What is a house not made with hands in 2 Corinthians 5:1?

The certainty of the future things is brought more fully in view. The apostle had given the great doctrines concerning the resurrection of the body, the coming of the Lord and the blessed hope in his first epistle (chapter 15). In the closing verses of the preceding chapter, he mentioned again the fact of the believer's resurrection and presentation in the presence of the Lord (verse 14) and spoke of the eternal things, the coming glory. And so he continues: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The earthly house of this tabernacle is the body of the believer, the earthen vessel in the previous chapter. It is called a tabernacle (a tent) because it is only the temporary lodging of those who are by grace but strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Yet in this earthen vessel, this frail tabernacle, there is a divine indweller, the Holy Spirit. The apostle speaks of the dissolution of our earthly house, "if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved." He does not say "when we die," but only states the possibility that the tabernacle might be dissolved. The dissolution of the mortal body of the believer is not presented therefore by the apostle as a certainty, but only as a possibility. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" was the blessed mystery revealed through the apostle in his first epistle (1 Corinthians 15:51). The change of the body of the believer is the certainty, but its dissolution is not. But if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved "we know we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." What do these terms mean? What is the building of God, the eternal house in the heavens? Some have identified it with the Father's house and its many mansions of which our Lord speaks. But this house of which the apostle writes cannot be heaven, the Father's house, for it is said to be from heaven and in the heavens. Others have invented a temporary body. They teach that when the believer dies he gets at once a kind of an ethereal body which he will possess between death and resurrection. This is a speculation contradicted by the word "eternal." Nowhere in the Word of God is it taught that the disembodied spirits of the redeemed are to be clothed with a body before resurrection takes place. The body of the believer in its present state is compared to a tabernacle; the building of God, the house not made with hands, refers to that which the believer shall possess in the future, no longer an earthly house, a tabernacle, but something permanent, of supernatural origin. It is quite evident that the apostle means by way of contrast the spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44), which is in store for the believer. This fact is stated once more, but the purpose of these words is not to convey the thought that this house is to be possessed immediately after death: the emphasis is upon "we know" and "we have." The Spirit of God assures us of the certainty of it. Thus positively every child of God can speak.

This leads the apostle to open out the power of life we have in Christ, and its results. "For we know that if our earthly tabernacle-house be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, everlasting in the heavens. For also in this we groan, longing to clothe ourselves with our dwelling which is from heaven, if indeed also when clothed† we shall not be found naked." (Vers. 1-8.)

What calm and confident knowledge the apostle here predicates of Christians as such! And what a contrast with the dark uncertainty of unbelief, or with its impious audacity! The eternal things are none the less sure in hope because they are not seen. For we know that, if death destroy the earthly tent we live in, we have a building of God. The body in its present state he compares to a tabernacle to be taken down, in its future to a building from God as the source, and to a house not made with hands, and hence everlasting in the heavens, its suited and purposed sphere for ever. As we already heard, God who raised up the Lord Jesus shall also raise up by Him those also who sleep, and then present us all together faultless before the throne of His glory: here details are entered into with clearness and discrimination. It is one of the few passages which treat of the intermediate state, as well as of the resurrection or change of the body for glory, and therefore of the deepest interest to the faithful personally and relatively. And in a few brief and plain words adequate light is given, without the smallest indulgence of irreverent curiosity, for all that concerns the family of God after death as well as the change at Christ's coming. One cannot conceive a communication more worthy of God, or more characteristic of His word generally, while it bears the deep impress of His blessed servant who was inspired to give it.

Of course theology is here little more than a Babel of discordant tongues; and even the more pious and learned seem unable to answer with precision what is meant by the building we have of God. Some will have it that this house not made with hands is heaven itself, but how then could it be said to be "in the heavens?" How could we be in this case said to be clothed with our house or "dwelling which is from heaven?" The house and heaven itself are carefully distinguished. Others again, with less error but with an imperfect view of the passage as a whole, think only of the resurrection body. But it does not follow that the passage throws no light on the state of the soul between death and the resurrection, or that it treats solely of what is to happen after Christ's second coming.

The lowest and most mischievous of these interpretations is that of Olshausen and others who admire petty philosophising, and contend that the house entered at death is an ethereal corporeity adapted to the heavenly condition of the soul, either intermediate between death and the resurrection, or (as bolder spirits say) to the exclusion of the body which is not to be resuscitated and changed. The intermediate and glorified vehicle of the soul is directly at issue with the plain and decisive language of this very passage. The house is described not only as in the heavens, but as "everlasting." Scripture shuts out therefore all notion of a temporary body, for the soul in heaven before the resurrection of the body we now have. And a man must be a sceptical Sadducee who denies that He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by (or, by reason of) His Spirit that dwells in us. (Rom. 8:11) There is intermediate blessedness for the believer apart from his body with Christ on high; but the resurrection from the dead awaits His coming.

As to 2 Corinthians 5:1, do not let us make difficulties for ourselves by putting into the verse what is not there. Nothing comes out of heaven in that verse. The dissolution of the body is in view, and the contrast is drawn between "our earthly house of a tent" — the most transitory of all dwelling places, so easily shifted from one place to another — and a building, and that "of God," in contrast with being "made with hands"; eternal in the heavens, instead of temporal and earthly.

Unquestioned certainty as to the future, and present confidence of faith are seen here further developed. "We know" is the proper language of Christianity. "The earthly house of this tabernacle" is of course what is called the "earthen vessel" and "outward man" in chapter 4: that is, our physical body as it is today. There is no cause for alarm if it is dissolved, for it is only intended to be temporary. In fact, it is said (though we are not in present possession of it) that "We have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens." That is, it is just as certain as though we were already inhabiting it. This is no doubt "the body that shall be," "a spiritual body," in contrast to that natural. For in resurrection the Lord Jesus shall change our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His body of glory (Phil. 3:21). Our bodies then, in altered form, will be like that of the Lord Jesus. Meantime we groan, in desire to be clothed upon with that precious "house that is of heaven." It is not here "from heaven," as though this was its origin; but "of heaven," that is heavenly in character, suited to heavenly and spiritual conditions.

One day the tent-house will be dissolved, for if the Lord has not come we shall die. But if this be the case we have a building of God, a house not made with hands. This refers to the resurrection body which we shall have at the time of the Lord's return. We do not receive it at the time of the dissolution of the tent-house, as will become clear as we proceed. The tent-house is also described as “earthly.” The writer of the epistle is not dealing with moral issues here, but with the body which we now have and which is earthly in the sense of being suitable for earthly conditions. The “building of God” is said to be “in the heavens.” It will be a heavenly body, suitable to conditions in heaven. In contrast to the tent-house which is subject to death, the new body is said to be “eternal.”

But it will not always be that we shall have bodies so easily worn out. Chapter 5 introduces us to a new figure, in which the outward man is compared to a tent, and the glorified body to a settled house: "If our earthly tabernacle house" — here we have indicated the present body of flesh and blood in all its frailty, and its temporary character "be destroyed" — the dissolution of the body "we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The new and glorified body for which we are destined will be like a house of God's workmanship, in which none of the frailties introduced by human origin will exist, capable of sustaining all the joys and services of the heavens for eternity. It would in a way be a poor thing if we were introduced into the heavens in the company of Christ, into all the brightness of the Father's house, with bodies that would grow tired and weary. Look at Peter and his companions in the Mount of Transfiguration. Overcome by sleep they might have missed much of the brightness of the scene. Look at John in Revelation 1, seeing the glory of the Son of Man, and falling at His feet as dead. Dear fellow-Christian, when you and I are for ever with our Lord we shall have these frail bodies changed (or if dead we shall be raised) into a condition suited to the glorious scenes of eternity; never to be weary again, never to need intervals so to say for refreshment or sleep, nevermore to feel the pressure of outward circumstances, or to be overcome by the weight of glory.

Our bodies are spoken of as houses in which we dwell, and very appropriately so. Our present bodies are only "tabernacle" or "tent" houses, comparatively flimsy structures and easily taken down. Our future bodies in the resurrection world will be of a different order, as 1 Corinthians 15 has shown us. Here we learn that they will be "not made with hands;" that is, spiritual, and not of an earthly or human order. They will be eternal, for in them we shall enter into eternal scenes. Also they will be heavenly. Our present bodies are natural and earthly and abide but for a time.

First, as to death. "We know," says the apostle, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building or God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He is speaking of the body, of course, as the "house of this tabernacle." It is that which is to be dissolved, and there remains for us, for eternity, a building of God, a house not made with bands. He is thinking, of course, not of the Father's house, but of what contrasts with and replaces the present habitation. "In this we groan," not for the mere infirmities surely from which we suffer here, but more with the sense of the impediment to the spirit which the body in its present form implies. "We long to be clothed with our habitation which is of heaven," that is, which belongs to heaven; not which is formed of heavenly material, so to speak, or which comes down from it, but which has its character derived from it. It is heavenly as suited to heaven, and to the perfect condition which will be ours then. In the present tabernacle we groan as burdened, not indeed to be unclothed, not as seeking death, but rather that which will swallow up death itself, — to be "clothed upon, that all that is mortal might be swallowed up of life." The apostle is evidently thinking here of the living when the Lord comes. It is not that that which is corruptible, but that which is mortal, may be swallowed up of life. The mortal condition is the present one, and what he would desire is not death for its own sake, but the joy of the full perfection which remains for us.

Let us look calmly at death; it may soon touch us. How shall we greet the “King of Terrors?” as the world designates that which God, speaking to His people, describes as Sleep! With these words, “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens?” “We know!” What assurance is here; and, again, the confidence is built upon God. The shifting tent will be exchanged for the building of God. True, God formed our bodies from the dust, and to Him we owe our existence upon this earth, but sin has spoiled the fair beauty of these our tabernacles. Decay has smitten them. Death will take them down. And what then! Laid in the dust, they will be found no more. But a permanent building will arise, a house awaits each ransomed spirit, a house eternal in the heavens. God has a resurrection body in the future, and a home in glory waiting for His people.

I am surprised at the confusion as to 2 Corinthians 5:1-9, for the passage must be taken as a whole, verse 1, while giving us the blessed contrast between our earthly house of this tabernacle or "tent" (as it simply is), the most transitory of dwelling-places, so easily put up and taken down to be shifted elsewhere, and a building — and that of God, instead of made with hands, ETERNAL instead of tent-like, in the heavens instead of earthly, says nothing as to the time or manner of our transference from the one to the other. Only, let us observe, to have such a house, Divine in character and Eternal, involves a glorified condition beyond which there could be nothing. It is Eternal and therefore as you rightly judged, the idea that when a saint dies he gets clothed upon, etc., is the point-blank denial of the cardinal truth of resurrection — little as our brethren saw that this was the consequence. There is nothing to be raised, if at death the saint is clothed with a body of glory.