Hello again,
@TomL,
Resurrection is not only a blessed hope, it is inescapable. The unjust as well as the just, they that have done good, and they that have done evil, those who form the Body of Christ, and those who stand before the Great White Throne, each and every one of the seed of the woman, Jew or Gentile, must be raised from the dead. The fact that the Apostle could preface his reference to resurrection in Philippians 3:11 with an '
if' after having expressed his complete surrender to the grace of God in Christ, is of itself an indication that he is not speaking of the fundamental doctrine of resurrection.
'If by any means I might attain unto'. No ambiguity attaches to the original here, in the original 'ei' is combined with the adverb 'pos' - 'how', and so means
'if somehow'. The word 'eipos' occurs but four times in the New Testament and in every case the contingency is very real, the possibility of failure is stressed. The passages are :-
'If by any means they might attain to Phenice' (Acts 27:120
'If by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey' (Rom. 1:10)
'If by any means I may provoke to emulation' (Rom. 11:14)
'If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection' (Phil. 3:11).
The experience of the Apostle recorded in Acts 27 and 28 must have left an indelible impression upon his mind, and as he penned the words, '
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection',
he knew, that there was the possibility of failing to arrive, just as surely as the venture to attain unto Phenice met with such disaster. In the verse following, he emphasizes the fact that he had not '
already attained' but that he '
followed after', still further adding
'brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.' Now it is certain that Paul could have entertained no doubt concerning his standing in grace and his acceptance in the Beloved, his hope like an anchor was sure, and if he used words that express contingency and uncertainty, then it is morally certain that he was
not speaking of
the hope of the believer. In verse 14, he reveals that his uncertainty was related to a
'prize', and this attitude of mind he had already exhibited in relation to the same theme in 1 Cor. 9:24 and 10:13. The
'resurrection', therefore, that was the object of the Apostle's desire here in Philippians 3:11, for which he suffered and was willing to endure, must be something equivalent to
'the first resurrection' of Revelation 20:4-6, or the '
better resurrection' of Hebrews 11:34. The words
'first' and
'better' stand visible for all to read in the passages referenced, but the AV uses no such qualifying prefix in Philippians 3:11:-
'If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.' The original reads, 'ten exanastasin ten ek nekron', 'the out-resurrection, that which is out from dead ones'. In order to appreciate the intention of the Apostle here, it will be necessary to review the teaching of the New Testament on this great question of resurrection. Two sects divided the religious beliefs of Israel into conflicting camps. The Sadducees and the Pharisees. Of the Sadducees it is written that they say '
there is no resurrection' (Matt. 22:31). When the Saviour challenged the faith of Martha concerning the resurrection of her brother Lazarus, she replied in the language of the common creed of the day,
'I know that he shall rise again ... at the last day' (John 11:24). The simplest statement concerning the resurrection is that given by the apostle before Felix and the Sanhedrin, a belief which Israel and the believer could share '
and have hope towards God which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust' (Acts 24:15). Here in the words '
anastasin nekron' we have the most elementary form in which the resurrection of the dead can be expressed, a form used by the Pharisees, and by Paul, by the sister of Lazarus and by the common people: for the Apocrypha, written long before Christ, contains the words, 'anastasin eis zoen, '
a resurrection unto life'.
It is, therefore, somewhat disconcerting to read in Mark 9:10 of the disciples that they questioned one with another, 'what the rising from the dead should mean?' The words that troubled the disciples were those used by the Lord when He said,
'till the Son of Man were risen from the dead', 'ek nekron anaste',
'risen OUT FROM dead ones'. It is the presence of this word 'ek' that caused the question. It was something additional to the common creed. It was this resurrection '
ek nekron' that declared Christ to be the Son of God with power (Rom. 1:4). The first to rise out from the dead was Christ, as Paul testifies in Acts 26:23:- '
That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise out from dead ones'.
In Luke 30:35, '
But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection that which out from dead ones.' we see not only wording similar to that of Philippians 3:11,
'accounted worthy to obtain' but a similar context. Believers can be accounted worthy to obtain that age and the out-resurrection, they can be accounted worthy to escape the dreadful things that are coming on the earth and to stand before the Son of Man, they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name; and the persecutions which they endured were a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that they may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they suffered (Luke 20:35; 21:36; Acts 5:41; 2 Thess. 1:5).
The word
'obtain' in Luke 20:35 is used by the Apostle in 2 Timothy 2:10, '
that they may also obtain that salvation which is with eternal glory', where the context associates
'suffering' with
'reigning', and in Hebrews 11:35,
'that they might obtain a better resurrection' which is an obvious parallel with the
'out resurrection' of Philippians3:11. While Paul was sure of the
'hope' of his calling, he could not be sure of attaining unto the
'prize' of this same calling, and associated with that prize is the special resurrection, the out-resurrection out from among dead ones.
* I have to stop here. This has been, for the most part, taken from a study in' The Alphabetical Analysis' (vol. 3), written by Charles Welch, but adapted as appropriate to fit the theme we have now entered on the out resurrection.
Thank you,
@TomL,
In Christ Jesus
Chris