Godly Social Order - Corinthians

The Resurrection World

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Sociology

Lesson: 45-49

Genre: Lecture

Track: 45

Dictation Name: RR274N25b

Location/Venue:

Year:

There therefore is now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are sons of God. Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. Let us pray.

Oh most good and gracious heavenly Father we thank You for the opportunity we have to gather this day and to hear, and of acknowledge our dependence on You. To begin our week with worship of You. We thank You that You have saved us by Your grace and we thank You that You have saved us and redeemed us that we may live for You. We pray that You would encourage us in our efforts to serve you in word and thought and deed. We thank You that we share this time with You and with all of our fellow believers throughout the world. We pray that You would encourage them especially those who are oppressed for the sake of Your son. We pray that You would encourage those who seek to relieve their distress. We pray that You would bless our time together. We pray that You would encourage us in Your word. We pray that You would bless our families and encourage us, encourage us in the training of our families in the covenant faith. We pray that You would protect our children from the temptations of youth. We pray that You would encourage them to serve You in the midst of a rebellious generation. We pray that You would help us to focus on Your word this morning, help us to focus on our responsibility to serve You throughout this week in word and thought and deed. We ask this in Christ our Savior’s name, Amen.

Our scripture lesson is First Corinthians 15:45-58. Our subject: the Resurrection World. First Corinthians 15:45-58

“ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 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.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 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.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”.

To understand both ourselves and our history, Paul tells us we must begin with Adam, first of all, because the world is created and history began with Adam. From the perspective of the Triune God, the creator, the focus point of all history is neither Rome nor the United States or China with its hundreds of millions, but Jesus Christ. we must know and read history in terms of these two men, the first Adam who was made a living soul and the last Adam who was made a quickening spirit. History is governed by them and can only be understood in terms of them. And second, historical priority belongs to the first man, the natural Adam, not the spiritual Adam. The problem is created and posed by the first Adam whose will shall be done. That is a question Adam raises. Whose will shall be done? Does man come rather as a created function or according to obedience? Who makes up the agenda for human history? The First Adam held that human destiny was man’s creation, that men had to be his own god and king. The last Adam’s response to this was that each to the three temptations, it is written. It is written, it is written. That is, God’s will must be done in all things. So these are the two purposes of history. My will be done versus God’s will be done. The first Adam has an all command, but with the second Adam we have an inscriptured law word. Third there is a difference between these two Adams, the first is a man, earthy, the second man is a Lord from heaven.

The created order seeks priority in the first man, Adam. He responds at once to the tempters claim that God’s law word has as its purpose the limitation not the fulfillment of man. God’s law word is seen as a hold back to man. It is not seen as a blessing. It is seen as a hindrance to self-realization rather than as the way of life. Man’s fall was his rebellion against God’s law, but men very clearly recognized that life without law is impossible so men created his own laws in order to further life. This was an act of arrogance and pretension. Man by the state can say ‘Thou shalt not kill’. But he is not the author of life, only God is. The state by saying that warps man’s view of reality and creates a false view of virtue. Statism as a way of life. For the first man the protection of life begins with the acceptance of the priority of man’s will by the state or by some other human agency. For the last man, Jesus Christ, the protection of life requires obedience to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Go forth, manifest our origins by our worldviews according to verses forty eight and nine. If we are members of the great rebellion against God our loyalties, however wrong shall show it. If we are member s of the second human race and it’s Adam, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. We are image bearers, either of the first Adam, the fallen Adam or the Adam from heaven, Jesus Christ. To be an image bearer means that we are not the originals. Our goal then is to be faithful copies of either fallen Adam or of the triumphant Adam Jesus Christ. Because flesh and blood cannot inherit the world of incorruption or the kingdom of God there is a great division between the two human races of Adam the first and Adam the second.

Paganism wants a natural immortality as lot of all men. Paul tells us that we are in Christ and in Him gain the miracle of the resurrection, eternal life in Christ. It is interesting that outside the church there is contempt for and doubt of the resurrection and yet there are regularly books written and I just read a review of one recently which defended the idea of immortality as a natural fact. That’s the [unknown] fallen men will accept, life beyond the grave without God. Yet it be just a natural aspect of the world. Paul tells us then that our eternal life is a mystery, not a natural fact, a miracle, not an attribute of our lives. Those who are in Christ shall be changed instead of remaining in death, at the last trumpet of history, the end of history, the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. The corruptible, that which belongs to the world of sin and death puts on incorruption and now mortality is replaced with immortality and this occurs, the prophetic hope is realized. Death is swept up in victory. Not a natural fact but an act of grace on the part of God. Paul in verses fifty five following exults in this hope, oh death where is thy sting, oh grave where is thy victory, he says. Death and grave are the enemies of men and the strength of some is the law, the statement is an interesting one. Sin brings in death, the penalty for breaking God’s law. The possible power of the law is that it opens up the world of God’s will and blessing so that obedience means God’s strength. On the other hand, sin by unleashing God’s curse and the penalty of death, of sin, brings in all the power of death and hell. As against this fearful power we can thank God for our victory through Jesus Christ.

Now in these things we should always be, Paul says, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know remain in the Lord. Now that’s a statement that in various forms is repeated in the Bible. When the work of the Lord the results are far beyond what we can see so that our work is never in vain, it always bears the fruit God intended. We are therefore commanded to work without ceasing. God sees us in two realms of power. God’s realm and Satan’s. They are not equals but we dare not underrate Satan’s power nor overrate it as it is a real battle. We must stand fast in our faithful obedience to the Lord and to His word knowing that to him our labor is never in vain. God’s results are always forthcoming in His time. Paul opens for us the resurrection world, a totally different realm then one of sin and death. We are members in Christ and of his new creation and we work for its total victory because it is our world of citizenship in Christ. In us God’s law- for us God’s law cannot be a roadblock but a blessing. Second, in our thinking about our lives and our world we do not begin with man but with God and His word. This is the great emphasis made by the Dr. Cornelius Van TIl. As against beginning with human reason or our world or whatever you begin with God. And that’s why the Bible never tries to prove God. It simply assumes the existence from cover to cover, because without God there can be no proof, without God there can be no reality, it’s a myth to believe everything came out of nothing and begin with God. Then second, in thinking about our lives and our world we do not begin with man or his reason, or his sense, but with God and His word.

For in our thinking about man and his word and future, his work, his responsibilities, again we begin with God and His purpose. Our torment, our redemption in Jesus Christ, our calling to conquer the world for Him, our resurrection in the new heavens and the new earth. This is why Paul begins his view of life and the world with the fact of the resurrection. Why he stresses Christ’s life, his atonement and above all that great event, the general resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth. This is Paulinian thinking. The question the church has to ask of itself. Are we in the world of Corinth or of Jesus Christ? Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we confess and we acknowledge before Thee that too often we think of ourselves as in the world of Corinth, and it is thy power and Thy world, that purpose that rules and overrules all of life. All our yesterdays and our todays point ahead to the glory of life in Christ. The fullness of his resurrection and of the new creation. We thank Thee our Father for Thy so great salvation. For our marvelous purpose for us and our lives. Teach us to look not at our burdens, our problems, our infirmities, there is unto Thee, always to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, always to that great destiny to which we are called in Him. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Question] Rush I was noticing again in verses, the contrast in verse thirty four to thirty six, and thinking about how the doctrine of bodily resurrection is under attack today even among many reformed people. I think it’s important that we actually have to point out that the contrast between spiritual and natural is not metaphysical but ethical. People take spiritual to mean not metaphorical or not spiritual, but in verse fifty [unintelligible] some sort of spacey, but that’s clearly not the case.

[Rushdoony] Very, very true. Modern man’s prone to see all the problems of life as metaphysical whereas inherently there. As a part of this world that we can do little or nothing about. But our problems are moral problems, that’s what the bible insists from cover to cover and therefore [unintelligible]. Now that’s why fallen man ultimately becomes a pessimist. Because he does insist that these problems are not moral but metaphysical and a part of life, of being, and therefore when he wins he is suddenly is without hope. There’s no solution. Any other questions or comments?

If not let us conclude with prayer and bow our heads.

Our father we give thanks unto Thee for Thy word. We thank Thee that Thou didst speak to us through the mouths of men who underwent far more than we ever shall in the ways of trials, tribulations, grief’s, persecution, horrors without end. Who came through radiant with victory, more than conquerors through Christ. Give us grace our Father, so to live, so to believe and so in all things to conquer. We give thanks unto Thee for the privilege of being part of Thy word and Thy kingdom. Bless us and to grow in faithfulness, in Christ’s name. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.