he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?”
Gospel of John 11:25-26 RSV
The Son of God Who rose from the dead after being sacrificed on a cross for those who believe until His coming again, authoritively ANSWERED the timeless questions of mortal men, women and curious children of WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?
Many men have pondered this relative relationship between the timeless Creator of all things with mortal men made in his image.
Before Christ
Job 3:
of the grave
“There the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary of strength are at rest. “The prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. “The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.
“Why is light given to him who is troubled, And life to the bitter of soul, Who long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for hidden treasures, Who are glad with joy, And rejoice when they find the grave?
“But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matt 22:31-32 NAS)
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” (Heb 9:27-28 NAS)
The body dies — returns to the dust from which God created mankind. And the soul — not just the breath of life,brain or your lifeless heart where blood flows no more — your soul and mine will return to its place in the light of THE LORD or judged — separated from Christ and God — to the place of darkness and punishment.
The Apostle Paul, whose Scriptures anchor the Apostles’ Creed, explains resurrection more thoroughly in his first epistle to the Saints in Corinth:
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… If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
The Apostle addresses issues of unbelief in the Church, as well as growing heresies about Jesus Christ, His body and His Spirit.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive...
The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Then quoting and answering the Prophets Isaiah and Hosea, Paul writes:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
1 Corinthians 15 excerpts continued
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand…
Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their witness of Jesus and because of the word of God..
And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
.. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Then I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened…
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. “I am the bread of life.
Is death not the antithesis of LIFE —decay into deep darkness the defeat of created man?
How can the resurrection of the dead — even those martyred in Christ — take place?
The Apostle Paul continues to address the concerns of the Corinthian church putting all things in order and now addressing THE END.
The Order of Resurrection
The apostle to the gentiles (Hellenists, that is, Greeks including Corinthians) began his logical argument with The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection and logically continued to connect those facts.
LAST TIME, we ended with Paul’s astounding opening statement about death and resurrection about an ORDER of the Resurrection:
Then comes the end…
1 Corinthians 15:24a CSB
I stumbled over it. Do you?
THE END…
Isn’t DEATH, after all, the end?
And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love You make…
“1,2,3,4,5,6,7, All good children go to heaven… Everybody’s laughing Everybody’s happy Here come the Sun King…
Of course, we all have much anti-Christ philosophy replaying in the mortal minds of our imaginings (it isn’t hard to do..).
The cultural challenges of the resurrection were no less for Paul and the Corinthians than the Promethean philosophical objections of the 20th century and this Common Era.
AGAIN, as we first addressed in the Facts:
Cultural ‘science‘ of Promethean Logic
Prometheus, in Greek religion, one of the Titans, the supreme trickster, and a god of fire. His intellectual side was emphasized by the apparent meaning of his name, Forethinker. In common belief he developed into a master craftsman, and in this connection he was associated with fire and the creation of mortals.
Perhaps they also hope against hope that these things aren’t really so..
in a self-deceived way..
the problem here is not merely cognitive..
but.. Promethean…
from WARRANTED CHRISTIAN BELIEF PP290-294
NO – Death is NOT ‘The End.’
The Apostle Paul will address this — DEATH and its threats did not phase him and should not prevent those possibly facing martyrdom for claiming Jesus Christ and the resurrection to the crowds of Corinth.
What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus?
If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Paul has emphasized order in worship and now, the Apostle even presents an order in the resurrection of the dead, rather than random godless chaos without form.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Cor 15:3-4 KJV
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
v. 20
AND what were the instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Twelve sent to some with the Gospel?
The Fruit of Faith (an illustration from a parable of Jesus)
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear:
Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Gospel of Luke 12:4-5 KJV – Jesus on death and judgment
Some foreboding in our Lord's call to stand up to death — is there not?
Saul of Tarsus & the fearless witness of Paul
When Paul had met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, Christ’s newapostle to the gentilescame to understand the reality of WHY those Saul had previously persecuted and killed had not changed their testimony — even as these saints of Ephesus or Corinth faced mortal death.
(And remember Stephen as he was stoned to death in Jerusalem?)
Just three or four years after he writes to the Corinthians, Paul also will witness the resurrection to King Herod Agrippa II, hearing his case brought by the Jews until Paul appeals to Caesar.
Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
WHAT AN ILLUSTRATON! — āḏām [man – אָדָם] — made in the image of God — now mortal and re-destined to dust — in Christ (and Christ alone) redeemed and revived from DEATH — death, common to every creature made alive for a time by God.
Let me explain the REIGN of Christ, Paul reasons:
Once again, in the more AUTHORITIVE-sounding King James Version, let's examine Paul's text in words provoking push-back from Christians unaccustomed to such absolute authority of a most-powerful King.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;
when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
At the same time the wicked shall rise also. But they are not taken here into the account.
v. 23
Then — After the resurrection and the general judgment. Cometh the end — Of the world..
When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and he (the Father) shall have abolished all adverse rule, authority and power — Not that the Father will then begin to reign without the Son, nor will the Son then cease to reign…
But this is spoken of the Son’s mediatorial kingdom.. which will then commence.
John Wesley; Parallel Commentary on the NEW TESTAMENT, p.580
John Wesley provides explanation and delineation of the roles of the Father and of the Son — in the time between the resurrection of ALL the dead and prior to the Judgment — and until the end.
The King James Bible Commentary provides additional insight into Paul's explanation to the Corinthians of the end time.
” The logic is inescapable.
KJB Commentary on 1 COR 15:14 , p.1496
If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain.
The proclamation of the Gospel (vs.1-11) is hollow. Not only that, but your faith is .. ‘groundless.’
Faith in a dead saviour is both preposterous and pathetic.
ibid.
Much in the way Wesley's explanation of 'Who does what?' helps us, the KJB commentary also guides our understanding of the order of THE END [vs.23-26].
The end refers to he end of the kingdom of God. At that time he will have put down all rule.
27-28 .. However two facts must be accounted for here:
First, when Paul say s that the Son is subject to the Father he is not speaking of the Son in terms of his essence, but in terms of his function, or ministry, as the incarnate Son.
Second.. At this present time the administration of the messianic kingdom is given to the Son.
However, at the conclusion of the messianic kingdom this function will be returned to the triune God that God may be all in all.
ibid.
WE don’t trust God, because of many who have claimed God — or Christ Jesus — in ways worthy of our suspicion.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
The Apostle Paul is trying to show the Corinthians (and us) something about the order of God we do not understand, as well as the Authority all flesh tends to resist.
ὑποτάσσω – ‘Put under’ (in order)
Believe only Scripture and an order of the resurrection makes sense in the redemptive providential plan of God.
Misapply portions of the Gospel or add an oversimplified imagined LIFE after death without consequence for opposing God and your gospel claims will prove false — Promethean in the sense that you know that it can NOT be true (but you continue to hope that it is).
Take a look at the Biblical use of the word — hypotassō — primarily a military term that Paul uses NINE TIMES here IN TWO VERSES:
1 Corinthians 15:25-28 — For He must reign…
v.26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath putG5293 all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under G5293him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put G5293 all things under G5293 him.
And when all things shall be subduedG5293 unto him, then shall G5293 the Son also himself be subject G5293 unto him that putG5293 all things underG5293 him, that God may be all in all.
How does New Testament Scripture use this term [ὑποτάσσω]?
to arrange under, to subordinate
to subject, put in subjection
to subject one’s self, obey
to submit to one’s control
to yield to one’s admonition or advice
to obey, be subject
Personally, most of us (including Christians) do not like any part of this kind of order.
Let every soul be subject G5293 unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Romans 13:1 KJV
How are YOU, dear saint of Christ, doing with that?
YES, the Apostle Paul — put under Christ — obediently presents the resurrection of the body in order.
NEXT, he will talk about the resurrection body. And shortly Paul will urge the saints of Corinth to submit to those who have labored with the Apostle bringing forth the firstfruits of Achaia [16:15-16].
What do you think?
(logically and Biblically, of course) about the order of DEATH and the Resurrection?
Are you prepared to die daily (along with Paul) for the Lord Christ Jesus?
The FACTS established, now the Apostle to the Gentiles must convince believing Corinthians influenced by cultural ‘scientists of Promethean logic‘ about the truth of the nature of the resurrection of the dead.
How can worshippers of myths — a myriad of made-up gods and goddesses — purport LOGIC as truth?
How can we present the resurrection of the dead as truth rather than myth (upon which Greek religion tenuously stands)?
This is Paul’s cultural challenge — and ours.
Resurrection is Key to the Gospel
Even Jerusalem’s Sadducees denied the truth and evidence of the resurrection.
Certainly many Greek worshippers of pagan gods held philosophies allowing the evil of the body to coexistence with a soul (hopefully) worthy of heaven.
Paul had encountered such opposition in Athens just before he arrived in Corinth to preach.
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked...
Note that this mocking at mention of the resurrection is similar to that in Jerusalem at the time many Jews received the Holy Spirit.
They believe these things, but hate them; and they also hate God.
WARRANTED CHRISTIAN BELIEF P.291
Is it not so? Hasn’t this hatred of God also been your experience simply at the mention of Jesus Christ?
Pagan ridicule of the resurrection provides false evidence to their Promethean proofs justifying the sins their flesh-indulged minds.
This was the challenge of the Apostle Paul in A.D. 55, as it is ours in this Common Era of indulgent inclusion.
IF Christ is risen..
Paul has established the indisputable facts of the bodily death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now he continues in his key logic of the gospel of resurrection of the body and spirit.
1 Corinthians 15: –
“.. this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
1 COR 15:11b BSB
: RESURRECTION IS: CERTAIN (15:1-34)
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead,
how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Paul now addresses those believing doubters of the resurrection influenced by the surrounding pagan culture.
The Apostle follows a step-by-step logical argument:
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1 Cor 15:13 ESV
These logical Greek Corinthians hear the argument of the Pharisee (Saul of Tarsus) refuting the unbelieving Sadducees.
— AND Paul has just presented the FACTS and evidence that Christ was raised from the grave after His crucifixion.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
1 Cor 15:14 ESV
SO — You are a follower of The Way – a saint of your local church…
WHY THEN did we preach Christ to you and your fellow saints?
Is your faith in a myth just vanity?
And Paul continues rhetorically challenging the veracity of his own preaching of the Christ and Jesus' resurrection from DEATH on a Roman cross in Judea.
The apostle of this gospel self-convicts in this alternative scenario concluding:
We are even found to be misrepresenting God,
because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
1 Cor 15:15 ESV
Heresy!
What is the Apostle’s proposition?
YOU — Corinthians — (and YOU, Common Era questioners) — must judge the TRUTH of the RESURRECTION of the dead based on the FACTS & EVIDENCE that the Lord Jesus Christ was the first man raised from death for your sins.
Why do I make the bold point that this would be HERESY?
Other translations provide a more pointed translation of the Greek that may help us understand the seriousness of Paul's alternative false proposition.
NOW Paul continues in the only logical conclusion: :
But now [at this very moment] is Christ risen from the dead
1 Corinthians 15:20a – KJV [def. Gk. νυνί]
The Apostle here is emphatic in his belief proclaimed in his closing.
“But in fact..,” “At this very moment..,” “And now..,
Christ hath risen out of the dead,” read just a few English translations of Paul’s logical Greek argument.
Then Paul proclaims the benefits of Christ’s resurrection applied to the death of those in Christ.
Christ’s resurrection + the firstfruits
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…
.. Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
1 Cor 15:20,23b ESV
Between Paul’s representation of the resurrection of Christ and resurrections of ‘those who belong to Christ’ — (faithful saints of the Church redeemed in Him) — the Apostle points back once more to original sin and the source of death replacing eternal life with God.
IN THE BEGINNING…
For as in Adam all die…
Paul proclaims:
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
IN THE BEGINNING God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void…
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed… But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 1-2 KJV excerpts
IN ADAM… ALL DIE.
IN ABRAHAM & JACOB.. ALL DIE.
IN MOSES ALL DIE
and IN DAVID… ALL DIE!
in Christ all will be made alive. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
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