No argument with John 3:13, but do you mean that Paul was in error when he declared “absent from the body, present with the Lord?”
Think about it. [Ecclesiastes 3:19] For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
[Ecclesiastes 9:5] For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
[Psalm 146:3-4] Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
[Matthew 10:28] And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
All these verse tell us that when we die we go back to the earth.....and know nothing. The Apostle knew that the very first instant after he died he would be resurrected as he knew there would be no sensation of passage of time. Paul believed....and it is scriptural....that the very first thing after death.....would be life in the resurrection. It doesn't matter that some folks will have been dead two thousand years.....because to them it will be an instant after they close their eyes in death.