Part 12 of 25
Three
Levels of Deliverance
Paul
and his co-workers suffered many difficulties, such as coming close
to death, in their travels and effort to spread the mystery
“gospel of the grace of God” (Acts
20:24) that Jesus gave to
Paul for us. Here we see mention of the “trouble” that came to
Paul and his co-workers.
2
Cor. 1:8-9 For we would not,
brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us
in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength,
insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9But
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, (so) that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Paul
mentions three levels of deliverance as
relates to the troubles believers will endure. In the following verses we
see that Paul speaks of “deliverance” that was working in his life in
three ways; 1) “delivered”
(past tense), 2) “…doth deliver” (present
tense) and 3) will “yet deliver”
(future tense).
These
three “deliverances” apply to three parts of man’s being, his
spirit, soul, and body (1Thes 5:23), occurring at three differing times.
as it now is in the life of all Christians.
2
Cor. 1:10
Who
delivered us (Who
has delivered us by flowing His life to us in our spirit)
from so great a death,
and
doth deliver (Who
is continuing to deliver us by flowing His life to us in soul):
in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us
(Who will
yet deliver us by His resurrection life manifested as our new
incorruptible “spirit-bodies” - see v9b)
I
interpret these three levels of deliverance as follow.
1)
At our rebirth our human spirit
was delivered by regeneration (Titus 3:5), by the “spirit
of life in Christ Jesus”; thus our spirit is now totally delivered
(1Cor 6:17,
Col
1:27).
2)
While we live our life on earth our
soul is “being delivered” - it is being “renewed”
(2Cor 4:16, Rom 12:1-2). Thus, Paul commends us to be renewed in our soul’s
mindset or attitude.
Philippians
2:5 Let this same attitude and
purpose and
[humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus:
3)
We as Christians are yet
to “be delivered” in body - in the
twinkling of an eye we will exchange these corruptible bodies for
incorruptible spirit bodies (1Cor 15:52). Philip. 3:21
Who shall change (metaschematizo, transfigure) our vile (earthly) body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to
the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto
himself.
Mankind
has been dead toward God, much as we might say a phone line is said to be
dead. There had been a break or
cessation of communication and relationship between fallen man and God
since the fall of Adam; Sin had separated mankind from God.
1)
All mankind is born into this
world “dead in spirit” toward God, since sin in his being has
made him unable to live righteously. Due to the effects of sin in man’s
being, fallen man is strong toward sin and weak toward righteousness. If
we deny this we lie or we’re burying our head in the sand.
2)
Our bodies have a sentence of
death in them. The death rate is still unchanged – one per person. These
vile bodies will one day be exchanged for a glorious body like unto
Jesus’ resurrected body. Romans 5:12 Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Sin
works death in us completely, 1 Cor. 15:56a “The sting of death is
sin.” Thus, we see that Christ came that we might have His
resurrection life (Gk, Zoë, spirit life) and have His life more
abundantly (John 10:10) – that is His life is to permeate our entire
being, eradicating death in our spirit and our soul, and then yielding our
new spirit-body.
So
what is it that we are we being delivered of or delivered from
in the three parts of our being? We see in 2Cor 1:9 (above) that Paul is
speaking of deliverance from of “the sentence of death.”
We were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1b). God
delivered us by depositing the life of His Son into our spirit (
Col
1:27. God has already regenerated us in spirit, (Titus 3:5) by depositing
Christ’s “spirit of life” into our spirit (1Cor 6:17). We
were made alive in our spirit where we had “been dead in trespasses
and sins”
“And
you hath he quickened (Gk. zao, made alive),
who were dead in trespasses and sins;” (Ephesians 2:1)
Christ’s
life in our spirit is now flowing to renew and bring life to our soul, delivering
us from the mindset of the flesh which ends in death. Romans
8:6a For to be carnally minded is death…He
is now making us alive in soul by bringing us to renew our mindset to
trust Him in all things. Romans 8:6 … to be spiritually
minded is life and peace.
Now
we also look forward to the day when our physical death will be swallowed
up of His life. He will “yet deliver” our body by making
it incorruptible.
1
Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality (eternal life), then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
The
life of Christ we received into our spirit at the moment of our rebirth
has forever enlivened and is “sanctifying us completely, in (our) spirit
soul and body” (1Thes 5:13). Christ’s life is fully
dealing with the sentence of death within His own.
Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:10 For
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by