“…[T]hey…changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man…”

Prepositions — where would we be without them?  They are those spices for the English language that flavor the language but don’t have their own strong flavor.  Some spices, like hot pepper, make their presence known rapidly.  Others kind of blend together and they’re difficult to identify.  Pronouns act like the latter.  They bring clarity and specificity to what we say.  For example, it makes a huge difference if you tell your child to build the fire in the fireplace rather than around it, right? Or you tell him to pump gas into the car, not onto the car.

So today I’m considering two pronouns, to and through.  I’m thinking of them because of two cases of lymphoma.  In one case, a local Christian friend had his for three years before succumbing to the disease.  He was so looking forward to being in heaven, and now is there, arriving before anyone thought he would.  He was only 58, but in his time he led many to the Lord, including about 25 who went on to become pastors.  The second case is my unsaved neighbor across the street.  He’s a nice guy, a biker, but is nowhere spiritually.  He keeps his spiritual cards close to his chest.  No peaking allowed.  He fought his initial battle against the tumors successfully at first, only to have them roar back with a vengeance.  Now he’s in radical comprehensive treatments, and only time will tell how it goes.  And there’s still no peaking.

So how does lymphoma connect to these two pronouns?  Easy: death for the Christian is something you go through.  It’s not an end, but a passage leading to heaven.  God made sure that it be that way.  For the unbeliever, however, death is something you eventually get to.  Unbelievers have no certainty about whether there’s something beyond or not.  From their perspective, it’s only a to, not a through thing.

Speaking about the resurrection of deceased believers in 1 Corinthians 15:53 (KNJV), Paul says, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  First, notice that Paul is answering the questions raised in verse 35: “How are the dead raised up?  And with what body do they come?”  So, moving from corruption to incorruption speaks of our bodies.  Since everything we do on the planet is done in and through our bodies, their resurrection speaks of a complete resurrection/renewing that includes and affects everything about us.

Second, consider the word “must”.  Our bodies must put on incorruption; they must put on immortality.  This word means that it is a logical necessity and a moral obligation that a state of incorruption follows the corruption phase of our bodies.  Why is that?  Because resurrection is a work of God, and God himself is incorruptible: “…[T]hey…changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man…” (Romans 1:23,).  Romans 1 begins the cosmic indictment against all mankind, which entails man’s denial of God’s existence.  This is the work of fools (v. 22), which do nothing good, according to Psalm 14:1.  In fact, “fool” in Hebrew means senseless and describes someone who’s lost his mind.  Remember that, especially when you think of the secularists guiding most of the universities, media outlets and government positions these days.  Religious creatures that deny their Creator won’t deny lesser ‘gods’ of their own depiction, which end up being other creatures not of man’s making.  This is corruption at its ultimate.

Only the supreme grace of an incorruptible God could overcome such absolute corruption.  God’s incorruptibility is supported by other examples of incorruptible things besides our resurrected bodies.  1 Corinthians 9:25 (NKJV) says that believers compete — but not against each other — to obtain “an imperishable crown” or an incorruptible reward.  How could an incorruptible God pass out corruptible crowns?  Won’t happen.  1 Peter 1:4 (NKJV) tells us our heavenly inheritance, that is, everything God promised us by the New Covenant is likewise incorruptible.  God doesn’t offer temporary things that will evaporate or wear out in an eternal kingdom.  And the “the hidden person of the heart” that Peter says wives should adorn with a “gentle and quiet spirit” (3:4) is likewise incorruptible.

The fact that our souls, the part of us that makes us us, already are incorruptible, should stabilize us while we live in a very corrupt cosmos.  When corruption comes, do you lean on our incorruptible God?