Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 1:10; 2:8; Acts 2:24; Heb. 2:9, 14; 7:16
Ⅰ
“Our Savior Christ Jesus, who nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel”—2 Tim. 1:10:
A
In 2 Timothy 1:10 Paul tells us that Christ nullified death:
１
This means that Christ made death of none effect through His devil-destroying death (Heb. 2:14) and death-swallowing resurrection (1 Cor. 15:52-54).
２
Christ not only defeated death—He nullified it—2 Tim. 1:10.
３
Christ was manifested to nullify death and to bring in eternal, indestructible life—Heb. 7:16.
４
Through His resurrection, death has become of none effect; death has lost its power, even its taste—2:9; Acts 2:24.
５
Christ could nullify death because He destroyed the devil, the one who has the might of death—Heb. 2:14:
ａ
By overcoming Satan and nullifying death, the Lord Jesus also defeated Hades and the grave—Rev. 1:18.
ｂ
Therefore, Christ’s resurrection was not only God’s vindication and the Lord’s success but also His victory over death, Satan, Hades, and the grave— 20:14.
B
Having nullified death through His death, the Lord Jesus brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel in His resurrection—2 Tim. 1:10:
１
The last part of 2 Timothy 1:10 speaks of Christ Jesus who brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.
２
In the gospel the revelation is brought to us that Christ has nullified death and has brought us eternal, indestructible life—v. 10.
３
Life in 2 Timothy 1:10 refers to the eternal life of God, which is given to all believers in Christ (1 Tim. 1:16) and which is the main element of the divine grace given to us (Rom. 5:17, 21):
ａ
This life has conquered death (Acts 2:24) and will swallow up death (2 Cor. 5:4).
ｂ
Life is the divine element, even God Himself, imparted into our spirit; incorruption is the consequence of life’s saturating our body, giving life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells us.
ｃ
This life and incorruption are able to counter death and corruption—2 Tim. 1:10.
Ⅱ
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel”—2:8:
A
The Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead—v. 8:
１
In 2 Timothy 2:8 the word raised indicates Christ’s victory over death by His divine life with its resurrection power.
２
Regarding the Lord Jesus as a man, the New Testament tells us that God raised Him from the dead—Rom. 8:11.
３
Regarding the Lord Jesus as God, the New Testament tells us that He Himself rose from the dead—Acts 10:41; 1 Thes. 4:14.
４
Christ’s being raised from the dead and His raising Himself from the dead indicate His dual status—human and divine:
ａ
The Lord Jesus is God and also resurrection (John 1:1; 11:25), possessing the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16).
ｂ
Because Christ is the ever-living One, death was notable to hold Him.
ｃ
He delivered Himself to death, but death could not detain Him.
ｄ
Rather, death was defeated by Him, and He rose up from it—Acts 2:24.
５
On the day of His resurrection, early in the morning, the Lord Jesus ascended to satisfy the Father; the freshness of His resurrection was first for the Father’s enjoyment, as the firstfruits of the harvest were, in type, brought first to God— John 20:17; cf. Lev. 23:10-11; Exo. 23:19a.
６
Another aspect of Christ’s work in His resurrection is His rising on the first day of the week to germinate the new creation—2 Cor. 5:17:
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The fact that Christ arose on the first day of the week indicates that the entire universe has a new beginning in Christ’s resurrection—John 20:1-9.
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Christ’s resurrection ushered in a new period, a new age.
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In the sight of God, the entire old creation was crucified with Christ and buried with Him; then on the first day of the week there was a new beginning.
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Whereas the Lord’s death was the termination of the old creation, His resurrection was the germination of the new creation—2 Cor. 5:17.
B
The expression seed of David indicates Christ’s dignified human nature, which was exalted and glorified along with His divine nature—Rom. 1:3-4:
１
The prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:12-14a says that the seed of David would be the Son of God, and God would be His Father.
２
In other words, a human seed would become the divine Son—v. 14a.
３
The word concerning your seed in verse 12 and My son in verse 14 implies that the seed of David would become a divine Son:
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This word corresponds to Paul’s word in Romans 1:3-4 concerning Christ as the seed of David being designated the Son of God in His humanity in resurrection.
ｂ
It also relates to the Lord’s question in Matthew 22:41-45 concerning how the Christ could be both the son of David and the Son of God as David’s Lord—a wonderful person, a God-man with two natures, divinity and humanity.
ｃ
These verses clearly unveil that a seed of man—that is, a son of man— can become the Son of God.
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God Himself, the divine One, became a human seed, the seed of a man, David.
ｅ
This seed was Jesus, the God-man, Jehovah the Savior (1:18-21; 2 Tim. 2:8), who was the Son of God by virtue of His divinity (Luke 1:35).
ｆ
Through His resurrection He as the human seed became the Son of God in His humanity—Rom. 1:3-4.
ｇ
In Christ God was constituted into man, man was constituted into God, and God and man were mingled together to be one entity, the God-man.
ｈ
This implies that God’s intention in His economy is to make Himself man in order to make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead— John 3:6, 16; Rom. 1:3-4; 2 Pet. 1:4.