Putting on immortality
Nov 12, 2014 9:16:57 GMT
Post by Colossians on Nov 12, 2014 9:16:57 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
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PUTTING ON IMMORTALITY
At 1 Corinthians 15:53, Paul mouths the following ‘immortal’ words:
“this mortal must put on immortality”.
The phrase is almost universally misunderstood.
It is not saying:
“that which is mortal shall convert to being immortal”,
but is rather and simply ‘Shakespearean’ eloquence for:
“I will (of necessity) no longer be mortal”
and is thus in accord with Paul’s (and Peter’s) elsewhere statements that we shall (at the end of our natural lives) put off this tabernacle in which we now reside (see Phil 1:23, 2 Pe 1:14).
So we shall be spirits, for spirits cannot expire.
But of course it goes further than mere expiry or otherwise, for if it stopped just at that then non-believers were to partake of the same blessing as we (for non-believers will also never expire), which is obviously not the case, for Paul is most certainly here speaking of a blessing peculiar to those in Christ.1
1 Accordingly, note that Paul has not merely said that he “shall” put on immortality, which had constituted a certainty for sure but nothing else besides, but that he “must” put on immortality, which speaks (more gloriously) to (the) compulsion ‘forced’ by our Lord’s victory at Calvary.
In order then to fully appreciate what Paul is saying, we need to remind ourselves of his elsewhere directive that we are to “mortify” [(put to death)] the deeds of the body”: we are not to live for the flesh but the spirit, in so doing becoming less (spiritually) mortal in God’s eyes. This is then where physical mortality and spiritual mortality come together, and why the eradication of spiritual mortality necessarily entails the eradication of the flesh, for the mortality of the flesh speaks to spiritual death, and the flesh is of its very substance, incontrovertibly mortal.
The teaching then is this: our not living to any degree whatsoever for the flesh in the afterlife, will come together with our no longer being in the flesh in the afterlife: the verb aspect (our mindset) and the noun aspect (our ‘form’) will be in agreement with each other. So rather than saying that our flesh will be resurrected, this “this mortal must put on immortality” in fact implies the very opposite: the flesh shall never be resurrected, but rather it shall be a case of “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen 3:19).
In a nutshell, both non-believers and believers will be eternal spirits in the afterlife. The non-believers will continue to have a fleshly mind just as Satan does now even though he is not in the flesh,2 and thus they will burn before the ‘throne’ of the Lamb by virtue of such discord between themselves and the mind of Him who occupies that ‘throne’; and the believers will have a spiritual mind which will necessitate that it will indeed be heaven to ‘stand’ before the ‘throne’ for eternity. For heaven and hell are not places, but states of spiritual experience.3
2 (This is indeed why he was cast ‘down’ to the realm of the flesh.)
3 See also our work: “Heaven and hell”.
So the flesh we are in at the moment is, although not death itself, nevertheless that which represents death by virtue of vanity, for the flesh is of no value to Him who is called “the Father of spirits” (Heb 12:9).
“if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” Rom 8:10.
And so the flesh shall never be resurrected.
What then might putting on immortality consist of? Well to put on life of course, which is to put on Christ.
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” Rom 13:14.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” John 14:6 – Jesus Christ.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” 2 Cor 4:16.
Amen.
(For a full exposition on the resurrection, see our work: “Our ‘form’ in the resurrection”.)
_________________________
PUTTING ON IMMORTALITY
At 1 Corinthians 15:53, Paul mouths the following ‘immortal’ words:
“this mortal must put on immortality”.
The phrase is almost universally misunderstood.
It is not saying:
“that which is mortal shall convert to being immortal”,
but is rather and simply ‘Shakespearean’ eloquence for:
“I will (of necessity) no longer be mortal”
and is thus in accord with Paul’s (and Peter’s) elsewhere statements that we shall (at the end of our natural lives) put off this tabernacle in which we now reside (see Phil 1:23, 2 Pe 1:14).
So we shall be spirits, for spirits cannot expire.
But of course it goes further than mere expiry or otherwise, for if it stopped just at that then non-believers were to partake of the same blessing as we (for non-believers will also never expire), which is obviously not the case, for Paul is most certainly here speaking of a blessing peculiar to those in Christ.1
1 Accordingly, note that Paul has not merely said that he “shall” put on immortality, which had constituted a certainty for sure but nothing else besides, but that he “must” put on immortality, which speaks (more gloriously) to (the) compulsion ‘forced’ by our Lord’s victory at Calvary.
In order then to fully appreciate what Paul is saying, we need to remind ourselves of his elsewhere directive that we are to “mortify” [(put to death)] the deeds of the body”: we are not to live for the flesh but the spirit, in so doing becoming less (spiritually) mortal in God’s eyes. This is then where physical mortality and spiritual mortality come together, and why the eradication of spiritual mortality necessarily entails the eradication of the flesh, for the mortality of the flesh speaks to spiritual death, and the flesh is of its very substance, incontrovertibly mortal.
The teaching then is this: our not living to any degree whatsoever for the flesh in the afterlife, will come together with our no longer being in the flesh in the afterlife: the verb aspect (our mindset) and the noun aspect (our ‘form’) will be in agreement with each other. So rather than saying that our flesh will be resurrected, this “this mortal must put on immortality” in fact implies the very opposite: the flesh shall never be resurrected, but rather it shall be a case of “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen 3:19).
In a nutshell, both non-believers and believers will be eternal spirits in the afterlife. The non-believers will continue to have a fleshly mind just as Satan does now even though he is not in the flesh,2 and thus they will burn before the ‘throne’ of the Lamb by virtue of such discord between themselves and the mind of Him who occupies that ‘throne’; and the believers will have a spiritual mind which will necessitate that it will indeed be heaven to ‘stand’ before the ‘throne’ for eternity. For heaven and hell are not places, but states of spiritual experience.3
2 (This is indeed why he was cast ‘down’ to the realm of the flesh.)
3 See also our work: “Heaven and hell”.
So the flesh we are in at the moment is, although not death itself, nevertheless that which represents death by virtue of vanity, for the flesh is of no value to Him who is called “the Father of spirits” (Heb 12:9).
“if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” Rom 8:10.
And so the flesh shall never be resurrected.
What then might putting on immortality consist of? Well to put on life of course, which is to put on Christ.
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” Rom 13:14.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” John 14:6 – Jesus Christ.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” 2 Cor 4:16.
Amen.
(For a full exposition on the resurrection, see our work: “Our ‘form’ in the resurrection”.)