RE-FORMATION THESIS #15

Thesis #15 of 95: Death results from sin but Paul indicates sin is itself a result of "death" arising from the corrupted intellectual vessel in which the human soul temporarily resides

BIBLICAL REFERENCES

Ps51:5 – Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

1Cor15:54-56 – When this corruptible puts on the incorruptible and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law

Rom8:23 – Even we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, being THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY!!!

COMMENTS

One needs to observe carefully what the apostle writes concerning spiritual death: “The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law”. The converse idea, namely that the sting of sin is death is better understood and Paul quotes as much from Hosea. But once again the apostle intends exactly what he writes. It confirms among other things that when Paul speaks of death it is not a reference to a state of damnation for in this case sin results from death, not leads to it. Something being spiritually dead has resulted in sin, that something being the mortal body and brain. In responding to the body’s natural inclinations, the soul rebels against the divine light of conscience and so disrupts the relationship with the Source of its spiritual life. For what had been conceived in sin (Ps51:5) has “died” leading in turn to sin that destroys Life once the “law” (a sense of right and wrong) is perceived and inevitably breached (Rom7:9).

Hence the need for heavenly grace by which one can be spiritually purified, receiving ongoing cleansing of the soul so that those predestined to it may serve God whilst in mortal flesh. The apostle had further asserted that “death will be swallowed up in victory”, yet even celestial grace does not fully resolve the problem of mortal embodiment. God intends to save our soul and body, but He does not do so simultaneously. So even the Christian is tempted to sin whilst in mortal flesh which is why it is his body that is to be offered as a living sacrifice “so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk after the flesh but after the spirit” (Rom8:4). For it is the spirit that having been supplied by God loves His law and wishes to serve righteousness. Not until “this corruptible” (body) has been transformed at resurrection will death (physical and spiritual) finally be swallowed up in victory when the body itself is redeemed (Rom8:23). [Note – to Paul, salvation’s apotheosis is not the soul going to heaven but bodily resurrection]. The soul’s vessel in its current degenerative state is the cause of the human problem being the outworking of original sin; the final solution will not be for the soul to lose a body altogether and be eternally at rest in the spiritual realm (a spurious dualism), but to be re-clothed in a new body which is from heaven (2Cor5:2) and to be united to the Man who is God and actively participate within His realm; that will be joy unspeakable and full of glory.

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