Wednesday May 24
Shedding the Tent
“Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting [you] in remembrance;
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.” 2 Pet. 1:13, 14.
In 1956, Oscar Cullmann wrote a short study called Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?: The Witness of the New Testament. He argued that the concept of the resurrection is quite incompatible with the concept of the immortal soul. Furthermore, he said that the New Testament lies squarely on the side of the resurrection of the dead.
“No other publication of mine,” he later wrote, “has provoked such enthusiasm or such violent hostility.”
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-57.
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?
15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then [is] our preaching vain, and your faith [is] also vain.
15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain; ye are yet in your sins.
15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them that slept.
15:21 For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead.
15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
15:24 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.
15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
15:26 The last enemy [that] shall be destroyed [is] death.
15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under [him, it is] manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
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?
15:30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak [this] to your shame.
15:35 But some [man] will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
15:36 [Thou] fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other [grain]:
15:38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
15:39 All flesh [is] not the same flesh: but [there is] one [kind of] flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, [and] another of birds.
15:40 [There are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another.
15:41 [There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory.
15:42 So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.
15:46 Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
15:47 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.
15:48 As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.
15:54 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.
15:55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?
15:56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law.
15:57 But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does Paul imply happens in death?
"We shall not all sleep...." The vile corrupt body is buried and the person sleeps. But, when Christ returns to take His faithful ones home, they shall come forth in new bodies that are not corrupt. "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption." Is having a corrupt vile body an excuse for sin? If not, why not?
A study of what the New Testament says about death and resurrection has convinced most New Testament scholars that Cullman was correct. The New Testament indeed assumes the concept of resurrection, not the concept of an immortal soul that survives the death of the body. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, Paul urges those who have lost loved ones to death to be comforted with the knowledge that when Jesus returns again, He will raise the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15:12-57, Paul gives an extended description of resurrection. He begins by pointing out that Christian faith is based on the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus was not raised, then any faith in Him is futile. But, says Paul, Christ has indeed risen from the dead, as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And Christ’s resurrection from the dead makes it possible for all those in Him to rise from the dead, as well.
Paul talks about the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50. He contrasts the new bodies we will receive in the resurrection with our present bodies. What we have now will die; what we will have in the resurrection never will.
In summary, when the New Testament talks about death, it does so in terms of resurrection, not immortality of the soul. This is important to know as a background to reading 2 Peter 1:12-14.
Yes, it is good to know. Most Seventh-day Adventists have been well instructed in the state of the dead an the resurrection. But, we have not been very well instructed in what it means to be converted. Therefore we as a people remain in a "blind" Laodicean state, which is a lost condition. Therefore, let us look at these two verses Peter has shared in their context. It is not a study on the state of the dead, but a tearful plea that after Peter dies, we remember what he is teaching. As I go back and look at what he said in the verses just prior to his plea, I find this statement which is most important for us today.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Why do I bring this up again? Because Peter has just told us to "remember". “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance."
When we give the whole heart to Christ, then we will have supernatural power to overcome any temptation that God allows to come to us. Even though we live in fallen flesh, we have a dual nature. In Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, we are partakers of Christ's divine nature. When we are truly converted and filled with the Spirit, we have a precious promise that many fail to claim. " There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13.
We may ask an important question after being reminded of this promise. Does the promise ever fail you? Do God's promises ever fail? No, they do not. Then why would we ever be tempted beyond what we can bear? If the promise does not fail, then what is the problem? The promise has conditions. What conditions? We must be in a converted state, we must be fully surrendered. Self must be dead, and we must be partakers of God's divine nature in order to resist the smallest temptation to sin. If we are not truly converted, then the promise is not ours to claim.
Now, we see the need of Jesus to walk on water. We must be partakers of His divine nature, then we will do all that God asks of us. Then, there is no condemnation for us when we are walking after the Spirit, not after the flesh. If we have not His Spirit, if self remains alive, then we have not eternal life and can do no good thing. This is what Peter wants us to remember, not the state of the dead.