“I have hope toward God … that there is going to be a resurrection.” Acts 24:15
[Study 49 from ws 12/20 p.2 February 01 – February 07, 2021]
This study article is the first of two which are aimed at reinforcing the “two destinations rule”, which like the “two-witness rule” is fundamentally flawed. The Organization sees a need to restate the supposed scriptural basis for the hope of those claiming to be of the anointed. Quite why the Organization sees the need to discuss this in a Watchtower study article for all Witnesses is a good question. After all, it only affects, at least, according to the Organization’s last memorial attendance, a total of circa 20,000 partakers, against circa 8,000,000 rejectors of Christ’s sacrifice. As we could only speculate, we will not, we will leave that as the undisputed realm and the prerogative of the Organization.
Addressing Wrong Views
It is apt that the second section of the Watchtower article is entitled “Addressing Wrong Views”! The problem is that in allegedly addressing wrong views, the Organization promulgates unscriptural wrong views of its own. How so?
Paragraph 12 states “Paul had firsthand knowledge that “Christ [had] been raised from the dead.” That resurrection was superior to the resurrection of those who had earlier been brought back to life on earth—only to die again. Paul said that Jesus was “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death.” In what sense was Jesus first? He was the first person to be raised to life as a spirit being and the first one from mankind to ascend to heaven. - 1 Corinthians 15:20; Acts 26:23; read 1 Peter 3:18, 22.”.
It is the wording of the last sentence which this reviewer would take issue with. True, Jesus “was the first person to be raised to life as a spirit being”, but will others be raised as spirit beings as implied by the wording of the Watchtower article? Speaking frankly, while this reviewer could be wrong, I have been unable to find any other scriptures that state others will be raised to life as spirit beings. There are some scriptures, that some interpret as being the case, but none to my knowledge state this explicitly. (Please: Before anyone comments that 1 Corinthians 15:44-51 states that, it does not. To say that it does is twisting the English language (and Greek for that matter). Please see the endnote reference for an in-depth examination of 1 Corinthians 15) [i].
As for others “from mankind to ascend to heaven”, again, no scripture actually says this will happen, where heaven is the realm of God, Jesus, and the angels, which is the intended meaning of the Watchtower article. (Again 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 talks of meeting the Lord in the air or sky or earthly heavens, not the realm of God.)[ii]
A big reason that Jesus’ resurrection was superior, and that the Apostle Paul spoke of it as being “the first to be resurrected from the dead”, was that it was the first where the one resurrected remained alive without the threat of future death, for he knew of the other resurrections, indeed he performed one himself (Acts 20:9). The second fruits would also have this distinction from all the other resurrections recorded in the scriptural record.
Those who will be made alive
Paragraph 15 perpetuates the fictitious and at times arbitrary application of the Organization’s teaching that certain parts of the scriptures were only written to a special “anointed” class rather than to Christians as a whole. It takes Romans 6:3-5 out of context to imply that the likeness of Jesus' resurrection with the resurrection of the “anointed” is a resurrection to heaven. Yet Romans 6:8-11, the context of Romans 6:3-5, says “Moreover, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that Christ, now that he has been raised up from the dead, dies no more; death is no longer master over him. 10 For the death that he died, he died with reference to sin once for all time, but the life that he lives, he lives with reference to God. 11 Likewise you, consider yourselves to be dead with reference to sin but living with reference to God by Christ Jesus.” The likeness is according to the Apostle Paul is that they, like Christ, would die no more. That death would no longer be a master over them, and that they would live with reference to God instead of sin and imperfection.
Therefore, when paragraph 16 claims “Furthermore, by calling Jesus “the firstfruits,” Paul implied that others thereafter would be raised from death to heavenly life.” it is a “wrong view”. It is the Organization’s viewpoint not that of the scriptures. Furthermore, One would have to establish that Christ explicitly instituted a new hope for the Christians that changed the belief most first-century Jews had of a resurrection to earth (excluding the Sadducees).
Other “wrong views” promulgated in this Watchtower article include paragraph 17 which claims: “Today we are living during that foretold “presence” of Christ.”. How is this so when the Apostle John wrote about the revelation Jesus gave him, in Revelation 1:7, “Look, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him”. When on trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus even told them “You will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). Further, Jesus told us in Matthew 24:30-31 that “the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds …”.
Yes, all the tribes of the earth would see the coming of the Son of man [Jesus] and that would precede the gathering of the chosen ones. Have you seen the coming of the Son of Man? Have all the tribes of the earth seen the coming of the Son of Man? The answer has to be No! to both questions.
Clearly then, neither of these events have yet taken place, especially as the gathering of the chosen ones follows the visible coming of the son of man. Therefore, those who claim the resurrection has already taken place are lying and deceiving us, just as Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:18 “These very men have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred, and they are subverting the faith of some.”
Yes, the Resurrection is a sure hope, but it is one and the same hope for all true Christians. In addition, it has not yet started, otherwise, we would all know about it. Do not be fooled by the Organization’s “wrong views”.
For an in-depth scriptural examination of this topic looking at all the resurrections in the Bible record and the development of the resurrection hope, why not examine the following two series on this site.
https://beroeans.net/2018/06/13/the-resurrection-hope-jehovahs-guarantee-to-mankind-foundations-of-the-hope-part-1/
https://beroeans.net/2018/08/01/the-resurrection-hope-jehovahs-guarantee-to-mankind-jesus-reinforces-the-hope-part-2/
https://beroeans.net/2018/09/26/the-resurrection-hope-jehovahs-guarantee-to-mankind-the-guarantee-made-possible-part-3/
https://beroeans.net/2019/01/01/the-resurrection-hope-jehovahs-guarantee-to-mankind-the-guarantee-fulfilled-part-4/
https://beroeans.net/2019/01/09/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-1/
https://beroeans.net/2019/01/22/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-2-2/
https://beroeans.net/2019/02/22/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-3/
https://beroeans.net/2019/03/05/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-4/
https://beroeans.net/2019/03/14/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-5/
https://beroeans.net/2019/05/02/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-6/
https://beroeans.net/2019/12/09/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-part-7/
[i] See a discussion of 1 Corinthians 15 in this article: https://beroeans.net/2019/03/14/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-5/
[ii] Ibid.
Archived Comments
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Comment by wish4truth2 on 2021-01-31 17:34:12
here is an interesting thing I learned about the mellenium. JW's talk about the millennium being a thousand years. THE Greek Plural for uncertain infinity is the word "CHILLOI" but it was substituted for "CHILLIAS" NT 5507 in later manuscripts meaning (thousand) but the original word CHILLOI" in the earliest manuscripts means thousands of years undefined. As in REV 20:1-7 and 2 Peter 3:8 it is an undefined number of thousands. It is used in REv 5:11 to describe thousands and thousands of Angels. Satan was bound for thousands of years not one thousand. They reigned with Christ for thousands of years not one thousand years. Satan was bound when Jesus was on Earth, Luke 10:18 it has been 2 thousand years since he was bound and counting so this now makes sense.
Reply by Menrov on 2021-02-03 06:37:29
Interesting. Can you provide some sources or reference to this?
Reply by Ad_Lang on 2021-02-03 20:12:58
Since I started studying with JWs, I never took it as a literal thousand years, even though their interpretation was just that.
It seemed irrational to me why Jesus would be confined to rule for a one thousand years, if after the final test, there'd be eternity waiting for those proving to be faithful.
Not being aware of anyone else having a "thousand-year reign", I concluded that it might be an identifier, just as "The Third Reich" is commonly known to refer to the German Nazi-empire under Mr. Hitler.
Likewise, this thousand-year reign is known to refer to God's Kingdom, the government under which relationships between men and God, men among each other and different parts of creation are to be restored to what they was meant to be like. There's no need to have that done within a thousand years time.
Comment by marielle on 2021-02-01 03:33:01
Étonnamment, le paragraphe 3 plante le décor.
« LA RÉSURRECTION DES MORTS » est un enseignement de notre doctrine.
I Corinthiens 15 examine en détails cet enseignement.
OUI, l’enseignement sur la résurrection des morts, DE TOUS LES MORTS.
Merci pour cette analyse, ainsi que pour les précédentes, sur les différentes résurrections.
J’ai relu maintes fois ce chapitre 15 de I Corinthiens, aux Romains et Thessaloniciens, et suis arrivée aux mêmes conclusions.
Cela me rapproche encore plus de Christ, moi qui souhaite être « en union avec lui » et faire partie de ceux qui lui appartiennent.
Colossiens 1 : 28
« C’est lui que nous proclamons, avertissant TOUT LE MONDE et enseignant TOUT LE MONDE en toute sagesse, pour présenter à Dieu TOUTE PERSONNE complète* EN UNION AVEC CHRIST.
Comment by mattlunsford on 2021-02-01 22:41:10
John 14:2,3 Jesus said to the apostles that where i am going you will also be. Jesus went to heaven so likewise those who belong to the body of christ, the bride of christ will be with him in heaven. Of course the work during the millennium is on the earth. I think that as spirit beings can take on the appearance of fleshly bodies as Jesus did after his resurrection, then as kings and priests during the millennium his bride will do the same.
Reply by Tadua on 2021-02-03 06:48:48
The key to this scripture is where will Christ be when he comes again? Will he be still in heaven? Surely not. It is only then that the apostles would be with Christ.
This will either be in the sky 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 or on the earth Revelation 5:10 (not NWT Bible) or both of course!
Comment by Leonardo Josephus on 2021-02-03 05:11:13
Many thanks for the review, Tadua.
Did anyone spot what I believe is an error in paragraph 18, caused by relying on the
NWT ?
Philippians 3:11 is quoted as saying "the earlier resurrection". However, "earlier" is not in the Greek. Is there any Bible that says "earlier" ?.
Make of this what you will.Reply by Menrov on 2021-02-03 06:32:04
Hi, I checked studybible.info and found that about all have something like this:
ABP_Strong
11 G1513 if by any means G2658 I should arrive G1519 at G3588 the G1815 resurrection G3588 of the G3498 dead.
YLT(i) 11 if anyhow I may attain to the rising again of the dead.
In contrast, NWT:
11 to see if at all possible I may attain to the earlier resurrection from the dead.p
Reply by Tadua on 2021-02-03 06:50:50
As Menrov says, the NWT translation is artistic but not accurate translation, solely to support their teaching of 144k resurrection already occurring.
Reply by Bernardbooks on 2021-02-03 07:48:47
I’m not sure whether the addition of the word “earlier” is well founded but I think they probably got it from these two late 19th century Bible translations.
Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible
Philippians 3:11
“If by any means I may advance to the earlier resurrection* which is from among the dead”
*”the out-resurrection.”
The Bible Union Version
Philippians 3:11
“if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.*”
*Ver. 11 Resurrection: Gr., out-resurrection, that is, a special or select resurrection.
Compare Luke 14:14; Rev. 20:4-6Reply by Leonardo Josephus on 2021-02-03 09:11:09
I only looked on Bible Hub. Was't Rotherhams a translation supported or at least often referred to by WTBS ?
Out-resurrection - cannot say what that is, but I agree that is the original Greek word. I do not think that has anything to justify "earlier", W E Vine feels it has some reference to "the present life of identification with Christ in His resurrection", whatever he meant by that, so to that extent it might be special. I wonder why no one else throws that thought into the ring, or does someone ?
Reply by Menrov on 2021-02-08 04:32:01
I checked on this site: https://studybible.info/compare/Philippians%203:11
and only Rotherham has the word earlier.
I checked the OUT-RESURRECTION and the meaning. This one sounds very much like the WT view: http://www.bibleone.net/BF15.htm
Comment by safeguardyourheart on 2021-02-06 08:25:00
WILL YOU CONTINUE TO BE READJUSTED...........study article
I just had to bring this here, I don't know if any had checked the use of READJUSTED in 2 Corinthians 13:11 to see that many other translations didn't use words that had anything to do with READJUSTED or READJUSTMENT. It looks very much like a cooked word used to propagate JWs agenda whenever they want to.