Subject: 2 Cor. 5:8 taken out of context |
Bible Note: The statement "to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD" may have been taken out of context by many in the christian community thinking that this is a confirmation of consciousness upon physical death awaiting resurrection. On the contrary, it speaks of the relationship between the body in the flesh and the presence of the LORD that we should strive to be in. Paul earlier dicussed this in another letter about the war between new and old natures. It is not Paul's standard operating procedure to confuse his readers by jumping from one thought to another. If one is looking for scriptural proof that a saint does not sleep until judgement, he cannot use this text. In doing so, he would be using this text wrongly. We have got to stop taking the Word of God out of context to fit our doctrinal beliefs. |