Is There An Intermediate State Between Death and The Resurrection?

The chapter division between II Corinthians 4:18 and 5:1 complicates the problem of interpretation for many people. In verses 4:16-5:10, we go from time to eternity. God’s providence prepares the elect for the exodus out of time into eternity. The human body is mortal for time, but it will be immortal for eternity (I Cor. 15:50-57). The body for time is subject to decay, but for eternity the glorified body will not be subject to decay. A close examination of II Corinthians 4:16-5:10 shows that Paul’s inspired teaching deals with only two conditions—imperfect and perfect, mortal and immortal—and time and eternity.

There is absolutely no reference to a third condition such as the intermediate state, purgatory, or a temporary body between death and the resurrection. Furthermore, soul life apart from the body either in time or eternity is unscriptural. Our present bodies are “tents” of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (I Cor. 3:16 NASB). He also said, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (I Cor. 6:19, 20 NASB).

Paul did not utter a probable opinion when he said, “For we know [perfect active indicative of the Greek verb oida, which is both punctiliar and linear, meaning completed action with continuing results. It also means they will never be disappointed.] that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Cor. 5:1 NASB). What Paul knew was not probable opinion, but an undoubted conclusion based on sound arguments from Scripture.

The Holy Spirit within the believer makes intercession with groaning, because the believer himself is groaning (Rom. 8:23-27; II Cor. 4:5-18). The context shows that the present life of the Christian is temporal, but that for which he waits is eternal. Therefore, the intercession in the believer is preparing the Christian for the fulfillment of his hope which will not disappoint him (Rom. 5:5).

Jesus Christ who redeemed the believer at Calvary intercedes for him before the Father. Paul said, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:33, 34 NASB).

Coming to the close of His intercessory prayer (John 17), Jesus Christ continued to use the dramatic perfect tense when He said, “Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given [perfect active indicative of didomi] Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:24-26 NASB).

The dramatic perfect tense is a completed action in the past brought vividly into the present as a visible result. We who are saved are visible results of God’s grace. Theologically, this tense is not used consummatively, because the chosen disciples had not been glorified. However, they had been brought vividly into actual existence. Those who take their election for granted so that it becomes an occasion for subtle self-justification may be compared to the Jews of John 8 who debated with Christ. External privileges often become a snare. Religionists lean on pious ancestors, customs, and denominations. The Jews with whom Christ debated said, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it You say, You shall become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:33-36 NASB). Unable to answer Christ, the Jews resorted to ridicule and blasphemy. Christ’s answer to their ridicule was, “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God” (John 8:47 NASB).

God never starts something that He does not bring to a conclusion. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6 NASB). “Every man shall have his day” is a trite statement; but there is one thing for sure, Jesus Christ is going to have His day. It is called “the day of Christ Jesus.” Absolute perfection is God’s conclusion in everything He starts. Although Christ presently has all power in heaven and on earth, we add what Scripture adds. The Son of Man shall in His day openly exercise His power, outwardly manifest His exaltation, visibly bring all things into subjection, and on earth perform all He promised. Perfection is God’s conclusion in everything, and this perfection takes place when each believer steps out of time into eternity.

Man does not become something less than man when he steps out of time into eternity. The seat of the image of God is the whole man, because God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26; 5:1 NASB). Therefore, man is like a coin which bears the image of the Roman emperor, Caesar. Christ illustrated this when His enemies tried to entrap Him. They said to Him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay? But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at. And they brought one. And He said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to Him, Caesar’s. And Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they were amazed at Him” (Mark 12:14-17 NASB). The enemies of Christ knew that the head on the coin bore the resemblance of Caesar. Scripture’s emphasis is that the “whole man” is the image of God.

Scripture does not make a distinction between man’s spiritual and physical attributes in order to limit the “image” to the spiritual attributes. Therefore, the first revealed thought concerning man was that he was to be the visible representative of God in the universe. In this disclosure of the Divine mind, we must look beyond Adam to the One of whom Adam was the type—Jesus Christ who was to come (Rom. 5:14). Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). When Jesus Christ came in His first advent, He took the first place as Adam did in type. As the only begotten God, Jesus Christ has declared the Father (John 1:18).

It is necessary to be guarded when we speak of “likeness” in relation to Christ, because He is God. Christ is spoken of as the “image” of God, but He is never spoken of as the “likeness” of God. If God does not reveal Himself to man in human terms, it is an absolute impossibility for man to have any conception of God. The amazing grace of God is seen in this condescension. For the sake of contact with His people, He expresses Himself in terms that humanity can comprehend. Thus, some of the perfections of God are represented by the human body—omniscience by all-seeing eyes, omnipresence by ears, omnipotence by mighty deeds with His arm, and pleasure and displeasure by His face.

We do not deny that man’s body is made in God’s image, but be it far from us to conceive of God as a mere bodily substance like us. Consider what God said to the wicked in Psalm 50:21—“…You thought that I was just like you…” (NASB). In the humanity of Jesus Christ’s human nature we have the ultimate expression of God who came seeking to identify Himself with those the Father gave to Him in the eternal covenant of grace. Therefore, we have no difficulty in believing that the body of Adam was formed according to the idea of the body of Christ in the Divine mind. Hence, we have the expression, “And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil…” (Gen. 3:21, 22 NASB).

Paul says absolutely nothing in II Corinthians 5:1-6 to support the so-called “intermediate state.” The apostle had referred to his mortal body as dying, “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (II Cor. 4:10, 11 NASB).

The intermediate state position takes one of two forms: (1) Dead believers—though conscious—are without a body while waiting for the resurrection. (2) Dead believers have an intermediate body until the resurrection. Paul had only two conditions in view since II Corinthians 4:16—“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (NASB). The two conditions are the temporal and the eternal without reference to a third condition. The temporal is described by the word “perishable” and the heavenly dwelling is characterized by the word “immortality” (I Cor. 15:50-57). There is not anything stated about any intervening stages. Therefore, the groaning and burdened body will give place to triumphant joy and perfection. How could we behold the glory of God unless our glorification is enlarged above the highest of our present conceptions? We learn from Christ’s High Priestly Prayer that our bodies shall be like Christ’s glorified body. “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:22-24 NASB).

Let us not forget that Moses and Elijah were both recognized on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-13). This historical event has a great prophetical message. It was symptomatic of what had already begun, and prophetic of what shall be revealed. If we were to choose the most dreadful position in which men were ever placed on planet earth, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would be pointed out to us. On the other hand, if we were to choose the most favored, we would say Peter, James, and John. However, the three Hebrews of Daniel’s prophecy were calm in the fiery furnace, while the disciples were fearful in the presence of Jesus Christ, Moses, and Elijah. Such manifestation of glory produced reverential fear in the hearts of the disciples, plus the fact that such favor carried with it an awesome responsibility.

Both Moses and Elijah were in eternity—Moses by death, and Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven (Deut. 34:5-12; II Kings 2:9-11). How could they be recognized if they were bodiless? The Greek noun psuche means physical life (Matt. 2:20—“…those who sought the Child’s life are dead”; Matt. 6:25—“…do not be anxious for your life…”); a human individual (Acts 2:41—“…and there were added that day about three thousand souls”; Rom. 13:1—“Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities…”; Rev. 6:9—“…I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain…”); the immaterial soul (Matt. 10:28—“And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul…”); and the inner self (Luke 12:19, 20—“And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?”).

The body adapted for time is one of “flesh and blood” (I Cor. 15:50; Lev. 17:11—“the life of the flesh is in the blood…”), but the body adapted for eternity is “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39). Therefore, Christ’s assemblies in flesh and blood possess the kingdom legally (Col. 1:13), as well as in anticipation. However, they will not actually possess the kingdom until they are glorified. How absurd to claim to be in the kingdom now. The answer is simple. “Flesh and blood” cannot inherit the incorruptible kingdom, but when the assemblies possess their incorruptible bodies of “flesh and bones” they will inherit the incorruptible kingdom.

In conclusion, let us never think that we can synchronize the clock of timelessness with our present clock of temporal time. We must realize that we are hidden in the “until we meet again” until it becomes “the eternal NOW.” Therefore, we should not put on our grave markers “Rest In Peace,” but “Until We Meet Again.” Immortality is not a dubious opinion. It is a positive, God-given conviction.