Liberating the Creation

Redemption includes our resurrection from the dead and the deliverance of the creation from bondage to sin and corruption.  God created all things by His Spirit, including humanity. “God formed the man of the dust of the earth and breathed upon his face the breath of life.” However, Adam disobeyed God, bringing death not only upon himself but on the entire created order. “Cursed is the earth because of you!” – (Genesis 1:2, 2:7, 3:17, Psalm 33:6).

All men die, as do all other living creatures.  However, God promised to reverse the curse and redeem His creation, including our physical bodies. In the New Heavens and Earth, “the curse will be no more” – (Revelation 22:3, Zechariah 14:11).

Jesus reversed the sentence that condemned all men to death by his sacrificial death. We remain mortal, but God will raise us from the dead on the Last Day. The gift of the Spirit is our assurance of this, and the same Spirit will be the agent of the resurrection and the restoration of all things.

• “But if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you” – (Romans 8:11).

Redemption is foundational to salvation, the recovery of all things that were lost because of sin. The redemptive acts of God must culminate in our resurrection, and the arrival of the new heavens and new earth, and this will occur when Jesus arrives at the end of the age – (See 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, 2 Peter 3:10-13):

• “Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until the times of the RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS, of which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets” – (Acts 3:19-21. Compare Isaiah 40:3-5, Malachi 4:5-6, Matthew 17:11-12, Mark 9:11-13).

• “In whom (Christ) you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the acquisition, for his glorious praise” – (Ephesians 1:13-14).

[Photo by Simeon Muller (Vancouver, WA) on Unsplash]

Paul declared that there is “now no condemnation” of any man or woman who is “in Christ Jesus.” This happy condition exists because the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.” The death and resurrection of the Son of God liberated us from bondage to sin and death – (Romans 8:1-2. Compare Romans 5:15).

Everlasting life is part of our inheritance, and we will receive the complete fulfilment of the promise when God raises the righteous dead, transforms our mortal bodies, and inaugurates the New Creation in all its glory. Moreover, the Spirit of God is the key to the fulfilment of the promise:

• “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his  Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace” - (Romans 8:3-6).

The Spirit of God prefers life. Indeed, the Spirit produces life by his very nature. Where the Holy Spirit is, life flows - (Genesis 2:7, Romans 8:11):

• “It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life” – (John 6:63).

• “The letter kills, but the spirit gives life” – (2 Corinthians 3:6).

Mortality and death are the products of Adam’s disobedience and our own sins. Adam was an embodied creature before he disobeyed the commandment of God. It was not his physical body that placed him under the sentence of death, but his sin. The defect was not in what God created, but in Adam’s decision to disobey God.

Paul’s discussion about flesh and spirit contrasts our former Adamic life in sin with the new life in Christ, which frees us from sin’s tyranny, a new life that is dominated by the Holy Spirit. The contrast is between the old nature “in Adam” and the new life “in Christ.” In either case, we remain embodied beings.

Our bodies continue to age and decay. However, the solution is not to escape the “prison” of physical existence, but to transform our mortal bodies into immortal bodies. Resurrection is the answer to Paul’s cry, “Who will deliver me from this body doomed to death?” – (Romans 7:24).

In discussing flesh and spirit, Paul is not describing two “natures” that reside within us that are locked in mortal combat. He is referring to our past life “in the flesh,” and the new life “in the Spirit” provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the Spirit that empowers us to live righteous lives. We sin when we revert to the old habits of the flesh rather than live according to the Holy Spirit that dwells in us:

• “But you have not your being in flesh but in spirit, if, at least, God’s Spirit is dwelling in you. And if anyone has not Christ’s Spirit, the same is not his. But if Christ is in you, the body, indeed, is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. If, moreover, the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, he that raised Christ Jesus from the dead will quicken even your death-doomed bodies through his indwelling Spirit” - (Romans 8:9-11).

We have our new lives “in the Spirit” if God’s Spirit is living in us. But if any man does not have the Spirit, that man does not belong to Christ. It is the Spirit that equips us to walk uprightly despite our mortality. It is the Spirit that changes us daily into the image of Christ. And it is the same Spirit that will raise us from the dead on the Last Day.

Though our present bodies continue to decay and die, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and dwells in us will resurrect us on the Last Day, and this will mean also the arrival of the new heavens and the new earth.

THE REVELATION OF HIS SONS

Paul’s understanding of salvation includes the bodily resurrection of the saints. Our redemption will remain incomplete until we are raised from the dead. Salvation includes the redemption and transformation of the human body. When Christ returns, his followers will not discard their mortal bodies but exchange them for immortal bodies:

• “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality” - (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

The entire man was condemned to bondage and death, body, soul, and spirit. Therefore, if God is to recover all that was lost, His redemptive act must include the human body. Likewise, the creation will be redeemed and liberated from bondage; otherwise, redemption becomes an empty promise.

• “And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame, at the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ” – (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

• “But, according to his promise, we look for NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, in which righteousness dwells” - (2 Peter 3:13. Compare Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:1).

• “Then comes the end, when he will deliver the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will abolish all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until HE HAS PLACED ALL HIS ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET. The last enemy that will be abolished is death” – (1 Corinthians 15:24-26. Compare Psalm 110:1).

If we live after the “flesh,” we will die. “But if by the Spirit we put to death the practices of the flesh, we will attain life.” We who are “led by God’s Spirit are His sons” - (Romans 8:15-20).

The Spirit of God “bears witness with our spirit that we are His children.” We are “heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.” Moreover, the creation itself has been subjected “to vanity” because of the disobedience of Adam. Accordingly, all creation suffers until the present hour.

However, the universe is “ardently awaiting the revelation of the sons of God.” Then the “creation itself will be freed from the bondage of decay into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God.” That day will mean nothing less than a new creation - (Romans 8:21-23).

Thus, the redemption of the creation is dependent on the resurrection of the “sons of God.” The promises of bodily resurrection and New Creation are inextricably linked. We receive the gift of the Spirit of God, which is the “earnest of our inheritance.” If we continue to live accordingly, we will receive salvation and everlasting life when Jesus arrives and raises us from the dead.

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[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (see the links here and here). Text printed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

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SEE ALSO:

• Spirit and Resurrection - (The covenant with Abraham is fulfilled in Jesus, including the possession of the Earth, the gift of the Spirit, and our Resurrection – Romans 8:1-30)

• The Spirit is Life - (The Spirit of God imparts life, especially the everlasting life of which the Gift of the Spirit is the First Fruits, foretaste, and guarantee)

• The Children of the Promise - (Through Jesus, we become heirs of Abraham and the promises, and the gift of the Spirit is the guarantee of our participation in the inheritance)

• Libérer la Création - (La rédemption comprend notre résurrection d'entre les morts et la délivrance de la création de l'esclavage du péché et de la corruption)