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Chosen no: R-1437 , from: 1892 Year. |
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ALL IN ADAM AND ALL IN CHRIST
"As all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be
made alive. But every man [of those in Christ to be
made alive will get life] in his own order [company or
band]: the first fruits, Christ [The head, Jesus; the
body, the faithful "Church, which is his body"], afterward
those who are Christ's at [during] his presence" [Greek, parousia.]--1 Cor. 15:22,23.
We thus correct the translation of a passage
very frequently misused to prove the everlasting
salvation of all men irrespective of their
acceptance of Christ as their Redeemer and
King. But as here translated this passage is
in perfect accord with the remainder of the
Bible, which everywhere declares that, "He that
hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of
God hath not life."--1 John 5:12; John 3:36.
But, aside from the testimony of other scriptures,
we call attention to the facts that the
Greek text supports the above translation and
that no other view of verse 22could be reconciled
with the context, verses 23,24. Note
carefully that the expression, "But every man
in his own company," refers to the all who are
to be made alive. Then notice that but two
companies are specified. The chief of these is
mentioned first, and includes the Redeemer and
all of the Gospel age overcomers who are now
having fellowship in "his sufferings"--"his
death"--and who shall be accounted worthy
also to have share in "his resurrection," a resurrection
to the immortal glories of the divine
[R1437 : page 253] nature. (Compare 2 Pet. 1:4; Phil. 3:10,11.)
The second company includes, specifically,
"those who are Christ's in [the time of] his
presence." And these two companies are the
"all" of verse 22, who are to be made alive in
Christ. Could language show more clearly
than this does that none are to be made alive (in the full, complete sense in which the word
"alive" is here used) except those who in this
age become the Redeemer's Bride or in the
next age become his children--begotten through
faith and developed through obedience?
The difficulty with many, however, is that
they have never noticed the full sense of the
words life and made alive in the Scriptures.
The whole world is reckoned as already dead--
because under sentence of death through Adam
--and unless they eat [assimilate and appropriate
by faith] the flesh [sacrificed humanity] of
the Son of Man, they have no life and can have
no life. And those who do so "eat" are said
to pass from death unto life now, reckonedly;
but the actual making alive of such, as stated
in our text, will be in the Resurrection morning.
And so it will be with the world in general
during the Millennium: when awakened
from the sleep of death they will still be unjustified,
condemned, dead. But they will be
awakened by the great Redeemer in order that
each may have the offer of everlasting life,
on condition of becoming Christ's, accepting
his gracious work for them in the past and
his regulations for their future. Thus they
may "eat" his flesh--appropriating his merit
and receiving thereby his strength and life.
They will be accounted or reckoned as living
from the time that they begin to "eat," but
they will not be made alive, perfect, until
the close of the Millennial age of trial or
testing.