The
Apostle Paul's Teaching About the Resurrection (part 1)
[1st
Corinthians chapter 15, verses 20-33]
During
last week's study of First Corinthians chapter 15, we left off where
Paul was reminding the early church of the truthfulness and
authenticity regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days
and nights after He was crucified. You will recall that Paul asked
pointedly how anyone could not believe in Christ's resurrection,
followed by his emphatic statement that those Christians who don't
believe in Jesus' resurrection believe in vain, and they will thus
die in their sins, with their souls unable to be saved. I'd say
that's pretty blunt and direct, wouldn't you? Frankly, I couldn't
agree more on this point. And now I will take up Paul's train of
thought where he left off as he wrote, beginning in verse 20.
“But
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of
those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the
resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all
die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn;
Christ, the first-fruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to
Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God
the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. The
last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he has 'put everything under
His feet'. Now when it says that 'everything' has been put under him,
it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put
everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son himself
will be made subject to Him, so that God may be all in all.” (1
Corinthians chapter 15, verses 20 thru 28, NIV)
When Paul calls Christ “the first fruits of those who
have fallen asleep”, he was referring to an ancient tradition of
Judaism that is based on the Law of Moses, the first five books of
the Old Testament from Genesis to Numbers. The 'festival of first
fruits' involved the farmers and livestock herders bringing one tenth
of their initial harvest or their mature livestock to the temple as a
living sacrifice to be given unto God as an atonement for their sins.
And so Jesus was, in effect, the first-fruits offering for all of
humankind. The crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ was a
pure atonement offering made unto God consisting of Himself as a
living sacrifice for sin. In the course of making this offering,
Jesus became the new covenant between God and humankind and the new
sacrificial sin offering, taking the place of the old, which was the
law of Moses. Unfortunately, there pervades a teaching of sorts
within the modern church that says quite presumptuously that both
laws are in effect, and that although Christ died and was resurrected
on the third day and so saved us from our sins, we are still
obligated to give a tenth of what we earn, or own, or a combination
of the two, at every service. This is NOT what the Bible says at all,
and if those within the church who are demanding 10% of everyone's
wages would bother to read it, they would see that they are in error.
Unfortunately for the greater Church, the ones who are disseminating
this wrong teaching are the same “ministers” who have turned
their houses of worship into profitable enterprises. Such pastors and
evangelists, if they do not repent of this, are not saved by the
blood of Christ like they think they are. At the end of their lives,
their expectation of eternal reward because their churches were
“successful” will turn to terror when they learn their fate. And
then it will be too late. How tragic for them. If only they would
have read their Bibles once in a while instead of preaching about
'tithing', their error would have become apparent to them. And yes,
that's a prophecy.
The tithe, as the Word calls it, was offered as the
sacrifices that were made on the feast days that God directed the
ancient Israelites to celebrate, such as Passover, first fruits, and
the Feast of Tabernacles, among others. They were also offered on the
Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week according to the book of
Genesis. Interestingly enough, that would mean we are supposed to be
going to church on Saturdays instead of Sunday as we do now, if our
calendar were to be strictly followed by the modern church.
Sacrifices on the feast days instituted in the Law of Moses were
mandatory. However, it is doubtful that sacrifices had to be made by
every single person at every Sabbath since there were approximately
one million Israelites encamped in the Sinai desert at its high point
before they were given the land of Canaan. In that case, there would
still be sacrifices waiting to be offered from the previous Sabbath
by the time of the following one, making the offering of so many
sacrifices impractical. But the festivals and holy days celebrated
from the time of Moses up until now were many days in length,
enabling ample time to be made for so many sacrifices.
But
the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ changed all that when He made
himself the new atonement, the everlasting sacrifice and the
propitiation for the numerous sins of all humankind. Jesus is the new
covenant, the New Testament and the new offering for us all. So there
is no more need to bring a sacrifice to the altar – Jesus has
already offered up Himself. To teach and preach that the 10%
sacrificial offering must continue to be made brings into question
the very reason for Christ's death and resurrection. How many times
must He shed his blood for us all? Without a doubt, once was enough.
So the claim of some modern churches that all who participate must
tithe 10% of what they make every single week is not only untrue and
unnecessary, it comes off as a naked grab for funds from the
congregation by the pastor and senior leadership for the enrichment
of the church and of those “in charge”, as if God were an
afterthought. Since only a fraction of the Sunday offerings at
churches throughout North America are actually allocated for
charitable purposes – with most of the remainder spent on
“administrative” expenses like salaries – what we have are an
entire host of houses of worship posing as non-profits or as
charities that are actually being run like businesses. Of course, the
flip side of this coin is that this does not excuse us from giving to
the church of our choice. Giving at least a little something each
week is required for the church to stay in operation. There is rent
or a mortgage to pay, the power bill, salaries so the pastor and
his/her family may be provided for, and garbage pickup, etc, and it
all costs money. But as it was in the days when Jesus walked the
earth, so it is today with organized religion, as Jesus said when He
threw the money-changers out of the temple, “You
have taken my Father's house and turned it into a den of robbers.”
So
take my advice, which is based on my own previous experiences with
these so-called “churches”. If when visiting a church, or after
having joined a church, you hear preaching and teaching about how
everyone must give 10% of their earnings each and every week, get out
of there at the first opportunity and go find a better church,
preferably one whose teachings are grounded in the Word as it is
written rather than those which are taught by men for men. I will now
continue at verse 29.
“Now
if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for
the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized
for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I
die every day – I mean that, brothers – just as surely as I glory
over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus
for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not
raised, 'Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die'. Do not be
mislead: Bad company corrupts good character. Come back to your
senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are
ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15,
verses 29-34, NIV)
To clarify this passage of scripture, there was within
the early church a practice of being baptized in the place of dead
relatives and other loved ones who had died having not had an
opportunity to be baptized and to accept Christ. The idea behind this
was to make sure that all those with whom we had gone through life's
journey would not be condemned to hell, and that we would someday see
our loved ones again when we all get to heaven together. To the best
of my knowledge, only the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches still
practice this ancient tradition, and then only in the forms of having
a service, or a “mass”, for the dead such as on the celebration
of All Saint's Day every fall by these denominations.
Paul continues by making the point that true believers
should be adhering to the Word of God as they have read and learned
it, and he is telling them in blunt terms that they needed to stop
listening to false doctrines being taught by phony “teachers” of
the Bible. The crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ, as I
pointed out earlier, are completely sufficient for the salvation and
redemption of humankind. To not believe in the resurrection of
Christ, therefore, is heretical and blasphemous. Ditto for getting
baptized in place of someone else, which Christ also made
unnecessary. None of these man-made ideas are anywhere in the
gospels. But instead, if we stick to God's word, who lived among us
in the form of Jesus Christ, we can't go wrong. So study the Bible,
read what's in it and put it into practice. It's the one sure way to
know that you are on the right track in life. And when we return next
week we'll go over the second part of Paul's writings on the
resurrection as we move on to part 3 of chapter 15.
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