Christ's Power to Take his Life Again.
By Uriah Smith
“THEREFORE doth my Father love me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” These are the words of Christ as recorded in John 10:17, 18. They are often quoted to prove that the dead are conscious, and have power, in that state, to put into operation the various faculties of body and mind; for how, it is asked, could Christ take his life again after he had laid it down, if he was not conscious, and was not capable of exercising his powers the same as before? And so, assuming that Christ was conscious in death, an argument is drawn therefrom to prove the consciousness of all the dead. At first sight this seems very plausible; and the passage has appeared to not a few a difficult one to explain. In seeking for its correct meaning, two questions present themselves for solution: What is the import of the expressions, to lay down life, and to take it again? and as used by our Saviour, to what point in his life did these expressions apply? He had power to lay down his life. What is to be understood by his laying down his life? And when he had laid it down, what was his condition? Is the laying down of life, anything less than putting it off? Is it not to be divested of it entirely? When Christ had laid down his life, was not his life entirely put off? To say, as some do, that only the human body of Christ died, while the real Saviour, the divine part, survived, leaves us with only a human sacrifice. No, Christ provided in his own person a divine offering; and when he had laid down his life, what was his condition? It was certainly one without life. But how do we determine when and where there is life? We determine it by its manifestations, consciousness, volition, action. Wherever we see these, we say at once that there is life; and wherever life is wanting, these cannot be manifested. Did Christ manifest these when in death? Then it would inevitably follow that he had not laid down his life, for these are the things by which it is shown that life exists. But he did lay down his life, or give himself a ransom for many, and was brought into that condition which must result in which there is an absence of all consciousness, volition, and action. How then, it will be asked, did he have power to take his life again? This brings us to the second question; namely, To what time did this expression apply? Did it apply to the time when Christ was dead? Did he say, I have power to lay down my life, and after I have laid it down, then I have power to take it again? Did he not say, I have [now] power to lay down my life, and to take it again? Did not the power inhere in him as he then stood speaking to the people, and not as he would be when dead? This we apprehend to be the meaning of his words. But how could he have power to take his life again, before he had laid it down? If he had not the power then, he could not have it at any time afterward; or, in other words, he must have possessed it then, as much as at any subsequent time. If he had it not then, but was to have it after he had died, he doubtless would have framed his language to convey such an idea; thus, I have power to lay down my life, and after I have laid it down, I shall have power, or power will be given me, to take it again. Instead of this, he puts it all in the present tense: I have power now, both to lay it down and take it again. But the secret of this power is given us in the last sentence of the verse: “This commandment have I received of my Father.” He could lay down his life, and the Father had given him assurance that if he did so, he would bring him again from the dead. This power was given him of his Father, and rested in the assurance of his word. So when Christ died, he commended his spirit into the hands of his Father; and when the proper time came, the Father, according to his foreordained purpose, brought him again from the dead. Heb. 13:20; also Acts 2:24; 3:15; 4:10, &c. The text under consideration therefore furnishes no proof that Christ was conscious in death, and hence destroys all the argument based on such a supposition for the consciousness of any others. U. S.