"Man being in honor abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their -beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for He shall receive me" (Psa. 49:12-1512Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. 13This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. 14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. 15But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah. (Psalm 49:12‑15)). Such is the doom of the wicked: they go down to the grave: their memorial perishes with them. And hereafter, when the bright and beautiful morn of the kingdom shall break, they shall be ashes under the souls of the feet of the righteous (see Mal. 4:33And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 4:3)). In the words of the above-cited psalm, " The upright shall have dominion over them " then. The rest of the dead (that is, the wicked distinguished from those who will have part in the first resurrection) we read, "shall not live again until the thousand years shall be finished "; while others are reigning in life, they, and many of them kings of the earth in their day, will lie forgotten and uncrowned in the dust. While the righteous are feeding on the hidden manna above, death, the mighty destroyer, will be feeding on them. They shall be raised, it is true, but raised only for judgment-to be cast, after the millennium has ended, into the lake of fire forever. How different this from our hope! "God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me," says the believer, in the above-cited passage, as he contrasts his own happy lot with the fearful condition of those who live and die without hope. "O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? "Such is his song, even now, in the midst of this death-stricken world.
Thus then, in accordance with this, standing, as it were, encircled by a vast cemetery, where the unregenerate dead of past ages lie moldering beneath-the very soil under his feet being almost composed, we might say, of their ashes-the saint (an exception himself to the general order of men), by a simple act on his part, declares himself to be a child of resurrection, to have passed from death unto life; expresses his union with, and, at the same time, his hope in Him who is " the resurrection and the life." This act is that of passing through the waters of baptism. Others around him are dead, yea "twice dead," as the Apostle declares, dead both as to body and soul; and the day, as we have said, is at hand, when he shall have dominion over these lost ones. Hence, now, even now, in the anticipation of full triumph at last (while he mourns their fate, it is true, not willing, in one sense, to share such a victory), he stands over their graves as a conqueror knowing that though death is their portion, and that they shall never see light, he himself has passed from the kingdom of darkness into the very regions of life, of light, and of glory. And there, as I have said, he is baptized-baptized in His name who has given him the victory. This seems to me to be a solution of that difficult passage, " Else what shall they do which are baptized over the dead (ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν), if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized over the dead " (1 Cor. 15:2929Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? (1 Corinthians 15:29)). As an illustration of this, we may say of the elect in the days of Noah, that as the ark wherein they were sheltered floated in safety over the nations of those that were lost, that they were baptized over the dead. We have, I believe, sufficient warrant for this, inasmuch as the baptism of the Spirit is the anti-type (ἀντίτυπος) of both; namely, of the ordinance as we have it, and also according to 1 Peter 3:20, 2120Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: (1 Peter 3:20‑21)* of God's deliverance of Noah. Again, the children of Israel, we read, were "all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." And, as they lifted up their voices in triumph over their Egyptian pursuers, now lying conquered and dead on the shore, is it too much to say, in like manner, that the baptism through which they thus passed, was a baptism over the dead?
(* In the passage here referred to, instead of the " like figure whereunto," etc., it should be as follows: " The anti-type (ἀντίτυπον) whereunto (referring to the salvation of Noah and his house in the ark) even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Here observe, Noah's deliverance by water is the type, the baptism of the spirit the anti-type. With us, water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Ghost are, one of them the type, and the other the anti-type.)
Without saying that I feel assured that this is the true view of this passage, I beg to offer these thoughts, just by way of suggestion, to Christians, merely observing that this commends itself to my mind as a very probable interpretation of the Apostle's words-βαπτιζόμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν, "Baptized over the dead" (1 Cor. 15:2929Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? (1 Corinthians 15:29)). In our translation, it is rendered "for," not "over, the dead." But the primary meaning of the preposition ὑπερ, the first indeed which presents itself in the Greek lexicon, and that moreover governing the genitive case, which, it does in this passage, is "over," or "above."
The common interpretation which refers it to such as were baptized for, or instead of, those who, for Christ's sake, had suffered martyrdom, filling up the place in the ranks of those who had fallen, has, I suspect, never much satisfied even those who have held it, having, I venture to say (and this is a point which should never be lost sight of in the interpretation of Scripture), no moral connection with anything else which we find in the Word; whereas the above interpretation appears to my mind to be fully in harmony with the glorious prospect of those who hope to meet the Lord in the air at His corning, to attain unto " the resurrection from amongst the dead" (εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν) (Phil. 3:1111If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:11)), and now, even now, are alive in the midst of a world where death has reigned from the outset.
Then there is another point. Knowing that they surely shall rise, the saints, in this 15th of Corinthians, are represented not only as passing through the waters of baptism, but also as willing, if needs be, to pass for Christ's sake through the fires of persecution, to die in His cause. "Why stand we," says the Apostle, "in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink: for to-morrow we die" (1 Cor. 15:30, 3230And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? (1 Corinthians 15:30)
32If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. (1 Corinthians 15:32)). Here we have a further, a second testimony, in the persons and acts of the saints, to the truth of the doctrine of resurrection. This, I believe, is needful to notice, because we may easily confound the act of being baptized over the dead, in verse 29, with that of suffering for Christ's sake spoken of in the above-cited verses; whereas, I believe, though closely connected, of course, they are distinct things altogether-the one being the first act of the saint in his course (at least, so it should he), the other the continuous suffering, the hourly jeopardy, the dying daily, the refusal to eat and to drink like the world, which, of necessity, follows the confession of the name of the crucified Jesus.
And here, in addition to the first part of this subject-namely, what I have suggested with regard to verse 29-let me observe that this victory of the saints over death is in harmony with that which Christ Himself in the end will achieve. He triumphed, we know, when He Himself rose from the grave: He will triumph again when His Church shall be raised: but not till " the last enemy," Death, is banished forever beyond the precincts of the new heavens and new earth, will His conquest be perfect. It was defilement in Israel to touch a dead body, a bone, or a grave (Num. 19); and hence, during the millennium, this earth, however pleasant and fair it may be, will not be perfectly pure. No; because Death, the sad witness of sin, will be there: they who shall have no part in the first resurrection, the nations of those who are lost, will continue still to pollute it. But, in the end, this death defiled world will be wholly dissolved-not annihilated, I say, but dissolved-yes, and in the very act of dissolving (so at least to me it appears), unable to hide them from the all-searching eye of their Judge, it will give up its dead to be finally punished, to be cast into the lake of fire forever. After which, out of identically the same materials, those atoms of which it was formed at first, now thoroughly purged from the least trace of mortality, even to a dead leaf or an insect, the new everlasting earth will be formed. This I believe to be an explanation of the following passage: "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead -which were in it; and Death and Hades (ἄδης) delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works: and Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away: and there was no more sea " (Rev. 20:11,11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11) etc.) With regard to this passage, if it were otherwise than what I have stated above-if this earth is to be annihilated, instead of being dissolved, and then made anew, as I have said, the power of Christ in redemption would, in this instance, be foiled. But no, it will not; I believe it cannot be so. This earth, just as much as our bodies, is redeemed by His blood; and hence, though dissolved, like the body, when sown in corruption, like the body again, when raised in His likeness, it will know in the end the full power of His resurrection. Hence the new earth, and, let me add, the new heavens, in like manner, will be the very same heavens and earth which we see around us at present, purged by the fires of the last day from every trace of corruption and death.
And here, in conclusion, I would offer what to me seems an explanation of the two above passages. First, " Death and Hades (ἄδης) delivered up the dead which were in them " (Rev. 20:1313And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (Revelation 20:13)): secondly, " Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire " (Rev. 20:1414And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Revelation 20:14)). Hades, we know, is the place of the soul in its unclothed and separate state-the grave that of the body while under the power of death. This passage then applies, as I take it, to their re-union and final destruction-I mean of the bodies and souls of the wicked. The body (Death's prisoner) being called forth from the grave (death here by a figure being put for the grave), the soul, on the other hand, being summoned from Hades, to be united forever, and forever tormented.
Such is the doom of this world. Filled, as it is, with itself, its wisdom, its glory, its many inventions, such is its terrible end. Such, however, is not the lot of the righteous. We, even we (blessed thought I) are the children of God, joint-heirs also with Him who is Heir of all things both in heaven and in earth, and, as such, conquerors, like Him, over Death and the Grave. Well, then, may we, as we turn from the thought of the judgment which is to finish the drama of this world's history, and look up to heaven, our birth-place, our home, where we are to dwell forever with Him-well, then, I say, with such a hope in our souls, may we echo the sweet words of the poet, and sing-
His be the victor's name
Who fought the fight alone;
Triumphant saints no honor claim,
Their conquest was His own.
He, hell, in hell, laid low:
Made sin, He sin o'erthrew:
Bow'd to the grave, and killed it so-
And death, by dying, slew.
Bless, bless the Conqueror slain,
Slain by divine decree;
Who lived, who died, who lives again,
For thee, His saint, for thee.
E.D.