3. What state does Paul not desire? 2 Corinthians 5:3.
NOTE: ‘When he thinks of the time when his present “tent” must be taken down, or dissolved, he shrinks from the thought of being without tent, or covering, for here he changes the figure to that of “clothing.” What was before a “tent” is now “being clothed.” And he distinctly states that he does not desire to be “unclothed,” or “naked.” He would much rather be “overdraped” [“clothed upon”] with the coming immortality than to be denuded of the mortal body. “Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Corinthians 5:4). The “unclothed” state is manifestly that of death (1 Corinthians 15:37). And the “clothed upon” condition is obviously the resurrection or translation life, in which we shall have “put on” immortality.’ L. E. Froom: The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, volume 1, 331.
4. What different states does Paul speak about in these verses? 1 Corinthians 5:2-4.
NOTE: ‘You will see that in the verses quoted three states are presented, namely, “clothed,” “unclothed,” and “clothed upon.” These are three different conditions, and one of them is so plainly defined that from that we can know the meaning of the other two. . . . In verse four we have learned that “clothed upon,” is identical with “mortality swallowed up of life.” This is called being “clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” Therefore our “building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” is the state of immortality, incorruptibility. . . . What then is the state of being “unclothed,” “found naked,” a condition which the Apostle Paul did not desire? Evidently it is death. He wished to be released from the burden of this present earthly tabernacle, this mortal body, but only that he might “be clothed upon” with the heavenly house, “that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” He did not wish for any waiting in the grave, and no healthy mind can long for that place.’ E. J. Waggoner: Present Truth, March 21, 1901.