1 Corinthians 15:35

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

The historical fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a matter of evidence, and the doctrinal consequences of this stupendous miracle belong to everyone, but this study is particularly concerned with Dispensational Truth. Apart from the actual record of The Resurrection given in the Four Gospels, no one passage is of such outstanding importance as 1 Corinthians 15. Let us, therefore, give this Chapter our consideration.

The structure of 1 Corinthians 15 as a whole

A 1 Cor. 15:1-11. The evidence and evangelistic importance of the resurrection of Christ.

A 1 Cor. 15:12-34. The fact of the resurrection of Christ and of man.

A 1 Cor. 15:35-58. The manner of the resurrection.

Resurrection dominates the Chapter, some phase of it being present throughout the whole discourse. The opening section is concerned with the gospel and its connection with the Resurrection of Christ. Let us, therefore, consider 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 in detail.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The evidence and the evangel

A 1 Cor. 15:1-2. The Gospel -- 'I preached' ‘Ye received.'

B 1 Cor. 15:3. The gospel no human invention?
                     'I delivered unto you that which I received.'

C 1 Cor. 15:3-4. Evidence of Scripture
              a Christ died.
                   b He was buried.
                        c He rose again.

C 1 Cor. 15:5-8. Evidence of eye-witnesses.
              a Seen of Cephas.
                   b Then of the twelve.
                        c Seen of 500 brethren.
              a Seen of James.
                   b Then of all the apostles.
                        c Seen of me also.

B 1 Cor. 15:9-10. Paul's apostleship, no self-appointment
                        'Yet not I but the grace of God.'

A 1 Cor. 15:11. 'I or they' 'So we preach' 'So ye believed'.

This clears the ground for the great controversy. All the apostles preached Christ was risen. The Corinthians believed it was a vital part of the Gospel of their Salvation, and many eyewitnesses were still living who attested to the fact; this converging evidence the Apostle brings to bear upon the doubts of the Corinthians regarding the fact and then the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

We are now ready for the fuller structure of 1 Corinthians 15:12-34. First of all, it is important to realize that after the introductory words of 1 Cor. 15:1-11 which we have briefly considered, the remainder of the Chapter is one whole. Let us see this first:

1 Corinthians 15:12-58

A 1 Cor. 15:12. The fact of resurrection. 'How?'.

B 1 Cor. 15:13-33. Adam and Christ. Death destroyed. 'When?'.

C 1 Cor. 15:34. Exhortation. ‘Awake.'

A 1 Cor. 15:35. The manner of resurrection. 'How?'. 'With what?'.

B 1 Cor. 15:36-57. The first and last Adam. Death swallowed up. 'When?'.

C 1 Cor. 15:58. Exhortation. 'Be stedfast.'

It will be recognized that the pair of members denominated B and B contains the great theme of the passage, and the doctrine is crystallized in the name 'Adam.' We shall see this more clearly as we proceed, but it is important to realize the unity of the theme at the beginning of the study.

We can now go back to the first half of this section and give it closer attention.

1 Corinthians 15:13-33

A 1 Cor. 15:13-18. The fact of the Resurrection and its relation to doctrine.

B 1 Cor. 15:19. The fact of Resurrection and the present life.

C 1 Cor. 15:20-28. The fact of Resurrection and the purpose of the ages from the Second Coming to the end of the Mediatorial Kingdom.

B 1 Cor. 15:29-32. The fact of Resurrection and the present life.

A 1 Cor. 15:32-33. The fact of Resurrection and its relation to practice.

It will be seen that just as in the preceding section, the apostle's first emphasis is upon the historical fact and not upon the doctrine that is based upon it. If Christ indeed rose from the dead, then whatever varieties of opinion may be held, that fact remains and necessitates the fulfillment of the great plan of redemption. By comparing the corresponding members of the structure set out above, it will be seen that the apostle brings the fact of resurrection to bear upon doctrine and practice, the trials and experiences of this present life, and the great reconciliation towards which the purpose of the ages slowly but surely moves. Let us examine each section. First, we have the bearing of the Resurrection upon doctrine.

1 Corinthians 15:13-18

a 1 Cor. 15:13. If no Resurrection.

b 1 Cor. 15:13. Christ not raised.

c 1 Cor. 15:14. If Christ is not raised.

d 1 Cor. 15:14-15. Preaching and faith are in vain. False witness.

a 1 Cor. 15:16. If no Resurrection.

b 1 Cor. 15:16. Christ not raised.

c 1 Cor. 15:17. If Christ is not raised.

d 1 Cor. 15:17-18. Faith is vain, yet in sins. Sleepers in Christ perished.

The section 1 Cor. 15:13-34 is introduced by the question of 1 Cor. 15:12:

‘Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?'

We have here an argumentum ex absurdo. The apostle had established upon indubitable evidence and the testimony of Scripture that 'Christ rose again the third day.' How, therefore, could anyone say, 'There is no resurrection of the dead,' for if the Resurrection is proved to have taken place once, it may take place again.

'If the species be conceded, how is it that some among you deny the genus?' (Alford in loco).

1 Cor. 15:13 takes up the other position and shows its disastrous results:

‘But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.'

If it is absurd and unphilosophical to give credence to the idea that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, it renders also faith in the Resurrection of Christ absurd and vain too. Pursuing this aspect, the apostle, with relentless logic, shows that those who deny the doctrine of the Resurrection deny the whole scheme of salvation. The apostles' preaching would be vain. The word literally means 'empty.' Their proclamation would be like sounding brass or tinkling cymbals. So also their faith was vain who had put their trust in the Christ they had preached. Then for a moment, the apostle pauses to consider the position in which this denial placed the apostles themselves -- men who had hazarded their lives for the truth they believed -- men who had all to lose and nothing to gain in this life by their testimony -- these must be branded as false witnesses of God, if Christ rose not from the dead, for they declared that God had raised Him from the dead as the very basis of their evangel.

Notice further the way in which the impersonal doctrine of the resurrection is used interchangeably with the historical fact of the Resurrection of Christ. He does not say, 'Whom He raised not up, if so be that Christ rose not,' but 'Whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not,' and that this is the thought, 1 Cor. 15:16-17 show:

‘For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.'

Surely the apostle perceives, and would have us see, that Christ took no empty title when He called Himself 'The Son of man.' His Resurrection is the pledge, not merely of the resurrection of some, but of 'the dead.' We shall see that this thought is embodied here when we come to the central passages which speak of Adam. The apostle's final exposure is given in 1 Cor. 15:18:

‘Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished'.

Words could not more strongly plead for the absolute necessity of the resurrection. The apostle had no place in his teaching for 'a never dying soul'; immortality was a part of his Gospel, but it did not pertain to the human soul by nature; it was found only in Christ. This gift of immortality, however, has not yet been given to any believer. Further on in this Chapter, he shows that this mortal puts on immortality at the time of Resurrection. With one sweep, the apostle disposes of the idea of a conscious intermediate state, or that at death, the believer passes straight away to heaven or to paradise. If there is no resurrection, and if Christ is not raised, there is not even a state of hopeless despair or unclothed waiting, but all will have perished. John 3:16, so often quoted and so little studied, places perishing as an alternative to everlasting life. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, when the apostle would comfort the mourners, he does not adopt the language of our hymn books or of poets and say to the sorrowing ones that their departed friends were then with the Lord, and therefore they should rejoice; what he does say is, that when the Lord comes, all will be raised and reunited, 'Wherefore comfort one another with these words.' (1 Thess. 4:18). If we do not feel that our all hinges upon the fact of Christ's resurrection and our own, then we have not the same faith as the apostle who penned 1 Corinthians 15:18.

One verse only now intervenes between this long argument and the triumphant assertion of positive truth. That verse just pauses to reflect upon the hopeless state of the Christian in this life:

'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable' (1 Cor. 15:19).

Commenting upon such a statement is unnecessary. All who have sought to live godly in Christ Jesus have realized that it involves, to some degree, loss in this life and forfeiture of some of its advantages.

The apostle now opens up the great spiritual fulfillment of Israel's feasts. The great type that supplies the theme of this Chapter is that of Israel's Feast of the Firstfruits. Let us see its setting:

1 Corinthians 15:20-23

a 1 Cor. 15:20. Now is Christ risen.                                             1st Coming

b 1 Cor. 15:20. Type Firstfruits.

c 1 Cor. 15:21. By man came death.

d 1 Cor. 15:21. By man came Resurrection.       The Seed

c 1 Cor. 15:22. In Adam, all die.

d 1 Cor. 15:22. In Christ all made alive.

b 1 Cor. 15:23. Christ the 'Firstfruits.'                                 2nd Coming

a 1 Cor. 15:23. They that are Christ's.

The Risen Christ is called 'The Firstfruits'. This fact begins and ends the section. Every statement found within these two bounds must be related to the Scriptural concept of a Firstfruits. Those who fell asleep are said to have fallen asleep 'In Christ.' Is that a Scriptural way of speaking of the unsaved? Will the unsaved be those who are Christ's at His coming? Would a sheaf of early ripened Wheat be a 'firstfruit' of a mixed harvest of both wheat and tares? 'If the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy.' That is true when spoken of an elect people as were Israel, but is it not a contradiction to speak of all men universally as though they were or could be an 'election'? The harvest of which Christ was the Firstfruits was to incorruption, to glory, to immortality.

From Gospel and faith, the apostle now goes further back to the connection that Christ's Resurrection has with the whole seed as viewed in Adam, showing that Christ must be raised from the dead for the accomplishment of the gracious purposes of God. The firstfruits indicate this. There are eight occurrences of the word aparche, 'firstfruits', in the New Testament. Eight is the dominical number, the octave, the new start, the resurrection. The eight references are as follows:

'Because creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption ... ourselves also (groan) which have the firstfruits of the spirit' (Rom. 8:21-23 author's translation).

'What shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy' (Rom. 11:15-16).

'Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ' (Rom. 16:5).

'But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.' 'Christ the firstfruits' (1 Cor. 15:20-23).

'Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia' (1 Cor. 16:15).

'That we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures' (Jas. 1:18).

'The firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb' (Rev. 14:4).

It will be seen that the reference in Romans 8 links the type to the deliverance of creation from the bondage into which Adam's sin subjected it. James, too, speaks of firstfruits, 'His creatures'. Romans 11 uses the word for the remnant of Israel. Now what common bond is there that will bring these passages together? There is one word, the keyword of the period under review, reconciliation. This is implied in Romans 8 and expressed in Romans 11:15. Immediately following the word reconciliation (A.V. atonement) in Romans 5, we read, 'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.' This is implied in 1 Corinthians 15 by the connection which we have noticed between firstfruits and Adam in the other passages.

There is no actual reference to this type of the firstfruits in the Epistles of The Mystery. The Resurrection of Christ in the sphere of The Mystery goes back further still and places the title ‘Firstborn from the dead’ in line with 'Firstborn of all creation.' Leviticus 23:10-11 must be considered in order to see the type in its original setting:

'Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath, the priest shall wave it.'

There is an undoubted prophecy in this type of the Resurrection of Christ. The first day after the Passover Sabbath was the actual day upon which Christ rose from the dead. The apostle does not detail the outworking of this great type beyond that which immediately applies to the believers of the period, whose hope was the parousia of the Lord. The Resurrection and The Hope of The One Body, as revealed in the Prison Epistles, written after Acts 28, find no mention here. Neither is there anything said of 'the rest of the dead' that 'lived not again till the thousand years were finished.' Paul is not teaching here the reconciliation or expounding the great purpose of the ages; he is rather correcting the error of the Corinthians on the one subject of The Resurrection and bringing this great type to bear upon them in order to reveal the tremendous issues that rest upon that fundamental doctrine.

The 'Coming' of Christ here is the parousia. This word means His personal presence and is found in the Papyri in reference to the coming of a king (Teblunis Papyri No. 11,657).

'We now may say that the best interpretation of the primitive Christian Hope of the parousia is the old advent text, Behold thy king cometh unto thee' (Deissman, Light from Ancient East, page 372).

Its first occurrence is Matthew 24:3. It comes again in Matthew 24:27, Matt. 24:37, Matt. 24:39; also in 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thess. 3:13; 1 Thess. 4:15; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 Thess. 2:8; James 5:7-8; 2 Peter 1:16; 2 Pet. 3:4; 1 John 2:28. It is associated with the time when the earth will be like it was in the days of Noah; with great signs in the heavens; with the man of sin and the temple; with the period immediately after the Great Tribulation. Paul never uses the word parousia in his later epistles for The Hope of The Church of the One Body. It is limited to the period covered by the Gospels and the Acts and is associated with the people of Israel and with the day of The Lord.

The death brought in by Adam is removed by Christ in the case of some believers at His Coming, in the case of others, after the Millennium. He is the Firstfruits. The Corinthians are now one step further to the realization of the fundamental importance of The Resurrection. The very goal of the ages is impossible without it. This is shown in the verses that follow:

1 Corinthians 15:24-28

A 1 Cor. 15:24. The end.

B a 1 Cor. 15:24. when He delivers up the kingdom.

b 1 Cor. 15:24. when He abolishes all rule.

c 1 Cor. 15:25. For He must reign.

d 1 Cor. 15:25. Till all enemies under foot.

d 1 Cor. 15:26. The last enemy; death abolished.

c 1 Cor. 15:27. For He hath put all things under His feet.

b 1 Cor. 15:27. when The one exception.

  a 1 Cor. 15:28. when The Son Himself subjected.

A 1 Cor. 15:28. That God may be all in all.

There is no word for 'cometh' in the original of 1 Cor. 15:24. It simply reads 'Then the end.' Some understand the words to mean 'Then the end rank,' but we can find no justification for such a rendering. Cremer, in his note on to telos, says that this word does not primarily denote the end, termination, with reference to time, but the goal reached, the completion or conclusion at which anything arrives, either as issues or ending or as a result, acme, consummation, e.g., polemon telos, 'victory' (literally, 'the end of war,' end, not measuring time but object); telos andros, 'the full age of man' (not the end of man -- death), also of the 'ripening of seed.' In Luke 1:33 and Mark 3:26, the idea of termination seems uppermost. The idea of issue, end, and conclusion is seen in Matthew 26:58, 'To see the end'; James 5:11, ‘Ye have seen the end of the Lord'; 1 Peter 4:17, 'What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?'

The idea of a goal reached is seen in Romans 6:21, 'The end of those things is death'; Philippians 3:19, 'Whose end is destruction.' So also 2 Corinthians 11:15; and Hebrews 6:8. When the apostle wrote the words of 1 Corinthians 15:24, 'Then the end,' what goal had he in view? What is the object of resurrection? Does it not take man back into the place intended for him in the Divine purpose, for which sin and death had for a while rendered him unfit? The goal, this end in view, is contained in the words of 1 Corinthians 15:28, 'That God may be all in all.' Although 'the end' is mentioned immediately after The Resurrection of those who are Christ's at His parousia, it is not attained without a reign of righteousness and a rule of iron. The uninterrupted statement at the end is as follows:

'Then the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ... with the object that God may be all in all' (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

The reader is aware, however, that the end is not attained in this unbroken sequence. The first 'When' is conditional upon the second, 'When He shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power.' This will not be affected by one grand miraculous stroke but by the reign of Christ as King, 'For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.' He reigns 'till'; His reign has one supreme 'end,' and that end cannot be reached while one unsubdued enemy exists. All this, be it noted, is long after the Millennium.

In this category comes death, the last enemy of mortal man. 'Even death, the last enemy, shall be abolished.' This is included in the Divine purpose, 'For He hath put all things under His feet.' The resurrection, therefore, is absolutely essential to the fulfillment of the great purpose of God.

But it may be asked, Can such an expression as ‘destroyed' or ‘abolished' speak of resurrection? Take the statement of 2 Timothy 1:10:

'But now is made manifest by the manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who abolished (katargeo) death, and illuminated life and incorruptibility through the gospel.'

This refers to the Lord Himself in the first instance. He abolished death when He arose from the dead. Not only did He abolish death, but He commenced that destruction of all rule and power which He will carry through when He sits upon the throne of His glory:

'That through death He might destroy (katargeo) him that had the power of death, that is, the devil' (Heb. 2:14).

Other passages illustrating the meaning of katargeo ('put down,' 'destroyed' 1 Cor. 15:24-26) are Romans 6:6; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 13:11; 2 Corinthians 3:7; Ephesians 2:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:8. When we read 'all rule and all authority and power,' we may be inclined to make too wide a sweep, but the corrective of verse 26 enables us to see that we are dealing with enemies. There are two distinct actions and two distinct classes in view in these verses. The enemies are 'abolished,' but others are 'subdued.'

This word 'subdued' (hupotasso) is a cognate of tagma, 'order,' 'rank,' of 1 Cor. 15:23, and looks to the perfect order and alignment that will characterize the Kingdom of Christ. It is used of Christ Himself in the words, 'Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him ... that God may be all in all' and He will not be put down as an enemy. The first occurrence of the word is beautiful in its suggestiveness. That One, of Whom it was prophesied that 'all things should be subjected beneath His feet,' did not presume to act out of harmony with the Father's will for Him during His boyhood, for:

'He ... came to Nazareth (with His parents), and was subject unto them' (Luke 2:51).

In Romans 8:7, the two words 'enmity' and 'subjection' are seen to be irreconcilable:

'The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.'

The word 'subject' involves the idea of a 'willing surrender.' All must come down on that day. Some by being ‘abolished' or 'destroyed,' others by a willing surrender like unto that of the Son of God Himself. In Romans 8:20, it is revealed that the creation has become involuntarily subjected to vanity, and this cries aloud for that willing submission of all things to the true goal of all creation, Christ. The word is used in Philippians 3:21, where the transforming of the body of humiliation is said to be according to the self-same energy whereby He is able to subject all things unto Himself. Surely this cannot include the power that destroys -- it is foreign to the thought. Destruction or subjection is the idea of 1 Corinthians 15.

While this chapter is mainly concerned with the human phase of the great purpose of God, as expressed in the words 'in Adam,' nevertheless, the reference to 'all rule and all authority and power' goes beyond the sphere of Adam. Before the Son delivers up The Kingdom, all rule, authority, and power will be abolished (arche, exousia, dunamis). These are the principalities and powers of Colossians 1:16 and Ephesians 1:21. They are linked with death in the closing verses of Romans 8:36-39, over which the believer is more than a conqueror. Ephesians 6:11-12 reveals that The Church of The One Body has principalities and powers among its spiritual enemies, and Colossians 1:16-20 shows that some principalities and powers will be reconciled. Once again, we are forced to see that the reign of Christ before 'the end' is reached will be a process of discrimination. Some will be 'destroyed,' others will be 'reconciled,' and when all enemies have been abolished and all the redeemed and unfallen brought into perfect line with the great Archetype of all (subjection carries with it the idea of perfect order and harmony), then 'the end' is reached and God will be all in all.

There is a tendency on the part of some expositors to wander outside the passage and introduce subjects that are quite foreign to the intention of the apostle. This is so with regard to the word 'death.' What 'death’ is intended in 1 Cor. 15:26? The subject is introduced in 1 Cor. 15:21 definitely and exclusively. There can be no doubt as to what is intended:

'By man came death ... as in Adam all die' (1 Cor. 15:21-22).

'Death is swallowed up in victory' (1 Cor. 15:54).

Its sting is removed (1 Cor. 15:55), which sting is sin (1 Cor. 15:56). Death, here, refers to that which came into the world as a consequence of Adam's transgression.

By comparing the two balancing portions of this chapter together, we shall get further and fuller light on the whole subject. The two portions are balanced in the structure:

1 Cor. 15:13-33. Adam and Christ - Death destroyed ‘When?’

1 Cor. 15:36-57. The first and last Adam - Death swallowed up. 'When?'

The differences in everyone's 'order' are amplified (1 Cor. 15:23 with 1 Cor. 15:37-44).

The nature and relation of Adam is explained (1 Cor. 15:21, 1 Cor. 15:22, 1 Cor. 15:28 with 1 Cor. 15:45, 1 Cor. 15:47, 1 Cor. 15:49).

The nature and relation of Christ is explained (1 Cor. 15:20-22, 1 Cor. 15:28 with 1 Cor. 15:45, 1 Cor. 15:47, 1 Cor. 15:49).

The meaning of the destruction of death is given (1 Cor. 15:26 with 1 Cor. 15:54).

The time periods are illuminated (1 Cor. 15:24 with 1 Cor. 15:54).

These amplifications by the apostle of his own words are worth more than libraries of other men's thoughts, and give us inspired explanations, which, to see, is to come under an obligation to accept and hold against all theories. Let us briefly notice these Divine amplifications in the order in which they occur.

(1) Every Man in His Own Order (1 Cor. 15:23);
Amplification (1 Cor. 15:37-44)

In the first passage, only one order of the redeemed is indicated, viz.: 'They that are Christ's at His coming.' The amplifying verses 1 Cor. 15:37-44 keep within these bounds and do not add other orders, but rather shew the variety of ranks that will be found among the redeemed at that time. This explanation arises out of the answer to the question of 1 Cor. 15:35, 'But some will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?' The apostle's answer is short and pointed. 'Thou fool!' The question 'How?' is not always a question of faith or leads to edifying. The Lord has nowhere revealed 'how' the resurrection will take place; He has revealed the fact for our hope and our faith. The apostle, for an answer, calls the questioner's attention to a phenomenon of the physical world:

‘That which thou sowest is not quickened (made alive, as 1 Cor. 15:22), except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare (naked) grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body’ (1 Cor. 15:36-38).

There is much food for thought here. Many Christians wonder how it is possible for the individual dead body to be raised and ask many questions to which no answer is available. One might ask them a question in this form. A certain man 3,000 years ago died and was buried. Five hundred years later, the elements that composed the first man's body became the body of another man. He also died, and each five hundred years, the same elements became the body of another man. At the resurrection, whose body would it be, for all these men had it? The answer would be, 'Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.' First of all, Scripture does not speak of the resurrection of the body but of the resurrection of the dead. The body that God gives at the resurrection will be in accord with the believer's rank. 'There are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies.' These words do not refer to the 'heavenly bodies' of astronomy but to the resurrection bodies of believers. In the resurrection, there will be some raised to sit at the right hand of God far above all; some will walk the streets of the New Jerusalem; some will inherit the earth, and for each sphere of blessing, an appropriate body will be given. ‘How' God preserves the identity and individuality of each soul is not explained; possibly, the explanation would not have been intelligible to us even if it had been given. Then as to the differing 'ranks':

‘There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for star differeth from star in glory. So also is the Resurrection of the Dead.' (1 Cor. 15:41-42),

That is, each is raised with a different body, and the glory of one raised believer will differ from another, 'every man in his own rank'. The contrasts between the body which we have ‘in Adam’ and that which God will give ‘in Christ’ are given:

Corruption          .....     contrasted with incorruption

Dishonor             .....     contrasted with glory

Weakness           .....     contrasted with power

A natural body  .....     contrasted with a spiritual body.

The 'sowing' here in each of the four instances must not be translated as the death and burial of a believer. When seed is sown, it must be alive, or nothing will come of it. If living seed is sown, it dies and lives again. That is the teaching here. The 'sowing' is our birth into the life of the Adamic race, and the 'raising’ is our new birth into the life of Christ.

Following this statement, the apostle says, 'There is a natural body; there is also a spiritual body.' This is a revelation. The conception which is formed of life after death by the religions of men is that of disembodied spirits or souls, but the resurrection necessitates a body. The word 'natural’ is psuchikos and occurs in 1 Corinthians 2:14. James 3:15 translates it as ‘sensual.' The word 'spiritual’ (pneumatikos) is contrasted with the natural in 1 Corinthians 2:13-15; and with ‘carnal' (sarkikos) in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. The English language does not contain a word that allows us to see the contrast clearly. If we could use the expression ‘soul-ical,' we should better see the intention. 'There is a soul-ical body; there is also a spiritual body.' Now the soul-ical body is 'flesh and blood.' Such cannot inherit The Kingdom of God (see 1 Cor. 15:50), and the fact that the verse continues 'neither does corruption inherit incorruption' is confirmatory of the interpretation of 1 Cor. 15:42 given above.

This reference to the soul-ical body that we now possess and the spiritual body that we shall possess on that day introduces the next amplification, viz.:

'And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul (psuche, see psuchikos); the last Adam was made a quickening (life-giving) spirit' (pneuma, see pneumatikos) (1 Cor. 15:45).

(2) The Nature and Relation of Adam to the Race (1 Cor. 15:21, 1 Cor. 15:22);
Amplification (1 Cor. 15:45, 1 Cor. 15:47, and 1 Cor. 15:49)

Here it is clear that the two bodies, the natural flesh and blood body (with its corruption, dishonor, and weakness) and the spiritual body (with its incorruption, glory, and power), are directly associated with Adam and Christ. Adam was made a living soul. Many theologians have sought to show from Genesis 2:7 that by this statement, man is differentiated from all else in creation and is possessed of an ‘immortal' soul, which is often further confounded with the spiritual part of man. When we know that the word translated ‘soul' has already come in Genesis as follows, 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life' (Gen. 1:20), a ‘creature' (Gen. 1:21, Gen. 1:24); and ‘life' (Gen. 1:30), we see that the word ‘soul' does not confer upon man any special dignity. Leviticus 17:11 says, ‘The life (soul) of the flesh is in the blood.' Here we have the three words of 1 Corinthians 15:45-50 together. If this Scriptural fact does not seem sufficient, we shall find further teaching in the nature of Adam by reading 1 Corinthians 15:46-47:

'Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is the Lord from heaven'.

Adam, therefore, when created, was not 'spiritual'; he was a natural man quite apart from sin. Christ is the spiritual head of mankind, not Adam. Adam's nature is closely connected with his relation to the race:

'As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy ... we have borne the image of the earthy' (1 Cor. 15:48-49).

(3) The Nature and Relation of Christ (1 Cor. 15:20-22, 1 Cor. 15:28);
Amplification (1 Cor. 15:45, 1 Cor. 15:47, 1 Cor. 15:49)

This is not fully revealed in the chapter, but only so far as the subject necessitates. It has already been put in those pregnant words, 'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' Here, these words are rounded out a little more. Christ is a life-giving spirit in contrast with Adam, who was of the earth, earthy. Then, as to His relationship, Christ is the last Adam and the second Man. Here are the two great heads of mankind. The earthy passes on the earthy image; the heavenly, the heavenly image. This image refers to the body, the earthly image being the natural body, and the heavenly image the spiritual body.

All this necessitates the statement, 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.' If we collect together all that is said of Adam and Christ in 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5, we shall realize somewhat the fullness of this theme. We should also realize that although the word reconciliation is not mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15, it is latent in the subject.

(4) The Abolition or Destruction of Death
Receives its Interpretation Here (1 Cor. 15:26);
Amplification (1 Cor. 15:54)

If 1 Cor. 15:26 stood alone, it would not be easy to decide whether resurrection was intended or whether the casting of death into the lake of fire was in view. We are left without doubt by 1 Cor. 15:54-57:

‘So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ'.

Death, the last enemy, is abolished by being swallowed up in victory. That victory is given to the believer through the Lord Jesus Christ. It can be nothing else than the resurrection of the redeemed. The lake of fire cannot be intended here. The second death is not the result of Adam's sin. It is foreign to the subject of 1 Corinthians 15.

(5) The Time Periods also Receive Explanation (1 Cor. 15:24);
Amplification (1 Cor. 15:54)

The end will be attained 'when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father,' and this is not done until all enemies are abolished and all the redeemed are placed in their proper rank under Christ. The Millennial Kingdom will be the final trial of delegated authority. The abolishing of death is timed for us in 1 Corinthians 15:54 by the words, 'When ... then'. Isaiah 25:8 contains the verse quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:54 :

'Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously' (Isa. 24:23).

'And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it' (Isa. 25:6-8). (See also Isa. 26:1 and Isa. 27:1).

What is true in the Millennium, 'in this mountain' and for 'His people,' will be universal when 'the end' comes.

A further note of time given in 1 Corinthians 15:52 is, 'At the last trump.' In Revelation 11:15-17, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, 'the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.' Immediately follow references to the 'great power' and a 'reign,' the 'time of the dead,' and the 'destruction of them that destroy the earth.' These Scriptures, therefore, place the period in view as being before the second death.

Perhaps a word will be expected upon that difficult verse, 1 Corinthians 15:29:

'Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?'

We do not for one moment believe that the passage teaches baptism for the dead by proxy, although this strange rite is practiced by 'The Church of the Latter Day Saints', commonly known as 'Mormons.' This practice is swept aside by the one majestic statement, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive'.

The meaning of 1 Cor. 15:29 appears to be this. It enlarges on the words of 1 Cor. 15:19, 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' If so, what is the good of being baptized? It is merely a baptism into death if the dead rise not. Baptism, however, is not only 'into His death' but:

'We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection' (Rom. 6:4-5).

The apostle follows the question, 'Why are they then baptized for the dead?' by another, which illuminates his meaning, 'And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? ... I die daily' (1 Cor. 15:30-31).

The grand conclusion with its spiritual exhortation must not be omitted in this summary:

'Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord' (1 Cor. 15:58).

The connection between the resurrection and reconciliation is shown to be vital. It takes us out of the sphere of Adam to place us into the sphere of Christ. While we are all alike and included in each category, different ranks are to be found in the Resurrection. Further, some will be abolished as enemies before the kingdom is delivered up to the Father.

Two Greek words are employed in connection with the resurrection that must be kept distinct; otherwise, a gross error will result. The words are anastasis and its cognate words exanastasis and anistemi, and egeiro and its cognate egersis. Anastasis is derived from the verb anistemi, a compound of words meaning 'up' and 'stand.' While anistemi is used for resurrection, as in Matthew 20:19 (in the Received Text), 'the third day He shall rise again,' its primary meaning is seen in such passages as Acts 1:15, 'Peter stood up in the midst.' Anastasis occurs forty-two times and is never used of any other event or movement than the literal resurrection of the dead, except in Luke 2:34. Of these occurrences, there are sixteen in the Gospels, eleven in Acts, and eleven in Paul's epistles. This latter set we will give in the concordant form:

Rom. 1:4               By the resurrection from the dead

Rom. 6:5               In the likeness of His resurrection

1 Cor. 15:12         There is no resurrection of the dead

1 Cor. 15:13         If there be no resurrection of the dead

1 Cor. 15:21,        So also the resurrection of the dead
1 Cor. 15:42

Phil. 3:10              The power of His resurrection

2 Tim. 2:18          The resurrection is past already

Heb. 6:2               Of the resurrection of the dead

Heb. 11:35          Their dead raised to life again

Heb. 11:35          Might obtain a better resurrection.

It is important to note that anastasis does not occur in Ephesians. Yet someone may interpose, Does not Ephesians 2:6 say 'He hath raised us up together'? The answer is that if anastasis had been used in this passage, every member of the One Body would be literally raised from the dead and be no longer here in the flesh and on the earth. The word employed is sunegeiro, and another important feature of this subject is that we never read the word sunanastasis anywhere. Egeiro occurs over one hundred and thirty times. While we cannot entirely dispense with the word 'raise' when translating egeiro, we should ever keep in mind two distinct figures of speech. Anistemi means 'to stand up,' egeiro means 'to wake up,' and so the two words 'raise' and 'rouse' present a fairly true picture. Egeiro is used for awakening in Matthew 8:25, Romans 13:11, and Ephesians 5:14.

Matt. 8:24-25 ‘He was asleep, and His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him.'

Rom. 13:11 ‘Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.'

By this, we must not assume that egeiro is not used for literal resurrection -- it is, over and over again, but the fact remains that whereas egeiro is used together with sun when speaking of the identification of the believer with the Lord, anistemi is never so used. Resurrection is conceived in two stages. Death is likened to sleep, and normally a person first awakes and then arises, so the believer has already been awakened and is preparing for the literal arising of that day. The fact that the word gregoreo ‘watch' (Mark 14:37; 1 Thess. 5:6) is a derivative of egeiro, but emphasizes the need to distinguish between 'rousing’ and 'raising'. Anastasis refers to the dead in resurrection, egeiro to the waking and stirring of the soul beforehand. The renewing of the mind has commenced (Eph. 4:23; 2 Cor. 4:16).

The 'out-resurrection' exanastasis (Phil. 3:11) has been discussed in the article entitled The Prize, which should be considered here. There remains one other passage to be examined, a passage with which great care is needed. It is the passage in 2 Timothy 2:15-23, where Paul speaks of some who say that the resurrection is past already and overthrows the faith of some. This grievous error is being taught throughout Christendom today, even by some who previously taught the truth.

In this Epistle, the apostle is concerned rather with the outcome of teaching than giving doctrinal teaching himself. In his earlier Epistles, Paul had laid a good foundation of truth, but in this Epistle, he is concerned about godliness and the practical outworking of doctrine. In the context of 2 Timothy 2:15, we have a number of figures: a canker (2 Tim 2:17); a foundation (2 Tim 2:19); a seal (2 Tim 2:19); a great house (2 Tim 2:20); and vessels (2 Tim 2:20). The structure of the section before us, is as follows:

B 2 Tim 2:16. Exhortation. Shun. Increase ungodliness.

C d 2 Tim 2:17-18. Teachers and doctrine. A canker.        error

e 2 Tim 2:19-. God's Foundation, Sure.

e 2 Tim 2:19. God's Foundation Seal.                          and

   d 2 Tim 2:20-21. Teachers and doctrine.
               Great house and vessels.                                      truth

B 2 Tim 2:22-23.Exhortation Flee. Avoid. Gender strifes.

The teaching that Timothy was instructed to 'shun' is likened to a 'canker' and is revealed to be a distortion of the doctrine of the resurrection. Any teaching that could be thus described, and which touched so vital a doctrine, must be the concern of all who love The Word, who have any responsibility with regard to the preaching and teaching of that Word, and who desire above all things to be 'approved unto God.' The word 'canker’ is the Greek gaggraina (pronounced gangraina). This word is found in our language as gangrene, which is defined as: 'A necrosis of part of the body, extending over some considerable area in a visible mass.'

Hippocrates, who was born in 460 B.C., speaks of gangrene with definition and evident observation, and Luke, the physician, would not be ignorant of the character of this dreadful affliction. The apostle puts his finger upon the most awful characteristic of gangrene, saying, 'It eats.' This is the word that gives us ‘pasture' in John 10:9. It is evident that the apostle views with extreme alarm the specific doctrine he is about to expose, and in the interest of truth, he even goes so far as to put into black and white the actual names of those who taught this error, Hymenaeus and Philetus. These two names will be found in correspondence with two others, Jannes and Jambres, the magicians at the court of Pharaoh in the days of Moses when the structure of 2 Timothy as a whole is consulted. This comparison intensifies the seriousness of the subject. A doctrine that 'eats like a gangrene' and is in any sense allied with such characters as Jannes and Jambres must be evil; however, it be presented and in whatever connection it may stand. What is this baneful doctrine that merits such censure from the apostle?

'Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some' (2 Tim. 2:18).

'The resurrection.' Omitting the Epistle to the Hebrews and confining ourselves to the Epistles of Paul to the churches or to individuals, we observe that this word, anastasis, occurs eight times in Paul's writings, as follows:

Anastasis

A Rom. 1:4. The resurrection from the dead.

B Rom. 6:5. In the likeness of His resurrection.

C 1 Cor. 15:12-13.                 a There is no resurrection of the dead?
                                                    If there be no resurrection of the dead.

   1 Cor. 15:21, 1 Cor. 15:42.   b Also, the resurrection of the dead.
                                                       So also is the resurrection of the dead.

B Phil. 3:10. The Power of His resurrection.

A 2 Tim. 2:18. The resurrection is past already.

The doctrine of the resurrection seems to have been attacked or distorted from earliest times. Keeping within the bounds of the New Testament, we find that the 'Sadducees' say that there is no resurrection' (Matt. 22:23); that the Athenian philosophers 'when they heard of the resurrection of the dead ... mocked' (Acts 17:32); and the questions that are dealt with in 1 Corinthians 15, reveal how much speculation there was in the Church itself regarding the great subject. The apostle says that Hymenaeus and Philetus had ‘erred' regarding the doctrine of the resurrection. The word used by the apostle to indicate the character of this error is astocheo and is found only in the Epistles to Timothy:

'From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling' (1 Tim. 1:6).

'Which some professing have erred concerning the faith' (1 Tim. 6:21).

The background of these three occurrences of astocheo is similar. Timothy is exhorted to charge them that they teach 'no other doctrine' (1 Tim. 1:3) and warns against 'fables and endless genealogies' which militate against 'a dispensation of God' (1 Tim. 1:4 revised text). Those in view in 1 Timothy 1 'swerved’ from the doctrine of pure grace to the desire to become teachers of the law, making it very evident that they had entirely missed the peculiar character of the truth as taught by Paul. The sixth chapter strikes a similar note. There are those who 'teach otherwise,' who know nothing but dote about questions and strifes of words. In particular, these teachers, having been taken up with 'the oppositions of science' (1 Tim. 6:20), the 'antitheses of gnosis' (the speculation that after years developed into gnosticism), had erred concerning the faith. A similar context is found when examining 2 Timothy 2:18. There, in contrast with exercising the principle of 'Right Division,' these erring teachers were becoming entangled with 'profane and vain babblings.' It does not say that these men denied either the resurrection of Christ or the resurrection of the believer; they taught that 'the resurrection is past already.' Now, if this be affirmed of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is but stating a blessed fact.

‘Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept' (1 Cor. 15:20).

The evil doctrine, therefore, condemned as a 'gangrene' by the apostle, can refer only to the believer. The erroneous teaching was that the resurrection of the believer was past already. If this were confined to the spiritual entry by faith into the glorious relationship that every member of the Church has with its risen Head, it would be stating the Truth. When Christ was raised from the dead, the members of His Body were potentially raised too.

‘And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 2:6).

It would be no gangrenous doctrine that insisted upon the glorious teaching of Ephesians 2:6. There is, therefore, but one aspect of the subject left, and that is the personal, individual resurrection of the believer himself, not 'by faith,' not spiritually and potentially 'in Christ Jesus', but literally. The apostle had expressed his desire 'to depart' and to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23), and he had revealed how intense was his desire to attain unto 'the out-resurrection out from the dead' (Phil. 3:11). This had been taken up in a wrong sense by some, whose minds had already become disposed to such an idea; by the incipient gnostic teaching already afoot; and they taught that for the believer 'the resurrection had taken place already.' Now Philippians 3:20-21 is sufficient to correct this false teaching. The same chapter that speaks of the 'out-resurrection’ and the same epistle that tells us of Paul's desire to depart and to be with Christ says:

'Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change this body of our humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory' (Phil. 3:20-21).

There is no possible room here for a resurrection that has taken place already. 'This body' cannot be spiritualized away, and while Philippians 3:21 stands written, any doctrine that approximates to 'sudden death, sudden glory' for any child of God -- even for one who had 'attained' to the heights of Philippians 3:10-11, is precluded. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. Not until Christ, Who is 'our life,' is manifested can that life become active in His redeemed people. There are quite a number of the Lord's people who believe in The Truth of The Mystery and who have been led to rejoice in its distinctive calling, who have nevertheless embraced the doctrine that at death, the believer passes straight into the presence of the Lord. For them, the resurrection is past already, for they teach that the fact that Christ, their Head, having been raised from the dead, covers literally every member of His Body so that they need not await the literal resurrection of the dead as others do.

The fact that the apostle in his last Epistle so uncompromisingly condemns such a doctrine should cause any who have entertained such an idea to reconsider, or as the same chapter says, 'repent unto the acknowledging of the truth.' These false teachers did not say that The Resurrection of Christ Himself was past already, for that is a glorious truth. They taught that the resurrection of the believing member of The Body of Christ had taken place already, and instead of such teaching being the glorious crown upon the whole of the apostle's doctrine, it is likened to gangrene, it overturns the faith, while its teachers are said to have ‘erred,' 'swerved' or 'missed their way,' and are placed in structural correspondence with the emissaries of the devil, Jannes and Jambres of days gone by. We have, therefore, no option in the matter. However, we may respect our brethren and may regard their contribution to the ministry, and there is nothing left for us if we would remain obedient and approved unto God, but sadly yet certainly, to ‘shun' their teaching.

Paul, in view of his martyrdom, would most certainly have given some personal word here if he had looked forward to passing from his prison to the presence of his Lord. What he does say points in quite another direction, for he looks forward to 'that day' in common with all those that love 'His appearing' (2 Tim. 4:8).

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Romans 14:10

We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said:

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:10),

and to the Romans, he said:

"We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. 14:10).

In one reference, namely James 2:6, the words "judgment seat" translate the Greek kriterion, but with this, we are not immediately concerned. The word found in the references given from 2 Corinthians and Romans is the Greek word bema, which occurs as follows:

Matt.27:19, When he (Pilate) was sat down on the judgment seat.

John 19:13, Pilate . . . sat down in the judgment seat.

(John gives the added information that the judgment seat is in a place that is called the Pavement, which in the Hebrew tongue is Gabbatha.)

Acts 7:5, Not so much as to set his foot on.

Acts 18:12, Brought him to the judgment seat

Acts 18:16, Drave them from the judgment seat

Acts 18:17, Beat him before the judgment seat

Acts 25:6, Sitting on the judgment seat

Acts 25:10, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat

Acts 25:17, I sat on the judgment seat

Rom. 14:10, The judgment seat of Christ.

2 Cor. 5:10, The judgment seat of Christ.

The reader will note the one exception to the translation "judgment seat" in Acts 7:5, which reads "to set his foot on" (literally "foot-room"). Bema is derived from baino, "to ascend," which in turn is related to the idea of a step, "a foot space," then a raised platform used both for a judge in legal matters and for an orator or judge at the Greek games. The "pulpit" of Nehemiah 8:4 is in the LXX a bema. We perceive, therefore, that some discrimination is necessary in the interpretation of the passages employing this word. Now the Apostle has made it clear that no redeemed child of God will ever come into condemnation; he is justified, acquitted, and that completely and forever, yet the same Apostle declared with Joyful expectancy that he looked forward to standing before a Righteous Judge (2 Tim. 4:8), but this time not a judge in a court of law, not a judge who passed sentence, but a Judge who awarded a crown. This lifts the subject of the bema so far as the believer is concerned, out of the context of sin, death, and condemnation, into the context of award and forfeiture, prize and crown, into the context of 2 Timothy 4:7 where the word "fight" is agona; translated "race" in Hebrews 12:1, and where the word "course" is dromos, a place where contestants "run."

Scripture regards each saved soul as a runner racing, an athlete wrestling, a warrior fighting, a farmer sowing, a mason building, a fugitive flying, a besieger storming, and all this strenuous intensity rests on a fundamental of revelation that God is and that He is a Rewarder (Heb. 11:6).

"He that planteth and he that watereth are one" in standing and redemption, but each "shall receive his own reward according to his own labor" at the Bema. The tribunal before which every believer must appear is a bema, not a thronos, "that each may receive for the things done." Not that each may receive a gift, but receive for the things he has done, the application of the Divine principle expressed in Galatians 6:7, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," and these words were not addressed to unbelievers. It is imperative that those who rejoice in the fullness of grace that is related to Ephesians and Colossians should not be ignorant of the fact that this principle applies to The Church of The Mystery as to all other callings. In Ephesians, the Apostle speaks of the Divine approval of "good," and in Colossians, of the Divine disapproval of "wrong."

"Whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free" (Eph. 6:8).

"But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons (Col. 3:25).

These "things" are said to be "things done by means of the body" (2 Cor. 5:10). In the sentence "whether it be good or bad," the Greek points to the award "the things done, whether it," i.e., what he receives as an award, "be good or bad."

The Revised text reads "God" instead of "Christ" in Romans 14:10, but there is no essential difference between Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10, for all judgment will be in the hands of the Son. Although the actual word bema only occurs twice in Paul's Epistles, that for which it stands is found in a number of his writings. We shall find that 1 Corinthians 3:8, 1 Cor. 3:14, 1 Cor. 4:4 and 1 Cor. 9:24-25, Philippians 1:10 and Phil. 3:12-14, Colossians 4:12, Hebrews 12:23, and 2 Timothy 4:1 all imply, if they do not speak of, the Judgment seat of Christ. In Philippians 1:10, he prays for the believer that he may be "sincere and without offense till the day of Christ," where "the day of Christ" includes judgment of the believer's service. In Philippians 3:12-14 we have the Apostle confessing that he is not already perfect, but we see him pressing on for a "Prize," which should be taken with 2 Timothy 4:7-8, where we have the contest, the course, and the crown. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, the foundation is seen to be Christ Himself, and the foundation is secure and not in question. What will be put to the test is the kind of building that believers erect on that one foundation, with the consequent reward or the suffering of loss, with the emphasized safeguard "he himself shall be saved" (1 Cor. 3:10-15).

In the next Chapter, Paul speaks of "man's judgment" (1 Cor. 4:3), which is a free rendering of the Greek which reads "man's day," thereby enabling us to see in "the day of Christ" already quoted, a reference to judgment. "Then," said the Apostle, "shall every man have praise of God" (1 Cor. 4:5). In 1 Corinthians 9:23-27 we find the Apostle drawing largely upon the Greek games for his illustration, and in the following Chapter, he points out that while ALL crossed the Red Sea, ALL did not enter the land of promise. In Hebrews 12, the Saviour is brought into the record to provide an example. "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). The "race" spoken of in Hebrews 12:1 is the same in the original as the "fight" of 2 Timothy 4:7 both are translations of the Greek agona. The fact that Paul could write Colossians 3:22-25 makes it clear that whether the judgment seat of Christ is actually mentioned in the Prison Epistles or not, the principle that is involved in the bema is restricted to no one dispensation. We need, of course, to discriminate between Gift in Grace and Reward in Service, and we need also to remember that unless we believe and teach both, the undue emphasis that comes through partiality in witness must necessarily mean that our testimony will not stand the test of "that day."

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1 Corinthians 1:30

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 

What does Scripture mean by sanctification? We read and hear much about the 'Sanctification of the Spirit,' and the 'Higher Life,' and many other expressions. We have 'Holiness Meetings' and 'Consecration Services,' and we are continually exhorted to 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' until the antichristian 'abstaining from meats' (1 Tim. 4:3) seems to be perilously copied.

Again we say, What is sanctification as presented in the Scriptures? Is it primarily the sanctity of the believer's walk, produced by The Holy Spirit in the believer's life by The Word, or is it first of all the unqualified perfect possession and blood-bought birthright of every child of God, from the least to the greatest, sanctification wrought by atoning blood? Rome has canonized her 'saints'. Many believers today make no profession of being saints, whereas Scripture applies without distinction this wonderful title to every redeemed sinner. We give a few out of many passages to illustrate this:

'To all that be in Rome (i.e. all believers) beloved of God, called saints' (Rom. 1:7).

'Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints' (1 Cor. 1:2).

'To the saints which are at Ephesus, and faithful ones in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 1:1).

We find next that sanctification, like salvation, is connected with the unalterable, irreversible purpose of electing grace:

'He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him' (Eph. 1:4).

A reference to Ephesians 5:27 and Colossians 1:22 will show that this purpose has been fully established by the finished Work of Christ:

'That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.'

'In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable (unreproachable) in His sight.'

Thus it will be seen that the death of Christ procures this wondrous blessing of sanctification, unto which we were chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

In the next Scripture, it will be seen that the sanctification of the Spirit is directly connected with the blood of Christ, and the Spirit of God never leads to sanctification apart from this:

'Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Pet. 1:2).

This same truth is typically set forth in Leviticus 14 in the cleansing of the leper:

'The priest shall take some of the blood ... and put it upon the tip of the right ear ... and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot' (Lev. 14:14).

'The rest of the oil ... upon the blood ... ' (Lev. 14:17).

'The priest shall put of the oil ... right ear ... thumb ... great toe ... upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering' (Lev. 14:28).

For the benefit of the reader who may not be sure, the words 'saint,' 'sanctify,' 'holy,' and 'holiness' are words from the same root word in the original of the New Testament.

We have already referred to 1 Corinthians Chapter 1, and we turn to it again for further teaching on the subject of sanctification. 1 Cor. 1:29 gives the divine object in the method of salvation. God hath chosen the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised, yea, the things which are not -- 'that no flesh should glory in His presence.' 1 Cor. 1:31 bears a similar witness, 'He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.' 1 Cor. 1:30 comes in between these statements and reads, 'But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and ("as well as" Greek particles kai ... te) redemption'. Christ made unto us sanctification precisely in the same way and degree in which He made unto us righteousness. 'He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him' (2 Cor. 5:21). So with sanctification, it is imputed to the believer as absolutely as righteousness is. 'If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God' (Rom. 4:2). If the children of God were sanctified by their works, 1 Corinthians 1:31 would likewise be nullified.

The subject of 'Progressive Sanctification' is by no means denied by what we have written, any more than the Scriptural doctrine of justification by faith means irresponsible living or that because we are under grace, we may continue in sin. What we seek to do is to put first things first, to lay the foundation before we build the house. The subject of sanctification is several times referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In Hebrews 10:10, we read, 'By the which will we are sanctified through the Offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.'

'By the which will.'-- What does this mean? We have already seen the pre-determining will of God in the sanctification of the believer, but that is not the thought here—the 'which will' makes us look back in the Chapter. In Hebrews 10:9, Christ speaks, 'Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.' It is in (en) the done will of God -- i.e., the obedience of Christ, and through (dia) the Offering of Christ, that believers are sanctified (see 1 Peter 1:2, 'obedience and sprinkling of blood'). Their 'doing' and the 'presenting of their bodies as a living sacrifice' is the outcome -- the fruit of this blessed position. Hebrews 10:14 contains a wonderful truth. 'For by one offering, He hath perfected into perpetuity (eis to dienekes) them that are sanctified'; truly, all the Glory is The Lord's.

May we who have died with Christ from the rudiments of the world remember our completeness in Him and set our minds on things above where Christ is seated in The Heavenlies as Head of The Body. We need to leave the doctrines and commandments of men, the touch not, taste not, handle not, satisfying of the flesh, and confess to the God of all grace that 'all our springs O God, are in Thee' (Psalm 87:7).

Sanctification, like justification, is primarily and foundationally connected with the results produced from the atoning death of Christ. We now seek to show that The Resurrection also has a great bearing upon this most important subject. Many of our readers will at once think of Colossians Chapter 3. Before quoting from this Chapter, however, let us see what leads up to its wonderful teaching. The saints at Colosse, like all the redeemed, were 'perfect,' 'complete,' 'made meet,' and will be 'presented holy' (Col. 1:12-22; Col. 2:10).

Not only had they died with Christ and been buried with Him, but they were risen with Him and quickened together with Him (Col. 2:12-13), which meant that 'the body of the sins of the flesh' had been 'put off,' the Divine inference from these passages being, 'Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days' (Col. 2:16); 'Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels' (Col. 2:18); 'Wherefore if ye died with Christ from the religious codes of the world, why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances? Touch not (see 1 Cor. 8:1 for meaning, and compare the same element in the false holiness of the apostasy in the last days, 1 Tim. 4:3), taste not, handle not' (Col. 2:20-21).

Here is sufficient Scripture to point out the contrast between holiness according to God and holiness according to man. True holiness is only possible in the power of The Resurrection. The saved sinner looks back to the cross and sees Christ dying in his stead and says, 'I died there too.' He looks up to the right hand of God, where Christ sits, and says, 'I have been raised together with Him.' This is the argument of Colossians 2 and 3.

Since ye then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (Phil. 3:19-20). For ye died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth (Col. 3:1-5 author's translation).

In Colossians 2:23, we have the 'neglecting of the body,' which leads, after all, 'to the satisfying of the flesh.' This comprises all the human will worship and humility of Rome, with its fastings, penances, and other inventions for the manufacturing of a creature of holiness, right down to those holiness conventions that stress rules and resolutions, badges, and slogans. In direct contrast with the 'neglecting of the body' in the wrong sense, we have in Colossians 3:5 the 'mortifying of the members' in the Scriptural sense as being a direct result of being raised with Christ and being occupied with Him. Our life is there, and death is here. The word translated as 'mortify' (put to death or as good as dead) occurs only in two other passages in the New Testament.

'And without being weakened in faith, he considered his own body now as good as dead' (Rom. 4:19 R.V).

'Wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars' (Heb. 11:12 R.V.).

This is the lesson in Colossians 3. Just like Abraham, we also are to see by faith that our sinful selves are dead and to believe God's verdict that we died with Christ from the law of God as a means of justification and to all works of the flesh as a means of sanctification.

Instead of the word 'mortify' countenancing ritualistic teaching, it teaches just the opposite. As we feed the new nature, we starve the old. By faith, we walk in the power of the 'new man' which has been created in true holiness; we shall 'put off the old man with his deeds.' Apart from the risen Saviour, all sanctification is of the flesh and is 'put on' in a different sense than that meant by the Scriptures.

Some may have observed in a sheltered spot a tree covered with dead leaves, having gone through the winter without actually dropping them to the ground, but when the returning spring forces the new life through the branches, the old leaves must go, being removed by the power of the life within; so to live in the light of Colossians 3:1-4 will of itself bring about the 'mortifying' of Col. 3:5. A glance at Col. 3:5-17 of this Chapter will show that the believer is called upon to 'walk worthily'; but remember Col. 3:1-4 come first, and those wonderful verses seem to be quickly forgotten or misunderstood. Because this is so often the case, that which appears most prominent in the sermons and literature of today is to give prominence to the believer's works or walk as the foundation of true holiness, trusting that then we may build something even more acceptable to God. In the Pentateuch, we read of 'strange incense' and 'strange fire.' Every time the believer forgets the Truth of Col. 3:1-4 and/or neglects the words 'accepted in the Beloved,' every time he is prompted to lean on something apart from Christ, he is preparing 'strange incense' that cannot please God.

Sanctification includes consecration, for Resurrection Life is preeminently a Life unto God. How many times have we reviewed our past and mourned that we have not lived unto God? How many times have we resolved to keep down the flesh and 'yield ourselves' to Him? How many times have we failed? If one may speak for many, we all know what a miserable failure our religious service has always been. Let us, therefore, see whether Scripture does not give us some surer way of living unto God than we have hitherto discovered.

Of Christ, it is written, 'For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth (i.e. in Resurrection), He liveth unto God' (Rom. 6:10). Of the believer, it continues, 'Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Rom. 6:11). The power, then, to live unto God comes through believing implicitly the wonderful fullness of the redemptive Work of Christ. It is not trying but reckoning as God has reckoned and acting accordingly.

'Whether we live, we live unto the Lord' (Rom. 14:8).

This is connected with Christ's Resurrection in Rom. 14:9 and with the futility of others' judgment upon such a one with respect to 'eating' and 'observing days', etc., and all the other impositions of men.

Judging this, that if One on behalf of all died, then all are reckoned dead. He then died for all, with the overview that those who choose life (i.e.,  Resurrection Life) should henceforth not live unto themselves but unto Him who died for them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth we know no man according to the flesh ... If any man is in Christ, there is in him a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:14-17 author's translation).

'For I through the law, to law died, with the object that I might live unto God; with Christ, I have been crucified, but yet I live; yet not I, but there liveth in me Christ' (Gal. 2:19-20 author's translation).

These passages of the Word speak more plainly than any comment we can give; life unto God (consecration, sanctification) is found in the sphere of Resurrection with Christ. Romans 6:1 commences with the awful question of one who imagines that free grace means license. We do not doubt that some who read these pages will likewise question our doctrine and say it is 'dangerous.' What answer does the Apostle make to the libertine? Does he water down his strong statements? No, he applies them with full force. 'How shall we that died to sin live any longer therein?' It is a matter of nothing short of life and death. The question goes deeper, however, in Rom. 6:15. 'Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?' The answer is summarized in Rom. 6:22, 'But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life' (see Col. 3:3-4). With this, compare Rom. 6:13, 'Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.'

The Epistle to the Galatians deals with the same subject. Under law and in the sphere of the flesh, seeking to be made perfect according to the flesh means bondage (Gal. 3:2-3; Gal. 4:3-5, Gal. 4:9; Gal. 5:1-3). Being under grace means liberty, and perfection is in Christ alone. Again the Apostle has to meet those who abuse this liberty. He says, 'Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.' 'For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty' (Gal. 5:1, Gal. 5:13), and then adds,

'Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself' (Gal. 5:13-14).

We have already seen that Resurrection Life is the answer to the question, How may I find power to live unto God? We see here that in this same blessed sphere, we are at liberty to fulfill our duties to one another.

In Ephesians 2, we have a further lesson. Eph. 2:10 tells us, 'We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.' We are to walk in the works and merits of Christ. We are to work out that which has been worked in; or, as Hebrews 13:21 puts it, 'Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, doing in you that which is well pleasing in His sight.'

May the fact of a risen Saviour at the right hand of God, a life hid with Christ in God, a glorified Head in Heaven, our legal death with Christ here, our position as being 'raised together and made to sit together in Heavenly Places,' becomes more and more to us; and so will the dead leaves and deadly regulations of men fall and fade, leaving us standing and walking by faith, not by sight, looking for that Blessed Hope, of which, by Grace, may we seek to walk worthy.

Let us now consider the teaching of one or two passages in 1 John, which show (1) the absolute and (2) the progressive or responsible aspect of sanctification.

'As He is'. Christ is the center of all the purposes of God's grace. He is the Author, the Perfecter, the Goal. We have seen the connection between Resurrection and Sanctification. Likeness to our risen Lord is the theme before us now, both during our sojourn here and on that day when we shall be satisfied upon awaking in His likeness. First, let us briefly 'consider Him.' 'If we walk in the light as He is in the light' (1 John 1:7). 'He is in the light.' 1 John 1:5 declares that 'God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.' In the full blaze of the Shekinah Glory, our Saviour stands. Not only is He there by the right of His own Godhead, but He is there because of the perfectness of His atoning work. Nothing but absolute righteousness and perfect holiness could endure the light in which our Great Advocate stands. Yet, fellow believers, weak and failing as we may be in ourselves, that and nothing less is our position in Christ.

1 John 2:29 tells us 'He is righteous'; 1 John 3:3 tells us 'He is pure,' emphasizing that which is involved in the statement noted above, 'He is in the light.' 1 John 1:7 commences with a 'but if'; a condition is therefore attached. Before we consider the conditional aspect, let us turn to the verses that reveal the absolute nature of the believer's sanctification 'in Christ.'

'In this hath our love been perfected, in order that in the day of judgment we have boldness because as He is, so are we (though) in this world' (1 John 4:17 author's translation).

God's love for us is the subject under consideration in 1 John 4:17. The words translated 'in this' are of constant occurrence in John's Epistle. In this very Chapter, they are translated 'hereby' (1 John 4:13), 'herein' (1 John 4:10), and 'in this' (1 John 4:9). To what does the Apostle refer when he says 'herein' in 1 John 4:17? Does he mean that God's love is perfected in the fact that believers shall have boldness on the day of judgment? Yes -- and yet no -- for this is but a part of the glorious goal. We believe the verse should be read as follows:

'In this is the love within us perfected (in order that we may have boldness in the day of judgment); that as He is, so are we in this world.'

The love is perfected in this, that the believer in Christ is as He is. God Himself knows no higher goal for eternity than that the believer shall be as his Lord, and when these bodies of our humiliation are changed for bodies like unto the glorified Lord, then perfect love will have found its goal.

Such is the 'grace wherein we stand'! Every believer is equally perfect in Christ! The weakest as the strongest, the babe and the full-grown, all are equally and altogether complete in Him. There are no 'ifs' here. This is no more conditional upon our walk and life than is justification. Results will necessarily follow, but let it always be remembered that they follow, not come before. 'He that is righteous (in Christ) doeth righteousness (as a result).'

As He Is -- We Are (1 John 4:17).

As He Is -- We Shall Be (1 John 3:2).

'We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.' Again we deal with that which is absolute. 'We shall be like Him,' and perfect love will have reached its goal. Can we not better understand the reason why the Apostle introduces this marvelous subject with the words, 'Behold what manner of love!' What is to be the outcome of this glorious position? 'Everyone that hath this Hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure.' According to many, possibly among them who read these words, certainty means license. They think that it is presumption to 'know' that which God has declared. Scripture does not veil the fact that there will always be those who 'turn the Grace of God into a license of lasciviousness and iniquity,' but this by no means alters the relations established between 1 John 3:2-3.

The reasoning of the heart will be, am I as He is in Christ? Oh, that I may be more like Him in practice! Am I to be like Him in the future? Oh, for grace to be more like Him now! Keeping 1 John 4:17 in mind, we turn to 1 John 2:5-6. Again we shall read of God's love being perfected, but this time dealing with the conditional side of sanctification:

'But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked' (1 John 2:5-6).

Even in this conditional setting, the keeping of the Word is proof of our being in Him, not that the keeping of the Word either places us in that blessed sphere or secures us when we are there. By comparing 1 John 4:17 with 1 John 2:5-6, it will be seen that God's love for us, and our love for God, meet together in the Lord Jesus Christ as their great goal; both point forward to our being transformed into His likeness. The believer's love for God urges him to seek more conformity to the image of His Beloved Son, and God's love for His people has fixed its goal, perfect likeness to Christ in Resurrection Glory. Be it noted that this verse does not say, 'We ought to be as He is,' but it says, 'We ought to walk as He walked.' 1 John 1:7 speaks of walking in the light. This is how the Lord Jesus always walked whilst here on earth.

In the very presence of God, in the light of the Holiest of all; what a standing! what an assurance! No creature preparation or perfectness can avail there; any attempt at such only shows the failure to appreciate the heights of holiness demanded by that light. What is our warrant for daring to walk in this light?

'As He is, we are.' Is this 'sinless perfection'? No! If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. It is not by covering up our sins, and neither is it by imagining ourselves to have become sinless, that we draw near to the presence of the Lord. No, it is by reason of the wondrous Grace that has made us 'accepted in the Beloved,' that has 'made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' With all our imperfections still upon us, with all our sins of omission and commission, we may draw near to walk in the light. By this, do we make little of sin? No! God does not, but He has made provision. It is not our walk or talk that will ever keep us fit for His Holy Presence, but 'if we walk in the light ... the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin'.

Such is some small fragment of the teaching of these verses. Let us glorify God by believing His Word, and, seeing that by His grace we are (in Christ) as He is, and that as He is, we shall be, let us seek by grace to walk as He walked, to walk in the light, as He is The Light, to thankfully confess the glorious efficacy of the blood that cleanseth, and to exemplify in some measure the complete sanctification which is ours in Christ Jesus. While we think of the Epistle to the Romans when we think of justification, we find that Romans 6:1-14 deals with sanctification under various aspects.

(1) A sphere. It is newness of life.

(2) A condition. It is a union.

(3) A state. Liberty.

(4) How it is apprehended, by reckoning.

(5) It is entirely under Grace.

The true sequel of Romans 5:12-21 is Romans 8, where the condemnation brought in by Adam is entirely removed from all who are 'in Christ Jesus'. The Spirit of God, however, knew the heart of man; and how easily even believers may misread liberty for license or abuse the overwhelming Grace of God. Already the spirit that necessitates Romans 6 and 7 has shown itself. For in Romans 3:7, we have the beginnings of the idea opened up in Romans 6, where the thought that 'the Truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory' is echoed by the question: 'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?'

It is not a question of whether I ever fall into sin or shall I never discover hidden uncleanness, but shall I 'continue in' sin. Epimeno is used in Romans 11:22-23, where it is used of 'continuing in His goodness' and of 'abiding still in unbelief.' In Romans 6:2, the balancing clause to 'continuing in' is 'living in':

'How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?'

Let us notice for our good that the Apostle does not temporize with this question. He does not embark upon a lengthy discourse concerning grace; he does not attempt to mitigate the fullness of superabounding grace; he goes straight to the heart of the matter, revealing it to be a matter of life and death.

Grace is Grace because of righteousness, so teaches Romans 5:21: 'Even so might grace reign through righteousness,' and the only way that grace could reign through righteousness is for sin to have been dealt with righteously, and we know that the wages of sin is death.

Answer To The First Objection

The answer to the question of Romans 6:1 is found in 6:3-14. Rom. 6:2 is not so much an answer as a refusal to admit the validity of the objection that superabounding grace will encourage the laxity of morals. The close of Rom. 6:14 corresponds with Rom. 6:2 in setting the objection aside as incompatible with the 'grace wherein we stand.' The answer (Rom. 6:3-14) is divided into three main sections:

(1) Identification of the believer in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-10). This, we shall discover, is subdivided into three features.

(2) Reckoning of the believer that all this is true.

(3) Practical results of this identification and reckoning: 'Let not,' 'Yield not.' 

Dead To Sin

There is a system of teaching that appears to take these words as meaning abstaining from, resisting, or mortifying sin, in which there can be degrees of 'depth.' Hence the expression: 'to die more and more unto sin.' There is most truly an experimental entering into the death of Christ, but we are persuaded such is not intended here. In Romans 6:2, Rom. 6:7-9 the verb 'to die' is not thnesko, but apothnesko, 'to die out, to expire, to become quite dead'. Moreover, it is the actual death of Christ that is in view, 'His death' (Rom. 6:3 and Rom. 6:5), death 'with Christ' (Rom. 6:8), and it is death 'to sin.' Here again, we need care. It is not death to the power of sin, but death to its guilt that is here intended. Our death to sin is not mentioned here as of our conduct or our character, but of our State before God. The R.V. recognizes the aorist tense and translates the passage, 'We who died to sin,' in place of the A.V., 'We that are dead to sin.' Into the vexed question of the true rendering of the Greek aorist, we cannot go. In Rom. 6:7, Dr. Weymouth gives the following note, which is of weight:

'Lit. "has died"; not "is dead." The distinction cannot be expressed in Latin or French but can be in English and in Greek. The classical scholar will find an excellent example in Euripides, Alc. 541 "Those who have died (aorist) are dead (perfect)"'.

Up to Romans 5:11, the burden of the Epistle has been justification by faith. Rom. 5:12-21 adds its quota of superabounding Grace, and when the Apostle says in Rom. 6:2: 'How shall we who died to sin live any longer therein?' he is not introducing some new aspect of death, but referring to what has already been established. In other words, he replies to the objection by saying that justification by faith cannot lead to living in sin for the simple reason that justification is based upon death to sin and guilt. The fact that Paul uses, in Rom. 6:10, the same expression of Christ Himself: 'In that, He died, He died unto sin once,' shows that he had in view death to its guilt. As Calvin says:

'The very form of the expression, as applied to Christ, shows that He did not, like us, die to sin for the purpose of ceasing to commit it.'

The Lord was never under the power of sin. He took the guilt of sin that belonged to us, and for that, He died:

'He that is dead (has died) is freed from sin' (Rom. 6:7).

The word translated 'is freed' is dedikaiotai, the perfect tense of the verb dikaioo, 'to justify.' It is most important that this word noted in the margin should be reinstated: 'Justified from sin.' Romans 3:20-30 is the classic passage on Justification, and in the verses, dikaioo is used five times. Rom. 5:9 sums up the matter by saying: 'Being now justified by His blood.' In Rom. 6:2, the Apostle declares that the believer 'died to sin.' In Rom. 6:7, he reveals the glorious result of that death -- 'he is justified.'

Newness Of Life

The full Truth is that when He died, we died; when He was buried, we were buried; and being dead and buried our Hope both now during the life which we live in the flesh (Gal. 2:20) and in the future Glory in the life to come, is entirely dependent upon Him. If that risen life is also ours, then even now we may 'walk in newness of life' (Rom. 6:4). If it is not, being dead and buried, we can do nothing but wait amid a groaning creation for the redemption of the body. The walk in the newness of life is our experimental answer to His Resurrection.

The first note in the chord of Sanctification has now been struck. Instead of 'living in sin,' we who have died to sin may 'walk in newness of life.' This is more than 'a new life', for the abstract word kainoteti conveys the idea of 'newness.' There are two words in the Greek for 'new': kainos (that gives us 'newness' in Rom. 6:4) and neos. Both come together in Colossians 3:10: 'And having put on the new man (neos) being renewed (anakainoo)':

In other words, we have put on the new, young, rejuvenated man, fresh, vigorous, prime, with all the glorious future stretching out in its limitless possibilities by the Grace of God, and have been renewed with a life that standing beside the empty tomb looks back at a past, dead, buried, excluded, finished. Neos turns our faces toward Christ, the last Adam, and kainos looks back to the first Adam. The one says "life has begun," and the other says "that life has finished."

Sanctification demands newness of life -- if so, how then can anyone think of 'continuing in sin' that grace may abound? We may all take to ourselves the words of the Apostle, making them a prayer where we cannot state them as an experience:

'I ... am dead to the law (as Rom. 6 "dead to sin") ... I am (have been) crucified with Christ (as Rom. 6 "the old man was crucified with Him"): nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God ("newness of life"), Who loved me, and gave Himself for me' (Gal. 2:19-20).

Sanctification. A Condition: Union (Rom. 6:1-14)

The first item in the doctrine of Sanctification which we have established is the 'newness of life.' True, 'death to sin' must precede this new life, but death to sin is not Sanctification, any more than a good concrete foundation is a dwelling. Power for Sanctification is life, and the study now before us is to discover from the passage what that life is, how its power may be received, and its effects:

'For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is (was) crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin' (Rom. 6:5-7).

The R.V. alters the reading 'planted together' to 'become united with,' and this is undoubtedly the meaning. 'Planted together' would truly describe a row of lettuces, but each plant would nevertheless be independent; the word sumphutos used here indicates something more intimate, more akin to 'grafting' than 'planting.' The word is used in the LXX of Amos 9:13 for 'melt' and is employed by Xenophon to describe the 'growing together' of man and horse, known as the 'centaurs' of ancient myth. The R.V. margin is closest of all to the truth of the passage and is the rendering of Alford:

'If we have become united with the likeness of His death, so shall we be also with His resurrection.'

There is a real link between 'united' and 'likeness,' the contrasted thought being found in Romans 8:3:

'For that which was not in the power of the law, because it was weak through the flesh, God (did), having sent His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and on account of sin condemned sin in the flesh' (Author's translation).

Likeness

The Lord had a nature like Adam before the fall in that He came in the flesh but had not Himself a sinful nature. If the Apostle had not used the word 'likeness,' it would have appeared that Christ partook of sinful flesh, which, of course, He did not. So the believer is united to the Lord in the 'likeness' of His death, for that death itself allows no possible partner. He suffered alone and suffered once for all mankind. He died actually, and literally that we might be reckoned to have died with Him. Moreover, as we shall see in the next verse, 'the likeness of His death' is most certainly a reference to the kind of death He died, namely, not an honorable death, nor the death of an acclaimed victor, but the death of a slave, the death of the accursed, death by crucifixion. All this is included in the original statement of Rom. 6:2, 'dead to sin.'

It is of the utmost importance that we shall realize the place that union with Christ occupies in this great doctrine of Sanctification. Here, in the short compass of four verses, we have such extraordinary expressions as: 'baptized into His death'; 'buried with Him'; 'united with Him,' 'crucified with Him,' 'like as Christ'; and 'the likeness' of His death. Union with Christ is the very essence of Sanctification:

'For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are All Of One ... as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same' (Heb. 2:11-14).

He was made 'in the likeness of men' (Phil. 2:7).

Sanctification. A State Of: Freedom (Rom. 6:1-14)

We have seen that Sanctification has a sphere -- 'newness of life,' and a condition -- 'unity with the likeness of His death and resurrection'; we now proceed to the consideration of a third feature, a state -- 'liberty.'

Rom. 6:6, where our study is resumed, ends with the words: 'that henceforth we should not serve sin.' From this point to the close of the Chapter, we have many references to 'servants' (literally 'slaves') who were once under an awful dominion, but are now 'free.' With Chapter 7 comes a change of figure, from that of a slave to that of a married woman under the law, who is set 'free' from her marriage and all its obligations by the death of her husband. This is appropriately brought to a conclusion in verse Rom. 7:6 with service 'in newness of spirit.'

The following passages will help us to see how prominently 'freedom' and 'servitude' figure in these Chapters; in each case, one of the verbal forms of eleutheros is used:

'Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness' (Rom. 6:18).

'For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness' (Rom. 6:20).

'But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God' (Rom. 6:22).

'If her husband be dead, she is free from that law' (Rom. 7:3).

'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).

'Because the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God' (Rom. 8:21 author's translation).

We must now look at the various derivations of the word translated as 'bondage':

'That henceforth we should not serve sin' (Rom. 6:6).

'Servants to obey, his servants ye are' (Rom. 6:16).

'Ye were the servants of sin' (Rom. 6:17).

'Ye became the servants of righteousness' (Rom. 6:18).

'Servants to uncleanness ... servants to righteousness unto holiness' (Rom. 6:19).

'When ye were the servants of sin' (Rom. 6:20).

'Now ... (having) become servants to God' (Rom. 6:22).

'We should serve in newness of spirit' (Rom. 7:6).

'With the mind I myself serve the law of God' (Rom. 7 25).

'Ye have not received the spirit of bondage' (Rom. 8:15).

'Shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption' Rom. (8:21).

How is this freedom attained, and what is the nature of the bondage from which it liberates? The first part of the question is answered in Romans 6:7; the second in Rom. 6:14 and Rom. 8:21:

'He that is dead is freed from sin' (Rom. 6:7).

Dominion Nullified

'Crucifixion with Christ' is set forth in Romans 6:6 as having a specific object in view: 'to render the body of sin inoperative' (katargeo). There are five other occurrences of this word in Romans 3:3, Rom. 3:31; Rom. 4:14; Rom. 7:2, Rom. 7:6), where it is rendered 'make without effect,' 'make void,' 'loosed from sin' and 'delivered from.' In no case can the word 'destroy' in its true sense be rightly substituted. The following passages give some further A V. renderings of the word:

'To bring to nought' (1 Cor. 1:28).

'Come to nought' (1 Cor. 2:6).

'Done away'; 'Abolished' (2 Cor. 3:7, (2 Cor. 3:11, (2 Cor. 3:13-14).

'Make ... of none effect' (Gal. 3:17).

'Become of no effect' (Gal. 5:4).

'Then is the offence of the cross ceased' (Gal. 5:11).

'Who hath abolished death' (2 Tim. 1:10).

'Destroy him that had the power of death' (Heb. 2:14).

Logizomai: Reckon

To return, then, to our theme: How is the believer to make these blessings something more than a part of a creed and so believe them that his knowledge shall be neither barren nor unfruitful? The answer is found in Romans 6:11: 'Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin; but alive unto God, through Christ Jesus our Lord.'

As the true meaning of the word 'reckon' is vital to our appreciation and appropriation of the work of Christ, no pains must be spared to arrive at as true and complete an understanding of it as possible. Logizomai 'to reckon', comes from leloga, the middle perfect of lego, 'to gather or collect' as in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. Its proper meaning is to reckon arithmetically. The usage of the word in the New Testament will enable us to get some idea of its general bearing:

(1) To Reason Or Argue Rationally.

'They reasoned with themselves' (Mark 11:31).

'When I was a child ... I thought as a child' (1 Cor. 13:11).
 

(2) To Infer, Conclude, Or Balance After Hearing Reason.

'Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith' (Rom. 3:28).

'I reckon that the sufferings of this present time' (Rom. 8:18).

'Accounting that God was able to raise him up' (Heb. 11:19).
 

(3) To Think.

'And thinkest thou this, O man?' (Rom. 2:3).
 

(4) To Account.

'Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ' (1 Cor. 4:1).

'Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves' (2 Cor. 3:5).

'To him that esteemeth anything to be unclean' (Rom. 14:14).

'He was reckoned among the transgressors' (Luke 22:37).

'We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter' (Rom. 8:36).
 

(5) To Impute.

'Unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works' (Rom. 4:6).

'Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin' (Rom. 4:8).

'To whom it shall be imputed, if we believe' (Rom. 4:24).
 

(6) To Impute For (logizomai eis).

'Shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?' (Rom. 2:26).

'Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness' (Rom. 4:3).

'His faith is counted for righteousness' (Rom. 4:5).

'The children of the promise are counted for the seed' (Rom. 9:8).

While we have not given every occurrence of the word, we believe we have accounted for every phase of its meaning. It will be observed in Romans 4 that where sin and righteousness are being dealt with, these are 'imputed'; but where faith is being dealt with, it is 'imputed for.' Faith is not righteousness; it is 'reckoned for' righteousness. In Romans 6:11, there is no 'imputing for'; it is as actual and real as the imputation of sin to a sinner.

When we were considering the usage of the words 'crucify with,' we observed that it was Luke who recorded the incident of the dying thief and thus illuminated the doctrine that the words implied. This is as we might expect if it is true that Luke was raised up to work with Paul. So here, again, it is Luke who gives us the one clear passage that bears most upon our theme. Let us give the passage, Luke 22:37, in full:

'For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in Me, And He was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning Me have an end.' (The verb, 'to be accomplished,' is teleo; the noun, 'end,' is telos).

The Lord declared that something that was written was to be accomplished. Where is this written prophecy recorded? The reference is to Isaiah 53:12:

'He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bares the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.'

Earlier in this Chapter, the prophet had said:

'He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed' (Isa. 53:5).

The things concerning Him had an 'end,' not merely a termination, but a goal, something attained and accomplished. When the Saviour cried with a loud voice, 'It is finished,' the words meant more than that His sufferings were at last ended; they meant that He had finished the Work which the Father had given Him to do. In Romans 6, we stand looking at that finished Work. He died for sin, He died to sin, and He rose again, the Victor over death. With Him, we also died to sin; with Him, we rose again victors over death. We were buried 'into His death' and so became 'in Christ.' And just as surely as He was 'reckoned' (or 'numbered') among the transgressors, so are we to 'reckon also ourselves' to have died unto sin and to be alive unto God in Him.

Sanctification. 'Under Grace' (Rom. 6:12-14)

We now have, for the first time in the Epistle, an exhortation:

'Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace' (Rom. 6:12-14).

In these three verses, we have three features:

The exhortation negatively: 'Let not'; 'yield not.'

The exhortation positively: 'Yield yourselves and your members.'

The assurance positionally: 'Under grace.'

Rendering in modern speech is suggestive 'Let not sin therefore reign as king in your mortal bodies, causing you to be in subjection to their cravings; and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weapons (tools or implements) for sin to use.

On the contrary, surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons (tools or implements) to maintain the right.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we observe that it is at the point where doctrinal instruction ends that exhortation begins. 'Having therefore ... let us ... let us ... let us' (Heb. 10:19-24). And so it is in Romans 6 as it must ever be.

The word 'reign' includes in its scope the word 'king,' just as 'dominion' carries with it the thought of the 'Lord.' These verses in Romans 6 refer back to Rom. 5:12-21:

(1) Death reigned (Rom. 5:14)  Through Adam.

(2) Sin reigned (Rom. 5:21)

(3) Grace reigns (Rom.5:21)  Through Jesus Christ.

(4) Believers reign (Rom.5:17)  Through The Lord

'Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness (or taking it to its logical conclusion in practice) in the fear of God' (2 Cor. 7:1).

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Colossians 2:6

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

This section of teaching looks at The Grace of our Saviour and God Christ Jesus and the good works He has called us to walk in because He has given us the Free Gift of Life.

We are continually saddened by "church leaders" who have not been able to grasp this basic Truth and have not realized that Everlasting Life is The Gift of God bought by the precious blood of The Savior. They do not acknowledge that if we stumble and fall in our Christian walk with Him, our Everlasting Life is never in jeopardy, for we have been forgiven all trespasses past, present, and future by our all-knowing Father. Some "teachers" present their non-scriptual views with "authority" in the face of many clear Scriptures that reveal how the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Rom. 11:29).

We never use terms like "Once Saved, Always Saved" as we believe Scripture is the best Teacher and that Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by The Word of God (Rom. 10:17).

We do believe all who have called upon The Name of The Lord have already been given The Gift of Life Everlasting and that this Free Gift cannot be lost, forsaken, or forfeited in any way because God's gifts are age-abiding.

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