Hi Rod....I'm doing a lot of research on this subject as well, as I'm going to write a lengthy thread on the resurrection. I'm pretty sure 2 Corinthians 5 is talking about the intermediate state, and that Paul expected to spend this state in Christ's presence in heaven. There are parallels to this idea in Josephus, e.g. "Their souls remain without blemish, and obedient, and receive the most holy place in heaven. From there, when the ages come round again, they come back again to live instead in holy bodies" (Jewish War, 3.374). A heavenly abode for the intermediate state is also assumed in various pseudepigrapha for OT patriarchs (cf. the Vita of Adam and Eve, Testament of Abraham, Testament of Isaac, Testament of Jacob, Assumption of Moses, etc.). The resurrection, on the other hand, specifically concerned embodiment, and Paul expected the dead to receive new bodies at the end of the age. These bodies are derived from the old bodies, like a plant from seed -- but neither are they merely revived corpses, as if a seed has been dug up and cleaned. Like the plant growing from a seed, the new body will involve a transformation from one order of existence to another -- from corruptibility into incorruption.
