WCF Motto Text 2014

1 Corinthians 15:58

1 Corinthians 15:58

Context:

From v51-57, the “mystery” that Paul speaks of in this verse is the change that takes place at the second coming of Christ

At this time, some Christians will have never died, and others will have died, but that the bodies of both will be changed. “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep [that is, die], but we shall all be changed.”

Those whose bodies have decomposed in the ground will be changed, and those who have healthy living bodies will be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (v52). There will be no process or development. Our change will be instantaneous, whether we are dead or alive.

At the moment, according to v54, our bodies are “perishable” meaning “decaying”, wearing out, running down. They are “mortal” meaning that our bodies die but in Heaven, after Jesus returns, our bodies will be changed so that there is no decay, no wearing, no running down, and no death.

We will have new bodies, immortal and incorruptible, capable of vastly greater joys than aytjing we have known on earth (1 Corinthians 15:44), and yet just as is now the case, we will be able to reconginise eachother and know each other. Thye will have a pysicality to them!

When this happens, says Paul, then the sayings from Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 will come to pass. “‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’”

The swallowing image is helpful. It means that, even though death is a kind of defeat for us. It is an enemy Paul says: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). And this enemy gets an apparent victory, just the way that death got an apparent victory over Jesus. But then Jesus rose from the dead, and what seemed like a defeat, proved to be the greatest victory of all. His death was swallowed up in victory. Indeed his death became part of the victory over death.

The other image—the sting—implies that there is a sharp, painful thrust against our soul when we die. And Paul says that it will be gone. It will not poison and it will not destroy.

Paul goes on to tell us how this can be!

In v56-57, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does that mean? It means that death is terrible because of sin. Death is death because of sin. Death is damnation and hell and gnashing of teeth and outer darkness because of sin.

“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Because of sin, death is punishment. It is the final sentence: away from God and away from joy into misery that never ends. That’s the sting. And that’s because of sin.

And then he says in v56b, “The power of sin is the law.” This punishment, this legal sentence of misery, has force and validity and authority and binding power because the law of God tells us what to do and renders God’s curse if we rebel—which we all have done. So what makes death terrifying is our sin, and what gives that terror such force is that the entire law of God stands behind it.

But Paul interjects, in v57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Death is swallowed up in victory and the sting of death is gone because God did something—“thanks be to God!” And what he did was send Christ to satisfy all the demands of the law and bear all the penalty of our sin.

Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”

1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” The curse of the law is satisfied, the sins are carried away. And therefore death is swallowed up in victory and the sting of death is gone.

The resurrection hope is re-affirmed and so Paul says: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour for the Lord is not in vain".

The believer must:

1. 'stand firm'(c/f Eph 6v10-18).

To 'stand firm' is to remain firmly established in the faith (Grk: 'seated, sedentary', perhaps with an alusion to a 'statue', or perhaps to 'wrestling' and standing one's ground e.g Josiah in 2 Kngs 22v2; Job in 23v11).

To 'stand firm' is to hold on to the things that we have been taught - the certainty of Christ's death and resurrection as recorded in the Scriptures (1 Cor 15v3,4).

2. 'Let nothing move' him(c/f Acts 20v17-24).

The believer is to resist any attempt to move him from the hope of the resurrection. To 'let nothing move you' means to be firm; fixed; stable; unmoved.

We are to resist temptation; stand up to persecution and fight the seductive power of unbelief which would overthrow our faith in the doctrine of the resurrection.(c/f 1 Cor 15:32-34 : "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Heb 6v19).

3. 'Give' himself 'to the work of the Lord'(c/f Acts 20v17-21) and take heart from the fact that his 'labour for the Lord is “not in vain'(c/f Gal 6v9).

He is to positively strive to do the Lord's will in the home, in the work-place and in the church! - “Abounding in the work of the Lord”

To abound means do lots of it. It means to “overflow with.” Fill your days with things that count for Christ. Pray and dream and plan and then work, work . . . work while it is day.

And do this, taking heart from the fact that his 'labour for the Lord is not in vain'(c/f Gal 6v9). God is rewarder of those who 'dilligently seek Him'(Heb 11v6).

Our work for Him can never be 'in vain'(Literally, ’thrown away' Moffatt c/f 1 Cor 15:16-19;Heb 6:10). The reward secured for it by the grace of God and merit of Christ is participation of the glories of a blessed resurrection. your work will be rewarded for there is a resurrection(c/f 1 Cor 3:8;Rev 2:2).

Death is not the end! You will be suitably recompensed, 'in the Lord', not 'apart' from Him, for we are eternally 'in Christ' (c/f Gal 2:20;Eph 1:18;Rev 14:13). “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them"(Heb 6v10).

“I am like a person going on a journey in a stagecoach who expects its arrival every hour and is frequently looking out of the window for it...I am packed and sealed and ready for the post” (John Newton writing in 1807)

Death is swallowed up in victory because of Christ. Therefore, be steadfast, immovable, and work real hard for Christ and his kingdom.

Know the Christ who conquered your death, and know how he did it—read that, memorize that—and then pray, and God will give you peace and strength and a passion for his cause in the world.