The Tupelo journal., 1903-04-10
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesion in the International Series
for April ~, 10O3-The
Resurrection.
THE LESSON TEXT.

Re~SurrectiOn.
THE LESSON TEXT.
Il Corinthians 1920, q, 50-5S.)
20. But now is Christ risen from the dead.
and become the first-fruits OF them that
slept.
Il. For since by man came death. by
man came also the resurrection Of the
dead.
30. Now this I say. brethren. that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom
Of God; neither doth corruption inherit
interruption.
81. Behold, ! shew you a mystery; we
snail not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed,
81. In q moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet
snail sound, and the dead shall be raised
i~ncorruptible, and we shall be changed.
63. For this c~orruptible must put on in
corruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.
81. So when this corruptible shall have
put on interruption, and this mortal shall
have put on Immortality, h shall be
brought to pass the saying that Is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
6S. o death, where is thy sting? grave,
where is thy victory?
Sc. The sting of death is sin, and the
strength of sin Is the law.
81. But thanks be to God, which giveth
US the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
IS. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be We
steadfast, u~nmovable, always Astounding
In the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye
know that your labor is not in vain in the
Lord.
GOLDEN TEXT.-Now is Christ risen
from h dead, and c the first
fruits that slept Cor. 1920.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
The Resurrection of Jesus....1 Cor. 15:1-11.
Paul Argument for Immor-
tally Cor. IS 1924.
What Immortality Means....1 Cor. 15:S5-5S.
The Resurrection of Jesus.-The
Christian world has come to have an
abiding faith in the immortality of
the soul, of life beyond the grave. The
reasons for this faith have never been
better summed up than by Paul in the
fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
Read the whole chapter and you will
have the whole truth regarding it. The
first step in Paul's argument is the his
toric fact of the resurrection of Jesus.
Christ had lived His short life here on
earth, died, as Paul says, for u sins,
was buried and rose again the third
day. At the time Paul was writing
there were nearly, if not quite, 500 wit
nesses of the truth that Christ did rise
from the dead, 500 who saw Him alive
after He had been in the tomb three
days. On this evidence, says Paul, We
preach, and ye believe.
Paul's Argument for Immortality
Paul goes on with his argument that
if Christ arose from the dead, then
those that said there was no resurrec-
ton could not have spoken truly, be-
cause admittedly one, even Christ, had
risen. If Christ did not rise, then are
Paul and the other apostles preaching
what is not true, and those who be-
lieved according to this preaching be-
lieved what was not true. 1t could
hardly be that these men would so
preach because most of the 500 eye
witnesses were still alive to testify to
either the truth or falsity of the
preaching. If, on the other hand,
Christ did rise, then is the argument
of those who deny the resurrection
overthrown.and all those who live
right lives pay hope for eternal life
with Chrisl Man was made, argues
Paul, to be2fnmortal, but through sin
the first man fell and forfeited eternal
life. Happily through another, the di-
vine man C@ist Jesus, is Immortality
restored. Paul believed in life eternal.
If he did not, let somebody answer his
question: "Why stand we in jeopardy
every day?" He certainly was not risk
ing his life preaching an unpopular
doctrine which he knew to be untrue.
"Be not deceived" says Paul, for "evil
communications corrupt good man.
ners," that is, the oft repeating of a
known falsehood must sooner or later
show in the life, and recognizing this
truth he exhorts his readers to awake
to righteousness, and sin not" If they
believe themselves to have the truth,
it behooves them to live according to
their faith, to show in their actions the
knowledge of God they profess.
What Immortality Means.-Paul
likens the immortal life to a seed. For
the seed to live a plant, it must needs
first die as a seed. Likewise to fully
attain unto the spiritual, our natural
bodies must first be cast aside. Finally
Paul declares that this being the case
we would look for the change with
gladness but for sin, which is the sting
of death. Victory over sin which
Christ can give means victory over
death. therefore be We steadfast, I'M
movable, always Astounding in the
work of the Lord"
Criticism of Life.
1t is true, both in a positive and