5:8 The doctrine of the intermediate state between our death and Christ’s return teaches that when Christians die they, that is, their spirits, go immediately into Christ’s presence and are “at home with the Lord,” while their bodies remain here and are buried in the grave (Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23). When Christ returns, the bodies of believers will be raised from the dead and reunited with their spirits (1 Cor. 15:22, 23; 1 Thess. 4:14, 16). See “Death and the Intermediate State” at Phil. 1:23.