May 16, 2021
CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND OURS (PART II)
INTRODUCTION:
1. There can be no greater absurdity than that professed Christians should deny the resurrection, that doctrine which is the keystone of their faith. Yet there were some in the church at Corinth, even teachers, who were denying the resurrection. (Vse. 12)
2. It is the resurrection of Christ that proves beyond all doubt that he is indeed the true Messiah. (Luke 24:46) It is the resurrection of Christ that secures the resurrection of the dead in Christ at His coming. Yet, there has been no period in the history of the church when there were not some within its ranks who opposed those very doctrines, including the resurrection, that are foundational to the Christian faith.
3. Such heretics have been called rationalists, modernists, liberals, etc., but whatever their label, their heresies are deadly. Therefore, Paul began by establishing beyond all doubt that Jesus died and rose again according to the Scriptures,
(Verses 1-4) and that it was a fact well attested. (Verses 5-11)
4. Paul, using a hypothetical, shows the unthinkable results that must follow, “if there be no resurrection of the dead…” (Verses 13-19)
5. He now leaves the hypothetical, and declares the positive fact. “But now is Christ risen, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” (Vse. 20) He proceeds to establish the resurrection of the dead in Christ, based on the fact that Christ is risen. (Verses 20-34)
I. FROM THE SAVIOR’S RESURRECTION THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD IN CHRIST IS ESTAB-LISHED. (VERSES 20-28) All of the gloomy consequences presented in the preceding verses follow from the assumption that Christ did not rise from the dead. “But, now is Christ risen.” So therefore, our preaching is not vain, our faith is not vain, we are not in our sins, the dead in Christ are not perished, and we are not the most miserable of men. Christ has not only risen, but He has risen in representative character.
A. CHRIST’S RESURRECTION IS THE PLEDGE OF THE RESURRECTION OF HIS PEOPLE. (VRS. 20-22)
1. That He rose as the firstfruits does not only mean that His resurrection preceded theirs, but it was the first sheaf of the harvest presented to God as a thank offering, and was the pledge and assurance of the ingathering of the whole harvest. So His resurrection is a pledge and proof of the resurrection of His people. (Vse. 20)
2. As Adam was the cause of our death, so Christ is the cause of our life. (Vse. 20) Christ’s resurrection secures the resurrection of His people, because as there was a casual relation between the death of Adam and the death of his descendants, so there is a casual relation between the resurrection of Christ and that of His people. As death was by means of man, so life was by means of man. Why this is so is explained in the next verse.
3. As Adam secured death for all that are in him, so Christ secures life for all that are in Him. (Vse. 22) Union with Adam is the cause of death; union with Christ is the cause of life. (See Rom. 5:12-21)
a) As union with Christ is made the ground of the communication of life, it can be extended only to those who are in him. (II Cor. 5:17)
b) Although there shall be a general resurrection which shall also include the wicked dead (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15; etc.), this passage has only to do with the dead in Christ. The verb (zoopoieo) of which we have here the future, passive, indicative form, which reads “shall be made alive,” is never used of the wicked. Whenever used in reference to the work of Christ it always means to communicate to His people that life of which He himself is the source. (John 5:21; 6:63; Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 15:45; Gal. 3:21)
c) The real meaning of the verse therefore is, “as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made partakers of a glorious and everlasting life.”
B. CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION SECURES THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD IN CHRIST AT HIS COMING AT THE END OF THE AGE. (VERSES 23, 24)
1. Though our resurrection is secured by His resurrection being tied to it, the two are not contemporaneous. (Vse. 23)
2. Christ arose from the dead, but subsequently ascended back to heaven; back to the Father’s right hand, where He conducts His Mediatorial reign, and shall do so until all of His enemies are put under His feet.
3. Then is the final consummation when Christ as Mediator shall deliver up the providential kingdom to the Father. (Vse. 24)
4. The kingdom that He shall thus deliver up to the Father is that dominion which was given to Him over all powers in heaven and earth, which He shall deliver up when all of the work of redemption is fully accomplished. Since Christ’s Kingdom is everlasting, and of His dominion there shall be no end, this must be understood as referring to His Mediatorial dominion, which He received from the Father (Matt. 28:18), and which shall have an end.
(Vse. 24a)
C. IT IS NECESSARY THAT CHRIST MEDIATORIAL RULE, TO WHICH HE WAS EXALTED AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, SHOULD CONTINUE UNTIL THE END COME,WHEN HIS GREAT WORK OF SUB-DUING AND RESTRAINING EVIL IS ACCOMPLISHED. (VERSES 25-28)
1. He must maintain his dominion until he has destroyed all of his enemies. (Vse. 25; Psalm 110:1; Matt. 22:44;
Eph. 1:20-23; Heb. 1:13; 2:8, 9)
2. The last enemy which he must destroy is death itself. (Vse. 26) Then men shall nevermore be subject to its power. Then death shall be swallowed up in victory. (Vse. 54) “Neither shall they die anymore.” (Luke 20:36)
3. The proof that death is finally to be destroyed is taken from Psalm 8:6, which is here referenced. (Vse. 27) That Psalm predicts that all things shall be in subjection to the Messiah.
4. When the work of redemption has been accomplished, the dead raised, the judgment held, the enemies of Christ all subdued, then, and not until then, shall the Son also Himself be subject to Him Who put all things under Him.
(Vse. 28) This verse parallels Vse. 24. The subjection of the Son to the Father means precisely what is meant by His delivering up the kingdom to God, even the Father. The subjection of which the Apostle here speaks is not of the eternal Logos, the second person of the Trinity, any more than the kingdom referred to in Vse. 24 is that eternal dominion which belongs to the Son of God eternally.
II. SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS BY WHICH THE APOSTLE FURTHERS HIS AURGUMENT FOR THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD IN CHRIST. (VERSES 29-34)
A. THE CASE OF THOSE WHO WERE BAPTIZED FOR THE DEAD. (VSE. 29) This verse has been interpreted in many ways, and a variety of possible explanations have been offered, some of which seem more plausible than others.
1. Some think that Paul here speaks figuratively of baptism. Jesus referred to his suffering and death as a baptism. (Luke 12:50) Thus, why would any endure such suffering, even martyrdom, if there were no resurrection? This view does not seem very likely.
2. It is possible that Paul is referring to some practice which existed in his time, the knowledge of which is now lost. Perhaps there was a custom similar to that which was afterward practiced by the Corinthians and Marcionites that had already been introduced at Corinth which involved vicarious baptisms, allowing a living person to be baptized for someone who died without the hope of salvation.
a) Objections to this view are that the practice was superstitious and heretical, and would therefore have been immediately condemned by Paul.
b) However, that would not necessarily be so. We have already considered two cases in which things disapproved in the church were mentioned without his immediate condemnation of the error.
(1) See Ch. 11:5 with Ch. 14:34 and I Tim. 2:11, 12.
(2) See Ch. 10:8 with Ch. 10:14-22.
c) Perhaps this may have been one of those things which he left “to be set in order when he came.” (Ch. 11:34)
d) In any case, the question would be valid, and serve to make his point. “What shall they do which are baptized for the dead?” If the dead rise not, what sense did it make? (Notice, he did not say “What shall we do,” but… “they.”)
3. Others think “the dead” here means Christ. Why would they be baptized in the name of a dead Christ? He had already established that “if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is not Christ risen.” (Vse. 13) Baptism has no meaning at all if Christ is not risen. (Rom. 6:4, 5)
4. Others take the Apostle’s words as referring to the true Christian ordinance of baptism, according to which the believer is baptized as dead. Why are we baptized as the dead, if there is no resurrection which is symbolized in the completion of the ceremony?
5. There are other less plausible views, which we need not to mention.
B. THE CASE OF HIS OWN CONDUCT AND OTHERS WHO ENCOUNTERED PERPETUAL HAZARDS FOR SAKE OF THE GOSPEL. (VERSES 30-32; II COR. 11:23ff)
1. The reason why he counted not his own life dear was that he had the hope of the life to come. He therefore feared not him who could destroy the body only. (Acts 20:24; Rom. 8:36; Luke 12:4)
2. If there be no resurrection, they were not only of all men most miserable, they were of all men most foolish too.
3. Paul assured his readers that he was in constant jeopardy. “I die daily.” He was indeed constantly exposed to death. (II Cor. 4:10)
4. He likens the violent murderous men who constantly sought to kill him to wild beasts. (Vse. 32) We believe he, here, speaks figuratively, since exposure to wild beasts is not mentioned in the long enumerations of his sufferings and II Cor. 11:23- 29.
III. THE APOSTLE CONCLUDES HIS ARGUMENT WITH A CAUTION, AN EXHORTATION, AND A REPROOF. (VERSES 33, 34)
A. HE CAUTIONS AGAINST THE CORRUPTING INFLUENCE OF EVIL ASSOCIATIONS. (VSE. 33)
1. Perhaps those who denied the resurrection were the sort of men who say “let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
2. The Apostle grants that the Christian’s life and walk was in hope of the future state. (Verses 19, 30, 32) But, having confuted their principal, he now warns how dangerous the lifestyle of such men can be.
3. It is best not to keep company with those whose influence is corrupting. (Prov. 13:20)
B. HE EXHORTS THEM TO STIR THEMSELVES UP TO LEAD MORE HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS LIVES. (VSE. 34a) “Awake to righteousness and sin not.”
1. We must ever be stirring ourselves up, using every means of grace available to us.
2. One means of awakening ourselves to righteousness is live in the hope of the life to come.
C. HE SHARPLY REPROVES SOME AMONG THEM. (VSE. 34b) “Some of you have not the knowledge of God.”
1. Perhaps some who were believers were too much ignorant of God and His Word.
2. No doubt, some were unbelievers, and knew not the Lord. What a shame!!
3. How tragic that within every church, even the best of churches, there are some who have no heart knowledge of God and of His salvation.
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