To Be Absent from the Body

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 1553. ἐκδημέω ekdēméō

1553. ἐκδημέω ekdēméō; contracted ekdēmṓ, fut. ekdēmḗsō, from ékdēmos (n.f.), away from home, which is from ek (1537), from or out of, and dḗmos (1218), people. To go abroad, to part as the parting from the body, the earthly abode of the spirit (2 Cor. 5:6, 8, 9) or to be away or absent from the body and present with the Lord. Also from ékdēmos (n.f.): sunékdēmos (4898), absent or traveling.

2 Corinthians 5:8–9 NKJV

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

Revelation 18:13 NKJV

and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.

Matthew 5:29–30 NKJV

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

1 Corinthians 15:35–49 NKJV

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 2:14 NKJV

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

2 Corinthians 4:10 NKJV

always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

Matthew 10:28 NKJV

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 NKJV

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 6:16 NKJV

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”

Genesis 2:24 NKJV

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Definition first of “to be” absent from the body, as above, ekdemeo. Now we will look at “from the body, which = 4983. σῶμα sṓma; gen . sṓmatos, neut . noun. Body, an organized whole made up of parts and members.

(I) Generally of any material body, as plants (1 Cor. 15:37, 38).

(II) Specifically of creatures, living or dead.

(A) Of a human body different from sárx (4561), flesh, which word denotes the material body. (1) A living body (Matt. 5:29, 30; 6:25; 26:12; Mark 5:29; 14:8; Luke 12:22, 23; John 2:21; Rom. 1:24; 4:19; 1 Cor. 6:13; 15:44; 2 Cor. 4:10; 10:10; Col. 2:23; Heb. 10:5; 1 Pet. 2:24). In Col. 1:22 the expression “in the body of his flesh [sárx]” means in his body incarnate, flesh that forms an organized whole. This is the antithesis of hē psuchḗ (5590), the soul (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4), and tó pneúma (4151), the spirit (Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 5:3; 7:34); or where sṓma, psuchḗ and pneúma make a periphrasis for the whole man (1 Thess. 5:23). See Sept.: Gen. 47:18; Lev. 6:10; 14:10; Dan. 4:30; 10:6. As the seat of sinful affections and appetites (cf . sárx [4561], II, C). See Rom. 6:6; 7:23, 24; 8:13; Col. 2:11. (2) A dead body, corpse, generally (Matt. 14:12; 27:52, 58, 59; Luke 23:52, 55; 24:3, 23; John 19:31; Acts 9:40; Jude 1:9). Specifically of the communion bread, as representing the body of Christ crucified for the salvation of man (Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:24, 27, 29).

(B) Spoken of living beasts (James 3:3); a dead body of a beast, meaning a carcass (Luke 17:37 [cf . Matt. 24:28 where the word ptṓma {4430}, corpse, is used]); of victims slain as sacrifices (Heb. 13:11 [cf . Ex. 29:14; Num. 19:3, 5]).

(III) Metonymically referring to the body as the external man, to which is ascribed that which strictly belongs to the person, man, individual; with a gen . of person forming a periphrasis for the person himself (Matt. 6:22, “thy whole body” means your whole person [see also 6:23]; Luke 11:34, 36; Rom. 12:1, “your bodies,” i.e., yourselves [cf . 6:13]; Eph. 5:28; Phil. 1:20). Used generally and in an absolute sense (1 Cor. 6:16 [in antithesis with tó pneúma, the spirit, in 6:17]) in allusion to Gen. 2:24 where the Sept. has eis sárka mían (eis [1519], unto; sárka [4561], flesh; mían [3391], one), one flesh (cf. sárx III). Used in an absolute sense (Sept.: Gen. 47:12, meaning according to the number of persons). In later usage in NT for a slave, tá sṓmata, slaves (Rev. 18:13).

129. αἷμα haíma; gen . haímatos, neut . noun. The blood of the human or animal body (Mark 5:25, 29; Luke 8:43, 44; 13:1).

(I) Blood as the substantial basis of the individual life (John 1:13; Acts 17:26). Although the OT contains nothing parallel to these two passages, the expression corresponds to the idea contained in Lev. 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”

(II) With sárx (4561), flesh and blood conjoined to indicate the natural human body, mortal man (Heb. 2:14). Flesh and blood designates mankind insofar as it owes its distinctive character to the material aspect of its being (Eph. 6:12). The expression means the physical origin of man in Matt. 16:17; 1 Cor. 15:50; Gal. 1:16. The physical and the spiritual natures of man are contrasted in Eph. 6:12 (cf . Heb. 2:14).

Aside: Whether in Covenant Union with a woman or in fornication, you become one flesh, that is, conjoined soul and spirit with the partner! OT = Gen 2.24.

Extension:

1 Zodhiates, S. (2000) The complete word study dictionary: New Testament.