The Philadelphia Church

The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is let the dead bury the dead.

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The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.

The person conducting the service should now read or assign to be read 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Commentary: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; cannot enter heaven; cannot live forever. The new creature that is born of Spirit is not flesh and blood, but dwells in a tent of flesh and blood. This new creature that is Spirit is invisible as the Holy Spirit [pneuma hagion] is invisible. In Acts chapter two, it isn’t the Holy Spirit that is seen as tongues of fires, but the fire that separates the dimensions: Jesus baptizes with Spirit and with fire (Matt 3:11), two baptisms, not one. In all, the world will be baptized in three baptisms: (1) with water in the days of Noah; (2) with Spirit when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ (cf. Rev 11:15-18; Dan 7:9-14; Joel 2:28-32); and (3) with fire when the new heaven and new earth come (Rev 20:14-21:4). What occurred on that day of Pentecost following Calvary was the typological representation of Jesus baptizing Israel with Spirit, which was heard as the sound of a mighty rushing wind that filled the entire house (Acts 2:2), and of Jesus baptizing with fire which was typologically represented by divided tongues of fire appearing to those assembled on that day of Pentecost and resting on those who were assembled together (v. 3). Although it is easy to say that the Holy Spirit appears as tongues of fire, it is also inaccurate, the result of sloppy thinking and lazy reasoning; for pneuma hagion [Breath Holy] is not like fire but like deep human breath or wind. It is like moving air, which is seen by those things that it carries whether water vapor or earthly debris; which is invisible to the eye and only discerned by the work that it does. So while fire will generate its own winds, fire is not wind or moving air, but the destructive combustion of that which has mass. Fire destroys that which is physical. Hence baptism by fire will destroy flesh and blood.

If the perishable flesh has not put on immortality, Jesus’ baptism by fire, typologically represented by the divided tongues of flame resting upon the disciples, will utterly consume the person. Jesus must give life to the person who has been born of Spirit, with this life given in the form of the mortal flesh putting on immortality. As the baptism of the world by water [the Flood] caused all that had physical breath to perish, with only Noah and those with him protected by the Ark of wood spared, the baptism of the world by fire will cause all who have spiritual breath [i.e., who have been born of Spirit] to perish, with only those within the ark of the covenant spared. In this analogy, Jesus and the seven angels to the seven churches are represented by Noah and the seven human beings with him. The seven pairs of clean animals represent the seven named Sabbatarian churches, and the single pair of every other species represents those disciples who come from spiritual Esau as Caleb came from physical Esau to become an Israelite.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God because flesh and blood cannot survive baptism by fire. Only when the born of Spirit new creature that is a son of God has his tent of mortal flesh changed by Jesus into a tent of immortal spirit will this new creature walk through that baptism of fire as Israel passed over the Jordan River (Isa 43:2) … as natural Israel had to twice pass through the water dry-shod in a manner analogous to how Noah floated on the water and how Jesus walked on the water, disciples must be given life by the Father [this is what it means to be born of spirit] and given life by the Son (John 5:21) when the Son reveals the judgments of those who are of the household of God (cf. 1 Co 4:5; 1 Pet 4:17; John 5:22-23). If the Son denies knowing a disciple when the disciple’s judgment is revealed, this person will perish in fire (cf. Matt 7:21-23; 13:41-43).

The body of flesh and blood is merely a type of the spiritual body that the disciple will receive when this disciple puts on immortality.

An assembly of new creatures born of Spirit is an invisible assembly, discerned only through the presence of their tents of flesh being gathered together in one place … unfortunately, born of Spirit sons of God cannot be seen except as they animate the flesh, the earthly tents in which they temporarily dwell alongside many other tents presently occupied by sons of disobedience, bondservants to sin and Satan.

Herein lays the problem that the Apostle Paul was unable to overcome: how does one know if he or she [i.e., the tent of flesh] has truly been born of Spirit? When many tents of flesh are gathered together, some occupied by born of Spirit sons of God, some by pious sons of disobedience, human eyes are unable to see the difference, for human eyes cannot see what is invisible. All that human eyes can see is the actions of the tents of flesh. Motivation for these actions is not readily apparent. Hence, many of whom Paul boasted really had their minds set on earthly things (Phil 3:18-19), disclosing that they were never truly born of Spirit even though for a season they assembled together with the Apostle, who gives only one determiner for being born of Spirit: the person who has truly been twice born will keep God’s law whereas the person who has not been born of Spirit, regardless of what the person claims, will not submit to God’s law and indeed, cannot submit (Rom 8:7-8), but has his or her mind set on earthly things and must break one or more of the commandments, with the pious son of disobedience who professes Christ almost always breaking the Sabbath commandment. Therefore, assemblies of pious sons of disobedience gather together in Jesus’ name on the 8^th day, while impious sons of disobedience mow lawns or get in a few rounds of golf or conduct business as usual on the 8^th day as they did on the Sabbath. But pious sons of disobedience also enter into fellowship with born of Spirit sons of God, and will put themselves first as did Diotrephes (3 John 9-10), and will even put genuine disciples out of these fellowships.

Without truly being born of Spirit, pious sons of disobedience cannot conceive what it means to receive everlasting life as the gift of God (Rom 6:23) so they inevitably accept the lie of Satan that they shall not surely die (Gen 3:4) for they have been humanly born with an immortal soul.

Yet within assemblies of pious sons of disobedience are some who make a journey of faith of sufficient distance to cleanse hearts so that they will receive the Holy Spirit and circumcision of the heart. The Apostle Paul expected everyone to make this journey of faith, but most of those who assembled with him would not journey far enough to cleanse their hearts. They remained sons of disobedience in the midst of entire assemblies of such sons so that while Paul still lived, all in Asia had left him (2 Tim 1:15); the saints at Corinth had doubts about whether Paul was of God; and Jewish converts sought to kill Paul.

Paul had an undistinguished track record when it came to identifying who was actually born of Spirit. And no human being since has had any better record.

The problem Paul experienced was how to convey the concept that to the Father the flesh is of little importance. A person’s biological heritage means no more than identification of one gem-grade mineral from another. And Paul couldn’t get this concept across to either Jewish or Greek converts. He couldn’t express “his gospel” in words and phrases that were comprehendible by former sons of disobedience who, though born of Spirit, received the Holy Spirit not after demonstrated obedience but while still mired in lawlessness.

Endtime Christendom has an equally difficult time comprehending that in the 1^st-Century (and until the Body died), the Holy Spirit came by election only: considerable maturity is required of disciples to understand that the spiritual Body of Christ in the mid 1^st-Century was drawn and called by God differently from how saints are now drawn and called, or how saints were chosen prior to the 1^st-Century CE. Following that day of Pentecost described in Acts chapter 2, natural Israelites drawn by God (John 6:44) and chosen by Christ (John 15:16) received the Holy Spirit and spiritual birth prior to demonstrated repentance; whereas before this day of Pentecost, an Israelite would receive a circumcised heart only through compliance with the Moab covenant (Deut 29:1; 30:6), the spiritual second covenant, which required demonstrated obedience by faith (Deut 30:1-2) before receiving the promise of everlasting life.

As natural Israel, post Pentecost, received the Holy Spirit prior to demonstrated obedience, drawn and chosen Greeks following the baptism of Cornelius (Acts chap 10) received the Holy Spirit prior to demonstrating obedience, thereby disclosing that the barrier between the Circumcised and the Uncircumcised had been abolished at Calvary. This receiving of the Holy Spirit prior to obedience by faith formed the division of the waters seen on the second day of the Genesis chapter one creation account—and God does not declare the events of the second day good, for the Body of Christ, crucified with Christ, died as Christ died from loss of divine Breath and failure to cover its sins with the blood of Christ.

What truly must be understood by endtime Israel is that the day of Pentecost that followed Calvary forms the shadow and copy of endtime Israel being “filled” or empowered by the Holy Spirit when liberated from indwelling sin and death at the second Passover, with this liberation beginning the seven years of tribulation that precede the Second Advent; thus, the history of the Church that is recorded in the book of Acts forms the shadow and type of the Church following the second Passover. Today, spiritually circumcised Israel is as physically circumcised Israel was in Egypt on the night of the first Passover—and as Sadducees and Pharisees were prior to that day of Pentecost. Today, the means by which a spiritual Israelite receives a circumcised heart is through the terms of the Moab covenant, meaning that obedience by faith precedes receiving a circumcised heart. The Church is as Jesus’ first disciples were during the ten days immediately preceding that day of Pentecost.

Jesus is the light of day one (cf. 2 Co 4:6; John 12:35-36), a spiritual day that begins with darkness of night coming from the world having twisted or turned away from God when Adam ate forbidden fruit. Theos entering His creation as His only Son (John 3:16; John 1:1-3, 14) brings light to the darkness of unrighteousness and ungodliness that engulfed the earth. Calvary ends day one and leaves the waters of lawless humankind covering the earth. Moses parts these waters so that a person will walk on dry ground—death reigned from Adam to Moses (Rom 5:14), not from Adam to Christ. Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds dry-shod, and forty years later, crossed the Jordan dry-shod. As flood waters represent disobedience and death from sin in humankind, dry land that brings forth seed and fruit represents obedience and life; so as Jesus walked on the water because He had no sin, Moses walked on dry land because he had the law and was obedient to it. And it is through the second covenant initially mediated by Moses, the covenant to which Christ Jesus added better promises when He became its mediator that brings forth dry land on day three of the Genesis one creation account [the so-called “P” account].

Day two of the “P” account ended when the Body, crucified with Christ, died spiritually as Jesus died physically. But as the grave did not prevail over Jesus’ physical body, the grave will not prevail over His spiritual Body, which will be resurrected to life at the second Passover liberation of Israel.

Paul’s gospel about flesh and blood not inheriting the kingdom of God is denied by every Evangelical who believes that he or she will be bodily raptured into heaven, but it was through this gospel that Paul said the saints at Corinth stood, and in which they were saved (15:1-2). Paul had a gospel message that could be easily misunderstood. It was this mostly misunderstood gospel that he expounded to the saints at Rome (Rom 2:16); it was this gospel that formed the foundation of the house of God (1 Co 3:10-11). And it is this gospel that the synagogue of Satan has turned upside down, declaring lawlessness good and legalism evil.

Some disciples, as a hypercorrection of the inspired text, have identified the gospel that Paul preached as Jesus’ gospel, but Jesus did not bear witness about Himself (John 5:31). Paul’s gospel is about Jesus because Israel did not believe the testimony of God the Father (vv. 36-38) and Gentiles did not know God so they were not free to believe or disbelieve the testimony of the Father. Hence, Paul was sent to the Gentiles to testify about Jesus, or to bear witness of Jesus. His gospel is not Jesus’ gospel [gospel being an archaic word for “good news”], but his testimony about Jesus. And it is Paul’s gospel or testimony about Jesus that forms the foundation of the spiritual house of God, with Christ Jesus being both the cornerstone and the capstone. No cornerstone can simultaneously form the foundation and testify about the foundation; so another was drawn and called by the Father and the Son to testify about the cornerstone and the foundation layed from this cornerstone. Thus, the gospel of Paul is his testimony about the spiritual things of God, with that which is of first importance being that Jesus died for the sins of disciples in accordance with Scripture (1 Co 15:3), that He was buried in the heart of the earth as the prophet Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, that He was raised on the third day in accordance to Scripture (v. 4), that He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve, then to five hundred, then to James, and lastly to Paul himself (vv. 5-8). So Paul’s gospel was the good news that Jesus, as foreshadowed by Jonah, was resurrected from darkness/death so that all who believe would have life. And to believe, a disciple must endure in faith to the end.

Paul’s gospel is about death and resurrection from death. Without a resurrection having occurred, Paul would have preached in vain and the hope of humanity is in vain (1 Co 15:12-19), for the lawlessness of humankind would preclude all from attaining the righteousness of God. But according to Paul’s gospel, Christ Jesus rose from the dead as the firstfruits [or First of the firstfruits] of those who have “fallen asleep” (v. 20), for human sleep is the visible shadow of what it means for a disciple born of Spirit to die physically.

Now comes the subject that separates the majority of Christendom from the Latter Day Saints [the Mormons], a denomination that physically baptizes each other for the dead, especially for their dead relatives who were not of their faith … Paul writes, “Otherwise [i.e., if there is no hope for the dead through resurrection from death], what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?” (v. 29). Why indeed baptize at all if not for the death of the old self or nature [the old man] so that the born of Spirit son of God now occupying the tent of flesh of the old self can dwell peacefully within this tent?

The text is not falsely translated: Paul really uses the expression that is translated being baptized on behalf of the dead [baptizō huper ho nekros]. But Jesus said to let the dead bury the dead themselves (Matt 8:22); so the first thing that must be understood is that “the dead” have physical life or they couldn’t bury “the, of themselves, dead”. The linguistic icons /dead/ and /death/ now have different assignments of meaning from what is commonly used by English speakers. The dead is everyone who does not have spiritual life through being born of Spirit. So from the perspectives of both Jesus and Paul, the dead includes those who have lost physical breath as well as those who only have physical breath. Thus, to baptize on the behalf of the dead will have the one who only has physical breath being baptized into repentance and the death of the former nature or self that was a son of disobedience (Eph 2:2-3), for this baptism isn’t so that a nearly forgotten relative might go to heaven but so that the old self or nature doesn’t hinder the development and maturation of the infant son of God presently occupying or soon to occupy the tent of flesh of the old self. Baptism for the dead is for placing the flesh under subjection of the new self, a son of God that should be resurrected as Jesus was resurrected. Baptism for the dead is to place the death of the person under subjection to Christ Jesus.

Again, a disciple needs to remember that there are three baptisms: by water unto death; by Spirit unto life; by fire unto crossing or not crossing dimensions thereby allowing or not allowing entrance into heaven. The dead are baptized into death so that the physically living son of disobedience is before God as if the person had physically died. Being baptized on behalf of the dead isn’t a person being baptized for another, but for the person drowning the old self so that the tent of flesh can receive a new self or new nature in a manner analogous to God raising the dead back to life.

How are the dead raised to life, a rhetorical question the Apostle Paul asks, but a question best answered by Jesus: As the Father raises the dead and gives them life [with the dead then hearing Jesus’ words being the physically living Pharisees], the Son also gives life to whom He will (John 5:21) … if the Father raises the dead and gives to the dead life, to whom will the Son give life? It cannot be to the dead for the Father raises the dead and gives them life. The Son can only give life to those who have been raised from the dead. There is no one else to whom the Son can give life. Hence, all judgment has been given to the Son so that He can give life to whom He will, according to the judgment of the person whom the Father has raised from the dead. Therefore, it should again be said that it is not enough to be born of Spirit [i.e., to receive life from the Father]. The son of God dwelling in perishable flesh must put immortality, given to the disciple upon whom judgment has come (1 Pet 4:17) when Jesus returns to reveal judgments (1 Co 4:5). And Jesus said not to be surprised when some disciples are raised to life and some are raised to condemnation (John 5:28-29). All who teach lawlessness will be raised to condemnation (Matt 7:21-23).

The dead are raised to life by the Father giving them His divine Breath, the Holy Spirit [pneuma hagion], after the pattern established when Jesus fulfilled all righteousness (Matt 3:15-17). Baptism for the dead now is part of Jesus’ fulfillment of all righteousness; for in this pattern, baptism precedes receipt of the Holy Spirit. The old self or nature is figuratively drowned to make room for the new self or nature that comes from heaven in the form of the divine Breath of the Father. This is what it means to be born of Spirit prior to when the Holy Spirit is first poured out on all of Israel and then poured out on all flesh when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and His Christ (Rev 11:15-18; Dan 7:9-14).

Paul’s gospel can be summed up in the sign of Jonah: Jesus was crucified for Israel’s sins, buried in the heart of the earth, then after three days He was resurrected and ascended to the Father in a body of spirit so that Israel would repent as the men of Nineveh repented upon hearing the preaching of Jonah. Prior to the second Passover followed three and a half years later by the kingdom of this world becoming the kingdom of the Father and the Son, without repentance a son of disobedience will remain a son of disobedience, imprisoned in sin, a bondservant of Satan, a person who is numbered among the dead. So it is for the benefit of this person that he or she is baptized for the dead, the person being then dead; for following repentance and being baptized for the dead, the person will receive the Holy Spirit and will, if still alive when the second Passover occurs, be baptized by Spirit. But receiving the Holy Spirit is now conditioned on the person enduring in well doing after making a mental journey of faith from Babylon to the figurative plains of Moab where this person chooses life or death (Deut 30:15-18).

What Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth was spiritual milk, for they were not ready for solid food (1 Co 3:1-2). They would not have understood that once the Body of Christ died, resurrection of the Body would not occur until after the third day of the Genesis chapter one creation account—and then it would not occur until disciples believed the writings of Moses (John 5:46-47) and through obedience brought forth seed and fruit on dry land. As the physical nation of Israel received the writings of Moses and rejected them and in turn was rejected by God, the spiritual nation of Israel received the writings of Moses and rejected them and in turn has been rejected by God. The rejection of natural Israel preceded the rejection of lawless disciples, and reveals God’s rejection of the visible Christian Church. It will be the third part of humankind (Zech 13:7-9) that will form the majority of the harvest of firstfruits—and presently, none of this third part identifies itself as disciples of Christ Jesus.

When the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh halfway through the seven endtime years, the third part of humankind will be born of Spirit prior to demonstrated repentance and obedience. This is the reality foreshadowed by the book of Acts. For now, though, the Holy Spirit comes after repentance, after a journey of faith that cleanses the heart, after a journey from spiritual Babylon to keeping the commandments of God. And the gospel by which disciples are saved holds that there was one kind of body of Christ that was buried in the Garden Tomb and another kind that was buried when the Church lost its divine Breath that had come from the Father.

The natural body of Jesus was sown as perishable flesh and raised to ascend to God to become imperishable spirit; to become a life-giving spirit. In a like manner, the spiritual Body was sown in dishonor for it was chosen prior to repentance or obedience, and unfortunately, it died because of unrepentant lawlessness. It will be raised as Jesus was raised after three days, with the Son giving life to whom He will; for indeed, the last Adam is a life-giving spirit (1 Co 15:45). And following its resurrection back to life, the Body will be to the last Adam as the first Eve was to the first Adam; for the Church will bring forth three sons, a spiritual Cain and Abel at or soon after the second Passover liberation of Israel, then a spiritual Seth when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh 1260 days later.

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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

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