By Lewis Sperry Chafer
[Author’s note: This issue of Bibliotheca Sacra continues the studies in Anthropology. It is the second in this series and will continue for at least six succeeding issues. This entire division of Systematic Theology includes: the creation of man, his estate, his fall, and the doctrine of sin.]
III. Man’s Estate at Creation
Having given some consideration to the controversy between the two systems which essay to solve the problem of human origin, this work proceeds on the assured ground that man came from the hand of his Creator in precisely the manner that is set forth in the infallible Oracles of Truth. There is therefore a third consideration to be attended, namely, man’s estate at creation. Here no complications arise other than the right understanding of the Sacred Text. The evolutionary theory is unable to give any worthy record of man’s first estate. In that system supposed interminable ages are depended upon to create an oblivion from which nothing definite could be expected. It is logical enough, having begun with nothing, to end with nothing. If the idea of man’s endless existence be borrowed from the Bible, it must be asserted that it is only the man whom God has created that endures forever. The man of supposed natural origin has no more worthy destiny than his assumed beginning. Concerning him there is no dependable information. The system which by its arrogation brands God as a liar in matters of human origin, should find a logical destiny for its fictitious characters without drawing upon revelation. Systematic Theology is concerned only with the truth which the Bible records, and with respect to man the Bible presents a wide field of harmonious facts to be considered and from these definite conclusions may be drawn.
The twofold nature of man’s being-that which is material and that which is immaterial-is determined in the very way in which man was created. It is written: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils [face] the breath of lives [plural]; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). Thus the material part of man was formed in all its completeness from the dust of the ground, lacking only that from God which gave life. That breath from God was a rational soul and spirit which was as far removed from other forms of life that are in the world as God is removed from His creation. This inbreathing was an endless life-a life not subject to death, even though, as a penalty for sin, the body dies. Such is the character and duration of God-breathed human life. This inbreathed life is not to be confused with “the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23). The latter is the inbreathing of regeneration and is freely bestowed upon all who believe to the saving of the soul. The Word of God records three divine inbreathings: (a) That by which man became a living soul with an eternal existence whether it be in weal or woe; (b) the inbreathing into the disciples of the Holy Spirit by the resurrected Christ (John 20:22); and (c) the inbreathing of the Word of God which is its inspiration (2 Tim 3:16).
The truth respecting man’s being may be divided somewhat naturally into seven main divisions, namely, (a) The material part of man; (b) the immaterial part of man; (c) the environment of the first man; (d) the responsibility of the first man; (e) the moral qualities of the first man; (f) the tempter of the first man; and (g) the temptation of the first man.
1. The Material Part of Man.
Combining in himself that which is material—a physical body—, and that which is immaterial—a soul and spirit—man is thus related in two directions—to substance and to spirit existence. Animals, it is true, partake of similar dual factors; but their immaterial part is but a form of created life, and in their material part, while similar in many respects to man—possessing flesh, bones, nerves, brain, blood, vital organs, and powers of procreation—, the refinements of the human body are lacking. The body of a brute is adapted to the activities of the brute, while the body of man is adapted to his participation in art, science, literature, and mechanics. It is evident that the human body provides a medium for sensation, ecstacy, and pain corresponding to the exalted character of human nature, as in contrast to the less exalted requirements of animal life. Much that is germane to the present phase of this discussion has been considered earlier under the Anthropological Argument for the existence of God. The body of man and the body of the animal exhibit the thought and design of the Creator; but the body of man, being more delicate and refined, is an imposing and impressive manifestation of the divine purpose.
a. The Structural Character of the Human Body.
With its incomparable sublime simplicity, the Word of God declares that God formed man’s body from the dust of the ground. Chemically, this is true. One scientific authority states that sixteen elements of the soil are represented in the human body. These he enumerates as follows: Calcium, carbon, chlorine, fluorine, hydrogen, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, sodium, sulphur. The vital minerals being lime, iron, potassium, magnesium, sodium, and silicon. All of these minerals are present, but in inorganic form and compose nearly six per cent of the body, the remainder being of water, carbon, and gases. Though no mineral in its organic form can be assimilated by the human body, when transformed from organic to inorganic by their absorption into vegetation or being broken down by chemical action, they are then prepared to take their place in the human body. Thus it may be seen that the testimony of science reiterates the Biblical disclosure that the human body is “of the earth, earthy” (1 Cor 15:47–49), and the spirit of man, like a “treasure,” is contained in an “earthen vessel” (2 Cor 4:7).
By a marvelous function of the human body, which belongs to the process of life, the body of a normal living person is constantly casting off and taking on its own elements. The child grows and the body of a mature person is sustained by unceasing appropriation of new materials which come directly or indirectly from the dust of the ground. To some degree, the growing and sustaining of the body is a continuation of the first creative undertaking when God formed the body from the dust of the ground.
Of solemn import are the words which assert that man’s body returns to the dust from which it was originally derived. Of this dissolution it is written: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen 3:19).
So adapted is the body to the purposes and functions of the immaterial man that he in no wise becomes conscious of any separation between the body and the soul. All ecstacy, pain, sensation, or ability which expresses itself in and through the body is identified as one’s own person and as belonging to one’s own self. In a most exceptional spiritual experience, the Apostle declares of himself, “whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth” (2 Cor 12:2).
Though material and immaterial parts of man are often set over against each other and reference is made to them as component parts of man’s being, man is, nevertheless, a unity—one being—and the material and immaterial can be separated only by physical death. There is a psychology abroad which treats man as an integer, a monad, and asserts that the immaterial part of man is not the man, nor is the material part of the man; but that he is the tertium quid of both elements united. Naturally, there is a ground on which this thesis might rest, but the Bible definitely and constantly separates these two factors in man’s being. The logical conclusion of this psychology is that death is the end of man’s existence since the body so obviously ceases to function and decays, and man’s immaterial part, being, as supposed, inseparable from the body, must suffer the same fate. Over against this, the Scriptures teach with clearness that man though a unity is composed of separable parts. While the immaterial part of man resides in the body the sense of unity is all that man experiences. At death these elements are separated for a season only to be reunited in God’s appointed time and way. It is thus demonstrated that those two parts are separable.
Mr. Heard in his book Tripartite Nature of Man, declares: “We are advancing in the right direction when we maintain the separate existence of the mind and body, and yet regard the former as perfectly pervading the latter, nay, as being the formative principle by which it is constructed and adapted to our nature and use. The goal to which modern research is tending is the point where the old dualism between mind and body will not disappear, but combine instead under some higher law of unity which we have not as yet grasped. Physiology and psychology will not stand contrasted as they do now, but rather appear as the two sides of the same thing seen in its outward and inward aspect. The resurrection of the body, which at present is a stumbling-block to the spiritualists and foolishness to materialists, will then be found to be the wisdom of God as well as the power of God, and so the Scripture intimations of the unity of man’s true nature in one person will be abundantly vindicated. According to Scripture, the body is neither the slave of the soul nor its prison-house, as philosophy, with its dualistic views of body and mind, has constantly taught. The relation of the two may be described as sacramental; the body is the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual mind. The mind is not seated in one part of the body, but in the whole; it does not employ one class of organs only, but all. Hence the well-known Hebraism, ‘All my bones shall praise thee;’ and the other expression, ‘Naphshi,’ which we render as ‘My soul,’ but which might be better expressed ‘Myself.’ The entire nature of the mind breathing through the entire body.”[1]
In 1876 St. George Mivart wrote in Lessons From Nature: “The lesson, then, concerning man, which we seem to gather from nature as revealed to us in our own consciousness and as externally observed, is that man differs fundamentally from every other creature which presents itself to our senses. That he differs absolutely, and therefore differs in origin also. Although a strict unity, one material whole with one form or force (not made of two parts mutually acting, according to the vulgar notion of soul and body), yet he is seen to be a compound unity in which two distinct orders of being unite. He is manifestly ‘animal,’ with the reflex functions, feelings, desires, and emotions of an animal. Yet equally manifest is it that he has a special nature ‘looking before and after,’ which constitutes him ‘rational.’ Ruling, comprehending, interpreting, and completing much in nature, we also see in him that which manifestly points above nature. We see this, since we know that he can conceive mind indefinitely augmented in power, and devoid of those limitations and imperfections it exhibits in him. Manifestly a contemplation of nature must be futile indeed which neglects to ponder over those ideas of power, wisdom, purpose, goodness, and will which are revealed to him in and by his own nature as he knows it to exist, and therefore as conceivably existing in a far higher form in that vast universe of being of which he is a self-conscious fragment.”[2]
The fact that the Old Testament contains no distinctive word for the body of man suggests the limitations in earlier revelations on that doctrine. This, however, is in harmony with the progress of doctrine observable along many specific lines. The Old Testament does refer to the soul as a particular part of man and to portions of the body as members in particular. James asserts that “the body without the spirit is dead” (2:26), but this implies that these features—body and spirit—are capable of being separated. So the Apostle states: “Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.... We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6–8). The Apostle also likens the body to that which is “outward” and the soul and spirit to that which is “inward.” He writes: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16). And Peter’s personal testimony is as definite: “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover, I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance” (2 Pet 1:13–15). Christ gave an arresting warning which incorporates the same truth: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). By these and many similar Scriptures the proof is offered that man is a unified ego while he is “at home” in the body; yet not so unified that his essential elements cannot be identified, or, under certain circumstances, be separated.
The human body was injured by the fall. To what extent it is now injured, none can fully estimate. It became a dying, death-doomed body. The fact that, as it was originally created, it possessed vital organs and was self-sustained as the body is now sustained indicates that, apart from such protection and support as God may have provided, the original, or unfallen body, was capable of death. Death was not then inevitable, though it was possible. God imposed the sentence of death—death in all its forms—upon the first man and through him upon the race (Rom 5:12) as a penalty for sin. As first created man was not subject to death; yet, because of sin, man became a dying creature. Though life is ever constructing the body, death is ever destroying and with the certainty in view, apart from those who experience the rapture and thus do not die, that death will win the conflict. “It is appointed unto men once to die” (Heb 9:27).
b. The Future of the Human Body.
Though too often unobserved, the Word of God declares that in every instance, whether of the unsaved or of the saved, the human body will be raised from the dead. The following words by Christ are incapable of any other interpretation: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:26–29). The fact that Daniel 12:2, 3 is somewhat restricted would indicate, as the context asserts, that it is only Daniel’s people, or Israel, who are in view. Having made reference to the incomparable trial that is predicted for Israel, the prophet declares, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan 12:2). The restriction is to be noted in the words “many of them,” which is clearly not all that sleep in the dust of the earth. Doubtless those not raised at that time are the unregenerate Gentiles of whose resurrection there is specific revelation (cf. John 5:28; Rev 20:12). Still another lucid passage states the universality of resurrection for all human bodies: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:22–26). The one exception mentioned in this context being of those saints who do not “sleep”; yet their bodies are to be changed. It is written: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:51–53). And thus, also, as to universality the Apostle says: “And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15).
A full description of the character of the believer’s resurrection body is to be gained by an induction of all the disclosures which the New Testament affords of Christ’s resurrection body: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil 3:20, 21). This, however, pertains only to the body of those who being saved are raised at the coming of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 15:23). As to the nature of the resurrection body of the unsaved in which they “stand” before the Great White Throne (Rev 20:12), little may be determined. There can be no doubt as to the fact of their resurrection at the time and place divinely appointed.
What is ever a question of engaging interest, namely, “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” (1 Cor 15:35), is answered by the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:36–44. The problem of a literal or actual reappearance of the believer’s body by resurrection after its dissolution in the grave, or after an immediate destruction of the elements, is one about which many theories have been propounded. Most determining is the truth that in His resurrection—the pattern of the Christian’s resurrection—, Christ left nothing of His material body in the tomb. Over against this disclosure is the statement of the Apostle that the resurrection body will be related to the present body as the harvest is related to the seed from which it germinates—which seed must always decay. Even in the existence of the present body there is difficulty in identification of its parts over any period of time. The constant flux of its substance is such that the entire body is dissolved and rebuilt at least within seven years. It is, therefore, hardly a matter of identity of particles or of the resurrection of relics any more than the harvest is the reappearing of the actual matter which was contained in the decaying seed. In the case of Christ, the remaining of a vestige of His body in the tomb would have established the error that He did not rise from the dead. A very evident mystery is involved. There is no ground for doubt regarding the truth that the individual personality in its organic unity of spirit, soul, and body, is not only redeemed with eternity in view; but that the body is raised and shares its own specific redemption along with the soul and spirit of man (Rom 8:19–23). The body is raised and reunited with the soul and spirit. It is the present body that is raised, but in the sense that its identity is utterly merged into, and deposited within, the new body. A complete identity is assumed—that which is sown is raised (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–44). Human speculation is useless as to specific particles which identify any body in this life or the life to come.
Having declared the fact that there is variety in the flesh of creatures and having stated that the resurrection body is related to the present body as the harvest is related to the seed, the Apostle asserts that the present body is sown. Of this he writes: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:42–44). Here by four mighty transformations—corruption to incorruption; dishonor to glory; weakness to power; and the natural, or that adapted to the soul, to spiritual, or that adapted to the spirit—is displayed the extent of the change through which the believer’s body, having experienced death, will pass.
Two vital words are employed in this whole context and with softened effect—sown (vs. 42) and sleep (vs. 51). The former is used in place of the more familiar word bury. In the use of either word the thought of interment is indicated, but there is no resurrection hope implied in the word bury as is implied in the word sown. And while sleep is a New Testament term meaning death (John 11:11–14; 1 Cor 11:30), it is that peculiar aspect of death belonging only to the Christian, from which his body will be awakened by the trumpet of God at the coming of Christ (1 Thess 4:16; 1 Cor 15:52). The time of this resurrection is given only to the extent that it occurs in connection with the coming of Christ to receive His own—those who are saved in this age. Earlier in this chapter, this event is set forth. The passage states: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (vss. 22, 23). Thus, to the same end, it is written: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Iord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess 4:13–18; cf. Phil 3:10, 11, 20, 21; Titus 2:11–13).
As an exception to this clear teaching as to the universality of the resurrection of bodies of Christians is the abrupt statement that “we shall not all sleep” (1 Cor 15:51), that is, not all Christians are to experience death. By these arresting words a hitherto unrevealed purpose of God, here termed a mystery, is disclosed. As elsewhere declared, some will be alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord (1 Thess 4:15–17); but these do not enter heaven in the present body of limitation. For these, this body will be changed, and that “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (vss. 51, 52).
The change here indicated is not as to residence, though such a change is determined (1 Thess 4:17), but rather the change is of the nature of the body itself. It has just been stated that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, “neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Cor 15:50). “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (vs. 52). Including himself as one who might not die, the Apostle draws the sharp contrast between those who are raised incorruptible and those who are changed from the living state to the body of glory and without death. “For this corruption shall put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (vs. 53). Those to whom these promises are addressed have, when saved, “put off” the old man and “put on” the new man (Eph 4:22–24; Col 3:9, 10), but now they are said to “put on” either incorruption or immortality; all of which implies that corruption and mortality will be put off. Incorruption is that estate of body which is attained through resurrection from the dead and is described in previous verses (vss. 35–50) and is the usual experience of believers; while immortality is that estate of body which is attained by an immediate change, apart from death, and is an exception since it is only for those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. The final consequence is identical in either case, being, as it will be, a body like unto the glorious body of Christ (Phil 3:20, 21).
The theological usage of the word immortality as referring to the endless existence of the soul, must be called in question. Mortality is wholly a physical term and its opposite, immortality, is no less so. The phrase, “the immortality of the soul,” cannot but mislead and is without the slightest Biblical warrant.
Christ is the one exception to the otherwise universal human program in which either incorruption or immortality is attained. Though He died, He did not see corruption and His present estate is not that of incorruption, but it is immortality. Psalm 16:10 predicts both Christ’s death and the truth that He would not see corruption. This context reads: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” And the Apostle Peter brings forward the same truth in his Pentecostal sermon (cf. Acts 2:25–31). The reference, Peter asserts, cannot be to David since David had already seen corruption. It is therefore accurately declared of Christ as to His present bodily estate in heaven: “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen” (1 Tim 6:16). The specific fact that Christ alone hath immortality will be understood only in the light of the truth that all who “sleep in Jesus” await the hour of His return as the appointed time when their experience of change from corruption to incorruption will take place, and the mortal, or those yet living, await the same hour of their experience of change from mortal to immortal. Thus Christ only has entered into the glory of the immortal body. He is the display of resurrection’s glory and the “first fruits” of them that slept (1 Cor 15:20, 23).
Death is consistently presented in the Bible as a thing which is abnormal, a judgment upon man because of sin. In all faithfulness the warning was given to Adam that, as a result of his disobedience, dying thou shalt die (Gen 2:17). As created, Adam was free from death. In the face of this warning, he disobeyed God and the impending penalty fell. The larger treatment of this event belongs to Hamartiology and under that division will be taken up again. Suffice to indicate here that all three forms of death—physical, spiritual, and the second death—became the portion of the head of the race through his sin. Physical death is universal to all of Adam’s posterity and immediate on the ground that they as present in Adam the federal head, partook in the death-imposing sin. They shared in the sin, being “in the loins” of their father Adam (cf. Heb 7:9, 10). No other interpretation of Romans 5:12 will carry through the explanatory verses which follow (13–21). The fact of man’s physical death is accounted for in the Bible on no other basis than this share in Adam’s sin. In Adam’s case the experience of physical death was deferred for many years; though as death worketh in all men, Adam began to die physically even on the day that he sinned. In the sphere of spiritual death, Adam died at the moment he transgressed and by a conversion downwards became a different kind of being than God had created. He became possessed with a fallen nature which is itself spiritual death, and this he transmitted mediately to his posterity by the laws of generation. Since Adam being fallen could propagate only after his kind, the race is as fallen as its federal head. The second death, being the unavoidable eternal character of spiritual death, is experienced by all who do not come by faith in Christ under the regenerating power of God (Rev 20:12–15).
The promise with reference to physical death is twice asserted with certainty that death shall be destroyed and be no more. Enumerating the mighty things Christ will accomplish during His kingdom reign, the Apostle declares, “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:24–26). Thus, also in Revelation 21:4 where the future estate of the redeemed on earth is disclosed, it is written, “there shall be no more death.” The abrogating of death is no less than a repeal of the sentence that was given in Eden, except for the abiding spiritual aspects of death, and is brought about not only by a divine decree which determines its end, but by a universal resurrection or reversal of all that physical death hath wrought. This reference to the cessation of the reign of death, as presented in 1 Corinthians 15:26, is in connection with the end or final resurrection event which closing the whole program of resurrection which began with Christ’s resurrection and includes the resurrection of those that are Christ’s at His coming and includes, also, this, the end-resurrection when the remaining dead will “stand” before the Great White Throne (Rev 20:12). No disposition of physical death could be more complete and effectual than that all who have ever lived on earth are raised out of death to live forever in conscious existence. From that on, none can ever die, for death will not exist. It is clearly predicted that many, having no right relation to God, must abide in separation from God and from blessings which are the portion of the redeemed. “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev 22:10, 11).
The Word of God is uncomplicated in its testimony to the truth that the believer’s body is as eternal in character as the soul and spirit. As has been observed, the term immortality refers only to the future of the redeemed body and not at all the soul, and whatever reality this great word asserts, applies only to the body. Though structural changes are in store, since flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50), the body that now is shall be raised from the estate of death, leaving naught behind, and experience those changes which are divinely determined. The last of the four physical transformations described in 1 Corinthians 15:42–44 is especially far-reaching and illuminating. The truth declared is that the present body is adapted to the soul being σῶμα ψυχικόν, while the body that is yet to be is adapted to the spirit, being σῶμα πνευματικόν. The measure of this distinction corresponds with the difference which obtains between the human soul and spirit—a difficult problem in metaphysics indeed! The implication that so extensive a difference obtains between the Christian’s soul and spirit as these two bodies represent should go far to correct theories which contend that soul and spirit are identical. Since the resurrection or changed body is to be like Christ’s glorified body and since that body is adapted to the spirit, it follows that the spirit of man covets those indescribable refinements which characterize the glorified body of Christ. The present body is said to be one of humiliation or limitation (1 Cor 15:43; Phil 3:20, 21), but the body that is to be will satisfy every desire of the spirit. On this engaging theme, Laidlaw has written in The Bible Doctrine of Man as follows: “It is not wise for us to attempt to say much as to when or how the spiritual body comes. We know that it shall be the fitting garb of a ransomed and glorified spirit. We know that it shall be itself a pledge and trophy that of all Christ got from the Father He has lost nothing. It shall represent the dust redeemed, the body ransomed from the grave. How it is woven in the hidden secret of the life after death, we may not venture to surmise. If we have watched how the body, even here, puts on a likeness and correspondence to the real man, to the life within, it will not be difficult to think that for the ripening Christian his future body is being prepared by the Spirit of Christ dwelling already in this mortal frame, and quickening within it that which is to live for ever. It will be open to us to believe that the process is being perfected for the spirits of the just in an unseen world, and that all these things shall be made plain when they shall appear with Christ at His coming, when the sons of God shall shine forth an exceeding great army, in the day of the adoption, that is, the redemption of their body. ‘Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.’ ‘Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.’”[3]
Not a few have interpreted 2 Corinthians 5:1–8 as a special disclosure that there is an intermediate body to be occupied in the period between the believer’s death and the coming of Christ. The passage states: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
The thought here expressed is that the redeemed do not desire a disembodied state, which state is inevitable if there be no intermediate body. The body described in this passage is said to be “from heaven,” rather than from the grave. Being of heavenly origin, it belongs to those realities which are eternal. That it belongs to things eternal does not require that it be employed forever. Certainly, the final body of glory is secured only at the coming of Christ. And as certainly the body of 2 Corinthians 5:1–8 is provided that there may be no moment of disembodiment. These two facts seem to compel the conclusion that there is an intermediate body.
In the notes in his Reference Bible, Dr. C. I. Scofield has presented an exhaustive summary of the whole doctrine of resurrection. There it is written: ”(1) The resurrection of the dead was believed by the patriarchs (Gen 22:5 with Heb 11:19; Job 19:25–27), and revealed through the prophets (Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2, 13; Hos 13:14), and miracles of the dead restored to life are recorded in the O.T. (2 Kgs 4:32–35; 13:21). (2) Jesus Christ restored life to the dead (Matt 9:25; Luke 7:12–15; John 11:43, 44), and predicted His own resurrection (John 10:18; Luke 24:1–8). (3) A resurrection of bodies followed the resurrection of Christ (Matt 27:52, 53); and the apostles raised the dead (Acts 9:36–41; 20:9, 10) (4) Two resurrections are yet future, which are inclusive of ‘all that are in the graves’ (John 5:28). These are distinguished as ‘of life’ (1 Cor 15:22, 23; 1 Thess 4:14–17; Rev 20:4), and ‘of judgment’ (John 5:28, 29; Rev 20:11–13). They are separated by a period of one thousand years (Rev 20:5). The ‘first resurrection,’ that ‘unto life,’ will occur at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor 15:23), the saints of the O.T. and church ages meeting Him in the air (1 Thess 4:16, 17); while the martyrs of the tribulation, who also have part in the first resurrection (Rev 20:4), are raised at the end of the great tribulation. (5) The mortal body will be related to the resurrection body as grain sown is related to the harvest (1 Cor 15:37, 38); that body will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual (1 Cor 15:42–44, 49). (6) The bodies of living believers will, at the same time, be instantaneously changed (1 Cor 15:50–53; Phil 3:20, 21). This ‘change’ of the living, and resurrection of the dead in Christ is called the ‘redemption of the body’ (Rom 8:23; Eph 1:13, 14). (7) After the thousand years the ‘resurrection unto judgment’ (John 5:29) occurs. The resurrection-body of the wicked dead is not described. They are judged according to their works, and cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:7–15).”[4]
c. Various Uses of the Word, Body.
Consideration should be given to various uses of the word body as employed in the New Testament.
Body of sin (Rom 6:6).
This phrase, found in Romans 6:6, affords no warrant for the ancient philosophy which teaches that the body is the seat of evil and must therefore be weakened and despised. Such a view contradicts all Biblical testimony concerning the human body. Sin did not begin with the body, but is rather a rebellion of the will against God, and it ever continues the same. The body of the Christian bears unmistakable marks of honor and dignity. It is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body (1 Cor 6:13); it is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:15, 19); its members are properly to be yielded unto God as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13); and it is to be presented unto God a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). If the body is the seat of sin, it should be abandoned rather than redeemed; but the Spirit is said to “quicken” these mortal bodies. In the midst of abnormal suffering a person may welcome liberation from this body, but the normal attitude is to nourish and cherish it (Eph 5:29). Most conclusive is the fact that Christ possessed a normal human body; yet without sin. It is never intimated that His body was the source of any solicitation whatever. A distinction arises here between the body, σῶμα, and the flesh, σάρξ, to which consideration will be given in due time.
The phrase, the body of sin, is used in Romans 6:6 to describe the “old man,” or the nature to sin. As the human body expresses the life of man, so the power of sin to express itself may be disannulled by the greater power of the Spirit. The body of sin is, therefore, none other than sin’s power to express itself.
Body of death (Rom 7:24).
Again the nature of sin is in view, or that in the flesh, (σάρξ, which is opposed to God. Paul’s strife, as witnessed in this context (Rom 7:15–25), is between the saved self-hypothetically considered-, and his flesh-ethically considered. He cries out for deliverance from that which he likens to a dead body ever present with him. The same Apostle wrote of himself that he buffeted his body that he might bring it into subjection (1 Cor 9:27), but the physical body was only a means of reaching the lethargy of his soul.
This “vile body” (Phil 3:20).
Here the translation is wholly at fault. Nothing God has made is vile. The Authorized text would favor the heathen notions regarding the human body. The Revised Version renders “the body of our humiliation,” which is sustained by all exegetes. Equally as misunderstood is the phrase “It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory” (1 Cor 15:43), where the contrast is drawn between the present body—especially as it sees corruption—and the body that is to be. The word dishonor implies no moral failure. It is a declaration that this body is not a body of glory as it yet will be.
d. The Body of Christ.
The phrase The body of Christ sustains a twofold meaning. It may refer to His own human body, or to the mystical body composed of those who are saved over whom Christ is Head.
In view of the fact that as antitype of all Old Testament sacrifices and as Lamb of God actual blood must needs be shed as the ground of redemption, it became the Son of God when entering the world to speak a word of gratitude to His Father thus: “But a body thou hast prepared me” (Heb 10:5). Though His, was an actual human body uninjured by the fall, it became a body of priceless distinction, being the body of the Son of God. It is that body which, as no other has done, has put on immortality and become a body of surpassing glory. Its present unique distinction could not be estimated by any in this world.
As to the mystical body which is the Church, no figure setting forth the relationship which exists between Christ and the Church is more often employed than that of the head and the body with its many members. Two underlying thoughts inhere in this figure, namely, that of manifestation and that of service. As the inner life is manifest through the body, so the body of Christ serves to manifest Christ in this world, and is His medium of activity through the Spirit.
Conclusion.
With reference to the human body, it may be concluded that it is by creation a product of the dust of the earth; it is sustained by the elements which are derived from the dust; and it returns to dust. It is death-doomed because of the fall. It is subject to resurrection or translation, and is as eternal as the soul and spirit of man.
Dallas, Texas
Notes
- Pp. 58, 59.
- Pp. 190, 191.
- Pp. 260, 261.
- P. 1228.
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