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XI.
Life Only In Christ
Chapter 110
:
What is Man?
1. IN what condition
was man created?
"Thou madest him a little lower than the
angels." Ps. 8:5.
2. What will be the
final condition of the righteous?
"Neither can they die any more:
for they are equal unto the angels; and are
the children of God, being the children of the
resurrection." Luke 20:35,36.
3. What are angels
called?
"And of the angels He saith, Who
maketh His angels spirits, and His
ministers a flame of fire." Heb. 1:7.
4. What is the
difference between the two Adams?
"The first man Adam was made a
living soul; the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit." 1 Cor. 15:45.
5. Are our present
bodies natural or spiritual?
"Howbeit that was not first which is
spiritual, but that which is natural; and
afterward that which is spiritual." Verse 46.
6. When will the
righteous have spiritual bodies?
"It is sown a natural body; it is
raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body." Verse 44.
7. To what does the
sowing here spoken of refer?
"That which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die." Verse 36.
NOTE.-Man does not now possess the undying,
spiritual nature of the angels, except as he
holds it by faith in Christ; nor will he
until the resurrection. Then, if righteous,
he will be made immortal, and he cannot die
any more (Luke 20:36), because he will be
"equal unto the angels."
8. How is man's nature
defined?
"Shall mortal man be more just than
God?" Job 4:17.
Mortal: "Subject to
death."-Webster.
9. What is God's
nature?
"Now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." 1 Tim.
1:17.
Immortal:
"Exempt from liability to die."-Webster.
10. Of what was man
formed in the beginning?
"And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground." Gen. 2:7, first
part.
11. What act made him a
living soul?
"And [God] breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became
a living soul." Same verse, last part.
NOTES.-The living soul was not put into
the man; but the breath of life
which was put into man, made him- the
man, made of the earth- a living
soul, or creature.
The original for "living soul" in this text
is nephesh chaiyah. On the use of
this expression in Gen. 1:24, translated
"living creature," Dr. Adam Clarke says: "A
general term to express all creatures endued
with animal life, in any of its infinitely
varied gradations, from the half-reasoning
elephant down to the stupid potto, or lower
still, to the polyp, which seems equally to
share the vegetable and animal life.
12. Are other creatures
besides man called "living souls"?
"And the second angel poured out his
vial upon the sea;
and it became as the blood of a dead man: and
every living soul died in the sea." Rev.
16:3. See also Gen. 1:30, margin.
13. Do others besides
man have the "breath of life"?
"And all flesh died that moved upon
the earth, both of fowl, and of
cattle, and of beast, and of every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,
and every man: all in whose nostrils was the
breath of life." Gen. 7:21,22.
14. Is their breath
the same as man's?
"As the one dieth, so dieth the
other; yea, they have all one breath;
so that a man hath no preeminence above a
beast: for all is vanity." Eccl. 3:19.
NOTE.-That
is, here men, as well as beasts, die. This
present life, with them, as with the rest of
the animal creation, is dependent upon their
breath. When this is gone, they, the same as
beasts, die. In this respect they have no
preeminence over beasts. But men have a
future unending life held out before them,
and may, if they will, die in hope of
eternal life, which is a very great
preeminence over the rest of the animal
creation.
15. What does Job call
that which God breathed into man's nostrils?
"All the while my breath is in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils."
Job 27:3.
16. When man gives up
this spirit, what becomes of it?
"Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return
unto God who gave it." Eccl. 12:7.
NOTE.-That is, the spirit of life by which
man lives, and which is only lent him of
God, at death goes back to the great Author
of life. Having come from Him, it belongs to
God, and man can have it eternally only as a
gift from God, through Jesus Christ. Rom.
6:23. When the spirit goes back to God, the
dust, from which man was made a "living
soul" in the beginning, goes back as it
was, to the earth, and the individual no
longer exists as a living, conscious,
thinking being, except as he exists in the
mind, plan, and purpose of God through
Christ and the resurrection. In this sense
"all live unto Him" (Luke 20:38), for all
are to be raised from the dead. See John
5:28,29; Acts 24:15; Rom. 4:17.
17. Who only have hold
of the life eternal?
"He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
life." 1 John 5:12.
NOTE.-The veriest sinner has this temporal
life; but when he yields up this life, he
has no prospect nor promise of the life
eternal, That can be received only through
Christ.
18. Why was Adam driven
from the garden of Eden and, excluded from the
tree of life?
"And now, lest he put forth his hand,
and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and
live forever." Gen. 3:22.
19. What was done to
keep man away from the tree of life?
"So He drove out the man; and He
placed at the east of the garden of Eden
cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Verse
24.
20. How are all men in
the natural state regarded?
"We all . . . were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others." Eph.
2:3.
21. If the wrath of God
abides on a person, of what does it
deprive him?
"He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him." John 3:36.
22. Through whom is the
sinner saved from wrath?
"Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him." Rom. 5:9.
23. With whom is the
Christian's future life hid?
"For ye are dead [to sin], and your
life is hid with Christ in God." Col.
3:3.
24. When will this life
be bestowed upon the believer?
"When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory." Verse 4.
NOTE.-The word immortal occurs but
once in the English Bible (1 Tim. 1:17), and
is there applied to God.
25. Who only possesses
inherent immortality?
"Who is the blessed and only
potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
who only hath immortality." 1 Tim.
6:15,16.
NOTE.-God is the only Being who possesses
original life or immortality in Himself. All
others must receive it from God. See John
5:26; 6:27; 10:10,27,28; Rom. 6:23; 1 John
5:11.
26. Through whom has
immortality been brought to light?
"But is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel." 2
Tim. 1:10.
27. To whom is eternal
life promised?
"To them who by patient continuance
in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, eternal life." Rom. 2:7.
NOTE.-One does not need to seek for a thing
which he already possesses. The fact that we
are to seek for immortality is proof in
itself that we do not now possess it.
28. When will the
faithful be changed to immortality?
"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51,52.
29. What is then to be
swallowed up?
"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." Verse 54. See
verse 57. |
