"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall be made alive." I Cor. 15:22, KJV.
Once, after I had spoken on this passage, a man in
the audience was asked what he thought of the text. His reply was,
"It is a great mystery."
As a matter of fact, there is no mystery in it at
all. The language is as easy to understand as the statement,
"Columbus discovered America."
This teaching is found in the epistle in which Paul
said he taught nothing that can be classed as "meat." He
said he was feeding the Corinthian saints on "milk." In
other words, what is found in this letter is as easy for "babes in
Christ" to receive, as it is easy for babies to take
milk.
The man mentioned above is undoubtedly a saint, and
if he is, he is far from mature. If he is a babe, why did he not
accept the truth when he heard it? He had heard it many times
before. Well, while babies can take milk, they cannot take it if
they are already full of something else. This is what is the
matter with many babes in Christ. They have been fed on trash,
until they have no room for truth.
"Meat" is the revelation of the secrets
found in Ephesians and Colossians. Only mature saints can receive
those truths. Some were mature at the time Paul wrote his first letter
to the Corinthians. To them he spoke secrets, which he
characterizes as "wisdom," I Cor. 2:6-8. But he did not
include this "meat" in his writings at that time. He did
not come to the saints in Corinth with "superiority of words of
wisdom," 2:1. Instead, because of their carnality, he decided
to know nothing among them, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
2:2. This was when he was speaking to them. Now, that he was
writing to them, he followed the same rule, for they were yet not able
to take meat, 3:1-3. Let it be said that "mysteries," in
the King James Version, are really secrets—something that had not
been revealed before. In this epistle he revealed one secret—that
we shall not all sleep, 15:51, 52. But this is also milk. It
is easy to understand that the Lord will come when some saints are yet
living. He reveled nothing in this letter, that is intended
specially for maturity.
The fact that Christ died for our sins according to
the scripture, that He was buried, and that H was roused according to
the scripture, 15:3, 4, is precious to every saint. Practically
all creeds include this. No preacher tries to keep babes in Christ
from believing it. Well, the teaching that all shall be made alive
in Christ, is just as precious to them, when they are allowed to believe
it.
But I am in position to know that preachers are very
much determined that the people shall not believe this truth. I
was a "preacher" for a number of years. And I tried as
hard to conceal this truth from the people, as I tried to teach them that
their salvation depended on the death, burial and resurrection of
Christ.
Brother Marion Powell of blessed memory told me once
that on an occasion when his father was reading I Cor. 15:22, he
remarked, "Marion, it looks to me like all mankind will be
saved." This man was drinking milk, but if he had said much
about it he would have been excluded from the church.
I suspect preachers would be astonished to find how
many of their own "members" believe this precious truth.
I am satisfied that seventy-five ort of every hundred saints in Glennville
believe it.
If they believe the truth why do they not obey it? It seem quite evident that the "church" ha bewitched
them.. Some power had bewitched the Galatian saints n regard to another
matter. Why may not this be done in this connection? I know
some saints who love the truth of the salvation of all mankind, and yet
who say they will never break with the church, no matter what is taught
in it. Some kind of spell holds them in its clutches, so that they
feel that, as devoid of truth as it is the "church" is God's
mediator between man and Himself. These very saints of whom I
speak, abhor certain things that are done by the "deacon," who
is the boss of the church, and yet say, openly, that they dare not defy
him—he is a deacon in God's church!
The Galatian saints were corrupted by the Jerusalem
influence—Jerusalem that was in bondage with her children. Not
only is it a fact that Jerusalem dominated those saints, but it also
dominates today. The Circumcision teaching is far more important
in the church than is the doctrine taught by Paul. Among other
things, Jerusalem stands for selfishness—the proverbial "me and
my wife and my son, John and his wife, us four and no more."
Those under its influence cannot bear to think of al mankind being
blessed. That this is the attitude of the church, goes without
saying. Try it, and see! Teach that all mankind will
ultimately be saved, and see if the church does not "dump you
out."
This is the system that has bewitched the
saints. Many are told they must not give a thought to the doctrine
of the salvation of all mankind. The man whom I mentioned in the
beginning of this editorial had been told by his pastor that he must not
believe it. And, as I have said, thousands who do believe it dare
not say so for they feel that they must not antagonize organized
religion.
As a proof that this is milk and not meat, it is
notable that this doctrine is taught in the pre-prison epistles—I
and II Corinthians, Romans and I Timothy. Notice these passages,
which I quote as they are in the King James Version: "Therefore, as
by the offense of one judgment came upon all men unto condemnation, even
so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life," Rom. 5:18; "He died for all," II
Cor. 5:15; "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, Who gave Him self a ransom
for all," I Tim. 2:3-6.
The Concordant Version is far better than the King
James. But I am showing that even the version which practically
everybody has, teaches that all mankind are to be justified, saved, and
made alive in Christ, on the ground that Christ died for all. No
new version is needed to reach this precious doctrine. Those who
object to us using the Concordant Version, do not believe the version
which they claim is absolutely correct.
When I first began to teach it hundreds of babes in
Christ received it. All of them still believe it, but many have
been forced to hide their faith and go along with a system that denies
it.
When saints become mature they still love the truth
that is called milk, even as grown people sometimes eat literal
milk. Immaturity is characterized by a willingness to follow men
instead of Christ. They adopt names by which to be known, not
willing to let God name them. He calls them SAINTS. They
call them selves Methodists, or Baptists, or Presbyterians, or some
other name. Maturity is seen in the anxiety of saints to learn all
that God has in store for us, irrespective of what certain denominations
or preachers teach. Creeds and denominations and organizations
mean nothing to them. TRUTH is what they are after. They can
receive and digest and grow on the "meat." This is found
in Paul's perfection epistles. But they still love the truth that
Christ died for sins; that He was buried; that He was roused; that He
died for all; that all are to be justified; that vivification, or life
beyond the reach of death, is to be the portion of all; that God will
have all mankind to be saved. They want these truths, along with
the teaching that is for maturity. In other words, they want milk
with their meat.
But we sometimes find saints who believe the
salvation of all mankind, who do not wish to spend any time in the
deeper truths that are characterized as meat. They are
immature. They are fully satisfied with milk, as is a
baby.
However, it is not my intention to discuss this at
present. I am undertaking to show that the doctrine of the
salvation, justification and vivification of al mankind is not a
mysterious one. Any spiritual mind can grasp it, unless that mind
has been filled with trash.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ overwhelms with
faith and love, I Tim. 1:14. The person who ha just "come
unto Christ," in his experience, is filled with love for all
mankind. There is no one for whom he wishes any ill. He is in
a frame of mind to love the thought that all mankind shall come into the
same experience. His mind is fertile soil in which to sow the seed
of this truth. Or, to state it in a different metaphor, his heart
naturally loves the thought of the salvation of al mankind, as much as
it is natural for a baby to enjoy milk. But, alas! In case
of many, their first diet is trash instead of milk, and they are
rendered unable to accept the truth.
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