Re: [TruthTalk] Re:John 16:13,14

[Bill Taylor]

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 12:04:20 -0700 (PDT) Kevin Deegan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Ep 2;1 And you hath he quickened, who WERE dead in trespasses and > sins > > Quickened as in made ALIVE those that were DEAD....   Here is a biblically plausible explanation which does not take into view your spiritual death scenario:   Paul is speaking to people who were living at the time of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. He considers their "quickening" to have taken place in Christ's resurrection. Paul sets this forth in his letter to the Colossians: "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him" (2.13). Just as "by the circumcision of Christ" they had been circumcized (cf. verse 11), they had also been made alive with him in his resurrection. In other words, they were "regenerated" or "restored" or "quickened" in Christ in his resurrection. It was not their own circumcision which had circumcized them and it was not a work on their part which had made them alive.    This is to say that when Christ rose again victorious over death, all humans were made victorious in him (and there they remain, unless and until they reject him unto death). His life is the source and means of all life: He is life. All life is therefore in him; moreover, all life is "right" in him because he is the justification of all life (see Rom 5). Hence Paul's words to the Corinthians, "we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again; therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh."    Here again Paul is addressing people who were once dead in this same metaphorical sense as in Colosse and Ephesus, in that they had been held captive by death (as well as by the other tyrants), without hope of escape prior to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Now though in resurrection, Christ is victorious and they/we -- all humans -- are alive in him and are thus called to live for him. The "flesh" which once defined and controlled humanity has been defeated in Christ. Being themselves now in captivity to him, the tyrants no longer have the power to prevent humans from living for him, should we so desire. As Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Rom 1.19).   Bill