2 Corinthians 5:8- What Does Paul’s Preference Teach Us About Death?

As I was working on a bit more of my paper on 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, I was contemplating on what Paul is saying in verses 6-8, and verse 8 in particular. Essentially, in these verses, Paul’s degrees of preference surface: Paul would much rather live to see the parousia of Christ as opposed to the disembodied state (vv 2-3), but he would also prefer to be in the presence of Christ in a disembodied state than to be “at home in the body” (vv 6-8). This, of course, makes sense. This is not a hatred of life on Paul’s part, as we can tell from the first part of the letter which gives thanks to God for sparing his life, but a heart-felt yearning of wanting to be with Christ- whatever that may entail. This got me thinking about death and the Christian response.

Paul states in Romans 5:12 that death is a result of sin. In fact it is the “wages” of sin (Romans 6:23), i.e. it is what we earn by sinning, or what we deserve if you will. It was the threat of death that Adam and Eve chose when they determined that one single taste of some fruit was better than the intimate fellowship they had with God. It was punishment for them, and so to all of us who sin. So then, we should be surprised to read 2 Cor 5:8- that is, if we haven’t become so comfortable with our faith or forgotten the reality of our sin, we should. Why? Because that is what Paul says he prefers:

εὐδοκοῦμεν μᾶλλον ἐκδημῆσαι ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἐνδημῆσαι πρὸς τὸν κύριον.
“We prefer to be away from our body and at home with the Lord.”

Why would Paul prefer the punishment for sin? The reason, I think, is that the curse of death was reversed when Christ became the curse for us. Not really that groundbreaking- I’m not explaining some new doctrine that no one has heard of (most of us call that heresy anyways). What I am hoping, however, is that you see it again- that you see it anew. The very thing that was a threat to us is now preferable. This is because the threat of death was nailed to the cross, and defeated at the victorious and glorious resurrection of Christ. Death is dead.

Of course, Christians still die. This is presupposed in the verse. Death will be shown to be defeated at the parousia of Christ (1 Cor 15:26), at his appearing, when the dead are raised (1 Cor 15:23; 1 Thess 4:17). So then, death itself is reversed- from a judgment against sin to the very gateway that ushers us into his presence- unless of course we live to see his appearing. This is why it is preferable to Paul. It is what gave him confidence in his ministry (2 Cor 4:16-5:10). Paul could face every danger, every threat of death, precisely because such things would bring him into the presence of his savior who loves him. Like Paul, we should also take this knowledge to heart. How could it transform the way we minister to others?