Harold S. Paisley
Question: It has been stated that the "mystery" of 1 Corinthians 15:51 is the resurrection. Is this a true explanation?
Answer: The mystery of 1 Corinthians 15 is something that had been kept secret until the full time for its revelation had come. So it certainly was not resurrection which truth was known long before. Job stated 1500 years before Paul wrote 1 Corinthians "I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself (Job 19:25-27).
It is the mystery of the change to be wrought on those who are "alive and remain" unto the coming of the Lord (1 Thes. 4:17). "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." The word "changed" is the same as used in Hebrews 1:12 and implies a complete change such as will be wrought on the Lord’s people at the Lord’s return (Phil. 3:20; 1 Cor. 15:53). The mortal are to put on immortality (never dyingness), the dead incorruption.
Question: Is it according to the Scripture to state that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer?
Answer: We believe this is an unscriptural assertion. The term "righteousness of Christ" is never applied to imputation. Our Lord Jesus was the Righteous One in all His pathway here, ever doing the will of His Father. He was the Faithful and True Witness. It should be noted however that His life of perfect obedience is at no time ever spoken of as being imputed to those who are His people.
It is alone on the basis of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ that the believer obtains righteousness through faith alone. The apostle Paul states faith alone. The apostle Paul states this truth clearly "and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith in Christ, the Righteousness which is of God upon faith" (Phil. 3:9 RV).
Question: When the Lord Jesus spoke of the overthrow of the Temple, He stated clearly to four of His disciples, "There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down" (Matt. 24:2). Please give an explanation of the Jewish Wailing Wall which still stands with some stones one upon another. How was the Wailing Wall preserved?
Answer: The Lord was speaking of the Temple built by Herod. This was totally destroyed in A.D. 70. The words of Christ were indeed fulfilled to the last stone being overthrown (Matt. 24:2)
In order to understand the preservation of "the Wailing Wall" where devout Jews gather continually to mourn and pray, it is necessary to distinguish between two temples. The temple built by Solomon, which was destroyed by fire (2 Chron. 36:19), and the temple built by Herod which was overthrown.
The stones of the present "Wailing Wall" formed the western wall of Solomon’s temple and these were left intact after the city and temple were burned with fire.
Question: It has been stated that "as Christ was God and He died, therefore God died." Is this sound doctrine?
Answer: In answering this question, we quote the words of Sir Robert Anderson, "one half of the errors come from stating Scriptural truths in unscriptural words."
The Lord Jesus was ever the Son of God, but it would be as irreverent to say God was born as to say God died. By God, the Scripture speaks of the Father unless otherwise stated. To assert that the Father was incarnate in Christ is heresy. A more careful addressing of ourselves to God would save from phrases which place the Father in positions which could only be occupied by the Son. It is true that the One Who died was one of the godhead, but wrong to state that God died. The great mystery remains that God cannot die, but the Man Who died was very God.