The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-11-23
THE RESURRECTION OF AND FROM
THE DEAD.

cisely the same thing. If l should
say, for instance, that all men will
rise from the dead, 1 would mean just
the same as though I should say all
men will share in the resurrection of
the dead. But this is great mistake.
These phrases are by no means syn
onymous. In the former case 1 would
mean rising out of, or from among
the dead, or from the place of, or
condition of the dead. In the latter,
a rising up or ascent of the dead
themselves.
This distinction is kept very clear
and marked in the Scriptures. We
never read of the resurrection from
the dead when the general resurrec-
ton or the resurrection of all man
kind is intended. The phrase for the
general or universal resurrection is
always the resurrection of the dead.
Apparently there are two excep-
tions. Jesus, in his conversation with
the Sadducees, is represented by
Luke as saying, "They which shall
be accounted worthy to obtain that
world and the resurrection from the
dead" Here it would seem that the
universal resurrection is intended, but
such is not the case. The doctrine
under discussion is the Pharisees
doctrine of the resurrection, that is, a
resurrection to immortality. They
held that when the Messiah should
come and the millennium begin, all
good Israelites would be raised from
the dead and live with him here on
earth a thousand years, more or less.
This gave point to the Sadducee's
question. Jesus in his reply accom-
modated his language to their
thought. They were thinking of COM
ing forth into an earthly age of mil
lenium splendor that should be en-
joyed by the Jews only.
Without correcting them on this
point, as it was not the one under
consideration, he assures them of the
spirituality of the resurrection. AS
though he said, "You Jews who think
yourselves worthy of being raised to
millennial glory here upon earth,
should understand that the true res
direction is to spiritual glory, to a
state in which they neither marry nor
are given in marriage" AS the mat
ter under discussion was not the
number to be raised but the condition
of those who were raised, he accom-
modated his language to their
thought and proceeded to settle the
matter of the condition, first reserving
until later the affirmation of the uni
versal resurrection, when he says "All
live unto him." The phrase resur-
rection from the dead here, therefore,
does not mean the universal resur-
rection, but partial resurrection,
viz, the resurrection OF the Israelitish
dead.
In Acts iv, 2, we read preached
through Jesus the resurrection from
the dead" This would seem to mean
that they preached through Jesus
the doctrine of the resurrection of
the dead, but this is not the mean
ing. The New Version translates,
proclaimed in Jesus the resurrec-
ton from the dead" That is they
preached or proclaimed in the case of
Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
In other words they preached the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Really, therefore, there are no ex-
ceptions to the statement that when
the general resurrection is meant, it
is always the resurrection of the dead
and never from the dead. And this
very properly, for in the phrase resur
rection of the dead, the dead are the
ones who are raised, but in the
phrase resurrection from the dead
the dead are the ones not raised, the
ones left behind; hence it would be
absurd to speak of the resurrection of
all mankind from the dead, since if
all were raised there would be no
dead not raised and so no dead to
take from. The resurrection of the
dead, therefore, is the phrase for the
ascent of mankind into the higher life.
But the resurrection from the dead
always means partial resurrection,
the taking out of some from among
the dead. Thus the resurrection of
Christ is always represented as being
from the dead, and eighteen times out
of twenty, the particle connected with
the verb to raise means out of or out
from among, SO that the meaning is
that Christ was raised out, of or out
from am ong, the dead. The dead is
represented as a company out of
which Christ is taken and the rest