Among the ecclesias that comprised what Paul referred to in Rom. 16:4 as ”all the ecclesias of the nations” was “the ecclesia of the Thessalonians” to which Paul wrote. And in Paul’s first letter to this ecclesia, we find revealed a number of remarkable details concerning the expectation of the body of Christ. Here is what we read in 1 Thess. 4:15-18:
For this we are saying to you by the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who are surviving to the presence of the Lord, should by no means outstrip those who are put to repose, for the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall be rising first. Thereupon we, the living who are surviving, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we always be together with the Lord. So that, console one another with these words.
As I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere on my blog,[1] the specific information revealed by Paul in this passage (and in the larger context of the letter in which it’s found) is not consistent with what had been previously revealed concerning the prophesied expectation of God’s covenant people, Israel. Consider the following points:
1. According to what’s prophesied in Daniel 12:1 and 11-13, the resurrection of the saints among God’s covenant people – i.e., the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:4) and “the former resurrection” (Rev. 20:4-6) – is going to take place 75 days after the future time of Israel’s “great affliction” has ended. And since the eon-consummating coming of Christ prophesied in Matt. 16:27, 24:30, 25:31 and elsewhere will be taking place immediately after the time of great affliction ends (Matt. 24:21, 29-30), it follows that the resurrection of Israel’s saints will be occurring 75 days after Christ returns to earth. This means that the saints who will still be alive at the time of Christ’s return (and who, according to Matt. 24:31, will be assembled at this time by Christ’s dispatched messengers) will get to be in Christ’s presence approximately 2 ½ months before those who will be dead at the time.
In contrast with the timing of the resurrection prophesied in Daniel 12 and elsewhere, Paul revealed that the resurrection of the deceased saints in the body of Christ will coincide with the vivification of those who will still be alive on the earth when Christ descends from heaven to earth’s atmosphere (1 Cor. 15:50-53). Thus, rather than the living saints preceding those who will be dead at the time, “the dead in Christ shall be rising first.” Only after the dead in Christ have been raised will all the saints in the body of Christ then be “snatched away together” to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-18). We can therefore conclude that the resurrection of the “dead in Christ” referred to by Paul in 1 Thess. 4:16-18 is a separate event from (and will be occurring at a separate time than) the resurrection of the saints among God’s covenant people.
2. We know that the return of Christ to earth at the end of this eon will not take place until after the various expressions of God’s coming indignation (as prophesied in Revelation 6-18) have already taken place. We also know that there will be many saints who will go through this time of indignation as well (see, for example, Rev. 6:9-11; 7:2-9, 14; 11:3-7; 12:6, 13-17; 13:7, 10; 14:12; 18:4). In contrast with those who will be on the earth during this time of divine judgment, the saints in the body of Christ will be rescued by Christ from the coming indignation (1 Thess. 1:10), since we have not been appointed by God to indignation (1 Thess. 5:9-11; cf. 2 Thess. 2:13-14). And since the snatching away is the means by which God will prevent the body of Christ on earth from going through the coming indignation, this event must occur before God’s indignation begins to come upon the inhabitants of the earth during the day of the Lord.
Moreover, according to the sequence of events contained in Christ’s parable of the darnel of the field (Matt. 13:24-30, 39-43) and his parable of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-51), the wicked are first going to be severed from the midst of the righteous and “culled out of the kingdom” via the agency of Christ’s dispatched messengers. Only after the unrighteous have been removed will the righteous (i.e., those who “endured to the consummation” and survived the time of “great affliction”) then be assembled from their scattered locations throughout the earth and brought into the kingdom. But this sequence of events is not compatible with the sequence of events revealed by Paul concerning the timing of the snatching away of the body of Christ in relation to the coming indignation of God (according to which the saints are snatched away to meet Christ in the air sometime before God’s indignation comes upon the wicked, and the “extermination” referred to in 1 Thess. 5:2 begins to take place).
3. In accord with the last point, we know that the saints who will be alive on the earth during the time of great affliction must be “watching” (rather than “drowsing”) in order to qualify for an entrance into the kingdom and “stand in front of the Son of Mankind” after Christ’s return to earth (Matt. 25:1-13; Luke 12:35-40; cf. 21:34-36). Christ also declared that believers who will be alive when the time of great affliction begins will have to “endure to the consummation” in order to be saved (Matt. 24:13; cf. Luke 21:19). Elsewhere it’s clear that the “endurance” on which this salvation will depend will involve “keeping [Christ’s] acts until the consummation” (Rev. 2:26; cf. Rev. 2:10-11) and “keeping the precepts of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12; cf. 12:17). We also read that only those who are “faithful unto death” during this future time will be given the “wreath of life” (Rev. 2:10-11) and thus included among those who will be ”deemed worthy” to take part in the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:4; 20:35).
In contrast with what we’re told will be the case for the saints who will be alive on the earth when the time of great affliction begins, those belonging to the body of Christ have not been appointed by God to indignation but rather “to the procuring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). We will, therefore, all be snatched away together to meet Christ in the air (and will thus be “living at the same time together with him”) regardless of whether or not we are “watching” or “drowsing” before this event takes place (1 Thess. 5:10). Our inclusion in this event does not in any way depend on our “endurance” or our faithful, righteous conduct. God’s grace “reigns” over all in the body of Christ, and “superexceeds” for us when we sin, resulting in life eonian (Rom. 5:20-21; 6:23). In accord with this truth, Paul told the saints in Thessalonica that God preferred them “from the beginning for salvation…for the procuring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that “God, our Father, Who loves us” is “giving us an eonian consolation and a good expectation in grace” (2 Thess. 2:13-16; Rom. 8:29:30).
Notwithstanding these and other considerations, there are some students of Scripture who maintain that the future event prophesied in 1 Thess. 4:15-18 belongs to Israel’s expectation (and that, when Paul wrote his letters to the saints in Thessalonica, the body of Christ shared the expectation of God’s covenant people). For example, in a brief article defending this position,[2] Clyde Pilkington wrote the following concerning 1 Thess. 4:15-18:
The standard event that this passage is supposed to describe is thus: Believers will be raptured to heaven, ever to be with the Lord. The simple fact is that, after an honest look at the passage, we can see clearly that it does not even mention anyone going to heaven; not the Lord, nor any of the participants. The idea of being raptured to heaven is read into this passage. What these verses actually reveal is that the Lord is leaving heaven and the participants are caught up to meet Him in the earth’s atmosphere (“clouds,” “air”) on His way down, where the participants will “ever be with” Him as He reigns and rules on the earth. This is all in agreement with Israel’s hope.
I’m in full agreement with Clyde that this passage does not mention anyone “being raptured to heaven.”[3] However, when Clyde goes on to explain what he believes “these verses actually reveal,” it becomes evident that he is doing that which he implies the student of Scripture shouldn't be doing – i.e., reading his own ideas into the passage. For although Paul doesn’t mention anyone “going to heaven” in 1 Thess. 4:16-18, he also doesn’t mention anyone descending to earth after the snatching away has occurred. Paul gives no indication that, after Christ has descended from heaven, he will descend to any point below the cloud-filled, atmospheric location where the saints will be meeting him. Moreover, although the earth is the location from which the saints will be departing, we’re not told that we’ll subsequently be returning to the earth.[4] Nor are we told in this passage (or anywhere else in Paul’s “earlier letters,” for that matter) that the saints in the body of Christ will be on the earth during the eons of Christ’s reign.
Now, Clyde and I agree that the eonian expectation of the body of Christ is heavenly with regard to location (for a defense of this view, see the following article: Did Paul teach that the body of Christ will be reigning on the earth?). However, what Clyde does not seem to realize (or fully appreciate) is that we actually have testimony from Paul’s earlier letters in which the heavenly destiny of the body of Christ is revealed.
In 1 Cor. 15:50-53 we read that those who will take part in the event described in 1 Thess. 4:16-17 will, prior to being snatched away to meet the Lord in the air, undergo a radical change:
“Now this I am averring, brethren, that flesh and blood is not able to enjoy an allotment in the kingdom of God, neither is corruption enjoying the allotment of incorruption. Lo! a secret to you am I telling! We all, indeed, shall not be put to repose, yet we all shall be changed, in an instant, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trump. For He will be trumpeting, and the dead will be roused incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality.”
But just before Paul revealed the secret of our change, he wrote the following:
“The first man was out of the earth, soilish; the second Man is the Lord out of heaven. Such as the soilish one is, such are those also who are soilish, and such as the Celestial One, such are those also who are celestials. And according as we wear the image of the soilish, we should be wearing the image also of the Celestial.”
Notice that Paul referred to Christ as “the Lord out of heaven.” The term translated “out of” in this expression is ek, and is the same word used in the first part of this verse (where we read that “the first man was out of the earth, soilish”). And just as this term expresses the idea that Adam was made from elements derived from the earth (i.e., soil), so it expresses the idea that Christ’s glorified and incorruptible body is made from elements derived from heaven (making it heavenly rather than earthly in nature).[5] Paul thus went on to refer to Christ as “the Celestial One” in the very next verse (since Christ is now a celestial – rather than a terrestrial – being).
Now, according to what Paul went on to write in verses 48-49, all who are going to undergo the “change” referred to later in 1 Cor. 15:52 (which is all who are in the body of Christ) will come to wear “the image of the Celestial,” and will thus become “celestials” themselves. Since we are destined to become celestials, it follows that our soilish, terrestrial body must be transformed into a body that is fit for the realm where Christ, “the Celestial One,” resides and inherently belongs (i.e., “heaven”).
We thus find that, as early as the writing of Paul’s first letter to the saints in Corinth, it was already known (and made known) by Paul that the saints in the body of Christ are destined to become “celestials” (i.e., beings who inherently belong to the heavens rather than the earth).
This understanding of our future nature and eonian expectation is further confirmed in Paul’s second letter to the saints in Corinth. In 2 Cor. 5:1-2 we read the following:
“For we are aware that, if our terrestrial tabernacle house should be demolished, we have a building of God, a house not made by hands, eonian, in the heavens. For in this also we are groaning, longing to be dressed in our habitation which is out of heaven…”
Notice, first, Paul’s use of the term “terrestrial” when describing our present, mortal body. There would’ve been no good reason for Paul to have described our present body as “terrestrial” if our future body will also be terrestrial. Thus, the very fact that Paul described our present body as “terrestrial” implies that our future, immortal body will not be terrestrial. But that which is implied by Paul’s use of the term “terrestrial” when describing our present body is explicitly confirmed by Paul’s subsequent description of our future body as “eonian, in the heavens” and “out of heaven.”
The expression translated “out of heaven” in v. 2 expresses the same idea as it does in 1 Cor. 15:47. Our future resurrected body is “out of heaven” in the sense that heaven – rather than earth – will be the source of that of which it will consist (thus making us suited for eonian life “in the heavens”). The “soilish” material of which our body presently consists (and which makes it suited for life on earth, and thus “terrestrial”) will, at the moment of our vivification, be replaced with elements that are heavenly in source and nature. It is in this way that the “body of our humiliation” will be “transfigured” (Phil. 3:21) and “delivered” (Rom 8:23) when we’re vivified in Christ.
With regard to Paul’s use of the term “eonian” in 2 Cor. 5:1, we know that he had in mind the future period of time during which we’ll be enjoying our eonian life (1 Tim. 1:16; Titus 1:2; 3:7) – i.e., the “oncoming eons” in which God “will be displaying the transcendent riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). For just before describing our future immortal body as “eonian, in the heavens,” Paul wrote the following in 2 Cor. 4:17-18:
“For the momentary lightness of our affliction is producing for us a transcendently transcendent eonian burden of glory, at our not noting what is being observed, but what is not being observed, for what is being observed is temporary, yet what is not being observed is eonian.”
Since Paul had in mind that which exists at this present time when he referred to that which is “being observed” (and which is “temporary”), it follows that he had in mind a future reality when he referred to that which is “not being observed” (and which is “eonian”). Thus, the period of time that Paul had in mind when he used the term “eonian” in these verses is a future period of time.
With regard to the expression “the heavens,” this is the same exact expression Paul used in his later letters to the saints in Phillipi and Colossai:
“For our realm is inherent in the heavens, out of which we are awaiting a Saviour also…” Phil. 3:20
“…because of the expectation reserved for you in the heavens…” Col. 1:5
“…we have a building of God, a house not made by hands, eonian, in the heavens.” 2 Cor. 5:1
Thus, as is the case with Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 15:48-49 (where it’s clear that the saints in the body of Christ are destined to wear “the image of the Celestial” and thus become “celestials”), what Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:1-2 also contradicts the idea that the saints in the body of Christ originally shared Israel’s terrestrial expectation. Since the future body (and thus the future life) to which Paul was referring in 2 Cor. 5:1 will be “eonian, in the heavens,” it follows that the expectation and allotment of the believers to whom Paul wrote was, at the time that the letter was written, just as heavenly in location as the expectation and allotment of those to whom Paul wrote his “later letters” (one could also argue that Paul had just as much to say concerning the heavenly expectation of those in the body of Christ in his letters to the saints in Corinth as he did in his later letters to the saints in Philippi and Colossi, and that Paul actually revealed more in these earlier letters concerning the heavenly expectation of the body of Christ than he did in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon combined).
But what about Paul’s reference to “the kingdom of God” in 1 Cor. 15:50? Well, we know that the “kingdom of God” is a future reality that pertains just as much to those in the body of Christ as it does to Israel (1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:50; Eph. 5:5; Col. 4:11; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 1:5). But this is perfectly consistent with the fact that the expectation of the body of Christ has always been heavenly in location. For, in addition to being established on the earth at the time of Christ’s eon-consummating return, the kingdom of God is going to be established in the heavens as well (Rev. 12:7-12). Since the implication of Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 15:50 is that we will be enjoying our allotment in the kingdom of God after we’ve become “celestials,” we can conclude that the kingdom of God to which Paul was referring here (i.e., the kingdom in which “flesh and blood is not able to enjoy an allotment”) is the kingdom that Paul later referred to in 2 Tim. 4:18 as the Lord’s “celestial kingdom.” That is, Paul had in mind the kingdom of God as it will exist in the heavens during the eons to come (and not the kingdom of God as it will exist on the earth).
Clyde’s article continues as follows:
We, however, have what was a secret to prophecy, an earlier expectation on the timeline (being “preexpectant in the Christ” – Ephesians 1:12, CV). At an undisclosed time, prior to Christ’s leaving heaven, He will appear with God among the celestials and we will join Him there for glorification with Him (Colossians 3:4). We will at that time receive our immortality and enter our heavenly calling among the celestials (Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 3:1-3).
Clyde is assuming that what Paul revealed in 1 Thess. 4:15-18 is unrelated to the “earlier expectation” implied in Eph. 1:12.[6] However, as argued above, the vivifying change that we’re going to undergo “at the last trump” is what will transform us into celestial beings and thus make us fit for our calling and allotment in the heavens. Thus, it is this very event with which our earlier expectation will begin. Rather than preceding a descent to earth (which is where the indignation of God will be coming after we’ve been removed), the snatching away and meeting in the air will instead commence our transition from the earth to the heavens.
But what about Clyde’s view that the future manifestation of Christ to which Paul referred in Col. 3:4 will be occurring in heaven? Answer: Just as we’re not told in 1 Thess. 4:16-17 that Christ and the saints will be descending to earth after the meeting in the air takes place, so we’re not told in Col. 3:4 that the future manifestation referred to in this verse will be occurring in heaven, or “prior to Christ’s leaving heaven.” One must read this idea into the text.
Moreover, Clyde’s understanding of Col. 3:4 implies that Christ is not presently being manifested to heaven’s inhabitants. However, we know that, when Stephen was granted a glimpse into heaven just before his death, he was able to perceive “the glory of God, and Jesus, standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55-56). Are we to believe that Christ – who is referred to as “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15; cf. 2 Cor. 4:4) and “the Effulgence of [God’s] glory and Emblem of His assumption” (Heb. 1:3) – is somehow less visible to the celestial beings in heaven than he was to Stephen? I’m not aware of any scriptural support for this view. Instead, the very fact that Christ is presently in heaven implies that he’s presently being manifested there, and that the future manifestation to which Paul was referring in Col. 3:4 is going to take place in a different location.
In support of the view that the manifestation of Christ to which Paul was referring in Col. 3:4 will be occurring in some location other than heaven, we find the very same word translated “manifested” (or “appears”) in this verse – i.e., phaneroo – being used elsewhere in Scripture in reference to what will take place when Christ returns to earth and becomes visible to those who will be on the earth at this time. Consider the following verses from the first letters of Peter and John:
1 Peter 5:4
“…and, when the Chief Shepherd is manifested [phaneroo], you shall be requited with an unfading wreath of glory.”
1 John 2:28
“And now, little children, remain in Him, that, if He should be manifested [phaneroo], we should be having boldness and not be put to shame by Him in His presence.”
1 John 3:2
“Beloved, now are we children of God, and it was not as yet manifested [phaneroo] what we shall be. We are aware that, if He should be manifested [phaneroo], we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him according as He is.”
Paul’s use of the same word used by Peter and John in the verses above does not, of course, mean that he had in mind the exact same future event as that to which Peter and John were referring. It does, however, mean that Paul could (and did) use the same words as the other apostles to refer to a similar – but not identical – event involving Christ and the saints to whom Paul wrote. It also means that Paul’s use of the word phaneroo in Col. 3:4 is perfectly consistent with the view that Christ’s being “manifested” will involve him leaving his present heavenly location and coming to be present (and thus manifested) somewhere else.
In accord with this point, we read the following in Phil. 3:20-21 concerning the earlier expectation of the body of Christ:
”For our realm is inherent in the heavens, out of which we are awaiting a Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ, Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory, in accord with the operation which enables Him even to subject all to Himself.”
Notice the word “awaiting.” The Greek word Paul used is apekdechomai (“FROM-OUT-RECEIVE”), and means “to wait for” (or even “to wait for eagerly”). The same word is also found in Hebrews 9:28 (where we read that Christ “will be seen a second time, by those awaiting Him…”). We therefore have yet another instance of Paul using a word to refer to a future event involving Christ and the saints to whom Paul wrote that was also used elsewhere in connection with Israel’s expectation.
Now, we know that, in Heb. 9:28, the use of the word “awaiting” implies that Christ will eventually be leaving the location in which he is currently present (i.e., heaven), and will come to be present in a different location (i.e., earth), where he will be seen by those awaiting him. And I submit that the same idea of a “change in location” is implied in Phil. 3:20 as well. Christ is presently in heaven, in which our “realm is inherent.” But in saying that we’re “awaiting” him, the implication is that we’re expecting Christ to one day leave his present heavenly location and meet us somewhere else. And this “somewhere else” is the location that I believe Paul had in mind when, in Col. 3:4, he referred to Christ’s being “manifested” (and to us being “manifested together with him in glory”).
But where will this place of manifestation occur? Well, assuming that one doesn’t have a prior commitment to a theory that restricts Paul’s revelation concerning the expectation of the body of Christ to his “later letters,” the answer to this question is not at all difficult. Here, again, is 1 Thess. 4:16-17:
“...for the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall be rising first. Thereupon we, the living who are surviving, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”
In these verses (cf. 2 Thess. 2:1), Paul is describing an event in which Christ will come to be present somewhere in the atmosphere above the earth. And it is while Christ is present in this cloud-filled, atmospheric location that the snatching away and meeting in the air will occur. But will Christ be appearing in glory when this event takes place? Of course he will. And will those snatched away to meet Christ in the air be manifested together with him in glory at this time? Yes, without a doubt. Concerning the glory of our future vivified state, we read the following in 1 Cor. 15:40-43 and Rom. 8:18-21, 28-30:
“There are bodies celestial as well as bodies terrestrial. But a different glory, indeed, is that of the celestial, yet a different that of the terrestrial, another glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star is excelling star in glory. Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is roused in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is roused in glory.”
“For I am reckoning that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us. For the premonition of the creation is awaiting the unveiling of the sons of God. For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
“Now we are aware that God is working all together for the good of those who are loving God, who are called according to the purpose that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren. Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, and whom He calls, these He justifies also; now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also.”
Thus, based entirely on what Paul wrote in his “early letters,” we can conclude the following: There is a future event coming in which (1) Christ is going to be present and manifested in glory in a certain atmospheric location above the earth, (2) the saints in the body of Christ are going to be glorified at this time and changed into immortal, celestial beings, and (3) we will meet Christ in the atmospheric location in which he’ll be present, and thus be manifested together with him in glory at this time. What Paul wrote in Col. 3:4 and 1 Thess. 4:16-17 can, therefore, easily be understood as a reference to the same future event.
[1] The reader will find a more in-depth defense of the points mentioned in this article in the following articles:
A Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Part one of five)
Why the snatching away will precede “the Lord’s day” (Part one of two)
Why we don’t need to be “overcomers” in order to be resurrected before the rest of humanity (Part one of two)
[2] See issue 490 of Bible Student’s Notebook, pg. 4324 (http://www.biblestudentsnotebook.com/bsn490.pdf).
[3] By “heaven,” I’m assuming that Clyde is referring to the location from which we’re told Christ shall descend. For the cloud-filled region of earth’s atmosphere to which Christ shall descend (and to which we’re going to be snatched away) is also referred to as “heaven” in Scripture (see, for example, Matt. 6:26; 8:20; Acts 10:12; etc.).
[4] Some have argued that the word translated “meet” in 1 Thess. 4:17 (apantēsis) indicates that those who are to be snatched away will be returning to earth with Christ after meeting him in the air. However, as I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere (see, for example, the following article: A Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Part Five)), the word apantēsis communicates no such idea. The word simply means “meet,” and does not reveal what happens after the meeting in view takes place. That which takes place after a particular meeting referred to in Scripture occurs can only be determined by what’s revealed in the immediate or broader context in which the word “meet” is used.
[5] Concerning the word ek we read the following on Biblehub.com (http://biblehub.com/greek/1537.htm): “Ek has a two-layered meaning (“out from and to”) which makes it out-come oriented (out of the depths of the source and extending to its impact on the object).” And according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, one of the meanings given for the preposition ek is, “of the material out of which a thing is made.” The following verses are referenced as Scriptural examples of this usage: Matthew 27:29; John 2:15; 19:2; 9:6; Romans 9:21; 1 Corinthians 11:12; 15:47; Revelation 18:12; 21:21.
In the two examples from 1 Corinthians
referenced above we read that “the woman is out of [ek] the man” and that
“the first man was out of [ek] the earth…the second Man is the Lord out
of [ek] heaven.” In these verses, that which is in view is the source of the material or
elements from which something is formed, and of which it consists. Adam
did not originally exist in the earth, and neither was he himself removed from
it. Similarly, Eve did not originally exist in Adam, and neither was she
herself removed from him. Rather, just as Eve was formed from material which
was taken from Adam, so Adam was formed from material which was taken from the
earth (i.e., soil). In the same way, Christ’s glorified, resurrected body
consists of elements that are heavenly in their source and nature, and which,
consequently, is suited for life “in the heavens” and “among the celestials.”
It is for this reason that Paul referred to Christ as “the Lord out of heaven” even though Christ was (and
remains to this day) in heaven.
[6] Clyde’s assumption is in accord with his view that only the letters of Paul written during or after the time of his house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:30) reveal the current, “earlier expectation” of the body of Christ. However, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, it’s quite possible that three of Paul’s “prison epistles” (e.g., Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon) were written during the time of his earlier imprisonment in Caesarea (Acts 24:22-27); for a compelling defense of this view, see the following article by Bo Reicke: Caesarea, Rome and the Captivity Epistles. In any case, there is simply no good reason to restrict Paul’s revelation concerning the expectation of the body of Christ to the letters he wrote during (or after) the time of his house arrest in Rome. Just as the body of Christ has always been one body (in which ethnic and covenantal distinctions have always been irrelevant), so the one body of Christ has always had one expectation.
