DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE BODY AND THE BRIDE OF CHRIST (I have been struggling with this view now for some time and am more and more convinced by the Holy Spirit that it is a view which the Christian Church must give careful and critical attention to,) Paul the apostle, in this passage found in Philippians 3:11; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. makes a statement that is to me rather puzzling. It is especially puzzling when looked at against the backdrop of salvation by grace through faith and not of works and the preservation of the saints, both of which he teaches. He says, in this statement, that he is seeking; that he is putting forth some strong effort to make it to this resurrection of the dead. He then says that he has not yet done so. Clearly then, the implications are that making it to this resurrection requires some effort upon his part and that without this effort on his part, he could possibly not make it to this resurrection. This to me flies in the face of the truth that our being a part of the resurrection is already a given; an already established fact; (John 3:16; John 11:25-26). It further flies in the face of the truth that this resurrection is ours by grace without us having to do anything to make it happen and will therefore always be ours never to be lost. Now this statement is made even the more puzzling when one considers that the term which Paul uses for resurrection in this passage is not the usual Greek word anastasis but the Greek word exanastasis. Now what is puzzling about the use of this word is not only its meaning but the fact that this is the only place in all of Scripture where it is used! The word exanastasis used by Paul in this instance speaks of another resurrection in addition to the anastasis or the regular or normal resurrection which all Christians will enjoy and which does not require any work or effort on our part to enjoy. By the use of the prefix ex, this other resurrection becomes then a resurrection UP AND OUT OF the resurrection and it is this one that Paul says that he is striving to enjoy or experience. Paul is saying then that he is trying to know and to experience all that he possibly can from the first resurrection [anastasis] of Christ in order that he might be made conformable to him and by that he means transformed more and more into his image. What Paul is striving to do, beloved is to grow to mature in Christ; to be more like him. And the reason that he says he is striving to do all of this is so that he might not miss or fall short of attaining unto the exnastasis or the other resurrection. Paul is positioning himself beloved, for another resurrection; one which he clearly infers is not automatically his or is guaranteed to every believer. What then is this other exanastasis or resurrection which Paul is striving to attain? To help me to answer this question with some clarity, let me first state what the first resurrection is. The first resurrection is that one which every born again believer will experience during that event which has come to be known as the Rapture of the Church. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) This is when Christ, who is the HEAD of the Church which is called also his body (Colossians 1:18), will return for his body which all believers are in and are members of. (1 Corinthians 12:27). The first resurrection then [anastasis], is Christ coming for HIS BODY and all of us will be a part of that Resurrection without any of us having to do anything whatsoever to attain unto it. I believe though that the second resurrection [exanastasis]; the one which Paul the apostle is striving to attain unto and by implication, is not sure that he will make or at the very least, is allowing for the possibility that he can miss it, is a resurrection [exanastasis] OUT OF the first resurrection [anastasis]. Since the first resurrection is that of the BODY OF CHRIST, I believe that the second resurrection and the one which Paul is pushing for and which we also ought to be striving to be a part of is the resurrection [exanastasis] of only those matured, sold-out, sanctified believers OUT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST who will make up THE BRIDE OF CHRIST! Yes, contrary to popular opinion, I believe that only a select number of believers taken out of the body, rather than the whole body, will make up the bride of Christ. All others, I further believe, will be the attendants. No, I am not going to be dogmatic about this as I am still searching out this view point. I do though have far more internal evidence supporting it than I am presently able to share. Now, in my search for consenting opinions I ran across a few who touched on this view but only one who made it the focus of an entire book. His name is Eddie Chumney and he is the founder of Hebraic Heritage Ministries Intl. This is a ministry devoted to teaching the Hebraic/Jewish Roots of Christianity to believers in the Body of Christ. His book, entitled Who Is The Bride of Christ?, makes an excellent case for this viewpoint! Beloved, consider this. If the Rapture were to take place this minute, there is absolutely no one who can say that ALL BELIEVERS who will be RAPTURED or taken up in the body are spotless and without wrinkle; matured and sanctified. Some will be but certainly not all. Yet Scripture affirms that Jesus will indeed marry a mature, spotless bride. Since then there is absolutely nothing that I know of that will occur after the rapture in heaven that will cause Christians to be made mature, spotless and without wrinkle, they must be already be in that condition when Christ comes for his bride. All of the maturing, all of the cleansing, all of the spot removing therefore and which incidentally would make one bride-worthy is taking place right here on Earth and it is taking place through the agency of the Word of God. (John 13:8; Ephesians 4:11:14; 5;26) The Bride of Christ then will not be all ten of the virgins but only those who were wise; who live in anticipation of their coming groom; who loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8) Now, although typology study which is the study of Old Testament events.,persons or things which serves as pictures of New Testament events, persons or things are not from where we ought to get our doctrine, they do help to shed some light on developing truth. Adam who is a type of Christ got his bride Eve who is a picture of the Bride of Christ OUT OF HIS BODY. Christ too will get his bride OUT OF HIS BODY [exanastasis]. Finally beloved, Paul concludes his dissertation on his push toward the prize of making it as a part of the Bridal party with what appears to be a corroborating word: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of THE HIGH [UPWARD] CALLING of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12) Be blessed! (I pray beloved that at the very least, this study will cause you to be as the Bereans - search out the Scriptures for yourselves - Acts 17;11!)
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 19:16:14 +0000
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