From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase |
Part one of a series
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Incorruptibility is a vital term in the Word of God. But it is sadly foreign to much of the post-evangelical church.
Today vast segments of the church and its leaders promote and glorify that which is corruptible and perishing - money, buildings, the size of crowds, an endless range of so-called "full-service" programs, as well as political and social power - to name but a few. But Scripture calls the true people of God to a far different value system. It declares that our hearts and minds must be focused on that which is incorruptible and imperishable.
The Bible declares that the believer's present certainty of salvation, and confident future expectation of the life to come, is based upon seven incorruptible things. Four have to do with God's own nature. The other three have to do with God's guarantees to every believer in Christ. God's people must root their thinking deeply in these truths. In this series, the Lord willing, we shall examine them in the pages of Scripture. I pray that many will benefit from this study.
Incorruptibilty: True of God, True for Believers
Let me begin by listing these seven incorruptibles. First, we have an incorruptible God. Second, because we have an incorruptible God, we have an incorruptible Word from God. Third, because we have an incorruptible God, we have an incorruptible Savior. Fourth, our incorruptible Savior has incorruptible blood.
Our salvation is bound up in this chain of logic about God. The promise of eternal life rests on the incorruptible God and His incorruptible Word; its fulfillment rests on the incorruptible blood of the incorruptible Savior.
And because those four things are true about God, the Bible says that three other things are true about believers in Christ: First, we now possess an incorruptible inheritance. Second, we shall have incorruptible bodies. And third, we shall receive an incorruptible crown.
Incorruptibility Defined
What does this word "incorruptible" mean? The word in the original language is aphthartos - "in the state of being uncorrupted, and also not subject to corruption, decay, or destruction." In other words, someone or something is not only at present in the state of incorruption, but also cannot be changed in any way by the influences of corruption.
That is the nature of our God - incorruptible and not subject to corruption. That is the nature of the Book we hold - incorruptible and not subject to corruption. That is the nature of the Savior we have - incorruptible and not subject to corruption. And that is also the nature of the blood He has offered for our sins - incorruptible and not subject to corruption.
And because those things are true of our God, of His Word, of His Son, and of His blood, that is the nature of the inheritance the believer in Christ now possesses - incorruptible. That is the nature of the bodies we shall have - incorruptible. And that is the character of the crown we shall receive - incorruptible. None of these are, or ever will be, subject to corruption.
In this series we shall look in more detail at Scripture passages that declare to us the unsurpassed value of these seven incorruptible things.
Next: Our Incorruptible God
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