Paul's Doctrine of Death

Summarize Paul’s doctrine regarding what happens to humans at death.  Does the person who dies before the return of Christ receive a glorified body, according to Paul?  How does Bruce describe this body?  How could you use these ideas to comfort a family whose loved one (a Christian) has recently passed away?  How does this idea encourage you to live for Christ?

Paul taught that those who die are asleep in Christ but will be raised to immortality.[1] This means that the bodies that we now possess will not be the ones that we will keep. Those who die in Christ will receive new bodies as well as those who are alive at the Parousia.[2] In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he explained to them that the dead who are in Christ will rise first and those who remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.[3] He gave this explanation so that there would be no confusion as to the order of how things will take place at Jesus return. Paul taught that there had to be a separation out of our mortal body in order to be with the Lord; therefore, these bodies of flesh would not be able to enter the kingdom of God.[4]

Bruce explains that Paul’s view of a new body meant exchanging one for another. At no time was Paul meaning that there would not be a body of some sort or it would mean spiritual nakedness. According to Bruce, the spiritual body is being made for the believer as the mortal body waste away.[5] The mortal body wears down as the spiritual body is being renewed daily in Christ.[6] When families are in mourning, we can comfort them by reminding them that their loved ones are no longer in their mortal bodies that break down but will have new ones for to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord. Paul never mentioned that the soul dies which is the essence of our being– only the physical body.[7] Therefore, even though loved ones will miss their families down here on earth, they can take joy in knowing that their loved ones are home with the Lord and are forever free from the pain and trials of this life.

This is something to look forward to. To know that we will never have to deal with the wages of sin again in this lifetime is something to celebrate. It makes me want to stay close to the Lord and do what I can to live a life pleasing Him. It also makes me want to share with others the Gospel of Christ so that they too can enter in. Those who die without Christ do not know what they are giving up when they turn their backs to Him. Nothing this world has to offer is worth losing out on an eternity with Jesus.

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[1]1 Cor. 15:42 (New International Version).

[2] F. F. Bruce and F. F. Bruce, Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Paternoster Press, 2000), 309.

[3] 1 Thess. 4:15 (New International Version).

[4] Bruce and Bruce, Paul, 311-312.

[5] Ibid., 311.

[6] Ibid.

[7] 2 Cor. 5:8 (New Living Translation).