Objection:
Paul declared that he would go immediately to be with Christ when he died. (See Philippians 1:21-23).
Answer:
The passage reads this way: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:” (Philippians 1:21-23).
If no other text in the Bible dealt with the question of the final reward of the righteous, the reader might be pardoned for concluding that Paul expected, immediately at death, to enter heaven. This much we freely grant. But we would add that if a lone phrase in one text of Scripture is to be viewed by itself, the Bible would seem to teach salvation by works, prayers for the dead, and other doctrines that Protestants consider unBiblical.
We cannot agree with the interpretation of Paul’s words in the objection before us. Why? Because it would make the apostle contradict himself. Paul wrote much on the subject of being with Christ. Let us examine at least a part of his writings before drawing a conclusion concerning this passage.
In another of his letters, Paul details when the righteous will “be with the Lord.” “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
It is impossible to think that Paul believed that the righteous go to be with the Lord at death since he specifically told the Thessalonians that the righteous, both the living and those raised from the dead, go “together” to “be with the Lord” at the Second Advent. He declared that he was writing them so they would not be “ignorant.” It is inconceivable that he would leave them ignorant about being with Christ at death if he believed that way. In fact, he told them the very opposite—that the righteous dead do not go to be with the Lord at death but await the resurrection morning. If he believed we would be with the Lord when we die, why did he fail to mention this fact when writing specifically to “comfort” them? He encouraged them to find their “comfort” in a future event—the resurrection.
Those ministers today who believe in immortal souls comfort the bereaved with the assurance that the loved one has already gone to be with the Lord, and they declare that we who hold a contrary view deprive a sorrowing one of the greatest comfort possible. Do they, therefore, indict Paul also?
Again, if Paul believed that the righteous go to God at death, why did he tell the Corinthian church that the change from mortality to immortality would not occur until the last trumpet blast? (See 1 Corinthians 15:51-54). Or why did he tell the Colossians that when Christ appears, “then shall you also appear with him in glory?” (See Colossians 3:4). Or why would he say, as the time of his own “departure,” by the executioner’s sword, drew near, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8).
Yes, and why should Christ Himself tell His disciples that they would once more be with Him when He fulfilled His promise: “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)? Yes, why should Christ have focused the attention of the troubled disciples wholly on His Second Advent if it were true that all of them would go to be with their Lord immediately at death?
These, and other passages we could quote, are in hopeless contradiction to the interpretation placed on the words of Paul in the objection before us. Are we to conclude, therefore, that Scripture contradicts itself? No way. In his statement to the Philippians, Paul does not say when he expects to be with Christ. He briefly states his weariness of life’s struggle and his desire to rest from the conflict if that would cause Christ to be “magnified.” But to this veteran apostle, who had so constantly preached the glorious return of Christ as the one great event beyond the grave, falling asleep in death was immediately connected with what would occur at the awakening of the resurrection—the being “caught up” “to meet the Lord.”
It is not unusual for a Bible writer to couple together events that are separated by a long span of time. The Bible does not generally go into details but concerns itself with setting forth the essential points of God’s dealing with man over the centuries. For example, Isaiah 61:1, 2 contains a prophecy of the work that Christ would do at His first advent. Luke 4:17-19 is the account of Christ’s reading this prophecy to the people and informing them: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Verse 21. But a close examination will reveal that Christ did not read all the prophecy from Isaiah, though apparently, it is one connected statement. He ended with the phrase: “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” But the very next phrase in the sentence is: “And the day of vengeance of our God.” He did not read this because it was not yet to be fulfilled. This passage in Isaiah does not even suggest that a period intervenes between this phrase and the ones preceding it. But other Bible passages indicate this fact clearly. By examining all these other passages, we learn how to understand a brief, compressed prophecy like Isaiah 61.
Or take the prophecy of the Second Advent in 2 Peter 3:3-13. If no other Bible passage was compared with this one, the conclusion might easily be reached that the Second Advent of Christ results immediately in the destruction of this earth by fire. Yet when we compare 2 Peter 3 with Revelation 20, we learn that a thousand years intervene between the Second Advent and the fiery destruction of this earth. Peter was giving only a summary of the outstanding events impending. He passed immediately from the great fact of the Second Advent over to the next great act in the drama of God’s dealing with this earth, its destruction by fire. But with Peter’s prophecy, as with Isaiah, there is no need for confusion if we follow the Bible’s plan of comparing scripture with scripture to fill in the details.
Now if Peter could place in one sentence (2 Peter 3:10) two significant events separated by a thousand years, and Isaiah could couple in another sentence (Isaiah 61:2) two mighty events separated by a period of time, why should it be thought strange if Paul followed this plan, and coupled together in one sentence (Philippians 1:23) the sad event of dying with the glorious event of being “with Christ” at the Second Advent? In the other passages we have quoted from Paul, the death of the Christian is directly connected with the resurrection at Christ’s Advent, events which we know are separated by a long span of time. Therefore, coupling the event of dying with the event of being with the Lord does not necessarily mean that these two events are immediately related. And when we follow the Bible’s rule of comparing scripture with scripture, we discover that the two events are widely separated.
