Sermon by Rev. William MacLean, M.A. Preached and recorded at the Prayer Meeting in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Gisborne, N.Z. on Wednesday, 8th November 1967.
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 15: 17 — “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”
The Apostle, at the beginning of this chapter says, “Brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.” And concerning the Gospel which he preached to them, we find him saying to the Galatians, “I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Gospel is called the everlasting Gospel (Rev. 14:6), indicating that it is an unchanging Gospel. It is like its Author, it changes not. Mathematical truth does not change; divine truth does not change. The doctrine on which the Apostle is laying special emphasis in this chapter, as a fundamental doctrine of the Gospel which he preached, is the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, a doctrine which was denied by the Jews and ridiculed by the Greeks. But as he says in the words of our text, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”
We may notice, that implied in the denial of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, is a denial of all the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith. The Christian faith becomes vain, meaningless and useless, if this fundamental doctrine of the resurrection of Christ is denied. And firstly, it implies a denial of the deity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Apostle, through divine inspiration, says to the Romans, that Christ was declared, or manifested, to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 1: 4). He was in a powerful manner declared and manifested, to be the Son of God. Deny His resurrection from the dead and that leads to a denial of His eternal deity. He Himself says, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10: 17, 18). He had that power as the eternal Son. None could obtain that victory over death and the grave but the eternal Son, manifested in our nature. But if Christ be not raised, He did not obtain the victory over death or over the grave, as the Apostle brings before us in this chapter. Death has conquered Him and the grave still holds Him captive. He is not the Conqueror, the Victor over death and the grave. And then, if that is so, that the grave still holds Him, the song which the ransomed Church of God, will have on the morning of the resurrection — “Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave where is thy victory?” becomes meaningless. What the Apostle is here declaring concerning the resurrection of the body, and of the song of triumph of the redeemed becomes meaningless, if the resurrection of Christ from the dead is but “a beautiful legend” as Principal Geering maintains. Then this song of triumph is part of the legend, a beautiful piece of poetry, legendary and mythical.
But not only does the denial of Christ’s resurrection from the dead involve a denial of His deity, but also of His virgin birth. The human nature which He assumed, was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary and born of her yet without sin. That nature He assumed into union with His divine Person. His body was incapable of seeing corruption. Although at death there was a separation put between Christ’s human soul and Christ’s body, there was no separation put between Christ’s soul and His divine Person, or between His body lying in Joseph’s tomb and His divine person. They still remained united to His Person, although for a time separated by death. In connection with the separation, the following illustration has often been made use of. A soldier has the sheath in which he holds his sword, attached to his body. He draws the sword out of the sheath and holds the sword aloft in his hand. A separation has been put between the sheath in which the sword was encased, and the sword. Although there is a separation between the sheath and the sword, there is no separation between the sheath and the soldier himself, or between the soldier and the sword which he holds in his hand. And so in the case of the separation that death put between Christ’s human soul and His body. They were still united to His divine Person. And because of that it was impossible for that body to see corruption. A body that had no sin in it could not see corruption. But if His body was not raised, then that body was not miraculously conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost. That leads to a denial of His virgin birth. It is a well known fact that those who deny the resurrection of Christ from the dead, also deny and even ridicule the miracle of His virgin birth. And that leads to a denial of the promises of the Old Testament which have reference to His virgin birth, as for example the first promise — there shall come of the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpent’s head. “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7: 14). All these promises become meaningless — part of the “beautiful legend.” Not only does a denial of the resurrection of His body lead to a denial of His virgin birth, but also of the atonement which he made.
But before coming to that, we may observe what Geering and his school hold, that it is Christ’s spirit that rose, that His body still remained and rotted in the grave. It is His spirit, they say, that rose. But His spirit was never in the grave. He committed at death His human soul into the hands of His Father. It was His body that rose from the dead and both soul and body at His resurrection were reunited. It must be observed that Geering denies the immortality of the soul, and that by Christ’s spirit, he does not mean the human soul of Christ, but the principles for which He stood.
The denial of His resurrection leads to a denial of the atonement which He made. We read in Romans that He was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification. Now if Christ was not raised again for our justification, that implies that He did not make the atonement for sin which justice in God required Him to make, that He did not pay the ransom price to the uttermost farthing in the room and stead of His people. Therefore “if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” No atonement has been made for sin. Christ’s resurrection from the dead is the proof that He paid the ransom price and that He made the atonement necessary for sin. A denial, therefore, of His resurrection implies a denial of Christ’s atonement and that leads to the denial of the need for an atonement — a denial of the fall. We read “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” That is, all for whom Adam stood. He was the federal head of the whole human race. They all died in him. And all for whom Christ stood, as the covenant head, the last Adam, the Lord from Heaven, all for whom He stood — the whole election of grace — they shall live. But if Christ has not risen from the dead, that leads to the denial of the need for an atonement. It leads to a denial of the fall of man, that in Adam all died. Of course, according to Geering, and his school, the account of the fall is just a Jewish myth, pointing a moral, but not an historical fact.
A denial of the atonement makes Christ Himself a liar. He repeatedly said to His disciples that He must needs die, and that He would rise again on the third day. After His resurrection, when the disciples were still incredulous and supposing it was a spirit that had appeared to them, He said “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.” If Christ is not risen from the dead, and His resurrection is but a beautiful legend, then that implies that Christ is not the truth, that He is not, as the Scriptures declare, the “faithful and true witness.” He is a false witness if He did not rise from the dead. His statements to His disciples that He would rise again on the third day must be false, and that He said to His disciples, “handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have,” must also be untrue. And then also, if Christ be not risen, the Apostles also are liars. Paul says, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.”
A denial of Christ’s resurrection leads to a denial of the doctrine of the resurrection of the just and the unjust at the last day. In this chapter the apostle bases the proof of the resurrection of the dead at the last day upon the doctrine of Christ’s own resurrection from the dead. Christ Himself says “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” If Christ therefore be not raised, there will be no resurrection of the dead, of the just and the unjust, and these words of Christ are just part of “the beautiful legend.” They are false, and the testimony of the Apostles is false. They testify that for forty days after His passion He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs and that He spake to them the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. The apostle is mentioning in this chapter different witnesses. “He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.” But all these witnesses must be dismissed as false witnesses, and what Principal Geering and his school say, is what we must accept. “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea let God be true, but every man a liar.” (Rom. 3: 3, 4).
And not only does it lead to a denial of the resurrection of the dead at the last day, but also a denial of the doctrine that is brought before us in this chapter, that the bodies of the saints shall be raised and made like unto Christ’s glorious body. It is in connection with the bodies of the saints that the apostle is speaking in this chapter. Their bodies are to be made like unto Christ’s glorious body, but if Christ be not risen, He has no glorious body. He is only a spirit. But He Himself declared after His resurrection “handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” A denial of Christ’s resurrection from the dead includes in it a denial of the Resurrection of the just and the unjust and a denial of the mystery which the apostle is here bringing before us that the bodies of the saints are to be made like unto Christ’s glorious body.
It also leads to a denial of the doctrine of the judgment at the last day. Christ appeared first of all to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The second time He is to appear unto those that look for Him without sin unto salvation. And in the context it is mentioned that it is at the Judgment He will appear “without sin unto salvation.” He shall appear as the God-man to judge the world in righteousness, justice to give each one. But if Christ be not risen, then there will be no judgment, for the doctrine of the judgment of the last day is based upon Christ’s resurrection. God “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30, 31).
Further, if Christ be not raised from the dead, then the sacraments of the New Testament Church — Baptism and the Lord’s Supper — are no longer valid. When Christ instituted the sacrament of the supper, He said to His disciples, “Take, eat: this is my body which is broken for you” and “For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” The sacrament of the Lord’s supper not only commemorates the death which He died in the room and stead of His people, but is a reminder that He is to come again. But if Christ be not raised from the dead, then, as we observed, that rules out the doctrine of the atonement, for Christ “was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification.” The doctrine of the atonement is in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper. It is through His body being broken and His blood shed that He obtained eternal life and eternal forgiveness for His people.
The sacrament of baptism also becomes a meaningless rite. The Apostle says in verse 29, “What shall they do which are baptised for the dead?” He is bringing forward the implications that if Christ be not raised, then our preaching is vain and our faith is vain, we are still in our sins, etc. He then says, “what shall they do which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptised for the dead?” The Mormons make much of this text and they hold the doctrine of baptism for the dead. If a person becomes a Mormon he is baptised, and he is not only baptised for himself, but for all his forbears. If they are to be saved, it is through baptism, and the Mormons therefore have baptism for the dead. But in the light of the chapter, baptism for the dead is a belief in the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and of the resurrection of the dead at the last day. Persons who were baptised, were received by baptism into the Christian Church. It was on the ground of their professing that Christ did rise from the dead, and that they believed also in the resurrection of the dead at the last day, that they were baptised. These were the doctrines that were denied and ridiculed by the Greeks. Not only Christ’s resurrection from the dead, but the resurrection at the last day. We find Paul saying “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” But all who professed the name of Christ and who embraced Christianity and were received into the Christian Church through baptism, made this profession, that Christ was the Son of God and that they believed in His resurrection from the dead. On making this profession they were baptised. They were in this public way identifying themselves with the Church of God, and because of that, they met with ridicule and opposition and persecution. So if Christ be not raised “why are they then baptised for the dead? and why stand we in jeopardy every hour?” These people were putting their lives in jeopardy by receiving baptism and thereby making a public profession that Christ rose from the dead. If the dead rise not, why do people go and hazard their lives and meet with scorn and ridicule from both Jews and Greeks, by professing that Christ rose from the dead. Is it any wonder that the apostle says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable?” Meeting with all these trials and troubles in connection with following Christ, if Christ be not risen, then all our suffering and all that we meet with, is in vain. “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” He fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, that is men who were just acting like wild beasts, and, of course, it was true also that the Christians were thrown to wild beasts. Those who professed Christ were subjected to that death in Rome. They were brought into the amphitheatre and before thousands of spectators, lions and wild beasts were let loose upon them, that savagely tore them to bits. They endured all that for Christ and in defence of the belief that Christ rose from the dead and that He is a living Saviour. But if Christ be not raised, What is the advantage of suffering all this? It is as well to “eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” And that is just the logical conclusion of a denial of the resurrection. It leads to the new morality. There is no judgment, no Heaven and no Hell.
But in return to the sacraments. Those who are receiving baptism profess that Christ rose from the dead. It is on that basis, the basis of that profession and on the doctrines implied in that profession, that they receive baptism. But if Christ be not risen, then baptism becomes a meaningless rite. When ministers therefore, who deny the resurrection of Christ from the dead (as the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand now denies, through her Supreme Court) administer baptism, their baptism is invalid. The Reformers accepted the baptism of the Roman Catholic Church because she had not changed the doctrine of baptism. Although she has added many things to it, she baptises in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and fully believes in the resurrection of Christ from the dead and His ascension to the right hand of God. Her baptism was regarded as valid. But when we come to a Church that denies, through its Supreme Court, the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, that unashamedly seals what Principal Geering said (that His resurrection is but a beautiful legend), then the validity of the sacraments falls to the ground, and all the other doctrines that we have mentioned: they are just relegated into the region of legend and become null and void. The General Assembly instead of excommunicating Professor Geering as a heretic and as an apostate from the faith, dismissed the charges of doctrinal errors brought against him, and DECLARED ITS CONFIDENCE IN THE PROFESSOR AS MINISTER, TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL OF THE THEOLOGICAL HALL.
The doctrine of the new birth becomes meaningless. We find the Apostle Peter saying to those to whom he was writing, that they were begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. They were begotten again, born again, and through being born again, they came to have a lively or living hope, a good hope through grace by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. But if Christ be not risen, then their faith is vain, their hope is vain. There is no such thing as a good hope through grace. But all who have been born again, are living witnesses to the fact of Christ’s resurrection, that He is the resurrection and the life. “And our preaching” he says “is vain.” “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up, Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” A denial therefore, of the resurrection of Christ, of this fundamental and cardinal doctrine, undermines the whole fabric of the Christian faith, all the cardinal doctrines collapse. A church, therefore, that publicly condones in her Supreme Court the views of Principal Geering, that denies Christ’s physical resurrection from the dead, has forfeited the right to be called a Christian Church. She has by the decision of her Assembly overthrown all the cardinal doctrines of our most holy faith, nullified the validity of the sacraments, made Christ and His apostles false witnesses, and has put the Christian Church on a foundation of falsehood.
That is the state to which matters have come in our day, not only in the Presbyterian Church, but in other churches as well, applauding through their leaders the decision of the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. They are showing that they are of the same opinion. What proof that truth has fallen in the street and that there is no true witness in such churches on the side of Christ! They are dead churches and apostate from the faith once delivered to the saints. To remain in such churches is to incur the righteous indignation of the Lord for the dishonour done to His Son. No person can absolve himself from that dishonour or from the guilt bound up with that dishonour, but by separating from such churches. “Come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord God Almighty.” “If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.”
But Christ is raised and exalted to be a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel. He is a Saviour from sin, in its guilt, power, pollution and punishment, in virtue of the infinitely efficacious atonement He made for sin by the sacrifice of Himself. His blood alone cleanses from all sin. He is an all sufficient and an all powerful Saviour. He is a living Saviour. All who have been begotten again to a living hope, a good hope through grace, have Christ as their life and Christ as their hope, a good hope. They were born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever (1 Peter 1: 23). They live a life of faith upon Him. It is to the Lord Jesus Christ we are invited in the gospel. He it is who says to sinners, even the chief, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
The Christ of Principal Geering is a false Christ, not the Christ of God and of the church universal in all ages and lands. Whatever claims Principal Geering may lay to gifts and to scholarship, his soul is still in the death and darkness of unregeneracy. He is a wandering star without hope and without God in the world, heading heedlessly towards the blackness of darkness of a lost and undone eternity.
How is this day of blatant apostasy we should give heed to the solemn warning of the Saviour — “WHOSOEVER SHALL DENY ME BEFORE MEN, HIM WILL I ALSO DENY BEFORE MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN”! (Matt. 10: 33). These words should make the so-called Evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church tremble. Where was their witness on the side of Christ at the Assembly? The everlasting gospel of the grace of God is not to be found in the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The notorious Declaratory Act of 1901 which is part of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church and to which all ordained in the Presbyterian Church must subscribe, robbed the Presbyterian Church of the gospel. Their so-called “evangelical” gospel is another gospel.
The Lord in His infinite mercy grant that the gospel would come to us as it came to the Thessalonians and to all who are the Lord’s people, not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance (1 Thess. 1: 5), for apart from divine teaching, the things of the Spirit of God will be foolishness to us.
We have since been informed that not a single minister of the so-called Evangelicals of the Westminster Fellowship in the Presbyterian Church so much as recorded his dissent against the decision of the Assembly exonerating Principal Geering.
Principal Geering, in defence of his views at the Assembly, appealed to the Declaratory Act as giving him and others liberty to hold views contrary to the Westminster Confession of Faith.—W.M. (Available from Westminster Standard, 183 Rutene Road, Gisborne, New Zealand).