Jesus was the destroyer of death

JESUS WAS THE DESTROYEROF DEATH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Timothy 1:10 10but it has now been revealed
through the appearingof our Savior,ChristJesus,
who has destroyed death and has brought life and
immortalityto light through the gospel.
GreatTexts of the Bible
Life and Immortality
Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who abolished death, and brought life and
immortality (R.V, incorruption) to light through the gospel.—2Timothy 1:10.
1. It was during the whirlwind of the French Revolution, when it seemedas if
all religious beliefs and restraints were to be castoff and thrown away, that
the leading men, alarmed at what seemedto them a most dangerous menace
to their political projects, made a concertedand remarkable appeal in support
of the two greatideas, of a Supreme Being and of the immortality of the soul.
These ideas, they said, are socialand democratic. The denial or rejectionof
them is aristocratic, subversive of justice, order, and liberty; and Robespierre
uttered his memorable sentence:“If God did not exist, it would be necessary
to invent Him.” If vice and virtue issue alike in nothingness, if the martyr and
his murderer share the same fate, what foundation of justice remains? In this

wholesale andcommon extinction all moral distinctions are confounded. All
the higher motives and ideals of life are destroyed. There is no longer any
security for human rights or human freedom. So forcibly they argued this
matter that the NationalConvention proclaimed by acclamationthe following
decree:“The French people recognize the existence of a Supreme Being and
the Immortality of the Soul.”
Tennyson saidonce to BishopLightfoot—“The cardinal point of Christianity
is the life after death.” Certainly this is the cardinal point of Tennyson’s own
faith. He believed no less stronglythan Browning in the powerlessness of
death to dissolve human personality. “I can hardly understand how any great
imaginative man who has deeply lived, suffered, thought and wrought, can
doubt of the soul’s continuous progress in the afterlife.” Tennyson is
supremely the poet of Immortality; and the “intimations of immortality” were
ever with him. This is his master-thought, and it was natural that he should
approachJesus Christ from this point. I think Paul’s words, “JesusChrist
who brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel,” summarize
pretty accuratelyTennyson’s view of the mission of Christ. Unlike Browning,
who believed that the soul discovers “a new truth” in Christ, Tennysonheld
that Jesus Christ brought into the perfect light those truths concerning God
and man of which we all have dim intuitions.
Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join,
Deep-seatedin our mystic frame,
We yield all blessing to the name
Of Him that made them current coin;

For Wisdom dealt with mortal powers,
Where truth in closestwords shallfail,
When truth embodied in a tale
Shall enter in at lowly doors.
And so the Word had breath, and wrought
With human hands the creedof creeds
In loveliness of perfect deeds,
More strong than all poetic thought;
Which he may read that binds the sheaf
Or builds the house, or digs the grave,
And those wild eyes that watchthe wave

In roarings round the coral reef.
“Truth embodied in a tale” must surely refer to the historicalmanifestation of
the Incarnate Word—“the revelation of the eternalthought of the universe.”
And since God does revealHimself to men, and men dimly and feebly
apprehend the revelation, the Incarnate Word must fully and completely
bring to light all that range of intuitions in which we recognize the self-
communication of the Divine nature to our souls. We are to find our intuitions
interpreted in the Incarnate Word—not, mark, in Christ’s teaching so much
as in His life, His character, His person, for He wrought the “creedof creeds”
“in loveliness ofperfect deeds.” WhatChrist does for us is to interpret us to
ourselves. He brings, by His own life, “life and incorruption to light.”1 [Note:
Richard Roberts, The Meaning of Christ, 81.]
2. At first sight the words of the text seem to express more than they canfairly
be supposed to mean. The two statements made, takenabsolutely, are
contradicted—the first, by a fact in providence, daily before our eyes;the
second, by a factin history, apprehended by our understanding. Death is not
“abolished” since the appearance ofChrist; and the doctrine of “immortality”
did not remain to be “brought to light” by His advent. Among both Jews and
Gentiles, previous to His coming, there was the belief in a future, immortal
life; and since His resurrection, death still reigns over the whole race, just as it
reigned “from Adam to Moses,” orfrom Moses to Malachi. It is obvious,
therefore, that the text must mean something less than it seems to say, or
something different from its literal or conventionalimport. Now (1) the word
which, in the passagebefore us, is rendered “abolished,” is rendered
“destroyed” in the 14th verse of the secondchapterof Hebrews. It is there
said that Christ “took fleshand blood,” that, “through death he might destroy
him that had the powerof death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subjectto bondage.” We cannot
be far wrong in inferring from this that Christ has “abolished” deathin some
sense similar to that in which He has “destroyed” the devil; that is to say, that,

without literally annihilating either, He has so wrought against, and so far
weakenedand subdued them, as to restrain them from hurting those that are
His. (2) Again, the word rendered “brought to light” does not so much mean
to discover, or make known, as a new thing,—which is the ordinary meaning
of the English phrase,—as to illustrate, clearup, or castlight upon a thing; it
thus assumes the previous existence ofthat which is illustrated, but it asserts
the factof its fuller manifestation. Thus explained, the meaning of the text
would amount to this, or may be thus paraphrased: Previous to the coming of
Christ, the idea of immortal life stoodbefore the human, or the Hebrew, mind
like some vast objectin the morning twilight; it was dimly descriedand
imperfectly apprehended, through the mist and clouds that hung upon or
invested it. In like manner, Death, seenthrough that same darkness (for “the
light was as darkness”), was something that appeared“very terrible,” and
made many “alltheir lifetime subject to bondage.” The advent of the Messiah,
including the whole of His teaching and work—the “appearing” ofour Lord
Jesus Christ, as “the light of the world,” and “the sun of righteousness”—was,
to these spiritual objects, like the rising, on the natural world, of that
luminary whose powerand splendour symbolized His glory in prophetic song.
To those who receivedHim, whose reasonand heart He alike illuminated, the
outward became clearand the inward calm; the shadows departedand fear
was subdued; objective truth had light castupon it that made it manifest, and
“the king of terrors,” seenin the sunlight, was discoveredto have an aspect
that did not terrify.
I
Life and Immortality before Christ
1. Among the Gentiles.—Itdoes not need any wide or minute survey of the
religions of the ancient world to show that the doctrine of immortality was in
sad need of reconstruction, and that the reconstructioncould come only

through a radical improvement in the world’s ideas concerning God. The
primeval belief had assumedgrotesque and extravagantforms which
distressedthe imagination and at the same time involved sinister reflections
upon the supreme powerand goodness ofGod.
The form in which we best remember the words of the text is that which is
found in the Authorized Version, not “life and incorruption,” which is
undoubtedly the true rendering of the word, and is consonantwith other
passagesin Holy Scripture, but “life and immortality,” life and an endurance
of that life onward for ever. In this latter form the thought rests more on the
duration of the life; in the form which we have in the RevisedVersion,
attention is directed more to the essentialnature of the life—life in which
there can be no elementof death, because it is a life that is indissoluble and
incorruptible.1 [Note:C. J. Ellicott, Sermons at Gloucester, 154.]
(1) In ancient Egypt the immortality of the soul and its reunion with the body
in a future resurrectionwere made contingent upon the preservationof the
fleshly form from corruption by the art of the embalmer. Personal
immortality was not thought of as the immediate gift of an infinite Being,
from whose fiat life in all its types and gradations issued, but as conditioned in
part by the skill of the physician, whose work preservedskin and bone from
dissolution. The primitive races ofthe Nile valley must have held in some
rough, crude way the theory of the modern materialist, that all thought and
feeling depend upon physical structures and that mind is disabled, if not
annihilated, when sundered from the material form through which it has been
accustomedto operate. If the bodily shape is lost, the “Ka,” or spirit, with
which it has been identified, must pass into final oblivion.
(2) The Assyriologisttells us that amongstthe earliestpopulations of the
Mesopotamianplains, the state of the dead was conceivedof in pictures which
were full of gloomand profound distress. Forvirtuous and degradedalike the

underworld was wrapped about in thick darkness and dominated by universal
pain. The possibility of reaching a state of spiritual beatitude there had
scarcelyenteredinto the dream of the men who founded those imposing
civilizations. Perhaps the ruthless warriors who moulded the strong, primitive
empires transferred to this mysterious hereafterthe shadow of their own
misdoing upon earth. Men of blood, drunk with the fanaticismof the sword,
made many and cruel gods after their own likeness, and the most implacable
of these truculent, blight-breathing gods swayedsceptres ofdominion in the
underworld. Neither the Semitic nor any other branch of the human race
could have a right conceptionof the life beyond the grave until they had
learned to worship a holy, a righteous, a humane God, who swayedHis
sceptre of dominion over all worlds. Such affrighting ideas receivedtheir
death-blow when St. John saw in the hands of the gracious and triumphant
Son of Man the keys of the grave and the underworld.
(3) In subsequent centuries this weird Babylonian view of immortality
projectedits gloominto the religions of India and the Far East, as well as into
those of Greece and Rome. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls, with
many purgatories interposed betweeneachrebirth, spread far and near,
filling the popular imagination with endless appalling dramas of changing
destiny. In the absence ofa benign, personal, supreme God the scheme of
retribution became a rigid revolving mechanism of steel, from which all
possibilities of pity and forgiveness were excluded. To a solitary hero or
moralist once in a century death might mean gain, if the doctrine of reward
and punishment should prove to be true; but for the many there was no
outlook from death towards a land of promise but the descentinto inevitable
woe.
But the Greeks, thoughthey dreaded the vagueness andshadowiness ofthe
under world, which always seemedto them bereft of sunlight and concrete
form, both dear to the Hellenic spirit, yet in their happier moments had a
vivid conceptionof heaven as the abode of the departed heroes who had

deservedwell of God and men. What could be lovelier and simpler than
Homer’s childlike faith? This is the promise to the hero Menelaus:—
But thee into plains Elysian, which lie at the world’s far end,
The seatof the judge Rhadamanthus, the immortal gods shall send.
Ah! there is a life for mortals which knoweth not any pain,
Where comes no snow, nor winter, nor down-rush of the rain;
But the Zephyr bloweth gently, where the kindly Oceanrolls,
And sends his breath to quickenthose happy human souls.
(Odyss. iv. 563–568).1 [Note:R. F. Horton.]
2. In modern speculation.—Onthe afternoonof October30, 1793, twenty-one
gentlemen of France, condemnedto death, were confined in the Conciergerie
prison in Paris. They were the Girondist leaders, the flowerof the land. Their
average age was twenty-two and a half years. All were guillotined next
morning. That evening they had their last supper togetherand spoke ofmany
things, now seriously, now gaily. Finally, as it grew late, Vergniaud, their chief
orator, calledthem to order and said: “The only question which now remains
to be consideredis the immortality of the soul.” According to Nodier(who
solemnly affirms the substantialcorrectness ofhis report) one of their number

said: “The solution of that question is traceable in the heart of every honest
man whose virtues have been sacrificedon earth. In God’s creationthere is no
imperfection, and if righteousness persecutedand innocence trampled under
foot have no point of appealbefore Him, the morality of this sublime creation
is a chimera.” Another said: “The solution is indicated by nature in the
intelligent instincts of the only organized being who conceives the need and
desire of living again. That which nature has promised me, in giving me a
presentiment of it, will be mine.” Another, Brissot, said: “It is traced by the
reasonings ofphilosophy in the writings of Plato, and reasonhas never
reacheda higher point. That which philosophy has promised in the name of
the greatArchitect of the worlds, I am going to find.” There was a Christian
priest among them, and he said: “It is tracedfor the Christian by his faith,
wiserthan all philosophy, and that which faith has given me in the name of
the Lord, I am going to possessin heaven.” These expressions constitute a
résumé of the chief arguments which men have employed in support of the
doctrine of personalimmortality. Eachof the first three—the moral, the
psychological, the philosophical—has weight. Takentogether, and
strengthenedby the argument from analogy, they have proved sound and
strong enoughto sustainmany souls in some degree of faith and hope. The
reasonings and sentiments which Plato puts into the mouth of Socratesathis
last interview with his friends are most impressive and affecting. The Phaedo
of Plato is a kind of prolegomenon to the gospelof the resurrection. But that
Christian priest’s declarationis distinctly different in kind from the preceding
arguments. It has no speculationin it. It rests on a belief that immortality has
been brought to light in the gospel. If this be true, it confirms, completes, and
crowns all other arguments.
3. In the Old Testament.—The ordinary belief on the subject of a future life
shared by the ancientHebrews was not that the spirit after death ceasedto
exist, but that it passedinto the underworld, Sheol, the “meeting-place,” as
Job describes it, “for all living,”—as wellfor the tyrant king of Babylon, at
whose downfall the earth rejoiced, as for Jacob, orSamuel, or David,—where
it entered upon a shadowy, half-conscious existence, devoidof interest and
occupation, and not worthy of the name of “life”:“ForSheol cannotpraise

thee, death cannotcelebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope
for thy faithfulness.” But the darkness which thus shrouded man’s hereafter
was not unbroken in the Old Testament;and there are three lines along which
the wayis prepared for the fuller revelation brought by the gospel. There is,
firstly, the limitation of the powerof death setforth by the prophets, in their
visions of a glorified, but yet earthly, Zion of the future: “for as the days of a
tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosenshall long enjoy the work
of their hands.” There is, secondly, the conviction uttered by individual
Psalmists, that their close fellowshipwith Godimplies and demands that they
will themselves personallybe superior to death: “My flesh and my heart
faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” And,
thirdly, we meet with the idea of a resurrection, though at first as a hope
rather than as a dogma, and with the limitation that it is restrictedto Israel.
“Let thy dead live! let my dead bodies arise!” cries the dwindled nation in its
extremity; and the prophet forthwith utters the jubilant response:“Awake
and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of lights, and the
earth shall castforth the Shades.” Butthe hope thus triumphantly expressed
is limited by the context to Israel;and the same limitation is apparent in the
vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel37. Even in Daniel12:2, the passagewhich
speaks mostdistinctly, and teaches also a resurrectionof the wicked, the
terms are still not universal: “And many of them that sleepin the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt.” But this verse adds, for the first time, the idea of a future
retribution, which also may be signified by the “judgment” to which the
Preacher, in Ecclesiastes,more than once solemnly alludes. Such is the point
at which the Old Testamentleaves the doctrine of a future life.
“Sheol,” in generalconception, corresponds to the Greek Hades, and must be
carefully distinguished from “the grave.” The distinction is rightly preserved
in the RevisedVersion. It is true there are particular phrases, as “to go down
to Sheol,” the generalsense ofwhich is sufficiently representedby the English
idiomatic expression“to go down to the grave”;and this has accordinglybeen
retained in the RevisedVersion: but “Sheol” in such casesstands on the
margin (e.g., 1 Samuel 2:6, Isaiah 38:10), and elsewhereit is used in the text.

Occasionally“hell” has been retained from the Authorized Version (Isaiah
5:14; Isaiah 14:9; Isaiah14:15); this, it need scarcelybe said, is used (as in the
Creed) in the old sense ofthe term, and not in that of a place of torment. The
ordinary Hebrew belief was conscious ofno distinction in the future lot of the
righteous and the wicked. The impossibility of a return, or resurrection, from
Sheolwas also strongly felt (Job 7:9 f., Job 14:7-12, Jeremiah51:39;Jeremiah
51:57, Isa. 27:14) the possibility of another life entrances Job (Job 14:14 f.,
R.V.), but he rejects it as incredible.1 [Note: S. R. Driver, Sermons on the Old
Testament, 95.]
4. Among the Jews atthe time of Christ.—The Gospels openby revealing to
us the Hebrew world and church previous to the infusion of the Christian
element; and from them we learn that a future life, and even a resurrectionof
the dead, had then become a part of the prevalent and popular creed. There
was a learned sect, indeed, distinguished by denying them. The Sadducees
believed in nothing beyond the presentlife and material forms; they said
“there was no resurrection,” orseparate state—“angelorspirit”; but then
there was another class, equallylearned and more numerous, and having far
greaterinfluence with the people, who believed and taught “both” and all.
The sisterof Lazarus was not indebted to the teachings ofJesus, but to her
previous creed, for the promptness with which she replied to His assurance
that her brother should rise again, “I know that he shall rise againin the
resurrectionat the last day.” And this, there can be little doubt, was the
generalbelief of the Jewishpeople (with the exceptionreferred to), at, and
immediately before, the coming of Christ. We find St. Paul, some years
afterwards, not only referring to it as such, but describing it as the result of
the revelations given through the prophets. “I stand and am judged for the
hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our
twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.… Why
should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the
dead?” I believe “all things which are written in the law and in the prophets;
and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

The popular belief of the Jews atthe time of Christ regarding the life to come
was largelytaken from certainApocalyptic books, ofwhich by far the most
important was the Book ofEnoch. Now in its eschatology, as in its
Christology, the Book of Enochis based essentiallyupon the Old Testament;it
is an imaginative development and elaborationof elements derived thence. Of
distinctively Christian truth, of the truths, that is, which centre in, or radiate
from, the doctrine of the Incarnation, it does not exhibit a trace. Its
resemblance to the writings of the New Testamentis limited to externals. The
utmost that can be saidof it, in this respect, is that it may have lent to the
Apostles, perhaps even to our Lord, certain figures and expressions in which
they could suitably and conveniently clothe their ideas. But this is no more
than what happened in numberless other instances, in which the teaching of
both Christ and His disciples is castin the mould of contemporaryJewish
thought. Even where the resemblance appears to be closest, a careful
comparisonwill disclose significantfeatures of difference. The originality of
the fundamental conceptions ofChristianity is not impaired by the
acknowledgmentthat Jewishthought, reflecting upon the Old Testament, may
have provided symbols for their expression, or, in the case ofless distinctive
ideas, may even have reachedthem in anticipation. It remains that, in its full
significance, the doctrine of a future life was first enunciated in the gospel;
and that it was He who “abolisheddeath,” who also was the first to bring “life
and incorruption to light.”
II
The Difference which Christ made
1. There are three benefits which Christ brought in bringing life and
incorruption.

(1) He gave certainty to the hope of life everlasting.—Thesombre death-scene
is changedby the revelation of Christ through the gospel. The best of the
patriarchs never rose to a higher temper than that of placid, solemn
resignationto the will of God. They died without the sense oftriumph. Their
gaze turned to the coming fortunes of their children in the Land of Promise
rather than towards the dim realms into which they were passing. Stephen,
Paul, and the generationwhich caught their spirit, anticipated the time of
departure with joy and eagerhope. A different atmosphere had been created,
and over the riot of violence and brutality the Lover of human souls hovered,
stretching out His arms to receive disciples into the fellowship of His immortal
reign. The kindling of these new hopes had made a revolution. It is true saints
sometimes suffer, and in their lastdays pass through moods of fierce
depression, but He who holds the keys is in the shadows of the background
and the desolationpasses as His footsteps are heard moving in the dread
silences. So has Jesus changedthe outlook for all who acceptHis message and
rest upon His work. He cannot betray our hope.
Neara small Norman town there is a streamwhich localsuperstition has
invested with magic virtue. It is said that whoeverdrinks of its waters will
come back to end his life at Gisors. Many a conscript, on his last night at
home, has bowedto take a deep draught from the stream and has then been
hurried awayto fight in wars of which he had little understanding. It is
needless to say that amid the fevers of the tropics and on the fire-swept
battlefield he has enjoyed no greatersecurity from death than his comrades of
other provinces. As the writer who gives the tradition says, “How often must
these smiling waters have broken faith!” Jesus who abolishes death and
destroys its power is no preacher of vain hopes. He does not beguile us with a
pathetic romance. He knows the sure foundations upon which immortality
rests, and He has verified His own messagein those inscrutable realms from
which we shrink back. “He that drinketh of the waterthat I shall give him, it
shall be in him a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.”1 [Note:T.
G. Selby, The Strenuous Gospel, 244.]

A striking proof of the different outlook produced by the coming of Christ
may be found in the contrastbetweenthe epitaphs of the early Christians and
those of their pagan contemporaries. In place of hopeless resignationand grief
there is glad confidence in the continued life of the departed, and in their
safetyand well-being. “Live in peace and pray for us.” “Prayfor us because
we know thou art in Christ.” “Thy spirit rest in God.” “In contrastto the
pagancustom, even the noblest of the Christians recountednone of the
honours of their offices and rank, except that the initials V. C. (vir
clarissimus)C. F. (clarissima femina) were not uncommonly inscribed to
indicate membership in the senatorialorder. The Christian attitude was that
of looking forward beyond the tomb rather than back over the course of
earthly honour and success;recessita saeculo became a familiar formula in
the fourth century.”2 [Note: W. Lowrie, Christian Art and Archœology, 67.]
(2) He made it applicable to practicallife.—All the powerful and invigorating
motives brought to operate on the Christian mind, to animate and to purify it,
are drawn from the view given by Christ of the future world, and from
Himself as connectedwith it—as securing it by His passion, preparing it by
His power, adorning it with His presence, andfilling it with His glory. In the
Old Testament, motives for actionare drawn from the grave—fromits silence
and darkness, its wearysolitude, its lying beyond the regionof “device” and
“knowledge,”“wisdom” and“work.” The “fearthat hath torment” and that
drives to duty predominates over the love that enlarges the heart and makes
obedience a joy. In the New Testament, the grave is almostlost in the vision of
“the glory that is about to be revealed”;that glory breaks forth, gleams, and
gushes over the path of the faithful, compelling them, as it were, to keep
looking to the place where their Lord lives, and to rejoice in the prospect of
living with Him. The resurrectionof the dead; the transfiguration of the
living; the “vile body” changedinto the likeness ofChrist’s “glorious body”;
the earthy and corruptible image of the first man giving place to that of the
second, “the Lord from heaven”; “the glorious appearing of the greatGod
and our Saviour Jesus Christ”; “the grace that is to be brought unto us,”

when “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”; “our gathering
togetherunto him”—these things, and such as these, are the constant burden
(or the ceaseless joy, rather) of apostolic pens; the themes with which the
writers glow and burn, to which they are continually referring with delight,
and by which they endeavour to diffuse throughout the Church the
atmosphere of spiritual health—the conservative element of practical
obedience.
There is an old legend that after the crucifixion Peterwent away, alone, and
satapart in utter misery. After that first outburst of bitter weeping outside
Caiaphas’palace, he had not shed a tear. His heart was full of the horror of
his shame. At midnight of Saturday John came to Mary and said, “Mother
Mary, I am afraid for Peter. He sits alone in the dark and will not speak, nor
eat, nor weep, and his soul seems deadwithin him.” Then Mary took the
seamlessrobe which the centurion had kindly given her, and said, “Takethis
to Peter.” So John took it and went back to Peter, whose room was then a
little lighted by the coming dawn, and put the garment in his hands, simply
saying, “It is His robe.” And after a little Peter buried his face in the well-
known garment and wept like a child, penitently now, now bitterly. And, says
the legend, it was at that same moment that the resurrectionof Jesus took
place!This legend enshrines a precious truth.1 [Note:E. P. Parker, in The
Hartford Seminary Record, xxiii. 94.]
(3) He gave it forth to the world.—So far as the Jewishbelief rested upon the
Scriptures of the Old Testament, it had something of a localand national
aspect;Christ broke the fetters that bound the Book to the Jewishterritory
and the Hebrew people, and sent it forth as the inheritance of the world. So
far as the belief sprang from generalreasoning and logicalprobabilities, it
was the same as any of the theories of the Gentiles—a thing that required
Divine confirmation in order to its being invested with regalauthority. By His
utterances, whose words were “withpower,” who “spake as neverman
spake,” who “gave himselfa ransom for all,” and who came to be “the light of

the world,” the doctrine He adopted, enlarged, and ratified was stamped with
the characterofuniversality, and was commanded to be carried to Jew and
Gentile alike.
WhateverChristianity has done, or failed to do, this at leastwe need not fear
to claim for it: that it has availed to plant the belief of our immortality among
the deepestand most generalconvictions of our race:that it has borne even
into the leastimaginative hearts the unfailing hope of a pure and glorious life
beyond the death of the body: that it has shot through our language, our
literature, our customs, and our moral ideas the searching light of a judgment
to come and the quickening glory of a promised Heaven; that it has sustained
and intensified this hope through countless changes ofthought and feeling in
centuries of quickestintellectualdevelopment: and that it is now impossible to
conceive the force which could dislodge from so many million hearts the
axiom which they have learned from the gospelof the resurrection.2 [Note:
Bishop Francis Paget.]
ProfessorEd. Gasc Desfosseswrites:“A reasonfor believing in personal
immortality to which a certainnumber of philosophers only accorda very
limited credit, but which in my opinion is very important, is the argument
furnished by moral anthropology, which may be termed an ethnographic
(race)argument. Amongst all people, at all epochs of history (even at
prehistoric times), from the rudest and leastcivilized tribes to those of the
highest intellectual development, the belief in an after-existence is
everywhere;often this belief is clothed in the most primitive forms, the most
materialistic, if we may so express it. But after allowing for the special
guidance which philosophicalor religious systems, whateverthey may be, can
give to these beliefs, I think one can saythat it is an indication of the existence
of an instinct of a high order which is one of the characteristicsofhumanity.
This is what the old traditional philosopher called ‘the proof of universal
consent.’If the name of science is given especiallyto all researchbasedon
facts, it canbe said that this argument in favour of the immortality of the soul

has a scientific value, as all its strength lies in establishing a fact which is
universally human.”1 [Note:R. J. Thompson, Proofs of Life after Death, 206.]
2. What were the means used by Christ to make life and incorruption part of
His gospel? How did He accomplishit?
(1) By His words.—Itis not that Christ dwells upon the delights of Heaven,
thus fixing or stimulating the imagination, as has been done by founders of
other religions. It is a striking fact, indeed, that our Lord never seemedready
to satisfy mere curiosity. It has been truly saidthat He alone could, if He
would, have told us all, and yet that He refused to do so. He knew all; He
knew also how much we could safelyhear, how much it was goodfor us to
know. But He did teachus of God, of His character, ofHis justice and holiness
and mercy. He did teachus of man, of his value, his opportunity, the infinite
reachand consequencesofhis actions. And both these teachings would be
meaningless unless man were immortal. He did more; He placedbefore men
an ideal of their life, an ideal to which conscienceandthe higher spiritual
nature at once and involuntarily in every true soul responds—anideal wholly
inconsistentwith the theory of man’s nothingness beyond the grave. He went
further. Incidentally, but plainly, upon suitable occasions He referred in
actualterms to our interestin an eternal world. God “is not a God of the
dead,” He said, “but of the living: for all live unto him”; “In my Father’s
house are many mansions.… I go to prepare a place for you”; “Father, I will,”
He prayed, “that they whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am”; and
other passages.Certainlyfor the Christian such teachings—andthey might be
almost indefinitely multiplied—leave no room for question but that we are
immortal, that this life is but preliminary to another.
Jesus has two ways of teaching. There is His ethicalteaching which every man
and every woman cantake and test for themselves and see if it is true. He has
also His speculative teaching, the greatbeliefs that He has left us and to which

He has pledged His word, and He practically says to us: “You can prove that
part of My teaching and find it true. Very well, now you have to believe the
part that you cannot prove to be true: you have to take a certain part upon
My word.”1 [Note:C. Silvester Horne.]
(2) By His deeds.—He gave proofthat He held the “keys of death” by
unlocking its portals and summoning back to human fellowship those who had
passedbeyond the reachof the voices of kindred. When He touched the bier at
the gate of Nain and said, “Young man, I sayunto thee, Arise,” and the dead
man “satup and beganto speak”;or when to the man that had been dead
four days He “cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth,” and “he that was
dead came forth,” Jesus demonstratedthat “those other living, whom we call
the dead,” have not really ceasedto live.
There is no one who can afford to look at the scene [the raising of Lazarus]
with indifference. We have all to die, to sink in utter weaknesspastall
strength of our own, pastall friendly help of those around us. It must always
remain a trying thing to die. In the time of our health we may say—
Since Nature’s works be good, and Deathdoth serve
As Nature’s work, why should we fear to die?
but no argument should make us indifferent to the question whether at death
we are to be extinguished or to live on in happier, fuller life. If a man dies in
thoughtlessness, with no forecasting orforeboding of what is to follow, he can
give no strongerproof of thoughtlessness. If a man faces deathcheerfully
through natural courage, he canfurnish no strongerevidence of courage;if he
dies calmly and hopefully through faith, this is faith’s highestexpression. And

if it is really true that Jesus did raise Lazarus, then a world of depressionand
fear and grief is lifted off the heart of man. That very assurance is given to us
which we most of all need. And, so far as I cansee, it is our ownimbecility of
mind that prevents us from accepting this assurance andliving in the joy and
strength it brings. If Christ raisedLazarus He has a powerto which we can
safelytrust; and life is a thing of permanence and joy. And if a man cannot
determine for himself whether this did actually happen or not, he must, I
think, feel that the fault is his, and that he is defrauding himself of one of the
clearestguiding lights and most powerful determining influences we have.1
[Note:M. Dods, The Gospelof St. John. i. 363.]
(3) By His death.—ChristHimself died; He too suffered as all the sons of men
must suffer, the dark and sore abasementofdeath. And the sacredwriters,
not contentwith the simple statement of the fact, set it forth under a great
variety of phrase, as if to impress upon us that in this, as in all things else,
Christ was made like unto His brethren. He not only died, He “tasteddeath,”
He became “obedient unto death,” death had “dominion over him.” Fora
time “death reigned” even over Him; the Lord of life bowed down before the
lord of death. So, on the one hand, is it written. On the other hand we find
language ofquite another sort. Christ died, but “deathno more hath
dominion over him”; He died, but it was that “through death he might bring
to nought him that had the powerof death, that is, the devil.” “The last enemy
that shall be abolished is death”; but he shall be abolished, for Christ must
reign “till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.” Nay, says the Apostle,
death is abolished; already death has surrendered to Christ the keys of Hades
and joined the processionof His triumph.
There underlay His death and posture in death a threefold conviction. In the
first place He was quite certain that death could not touch His personal
existence. “Thoushalt be with me in Paradise.”“Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit.” It was absolutely clearto His human spirit that in that
moment when He bowedHis head, and His spirit passedfrom His body, and

His body lay a lifeless thing upon the cross, He would be living on. And the
same conviction is borne in upon His disciples. “Whether we live, we live unto
the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore,
or die, we are the Lord’s.”
The secondthought that comes to us is this, His absolute conviction that not
only did it not touch His personality, but it could not touch His union with
God. Whateveris involved in the changedconditions of life, one change there
is not: as I live in my Father’s hands here, I shall live in my Father’s hands
there. God will be to me then, only in a fuller sense than He is now, a supreme
reality. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
And, thirdly, there is this conviction, that the life into which He is passing will
be a life of peace and rest. “Thoushalt be with me in paradise.” With Me in
paradise!What paradise means we cannotentirely grasp while we are still
here in the body; and while all our knowledge comes to us as it does through
the channels of this body, we cannot geta definite realization of what life is
there. But we can getto this—that under those changedconditions the life of
the Christian is the life of rest.
Those who die in the fearof God, and in the faith of Christ, do not really taste
death; to them there is no death, but only a change of place, a change of state:
they pass at once, and instantly, into some new life, with all their powers, all
their feelings, unchanged—purified doubtless from earthly stains, but still the
same living, thinking, active beings which they were here on earth. I say
active. The Bible says nothing about their sleeping till the Day of Judgment, as
some have fancied. Restthey may; restthey will if they need rest. But what is
the true rest? Not idleness, but peace of mind. To rest from sin, from sorrow,
from fear, from doubt, from care—this is the true rest. Above all, to rest from
the worstweariness ofall—knowing one’s duty, and yet not being able to do
it. That is true rest; the rest of God, who works for ever, and yet is at rest for

ever; as the stars over our heads move for ever, thousands of miles eachday,
and yet are at perfect rest, because they move orderly, harmoniously, fulfilling
the law which God has given them. Perfectrest, in perfect work; that surely is
the restof blessedspirits, till the final consummation of all things, when
Christ shall have made up the number of His elect.1 [Note:Charles Kingsley,
The Waterof Life, 36.]
The flocks ofGod
Not only nothing lackedbut knew that now
They nevermore could lack. The wolves of want
And Fear-to-Wantmight never leap the fence
Of those Elysianfolds. No sheepneed check
His venturous feet on whatsoeverpath
Invited him, for now no hireling, but
Their very David, shepherd, priest, and king
Protectedthem. Against their foes his rod

Of power might not fail, nor for themselves
His mercy’s crook. Thereforeabiding joy
Was theirs, inherent as the noble calm
Of forest depths, of mountain-girded lakes
Or plains that have no fencing save the sky—
Joy like the barley loaves of Galilee
Mostbless’d in being shared, increasedby each
Participant until one separate heart
Might out-rejoice the throbbing universe.1 [Note: A. Bunston, The Porch of
Paradise, 18.]
(4) By His resurrection.—Ourhope of immortality hangs on the risen Christ.
One, and only one, do we know who has died whom yet death has been
powerless to hold. Christ died, as our loved ones die; but while they come
back to us no more, neither speak nor give us any sign, He broke the bonds of

death, and showedHimself alive after His passionby many proofs. If Christ
has not risen, if the gospelstoryends with the cross, andEasterDay be struck
out of our calendar, death’s cruel swayis still unbroken, the lord of life is
death itself. But if Christ be risen, that iron reign is shattered, the risen Christ
is lord of life and death alike. Apart from Him, man’s hope of immortality
grows every day more faint and tremulous; with Him it is a hope both sure
and steadfast, the anchor of the soul. For, be it remembered, Christ’s
resurrectionis no solitary incident. “When thou hadst overcome the sharpness
of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” Christis
“the firstborn from the dead,” “the firstfruits of them that are asleep”;and all
who put their trust in Him shall share with Him His triumph.
The evidence for the eternal life, as that is revealedto us in Christ, is not to be
found in considerations suchas ancient and modern philosophy adduced from
the nature of the soul, its immortality, its indivisibility, etc.;nor is convincing
proof to be found in a bare authoritative message, norin cases ofalleged
survival, nor even in the survival of Jesus of Nazareth;for if He had on the
third day been resuscitatedmerely as Lazarus was, and had only shown
Himself alive, there had been no thought, no proof, of the eternallife as He
Himself explained it to us. The relevant evidence lies in the light shed by His
resurrectionlife, by the characterof that life, upon our life here, its
aspirations, its incompleteness, its promise, and its hopes—there is, that is to
say, a certain congruity betweenthe eternal life as Christ is now declaredto
be living it and certain elements of our present life here. And when these are
properly understood we begin to see in them the seeds ofa greattree; and we
take courage to believe that, though it be with us still only the day of small
things, we are already in certain experiences within the eternal order.
In the risen Christ, as the evangelists have drawn the portraiture with the
profound unconsciousnesswhichmakes their inspiration a reality to the
student, we can faintly understand how the corruptible puts on incorruption;
and how the mortal puts on immortality without ceasing to be what it has

been hitherto. There is no anxiety on their part to reconcile the sharp
contrasts which they record;there is no inclination to emphasize or to set
forth the truths which they indicate, but when we compare and combine and
ponder the scattereddetails of their narrative, every fragment is found to
grow significant. Now in this trait and now in that, Christ is revealedwholly
changedand wholly the same. In Him, the Representative ofhumanity, we see
that the perfection of earthly life is undiminished by death, we see that what
seems to be dissolution is only transfiguration; we see that all that belongs to
the essence ofmanhood can exist under new conditions; we see that whatever
be the unknown glories and the unimaginable endowments of the after life,
nothing is castoff which rightly claims our affection and our reverence in this.
As to the evidential value of the Resurrectionwith regard to immortality, the
relation here is, indeed, more vital than at first appears. The Christian hope is
not merely that of an “immortality of the soul,” nor is “eternallife” simply the
indefinite prolongation of existence in a future state of being. Keeping,
however, at present to the generalquestionof the possibility and reality of a
life beyond the grave, it is to be askedwhatbearing the ResurrectionofJesus
has as evidence on this. None whatever, a writer like ProfessorLake will
reply, for the physical Resurrectionis an incredibility, and canprove nothing.
Apparitional manifestations are possible, but even these can only be admitted
if, first of all, proof is given of the survival of the soul by the help of such
phenomena as the Societyfor PsychicalResearchfurnishes. Others base on
the natural grounds for belief in a future life supplied by the constitution of
the human soul, ekedout, in the case ofrecentable writers, by appeal to the
same class ofpsychical phenomena. On a more spiritual plane, Herrmann and
Harnack would argue that immortality is given as a “thought of faith” in the
direct contemplation of Christ’s life in God. A soul of such purity, elevation,
and devotion to the Fatheras was Christ’s cannot be thought of as
extinguished in death.

Christ’s earthly history does not end as an optimistic faith would expect.
Rather, it closes in seeming defeatand disaster. The forces ofevil—the powers
of dissolution that devour on every side—seemto have prevailed over Him
also. Is this the last word? If so, how shall faith support itself? “We hoped that
it was he which should redeem Israel.” Is not the darkness deeperthan before
when even He seems to go down in the struggle? Will it be doubted that, as for
the first disciples, so for myriads since, the Resurrectionhas dispelled these
doubts, and given them an assurance whichnothing canoverthrow that death
is conquered and that, because Jesus lives, they shall live also? Jesus, who
came from God and went to God, has shed a flood of light into that unseen
world which has vanquished its terrors, and made it the bright home of every
spiritual and eternal hope. It is open to any one to rejectthis consolation,
grounded in sure historicalfact, or to prefer to it the starlight—if even such it
can be named—of dubious psychicalphenomena. But will it be denied that for
those who, on what they judge the best of grounds, believe the resurrection,
there is opened up a “sure and certain hope” of immortality which nothing
else in time can give?1 [Note:J. Orr, The Resurrectionof Jesus, 271.]
(5) By imparting new life to the believer.—The words spokento Martha were
spokenfor us: “Whosoeverliveth and believeth on me shall never die.” The
resurrectionlife is begun already in the believer. A moral and spiritual
resurrectionhas takenplace—a rising out of the death of sin into the life of
righteousness—whichis the pledge of the bodily resurrection. “If the Spirit of
him that raisedup 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.” In this case, therefore, deathis “abolished.” The
physical death must come in the order of nature; but it is a beginning rather
than an ending, a process oflife rather than of death. It is the folding up of the
shifting tent that we may take up our abode in the enduring mansion. It is the
doffing of the beggar’s rags thatwe may don the princely robes. It is the
shuffling off of the mortal coil of flesh that the life within may have room to
expand and may receive from God a “spiritual body” which may be a fit
organfor the renewed spirit.

Grant that a precious memory may be longerand deeper and strongerthan
time, still when I think what that furious persecutorof Christ and that weak
repudiator of his Masterbecame in the course of their Christian experience,—
and they are types of innumerable transformations of charactersince,—Ifeel
sure that the change was not wrought in them by the powerof the sacred
memory of a dear, dead friend,—Paul had no such memory of Jesus,—butby
their close touchand communion with the quickening spirit of a risen and
living Lord. Pressing nearer, coming closerto Him, opening our inmost selves
to His sweetinfluence, suffering Him to make His own impression upon us,
who can saywhat He might work in us and make of us? What newness oflife?
What hope of glory?
Long time ago and far away,
One Eastermorn at break of day,
Friar Francisco, strolling round
The monasterygarden, found
Among the rose leaves at his feet
A clod of earth surpassing sweet.
Amazed to find a common bit

Of sod so sweet, he questionedit:
“Whence, then, or how hast thou,” he cried,
Such fragrance?” andthe clodreplied:
“I was a piece of common clay
Until God willed that where I lay
A lovely rose should bud and bloom.
I breathed and drank in its perfume.
If any fragrance I disclose
It is the sweetness ofHis rose.”
Francisco meeklybowedhis head
And mused awhile: then knelt and said:

“O Thou whose love embraces all
Thy works and creatures, greatand small,
I am the clod! The Rose is He
Who loved and gave Himself for me.
By that immortal Flowerof Thine
Breathe on this barren soul of mine;
Bestow its fragrance upon me,
The fragrance ofits purity.”
Then, as responsive to his prayer,
Came, wafted on the morning air,
The music of the minster bell,
Of joyous choirs and organ’s swell

Francisco raisedin glad surprise,
His radiant face and streaming eyes;
Rose from his knees and went his way,
The gladdestof glad souls that day,—
Risenwith Christ! as he would say.
3. Last of all notice three greatgains that come to us through faith in Him who
brought life and incorruption to light.
(1) We obtain deliverance from the fear of death.—To all of us death has its
aspectof terror. May we not saythat to many of us it has its attitude of
intense repulsion? We shrink from dying, and even if we do not our hearts fail
us in the thought of what lies beyond. But our acquaintance with death, as we
have stoodat the death-bed of some of our dear ones, makes us shrink from
dying. We sometimes feelthat if the drawing of that lastbreath were with us,
as with Christ, a willing act, we should never dare to draw that lastbreath, it
is so awful. But with many there is not only this shrinking from dying, but also
a shrinking from what lies beyond.
Now see what Christ has done for us. He has destroyed death and destroyed
him who has the powerof death. What does this mean? The word in the
original does not mean that Christ has made death not to be. That is not true.

What it means is this, that Christ has so dealt with death that He has taken
out of it all its sting, all its power; men are not influenced by it as they were of
old. They look upon it with new eyes;they see death transformed.
(2) We rise above the stoicaloragnostic indifference to death.—The preacher
of a secularethic asserts thatdeath is a part of the natural order and ought to
be faced with fortitude. And sometimes a man, not in anywise imbruted by
sin, meets it without a misgiving, and at the same time confessesno obligation
to Jesus the Redeemer. We wonder at the calmness and good-humour with
which Socrates drank his cup of hemlock and at the high mettle with which
some men, not distinctly religious in spirit, face the end of life. We are amazed
at the impassivity with which tens of thousands of Japanese throw awaytheir
lives in an outburst of loyalty and patriotism. Perhaps the courage ofthe man
who is without a formulated Christian faith may be inspired by a vague sense
of the benignity of the cosmic order. But sin puts a new aspectupon death and
invests it with a portentous fatality in human fortunes. If unfallen man had
been destined to pass through changes corresponding to physical death, his
normal consciousness ofGod might have made such a crisis into a translation.
A vague sense ofsin bred the gloomand shrouding, terror-haunted shadows
of the Babylonian underworld, and sin arms death with a noxious sting
wherevera soul becomes burdened by a sense of demerit and transgression.
Man might have died without any sign of trepidation or foreboding if his
animal sleephad continued unbroken. When rational beings find out how far
they have gone in a downward path, the terror of death starts up within them,
and is in no sense a creationof theology. The heir of immortality trembles at
the thought of his inalienable heritage. But in redeeming us Jesus took away
the powerof death. The cross declaredthe truth of man’s immortality; for if
man had been one with the grass ofthe field Jesus would not have set Himself,
at such a cost, to remove a blight on the bloom of the hour. His holy Passion
inscribed a new value on human life. By destroying sin He changeda dark,
soul-withering, wrathful underworld into a realm filled with peace,
forgiveness, goodwill, and the fruits of righteousness.

Christ abolisheddeath. It is so that the Apostles always speak concerning
death. It is so always that they bear themselves in the presence of death. They
will not crouch before it as a tyrant; neither are they content to stand erect
before it, as in the presence of an equal; rather do they exult and triumph
over it, as a conqueror over a crushed and broken foe.
(3) We gain new and vastly grander views of life.—Christ rescuedthe soul
from the neglectand contempt that it receivedfrom the current Sadducaic
teachers, who regardedit as a perishable property. He gave the world the
faith which was destined to emancipate the slave, to overthrow feudalism, and
to become an ever-living force in the raising and ennobling of mankind. And
that faith was not only faith in God, but faith in man—faith in the dignity of
man’s own nature, faith in the greatness ofhis origin and the sublimity of his
destiny. It was this faith that begata new note of earnestnessin human affairs.
The old heart of this world askedwith wonder and hesitation: “If a man die
shall he live again?” There were motives that should have bidden him live well
even though he answeredthat question for himself with “aneverlasting No.”
But this truth remains. Teacha man that he came from God and to God he
must return, and he will strive to be worthy of his ancestry and his destiny
alike. Teacha man that he comes from dust, that he is but the product of
matter, and must return whence he came—
Be blown about the desertdust,
Or sealedwithin the iron hills,—
and you must not wonder if his life is as low as its origin, and his thoughts do
not rise above his circumstances. Forthe secretofthe world’s highest
endeavour has been the truth that Christ Jesus brought to light—

Life is real! life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spokenof the soul.
There is a beautiful passagein “Marius the Epicurean,” in which Walter
Paterpictures a Paganin the early days becoming accustomedto a Christian
household, and a little gathering of people who formed one of the Christian
Churches, and one thing that impresseditself upon his mind was this: There
was the slave sitting beside the others, but the slave had a dignity in the
Christian Church that the slave never had out of it, because the slave had laid
hold of a greatidea. He had receivedthe keys of immortality, he was clothed
with a new dignity, he realizedthe greatness ofmanhood, and those who were
associatedwith the slave in the same church gave even to the slave the
reverence and the respectwhich such manhood ought to command.1 [Note: C.
SilvesterHorne.]
Louis xvi. and his beautiful and unfortunate queen died on the scaffoldin the
Place de la Revolution. The boy who ought to have inherited the throne of
France, and who in fact, though he never reigned, has been numbered as
Louis xvii. in the roll of monarchs, was left a prisoner. Evil had brought forth
evil, as ever. An oppressedpeople had been rousedto a spirit of devilish
revenge. The child, it is said, was not only to be kept a prisoner and deprived
of whatever rights he might be supposedto possess to the throne of his father,
but all that was goodin his nature was to be, if possible, destroyed. Evil men
placed round him were to train his mind to evil thoughts, his heart to evil

feelings, his lips to unlovely words. Naturally he suffered. But now and again,
it is said, as his tormentors seemedto go beyond the limits of his endurance, or
when God’s voice prevailed in his young soul againstthem, the unhappy boy
would wakenup to higher things, and exclaim in anguish, “I can’t say it, I
can’t do it, for I was born to be a king!”1 [Note:W. J. Knox Little, Sunlight
and Shadow in the Christian Life, 53.]
Life and Immortality
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The PowerOf God In The SalvationManifestedBy Jesus Christ To The
World
2 Timothy 1:9-11
T. Croskery
He now proceeds to expound in a glorious sentence the origin, conditions,
manifestations of the salvationprovided in the gospel.
I. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE POWER OF GOD HAS BEEN
DISPLAYED TOWARD US. "Who hath savedus, and calledus with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
grace, whichwas given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
1. The power of God has been displayed toward us in salvation. God is the
Author of salvationin its most comprehensive sense, as including both its

impetration and its application. The salvationmay be said to precede the
calling, as
(1) it has its origin in the "purpose of God,"
(2) as Christ has procured it by his death.
2. It has been displayed in our calling.
(1) The call is the actof the Father (Galatians 1:6).
(2) It is a "holy calling,"
(a) as its Author is holy;
(b) it is a callto holiness;
(c) the calledare enabled to live holy lives.
3. The principle or condition of our salvation. "Notaccording to our works."
(1) Negatively. Works are not
(a) the moving cause ofit, which is the love and favour of God(John 3:16);
(b) nor are they the procuring cause, whichis the obedience and death of
Christ (Romans 3:21-26);
(c) nor do they help in the application of salvation; for works done before our
calling are not good, being without fairly; and works done after it are the
fruits of our calling, and therefore not the cause ofit.
(2) Positively. "But according to his own purpose and grace, whichwas given
us in Christ before the world began." Salvationhas thus a double aspect.
(a) It is "according to the purpose of God." It is a gift from eternity; for it was
"before the world began," and therefore it was not dependent upon man's
works.
(b) It is according to "his grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began." Though those to whom it was given were not in existence, they

existed in Christ as the covenantHead and Representative of his people. They
were chosenin him (Ephesians 1:4).
II. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS PURPOSE AND GRACE IN THE
INCARNATION AND WORK OF CHRIST. "But manifested now by the
appearing of our SaviourJesus Christ."
1. The nature of this manifestation. It included
(1) the Incarnation; for the Son of God appeared in the fulness of time to
make known the "mystery hid from ages," evenhimself - "the Hope of glory"
- to both Jew and Gentile;
(2) the work of Christ, in the obedience of his life and the suffering of his
death - in a word, the whole work of redemption.
2. The effects of this manifestation. "Who abolisheddeath, and brought to
light life and incorruptibility by means of the gospel."
(1) Its actionupon death. It has abolished or made it of none effect. Deathis
regardedboth in its physical and its ethical aspects.
(a) In its physical aspects, Christhas
(α) deprived it of its sting, and made it a blessing to believers (Hebrews 2:14; 1
Corinthians 15:55), and (β) securedits ultimate abolition (Revelation21:4).
(b) In its ethical aspects,as working through a law of sin and death, Christ has
causedus "to pass from death unto life" in regeneration(1 John 3:14), and
securedus from "the seconddeath" (Revelation2:11).
(2) Its revelationof life and incorruptibility.
(a) Life here is the true life, over which death has no power - the new and
blessedlife of the Spirit. This was, in a sense, knownto the Old Testament
saints; but Christ exhibited it, in its resurrection aspect, afterhe rose from the
dead. It was in virtue of his resurrection, indeed, that the saints of the old
economyhad life at all. But they did not see it as we see it.

(b) Incorruptibility. Not in reference to the risen body, but to the life of the
soul, in its imperishable qualities, in its perfect exemption from death (1 Peter
1:4; Revelation21:4).
(c) The means of this revelationis the gospel, whichmakes this life perfectly
known to men, as to its nature, as to the wayinto it, as to the persons for
whom it is prepared or designed.
III. THE CONNECTION OF THE APOSTLE WITH THIS REVELATION
OF LIFE. "Forwhich I was appointed a herald and an apostle, and a teacher
of the Gentiles." He rehearses his titles of dignity at the very time that he
points to them as entailing suffering upon him. - T.C.
Biblical Illustrator
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
hath abolisheddeath.
2 Timothy 1:10

The appearing
E. H. Plumptre, D. D., H. D. M. Spence, M. A.
Remarkable as the only passagein the New Testamentin which the word
ἐπιφανεία ( = manifestation) is applied to the incarnation of our Lord.
(E. H. Plumptre, D. D.)The simple act of the Incarnation by no means covers
the "appearing." The "appearing" (Epiphany) here includes not only the
birth, but the whole manifestation of Christ on earth, including the Passion
and the Resurrection.
(H. D. M. Spence, M. A.)
Living in the days of Christ's appearing
J. Barlow, D. D.
Seeing that the days wherein we live are better than the days of old, we must
thrive, and be better also. The more choice diet we feedon, the fatter and
fairer should we be; the clearerlight, the cleanermust we keepourselves from
pollution, contamination. When trees are removed to a more fertile soil, do we
not expectthat they should spread further, and be more fruitful than before?
when cattle are put into a better pasture will we not look for better growth,
more labour at their hands? Shall not we then grow strong, work mightily in
the Lord's vineyard, and resolutelyrun the ways of His commands? Is not our
light brighter, our spiritual foodbetter, and our journey shorter? then why is
there not some equal proportion? These things must be thought upon, made
use of, or else our accountone day will be the greater, the heavier; for unto
whom much is given, shall much be required. They who have greatermeans
for grace than others, must strive to be more gracious than others, or look for
the more heavierreckoning. Our fathers were led in the night, the moon was
their conductor; we are now in the day, when as the sun guideth us, shall we
not then go faster, farther, with less fear, and more resolution, greater
boldness? But alas!who taketh knowledge ofthese things maketh the true use
thereof? We have the sun shining, yet sleep;or if awake, we cry, want we not

light? I say no more, but with that our idleness cause not the Lord to remove
our candlestick.
(J. Barlow, D. D.)
Who hath abolished death
Deathabolished
James Bryce, LL. D.
The article is used here emphatically and designedly. The article is often used
to express a thing in the abstract. Death, not merely in some particular
instance, but in all its aspects and bearings, and in its very essence, being and
idea is abolished.
(James Bryce, LL. D.)
Deathof none effect
H. R. Reynolds, D. D.
Christ Jesus is not only a living embodiment of the Eternal purpose and love
of the Father, but He is also declaredto be the Saviour who made death of
none effect, abolishedor rendered inoperative that death which
is the universal curse of man, which "has passedthrough upon all men"
(Romans 5:12), and is grimly symbolisedto us in the dissolution of the body.
The Lord declaredthat those who lived and believed in Him should never die.
St. John could never have recordedthese words of the Master(John 11:26)
when a whole generationof Christians, including all the apostles, with the
exceptionof himself, had passedawayand come under the tyrannous swayof
the lastenemy, unless he had supposedthe words to imply something far more
and other than the death of the body. Wiesinger, Huther, Ellicott, and others
are right in understanding by the word thanatos, "death," the entire
antithesis to zoo or "life." Surely it is the entire principle of decay, corruption,

and separationfrom Godinstituted by sin. It includes all the animosity that a
living, self-conscious being feels againstGodfor bringing him into a dying
world, all the resistance to and departure from His supreme will. It is this
otherwise irremediable curse, and painful looking for of condign punishment,
this moral death and dissolution, which Christ has disarmed and rendered
inoperative.
(H. R. Reynolds, D. D.)
Deathabolished
T. M. Herbert, M. A.
Everybody can feelthe fitness of saying that sin and death are two of the
greatestenemies ofthe human race. Expressive and appropriate is the habit
we derive from Scripture of speaking ofthem as persons, hostile powers, who
make war on us. Betweenthe two there is a terrible alliance. They are in
league againstus; and though, if we are even victorious overthem, we are told
that death will be the lastto be destroyed, yet sin was the first, and sin is the
greatest. Notthat, exceptfor sin, these material bodies would be immortal.
Eventual dissolution and decayinto their elements belong to their
constitution, as much as to that of vegetables in autumn. "We all do fade as a
leaf." "All flesh is as grass." Butthough dissolution seems a characteristic of
human bodies, the doubt and terror which accompanydeath are due to sin,
which has estrangedus from our Maker, whom, in consequence, we have
ceasedto think of as our Father. Thus the sting of death is sin. The voyage
across the Atlantic is one thing to the slave, hurried by a captor, he knows not
whither, and quite anotherto the traveller returning home. These, then, are
the two greatestevils which afflict humanity; and, now, is there any remedy
for them — any deliverer from them? Christianity professesto bring a
remedy, — to announce a Delivererboth from sin and death. Hence, its
messageis calledthe gospel — the good news. "The Sonof man was
manifested, to destroy the works of the devil"; and "our Saviour Jesus Christ
hath abolisheddeath."

I. DEATH MADE OF NONE EFFECT. Suchis the meaning of "abolished."
Not to do away with altogether, but to render imperfect, and in that sense to
destroy. The entire destruction spokenofin the fifteenth chapter of the First
of Corinthians will come later. Christianity has made no difference in regard
to the dissolution and decay which befall all mortal bodies. It is still true that
"all flesh is as grass." Its language, however, is not "Deathshall never again
strike down a human being, or make a happy home a house of mourning," but
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" "Blessedare the
dead who die in the Lord." "To die is gain." So death is made of none effect.
II. JESUS CHRIST, OUR SAVIOR FROM DEATH. We may well ask, "By
what rare enchantment can the king of terrors be transformed thus into an
angelof light?" Who "canmake a dying bed seemsoftas downy pillows are?"
Even he who said to a sister weeping at a brother's grave, "I am the
Resurrectionand the Life: whosoeverliveth, and believeth in Me shall never
die!" "To depart is to be with Christ, which is far better." But how so? Was
He not the man Christ Jesus? And did He not Himself die in anguish? And
was He not Himself laid in the tomb? Truly, if He was no more than man, our
Christian hope of immortality is a baselessimposture. But the good news from
God is that Jesus Christ was more; that He is the Lord of life, the King
immortal and eternal, who wrapped Himself awhile in perishable human clay,
but whom it was not possible that death should hold. And the reasonof His
coming is thus expressedin Scripture: "Forasmuchas the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took partof the same,
that through death He might destroy him that had the powerof death."
III. THROUGH DEATH HE ABOLISHED DEATH. By Himself passing
down into the dark valley, into the silent tomb, He disarmed the grave of its
terrors. And as we saw that death and sin are closelyallied, — death the
wages ofsin, and sin the sting of death,-they are allied in regard to our
deliverance from them. Our Saviour from the one, is our Saviour from the
other.
IV. LIFE AND INCORRUPTION BROUGHT TO LIGHT. A greatshadow
was spreadover the world, and it lay the deepestover human life. Now, the
greatlight, which the people who sat in darkness have seenin Christ, brings

to view the novel and glorious factof life associatedwith immortality, or
incorruptibility.
(T. M. Herbert, M. A.)
Deathabolished
R. Halley, D. D.
He must have had strong faith who, writing amidst the signs of death ever
near him in a populous city, could write, Jesus Christ hath abolisheddeath.
He felt within him the inspiration of an immortal life; and it gave a new
characterto all things around him. In his prison in Rome, heaven was his
home. Adhering to a religionwhose first preachers were martyrs, he saw no
death in martyrdom. Having finished his course, and ready to be offered up,
his time of departure — not of death — was at hand. Let us meditate upon
this greatsubject, and see if we can understand the apostle. There is one
doctrine of Christianity to which our hearts have not done justice, because our
faith has not felt its power; that doctrine is, that "Jesus Christ has abolished
death."
I. THE FACT — "JesusChrist hath abolisheddeath."
1. If you observe the connection, you will see this was the consequence ofan
everlasting purpose of grace. See the preceding verse. This glorious truth is
not a thought of yesterday, not a thought that entered the mind of God on
occasionofthe fall of man, but a purpose made before man fell, before the
world began. And this everlasting purpose is the firm and immutable rock on
which rests the whole fabric of our salvation. I know some persons are afraid
to think of an everlasting purpose, an immutable decree ofGod, as if it were
an awful, an unapproachable mystery. It is, indeed, awful, as is every attribute
of Him who dwells in light inaccessible, but it need not be terrible. Observe
the words:"according to His own purpose and grace."The purpose and the
grace are intimately associated. The grace is as old as the purpose. Both are
from everlasting. The purpose flows out of the grace, forthe grace is the
nature of the eternal God from which His purpose flows, and must be

gracious like Himself. What is there to fear in a purpose of grace? Would you
not be comforted in the trials of life, if you found in every emergencythat
your earthly father had made ample provision by a kind purpose before you
were born? If for your infancy comforts were provided at his expense by a
mother's care;and if you found a fund set apart to pay the expense of your
goodeducation, should any casualitydeprive you of his immediate care;and
when you came of age you found a sum insured at your birth to enable you to
commence business with respectabilityand goodsuccess;and everywhere else,
as parental forethought and love could foresee, a purpose appearedin a
present supply of your wants; — would not all this he an assuranceand
perpetual memorial of your father's goodwill? would it not endear him the
more to your heart? and would you not cherish the memory of him who with
so much forethought had provided for you with affectionate and loving
regard? Just so with the gracious purpose of God.
2. But the fact of the abolition of death, connectedwith an everlasting
purpose, was manifestedin time by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
But how was it manifested? Wherein did Christ appear to abolish death?
When did He accomplishthis gracious purpose? We naturally look for the
answerto His owndeath. Was that not really death? Was it a departure
rather than a death? Did He ever say with regardto Himself that death was
abolished? Did He meet death as if He had already destroyedhim that had the
powerof death, that is, the devil? Go to Calvary and observe. What signs are
there but true signs of death? He died, He tasted death. But, then, in dying He
abolisheddeath for all believers. It is as if He absorbedall the venom of the
sting of death into His own soul and left none to distress the souls of His
people; so that death, so dreadful to Him, is to them without a curse, without a
sting, and but a shadow. Scripture has found for it a new name, a name of
pleasantassociation, andcalls it sleep(1 Thessalonians 4:14). In saying Jesus
really endured the pains of death, I refer not chiefly to the extreme bodily
sufferings which He endured, but to the mental conflict and agonywhich to
Him were the bitterness and curse of death. Christ hath abolisheddeath, as
every spirit in heavenfeels with delight; and if we know it not now, we shall
know it hereafter with rapturous delight. But must we wait till we reachthe
blissful life of heavenbefore we can sayin the fulness of a joyful heart, "Our

Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolisheddeath"? Well, I fear we must — at least,
many of us. Our faith seems as if it could not graspand feel this great text. We
are but sorry Christians if thus we pass our lives grovelling in clay, in bondage
through fear of death. Worldling! you are right in fearing death, for it will
strip you of all your beloved and prized possessions.Unpardoned sinner! you
are right in fearing death, for to you it will be the dreadful doom and
beginning of endless woe. Loverof pleasure!you are right in your fear, for it
will turn your pleasure into pain, remorse, consternation, anguish.
Worshipper of Mammon! you are right, for it will take away your gods, and
what have you left? But Christians, are we not ashamedof ourselves?
Christians, unworthy of the name, are you afraid of death? Do you not believe
that Christ hath abolished it? Yes, you believe it as a fact; at least, you sayso,
and you think so. But do you know it as an experience — A truth of the heart
as well as of the creed— A truth in which you rejoice as the conquestof the
last enemy?
II. THE EXPERIENCETHAT OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST HATH
ABOLISHED DEATH. Paul rose out of these earthly shadows, awoke from
these carnal dreams; saw the world, not as we see it, a substantialform, but as
an evening cloud whose tints were fading, as a flickering flame whose glory
was passing away. New light from the excellentglory came around him and
gave new colourand characterto all things about him. His prison was fading,
and he scarcelysaw it in the surrounding glory; his chain was melting off his
hand and he scarcelyfelt it, for the day of his greatdeliverance was rising.
Caesar'stribunal, its attendants, pomp, lictors, sergeants, soldiers,
executioners, whatwere they all in the full light of the greatsalvationall
around him? They were virtually abolished too. Heaven was near, he could
hear its sweetmusic. Eternallife was within him, he could feel its power.
Immortality was brought to light, he could see it and rejoice in it. There was
no more death, to obscure that light of unfading glory. They could not kill
him, could not destroy that which he had learnedto callhimself, and which
felt and knew everything in its relation not to time but to eternity. And there
have been many others like him.
(R. Halley, D. D.)

Christ abolishing death
W. W. Champneys, M. A.
"All men," says St. Paul," are all their lifetime, through fear of death,
subject to bondage." And every one, who has at all watchedhis own mind,
knows that this is true. The very heathen, as our missionaries teach, tell us
how death is known and feared, and lookedforwardto, with fearful
expectation, as the great and universal enemy. Thus the fearof death is felt by
all men, and is the fly in every pot of ointment, that, once found there, spoils
and mars it: it is the swordhung overhead, whose keenpoint and sharp edge
glitter ominously and threateningly in the light of every banquet; it is the
hollow skull, with its eyeless socketsand its melancholy emptiness, that spoils
every marble monument.
I. MEN ALWAYS DID AND STILL DO ALL THEY CAN TO KEEP OFF
THE UNWELCOME THOUGHT. The Greek and Roman, as they bound
their heads with the wreath of roses, andstretched their limbs on the soft
moss under the greenarbutus, and drank off their goblets of wine, tried to
forgetthat all this would soonbe over, and that there would come one day the
last disease.But it always was vain, and always will be, to attempt to quench
the thought, though it may he staved off; the wine and flowers and song
cannot lastfor ever.
II. BUT WHAT 1S IT THAT THUS MAKES DEATH AN OBJECTOF
UNIVERSAL APPREHENSIONAND DREAD? Is it always the actof death?
is the mere dying always a dreadful thing? No! it is sin; it is the sense of
accountability, and the solemnexpectationof the accountwe have to render;
it is "the fearful expectationand looking-forof judgment": it is these which
make death dreadful and dreaded, so that, "through fear of death men have
been subject to bondage."
III. Our text says THAT CHRIST "HATH ABOLISHED DEATH." is, then,
death dead? That cannotbe. I see Christians die as well as other men. But the
sting of death is drawn; for sin is takenaway. Death, therefore, is not the

summoner of God's court of trial, but the usher to call him into God's glorious
presence-chamber. The Christian does not die when his body and his soul are
for a time divided. He has in his spirit, that is, in himself, his truest self, a life
which is eternal;from the moment he believes and trusts in Christ, from that
moment "he hath eternallife."
IV. BUT, IS IT ONLY THE CHRISTIAN TO WHOM DEATH IS THUS
ABOLISHED? "The fathers, where are they?" Did life and immortality begin
with Christ? Were Christians the first to share and to enjoy them? Righteous
Abel, when he fell by a brother's hand, and his fainting souldeparted from his
mangled body, took possessionofthe paradise of God. Noah and Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, Davidand Hezekiah, the glorious company of the prophets,
the whole line of penitent believers — however unknown to men, yet known to
God — inherited at death the same life that the Christian now inherits. But
they did not know, as we know, the life and immortality which they received.
Life and immortality existedas surely then, as now; but they then were "in
the dark." The light had not risen: it was night with them; and only the stars
threw a trembling light on the things beyond the grave. The heathen had,
indeed, their Elysian fields; but that shadowyworld was only a reproduction
of the most pleasing portions of this present life, where, as the Indian hopes to
use his bow and arrows to hunt the shadowy deer, as the Chinese hopes to
employ the ghost of his loved paper money in that spectralworld, so the
heathens of Greece and Rome saw their heroes engrossedin the employments
and amusements of this world — throwing the quoit, or driving the chariot, or
reposing on beds of roses, in those fields of their own creation. And the views
of the pious Jews and patriarchs were dim and obscure. "A land of darkness,
as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where
the light is as darkness" (Job10:22;Isaiah38:10, 11; Psalm88:4, 5).
(W. W. Champneys, M. A.)
The death of death
W. Jay.

I. THE EVIL IN QUESTION — It is death. We should suppose that this
subject was very familiar to the thoughts of men, were we to judge from the
importance and frequency of the event. But, alas!nothing is so little thought
of. Let us examine what Nature teaches us concerning death; and then go to
the Scripture for additional information.
1. Suppose then there had been no revelation from God — what does Nature
teachus concerning death?(1)It sees plainly enough that it is a cessationof
our being. The lungs no longer heave;the pulse ceases to beat; the blood
pauses and congeals;the eye closes;the tongue is silent; and the hand forgets
her cunning. We are laid in the grave, where worms feed upon us.(2) It also
teaches us the universality of death.(3) Nature teaches us that death is
unavoidable.(4) Nature sees also that death is irreparable. It cannot, produce
a single specimen of posthumous life.(5) We may also learn from it that death
is uncertain an its circumstances;and that no man knows the place, the time,
the manner, in which he shall expire. If it be objectedthat the generality of the
heathen have had some other views of death than those which we have
conceded, and had even notions of an existence beyond the grave — let it be
observed, that the world always had a revelation from God; and that when
mankind dispersed from the family of Noah, they carried the discoveries
along with them; but as they were left to tradition, they became more and
more obscure;yet they yielded hints which led to reflections that otherwise
would have never occurred. And if wise men, especiallyfrom these remains of
an original revelation, were led into some speculations bordering upon truth,
it should be remembered that in a case like this, as Paleyobserves, nothing
more is known than is proved: opinion is not knowledge;nor conjecture
principle.
2. But how much more does the Scripture teach!Here we learn —(1) Its true
nature. To the eye of sense death appears annihilation; but to the eye of faith
it is dissolution.(2)Its true consequences.Very little of death falls under the
observationof the senses;the most awful and interesting part is beyond their
reach. It is the state of the soul; it is the apprehension of it by devils or angels;
it is the transmissionof it to heavenor hell.(3) Its true cause. The Scripture
shows us that man was not createdmortal; and that mortality is not the
necessaryconsequenceofour original constitution; but is the penal effect of

transgression.(4)The true remedy. What! Is there a remedy for death? Who
said to His hearers, "If a man keepMy sayings, he shall never see death"? He
hath abolisheddeath. But let us —
II. Considerthis DESTRUCTION — for does not death continue his ravages?
Does he not fall upon the people of God themselves? Where then is the proof
of this abolition? It is undeniable that Christians themselves are subjectto the
stroke of death, as well as others.
1. He abolishes death, spiritually; that is, in the souls of His people. To all
these, without exception, it may be said, in the words of Paul to the Ephesians,
"You hath He quickenedwho were dead in trespassesand sins."
2. He abolished death by His miracles while He was on earth.
3. He abolished death in His own person. His ownrising from the dead is very
distinguishable from all the former instances ofresurrection. The ruler's
daughter, the widow's son, Lazarus, and the saints in Jerusalem, were raised
by the powerof another; but He rose by His own power. They rose as private
individuals: but He as the head and representative of His people: and because
He lives, they shall live also.
4. He abolished death penally. Thus He has destroyeddeath as to its sting. He
has not abolished going home, and falling asleep, and departing; but He has
abolisheddeath. This leads us to observe, that He has —
5. Abolished death comparatively: I mean as to its terror. This is not the same
with the foregoing particular. That regards all the people of God, and extends
even to those who die under a cloud of darkness, anda load of depression;it
belongs to a Cowper, who died in despair, as wellas to a Hervey, who said,
"Lord, now lettestthou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word;
for mine eyes have seenThy salvation." All believers die safely;there is no
curse for them after death, or in death. In this sense, their end is peace;peace
in the result, if not in the passage.But their end is generally peace in
experience as well as in result. There are, however, casesofconstitutional
infirmity that may not only exclude joy, but even hope. Sometimes the nature
of the disorder is such as to hinder sensibility, or expression. Sometimes, too,

God may allow the continuance of fear, even in those He loves, as a rebuke for
loose orirregular walking;and as a warning to others.
6. He will do this absolutely. He will abolish the very state:"He must reign till
He hath put all enemies under His feet. The lastenemy that shall be destroyed
is death."
(W. Jay.)
Deathabolished
J. Morison, D. D.
I. That we may feel the true impression of this Divine declaration, it will be
necessaryfirst to show WHAT IT IS NOT INTENDED TO TEACH. The state
of fact, no less than the express averments of Holy Writ, forbid us to entertain
the thought, that the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ has arrestedthe
progress ofthat law of mortality which followedin the train of disobedience.
Our present relations are formed but to be dissolved; death, like a canker
worm, preys at the root of all our comforts. We "have here no continuing
city"; and soon"the place that now knows us shall know us no more for
ever." Philosophy may attempt to solve this mysterious problem; may tell us
that mortality is a law of our nature; may point us to the analogies ofcreation
around us. But withdraw from our view the inspired record which connects
death with Adam's sin, and which exhibits it in the light of a penalty entailed
upon transgression, andphilosophy has no satisfactoryreasonto assignfor a
catastrophe so overwhelming and so universal. It may, indeed, affirm the state
of fact, and argue from thence that it is the nature of man that he should die;
but how much more satisfactoryis the philosophy of Scripture (which no
sound philosophy ought to exclude), which tells us that man was made for life,
that death is the forfeit of disobedience, and that but for sin the struggle of
mortality would never have been beheld in our world!
II. In our text we are taught to look upon death as in some practical SENSE A
VANQUISHED FOE; and since it cannot be in the sense of staying its
inexorable reign in our world, it becomes us to show the true and only sense in

which it can be affirmed that "our SaviourJesus Christ hath abolished
death." The expressionis very remarkable;and the doctrine it contains is
animating in the highest degree to all who embrace it with. a realising faith.
The idea conveyedby the original word is that of such an effectual
counteractionof death, as involves a complete victory over it.
1. When the apostle assertsthat "Christ hath abolisheddeath," we must
understand him, first of all, as proclaiming Christ's own personalvictory over
it.
2. But we must not forgetthat the victory which our Saviour Jesus Christ
achievedin His own person over death was intimately connectedwith the
nature and ends of that "deceasewhichHe accomplished at Jerusalem."
Death, we must never forget, entered our world as the mark of apostasy, as
the penalty of transgression;if ever, then, it was to be "abolished," it must be
by some dispensationwhich should effectuallyprovide for the remission of
sin, and for the restorationof apostate man to the favour and image of his
God. In the hour of Messiah's deepagony, "the Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of us all"; and when with His last breath He exclaimed, "It is finished," the
mighty work was then performed upon which depended the reconciliationto
peace and life of untold millions of the human race. Having "finished the
work which the Father gave Him to do," met every demand which devolved
upon Him as the sinner's Surety, it was impossible, upon all the principles of
the Divine government, upon all the arrangements of covenantedlove, that He
should be holden of the bands of death.
3. When the apostle assertsthat "our Saviour Jesus Christhath abolished
death" we may assure ourselves that the real members of His body, all true
Christians, will share His own triumph. Of this joyful fact there is a series of
progressive evidence. The moment that any sinner is quickenedto spiritual
life, he is "quickenedtogetherwith Christ," and is brought to feel in that
conversion"the powerof His resurrectionand the fellowshipof His
sufferings," and is "made conformable unto His death."
4. The next stage of the proof that death shall be abolishedwill he supplied
when believers are "absentfrom the body and present with the Lord." The

fruition of the celestialparadise willdivest them of every doubt or misgiving
as to the resurrectionof their mortal bodies. Every time they gaze on the
glorified humanity of Him in whose presence theystand they will exult in the
thought of that mighty exercise ofpowerand love which shall quicken their
tabernacles ofclay, and unite them as spiritual bodies to their emancipated
and happy spirits. They are waiting in glorious hope "for the adoption, to wit,
the redemption of their bodies";and, having receivedthe first-fruits, they are
looking forward to the harvestof the earth, when the number of God's elect
shall be accomplished, and when all the objects ofcelestialhope shalt be fully
realised. At last the bright moment of perfectedbliss shall arrive when death
shall be literally "abolished";when all the regions of mortality shall be
divested of their spoils; when the whole redeemedChurch shall stand
complete in her glorified Head; when all shall be perfectly conformed in body
and soul to the image of Him whets "the first-born among many brethren."
5. But there is one view of this subject which yet remains to be taken by us: it
is the proof which is so often afforded of the truth of the apostle's declaration
that death is "abolished," in the feelings with which departing saints are often
enabled to look forward to their great change. Some there are, indeed, of
God's servants who "through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to
bondage";their minds are perplexed with doubts and fears, and they cannot
realise their title to the everlasting inheritance. But it is matter of greatjoy
and thankfulness when faith is triumphant in the dying moment; when it can
sing with an unfaltering tongue, "O death, where is thy sting," thy boasted
sting? "O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the
strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(J. Morison, D. D.)
Deathabolished
D. Thomas, D. D.

The question is, therefore, in what sense hath death been abolished by Christ.
It means that He hath made death of none effect. In order to explain this we
lay down three propositions.
I. THAT THE FELT POWER OF DEATH OVER MAN IS ACCORDING
TO THE STATE OF HIS SOUL. The power of death over man is not in the
unconsciousness whichhe produces. So far as unconsciousnessis concerned
there is death in every sleep. Notin the dissolution it produces. For physical
dissolution is going on every day in the body. Where then is the power of
death? It is in the state of our souls in relation to it. Let us suppose that we
had no capacityfor forming any idea of death. What powerwould death have
over us? None until it came;like the beastor the bird we should lie down on
the greenturf, and breathe out our last breath without one regretful or
apprehensive thought. Or, let us suppose that we had ideas concerning death,
all of which were of a pleasing character. What powerwould death have over
us in this case? None. We should rejoice in it.
II. THAT THE STATE OF A DEPRAVED MAN'S SOUL GIVES DEATH
ITS FELT POWER.
1. All the affections ofhis soul are confined to earthly objects. All men whose
natures are unchristianised love the world and the things of the world. All
they love, all they plan and toil and hope for, are here.
2. He has terrible forebodings as to the consequenceofdeath to him.
III. THAT CHRIST HATH ABOLISHED THIS DEPRAVED STATE OF
SOUL IN HIS DISCIPLES. How does He accomplishthis? Not merely by the
revelation of a future life, but by the impartation of a new spiritual life — A
life of conscious pardonand of spiritual sympathy. This new life —
1. Has a stronger sympathy with the spiritual than the material. The
affections are setnot on things below, but on things above. Hence, where is the
dread of death to the true Christian? This new life.
2. Has a stronger sympathy with the failure than the present. Christ turns the
hearts of His people to the future as their heaven. Who, therefore, would
dread the dawn of the future into which the heart has gone? This new life —

3. Has a stronger sympathy with the Infinite Father than with any other
object. Christ sets the heart of His disciple upon the Infinite Father. Can
death or any other event fill him with dread who loves the Infinite supremely?
From this subject we learn —
(1)The value of Christianity.
(2)The testof godliness.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The victor vanquished
J. Reid.
We have here —
1. An agentreferred to by the word "Who," that is Jesus Christ.
2. We have a work which He has done — "abolisheddeath."
3. A glorious disclosure which He has made, "brought life and immortality to
light."
4. The means by which this revelationis made known — "the gospel."
I. THE AGENT. When men have an important work to do, it is of great
consequence to find a properly qualified person to do it. The Lord Jesus
Christ possessedallthe requisite qualifications for the greatwork of atoning
for sins and reconciling man to God, since He was both God and man. Not
merely that men might be pardoned and set free, but that they might be
restoredto the favour of God, and the long interrupted harmony and union
betweenGod and man re-established.
II. Now let us glance atWHAT HE HAS DONE — "abolisheddeath"
(Romans 5:12). But there is a threefold division of death: Temporal, or the
death of the body; spiritual, or being dead to spiritual things; and eternal
death, or the separationof soul and body from Godfor ever. Deathis
representedas a sovereignexercising dominion over the world, for it is said

"death reignedfrom Adam to Moses, evenoverthem that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgressions.""Deathreigned," says the
apostle. The figure is a bold and striking one. It represents Deathas a
monarch exercising dominion or power. His reign is absolute. He strikes
whom and where he pleases, there is no escape. All must bow beneath his
sceptre. His reign is universal. Old and young, rich and poor, high and low,
are alike the subjects of his gloomy empire, and but for the gospel, his reign
would be eternal. The dominion of the gloomy tyrant has been shattered, and
death itself has, as our text says, been abolished. Its terrors are abatedand its
sting removed. We come to considerhow, and in what measure, this has been
done. What is it to abolish anything? It is to cause it to cease, to put an end to
it. Thus slavery was abolishedin the British Empire and the United States. Its
abolition costBritain much, and costthe United States thousands of lives and
millions of money. This whole accursedsystemof man-stealing, and all the
horrors connectedwith it, is wiped out and destroyed. So has the Lord Jesus
done with death. He has destroyed the stern tyrant by destroying that which is
the cause ofdeath — sin (Hebrews 2:9). Thus death was destroyedby dying;
by His becoming obedient to the death of the Cross, He broke the empire and
dominion of death for ever, and opened to man "the door of eternal life" and
His resurrectionwas proof that God's justice was completelysatisfiedwith the
ransom offered. "Who hath abolisheddeath." The apostle here seems to speak
in some measure by anticipation. Sometimes the sacredwriters represent
things which are certain to be done as if they were clone already. Sin, which is
the cause ofdeath, has been atonedfor, and so death's empire has there
receiveda fatal blow. Every evil habit, desire, and disposition overcome, every
temptation to evil successfullyresisted, every goodword and work, all tend to
lessenhis powerand wrestfrom Death his dominion. Thus life has prevailed
over death so far as the gospelhas made its wayinto the homes and hearts of
men. So in various ways and on every side death has been losing his sway, and
his empire is waning. Nowhere is the factthat "death has been abolishedseen
in a clearerlight than in the triumphant departure of God's children. Dr.
Payson, a little before he breathed his last, said, "The battle's fought, the
battle's fought, and the victory is won — won for ever. I am going to bathe in
an oceanof purity and benevolence, and happiness to all eternity, Why should
I murmur," said John Howard, the noble Christian philanthropist, when

ending his journey in a strange land, "Heavenis as near to Russia as it is to
England." "My head is in heaven" (said the wife of Philip Henry, the
Commentator); "my heart is in heaven, another step and I shall be there too."
"Almost well, and nearly at home," said the saintly Richard Baxter, when
askedby a friend how he did shortly before he died. And a lady, describing
the lasthours of that venerable patriarch of science,Sir David Brewster, says,
"The sight was a cordial from heavento me. I believed before, but now I have
seenthat Christ has truly abolisheddeath."
III. Now observe THE NEXT THING CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US. He has
"brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
(J. Reid.)
Of the immortality of the soul as discoveredby nature and by revelation
J. Tillotson, D. D.
In the handling of these words I shall —
I. OPEN TO YOU THE MEANING OF THE SEVERAL EXPRESSIONSIN
THE TEXT.
1. What is here meant by "the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ"? The
Scripture useth severalphrases to express this thing to us. As it was the
voluntary undertaking of God the Son, so it is called His coming into the
world. In relation to His incarnation, whereby He was made visible to us in
His body, and likewise in reference to the obscure promises and prophecies
and types of the Old Testament, it is calledHis manifestation, or appearance.
2. What is meant by the abolishing of death. By this we are not to understand
that Christ, by His appearance, hath rooteddeath out of the world, so that
men are no longersubject to it.
3. What is here meant by bringing "life and immortality to light." Life and
immortality is here by a frequent Hebraism put for immortal life; as also,
immediately before the text, you find purpose and grace put for God's

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Jesus was the destroyer of death