The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1893-11-03
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
international Lesson for November 5,
1898 The Resurrcction-Cor. I5:1e-e6.

GCLDkS 1kAI-i UanhS De 10 WQlcn
giveth US the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christi Cor 1875.
LIGHT FROM OTHER SCRIPTURES This
chapter should be read in connection with the
accounts OF the resurrection in the four Cos
pels and the Acts, and TEess- 4:l6I1: Cor
5:2-I; Phil 3:a0al
lNTRODUCTIoN.-Paul learned from the
church at Coriuth that there had arisen doubts
and pcrpiexit!es concerning the great doctrine
OF the prevailing Greek philosophy This chap
ter Is al answer and solution
LESSON NOTES
Objections to the resurrection among
the Corinthians
First. The Epicureans among the
heather, and the Sadducees among the
Jews, believed that there was no soul
as distinct from the body, and no future
life. Therefore, according to their
philosophy the resurrection was an i'm
possibility. The soul went as does the
flame Of a candle when it is blown out
Second. The Stoics taught, what
amounted to the same thing, the Pan
theistic doctrine of the ultimate reab-
sorption OF the soul into the divinity
from which it had sprung, and there
fore the final extinction of the individ-
ual personality. So drop of water is
absorbed into the ocean. 1t exists but
only as part of the great whole.
Third. The disciples of Plato. while
maintaining the eternal personality and
Immortality of the soul, regarded mat
ter as the cause of all evil, the only
barrier between the soul and Absolute
Good. a thing, in fact, essentially and
eternaliy alien to the Divine, and
therefore could not conceive of immor-
tality except through the entire free
dom OF the soul from so malignant and
corrupting an influence.
Fourth As in . Tim. 2:II, IS, he
speaks of Hymeneus and Philetus as
teaching that the resurrection was
passed already. it is probable that these
er-orists in Corinth also refused to
acknowledge any other than spiritual
resurrection.
Fifth. There were Others to whom
the resurrection seemed contrary to
common sense and the science OF the
day tver. 81. II was impossible and
absurd.
The Resurrection a Eact.-Paul be-
gins his famous chapter with a mar
shaling of the proofs of the resurrec-
ton OF Christ. He brings witness after
witness. even five hundred at one time.
during the forty days between the res
direction and the ascension. saw
Jesus, touched him. heard Him talk.
ate with Him. walked with Him ct
different times in various places And
many OF these witnesses We're familiar
acquaintance. Later on Paul him
self met Jesus, saw Him, and heard
Him. Jesus must be alive. No event
in all history has greater or more con-
viucing proofs than that Jesus rose
from The dead. Sight, hearing. touch,
all combined in the proof Then the
Christian church. and indeed every
convert and every miracle, was proof
that a living Saviour was working in
the world.
Why is our faith vain if Christ has not
been raised? a. II Christ has not been
raised, then He has broken His prom
ises and failed in His prophecies, for
He repeatedly declared that He would
rise again. And if these promises fail,
what are any other promises of His
good for? He would be either false or
Incompetent as q Saviour. CO. If He
has not been raised. then there is no
proof that He was anything but very
good and great man, like Socrates, or
Plato, or Luther He cannot be proved
to be the Son OF God, the divine wit
ness of divine things. II is His power
over. death. His continued existence.
His ever living, that completes the
proof that He is Divine Saviour 81
Ii Christ is not proved to be immortal.
by continuing to lire. the strong proof
OF our immortality is taken away. He
is the specimen that proves the exist
ence of the future life. a Then too
we worship dead Saviour, not liv-
ing one. He does not exist for us to
trust and love. to be our ever-present
helper. (5) Then too there has been
made no atonement for our sins. FOR
only the Son of God could make atone
ment, and there is no Son of God. (6)
There can be no second coming, no tri-
unph OF the kingdom of heaven. ca
g. iiocOl bSCA4 We MOSL
infer also that as the true disciples OF
Christ in all ages have led purer. hum
bier. more self-sacrifcing lives than
other men, they have attained to this
higher excellence by believing what
was false and that therefore men be-
come more pure and noble by believ-
ing what is false than by believing
what is true"
The Resurrection OF the Body.-There
are those who object to the term resur-
rectIon of the body, but it is because
that term has been regarded as
meaning the material body which we
now have. Paul's illustration shows
exactly what is meant. Our present
bodies, he says, cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. but they shall be
changed into spiritual bodies This
change he illustrates by the seed and
plant which grows from it. Our fu-
ture bodies may be no more like our
present ones than rose is like black
seed. or lily like bulb. How. then,
is it the same? Just as the plant
grows out of the seed the same kind of
plant always from the same kind of
H.l