HOW LIFE AND IMMORTALITY ARE BROUGHT TO LIGHT.
By C. P. B.
THE Scriptures tell us (2 Tim. 1:10) that "life and immortality" are "brought to light through the Gospel." The Gospel, briefly defined, is "good news." But not all good news is the Gospel. What, then, is the "good news" by which life and immortality are brought to light? In 1 Cor. 15:1-4 we have the Gospel clearly defined. Says the apostle: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you; . . . by which ye also are saved. . . . For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Here are given the three cardinal truths of the Gospel,—the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. But it must be evident to every one that the death and burial of Christ were not the end, or object, but only means to the end. He died that He might live again. He entered the tomb that He might burst its bars and come forth a conqueror. "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [in this place the grave] and of death." Rev. 1:18. The conclusion is irresistible that it was by His own resurrection from the dead that Christ brought life and immortality to light. It is true that some had been raised from the dead prior to Christ's resurrection, but His complete mastery over death and the grave could be demonstrated only by the laying down of His own life, that it might be seen that He had indeed power to lay it down and power to take it again. John 10:17, 18. Nor is this all. The one crowning, irrefutable proof of the divinity of Christ was not His power to work miracles, even to raising the dead, but it was His own resurrection. Rom. 1:4 tells us plainly that Christ was "declared to be the Son of God, . . . by the resurrection from the dead." And Acts 17:31 makes His resurrection the foundation of faith; for there we are told that God "hath given assurance [margin, "offered faith"] unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." And again the apostle Peter says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3. The same thought is more fully developed in close connection with the apostle's definition of the Gospel already quoted from 1 Cor. 15. That entire chapter treats of the resurrection, and all hope of a future life is declared to be dependent upon it, as in verses 14-18. But in nothing is the importance which attaches to the doctrine of the resurrection more clearly shown than in the closing words of this remarkable chapter: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." "Therefore" introduces the conclusion, which is that because of the assurance which we have of a resurrection through Christ, our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Is it not strange that a doctrine of which the Scriptures make so much should be so neglected as it is at the present time? The reason is not far to seek: traditions of men have been substituted for the plain teaching of the Word of God. The Scriptures teach the giving of rewards at "the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14); human traditions and philosophy teach the giving of rewards at death. Reader, upon which are you building your faith?