Is Death the End?

MEMORY VERSE: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die.” —John 11:25,26

I CORINTHIANS 15:20-22, 35, 45

THE hope of life after death set forth in the Word of God is based upon the promises of God to restore the dead to life in the resurrection. Edward W. Bauman, senior minister, Foundry Church (United Methodist), Washington D.C., writing in the International Lesson Annual, has this to say:

“The classical Greek idea of the natural automatic immortality of the soul has no place in basic Christian experience. The followers of Christ believe in resurrection as the means by which we live beyond death. … Nowhere in the Bible is the human soul referred to as naturally immortal. The only way we can live after death is by resurrection, by an act of God’s grace in raising us to new life.”

It is this basic truth that is so clearly set forth by the Apostle Paul in the 15th chapter of I Corinthians. It is in this chapter that Paul states positively that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then those who “have fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”—vs. 18

But, as Paul explains, “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” (vs. 20) The divine arrangement to provide life through a resurrection of the dead is simple and understandable. Paul writes, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—vss. 21,22

Paul explains the order of the resurrection: “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” Rotherham’s translation reads, “in his presence.” (vs. 23) Rotherham’s translation also reads, “the Christ’s,” which is correct, for the reference is to Jesus the Head, and the church his body, who also are a “kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”—James 1:18

In the resurrection Jesus and his faithful followers are exalted to heavenly glory, and will be the instruments of God in extending life to the remainder of mankind; human life, that is, right here on the earth, which God created to be man’s eternal home. Our memory verse refers both to the believers of the present time and to those who will believe when resurrected in the times of restitution. (Acts 3:21) We quote our memory verse from Rotherham’s translation: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on me even though he die shall live again! And no one who liveth again and believeth on me shall in any wise die unto times age abiding.”

Paul raised the question, “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” (vs. 35) Replying to this, Paul uses the pronoun “it.” This is not a reference to an immortal soul, which in reality no one possesses, but to the personality, the character, and Paul explains that in the resurrection the Lord gives to each (the “it”) its own body; that is, a body which is in keeping with the character or personality sown.

Paul explains that just as there are different kinds of fleshly bodies, including the human, so there are also spiritual bodies. He writes, “There are also celestial [heavenly] bodies, and bodies terrestrial [fleshly]; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

Paul further explains there will be different types of glory—heavenly and earthly. He stresses particularly the heavenly glory of The Christ company because he was writing to those who were ostensibly developing a spiritual mind which would be given a spiritual body in the resurrection. He reminds us, nevertheless, that in the resurrection “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” Natural, or human bodies will be given to those who in this life have not developed any heavenly aspirations.

Verse 45 reads, “The first man Adam was made a living [human] soul; the last Adam was made [in the resurrection] a quickening [life-giving] spirit [being].” It will be this resurrected Jesus, the life-giving spirit being, who will give human life to mankind in general by means of a resurrection.

QUESTIONS

Is man by nature immortal?

How do we know that there will be life beyond the grave?

How many kinds of bodies will there be in the resurrection?

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