[
to Post #702 ] Yes, Paul in
2 Corinthians 5:1-8 (esp vv.2-4) is speaking of a couple of things:
--"UNCLOTHED" -- to be apart from the body, for a time, UPON DEATH of the believer
--"CLOTHED UPON" -- to be immediately "clothed upon" with our
glorified bodies APART from having to DIE first (this takes place at the Rapture, for the "we which are ALIVE and remain unto" part of "the Church which is His body")
Paul is saying we are "earnestly desiring" to be "CLOTHED UPON" (be "changed" without having to DIE first;
i.e. the experience at our Rapture);
but that he is "WILLING" to die, if the Lord so wills it (nobody is "
earnestly desiring" to
have to die),
because either way, the outcome is to "be present with the Lord" (a WONDERFUL THING!)
And yes, Paul is disclosing "doctrine" here (which pertains to "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY") and not
merely "wishful thinking," as some are suggesting.
"...
KNOWING that, whilst we are at home in the body,
we are absent from the Lord... We are confident,
I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."
--V.4 "...CLOTHED UPON, that MORTALITY [
still-living persons being referred to here] might be SWALLOWED UP of LIFE" (not "die"/"death" here, in this phrase--this is referring to the "change" which will occur at the time of "our Rapture," for the "
still-living" part of "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY," specifically, in this phrase).