5.-ON THE RESURRECTION-BODY

(The 5th chapter of 2nd Corinthians was read.)

B. C. G.-In view of the fact that "we look not at the things which are seen, but the things that are unseen," how do you explain the warning of the apostle, in Colossians 2, against " intruding into the things not seen ? "

C. C.-When guided by revelation, by the Scriptures, there is no intrusion.

B.C. G.-Ah, that's it; if we hold to what God has been pleased to reveal in His holy Word we have the fullest liberty to look into the things that are unseen.

C. C.-We are not to give reign to our imaginations. We are dependent on revelation for what is otherwise altogether beyond our horizon.

B. C. G.-We can know nothing of what is beyond this life by our five senses. We must know it by faith which receives what God has revealed. Now what is the force of " our earthly house of this tabernacle ?"

C. C.-It is our present body. A few remarks on the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness may be helpful. There was an exterior part, and an interior one. To the ordinary Israelite one was visible; the other was invisible to him. It is the same with us; there is what is material and seen, and what is immaterial and not seen. God has so constituted us.

B. C. G.-That is what man as man is-without regard to conversion or a second birth. All men are both physical and spiritual.

C. C.-Yes; and death is the end of this condition, at least for a time. While we do not apply the term to the inner man, yet death is, in fact, the taking down of the tabernacle, a separation of the spiritual from the material.

H. A.. I.-That is what we have in James, is it not?-"As the body without the spirit is dead,"etc.. That is what we understand by death. The body is left without the spirit.

B. C. G.-It is the destruction of "our earthly house of this tabernacle."

C. C.-Yes; and so there should be no difficulty about the house being the body, a temporary building or structure. The tabernacle was suited to the wilderness. Our body is suited to this present earthly life.

B. C. G.-Called in Job, "houses of clay." C. C.-Just so; and it is of the dissolution of the temporary building that the apostle speaks here, " if our earthly tabernacle-house be dissolved."

F. J. E.-That is the body falling into decay. Death would be, then, the separation of the parts of man, but it in no wise involves extinction.

C. C.-Neither the spirit nor the body becomes extinct at death. It is simply a change of condition. By death man passes out of the present condition into another condition of existence. And the resurrection is the passing out of that separated condition into a different condition of existence again. But it is the same man, the same identity, all through. Conditions change, but personality abides.

H. A. I.-We are told that our material bodies are completely changed every seven years, and some say, even more frequently. Yet we have a consciousness of being the same persons. Our personality is unchanged from year to year, and so in regard to the greater changes yet to come. The same life is in the butterfly that was in the grub.

Ques.-You say that our present bodies are material, what of the resurrection-body ? Was the resurrection-body of the Lord Jesus material ?

C. C.-Yes; only it had become spiritualized. And so with our resurrection-bodies.

Ques.-What then is the condition of the departed believer between death and resurrection ? Is the spirit any more secure than when here on earth in the body ?

C. C.-The believer now is saved; he could not be any more secure than he is at present. In the departed state he is with Christ, at rest; he is not looking for judgment, as in the case of the unsaved.

B. C. G.-It is evident, from the little that Scripture tells us regarding the intermediate state, that believers will be fully conscious and with clearer mentality than here. We shall know even as we ourselves have been known. The wicked too will be fully conscious and awake to what had hitherto seemed of small moment to them.

H. A. I.-We see that in the rich man's concern for his five brethren.

F. J. E.-Will there be physical suffering for the wicked after the resurrection ?

C. C.-There are questions we cannot very clearly answer. Scripture does not throw much light on the resurrection-bodies of the wicked. Yet we know they will all be raised. In i Corinthians 15 Christ is said to be the first-fruits of them that slept. This is not said of the wicked,' of course,, but of the righteous. Yet He will also raise the wicked. Their's will be a resurrection to judgment. But will their bodies when raised be fashioned like ours ? Surely they will not be in His image.

B. C. G.-Surely not. But in what does the difference consist ?

C. C.-Might we say that they will bear eternally in their bodies the marks of sin ? Their bodies will not be raised in glory. Will they not then be of necessity raised in shame ? We are told to fear Him who hath power to cast body and soul into hell, into Gehenna. It is the lake of fire, and the body has its part in that awful judgment. It is everlasting destruction, but not annihilation. A tool is made for a certain purpose:it may be destroyed concerning that purpose-not annihilated. So with man. The lost will not fill the purpose for which they were created; in that sense, therefore, are destroyed.

R. F. E.-Is death an incident or a condition ? C. C.-Dying is the incident. Death is a condition.

Ques.-Is there any such thing as annihilation ?

B. C. G.-No; there is change, but not annihilation. Nothing is ever absolutely annihilated that God has once created.

R. P. E.-It is said that the wicked will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, Rev. 14:10, 11. What does this imply ?

B. C. G.-It is not the dissolution of the body.

The lake of fire is the second death. They are cast into the lake of fire as complete men.

H. A. I.-"Fear hath torment." I think it is important to see that torment is largely mental. It is not exactly the same as torture, though both the English words are from the same root. But God is never represented in Scripture as torturing men. They are in torment, but it is the direct result of their own sin. The rich man says, "I am tormented in this flame." But there is no thought of God torturing him. When this is seen people cannot accuse God of taking pleasure in man's eternal punishment. Judgment is His strange work.

C. C.-Every man who has refused the grace of God in Christ will be judged for his own sins.

But to go back to our chapter. We are told in regard to believers that if the temporary home is destroyed we are to have a permanent home. In the first part of the verse our present home is characterized as earthly; in the second part, our future home is said to be heavenly, "Not made with hands," But this present body was not made with hands. Why does he then speak of the heavenly body in this way ? I believe we have the explanation in Heb. 9:11, where in the original we read, " But Christ, being come,… by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands" (not of this ktisis, that is, not of this creation). So the new body is not of this creation, as is the present body. This is what the term, "not made with hands" means. (Read i Cor. 15:44-49). The present body is characterized by suitability to this earth. The future or resurrection-body will be suited to heaven.

H. A. I,-As to "We have a building of God, a house not made with hands," some prominent teachers have sought to make this apply to a spiritual body between death and resurrection.

C. C.-But we have that answered in ver. 4, where the apostle speaks of our desire not to be unclothed. That is, we prefer to live till Christ returns, in which case we would never be unclothed. Otherwise we will be unclothed until the first resurrection and the rapture.

B. C. G.-Death is not putting on some kind of a body. It is putting off the body that we now have. Resurrection is putting on a new body.

C. C.-And so we desire to be clothed upon with our house that is from, or of, heaven.-that is, heavenly in character, and suited to the glory of that scene.

H. A. I.-Some object that the passage says we have a house, etc.; not we shall have one at the resurrection.

C. C.-It is an illustration of how language may be confused. One is reminded of Luther on,"This is my body." Scripture speaks of the things that are not as though they were.

B. C. G.-It is like, "We which have believed do enter into rest."

H. A. I.-Faith sees the unseen things and lays hold of them now.

R. F. E.-What of that word," The spirit returns to God who gave it." Is this true of both saved and unsaved?

C. C.-Yes; it implies that they have to do with God, not with Satan. Men go to God to give account:

R. F. E.-It was He who gave the spirit, and the spirit goes back to Him.

B. C. G.-So then, for the believer we see that while he is at home in the body, he is absent from the Lord; but at death he passes out of the body; he is said to be "absent" from it, but at home with the Lord.

Ques.-Do we understand, then, from what has been said, that "the building of God," the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, is the resurrection-body-not a spirit-body that we put on when we die ? I had always thought it was ours as soon as we leave this mortal body.

C, C.-No; it is clearly the resurrection-body. It is heavenly in character and eternal. It does not come from heaven, but it is "of heaven," or heavenly. Our Lord is said to be the Second Man which is "of heaven." His body did not come out of heaven, but it was heavenly in character. So with the resurrection-bodies of the saints. But "present with the Lord" is not the same thing as being in the new body. Read carefully vers. 7 and 8.

H. A, I.-A careful consideration of the entire passage, that is, of the first 8 verses of the chapter, makes this plain. If we see our bodies wasting away, we rest in hope, for we know we shall have new bodies, heavenly in character. In this present mortal body we groan, longing for the time when we shall have our glorified, our resurrection-bodies, provided we are truly the Lord's-If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." That is, resurrection itself is not all. Some will be raised and yet be found naked. They will be uncovered in the presence of God, because never having availed themselves of "the best robe;" so they will not find any joy in the resurrection. So we who are saved groan in this body, but we do not long for death, "not that we would be unclothed." But we do long for the return of the Lord when we shall be clothed upon, and mortality shall be swallowed up of life. Now it is for this God hath wrought us. This is what He has before Him, And He has sealed us with His Spirit in view of this very thing. So we wait in faith, confident that all is well whether left here in the body or called to leave it behind and taken to be with the Lord. There is no hint of a spirit-body between death and resurrection.

C. C.-The difficulty is that people do not understand the expression, "Our house which is from heaven." As I have said it is really "of heaven," that is, heavenly. In Romans 2:8 we have the same construction. There, "contentious" is really "of contention." It is what is characteristic.

B. C, G.-It says that mortality shall be swallowed up in life. Does this imply that man as at present constituted is all mortal ?

F. J, E.-A similar passage is that in i Cor. 1-5, '' This mortal shall put on immortality."

C. C.-It refers of course to the body-our mortal body. We wait for the redemption of the body. The man lives on after he leaves the body, while waiting for the new, immortal body.

N. T.-What is involved in departing to be with Christ which is far better ? Just what will be our condition in that state ? I refer to Paul's words in Phil. 1:

C. C.-It is difficult to speak of what one has never experienced. But "with Christ" is enough for our hearts.

H. A. I.-Would you say something now as to the natural and spiritual bodies of i Cor. 15 ? Some people think of a material, or of an immaterial body when they read that scripture.

C. C.-It is really a soul-controlled and a spirit-controlled body. The word for natural is an adjective formed from the word soul. We do not have it in English. The natural body is suited to the soul, which is the seat of man's emotional nature. The new body will be suited to the spirit, which is the highest part of man, the seat of his intelligence. The resurrection-body will be material, but it will be perfectly suited to heaven, as our present one is suited to earth,

N, T.-Is that why the Lord said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak ? "

C. C. -Yes; the present body is often a hindrance to the spirit. That is why " we groan, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body."

B. C. G.-The natural man is really the soulish man. But if walking aright we will not be controlled by our desires or appetites.

H. A. I.-I think it important that we see that the word of God alone pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. It makes it clear that the soul is the seat of emotion, and the spirit of intelligence.

C. C.-And yet we must guard against the thought of two distinct personalities in the one man. Soul and spirit together make up the unseen man. At death when the spirit leaves the body, the soul, of course, is with it.

B. C. G.-God is said to be the Father of spirits. It is the spirit that gives man pre-eminence above the beast.

C. C.-Adam in innocency had a body suited to the earth. It was of the earth and suited to an earthly existence. Even in his sinless state it was not suited to heaven. It would have had to be spiritualized to be suited to heaven. The resurrection-body will not be capable of decay. It will not need food to repair the ravages of waste and decay, as our bodies do now.

Ques.-In 2 Peter i:13, 14 what does Peter mean by his decease ?

C. C.-It is very striking. He speaks really of his exodus, his going out of his body. This would not alter his personality; it would only be a change of condition.

F. J. E.-Would you give a word on verse 9 in our chapter ?

C. C.-We labor now as saved ones that we may be acceptable to Him. We are His now, but we want His approbation. We wish to be well-pleasing to Him.

B. C. G.-This contrasts with what we have in Eph. i where we are said to be accepted in the Beloved. This is salvation. In verse 9 it is reward, accepted of Him, not in Him.

F. J. E,-In Lev. i we have the burnt-offering accepted for the offerer. In Eph. i we are seen as accepted in Christ, and here we labor to be acceptable to Him.

Now a word as to verse 10.

C. C.-Everything must be manifested before the judgment-seat. I do not think this need be limited to the saints. As we have already seen in verse 3, the apostle has the unregenerate also in mind; so here everyone shall be manifested. It is the judgment-seat of Christ in every instance. The Father has committed all judgment unto the Son. And all will come out for review in that day. If the true story of your life did not come out, would you not feel that you had missed something ? That story will be, for every saint, the manifestation of the grace of God; for believers do not come into judgment, though we shall give an account for all our service and be rewarded or suffer loss accordingly (i Cor. 3.). But giving account of our service as saints is not the whole matter. We will be manifested; and that will be true of the wicked as well, only their manifestation will be at another time-before the Great White Throne.
"I'VE ORDERS NOT TO GO"