DEATH AND BEYOND

That comes later. Paul says that he is prepared to wait a while longer in this earthly house and will continue to work to be accepted of God.
Looking at it another way - in this passage of scripture Paul is talking about three consecutive states or conditions of a human being.

The present earthly life, the ‘tent’.
The period of death with no life, being dissolved, being ‘naked’. This fits the Bible picture that dust goes back to dust, and is reabsorbed into the earth.
The eternal life as yet in the future, the heavenly ‘house’.

Paul does not wish to be unclothed or dead, in the grave, but he longs for the time when eternal life is granted, of which the giving of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of the fulfilment of this hope. Paul uses the expression ‘clothed upon’. This corresponds with his other expression of ‘putting on’ immortality. All the queries raised in these verses surround the period we call death, the being dissolved, not having a body, not having a being or personality or character. Those who follow Greek philosophy say that this is the time when the disembodied soul is free. The Bible clearly states that in death there are no thoughts, and no involvement in the affairs of this life. The ‘tabernacle’ or tent is ‘dissolved’ in death and we await a ‘house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’. Death is a period of time. We die and we remain dead. Death is not a point in time when we transfer to a different life somewhere else.

In Paul’s writings he only refers to:

our mortal life now, with all its physical burden,
the sleep of death,
the resurrection to eternal life
a new and different body.

Here is a glossary of the expressions used in these nine verses to show what they mean. First the number of the verse, then the term, then its meaning in the context.

(1)

Earthly house – present mortal body and frail condition of our body on this earth.
Tabernacle – temporary dwelling, a tent.
Dissolved – disintegrated, go back to earthly elements.
Building of God – permanent dwelling, house from heaven. House not made with hands – of heavenly origin, not earthly. In the heavens – glorified body provided by God.

(2)	Groan – sigh in distress, long for the new body. Clothed upon – immortality is put upon us. See 1 Corinthians 15:54. House … from heaven - the resurrection body.

	(3)	Clothed – our mortal life in a fleshly body now. Naked – without a body at all. Body has been dissolved.
	(4)	Unclothed – stripped, not having a body either mortal or immortal. Mortality – subject to death and decay. Swallowed up of life - given immortality. Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Corinthians 15:54.
	(5)	Earnest – the assurance, the promise, the pledge, the guarantee of life hereafter. If He is in our hearts now, He is the earnest of our inheritance, our eternal life Ephesians 1:13,14.

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