The Spiritual Resurrection

“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power,” Revelation 20, verse 6.

“For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” First Corinthians 3, verse 11.

“Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light,” Ephesians 5, verse 14.

The Scriptures point out to us two resurrections: namely, a bodily resurrection from the dead at the last day, and a spiritual resurrection from sin and death to a new life and a change of heart.

That a man should die spiritually to sin, be spiritually buried, and rise again to a life of righteousness in God, is plainly taught in various parts of the Scriptures.

Paul also exhorted to the same effect: “Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness,” Ephesians 4, verses 22 to 24. “Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him,” Colossians 3, verses 9 and 10. Mortify your earthly, and so on. Before a resurrection from the dead can take place, the death of the body is necessary; and before death, sickness, pain and tribulation must come first, which tend to make death still more bitter to the flesh. Likewise in a spiritual sense, there can be no resurrection from sin and death unless this body of sin is first destroyed and buried, and has keenly felt the pain and the burden of sin, that is, sorrow of heart, remorse and a sincere repentance on account of sin, as the Scriptures plainly show. David says, “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. For your arrows stick fast in me, and your hand presses me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger, nor is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared by reason of the disquiet of my heart. O Lord, all my desire is before you, and my groaning is not hidden from you. My heart pants; my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me,” Psalm 38, verses 1 to 10. [Note 1]

Endure sorrow and distress, according to James 4, verse 9: “Be afflicted and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.” Paul says, “You were made sorry in a godly manner,” to repentance; “for godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world works death.” Seeing that you sorrowed in a godly way, what carefulness it worked in you, what clearing of yourselves, indeed, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, and what revenge!

See, this is how we must die with Christ to sin if we would be made alive with him; for none can rejoice with Christ unless he first suffers with him; for this is a sure word. Paul says, “If we are dead with him, we shall also live with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him,” Second Corinthians 2, verse 11. [Note 2]

This resurrection includes the new creature, the spiritual birth and sanctification, without which no one shall see the Lord. Paul testifies to this in a few words, saying, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” Again, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”; and this is the first resurrection. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death” (that is, through mortifying the sinful nature of earthly Adam, with all his members or wicked lusts), “we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection”; and we know that our old man is crucified with him, that the sinful body is destroyed. We keep the true sabbath in Christ by putting off the sinful body in the flesh, circumcised with the circumcision of Christ, which is done without hands; buried through baptism, in which we have also risen with him through faith, which is the operation of God. We cease from all works of the flesh, are led by the Spirit, bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, and from now on we do not serve sin. Let it suffice that we have spent our former days in the manner of the Gentiles, when we walked in vanity, wantonness, drunkenness, eating and drinking, and in abominable idolatry; and let us spend the rest of our days not according to the lusts of men, but live according to the will of God, so that we may say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2, verse 20. Therefore, “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again,” Second Corinthians 5, verse 15.

To have a more correct knowledge of this resurrection and regeneration, we must bear in mind that all creatures bring forth after their kind, and every creature shares the properties, inclinations and dispositions of that which brought it forth. As Christ says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and cannot see eternal life; and “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” life and peace, which is eternal life. That which is born of flesh, out of the earth, through corruptible seed, is carnally minded, that is, earthly; it speaks of earthly things and desires earthly and perishable things; all its thoughts, feelings and desires are directed toward earthly, temporal or visible things, such things as those of which it is born or from which it proceeds. That which is born of flesh and blood is flesh and blood, and is carnally minded; “because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” Therefore those who are carnal cannot please God; for such people are altogether deaf, blind and ignorant in divine things. A carnal man cannot grasp or comprehend divine things, for by nature he does not have that discernment; on the contrary, his mind is depraved; God is not in his mind. A carnal man cannot understand spiritual things, for he is by nature a child of the devil and is not spiritually minded; hence he comprehends nothing spiritual. For by nature he is a stranger to God; he has nothing of a divine nature dwelling in him, nor has he communion with God, but is much rather at enmity with him; he is unmerciful, unjust, unclean, not peaceable, impatient, disobedient, without understanding and unhappy. So are all men by nature, according to their birth and origin after the flesh. This is the first or old Adam, and the Scriptures sum him up in a single word, ungodly, that is, without God, a stranger to and destitute of the divine nature.

This is the nature and property of the earthly and devilish seed; for as the seed is, so is the fruit. For “whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap; for he who sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,” and bring forth fruit to death. He sins like his father, of and through whose seed he is born; for he is the father of lies, and sinned from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth. He, therefore, who sins is of the devil, for sin is not of God but of the devil; and he who sins has not seen God, nor known him. And we know that the Son of God was made manifest to take away sins and destroy the works of the devil, and through his death to deprive of power him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For by the sin of one man all were made sinners. He who sins is the servant of sin, and does the will and works of him whose servant he is and whose spirit leads him; for everyone is a servant to him whom he serves, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness; for he who does wrong shall receive according to his works. To such people Paul speaks, that they should awaken from the sleep of sin and death, so that the second death shall have no power over them, saying, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light,” Ephesians 5, verse 14.

On the other hand, all those who are born and renewed from above, out of God, through the living word, are also of the mind and disposition, and have the same inclination to good, as he of whom they are born and begotten. What the nature of God or Christ is, we may readily learn from the sacred Scriptures; for Christ has expressly portrayed himself in his word: namely, his human nature, which he would have us understand and follow; not according to his divine nature, for he is the true image of the invisible God, the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, who dwells in unspeakable light which none can approach or see; but that we follow him and conform to him in his life and walk upon earth, as shown in his words and works, so that we may thereby become partakers of his nature in the Spirit. In the Scriptures Christ is everywhere set before us as humble, meek, merciful, just, holy, wise, spiritual, long-suffering, patient, peaceable, lovely, obedient and good, as the perfection of all things; for in him there is sincerity. See, this is the image of God, or of Christ, in the Spirit, whose example we should follow until we become like it in nature and show it by our walk. All the regenerated children of God are so minded, for they share the nature of him who has begotten them; and, like the others, they are summed up in one word, namely, godly, or godly persons. They have communion with him, are of one mind and disposition with him, and have the image of God in them, as the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments abundantly show, especially in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians, where he says, “Put off the old man with his deeds,” and “put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him.” “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also must you do. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness; and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body; and be thankful,” Colossians 3, verses 9 to 15. “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”; for Christ is the image of God to which we must conform. “For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Those, therefore, who have conformed to the image of Christ Jesus are the truly regenerated children of God, and have put off the old man and put on the new, which is created after God in true righteousness and holiness. [Note 3]

When these have conformed to the image of God, have been born of God, and afterward continue in God, they will not commit sin, for the seed of God remains in them. They have overcome the world, are crucified to the world and the world to them; they have mortified their flesh and buried their sinful body with Christ in baptism, with its lusts and desires, and no longer serve sin to unrighteousness, but much more righteousness to salvation. For they have put on Christ, and are purified in their consciences through the Holy Spirit from dead works to serve the living God, bringing forth through the Spirit the fruits of the Spirit, whose end is eternal life. For since they, as said above, have renounced the devil, the flesh and the world, and have left the service of sin, they have, as faithful servants, willingly bound themselves to God with David, to live from now on according to his blessed will all their days. On the other hand, the devil and his followers, the world and the flesh, being very envious, wage war against them and are their deadly enemies. The regenerated have now become enemies of sin and the devil, and have taken the field against all their enemies with their Prince of life and faith, under the banner of the red cross, armed with the armor of God and surrounded by angels of the Lord, always watching with great care lest they be overcome by their enemies, who never slumber, but go about like roaring lions, seeking whom they may devour. And although they occasionally receive a wound and are overtaken by their enemies, still their souls remain unharmed, and this wound is not to death; for they have the anointing of God. They have the true Samaritan and the true physician with them, who binds up and heals their wounds; for he has compassion on our weakness and sickness. Through his stripes and wounds we are made whole. Nor are they so thoroughly overcome that they will throw down their weapons and surrender themselves again, to become servants of sin and be ruled by it; but, encouraged anew by the Lord and in the strength of his power, they persevere valiantly in battle until, through him by whom they can do all things, they have gloriously conquered their enemy, and say to him, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” And with Paul they say, Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. “The Lord,” says Jeremiah, “is with me as a mighty, terrible one; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail.” And they say with David, “Blessed be the Lord my strength, who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight”; and they are not moved until they have broken their enemies to pieces. “Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth; our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken, and we have escaped” from our enemies and out of the hand of those who hate us. The Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek, love and serve him; as it is written, “Behold, the Lord comes, and his reward is with him.” Indeed, his reward and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For if you serve the Lord Jesus Christ, you will receive the reward of your inheritance, the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Since, as stated above, every creature has the nature and disposition of that of which it is born, we will therefore speak a few words concerning the nature, properties and effects of the seed of the divine word, by which we are begotten in the image of God. For where this seed is sown upon good ground, into the heart of man, there it grows and produces its like in nature and property; it changes and renews the whole man, from the carnal into the spiritual, from the earthly into the heavenly; it transforms him from death to life, from unbelief to belief, and makes man blessed; for through this seed all nations upon the earth are blessed. Therefore James says, “Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” It is also the pure, unadulterated milk by which the young and newborn children of God are nourished until they attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; it is also strong food for the perfect and mature in Christ Jesus. In short, this seed of the divine word is spiritual food by which the whole inner man is sustained, so that he does not perish and faint in this wilderness and desolate world, as all must starve and faint who do not daily gather the bread of the divine word to satisfy their starving souls; for “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Therefore blessed is he who hungers after this heavenly bread and receives the engrafted word; for it will bring forth after its nature, in due time, a hundredfold. For the Lord says, “As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,” Isaiah 55, verses 10 and 11. [Note 4]

See, this is the nature, property and effects of the seed of the word of God, by which man is renewed, regenerated, sanctified and saved through this incorruptible seed, namely, the living word of God, which abides forever; and by which he is clothed with the same power from above, filled with the Holy Spirit, and so united to God, that he may become a partaker of the divine nature and be made conformable to the image of his Son, who is the first of the regenerated; and those who rose with him from the sleep and death of sin from now on serve him, not in the oldness of the letter, but in newness of the Spirit.

He who is sincere, and has this nature and disposition in his heart, has put on Christ Jesus, has become like him, has the image of God in his heart, and is spiritually minded; he is led by the Spirit in his spirit, from whose spiritual body spiritual fruits are brought forth, like a well springing up to eternal life. For they are regenerated through the word which was sown in their hearts, begotten of God and born anew to bring forth the fruit of eternal life. Therefore, as children born of God, they are like the Father, of one mind and disposition; they have the divine nature of their Father who has begotten them; their thoughts are heavenly, their words are truth, well seasoned, their good works are holy, acceptable to God and man; for they are holy vessels of honor, useful and ready for every good work.

Paul exhorts those who are born of the corruptible seed of flesh and blood, who are earthly, carnal, without understanding and blind in divine things, indeed, children of wrath, that they should die to sin, mortify and bury the lusts and desires of the flesh, and then rise by virtue of the heavenly seed from the sleep and death of sin, and be regenerated and walk in newness of life, which is the first resurrection, saying, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” Even so he also admonishes all regenerated children of God, who have been changed in mind and disposition through the eternal saving seed of God, who have been regenerated and have risen, that they should be godly, spiritually and heavenly minded, and strive for and desire heavenly, incorruptible things; and that their heart should be where their treasure is, and their conversation in heaven, as fellow saints of the house of God. He tells them, “If then you have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then you also shall appear with him in glory,” Colossians 3, verses 1 to 4. Here we have an account of how the regenerated children of God, who have risen with Christ from the dead and now live with him, are occupied with heavenly things, and appear to the world as not living, for their life is hidden in God; as Saint John says, “Now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is,” First John 3, verse 2.

With these and similar words the Scriptures admonish the truly regenerated and those who have risen to take heed to their calling and continue perfect in a new, godly walk. For if they have been made partakers of Christ, they should persevere to the end, lest they again depart from the living God through the deceitfulness of sin and an evil heart of unbelief; and they should remain steadfast and perfect, as the chosen children of God, and inherit the kingdom of their Father, and reign in eternity and rule over sin, death, devil and hell, and all the enemies of the kingdom, whom they overcome with Christ as valiant men. Therefore they will also sit with Christ at the table of the Lord, and eat the bread and drink the wine of the kingdom of heaven, even as Christ overcame and sits with his Father in his kingdom, which is prepared for them, like a well-fortified city, free from all care about their enemies, in full rest, full of life and joy; for they eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of Paradise. This pleasure garden is ever closed to the unregenerated, who are still earthly and carnally minded, and who by nature still have the veil and partition wall of sin before their hearts.

These are they who died with Christ to sin and have truly risen; they are the newborn, to whom the power is given to become the sons of God. They were redeemed out of all nations; they have on the wedding garments for the marriage of the Lamb; they have received the sign TAU on their foreheads, by which the servants of God are marked. These are the spiritual bride of Christ, his holy church, his spiritual body, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. They have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, which came down from heaven; they have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. They are fellow citizens in the household of God, who have put off the corruptible garment and put on the incorruptible; they have acknowledged the name of God, and kept his commandments and the faith of Jesus. They are the true sheep of Christ, who hear his voice and follow no other; the firstfruits of his creatures, who have the Spirit and mind of Christ, and therefore they know what the will of the Lord is. Indeed, they are the chosen generation, the spiritual and royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, who in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, for God had compassion on them. These are the souls who were slain for the word of God, under the altar. [Note 5]

In short, with them old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new; but all this is of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. These are they who stand before the throne of God with palms in their hands, clothed in white, saying, “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen,” Revelation 7, verse 12.

This is a short instruction concerning the spiritual resurrection or new birth, and the difference between the natural and the spiritual, between the earthly and the heavenly; and how everyone is disposed and inclined, and of what mind he is, according to his birth or origin; and that he is of the same disposition, of the same mind and of the same nature as that of which he is born, which begot him. For the natural man is not spiritual, nor is that which is born of flesh and blood the spiritual birth of God from heaven; but like produces like. As the natural man is, so are those who are naturally born. As God is, who is a Spirit and dwells in heaven, so also are those who are spiritually born from heaven, who far surpass those naturally born of flesh.

Here, as in a mirror, one may view and examine himself, and judge of what birth, mind, disposition, nature, life and conduct he is. For here a man, by taking a little trouble, can judge and prove himself; for a man’s walk, words and actions, and the thoughts of his heart, all show what he is. For a man knows himself best, and no one knows what is in a man except the spirit which is in him.

Again: all those, therefore, who on proving themselves find that they are not renewed and regenerated after their first birth according to the flesh, in mind, understanding, spirit and disposition, but are still altogether carnally, earthly, worldly and devilishly minded, and from their depraved, inborn nature are prone and willing to do all manner of evil, should humble themselves before God with Jeremiah, saying, Let us examine and prove our ways, and let us turn to the Lord; let us lift up our hands and hearts to God in heaven, and say, We have sinned before heaven and in your sight, and have provoked your wrath. Let us weep and let our eyes run over with water, and say with David, “O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker”; and let us entreat him to make glad the work of his hands and renew us whom he created. Let us humbly entreat him for his Spirit, which is the great cause of all this, and say, Lord, send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth. And so let them continue in prayer and in their longing for God until they are clothed with the power of the Spirit from on high, converted and renewed in the spirit of their mind, and say with astonishment, This is the change wrought by the right hand of God, the Most High, Psalm 104, verse 30; Psalm 95, verse 6.

Let those also who on examining themselves find that they are born from above by the grace of God, that they are new creatures in Christ, and have become a temple of God, take heed to themselves according to the counsel of the Scriptures, so that, since they are washed, purified, regenerated and sanctified, they do not defile themselves again and pollute the temple of God; for if any man defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him. They pray in the spirit with sure confidence to God their Father, with David, O God, strengthen us and confirm in us that which you have worked in us! And he will hear in his holy temple, according to his promise; for he is faithful who has begun the good work in you; he will also perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Peter says, “Give all diligence to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things are in you and abound, they make you neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he who lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Therefore, brothers, give all the more diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if you do these things, you shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Second Peter 1, verses 5 to 11.

May the God of all grace, who will gather all his chosen into his kingdom in the last resurrection, grant us such hearts, minds and dispositions that we, through true faith, may die to ourselves, deny and renounce ourselves, so that we may have part in the first resurrection spoken of here. This resurrection does not take place in the bodily resurrection from the dead, as will be the case in the other resurrection at the last day; but this resurrection consists only in dying to, mortifying and burying the sinful body by putting off and dying to the old life, and in rising and being received into a new, divine conduct and a pious life. Amen.

Here, kind reader, you have a brief instruction on the first, or Spiritual, Resurrection from death, or the sleep of sin, and also some reasons to awaken and arise, and from now on to live a new, godly, pious, blameless life according to the example of Jesus Christ, as the Scriptures abundantly instruct us, and as is partly related here. For the Father himself in heaven directs us to Christ, and says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.” He says, You shall hear him. Moses also testifies of him, and says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen”; and “every soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people,” Deuteronomy 18, verse 15; Acts 3, verse 23.

So we counsel and admonish all in general, of whatever name, rank, class or condition, that they would be pleased to take good heed to the word of the Lord, which we have briefly presented here according to our limited gift. I hope, by the grace of God, that you will find nothing in it but the infallible truth of Jesus Christ; for we have not directed you to men, nor to the doctrine or commands of men, but only to Jesus Christ and to his holy word, which he taught and left upon earth, and sealed with his blood and death, and afterward had proclaimed throughout the world by his faithful witnesses and holy apostles.

Besides this, we say that all doctrines which do not agree with the doctrine of Jesus Christ and his apostles, however fair in appearance, are accursed. For his word is the truth, and his command is eternal life. Therefore we kindly entreat you from our inmost souls that you be pleased to accept and read with an understanding heart this our Instruction concerning the Spiritual Resurrection and New Creature, and compare and prove it with the doctrines of the apostles; if it does not agree with theirs, let it be accursed. “For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”