And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
As we have borne the image of the earthy in mortal bodies of dust, we shall bear the image of the heavenly in immortal, glorious bodies fashioned like Christ's at the resurrection. This is the literal second stage of redemption, when the Life-giver calls the faithful dead from the grave clothed with immortal splendor, not in the poor body that went down but in incorruption. That hope lies in the resurrection itself and not in entering full glory at death, for without it preaching would be pointless and the dead would have no future. The change to immortality is not a moral change but an exchange of bodies, so fitness for the next life must be gained in this life by surrendering the whole being to God to be remade in His moral likeness. Bearing the earthly image now is living in sin under Satan's mold, enslaved, earthly-minded and debased, while bearing the heavenly image is reflecting God's character through daily communion with Christ until the earthly impress is effaced.
Resurrection to Immortal Likeness
The hope held out is resurrection, not entrance into full glory at the moment of death, for the righteous wait for the resurrection. Without that resurrection, preaching it would be pointless and the dead in Christ would have no future hope. The resurrection taught is literal, with the mortal and the immortal person joined by identity of organization rather than by the passing over of the same particles of matter. As the grain illustration shows, the matter of the mortal body does not enter into the immortal being, and the contrast between the earthly and the heavenly image belongs to that same teaching.
The bearing of the heavenly image is the second stage of redemption, redemption from the grave by resurrection to immortal life. It belongs to all who in this life are redeemed from the condemnation and practice of transgression. Moral fitness for the next life is obtained in this life, because the change to immortality is not a moral change. It is simply the exchange of the corruptible body for an incorruptible body fashioned like Christ's glorious body.
When the Life-giver comes He will call the dead from their prison houses and graves. Those who have borne the earthly body will then bear the heavenly body and image, coming forth in a better day precious to the faithful. They come forth clothed with immortal splendor, not in the poor body that went into the grave but in an immortal, glorious body. The bereaved therefore do not sorrow as those who have no hope but look forward to meeting their loved ones again in reunion, looking at unseen things for comfort and encouragement.
Those who love and fear God will be upheld by His arm as they enter death and will come forth from their graves changed to the heavenly likeness. On the great day of God all who are faithful and true will be made like the heavenly One by the healing touch of the divine Restorer and Life-giver, who will remove every deformity. They will be crowned with glory, honor, and immortality and given eternal life. There will be joy on every face, rejoicing in the unfading glories of the earth made new in an endless life of unalloyed happiness.
That resurrection transformation into Christlikeness, for those for whom Christ died and was raised, does not destroy personal identity and appearance but glorifies it. Faces remain recognizable. Every saint joined by family relationship on earth will meet, recognize, and know each other in heaven, in glorious companionship with heavenly angels.
First Adam, Second Adam
The verse sets the first Adam against the second Adam as two free moral agents each held responsible for conduct. The first Adam abused his freedom, let appetite overcome him, disobeyed, lost his innocence, by his own free will became a sinner, and separated himself from the favor of God. The second Adam stood in a position much less favorable for leading a sinless life, surrounded by intensely subtle and misleading influences in the midst of sinners, yet He resisted every temptation to sin, maintained His innocence, and was ever sinless.
The first Adam was charmed by sophistry into believing a lie and did not reach above humanity for divine power, while the second Adam would not swerve a hair's breadth from allegiance to God and would not become Satan's bondslave, so Satan could not win the world to his control. The first Adam was tempted with every advantage, standing in the strength of perfect manhood with full vigor of mind and body, with none of the effects of sin upon him, surrounded with the glories of Eden and in daily communion with heavenly beings. Christ met Satan in the wilderness duel in the opposite condition, after four thousand years in which the race had decreased in physical strength, mental power, and moral worth, taking upon Himself the infirmities of degenerate humanity in a weakened condition after a long fast, with apparently not a friend to aid Him. Every device of the enemy was brought against Him, with the wisest of the fallen angels using the most enticing words to compel His mind to yield, and only by thus coming to the lowest depths of human degradation could He rescue man.
Bearing Images in Life
To bear the earthly image is to be made from dust and yet live in sin, disloyal to God, on Satan's side and enslaved to him. It is to refuse the ransom provided, to lift the soul to vanity, and to aim to be as God, to be admired and obeyed and glorified, instead of reflecting God's moral image. Those who remain in that earthly image have missed the mark and, unless they repent, stand near final destruction and will never see God. To bear the heavenly image is to reflect God's moral image, which Christ came into the world to restore by saving this lost class and bringing believers into cooperation with Him in redemption.
Bearing the earthly image is being molded by Satan's influence to reflect his mind and attributes. When a person disconnects from the source of all good and righteousness and truth, places little value on what God made possible through the gift of His Son, loses eternity out of reckoning, listens to Satan's false representation, and is attracted to earth instead of heaven, the mind becomes like its leader. Evil propensities then take captive and enslave to Satan, with dishonest ways in insane pursuit of earthly gain and blindness to the result. Such a one beholds not celestial things but the enemy's deceiving picture of worldly gain filling memory with false representations, and by looking at them is debased and degraded to a low moral level. Mind and soul are thus cultivated with no fitness for eternal life and with no happiness found in this life, in contrast to becoming a partaker of the divine nature with divine power imparted by ministering angels while wrestling lawfully for victory.
Fallen men bear that earthly image in every sense. God created man with affections capable of embracing eternal realities to be kept pure and holy from earthliness, but men have lost eternity out of reckoning. They claim as their own God's entrusted capital of all they have and are, use riches to please and glorify self, and destroy the moral image of God. They indulge appetite and passion, let the mind become earthly and sensual revealing the earthly impress instead of the divine, and hold earthly imagery in every chamber of the mind. By abominable practices they place themselves in Satan's power to be molded after his hellish attributes, repeating the debasing corruptions of Noah's day that left that generation beyond remedy to perish in the flood.
The verse appeals to stop living for the world and to surrender and give the whole being to God, so the Spirit can beget a new life from above and form the spiritual likeness of the Son. Bearing the heavenly image instead of the earthly is then seen in awakened concern for people of every class, Christlike tenderness and sympathy, and earnest desire to share truths that bring eternal life.
Bearing the heavenly image requires the divine to mingle with the human through inward consecration and the right spirit controlling the heart, stamped as God's image and superscription on the life. Without this, even desperate efforts for apparent success in God's work interweave things that are an offense to God.
Bearing the heavenly image means having the mind of Christ through daily communion with Him, so that He transfers His spiritual likeness to the soul and the earthly image is effaced from mind and soul. This impress makes a person His spiritual representative who reveals Christ and transmits His light and glory to others rather than absorbing and concealing it. Keeping this distinctive character requires a heart fortified against the world, humble dying to spiritual pride as a little child, and undivided work as a subject and servant of Christ's kingdom to rescue souls. Opening the heart to the world loses the likeness and is treason against the promise to serve Him faithfully.
Bearing the heavenly image means laying aside the stamp and mold of the world and putting on a Christlike character that declares itself in action, beginning in the home. Parents are under solemn obligation to train children in the fear and love of God, preserve the purest morals, teach strict obedience to Bible requirements, and let the Word control mind and heart. Then home life demonstrates the power of grace and each family member is polished by divine principles and precepts.
As we have borne the image of the earthy in mortal bodies of dust, we shall bear the image of the heavenly in immortal, glorious bodies fashioned like Christ's at the resurrection. This is the literal second stage of redemption, when the Life-giver calls the faithful dead from the grave clothed with immortal splendor, not in the poor body that went down but in incorruption. That hope lies in the resurrection itself and not in entering full glory at death, for without it preaching would be pointless and the dead would have no future. The change to immortality is not a moral change but an exchange of bodies, so fitness for the next life must be gained in this life by surrendering the whole being to God to be remade in His moral likeness. Bearing the earthly image now is living in sin under Satan's mold, enslaved, earthly-minded and debased, while bearing the heavenly image is reflecting God's character through daily communion with Christ until the earthly impress is effaced.
Resurrection to Immortal Likeness
The hope held out is resurrection, not entrance into full glory at the moment of death, for the righteous wait for the resurrection. Without that resurrection, preaching it would be pointless and the dead in Christ would have no future hope. The resurrection taught is literal, with the mortal and the immortal person joined by identity of organization rather than by the passing over of the same particles of matter. As the grain illustration shows, the matter of the mortal body does not enter into the immortal being, and the contrast between the earthly and the heavenly image belongs to that same teaching.
The bearing of the heavenly image is the second stage of redemption, redemption from the grave by resurrection to immortal life. It belongs to all who in this life are redeemed from the condemnation and practice of transgression. Moral fitness for the next life is obtained in this life, because the change to immortality is not a moral change. It is simply the exchange of the corruptible body for an incorruptible body fashioned like Christ's glorious body.
When the Life-giver comes He will call the dead from their prison houses and graves. Those who have borne the earthly body will then bear the heavenly body and image, coming forth in a better day precious to the faithful. They come forth clothed with immortal splendor, not in the poor body that went into the grave but in an immortal, glorious body. The bereaved therefore do not sorrow as those who have no hope but look forward to meeting their loved ones again in reunion, looking at unseen things for comfort and encouragement.
Those who love and fear God will be upheld by His arm as they enter death and will come forth from their graves changed to the heavenly likeness. On the great day of God all who are faithful and true will be made like the heavenly One by the healing touch of the divine Restorer and Life-giver, who will remove every deformity. They will be crowned with glory, honor, and immortality and given eternal life. There will be joy on every face, rejoicing in the unfading glories of the earth made new in an endless life of unalloyed happiness.
That resurrection transformation into Christlikeness, for those for whom Christ died and was raised, does not destroy personal identity and appearance but glorifies it. Faces remain recognizable. Every saint joined by family relationship on earth will meet, recognize, and know each other in heaven, in glorious companionship with heavenly angels.
First Adam, Second Adam
The verse sets the first Adam against the second Adam as two free moral agents each held responsible for conduct. The first Adam abused his freedom, let appetite overcome him, disobeyed, lost his innocence, by his own free will became a sinner, and separated himself from the favor of God. The second Adam stood in a position much less favorable for leading a sinless life, surrounded by intensely subtle and misleading influences in the midst of sinners, yet He resisted every temptation to sin, maintained His innocence, and was ever sinless.
The first Adam was charmed by sophistry into believing a lie and did not reach above humanity for divine power, while the second Adam would not swerve a hair's breadth from allegiance to God and would not become Satan's bondslave, so Satan could not win the world to his control. The first Adam was tempted with every advantage, standing in the strength of perfect manhood with full vigor of mind and body, with none of the effects of sin upon him, surrounded with the glories of Eden and in daily communion with heavenly beings. Christ met Satan in the wilderness duel in the opposite condition, after four thousand years in which the race had decreased in physical strength, mental power, and moral worth, taking upon Himself the infirmities of degenerate humanity in a weakened condition after a long fast, with apparently not a friend to aid Him. Every device of the enemy was brought against Him, with the wisest of the fallen angels using the most enticing words to compel His mind to yield, and only by thus coming to the lowest depths of human degradation could He rescue man.
Bearing Images in Life
To bear the earthly image is to be made from dust and yet live in sin, disloyal to God, on Satan's side and enslaved to him. It is to refuse the ransom provided, to lift the soul to vanity, and to aim to be as God, to be admired and obeyed and glorified, instead of reflecting God's moral image. Those who remain in that earthly image have missed the mark and, unless they repent, stand near final destruction and will never see God. To bear the heavenly image is to reflect God's moral image, which Christ came into the world to restore by saving this lost class and bringing believers into cooperation with Him in redemption.
Bearing the earthly image is being molded by Satan's influence to reflect his mind and attributes. When a person disconnects from the source of all good and righteousness and truth, places little value on what God made possible through the gift of His Son, loses eternity out of reckoning, listens to Satan's false representation, and is attracted to earth instead of heaven, the mind becomes like its leader. Evil propensities then take captive and enslave to Satan, with dishonest ways in insane pursuit of earthly gain and blindness to the result. Such a one beholds not celestial things but the enemy's deceiving picture of worldly gain filling memory with false representations, and by looking at them is debased and degraded to a low moral level. Mind and soul are thus cultivated with no fitness for eternal life and with no happiness found in this life, in contrast to becoming a partaker of the divine nature with divine power imparted by ministering angels while wrestling lawfully for victory.
Fallen men bear that earthly image in every sense. God created man with affections capable of embracing eternal realities to be kept pure and holy from earthliness, but men have lost eternity out of reckoning. They claim as their own God's entrusted capital of all they have and are, use riches to please and glorify self, and destroy the moral image of God. They indulge appetite and passion, let the mind become earthly and sensual revealing the earthly impress instead of the divine, and hold earthly imagery in every chamber of the mind. By abominable practices they place themselves in Satan's power to be molded after his hellish attributes, repeating the debasing corruptions of Noah's day that left that generation beyond remedy to perish in the flood.
The verse appeals to stop living for the world and to surrender and give the whole being to God, so the Spirit can beget a new life from above and form the spiritual likeness of the Son. Bearing the heavenly image instead of the earthly is then seen in awakened concern for people of every class, Christlike tenderness and sympathy, and earnest desire to share truths that bring eternal life.
Bearing the heavenly image requires the divine to mingle with the human through inward consecration and the right spirit controlling the heart, stamped as God's image and superscription on the life. Without this, even desperate efforts for apparent success in God's work interweave things that are an offense to God.
Bearing the heavenly image means having the mind of Christ through daily communion with Him, so that He transfers His spiritual likeness to the soul and the earthly image is effaced from mind and soul. This impress makes a person His spiritual representative who reveals Christ and transmits His light and glory to others rather than absorbing and concealing it. Keeping this distinctive character requires a heart fortified against the world, humble dying to spiritual pride as a little child, and undivided work as a subject and servant of Christ's kingdom to rescue souls. Opening the heart to the world loses the likeness and is treason against the promise to serve Him faithfully.
Bearing the heavenly image means laying aside the stamp and mold of the world and putting on a Christlike character that declares itself in action, beginning in the home. Parents are under solemn obligation to train children in the fear and love of God, preserve the purest morals, teach strict obedience to Bible requirements, and let the Word control mind and heart. Then home life demonstrates the power of grace and each family member is polished by divine principles and precepts.