He points to restoring of the nation of Israel as a nation as being a resurrection, but the restoring or resurrection of Israel as a nation is not the resurrection of the New Testament. Bring the nation of Israel out of captivity is not the resurrecting of even one person to eternal life or immortality. It was not even a resurrection of a nation to immortality or to eternal life. Not one person was resurrected from the dead in A. D. 70, not even Abraham or David. It is not even close to being the resurrection taught in the New Testament. "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life." Ezekiel 37:5 is speaking of a nation being restored as a nation, the people of Israel were already alive but in captivity, it was the nation that was being restored to their land and coming to life as a nation many years before A. D. 70, this is not of the resurrection of a single person that was dead; there is nothing in it about anyone or any nation being given immortality. The resurrection taught in the New Testament is not the resurrection of a nation (restoring that nation only for a short time), but is the resurrection of individuals to eternal life, and there is nothing like it in the Old Testament. There is nothing in 1 Corinthians 15, or any of the New Testament about the resurrection of fleshly bodies at the coming of Christ. No one put on immortality in A. D. 70, and no one's corruptible (fleshly) bodies were changed to incorruption, and all that were living in A. D. 70 was still subject to death and all died, all Christians still die; death was not "swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54), as it will be at the coming of Christ. If Paul were not speaking of a resurrection that will come after this lifetime, then when he said, "Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished," then they had perished (depicting a process that had pass before Paul wrote this, not an on going process; they had perished– died before he wrote, not were perishing– dying at the time he wrote) (1 Corinthians 15:18).
1. He was speaking of some Corinthians that had died past tense.
2. These Corinthians that had died was dead present tense at the time Paul was writing this letter in about A. D. 57.
3. But these dead Corinthians would be raised, future tense, with a spiritual body at the coming of Christ.
Paul was not speaking of restoring a nation, or a resurrection that had passed, or a resurrection that was taking place at that time, but of the resurrection to life and immortality of individuals, those in Christ that die before He comes, a resurrection that will not take place unto the coming of Christ. At the coming of Christ, all the saved that have died ("fallen asleep") "the dead in Christ shall rise," and all the living saints will be changed, both at the same time shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and shall "ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 3:14-17); this did not happen in A. D. 70, and those who are fallen asleep are not yet with Christ. Paul says the resurrection of those who are asleep in Christ, and putting on immortality by those who are living will both be at the same moment, both in the twinkling of an eye. Realized eschatology says, "Not so Paul, the resurrection of the Old Testament saint was in A. D. 70, but there will be no resurrection for us as we will be changed at the moment of death, both are not in the same moment." If all were transformed (receives a "spiritual body" in which they will dwell in both (1) immediately (2) and for eternally at the moment of death) then nothing is resurrected; there would be no resurrection for anyone after A. D. 70. According to them, the only resurrection in the Bible was at A. D. 70 and it is passed. There will be no resurrection and Judgment Day for anyone. "Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him...Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who concerning the truth have erred, saying the resurrection is past already" (2 Timothy 10-19). Israel was not delivered or restored in A. D. 70, but was judged and destroyed. There is nothing in 1 Corinthians 15, Matthew 24, or any passage about Israel being resurrected or restored in A. D. 70.
On page 6 he said, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life." Ezekiel 37 refers to the death of Israel, then he said, West is absolutely right that the word resurrection isn't there, but what word should we call the process whereby Israel was dead, and God's purpose was to bring them to life. Dawson needs to see that when the Old Testament speaks of restoring or resurrecting a nation to life as a nation that would die again, it is not speaking of the resurrection to eternal life or even a resurrection of one dead person in A. D. 70. (1) Not one dead person was restored to life and given immortality. (2) There is no promise that anyone would ever be given immortality in the Old Testament. No nation, not even Israel, will ever be given immortality; but the saved individuals of all nations will at the resurrection. How can he not see that the resurrection or restoring of Israel as a nation for only a short time in Ezekiel 37 is nothing like the resurrection of individuals to immortality Paul was speaking of in 1 Corinthians 15? When Israel was restored as a nation after the seventy-year captivity in Daniel, it was not even the same individuals in "the resurrection" of the nation that was in Israel before the captivity from which the nation was resurrected. One group of Jews went into the captivity, and Israel died as a nation, another group of Jews came out of the captivity when Israel were restored or resurrected as a nation.
· Not one dead Jew was resurrected.
· Not resurrected to life on this earth, or resurrected to life in Heaven.
The many restorations of Israel as a nation from captivity in the Old Testament, which was one hundred percent physical earthly restoring of a nation, is not the resurrection to eternal life for those who are in Christ, not the resurrection OF THE DEAD in 1 Corinthians 15. Israel went into captivity and was restored or resurrected as a nation, past tenses, many times in the Old Testament, but not one dead person was resurrected to eternal life in any of the resurrections or restoring of Israel as a nation; there is nothing said in any of Israel's resurrection or restoring as a nation about any person ever being resurrected or given immortality; not ever David or Abraham was resurrected in any of them. IF THE RESURRECTION WERE ONLY RESTORING A NATION AS A NATION, THEN IT IS NOT A RESURRESTION OF DEAD PERSONS, AND THE DEAD HAS NO HOPE OF LIFE AFTER DEATH.
Page 89: Samuel said, "We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed” is a time statement; by, “We shall not all sleep,” he says Paul affirmed that not all of those in Corinth were going to die physically before the resurrection happened.
(1) If Paul were saying not all would die physically before the resurrection happened in A. D. 70,
(2) Then he was also saying all those in Corinth and all living Christians would be changed from physical bodies to spiritual bodies when the resurrection did happen in A. D. 70. Living Christians was not changed at that time, and both Christians and non-Christians still had physical bodies after A. D.70 just as they did before A. D 70, and all still have physical bodies today. This teaching would have made the church on earth go out of existence on earth in A. D. 70 for all Christians would have been changed from earthly bodies to spiritual bodies. No one will have the spiritual body before the resurrection; All living Christians living in A. D. 70 lived on with an unchanged physical body, some lived for years after A. D. 70, without having been changed to a “spiritual body.” Read this that he called a "time statement" in the context, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). Samuel was right when he said this is a time statement, but the "time" is when "the trumpet shall sound." At the sound of the trumpet two things happen in the same moment:
1. "The dead shall be raised incorruptible," all those in Christ that die before Christ comes,
2. AND those that are alive when Christ comes "shall be changed."
· Both (1) the living, (2) and the dead, even those that were already dead when Paul wrote this shall be changed in the same moment, both the living and the dead in the same twinkling of an eye, both the living and the dead at the sound of the same trumpet, and both in the same moment.
· All living Christians will be changed from physical bodies to spiritual bodies in the same moment that the dead are resurrected with spiritual bodies.
· Both will them be the same with spiritual bodies, but will not have earthly bodies.
If this had happened in A. D. 70, there would have been no Christians for the Romans to put to death; there would have been no church left on this earth. He changed, "and we shall all be changed" to "not all of those in Corinth were going to die physically before A. D. 70 when the resurrection would happened" with nothing happening to those who were alive in A. D. 70, they would not take part in the resurrection, they would not " all be changed in a moment;" in other words according to him the living Christians were not resurrected at all; they lived without any change, just as they lived before A. D. 70. If I understand him, he says the living Christians in Corinth were not going to be "all be changed in a moment," but each one changed in a different moment, the moment of their death, which for many of them would not be in A. D. 70, and that he thinks each Christian is changed to a spiritual body at a different moment than all other Christians. On page 57 he again changed the “we” to “them” in the "we shall all be changed in a moment;" the “we” change to “them” to only being the Old Covenant faithful being taken from the unseen Hadean state into the presence of Christ would be changed in the twinkling of an eye. It seems that Paul's "we that are live" must be changed to "them that are dead." "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we (them?) shall all (only all of "them," not "we") be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51). Does he think the first "we" is us but the second "we" them? If the first "we" is "them," some of the "them" did not all sleep, then some of the Old Covenant faithful was alive when Paul was writing this in A. D. 67 or 68, the Old Covenant faithful were alive before A. D. 70.
"But, some one will ask, how are the dead raised? And with what manner of body do they come" (1 Corinthians 15:35). Paul was reassuring the Corinthians that the Corinthians that had "fallen asleep in Christ" had not perished, that their hope of the resurrection did not depend on them being alive at the time of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:18-19). Dawson asked who were these “dead ones,” then said they were the same Old Covenant dead ones Paul discussed throughout the chapter. Then he said when we change who the "we" were, we totally miss the time element in Paul's teaching. Then he changed the "we" from "we" to "them"; he changes from the ones Paul was writing to at Corinth about those in Corinth about there loved one who had fallen asleep "in Christ" to those who had been dead for many years before Christ; he changed the "we" to “them,” to Abraham and all the Old Testament saints. He totally miss the time element in Paul's teaching by changing the "we" from those who were alive at the time Paul was writing to them, to those who had been dead for many years. The "dead ones" (he added “ones,” “dead ones” is not in the Greek) are the loved ones of the Corinthians that had fallen asleep in Christ, not Old Testament saints who are not even mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. On pages 85 -88 he attempts to make the "natural body" be Old Testament Israel and the "spiritual body" be the new Israel; when he makes Israel be the "natural body" and the church be the "spiritual body," he takes the resurrection of the dead out of I Corinthians 15, any resurrection, even Old Testament saints, all individual persons being resurrected is taken out of 1 Corinthians 15 and replaced with Old Testament Israel and the Church; he sometimes has dead Old Testament saints be resurrected in A. D. 70 and sometimes Old Testament Israel already resurrected when Paul was writing 1 Corinthians 15 before A. D. 70. In about A. D. 57, 13 years before A. D. 70, he has the old Israel being sown a natural body, it is being raised a spiritual body. Paul said, "And as WE HAVE borne the image of the earthly (Adam, 15:45 a natural or earthly corruptible body), WE SHALL also bear the image of the heavenly (Christ, a spiritual incorruptible body)" (1 Corinthians 15:49). He changes the "we have borne" to "is being sown" and "we shall also bear the image" to "is being raised." Then changes "we" (us) to "it" (Israel). He changes from Israel (a nation) being raised to Old Testament saints, but he has no resurrection for the Corinthians that had fallen asleep, he seems to have taken them completely out of 1 Corinthians 15.
On page 77 he said, Paul Literally, asked, “How are the dead ones being raised?” 1 Corinthians 15 was written about 13 years before A. D. 70, – 13 years before he says Christ came, 13 years before he says the Old Covenant saints were raised he has Paul asking, “How are the dead ones being raised”? Did he forget that he had used, "Then they that are Christ's at His coming," and he applied this to the resurrection of the Old Covenant faithful? Did he forget that he had applied, "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we (them-Old Testament saints-Dawson) shall all (them-Old Testament saints-Dawson) be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51). Yet, he has them being raised 13 years before the moment, before the twinkling of an eye. On page 85 he said, "Literally, it (Israel) is “is being sown a natural body, it is being raised a spiritual body." Is he is not saying both that (1) Old Covenant saints were being sown (were dying at the time Paul was writing) with a natural body, (2) and Old Covenant saints were being raised with a spiritual body about 13 years before he says Christ came a second time, about 13 years before he says the resurrection occurred. Does he really believe Old Covenant saints were being sown with a natural body in about A. D. 57 when Paul was writing this? "Presently 'is being raised'" is used on page 91 and throughout the 110 pages. He puts is being raised in quotation marks, but who was being quoted? Not Paul, he said, "Shall be raised incorruptible" (future tense) (1 Corinthians 15:52). Presently “is being raised” (present tense) is in no translation but his and then it puts the resurrection as taking place 13 years to soon for the Realized Eschatology view that the resurrection took place in A. D. 70.
DEAD ONES
“One” is translated from eight different words in the Greek, Wigram’s Greek Concordance, page 915.
1. Alleelon—not used in 1 Corinthians 15
2. Hem—not used in 1 Corinthians 15
3. Heteros—used two times in 15:40
a. “The glory of the celestial is one (heteros).”
b. “There is one (heteros) glory of the sun.”
4. Mis—not used in 1 Corinthians 15
5. Tikto—used 5 times, translated “some” in most translations. Of the many times it is used throughout the New Testament, mostly it is translated “some,” a few times it is translated “one” as in Luke 11:1, “After He had finished, one (tikto—mostly translated some—“some (tikto) of His disc