The Resurrection Reveals God’s Love, Wisdom and Patience – Study 2020/33

“There is going to be a resurrection.” – Acts 24:15

[Study 33 From ws 08/20 p.14 October 12 – October 18, 2020]

“there is going to be a resurrection”

The first thing to notice in this Watchtower study article is the subtle shortening of Acts 24:15 without the proper notation that such a shortening has been done. In full Acts 24:15 reads “and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Now the correct way of quoting from anywhere, especially the Bible, so as not to mislead people as to what the fuller text states is as follows:

Ideally, and properly it should be “… there is going to be a resurrection …”. At worst it should be “there is going to be a resurrection” as I have used above as a theme for this section, as this would still indicate that the quote is part of a sentence. However, the Watchtower has turned it into a sentence that stands on its own, by starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop, neither of which exist, and which therefore is misleading. This is from an Organization that claims to carefully research and make multiple checks on its material before publishing it. Quite why the Organization did not want to show “… of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” is unclear.

In paragraph 6 in the midst of three paragraphs of speculation as to how the resurrection will take place, it very briefly mentions “… the majority of those who return to life will be among “the unrighteous.” (Read Acts 24:15.). However, it does not examine the righteous or unrighteous categories in any more detail. The way this section is written, without saying directly it perpetuates the supposition taught by the Organization that all resurrected will be imperfect and will have to work towards perfection.

How does that compare with what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:35 onwards? Here Paul wrote the following:

  • v35 “Nevertheless, someone will say: “How are the dead to be raised up? Yes, with what sort of body are they coming?”
  • v42 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption.”

Points to note are that the question was raised “What sort of body will the dead who are raised up have?” The answer was “When the dead were alive, they had been born in corruption or imperfection. When the dead are raised up, they will be the opposite of corruption, the opposite of imperfection. They will be raised up perfect and incorrupt. Whether they stay that way depends on them. Remember, mankind who die have paid the wages of sin by dying, “… but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.” according to Romans 6:23.

Contrary to the statement that “It seems that all mankind will gradually grow to perfection during the Thousand Year Reign of Christ”, there is more evidence in the Bible that there will be no need to struggle and work towards perfection hoping it will be granted at the end of up to a thousand years. All will still need to adjust their thinking so as not to fall into sin. There is no scripture that states perfection will be granted at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ despite the inference at the end of paragraph 9 where the article says “including the raising of mankind to a perfect state” and citing 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, Revelation 20:1-3. The test by Satan mentioned in Revelation 20:7-9 would be an unfair test if those tested were imperfect instead of perfect like Adam and Eve were originally. Especially as the righteous had already been under trial and test before Satan was abyssed (Revelation 12:7-17, Revelation 20:1-3).

In Paragraph 15 the article says “What remarkable wisdom Jehovah has shown by giving us the resurrection hope! By means of it, he disarms Satan of one of his most effective weapons and at the same time arms us with unbreakable courage.”

Is the disarming of one of Satan’s most effective weapons (death) automatic? Of course not. Yes, lovingly Jehovah has given us the resurrection hope, but do we have faith in it? Have we really taken this hope to heart so that “ … you may not sorrow just as the rest also do who have no hope.”? (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

A good test would be to ask yourself; can you name all the resurrections that the Bible records as happening?

Why not make a list, in chronological order? Then check your list against the resurrections in the articles in the series “The Resurrection Hope, Jehovah’s Guarantee to Mankind” using the following links:

For further reflection on this subject see also the 8 part series “What Future and Hope does the Bible Teach?”

https://understandtheword.com/category/corebibleteachings/future-and-hope-for-all-humans

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