| 1 Corinthians 15
Genesis 22:1-19. "Now it came to pass
after those things that God tested Abraham, and said to him,
'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'Take now
your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go the land
of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one
of the mountains of which I shall tell you.'
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey,
and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son;
and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and
went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third
day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And
Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey;
the lad [literally, young man] and I will go yonder
and worship, and we will come back to you.'
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it
on Isaac his son; and he took fire in his hand, and a knife,
and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham
his father and said, 'My father!' And he said, 'Here I am,
my son.' And he said, 'Look, the fire and the wood, but where
is the lamb for a burnt offering?' And Abraham said, 'My son,
God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.'
And the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And
Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order;
and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon
the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the
knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to
him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said,
'Here I am.' And he said, 'Do not lay your hand on the lad,
or do anything to him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing
you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.'
Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind
him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham
went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering
instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place,
The-Lord-Will-Provide;' as it is said to this day, 'In the
Mount of The Lord it shall be provided.'
Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time
out of heaven, and said: 'By myself I have sworn, says the
Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld
your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you,
and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the
stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;
and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies
[land and seagates, what the Soviets refer to as military
"choke-points"]. And in your seed all nations of the earth
shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.
[Descendants refers to a people descended from Abraham, "in
your seed" is a direct reference to Jesus Christ, who would
come from the line of David, a descendant of Abraham through
Judah, Israel's son. The promises of birthright and
sceptre are contained in this promise God made to Abraham.
Later these two elements would be divided between the House
of Judah and the House of Israel.] So Abraham returned to
his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba;
and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."
God's request of Abraham is so radical that it's hard for
Abraham (or any of us) to conceive. Abraham wanted to be obedient
to the Lord, but he loved his son Isaac. All the way to mount
Moriah an internal conflict of these two emotions must have
been raging in him. Those three days were long days, walking
there with his son and praying silently with God "Why in the
world do you want my son?" But from the beginning of those
three days Isaac was as good as dead. This wasn't written
to just tell us of this man's obedience, although it is an
amazing story of obedience. This story pointed to another
time, and to another father, who took his son, his
only son, whom he loved, to the very same mountain to sacrifice
him. Jesus said to the Jews, 'You search the Scriptures for
in them you think you have eternal life. Isaiah 53:1-12 is
a prophecy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You'll be amazed
to see how accurate it is. For three days Isaac was as good
as dead. In Matthew 12:38-42 Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees
that the sign of his Messiahship would be the fact that he
would remain buried in the grave for three days and three
nights, just as Jonah had remained for three days and three
nights in the great fish's belly. In John 1:29 it says, "The
next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and
said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world!'" In Revelation 5 it says "And I looked, and behold,
in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures,
and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it
had been slain...then He came and took the scroll out of the
right hand of Him who sat on the throne." This is Jesus Christ.
Jesus is also described, as he looks today, in Revelation
1:12-18, which states, "Then I turned to see the voice that
spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son
of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded
about the chest with a golden band. His head and His hair
were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like
a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined
in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He
had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a
sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the
sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell
at His feet as dead. But He laid his right hand on me, saying,
'Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last. I am He who
lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." That is Jesus
Christ!
In Corinthians Paul is writing to correct their disobedience
and misunderstanding of doctrine. Some were preaching as the
Sadducees did, that there was no resurrection of the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4. "Now, brothers, I want to remind
you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and
on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are
saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise,
you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on
to you as the first importance; that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." The
gospel [of Christ] is a message about salvation and how we
are to receive eternal life. Paul just said here that if you're
not holding fast to the gospel message (which is the gospel
of Christ) [not the gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is
larger and more all-encompassing] you're not saved. It's that
simple. What is that message? 1) Jesus died according to the
Scriptures. He died for our sins. 2) He was buried for three
days and three nights, as Jonah was in the belly of the great
fish. (Modern theologians are now saying the Jonah incident
never really happened. They'd better be careful. Their salvation
is in definite jeopardy, according to what Paul said in verses
1-3 of 1 Corinthians 15.) 3) He was raised to life in a resurrection.
This is the gospel message. This is the gospel of Christ by
which we are saved. If you confess from your mouth that Jesus
died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third
day, you will be saved. Salvation is by faith (and that not
of our own making), but history does validate the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Verses 3-8, "For what I received I passed
on to you as of the first importance: that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After
that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers
at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some
have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all
the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to
one abnormally born."
Next Paul shows he knows what he is in Christ, as we all should
know. Know your calling. Verses 9-11, "For I am the least
of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God [the name of the early
Christian Church]. But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder
than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was
with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we
preach, and this is what you believed."
In this chapter Paul is addressing a problem being caused
by some people who had come in and were saying and teaching
that there is no resurrection of the dead, similar to the
teaching of the Sadduccess. Verses 12-20 address this false
teaching. Paul brings out three basic points to counter this
teaching that there isn't a resurrection of the dead.
- If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, our preaching and
faith is useless. If this is so, we're false teachers and
foolish for what we're doing.
- Secondly, you're still in your sins.
- Thirdly, those that have died in the Lord are lost if
there's no resurrection of the dead.
So if the resurrection of Jesus didn't occur--what
are we doing here? It's a nice day, we should be at the beach!
What did Jesus teach? John 5:28-29. "Do not be amazed at this,
for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will
hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will
rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be
condemned." What is meant by this word "condemned"? We have
to cross reference it to the old King James so we can use
Strong's Concordance to trace the original Greek word used
for "condemned". From the old King James version we get, "Marvel
not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
Now that word "damnation" is not a good translation either.
It is the word the translators used for the Greek word krisis.
Strongs #2920, krisis; decision, (subjectively or objectively
for or against)...That is the literal interpretation for
the word damnation without any connotation one way or the
other. The word itself indicates that a person's judgment
in this particular resurrection could go in one of two directions,
for or against him. Strong's tacks a negative connotation
onto this word, but that is not what the first part of the
definition indicates, which is taken from the literal Greek.
So we find that Jesus taught that there would be two resurrections,
one to a resurrection of "life", meaning eternal life, and
another resurrection which in all honesty we don't know all
that much about. Romans 6:23 states, "For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord." The resurrection to eternal life is for those who
are in Christ.
Now let's read verses 12-20 which address the problem of what
some were teaching. Verses 12-20, "But if it is preached
that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of
you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there
is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been
raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is
useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then
found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified
about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did
not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the
dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you
are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep
in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in
Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ
has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those
who have fallen asleep."
Then Paul goes on to explain the order of the resurrections
and main prophetic events. After that he addresses an attitude
that follows this false teaching that there is no resurrection
of the dead. It is an attitude we see in the world today.
It was the attitude of the world in Paul's day, and the actual
quote is from Isaiah way back in the Old Testament times.
Verses 20-28, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the
dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For
since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead
comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ
all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ,
the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to
him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom
to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority
and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies
under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For
he "has put everything under his feet [Psalm 8:6]." Now when
it says "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that
this does not include God himself, who put everything under
Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be
made subject to him who put everything under him, so that
God may be all in all."
There is this "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we
die--there is no hope--no hope of life after death" mentality
widely extant on earth today, as well as in Paul's day, and
even going back to the time of Isaiah. It is a common attitude
of those in Satan's world who don't have a proper understanding
of God and his plan for mankind. And here we find a body of
believers that are buying into this attitude. They're being
lied to by some in their midst. What is your hope? Is it eat,
drink and be merry for tomorrow we die? Paul is saying
that Christ has become the firstfruits of those who have died
in Christ. Paul is saying Christ is called "the firstfruits."
That means there is more to follow Christ in his glorious
resurrection. In these verses Paul says "fallen asleep" instead
of "died" because death is not a permanent extinction. It
is very clearly taught in the Bible that there is more to
come later.
The Bible speaks and teaches of a physical death, but Ecclesiastes
speaks about when the body dies the spirit of man rises
to God and the spirit of the beast goes to the ground. Ecclesiastes
3:19-21. "For what happens to the sons of men also happens
to beasts; one thing befalls them; as one dies, so dies the
other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage
over beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are
from the dust, and all return to dust. [Now here's the interesting
part.] Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes
upward, and the spirit of the beast, which goes down to the
earth?" Solomon also said in Ecclesiastes 9:4-6. "But for
him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living
dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they
will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have
no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also
their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the
sun." The Bible even teaches in the New Testament that "king
David is dead and buried, he has not gone to heaven, his grave
is with us to this day." Acts 2:29,34. "'Men and brethren,
let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he
is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day...For
David did not ascend into the heavens,..." In 1 Corinthians
2:11 Paul states, "For what man knows the things of a man
except the spirit of the man which is in him?" And in Romans
8:16 Paul states, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God..." As you can see
the Bible teaches that man has a spirit within him. It is
not the Holy Spirit, although He can also reside in a person.
As Paul brings out man only knows the things of a man, i.e.
human understanding and intellect "by the spirit which is
in him." Some Christian fellowships teach that this
spirit in man is our immortal soul--and that it will be re-united
with our new Spirit bodies at the time of this 1st resurrection
to immortality at Jesus Christ's second coming. They also
teach that this spirit in man has consciousness, and
upon death, the good immortal souls go to be with God
awaiting the re-uniting of their immortal souls with their
new Spirit bodies in the resurrection to life. The other immortal
souls go to Hades, awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment
of Revelation 20:12-13 and then the lake of fire of Revelation
20:14-15. They get this interpretation by taking the parable
of Jesus about Lazarus and the rich man literally. Some other
Christian fellowships take this parable figuratively, while
taking the Scriptures quoted in Ecclesiastes literally and
adding up the other Scriptures about the spirit in man to
arrive at a slightly different belief about this spirit
in man. They believe that this spirit in man is like a
special non-physical component added by God to our human brains
which creates the human mind which has an incredible output
of intelligence, when the human brain is compared to the brain
of dolphins or chimps (whose brains are almost totally equal
to the human brain in both size and quality of design and
construction.) This they tie in with 1 Corinthians 2:11. Human
intelligence is the intelligence that allows humans to understand
such abstracts as Algebra, Calculus, history, literature,
and the physical universe around us. Animals have no such
comprehension. They don't even come close to matching the
output of the human brain and mind. These other fellowships
believe that this spirit in man also records or logs all of
a person's memories as well as recording the exact construction
of our physical bodies, right down to our fingerprints and
molecular structure. This spirit upon death, they believe,
goes to God's heaven where it is safely stored until God uses
it to resurrect the person it belonged to. Based on Ecclesiastes
9:4-6 they believe that this spirit component of our brains
can neither see, taste, feel, smell or hear, but merely acts
as a spirit software component added to our brain which vastly
multiplies the human brain's output far beyond that of animal
brain--even when certain species have almost physically identical
brains as far as construction and design are concerned. A
famous brain specialist and researcher who came into one of
these fellowships had previously come to the strong conclusion
that such a spirit component to our brains had to exist. No
other explanation could be given to explain the vast difference
in output of the human brain when compared to similar animal
brains. Then when God wants to resurrect a person he uses
this spirit to either create the likeness of him or her in
a beautiful Spirit body at this first resurrection Paul is
just about to describe, or for all those who have not come
to Christ or know him, at the period of time spoken of as
"the Great White Throne Judgment." These people will be resurrected
back into physical bodies composed of physical matter, just
as they were--recreated by what was recorded in their spirit
which went back to God upon the physical death of their
bodies. For both the just and unjust, since the dead know
nothing, the very next instant, the very next nanosecond,
they will be conscious in a resurrection, either the resurrection
to immortality or the Great White Throne Judgment--no wandering
souls in torment awaiting final judgment (this interpretation
they get from a literal interpretation of Ecclesiastes 9:4-6,
particularly the bolded parts of the verses.)
Many of the other Christian fellowships believe that our spirits,
immortal souls--if we are in Christ--rise to be with God until
this 1st resurrection spoken of by Paul, when they will be
re-united into new glorious Spirit bodies possessing eternal
life. And for all the rest of mankind, their "spirits or immortal
souls" wander the earth in separation from God until they
are re-united into physical bodies just like the ones they
had before death--at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment.
[Although the information the apostle Paul penned in 1 Corinthians
15 is essential to our salvation in Christ, these variations
in belief about the spirit in man definitely fall into
the area of secondary knowledge about salvation. i.e. Whichever
way your Christian conscience leads you to believe will in
no way hinder your salvation in Christ or hinder you from
being in this glorious resurrection God has planned for you
from before the world began. It is not my intention to go
into great Scriptural detail in the areas where the various
Christian fellowships differ in the secondary knowledge of
salvation. I will merely explain the differences and leave
it at that. My intention is to show the diversity of beliefs
amongst Christian fellowships without being
divisive--and that this diversity of beliefs in secondary
areas does not hinder our walk with Christ and our spiritual
development in and through him one single bit. Don't
forget, far greater diversity of belief existed between the
Jewish and Gentile Christians living at Rome, and yet Paul
said both groups were effectively covered by and under
the sacrifice of Christ (Romans 14:15).]
Paul goes on to talk about how sin and death entered the world
through Adam. Romans 6:23 as we read says that in Christ (the
second Adam) we are given eternal life. Death is the curse
of man which came through the first Adam. Eternal life comes
to us through Jesus Christ because he became the curse for
us on the cross so we can have eternal life in the resurrection
of the just.
Verses 29-34, Now if there is no resurrection, what will
those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not
raised at all, why are people baptized for them? [This is
the only place in the Bible that mentions baptism for the
dead. A bible doctrine can never really be given justification
based on one scriptural reference. This sort of falls into
the area of importance that having long or short hair does
in the Bible.] And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves
every hour? I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as
surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I
fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what
have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die
[Isaiah 22:13]."
Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good
character.' Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop
sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say
this to your shame."
As we have seen there is a certain order in the resurrection
of the dead (verses 23-28). Christ rose first, then the just
rise at his 2nd coming. The Bible teaches there is victory
over death. From this point on in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul begins
to explain in the best terms he can the resurrection to immortality,
1) plant -life, 2) differences in the species, 3) differences
in the heavenly bodies.
- In going from our physical bodies to Spirit bodies, look
at seeds and how they being dead in appearance, germinate
and grow into a beautiful plant. Today people are afraid
of death, but to Paul a Christian's death is a doorway,
a portal, to eternity.
- Look at the caterpillar and the butterfly, one an ugly
worm that eats leaves, which is then transformed into a
beautiful butterfly that drinks nectar. Nature is full of
these patterns which point to a greater glory for man.
- Then thirdly, Paul points to the stars. In Daniel 12 God
prophecied through Daniel that the righteous would shine
as the stars. In Revelation 1:13-18 we find a description
of how Jesus looks now, in his immortal state, glowing with
the brilliance of the sun in its full strength! Some day
we will be given eternal Spirit bodies. Our bodies are weak,
sown in corruption, and yet we will end up in these glorious
spirit bodies, glowing like the sun, for John states in
1 John 3:1-2, "Behold what manner of love the Father has
bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not
know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it
has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know
that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is." John had Jesus revealed to him on the
Isle of Patmos and in Revelation 1:13-18 we have a written
description of what Jesus looks like right now! John here
is saying we will be like Jesus, glowing as the very sun
in its' full strength! Paul's analogies fit the Scriptures.
We are sown from Adam, the first Adam, we will become like
the 2nd Adam, Jesus Christ, as he appeared to John in Revelation
1. We will not be God, for only God can be God. But we will
be like Jesus as he appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos
in vision. Paul also brings out that not everybody is going
to die, but some Christians, who are alive at the time of
Christ's 2nd coming will be changed in an instant, into
their immortal bodies, transformed from physical matter
into Spirit bodies of brilliance and power.
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