"The scriptures cannot be broken", we are told, so any apparent contradictions in its pages are a result from our not understanding what we are reading, or sometimes a result of variations between scripture versions. The Christian majority believes that a "translation" type of change for the bodies of LIVING believers who have not yet died is supposed to occur when they see Christ return. This mistaken belief is a direct contradiction of the Hebrews 9:27 text. All of mankind is appointed to die the ONE TIME, with a judgment which comes after that death. There is actually not a single scripture that teaches a translation-type of change for the bodies of LIVING believers when Christ returns. Only a change for the bodies of DEAD believers in a resurrection to incorruptibility.
Not even I Thessalonians 4 teaches a "translation" type of change for the living (when Paul described just how the coming "rapture" event would occur). The passage about the "living and remaining" believers who would be caught up together with the resurrected saints makes absolutely no mention whatever of their being "translated" before they are caught up to meet the Lord together in the air. It is PRESUMED that these "living" ones are "translated", but scripture never says that is what happens to them. That is because these "living and REMAINING" saints Paul spoke of were those such as the Matthew 27:52-53 saints who in that first century had ALREADY been resurrected to life and been given their change to incorruptibility, but who had "remained" on earth to serve Christ "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ..." (Ephesians 4:8-12). Those "First-fruits" resurrected saints from Matt. 27:52-53 were still living among the believers, as Paul told the Roman believers in Romans 8:23. That's not the "Fruit of the Spirit" of love, joy, peace, etc. Paul was speaking about there. It's something else entirely. The "FIRST-fruits of the Spirit" that the Roman believers had among them were those 144,000 First-fruits saints raised to life along with "Christ the First-fruits" in the First resurrection of AD 33. They had been reserved for a special purpose, and had "remained" on earth; still present and circulating among the churches in those first-century days just prior to Christ's soon-promised return.
Neither did Paul teach a translation-type of change in I Corinthians 15:51-55 when he gave details about the change of the bodies of DEAD believers at Christ's return. When Paul told the Corinthians, "We shall *NOT* ALL sleep, but we shall all be changed" he was reassuring the believers that NONE OF THEM would remain behind sleeping in the grave at Christ's return, but that ALL of the dead believers would then be changed into incorruptible, resurrected body forms at that time. This verse has mistakenly been taken to imply that "We shall not all have died by the time Christ returns, but dead or alive, we believers shall all be either changed from death to an incorruptible state or will be translated into that state, depending on whether we have died or not."
It is simple to refute this misunderstanding of the way this I Cor. 15:51 verse reads by comparing it with another verse that is phrased exactly the same way in I John 2:19. Speaking of the anti-christs who had gone out from among the church members, John said "...they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were *NOT* ALL OF US." If we were consistent in interpreting this "NOT ALL" phrase in I John 2:19 the very same way I Cor. 15:51 is usually interpreted, would that mean that SOME of those anti-christs actually were an EXCEPTION to John's statement? Certainly not. John meant that their going out from the church manifested that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THOSE ANTI-CHRIST TYPES truly belonged as part of the assembly. No exceptions. In the same way, I Cor. 15:51's phrase "We shall *NOT* ALL sleep..." meant that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM WOULD SLEEP at Christ's return, but that ALL of the believers sleeping in the grave - without an exception - would be changed in a moment into the incorruptible state at the resurrection.
The rapture doctrine as commonly interpreted needs a bit of revision to remain true to other scripture...
Not even I Thessalonians 4 teaches a "translation" type of change for the living (when Paul described just how the coming "rapture" event would occur). The passage about the "living and remaining" believers who would be caught up together with the resurrected saints makes absolutely no mention whatever of their being "translated" before they are caught up to meet the Lord together in the air. It is PRESUMED that these "living" ones are "translated", but scripture never says that is what happens to them. That is because these "living and REMAINING" saints Paul spoke of were those such as the Matthew 27:52-53 saints who in that first century had ALREADY been resurrected to life and been given their change to incorruptibility, but who had "remained" on earth to serve Christ "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ..." (Ephesians 4:8-12). Those "First-fruits" resurrected saints from Matt. 27:52-53 were still living among the believers, as Paul told the Roman believers in Romans 8:23. That's not the "Fruit of the Spirit" of love, joy, peace, etc. Paul was speaking about there. It's something else entirely. The "FIRST-fruits of the Spirit" that the Roman believers had among them were those 144,000 First-fruits saints raised to life along with "Christ the First-fruits" in the First resurrection of AD 33. They had been reserved for a special purpose, and had "remained" on earth; still present and circulating among the churches in those first-century days just prior to Christ's soon-promised return.
Neither did Paul teach a translation-type of change in I Corinthians 15:51-55 when he gave details about the change of the bodies of DEAD believers at Christ's return. When Paul told the Corinthians, "We shall *NOT* ALL sleep, but we shall all be changed" he was reassuring the believers that NONE OF THEM would remain behind sleeping in the grave at Christ's return, but that ALL of the dead believers would then be changed into incorruptible, resurrected body forms at that time. This verse has mistakenly been taken to imply that "We shall not all have died by the time Christ returns, but dead or alive, we believers shall all be either changed from death to an incorruptible state or will be translated into that state, depending on whether we have died or not."
It is simple to refute this misunderstanding of the way this I Cor. 15:51 verse reads by comparing it with another verse that is phrased exactly the same way in I John 2:19. Speaking of the anti-christs who had gone out from among the church members, John said "...they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were *NOT* ALL OF US." If we were consistent in interpreting this "NOT ALL" phrase in I John 2:19 the very same way I Cor. 15:51 is usually interpreted, would that mean that SOME of those anti-christs actually were an EXCEPTION to John's statement? Certainly not. John meant that their going out from the church manifested that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THOSE ANTI-CHRIST TYPES truly belonged as part of the assembly. No exceptions. In the same way, I Cor. 15:51's phrase "We shall *NOT* ALL sleep..." meant that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM WOULD SLEEP at Christ's return, but that ALL of the believers sleeping in the grave - without an exception - would be changed in a moment into the incorruptible state at the resurrection.
The rapture doctrine as commonly interpreted needs a bit of revision to remain true to other scripture...
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