This Special Issue presents definitions and explanations of beliefs held by the Unamended Community, with specific attention to the topics of:
Adamic Condemnation
In Adam / In Christ
The Lord's Involvement in His Own Sacrifice
Resurrection to Judgment, and
Resurrectional Responsibility.
It is the purpose of this section to provide a quick overview of the fundamental and essential points within these first principles of faith. Although the referenced articles spell out these Biblical beliefs in detail, there is advantage in presenting the subjects in a concise format for quick reference and review, as follows:
Adamic Condemnation
Adam was created "very good" and placed in the Garden of Eden, under a law that promised death for disobedience. (Genesis 2:17)
Adam broke that law and was sentenced to return unto the dust, a sentence that "in effect defiled and became a physical law of his being, and was transmitted to all his posterity." (Genesis 3:15-19; John 3:6; Romans 5:12; 7:18-25, BUSF Prop. V)
The condemnation pronounced in Eden left the race in a state of alienation from Divine favor, consisting of a legal defilement (Ephesians 2:11-12), as well as a physical and moral defilement (i.e. proneness to sin). (Job 25:4; Romans 7:20, 23-24) Men can be freed from the legal defilement through the blood of the covenant by baptism in this dispensation, through which they become adopted sons and daughters of God, "made alive" through the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" Deliverance from the physical and moral defilement will not be granted until those approved at the judgment seat of Christ put on immortality and incorruption (Romans 6: 3-4; 8:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:22,53; Galatians 4:5; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Although Adam's posterity come under the condemnation to death and are thereby born in sin and alienated by nature from God, they are not guilty of Adam's sin. Nevertheless, both sin nature as well as personal sin require atonement, defined in scripture as justification to life, offered freely to all who believe and obey. (Romans 5:16-18; 6:6-7)
The term "Adamic condemnation" presents a scriptural truth literally identified in Romans as "by one to condemnation", a reference to the offence and condemnation of the first man Adam. In the same manner in which Adam's posterity inherit condemnation and death "by the offence of one", "even so by the righteous of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." (Romans 5:16,18; 1 Corinthians 15:22)
In Adam / In Christ
There are two constitutions of people on the earth with different standings before God, referred to as the flesh (identified as carnal and dead), - or as spirit, (identified as spiritual and living.) These two constitutions are spiritually determined / defined and are mutually exclusive, as one cannot be in both at the same time. (1 Corinthians 15:22-23; Romans 8:1-9)
Men are born naturally into Adam and into the constitution of sin, in which they are scripturally described as "aliens", "having no hope, and without God in the world." To escape this condemnation, men must by belief and obedience enter into Christ. (Romans 5:12, 6-18; 6:3-5; Ephesians 2:3,12-13)
"In Adam, all die: in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22)
The way to life was made possible by the obedience and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman; though in possession of sinful flesh, he offered himself as a "sacrifice for sin" and "condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:1-3; Hebrews 10:14)
We enter into Christ through baptism "into his death", and thereby become "Abraham's seed" and "heirs according to the promise". (Galatians 3:27,29; Ephesians 2:19-22; Hebrews 6:12-17)
Baptism not only brings us into Christ, it removes the legal defilement freeing us from the condemnation to death and permanent hold of the grave (Romans 8:1-2), it reconciles us to God (Romans 5:10-11;1 John 1:3), our personal sins are forgiven (Acts 22:16; Romans 6:7; Revelation 1:5), and as sons and daughters of God, we have access to His throne through Christ - our mediator and the high priest over the house of God (Hebrews 5:10; 10:10; 1 Timothy 2:5)
In Christ we are called to "glory and virtue", admonished to walk "in newness of life", and to "present our bodies a living sacrifice", in the hope that we "might be partakers of the divine nature". (Romans 6:4; 12:1; 2 Peter 1:3-4)
The Lord's Involvement in His Own Sacrifice
As a result of Adam's sin, God "cursed the ground for thy sake"; thereby cursing human nature and condemning men to return to the ground, "for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:17, 19)
Though Christ was the only begotten Son of God, the sacrifice of Christ is inseparably tied to his nature as a representative son of Adam, who "came in the flesh". (Romans 1:3-4; 2 John 7)
As the promised "seed of the woman", Christ's sacrifice was "for our sins according to the scriptures", indicating his offering was foretold and expounded upon in Old Testament prophecy. (Isaiah 53:5, 10; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Titus 2:13-14)
These same testaments prophesy that his offering was "also for himself" and that as a son of Adam, a "partaker of flesh and blood", he was made "a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death", and thereby, "he also himself likewise took part of the same". (Hebrews 2;9, 14-15; 5:1-3)
Christ was a representative of the race, not a substitute. Through his life of perfect obedience and his acceptable sacrifice, Christ "entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption", becoming the "forerunner" and the one to show us "a new and living way". (Hebrews 2:10; 6:20; 9:12; 10:20)
The necessity of Christ offering for himself is prefigured in the type of the high priest on the Day of Atonement who offered sacrifice for himself as for the people, and by the curse of the Mosaic Law that came upon him as a result of being hanged upon a tree. (Hebrews 5:1-3; Galatians 3:13)
Men deny Christ when they "confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh"; they may also deny the sacrificial work of Christ for himself as well as for others by living in a manner unworthy of that sacrifice. (2 John7; 2 Peter 2:1; Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:29)
Resurrection to Judgment
The validity as well as the importance of resurrection is emphasized in scripture as the means by which those "asleep" in covenant will be called forth to judgment and reward. Without resurrection all men perish in death. (Acts 26:8; 1 Corinthians 15:17-18; 1 Thessalonians 4:14)
The word "resurrection" in scripture comes primarily from the Greek word anastasis, which is literally "a standing or rising up", meaning rising to life / returning to life after death. The dead in Christ will be raised in a natural body - a corruptible flesh and blood state, and those found worthy will then be raised to a spiritual body - a change to spirit nature / immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:44, 53-54)
The resurrection will occur "at the latter day", at "a time of trouble such as never was", when Christ returns to judge his household and "restore again" God's kingdom. Though we do not know the "time or the season" when Christ will return, we are told to "watch" in patience and faithfulness. (Job 19:25-26; Daniel 12:1-3; Acts 1:6-7; Revelation 16:15)
The subjects of the resurrection consist of the two classes that make up Christ's household, referred to in scripture as the just and the unjust, the faithful and unfaithful, the wheat and the tares, and the sheep and the goats. Resurrection is the promise to those in covenant and on probation, for it is they who "must appear...that everyone may receive...according to that he hath done..." (Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 2:5-7; 2 Corinthians 5:10)
Jesus Christ is the judge to whom his servants must give account. His judgment will not be after the "sight of his eyes", nor "the hearing of his ears", but with the "spirit of the Lord". His judgment of his household is different from the judgments to be inflicted upon the nations, in which the saints shall have the honor of participating, in preparation for the millennial reign. (Psalm 149:7-9; John 5:22; Isaiah 11:2-5; Revelation 20:4)
Resurrectional Responsibility
It is the "blood of the covenant" that brings believers forth from the grave for the purpose of judgment. (Psalm 50:5; Zechariah 9:11-12; Hebrews 13:20)
We become associated with that life giving blood through baptism, at which point we "put on Christ" and enter into the everlasting covenant becoming "heirs according to the promise." (Romans 6:4-5; Galatians 3:27-29; 1 Peter 1:18-19)
We are released from the condemnation and hold of death when we enter into Christ and are constituted servants of God and members of His household. (Romans 8:2; Ephesians 2:13,19)
Having been released from the hold of eternal death, those who die in covenant relationship are scripturally described not as dead, but "asleep...in Christ". They are awaiting the resurrection and are accountable to the judgment seat of Christ, along with the living servants. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:17-19; 2 Corinthians 5:10)
Those who die "in Adam", are scripturally described as "perished" and have no part in the call to resurrection and judgment under the "law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ". (John 3:16; Romans 8:1-7)
The scriptures plainly reveal that only those in covenant relationship have release from the grave through the blood of the covenant, and are certain to appear at the judgment seat of Christ. The resurrection from the dead of any others would have to be on a different basis and for a different purpose. God has brought specific individuals back from death for purposes other than judgment in the past and it is possible He may do so in the future. As we do not know the will of God in this regard, the possibility of any outside of covenant being released from the grave is not for us to determine and is therefore not a principle of our faith. The principles of resurrection and judgment beyond what has been divinely revealed are entirely subject to the will of God. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" (Romans 11:33-34)