Salvation Only by the Resurrection
By W. N. Glenn
"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. This, with the statement that "all have sinned" (chap. 3:23), gives us at a glance the condition of the natural man, and the remedy for that condition. Adam was the head of the race, and he sinned. By his sin he brought not only death upon himself, but sin and death upon all his posterity. "In Adam all die." 1 Cor. 15:22. So far as Adam and the life we receive from him are concerned, death ends all; for the sentence upon Adam, and per consequence upon all his descendants, was, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19. Then eternal life could not possibly inure from such a source; it is not in any sense hereditary. It is purely a gift—"the gift of God,"—not thru Adam or anything derived from Adam, but thru Jesus Christ. The Scriptures having settled this fact, the question arises, How do we finally come into the enjoyment of eternal life thru Christ? It can not be by virtue of anything in the natural man; for "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." He is not a patched-up affair; he is new. That is true spiritually even in this life; "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. In order to obtain anything thru Christ we must follow Him, follow Him spiritually and physically. He lived a life of humility, and "became obedient unto death." Paul says, "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." 1 Cor. 15:3, 4. That Christ died, that His life was absolutely resigned, is shown, first, by His having assumed human nature for that very purpose (Heb. 2:14-16); secondly, by His declaration on the cross, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," to which is added the statement, "and having said thus, He gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46); thirdly, by the fact that He was raised "from the dead" by the power of God (Eph. 1:19, 20). True, Christ said to His disciples concerning His life, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." John 10:18. But that was all committed to the Father to use for Him; and the Father gave it to Him again after the resurrection. See Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 1:19-23. In the same sense "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." 1 John 5:11. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Col. 3:3, 4. Now all the blessings we have and are to have in Christ are dependent not alone upon His humble life and sacrificial death, but upon His resurrection. Could the adversary have held Him in the grave, the plan of salvation must have failed. The Son of God would have lost in the controversy in behalf of the fallen race. But for the resurrection, He never could have given to the church that blessed assurance, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Rev. 1:18. He never could have held the keys of hades (the grave) had He not come forth from its silent confines Himself. So long as the Lord holds the keys to the tomb, the gates of that cold, dark sleeping-room can no more hold its occupants on the great resurrection day than could Joseph’s new tomb, with the Roman seal upon it, hold the Son of God on the day appointed for His resurrection. That the plan of salvation would have fallen short without the resurrection of Christ, is plainly set forth in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. This exposition was called forth because some brethren had imbibed the idea that "there is no resurrection" (verse 12), and Paul reasons on this wise: "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ; whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Verses 13-18. Therefore Christ in the tomb was powerless to save, and even those who believed on Him and slept in the tomb were perished, without His resurrection. There would be no virtue in being baptized in His name if He were dead. "What shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?" Verse 29. So His resurrection, and consequently their resurrection, was and is essential to salvation. But could not God raise them up without the Son?—No; for the plan of salvation contemplated "eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord." Salvation must be thru faith in His name, and if He be not raised up from the dead, "your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." So God raised Him from the tomb and gave Him the keys. For what purpose?—That He might open unto others. "For as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son also quickeneth whom He will. For neither doth the Father judge any man, but He hath given all judgment unto the Son." John 5:21, 22. If the dead Son of God could not have life again without a physical resurrection, much less can the natural children of men. So Paul argues: "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." 1 Cor. 15:32. Surely Paul had no idea of a future life only thru a resurrection from the dead. In further confirmation of this doctrine, he says: "Behold, I show 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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Verses 51-55. So then immortality is not inherent; it must be put on at the resurrection. And the grave is victorious until the resurrection takes away its victory. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory thru our Lord Jesus Christ." In the expression "we shall be changed," in the foregoing scripture, the apostle refers prophetically to the righteous ones who shall be living at the resurrection day, and will be translated. That he did not expect himself to be one of that class is shown by 2 Tim. 4:6: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." This letter was written shortly before his execution. The verses following this one have been already quoted in this article, and show the apostle’s expectation concerning himself. This is further emphasized in his ardent desire as expressed in Phil. 3:10, 11: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." The change, or translation, of the righteous who shall be living at the "first resurrection," or resurrection of the righteous dead, is equivalent to a physical death and a resurrection with a new, incorruptible body. The change places them on an equality with the resurrected ones. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [or precede] 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." 1 Thess. 4:15-17.