IPHC Doctrinal Exegesis Page Six

Resurrection (Gr. [1] anastasis, from ana-again, and stasis-to stand up again; [2] egerio, to raise up) means to raise up anything, such as (a) a building, (b) a savior, (c) to awaken from sleep.

Resurrection is the "standing up again" of that which has fallen-that bringing to life that which has fallen to death. That which went down in death is raised up again to life.

The resurrection of Christ is both a proof and example of the resurrection. He had a real material human body, the same as all other human beings on earth. "He was born of a [mortal] woman," who descended from David the king, through his son Nathan, a full brother of Solomon; therefore, He was born of the "seed of David according to the flesh"; also of the "seed of Abraham," and the "seed of Adam," through whom "death passed upon all the human race." All the seed of Adam proceeded from him after he had fallen in sin, under death.

Therefore Christ lived in a mortal body subject to suffering and death. He died "under sin"- "unto sin"-an atoning death for sin in the body, and this being "finished," He "dropped out" of the mortal body on the cross. The same body that hung on the cross was laid in the tomb, and the same body that lay in the tomb was the body that came forth in the resurrection "on the third day." Thus, His resurrection is proof of our resurrection. His being raised from the dead is infallible proof of resurrection as a fact. The manner of His coming forth illustrates the way the saints shall come forth. The same body that each one left in death will be the same that shall be raised, and all will "enter their own body" as Christ did His.

Existence is eternal. Things existing can never cease to exist. Change of form and places may occur, but this is not annihilation. Eternal existence is not identical with immortality. The latter is a condition of the former, and commensurate with it. "[Christ] only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto" (1 Timothy 6:16). "[He is] the resurrection, and the [immortal] life" (John 11:25).

Believers are to seek, by well doing, "glory and honor and immortality" (which is, "eternal life," or the "life of the ages of the ages"). They are not to seek eternal existence, as that is already a fact, since we can never cease to be. But they are to "seek for glory, honor and immortality," as Christ alone "hath immortality," which is synonymous with the eternity of life in "the ages of the ages" to come.

The unconditionally lost in the ages of the ages to come will exist in a state of everlasting death, which can have no end. They shall have "shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2), but not "life and immortality," as that marks the state of the glorified saints in heaven, "unto the ages of the ages." At the great judgment to come, the wicked depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (the "lake of fire" which is the "second death"), but the righteous enter into "life eternal" or infinite immortality in the glory in which the eternal God dwells into all eternities. -Written by Bishop J. H. King (1945)