“Then shall
come to pass the word which is written”
Ballinger: Also, in I Corinthians 15, when writing about the same hope
of resurrection (which some call the “rapture”), he says, 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. O grave, where is thy victory?” (:54-55). If Paul
means what he says, and says what he means, the hope of I Corinthians 15 was
prophesied in “the Word of the Lord.” Paul is quoting from two different books
in “the Word of the Lord,” Hosea 13:14 and Isaiah 25:8, to show the Corinthians
their hope.
We’ve shown in part four that,
by the phrase “the word of the Lord” in 1 Thess. 4:15, Paul did not have in
mind anything found in the Hebrew Scriptures - and this includes Hosea 13:14
and Isaiah 25:8. Nowhere in these verses do we find the information made known
by Paul in 1 Thess. 4:15-17. Rather, the information found in these verses had
been revealed to Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ at some point during Paul’s
apostolic career (prior to the writing of 1 Thessalonians). In light of this,
let’s now consider Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 15:54-55: Now,
whenever this corruptible
should be putting on incorruption and this mortal should be putting on
immortality, then shall come
to pass the word which is written, Swallowed up was Death by Victory. Where, O
Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?
Notice
the words “whenever” and “then” in v. 54. The word “whenever” has a much wider
scope than the word “when.” It means that every
time a corruptible, mortal body is changed into an incorruptible, immortal
body, the “word that is written” comes to pass (ginomai,
to come to be, or to occur). Paul is not talking about the fulfillment of Isaiah 25:8 or Hosea
13:14; he doesn’t even use the word translated “fulfilled” or “filled up” (pleroo) in reference to these verses of
Scripture (for some examples where a verse or passage from the Hebrew
scriptures is said to have been
“fulfilled,” or “filled up,” see Matthew 2:23; 4:12-16; 13:14-15; 27:6-10; Luke
24:44; John 13:18; 17:12; 19:36; Acts 1:16; 3:18; 13:27; James 2:23).
The “word which is written” will “come to
pass” any time (“whenever”) a
deceased or mortal person (or a group of such persons) is vivified. Thus, when the
deceased saints in the body of Christ are roused incorruptible, and the
still-living saints are changed into immortal beings (which is the event that
Paul has in view in the immediate context) death will, for them, be “swallowed
up by victory” and will have lost its “sting.” And when all the deceased saints
of Israel are vivified (which will be 75 days after
the day of Christ’s return to earth), the “word” that Paul quotes will
again “come to pass.” But even then, it cannot be said that this “word” will
have been fulfilled, since there will
remain a third and final class of human beings who are to be vivified (and for
whom death is to be “swallowed up by victory”).
Ballinger: The
mystery of I Corinthians 15:51 is not the resurrection, but that there will be
some caught up without dying. This is a mystery hidden in the Scriptures, for
in :55 Paul quotes Isaiah 25:8 which says, “O Death where is thy sting?” In
other words, in the Old Testament Scriptures it was written down that somebody
was going to get out of this life without experiencing the sting of death.
The rhetorical
question, “Where, O Death, is your sting?” in no way presupposes or implies
that anyone would be vivified without dying. These words are just as applicable
for all who are to be roused from the state of death and introduced into a
vivified, incorruptible state as they are for those members of the body of
Christ who will never die. For all
who are vivified, it can be said that death has lost its “sting” (i.e., its
power to harm/injure), since those who have been vivified can no longer die.
The words of 1 Cor. 15:55 (“Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is
your sting?”) can, therefore, be the triumphant proclamation of everyone over whom death no longer has
any power.
“Saying none
other things”
Ballinger: This agrees with what Paul said in Acts 26:22 where, when
summing up his Acts ministry, said, Having therefore obtained help of God, I
continue unto this day witnessing both to small and great, saying NONE OTHER
THINGS than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Paul’s Acts
ministry and what he wrote in his Acts epistles can be found in the Old
Testament Scriptures, and that includes the hope he wrote about in I
Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15.
According
to Ballinger and other Acts 28 proponents, Paul never said anything during the entirety of his “Acts ministry” that can’t be
found in the Law and the Prophets. That anyone who is actually familiar with
the content of Paul’s epistles could take this idea seriously is, to me,
astonishing.
Before
Paul travelled to Rome as a prisoner, he wrote the following to the saints in
Rome: “Now to Him Who is able to establish you in
accord with my evangel, and the
heralding of Christ Jesus in accord
with the revelation of a secret hushed in times eonian, yet manifested now and
through prophetic scriptures, according
to the injunction of the eonian God being
made known to all nations for faith-obedience...” (Rom. 16:25-26). The “prophetic
scriptures” through which the secret was “being made known to all nations” are Paul’s
own letters. Paul clearly understood what he wrote to be inspired scripture (1
Cor. 14:37; cf. 2 Pet. 3:14-16), and all of his letters can be characterized as
“prophetic” - both in the sense of their being part of the “oracles of God”
(Rom. 3:2) and in the sense of their containing prophecies concerning future
events (events which involve not only the saints in the body of Christ but also
the nation of Israel, unbelievers, all mankind and the universe as a whole).
Unlike what Peter declared in
Acts 3:21-24 (concerning “all the things which God speaks through the mouth of
His holy prophets who are from the eon”), the “secret” that Paul had in view in
Romans 16:25-26 had been kept “hushed in times eonian.” It was not manifested until
after Paul was called by Christ (Gal 1:1, 11-16). This fact
brings us to our second point. All that one needs to do to demonstrate the
error of the Acts 28 proponent’s use of Acts 26:22 is to find one thing found
in Paul’s “Acts epistles” that wasn’t previously revealed in the Hebrew
Scriptures. Here are some examples:
1.
Salvation has come to the nations through the “tripping,” “offense” and
“casting away” of Israel (Rom. 11:11-15, 19), and this state of affairs is to
continue “until the complement of the nations may be entering” (vv. 25-26).
2.
All who believe Paul’s evangel - whether “Jew or Greek” - are spiritually
baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:12-13), which is the body of Christ (v. 27),
and have become a “new creation” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
3.
The last generation of those in the body of Christ will “not be put to repose”
(die), but will “put on immortality” at the same time that the deceased saints
in the body of Christ will be “roused in incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:50-53).
4.
Both categories of saints in the body of Christ will be “snatched away
together” by the “Lord himself” to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
5.
All who are in the body of Christ will, at this time, become “celestials” and
will “wear the image of Christ, the “Celestial One” (1 Cor. 15:47-49).
6.
Related to the last point, the realm in which we will enjoy eonian life after
we’ve “put on incorruption” is not on the earth but rather “in the heavens” (2
Cor. 5:1), and our “home” is, therefore, where the Lord is, presently (vv.
6-9).
7.
After death has been abolished by Christ and every being in the universe has
been subjected to him, Christ will be “giving up the kingdom to His God and
Father” and “shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be
All in all” (1 Cor. 15:24-28). Referring to the subjection of all to Christ and
to God’s becoming “All in all” is simply another way of conveying the same
truth found in Col. 1:20 and elsewhere.
Having
noted some truths revealed by Paul (and concerning which “the prophets and
Moses” were completely silent), let’s now consider what Paul meant in Acts
26:22. Although Ballinger seems to prefer the King James Version, I consider it
a relatively inferior translation on which to build (or with which to support)
one’s doctrinal positions. But even the KJV translation of Acts 26:22 does not
lend support to Ballinger’s position.
Notice
that Ballinger leaves out the very next verse, which specifies what “things” Paul had in view when he declared that he
was “saying none other things that those which the prophets and Moses did say
should come.” In v. 23 we read: “That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the
first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people,
and to the Gentiles.”
More recent translations confirm this understanding of Acts 26:22-23. Consider
the following:
New English Translation (NET)
“I have
experienced help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small
and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said was going to
happen: that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead,
to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
“To this very day, I have obtained help that comes from God, and I
stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing else than what the
prophets and Moses said would take place— that the Messiah must suffer,
and that as the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light to our
people and to the Gentiles.”
English
Standard Version (ESV)
“To this
day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying
nothing but what the
prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
Concordant Literal New Testament (CLNT)
“Happening, then, on assistance from God, until
this day I stand attesting both to small and to great, saying nothing outside
of what both the prophets and Moses speak of impending occurrences -- if it be
the suffering Christ -- if He, the first out of a resurrection of the dead, is
about to be announcing light both to the people and to the nations.”
Why would Ballinger quote verse 22 but not verse
23 (especially when, grammatically, v. 23 can’t even be separated from what is
said in v. 22)? I strongly suspect that it’s because Ballinger realized that
doing so would weaken his position that Paul was referring to everything he had ever said during his
apostolic ministry, without any exception or qualification. Since Paul’s words
in verse 23 put a significant restriction on the “things” that Paul had in view
in verse 22, it would seem that Ballinger felt it necessary to simply omit them
altogether. This type of selective “proof-texting” seems to be rather common
among proponents of the Acts 28 position, unfortunately.
“He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die”?
Ballinger: When the resurrection of
Matthew 24 takes place, believers who are alive will be caught up without
dying.
The
problem with what Ballinger says above is that, unlike what Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4, there
is no resurrection referred to by the Lord in Matthew 24. In order to see
the coming of Christ referred to in Matthew 24:30-31 as the same event referred
to by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:50-54 and 1 Thess. 4:15-17, Ballinger and other Acts 28
proponents have to read into the Lord’s words what isn’t there. They have no
choice but to do this, since the words “dead,” “sleeping,” “put to repose,” “roused,”
“resurrected,” “rising,” “corruptible” and “put on incorruption” appear nowhere in Matthew 24:30-31 or the
surrounding context.
Ballinger
goes on to say: This fact is brought out by the Lord in
John 11. In John 11, Lazarus, Martha’s brother, died, and she wanted Christ to
raise him from the dead. Jesus said to her, “Thy brother shall rise again.”
Martha saith unto Him, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day.” Jesus said unto her: “I am the resurrection; and the life: he
that believeth in Me; though He were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (:23).
When Jesus said, “He that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet
shall he live,” He is referring to those who are dead when the resurrection of
the last day takes place. When He said “whosoever liveth and believeth in Me,”
He is referring to those who are alive when the resurrection of the last day
takes place, and He says that they “shall never die.”
As we’ve seen, the
“fact” to which Ballinger is referring at the beginning of the above paragraph
is no “fact” at all. There is no resurrection referred to in Matthew 24. As far
as John 11 goes, nowhere in the Lord’s conversation with Martha does he say
that the “dying” believers he has in view in v. 25 will be resurrected when,
before or immediately after the event referred to in Matthew 24:30 (when “all
the tribes of the land shall see the Son of Mankind coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory”).
Not only this, but
there is nothing said by the Lord in this chapter (or elsewhere in the Gospel
Accounts) about living saints not “preceding” or “outstripping” saints who are
dead, of the dead in Christ “rising first,” or of both living and dead saints
being changed, at the same moment, into incorruptible, immortal beings before
being snatched away to meet him in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-53).
Ballinger: This
is what Jesus is referring to in John 11 when He said, “He that liveth and
believeth in me shall never die.” That was the only time that Christ mentioned
that fact to anyone. Prior to Paul it was the general consensus that, by the
time that resurrection took place, all believers would be dead. Yet God opened
up the Scriptures to Paul and he was the first man to understand that fact
fully and write about it. Nevertheless, it was in the Old Testament Scriptures,
even though concealed.
If our Lord actually
declared that “He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” then he
uttered a falsehood, because everyone who was living and believing in him
during his earthly ministry is now dead, and countless believers in Christ have
died since then. Ballinger should have availed himself of a better, more
accurate translation of Scripture while he was writing his article; had he done
so, he would’ve discovered that Christ was not
saying something so manifestly erroneous and stupid as is found in the KJV
translation of John 11:26.
The CLNT corrects the
error of the KJV by translating Christ’s words as follows: “And everyone who is living and believing in Me, should by
no means be dying for the eon.” To say that those who believe in Christ
“should by no means be dying for the eon” is simply another (more emphatic) way
of saying that they will have eonian life – something that will be true for a
believer regardless of whether they die before the Lord’s return or not.
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