The origin of the life of a child of God as such is
spiritual—"that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit" (John 3:6). The sustenance also of
the life of such is spiritual. "As the living
Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he
that eateth Me, he also shall live because of Me. This is
the bread which came down out of heaven... he that eateth
this bread shall live for ever... the words that I have
spoken unto you are spirit, and are life" (John
6:57,58,63).
So also, the consummation of this life is spiritual,
and is found in a spiritual body. We are not allowed to
take the resurrection of Christ as a type of our
resurrection physically, but we are allowed to take the
nature of His resurrection body as the type of our
resurrection body. There was something different from all
others in Christ's resurrection. His body was sinless,
and it therefore did not see corruption. "Thou wilt
not... give thy Holy One to see corruption" (Acts
2:27). His, in its particles, was preserved and
resuscitated, so that it was recognizable as the same
body after resurrection, bearing the marks of His
crucifixion. And yet so other! Our bodies will see
corruption, for they are already corrupted. "This
corruptible must put on incorruption" (1 Cor 15:53).
But there is that difference about the pre- and
post-resurrection body which is in keeping with the whole
principle of the believer's life. This principle is set
forth in the following familiar words:
"That which thou sowest, thou sowest not the
body that shall be, but a bare grain;... but God giveth
it a body even as it pleased him, and TO EACH SEED a body
of its own... it is sown a natural (soulical) body; it is
raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual... Howbeit that is not first
which is Spirit, but that which is natural; then that
which is spiritual... we shall bear the image of the
heavenly" (1 Cor 15:37-49).
By the Spirit were we first quickened and made
spiritually alive. By the Spirit of life were we made
free from the law of sin and death. So, by the Spirit of
life is the consummation brought about when what is
mortal is swallowed up of life.
In some way the human soul-life is bound up with the
blood. So that body and soul have a special or peculiar
relationship. The Old Testament statement, with repeated
emphasis, is "The life (or soul) is in the
blood". This is also seen in the interchange of
"life" and "soul" in the New
Testament, especially in John's Gospel (eg. 12:25). Thus
the present body of man is a physio-soulical, or a
psycho-physical, body having a spirit. But the statement
is that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption" (1 Cor 15:50). Any physician will say
that the blood is the seat of disease. This is only
another point of evidence in what we have been saying,
that corruption lies ever in the soul. In Christ's
resurrection body, there is no blood. "Handle me and
see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as
ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).
This is, in the first place, the proof and vindication
of His Sonship, and of His having lived and triumphed in
His spirit, and having not yielded to the soul or
self-life.
"Declared to be the SON OF GOD with power,
according to the SPIRIT OF HOLINESS, by the resurrection
from the dead" (Rom 1:4).
The resurrection body therefore is not a blood-soul
body, but a spirit body. This is the consummation of the
spiritual life. Paul refers to this when he says,
"Whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren" (Rom 8:29).
This follows his earlier words:
"The earnest expectation of the creation
waiteth for the revealing of the SONS of God... ourselves
also, who have the FIRSTFRUITS OF THE SPIRIT... groan
within ourselves, waiting for our adoption (majority)
to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:19,23).
We are totally unable to understand what a spiritual
body is, but we see that it is free from many of the
limitations of our present form of existence. Our present
purpose is not to attempt a description of life beyond
the present order, but just to point out and emphasize
the principle. There is all the difference between a
bodiless spirit and a spiritual body, between a
disembodied spirit and a spiritualized body. It is here
that our mentality breaks down.
Then, again, all resurrection is not this
resurrection. Our Lord has said that some will be raised
unto a judgment resurrection; others unto a life
resurrection. The life resurrection is that of a
spiritual body, the consummation or full fruit of a
spiritual life. In the light of this, how important it is
to know the difference between soul and spirit; between
religion as a thing of the soul, and true spirituality as
from the Christ within, Who alone is the "hope of
glory".
"Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed..."
It is, indeed, a mystery how a physical body can exist
without all the features of this blood system. But we are
told that it is so, and certain other statements in this
connection indicate that it is so. For instance, in the
resurrection they "neither marry, nor are given in
marriage" (Luke 20:35). This does away with a very
great deal in soul and body. The whole procreative power
and system as to this order of life will have gone.
But we have seen that the spirit has its own faculties
and functions for knowing and doing, for sustaining and
energizing.
There is one thing very evident; that Satan hates
resurrection. He would obscure it by spreading a false
report as to that of Christ. The one pre-eminent
testimony and attestation of God is resurrection. The
supreme note in the apostolic proclamation was "God
raised him!" The supreme note in a believer's
experience is resurrection. Hence Satan is allowed to
bring a servant of God into "deaths oft" (2 Cor
11:23), and we are suffered to have "the sentence of
death within ourselves, that we should... trust in God
who raiseth the dead" (2 Cor 1:9).
This is not the evidence in which the soul rejoices.
It prefers success, achievement, progress, reputation
etc., according to man's standards. But heaven's standard
measure of power is the resurrection of Christ. Hence
Paul will cry, "that I may know him, and the power
of his resurrection" (Phil 3:10). "The
fellowship of his sufferings" and "becoming
conformed unto his death" are the platform upon
which this supreme power is demonstrated. But it takes a
spiritual man to see this, and much more to desire it!
We have "the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor
1:22); yes, the earnest of our resurrection body. This
earnest is even in our mortal bodies. "If the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth
in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead
shall quicken also your mortal bodies through his Spirit
that dwelleth in you" (Rom 8:11). There is
possible a present testimony in prospect of the
resurrection of the body, even in mortal bodies.