<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"] 1 Corinthians 15:22-26…How is this victory over the enemies of Christ realized in history?</font><hr></blockquote><p> Verses 23-24 reveal to us a beginning of some order. These verses begin to explain the
sequence of those people who shall be made alive in Christ. Christ, the first in the resurrection ([color:blue]
firstfruits</font color=blue> revealing the
full-harvest will ensue in due time), will be followed by countless multitudes of those that belong to Him. The resurrection of Christ’s elect take place in two stages; (1) the dead in Christ shall rise from their graves… (2) then the believers who are alive at His coming shall be transformed (1 Thess 4:16-17). But, Paul says NOTHING here about the resurrection of unbelievers, even though the OT & NT relate that these will be resurrected to shame and everlasting condemnation (Dan. 12:2; John 5:29). The comes then end. <br><br>The last enemy that will be destroyed ([color:red]
abolished</font color=red>) is death.<br><br>For the human race, this force—death—has continued to rule from Adam’s fall until now…Adam’s disobedience to the Divine mandate resulted in his and his posterities death… But, Jesus, through His death, burial, and resurrection, [color:red]
conquered</font color=red> and will [color:red]
abolish</font color=red> it in the consummation. The dominion of death will be abolished when all Christ’s people have been raised from the dead are glorified.<br><br>The Greek verb [color:red]
katargeo</font color=red> which is translated [color:red]
I abolish</font color=red> (passive voice), conveys the idea of making ruling powers ineffective, that is, by terminating and setting them aside (Bauer). Paul enumerates three categories:
all rule, all authority, and power. These expressions were often used by the Jews to designate
demons. Where they occur in Paul’s epistles, the context must determine if the text refers to demonic powers (Rom 8:38; Eph 1:21, 3:10, 6:12; Col 1:16, 2:10, 15—Walter Grundmann writes, [color:blue]
the term [color:red]dynameis</font color=red> is designed to express the power of angelic and demonic forces</font color=blue>). After the resurrection of believers, Christ will [color:red]
abolish</font color=red> these spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:12). He will destroy the power of
all rule, all authority, and power in heavenly places and will do so
in a single action! After He accomplishes that feat, He hands the Kingdom to His Father.<br><br>Paul writes the verb
to abolish in the PASSIVE voice and intimates that God is the agent who will terminate the power of this destructive force—death. Look at this outline's symmetry (compare A w/A, B w/B, et. al.):<br><br><ul>A. Verse 24. Then comes the [color:red]
end</font color=red>,<br><br><ul>B. when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father,<br><br><ul>C. after He abolished all rule, and all authority and power,<br><br><ul>D. Verse 25. for he must rule until he has put all enemies under His feet,<br><br><ul>E.Verse 26. the last enemy that will be abolished is death.[/LIST] <br>D. Verse 27. For He has put all things under His feet,[/LIST] <br>C. and when He says, “All things are put under Him,” it is clear that the one who subjected all things to Him is excepted.[/LIST] <br>B. Verse 28. and when all things are subjected to Him, then even the Son himself shall be subjected to the one who subjected all things to Him. [/LIST] <br>A. so that God may be all in all![/LIST] All this, of course, leads to a question I have with the Post-Mil theory.
When Does Christ Become King? Venema asserts, and I agree:<br><br><blockquote>[color:blue]The Post-Mil position suggests that the kingship of Christ is
not so much
present as it is a
future reality: The coming of Christ in the fullness of time, though inaugurated a new period in the history of redemption, did not by itself constitute the great turning point in history so far as the Kingdom of God is concerned.... Rather, it commenced a series of events which only in terms of subsequent developments lead to a M-King.... However the millennial commences, it does not commence until sometime after the great redemptive events attested in the NT Scriptures.... These redemptive events will eventually lead to a M-King.... But, these events do nor coincide with the commencement of Christ’s millennial reign, which comes later in redemptive history.</blockquote></font color=blue> The problem here is that it compromises the testimony of the NT that the reign of Christ commences with the first advent and installation at the right hand of the Father. Though the manifestation of Christ’s rule may vary throughout history, it is the entire period between Christ’s resurrection and His return at the end of the age in which He has all authority (Matt 28:16-20) and exercises kingly dominion on the earth. The preaching of the Gospel to all creation and the discipling of the nations—these are the great tasks of Christ’s Church in this present period of history, and they express His present rule as king (Strimple—Amillennialism, p 61).<br><br>Consequently, those passages that speak of Christ’s kingdom refer to the entire present age subsequent to Christ’s return at the end of the age. In, Philippians 2:9-11, after the well known description of Christ’s humiliation, the Apostle Paul describes Christ's exaltation:<br><br><blockquote>[color:blue]Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.</blockquote></font color=blue> This defines Christ’s present glory, not one that is reserved to the future in any new or distinguished sense (compare, Eph 1:22-23; Col 1:15; 1 Pet 3:22). Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and thus is reigning
now!<br><br>Now, Post-Mil will respond, what of 1 Cor 15? But, the passages as explained above should be understood to reveal, that subsequent to His resurrection from the dead, Christ was installed as king and is presently reigning over all things. This present reign of Christ will come to an end when all of His enemies have been brought under His feet—the last enemy being death. There is no suggestion in these passages of an unprecedented period of Christ’s millennial reign that will intervene between the present reality of His reign and the final state, when all His enemies, including death, have been defeated. The passage leaves no room for a
Golden Age between the present age and the age to come. Rather, it teaches that the millennial reign of Christ encompasses the present period of history, to be concluded only at the time of the final conquest of all Christ’s enemies at the end of this age. <br><br>Some modern day Post-Mils will now argue away from this view saying Christ is presently King and that His reign just varies in its degrees. Thus, this Post-Mil creature asserts that Christ as king will become increasingly more manifest as the Gospel progressively comes to triumph on the earth. Thus, some Post-Mils concede that the millennial is
now [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin[/img]. According to this Post creature the basic difference between Post-Mil and A-Mil is that the former has a more optimistic and biblical expectation of success of the Gospel in this present age than the latter. Typically, those who argue in this fashion criticize the A-Mil for an unbiblical pessimism and lack of confidence in the promised success of the church’s discipling of the nations (Norman Shepherd).<br><br>Curiosity, this argument seems to abandon the traditional Post-Mil claim of a future unprecedented period of Gospel blessing that is distinguishable from the remainder of the period between Christ’s first and second advents. It abandons the
chiliasm of the classic Post-Mil expectation: the view that Rev 20 is a distinct period in history that begins some time after the first advent. Indeed, this represents a major concession to the A-Mil view! <br><br>Thus, either way IMHO, Post-Mil loses to the truth of A-Mil.<br><br>That is my final 2 cents [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile[/img]. Read Kistemaker, 1 Cor. (or take his 1 Cor. course this coming semester at RTS) and see Venema—
Promise of the Future for more.
