“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept”
(1 Corinthians 15:19-20)
In his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul identified certain particulars which pertain to our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ:
“… for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:10).
But what is the saving “life” being referred to here? It is sometimes thought that it must be the mortal life of Christ, when he condemned sin by not yielding to it’s influences. But Scripturally, the “life” is the resurrected life of Messiah, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15, our New Testament reading for the day. Sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3) was not condemned in Messiah’s mortal life: it was not yielded to, which is a different thing again. Rather, it was condemned (or “judged against”) in the death of our Redeemer, and finally destroyed through his victorious resurrection (cp 1 Cor. 15:54-57).
“if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” says Paul. But he continues to say “but now is Christ risen from the dead” – which is the foundation and hope of the believer’s faith. We must associate ourselves with the sacrificial death of the Lord, through submitting to Baptism, symbolically dying and rising again with Christ (Rom. 6:1-8). Those who rise up from the symbolic grave seek after heavenly, not carnal things:
“if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3).
So it is, that “the way of life is above to the wise, that he might depart from the grave beneath” (Prov. 15:24). Our life is bound up in Christ, upon the basis of his reviving again, and his resurrection to an unending life: we must therefore set our hearts and desires on heavenly things, so that when the Lord comes again, he will lead us into the glories of the Kingdom to come.
1 Corinthians 15 demonstrates the privileged position of Messiah’s brethren and sisters, upon the basis of his resurrection:
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20).
The plain teaching then, is that others will also be raised, upon the basis of his resurrection:
“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:23).
This theme also continues in Paul’s inspired letter to the Colossians:
“… he is the head of the body, the ecclesia: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Col. 1:18-19).
So it is, that the assembly of believers is “the general assembly and ecclesia of the firstborn, which are written in heaven …” (Heb. 12:23) – and their ultimate purpose being, that in the Christ-body, all the fulness of God will dwell – which we shall refer to again later in our remarks.
In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle continues to describe the principles by which salvation can come through Christ:
“… since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22).
It is a consequence of Adam’s sin, that we inherit a nature from him, which is both sinful and dying. That is:
“by one offence (AV margin) death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by one offence judgment came upon all men to condemnation: even so, by one righteousness the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:17-18).
Through being of physical descent from Adam, we inherit what the Apostle calls “our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11), or a “mortal body” (Rom. 6:12, 8:11). This is a misfortune that we bare blamelessly: we are not guilty for what Adam did, but we do inherit the consequences of it:
“… by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men …” (Rom. 5:12).
Death then, is a principle which passed upon all men. That which has the power of death (Heb. 2:14) is the diabolos, also known as “sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). It is the resident evil within the body that brings it to the grave.
But just as we inherit death from Adam, we can also inherit life from Jesus. In his sacrificial death it was demonstrated that God is righteous to require the condemnation of sin in the flesh, and in Baptism (see Romans 6), we align ourselves with that declaration, by associating ourselves with his death: “whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past … to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26).
By spiritually identifying ourselves with the sacrifice of Christ, we submit to him as a second Adam. We voluntarily change our allegiances, and seek to put to death, or “crucify” the flesh (Rom. 6:6). Hence Paul declared: “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). We walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4, 11), wholly devoted to the doing of our Father’s Will. Even so, because it so pleased our Father to deal representatively with us, whereas we involuntarily inherit death from Adam, we can voluntarily cross over into a new family, and inherit life from Jesus, the second Adam.
But the salvation of men is not an end in itself. The work of God in Christ was not solely to save sinners: rather it was the means whereby the greater purpose of God might be accomplished in the earth – which is to fill it with His Glory
Psalm 85 expresses this point:
“surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land” (Psa. 85:9).
So the purpose of Salvation then, is the facilitation of God’s glory dwelling in the land. That is, He will manifest Himself in a multitude of immortal men and women who display his glorious array of righteous attributes. This can only be accomplished by the salvation of sinners, lifting them out of the mire of humanity, and setting them on high in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
Proverbs 10:30 describes the same thing: “The righteous shall never be moved: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth”. Hence the earth will ultimately only be populated by “the righteous”, with the wicked being found no more.
Speaking of the way of salvation, the prophet Isaiah links it with Israel:
“Israel shall be saved in Yahweh with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. For thus saith Yahweh that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh; and there is none else” (Isa. 45:17-18).
Proverbs has it that “the righteous” will inhabit the earth, whereas Isaiah informs us that those inhabitants will be “Israel” who are saved with “an everlasting salvation”, “world without end”. These themes are brought together in Isaiah 60:
“thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified” (Isa. 60:21).
Notice, the righteous people are Israel, who “inherit the land for ever” in order that God be “glorified”.
ALL IN ALL
1 Corinthians 15 also speaks of the mission of the Kingdom:
“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 … and when all things shall be subdued under him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:24-28).
The end result, when the kingdom is delivered up to God, is that “God may be all in all”. This is often regarded as an enigmatic statement, beyond comprehension. But it ought not to be so: it’s meaning becomes apparent when we consider it’s use elsewhere.
We saw above that it is Israel that will be granted “everlasting salvation”. It logically follows therefore, that if we desire such salvation, we must become joined to Israel!
All these threads are pulled together in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Those who are without God in the world are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope” (Eph. 2:12). But those who are baptised into Christ – who are thus “in Christ” – are not so: “ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (vs 13). They are brought into the covenants of promise, and thus become part of Israel. But chapter 3 gives the purpose. Verse 19 speaks of those “who know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”. And a few verses later, we read: “unto him be glory in the ecclesia by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:21).
How are the believers to become “filled with all the fulness of God?” By declaring and demonstrating His Glory – His Glorious array of Attributes. And he will do this “world without end”! This is what it means for God to be “all in all:” Jesus is “to be the head over all things to the ecclesia, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). In other words, all of God will be in all of man – a glorious, immortal multitude. This will comprise the “Israel of God” who display the Glory of their Maker. Culled out from the kingdoms of men, by embracing the Hope of Israel, these will collectively comprise the glory that will eventually fill the entire earth.
Brother John Thomas wrote of this very succinctly, back in 1858:
“Men were not ushered into being for the purpose of being saved or lost. God-manifestation, not human salvation, was the grand purpose of the Eternal Spirit. The salvation of a multitude is incidental to the manifestation, but it was not the end proposed. The Eternal Spirit intended to enthrone himself on the earth, and, in so doing, to develop a Divine Family from among men, every one of whom shall be spirit because born of the Spirit, and that this family shall be large enough to fill the earth, when perfected, to the entire exclusion of flesh and blood”.
This is the ultimate end, which our Statement of Faith describes: “That the government will then be delivered up by Jesus to the Father, who will manifest Himself as the “all-in-all”; sin and death having been taken out of the way, and the race completely restored to the friendship of the Deity” (BASF, Clause XXX).
Christopher Maddocks
