The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

X. Presbyterian Bible Lesson Presents “Immortality Through Christ”

Dr. MURRAY NEWMAN, ⁷² of the faculty of the Protestant Episcopal Seminary of Alexandria, Virginia, impressively presents the true nature and source of our immortality and the time of its reception. This he does in Lesson 14 (“The Life of the World to Come”), in the Westminster Uniform Lessons, for September 30, 1956. It was thus prepared for widespread Bible-class study and appeared in Crossroads, denominational organ of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. CFF2 906.1

1. RESURRECTION IS GUARANTEE OF LIFE TO COME

Discussing the “triumph of life over death,” Newman comes to the section, “The Foundation of Eternal Life,” and its “essential nature.” ⁷³ He first lays down this premise for the lesson: CFF2 906.2

“The foundation of the life to come is God’s act in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” CFF2 906.3

“Because Christ died and rose again, the Christian believer who dies will also be raised again.” ⁷⁴ CFF2 906.4

“The foundation of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This validates everything that went before-his life, his ministry, his death. How is it, therefore, that any Christian can deny the resurrection of the dead? (V, 12.) Those who through faith are united with Christ can never be separated from him; they will certainly be raised in a resurrection like his... The resurrection of Christ is God’s guarantee of life in the world to come for the faithful.” ⁷⁵ CFF2 906.5

2. IMMORTALITY IS FROM GOD, NOT MAN

Coming to the crucial section, “Resurrection vs. Immortality,” Dr. Newman sets forth the mutually destructive conflict between Greek innatism and the Biblical truth of life through resurrection. He says: CFF2 906.6

“It is of real significance that the Christian view of the future life is that of resurrection rather than of [inherent] immortality. The Apostles’ Creed reads: ‘I believe... in the resurrection of the body.’ In so doing, it keeps faith with the Biblical tradition. The idea of (innate] immortality comes from Greek philosophy and has its rootage in the assumption that the world is comprised of a good spiritual realm and an evil material realm. Man, according to this interpretation, is essentially a good soul imprisoned in an evil body. Man’s highest end in life, therefore, is to escape the evil body. The Christian faith would have none of this. The New Testament Christians, following in the Old Testament tradition, viewed the entirety of the world-spirit and matter-as created by God and therefore good. The most profound expression of this faith is the Creation story in Genesis 1.” ⁷⁶ CFF2 907.1

3. REDEMPTION OF THE WHOLE MAN

Contrasting next the Greek depreciation of the body, Newman presents the New Testament position and the relation of sin and redemption thereto:
“Man as created by God is good-body and soul. True, the Biblical tradition knows the corruption that sin has brought to man, but this cannot be simply identified with the fact that he has a body. Sin has corrupted the total man, body and soul, and the total man stands in need of redemption. With Christ this redemption has come, and through Christ the whole person will experience a transformation in the future life. This transformation the New Testament calls resurrection.” ⁷⁷ CFF2 907.2

4. LIFE BECAUSE OF GOD, NOT OF MAN

The fundamental fallacy of the Greek concept of innate, indefeasible immortality is then depicted, and God is presented as the sole source of life and immortality:
“For the Greeks the soul of a man was regarded as an eternal substance, and consequently it contained within itself the power for continued life after the dissolution of the body. For Christians such an idea was unthinkable. Only God is eternal by nature, and man is his creature, completely dependent upon his power. God alone has the power to grant life in this world and in the world to come. If there is eternal life, it will be because of what God is and not because of what man is.” ⁷⁸ CFF2 907.3

Such was the clear scriptural teaching of the Presbyterian Sunday school lesson for September 30, 1956, in Crossroads, written by Dr. Newman. CFF2 907.4