Will we be naked in heaven?

The first is already anticipated. I admit, not only that heaven is the locality where Jesus is, but that there depart the spirits of the saints who have fallen asleep in Christ, to be present with the Lord (Phil. 1:21-23; 2 Cor. 5:6-8). But the latter of these passages explicitly shows us a blessedness beyond that of the separated spirit with the Lord. Paul was willing (verse 8) rather to be absent from the body (i.e. the present body of sin and death) and to be present with the Lord; but it was not the thing which he earnestly desired. This was quite another thing — "to be clothed upon with our house which is FROM heaven" {2 Cor. 5:2}; which is especially contrasted with death and the separate state, and as decidedly preferred. "Not for that we would be unclothed, (i.e. of the body,) but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life" {2 Cor. 5:4}; i.e. the transformation or change, which is the exact opposite of, and triumph over, death. As to the passage in Philippians, although no one doubts that, personally, it is far better to depart and be with Christ, than to abide in the flesh, let any unbiased Christian read Phil. 3:10-11, and say whether it does not manifest that the apostle never for a moment puts the separate state into comparison with the resurrection. That, and not the separate state, however preferable to present conflict and temptation in the flesh, was the result and complement of Christ's resurrection. Hence, as in the close of the same chapter, is clear, it is not death that we expect: "We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" {Phil. 3:20-21}. Is it IN heaven? That is the author's view; but the Holy Spirit teaches us that it is FROM heaven. Our citizenship, our only true and worthy citizenship, is there, even at present — it is in heaven — from which also we look for the Saviour. Thus, the very scriptures here cited, if impartially examined, prove that the apostle did not stop short at the mere blessedness of the spirit with Christ. He waited and longed for the resurrection of the body in the image of Christ, for we are predestined to be conformed to His image that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Indeed, the very creation earnestly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God, which is consequent upon our resurrection.

No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that the same word in different Scriptures has always the same significance. The context in each case, and the character of the truth unfolded, have always to be considered. Hence the term "naked" in Gen. 3 and in our passage must be interpreted on this principle, and it will be found in both instances that it is a contrast with a clothed condition. In Genesis, as was recently explained, it is moral nakedness in contrast with the state of Adam and Eve after they were clothed with skins by God Himself. In 2 Cor., as may be plainly seen, the contrast is between being clothed with the resurrection body and being without it. "We know," says the apostle, "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. For in this (the earthly house of this tabernacle) we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." Here the Spirit of God leads Paul to speak of the blessedness of being "clothed upon" (v. 4) at the Lord's coming, when, without passing through death, mortality would be swallowed up of life, and he would not be found naked as a disembodied spirit. Elsewhere (Phil. 1), when the possibility of death was staring him in the face, he could say that he desired to depart and be with Christ, which would be "far better." Great, however, as his gain would be, if he thus departed, it was not to be compared (for it is not a perfect state nor the full fruition of redemption) with being "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." It will be thus seen that in this scripture to be "naked" refers to the state of saints who have departed to be with Christ, and are waiting for the fuller blessedness connected with the possession of the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens - their resurrection bodies.

The conscious knowledge of it (oidamen), of such a condition makes us groan (would God it were more commonly the effect!), earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with, or "to have put on," our house which is from (ek) heaven, i.e. heavenly in character. The third verse answers to many another warning note, in the first epistle especially, that all the profession that he has to deal with may not be real — that in the day when there will be no more an unclothed spirit (i.e. spirit apart from body), some will be found awfully naked as never having had Christ as their righteousness; verses 1 and 2 then only belong to true Christians. Then in verse 4 he develops the thought of verse 2 and explains the designed use of the expression "clothed upon." We groan, but not to be unclothed — not to lay down the body in death — but to be clothed upon, which brings in (in one of its effects) the true normal hope of the Christian, that is, the Lord's coming, which is so ingrained into the Christian's life that it does not need to be stated, when all that is mortal will be swallowed up by the power of the life we possess in Him.

"If, at least, that being clothed, we shall not be found naked." From this viewpoint then it is possible to be clothed and yet naked. It is the unbeliever who will be found naked; so that, the resurrection body of the unbeliever, while clothing his soul and spirit, will not cover the shame of his nakedness. This verse then guards against unbelief assuming itself safe. True confidence is only for the child of faith.

But let us not forget that he takes care (for his heart was not relieved as to every individual in Corinth) to add solemnly, "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." He was not quite sure but that some there might be found exposed, because devoid of a Saviour. There are those who give this a very different turn, and make it to be a verse of consolation instead of warning; but such a view deprives us of the true scope of the clause. The common version and natural interpretation appears to me quite correct. It does not mean "since being clothed we shall not be found naked," which has no worthy lesson to convey to any soul. The readings differ, but that which answers to the common version I believe to be correct. The apostle would warn every soul that, although every one will be clothed in the day that is coming (namely, at the resurrection of the body, when souls are no longer found without the body but clothed), nevertheless some, even in spite of that clothing, shall be found naked. The wicked are then to be clothed no less than the saints, who will have been already raised or changed; their bodies shall be raised from the dead just as truly as those of the righteous; but when the unrighteous stand in resurrection before the great white throne, how, bare will they appear? What will it be in that day to have no Christ to clothe us?

In these opening verses of chapter 5 we read of being "clothed," and being "unclothed;" of being "clothed upon," and of being "naked." We dwell at present in an earthly tent, clothed in bodies of humiliation. Presently we shall be clothed in glorified bodies of a spiritual, eternal and heavenly order. All the dead will be raised; even the wicked will appear before their Judge clothed in bodies. But though clothed they will be found spiritually naked before that great white throne. If we are true Christians we shall never be found naked thus, though we may be unclothed, for that word denotes the state of those saints who are "absent from the body" (verse 5) in the presence of the Lord. Paul himself, and myriads more beside, are unclothed at the present moment, but that unclothed state, blessed though it is, is not the great object of our desire. What we do long for, while we groan in our present weakness, is this clothing upon with our house from heaven.

All those who are raised will be "clothed," but only the saints will be "clothed upon," for the reference here is to that which will take place at the coming of the Lord. The term is perhaps particularly appropriate as regards those who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord. Such will all be changed, and so enter the resurrection state. They will in the twinkling of an eye be invested with their glorified bodies, and so clothed upon with their house from heaven. Thus in a moment mortality — which is attached to our present bodies — will be swallowed up of life.

Some objection has been taken to our explanation of the term "naked" in 2 Cor. 5:3, in the April number. It was taken as a contrast between the disembodied state and being clothed with the resurrection body - "our house which is from heaven." The ground of this interpretation was in the word "we": "if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." Great difference of judgment has ever prevailed on the subject; and it is quite possible that "naked" may refer to those who will be left behind at the Lord's coming; that is, to the unconverted. In this case, it will be equivalent to being without Christ.

333 In the opening of the chapter, he says, "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. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; if so be, that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life," v. 1-4. He has this death, and now he says the thought of God goes beyond all that, and I have a "building of God, a house not made with hands"; but I am not tired and weary, wishing to be unclothed, and done with all the trouble; but what I am looking for is, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. That is, the power of life comes and swallows me up entirely, so that all that is mortal is lost in life.

Verse 3 is supposing that these are Christians: there is no thought about losing the reward. "Naked" is simply what Adam was before God clothed him. It is quite true that all those at the great while throne are naked of Christ, though each has got his body; this is not mortality swallowed up of life, but, on the contrary, it is going into the second death.

I must have Christ for my covering and clothing. There is all the difference in the world between the "apron" that man made, and the "coats of skins" which the Lord God made, and put on them. In Adam's apron God did not put a single stitch. That is man's effort to reform himself, his self-improvement, and his own works. All your efforts and mine are valueless; we are as naked after as before. The coat that God made was His own work, and man had put no stitch in it. It is salvation by sovereign grace. If you are ever to be saved at all, it will only be by God. He brings that coat to Adam to hide his nakedness; and I can quite understand why the apostle Paul says, when looking to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked" (2 Cor. 5:3). He, so to speak, says, "Do not be like Adam." He was found "naked," when he thought himself clothed. Too many will be like him by-and-by. Raised from the dead, being clothed — that is, having the body — they will be naked before God. They have not Christ as their covering before God.

But there was much in the profession at Corinth that suggested that all was not real there. Hence the solemn warning clause of the parenthetical third verse. There would be those who would be clothed in bodies of resurrection who would be found awfully naked before God, as never having received the "best robe" (Luke 15:22), never having become God's righteousness in Christ, as the last verse of the chapter expresses it. The clothed state of the spirit, when, in the hour that is coming, "all that are in the graves, shall hear his voice" (John 5:28) is here referred to in contrast to the spirit being unclothed in death. The "naked" will be those who come forth (clothed indeed, as far as their bodily condition is concerned) to nothing, but "the resurrection of judgment."