AND THE PURPOSE OF THE AGES

(resurrection) and so avoid being `naked'. In plain words - he did not look forward to the death state as a hope, but

rather wished to avoid it. The eye of faith looked on to the glorious time of resurrection when mortality would be

swallowed up of life (4) and this statement takes us to 1 Corinthians 15:54 `Death is swallowed up in victory', and

when is that? `When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality'

(54) at the change in the `twinkling of an eye' (52) and when the dead shall be `raised in incorruption' (42). Again

we are forced back to the great basis of resurrection for the dead and change for the living as being the true hope of

the believer.

Coming to the crucial verses of 2 Corinthians 5, namely verses 6-8, we are now in a position to understand the

apostle's meaning. `Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, (i.e. our

earthly house) we are absent from the Lord ... we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,

(i.e. our earthly house) and to be present with the Lord' (i.e. with our heavenly house of resurrection for as we have

seen, Paul above all wished to avoid being naked - the unclothed state of death). To misquote verse eight as `absent

from the body is to be present with the Lord' apart from resurrection is to reverse the apostle's meaning and comes

perilously near to handling the Word of God deceitfully. It is nothing more than a flagrant example of making the

Word of God fit the creed, instead of making the creed fit the Word.

The great truth of resurrection has been the hope of believers from the earliest times. If we go back to the

oldest book in the Bible we find Job stating that his hope was in a living Redeemer and `though after my skin worms

destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God' (Job 19:26). And so it always has been for the believer who

fastens his faith to the Word of God rather than to the opinions of man.

(6) Resurrection and Prize.-We must now give a consideration to Philippians 1:21-23. Article XX of the

Church of England states `it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written,

neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another'. While we do not bind ourselves

to the 39 articles, we do believe that the above quotation is according to the mind and will of God as it applies to the

passages already referred to in the epistle to the Philippians. We have seen that the witness given by the Lord Jesus

and the apostles constantly directs the mind to resurrection and the Second Advent as being the only hope for the

redeemed. This being so, it would be strange, to say the least, if the apostle Paul in the Philippians contradicted all

that had been written before by himself and others and proceeded to teach that death was the hope of the believer,

which immediately ushered him into the presence of the Lord. Yet this is the `orthodox' view, and it does not seem

to matter to those who hold it that they are interpreting Scripture as being repugnant to other passages. These must

be swept aside, and the orthodox view kept at all costs. It is so `comforting' we are told. However, we do not write

for such, but for those who above all want Truth, whether this contradicts preconceived notions or not. All who

follow this way will avoid wishful thinking and be content to base their views on the Word of God and not isolated

passages torn from their contexts. It is well for us to remember that Philippians 2:4 is one of the key thoughts of the

`Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others'.

In other words, unselfishness is the fruit of the Spirit which is stressed here. And in order to exemplify it, concrete

examples are brought forward by the apostle. First of all that of the Lord Jesus Who thought not of Himself, but for

our sakes left the glory that was His by right and stooped so low as to die the death of a criminal, that all who trust in

Him should not die eternally. Next Timothy is cited, of whom Paul writes: `I have no man likeminded, who will

naturally care for your state' (2:20). Then Epaphroditus: `For the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not

regarding his life, to supply your lack of service towards me' (2:30). In chapter one the same spirit is manifest. The

apostle, instead of bemoaning his lot in his Roman prison, declares that even this has turned out to the futherance of

the gospel (1:12). And even if some were preaching Christ of envy and strife, the fact remained that the person of

the Lord was coming to the forefront: `What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth,

Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice' (1:18) and then follows verse 20 in which Paul declares `so now also

Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death'. All thought of self and self advancement

has been laid aside by this great servant of the Lord. His one ambition was to put the Lord Jesus Christ first and to

glorify Him. Even when Paul talks of departing and being with Christ or remaining in the flesh, he still unselfishly

says that he knows he would continue with them for their futherance and their joy of faith, not his own (verse 25).