictions. [burdened (2 Cor 1:8) where Paul spoke of his experience of afflictions in Asia]. “Because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2 Cor 5:4b). Though Paul groans, being burdened by sufferings and persecutions afflicting him in his present body, he doesn’t escape into a disembodied state. He longs for a new and better embodiment. What does he want? 2 metaphors.

1. A clothing metaphor. He wants instead to be clothed with his heavenly body.
2. An eating metaphor. He wants his mortal body to be swallowed up by life.

His mortal body is not done away with, but is transformed in the immortal. It’s not release from bodily existence for which he longs, but for a bodily existence that’s permanent and heavenly–the redemption of the body (Rom 8:23), or the transformation of his body to be like Christ’s glorious body (Phil 3:21). Paul’s ultimate hope is not for a disembodied existence but for a permanent embodiment in a resurrection body counteracting dualistic tendencies of some who deny the resurrection of the body (1 Cor 15:12).

“The one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God” (2 Cor 5:5a). It’s not a vain empty hope but that God himself prepares us for such a future. A process of preparation for the glorious future is participation in present suffering (2 Cor 4:16-17; Rom 8:17). God’s election, calling and justification of sinners prepares God’s children for glory (Rom 8:28-30). ‘Since God the Creator foresaw the sin of Adam, he prepared a remedy for it. For he himself has given us the first fruits of the Spirit, so that by the miracles which the Spirit does in our midst we may be reassured that the promises of future glory are true’ (Theodoret of Cyr). The objective knowledge of God preparing believers for a glorious future cf. the subjective experience of the Spirit which we enjoy. The God who prepares is also the “God who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor 5:5b; 1:22). The Holy Spirit is given to believers as a pledge guaranteeing what is to come–to share in Christ’s glory (Rom 8:16-17).

Does the former [destruction of the physical body] take place before the provision of the latter [the resurrection body]? Paul grapples next (2 Cor 5:6-10) with an increasing awareness that he personally might die [destruction of the body] before the general resurrection.

Despite difficulties, Paul is confident in God (2 Cor 2:14-17); he affirms again and again and that he doesn’t lose heart (2 Cor 2:14; 3:4, 12; 4:1, 16). Again he picks up the theme: “Therefore we are always confident” (2 Cor 5:6a)–though the present situation is not something to be desired: we . . . “know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6b). Then in parenthesis he says, “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). To be “at home in the body” (‘earthly tent’) means that we can’t access God by our sight (“are away from the Lord”), but he is accessible to us by faith (Jn 20:29). ‘God is still present, but because we cannot see him we are said to be absent from him as long as we are in the body’ (Ambrosiaster).

“We are confident, I say” (2 Cor 5:8a). Despite asserting his courage, he confesses his desire for a better situation: “and [we] would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8b). To be away from the body = to be at home with the Lord, in that the Lord will be accessible to sight, and no longer accessible only to faith. ‘we shall see him as he is’ (1 Jn 3:2). “True faith begets not merely contempt for death but desire for it and thus it is a sign of unbelief in us when the fear of death is stronger than the joy and comfort of hope” [Calvin]. Though Paul doesn’t wish for a disembodied state, he may have to if he dies before the parousia. But his conviction is that even if this should be, it’s preferable than remaining ‘in the body’ and so ‘away from the Lord’ (2 Cor 5:6). Paul says, ‘I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far’ (Phil 1:23).

“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (2 Cor 5:9). Paul doesn’t know how long he continues to live in the body or whether he’ll soon die and be away from the body. But he knows how he will live: to please the Lord.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor 5:10) is why Paul is determined to live to please God. Judgment seat [bema]. Among the ruins of ancient Corinth is an impressive stone structure–the bema. Paul was brought before the bema (‘tribunal’) by angry Corinthian Jews who accused him before the proconsul, Gallio (Ac 18:12-17). But Gallio refused to judge Jewish matters and drove Paul’s accusers from the bema. Paul knew what being brought before the judgment seat meant. So we must live in light of the fact that each of us must appear before Christ’s judgment seat (Rom 14:10).

“So that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10b). One’s salvation–acceptance before God–depends on what one has done in the body. Yet no person will be justified in God’s sight based on what he/she has done: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Thus, God made a new way for people to be justified in his sight apart from works (Rom 3:21-26). So what then does Paul mean when he speaks of receiving one’s due according to what one has done in the body?

God will evaluate the lives and ministries of Christians and reward those who acted faithfully, while those who haven’t will suffer loss of reward. Paul applies this to those who built up churches: ‘The Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved’ (1 Cor 3:13-15). What one has done in the body that will be evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ. In context, Paul speaks of living ‘at home in the body’ and ‘away from the body.’ It’s what a person does in this life. So what believers do in this life has serious implications. We’re accountable to God for our actions, and will be rewarded or suffer loss accordingly. Next, Paul speaks of knowing the fear of the Lord. Theology. Paul juxtaposes present sufferings in carrying out his ministry that contribute to his outward wasting away with the inward renewal that enables him to persevere (4:7-18). He’s like a cheap and fragile clay jar (2 Cor 4:7), but one that bears an invaluable treasure: the light of the gospel of the glory of God displayed in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6). The immense privilege of being a minister of this gospel is why he doesn‘t lose heart amidst his afflictions (2 Cor 2:14; 3:4, 12; 4:1, 16). God compensates the effects of his outward afflictions with inner renewal through the work of the Spirit (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5). He endures the sufferings for 2 reasons:

1. for the benefit of those to whom he ministers (2 Cor 4:15a) so that they will experience God’s blessings as a result of his labours [‘death is at work in us, but life is at work in you’ (2 Cor 4:12)], and
2. because in the light of those blessings there will be an ever-increasing volume of thanksgiving to God (2 Cor 4:15b). Paul regarded the afflictions accompanying his ministry as ‘light and momentary’ in comparison with the ‘eternal glory’ they were achieving for him (2 Cor 4:17). Keeping his eyes fixed on what is eternal prevented him from losing heart.

Paul’s ultimate hope (5:1-10). Paul is confident that if his afflictions intensify and lead to death–the ‘earthly tent’ is destroyed (2 Cor 5:1a)–he’d have a ‘building from God, an eternal house in heaven’ (2 Cor 5:1b). So, should his earthly body die, God would provide a heavenly body, a resurrection body–his ultimate hope. He wishes not to be ‘unclothed’ (disembodied), but to be ‘clothed’ with the heavenly dwelling, his resurrection body (2 Cor 5:4). But if he dies before the parousia and the general resurrection, he’d rather be ‘away from the body’ and be ‘at home with the Lord’ (2 Cor 5:8), implying a conscious existence in God’s presence even in a disembodied state is better than being present in the body but away from the Lord (2 Cor 5:6; Phil 1:21-24). But in whatever state he’s in, whether ‘at home in the body or away from it,’ his aim is to please God (2 Cor 5:9), for all believers must appear before Christ’s judgment seat to receive what is due to them according to what they’ve done while ‘in the body’ (2 Cor 5:10)–best understood not in regard to salvation, but as reward for service (1 Cor 3:10-15). Reference:

1. Charles Hodge. 1 & 2 Corinthians. A Geneva Series Commentary. The Banner of Truth Trust. 1857, 1859.
2. Colin Kruse. 2 Corinthians. Tyndale NT Commentaries. 1987, 2005.
3. Geoffrey Grogan. 2 Corinthians. The Glories & Responsibilities of Christian Service. 2007.
4. David Garland. 2 Corinthians. The New American Commentary. 1999.
5. Paul Barnett. The Message of 2 Corinthians. 1988.