QUES. 15.-Please explain Rom. 8:11, "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." Is this quickening present or future, as in 1 Cor. 15:54?

ANS.-Without doubt the quickening refers to the future. In no sense is the body spoken of as now quickened. If it were, there would be no need of the resurrection. ''The body is dead because of sin," it is the spirit which is alone life. But the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the pledge of the resurrection or quickening of the mortal body. The Spirit is spoken of as ''The Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead," and it is by, or rather on account of, the presence of the Spirit now dwelling in the believer that his mortal body will be quickened. The body of the saint, in itself, differs in nothing from that of the sinner, save that it has been purchased, and in the power of the Spirit the believer can now present it a living sacrifice to God, yielding his members as instruments of righteousness. But we groan being burdened, " waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body." Therefore to claim resurrection life for the body now would be to declare that the resurrection is past, and if this were the case, the believer could not die. Without doubt the application of this doctrine to the subject of bodily healing has misled many, and is a grave error. Paul had the life of Jesus manifest in his mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:10, 11), but that is the exact reverse of resurrection life for the body; it was the excellency of a power not inherent in him, and working out through what was subject to death and weakness and decay. "Alway delivered unto death" does not speak of the throb of resurrection life, but it does give an opportunity for the exhibition of the power of Christ to rest upon the feeblest instrument.

QUES. 16.-Does Phil. 3:21 refer exclusively to the change of the living at Christ's coming, or to the resurrection of the dead in Christ also? Is identification involved, or do the saints have new bodies apart from identity? (1 Cor. 15:36-38).

ANS.-We might say that death is not contemplated for the Christian, so that a special revelation was given to comfort as to those who had fallen asleep, to show that they would in no wise be losers as compared with the living (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Therefore while the form of the verse speaks only of those whose bodies of humiliation will be changed, its spirit would assure us that the sleeping saints will be included. The corruptible, the dead, will put on incorruption, and the mortal, the living, will put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:50-53). As to the identity, there can be no question, for our Lord, the first-fruits, has established that. ''To every seed his own body "shows the identity, while "God giveth it a body as it has pleased Him " shows how far the resurrection body will transcend this body of humiliation.

QUES. 17.-Why is the manna called the Mighty's meat?

ANS.-"Bread of the Mighty" is the proper rendering of Ps. 78:25, and seems to suggest the omnipotence of the One who was providing for Israel and the sustaining character of the food supplied to them in the wilderness. Of course, it is all typical of Him who is the true bread of God, the bread which gives life, Christ the sustainer of His people all through their pilgrimage.