Part 3. Cause and Effect

Helpful Doctrines
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If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.   John 13:17 RV

Not all useful teachings of the Bible are declared mandatory by the Bible (although man sometimes declares them mandatory).  Though the Christian should not try to make these a test of fellowship, his walk should be guided by their light, and he should commend that light to others.  Three examples are:

* Jesus Christ’s ransom sacrifice and the consequent restoration of the bulk of Adam’s race to human perfection gives us a new and hopeful outlook on even the more degraded souls we meet.

* Acknowledging that immortality is a reward, conditional upon obedience, takes the unholy fear out of life.

* The concept of two sacrifices during the Day of Atonement intensifies our attention on the personal responsibility for self-sacrifice.

Doctrines which apply particularly to only portions of church history cannot be mandatory for the church throughout the entire Gospel Age.  The doctrine of the Antichrist would not have been essential in the first period of the church, nor could it have been essential any time before the Antichrist became established (1 John 2:18).  The practical significance of Christ’s second presence also would not have been essential before its time (Matthew 13:30 versus Revelation 18:1-5).  Yet, while someone who does not see something in its proper time is disadvantaged, he should not be regarded as an enemy.

Restoration/Restitution

If by the will of God “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10 RV), should not all benefit?  “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).  It is to Jesus Christ that our gratitude is due for his “ransom for all,” and no less to God who sent him. [1]

If Jesus Christ died once for all, then there will be one full and complete opportunity for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived.  “The hour cometh in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgement” (John 5:28-29 RV).  Those who are on trial for life in the Gospel Age – and prove faithful (“have done good”) – are to receive the resurrection of life.  The rest of the world (“have done ill”) will be resurrected in the thousand-year kingdom of Christ and the church, for training in righteousness, and they will then be judged worthy or unworthy of life at the end of that thousand years.

When God swore to Abraham that “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves,” he also promised, “I will multiply thy [heavenly] seed as the stars of the heavens, and [thy earthly seed] as the sand which is upon the seashore” (Genesis 22:16-18 ASV^mg).  At the end of the thousand-year kingdom of Christ, the nations that will be delivered from Satan are also described as, “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:8).  Those who will follow Satan are described, “if any was not found written in the book of life,” from which we logically infer that these incorrigible will be relatively few (Revelation 20:15 RV).  Evidently Christ will be the great victor, not Satan.  So if Christ and the faithful church are to succeed in bringing back to perfection the vast majority of mankind, so they will live forever, we should view them all today in a much more favorable light.

The consequence of what we believe should be: It is for each Christian to view others not as they are now, in various stages of degradation, but as we can expect most of them to be at the end of Christ’s thousand-year kingdom, finally brought back to the perfection lost in Eden.  That is why we are commanded, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44).

Conditional Immortality

Death has always been an enemy.  So it should not be surprising that man fears death.  But what is death?

Before Adam had witnessed death, God had told him, “Of every tree of the garden thou shalt surely begin to eat:  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely begin to die” (Genesis 3:16-17 RVIC).  When Jesus awakened his friend Lazarus from the sleep of death, Lazarus left no account of anything happening during the four days he was dead.  Nor did Jesus of the (parts of) three days he was dead.  Paul says simply, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

None of these references to death implies any conscious existence, much less any discomfort.  Solomon in his wisdom says, “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything… there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10).

What does the Bible say about immortality?  The Greek word (athanasia) properly translated “immortality” appears only three times in the Bible, and only in the epistles of Paul.  1 Timothy 6:13-16 (RV) tells us that out of all who have ever lived, it was “our Lord Jesus Christ… who only hath immortality, dwelling in [God’s] light…” [2]  Twice this word is used concerning faithful Christians in 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, “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.”  If the Christian is to “put on immortality,” he cannot have already possessed it – he cannot have had an immortal soul.  In over eight hundred times the Bible uses the word “soul,” it is not even once said to be immortal.

“King-James-only” people have three more verses to contend with (where aphtharsia and aphthartos are translated immortality and immortal, though they should more properly be translated incorruptibility and incorruptible). In 1 Timothy 1:17, God Himself is praised, “unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.” Readers will generally assent to this.  But 2 Timothy 1:10 says it is “our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”  Did Jesus Christ bring to light “immortal souls,” which heathen religions had been teaching for two thousand years?  Evidently not! The Christian hope of immortality was simply not revealed by God before Christ paid the price.  Romans 2:6-7 says, God “will render to every man according to his deeds:  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.”  So eternal life is a reward for well doing.  And for anyone to seek for immortality (just as for glory) it can only mean that he does not already have it, for who will seek for that which he already has?  Thus, the hope of immortality is conditional upon obedience.

However, fallen man too frequently allows fear to overpower faith.  Because imperfect humanity fears to go out of existence, Satan drugs them with his first lie, “Thou shalt not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), professing that God created immortal human souls which even He Himself could not destroy.  By consequence, if good people will receive bliss in heaven, the rest would then have to blister in hell – forever!  By threats of eternal torture, Satan obscures the Word of God and deceives the religious world.

“God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and [self-]discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7 RV).  If a doctrine generates dread and fear in our hearts, we should look carefully to see if it is not from the eternal God, but from the god of this world – Satan.

The consequence of what we believe should be: If eternal torture were true, then the Christian’s emphasis should be to save everyone we can now, let character development be secondary, and think about who gets what glory later.  But if the dead are asleep until the resurrection, then the emphasis needs to be on character development now, so that we may become fit to join with Christ to resurrect and bless all the families of the earth in Christ’s Kingdom.  Our emphasis now needs to be on doing good to our enemies, not fearing them.

Christian Sacrifice

Does the consecrated Christian have an obligation to sacrifice self?  Yes.  But he takes this obligation upon himself voluntarily.  “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).  On the Day of Atonement, three animals were presented before the LORD (though one was rejected for sacrifice).  The high priest apparently provided the young bullock, but the two goats were to be taken from the flocks of the sons of Israel (Leviticus 16:3, 5).  By common consent, the young bullock foreshadows Jesus Christ, “holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners,” without whose sacrifice no one else could become acceptable (Hebrews 7:26 RV).  The goats, coming from a different source, and scrawny compared to a bullock, must represent something else – the church, many of whom compromise their covenant before proving faithful unto death, but others will become accounted worthy to join with Christ in applying His merit to benefit the whole rest of the world.  Paul confirms this in Hebrews 13:10-13 (RVIC), “We have an altar [on the Day of Atonement], whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.  For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the Holies by the high priest for sin-offerings, are burned outside the camp.  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate [of Jerusalem].  Let us therefore go forth unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.”  Though both goats would ultimately die, the sacrificed goat is reckoned as having a part in cancelling sin.

If the church – the Bride of Christ – has a part in the sin-offering, can it add any atoning merit to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?  Absolutely not!  For two reasons: 1. Jesus Christ died once for all (Hebrews 7:27 RV). Once the ransom price is fully paid, who can add anything to it?  2. Of ourselves, we have no merit to offer; “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

The church has no part in Jesus Christ’s ransom sacrifice for Adam (covering all his descendants), but they join with Christ in the offering of that ransom for the cancellation of sin.  The church’s part in the sin-offering may be likened to a king who marries a pauper’s daughter: she brings no money to the marriage, but after the wedding she joins with him in bestowing the benefits of the royal treasury on the people of the kingdom.  Thus will the Bride of Christ join with Jesus Christ in applying His merit to resurrect Adam and all his race from the dead.

The consequence of what we believe should be: Each Christian has obligated himself to sacrifice his own will in favor of “Thy will be done.”  So “Be thou faithful unto death,” lest any of us be pictured in the goat that was sent away and rejected for sacrifice.

Conclusion

Belief in the teachings of the restoration of mankind to perfection and everlasting life, of conditional immortality, and of Christian sacrifice, should impel us to view others favorably, to be driven by kindness and not fear, and to desire to sacrifice self for the Lord and for others.  We should test our understandings against scripture, revising as necessary; so that we may distinguish practical doctrine from merely intellectual concepts and put the former into practice.

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1. Some will consider that the requirement to believe that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22, 5:1; see also the second article in this issue) incorporates believing Jesus is a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:5,6). That is conservatively not assumed here, although it might be true.

2. One editor’s note: I think Paul is speaking of God as the one who symbolically dwells in the Shekinah light over the ark, and the one whom “no man hath seen” consistent with John 1:18. Paul introduces this one as “the blessed” and in 1Timothy 1:11, “the blessed God.” In 1Timothy 1:17 he is “the only God,” reminis cent of 1Corinthians 8:6, connecting to 1 Timothy 6:15 “only Potentate.” He is described in 1Timothy 1:17 as “invisible” which connects to “no man can see” in 1 Timothy 6:16.