Title: Life Swallows Death
All humans die. It is a very obvious statement, but to modern people, this fact is not very important. People live like they don't know this at all. Why? There are different answers depending on how you analyze modern life, but in my view, there are two main reasons: For one thing, life is so vivid right now that I can't quite comprehend that it's coming to an end. Another is that modern people struggle to avoid death because their lives are obsessed with emptiness. Which one are you? Have you ever seriously considered the issue of death? There is no philosophy that does not presuppose such a subject, there is no such theology, there is no such faith. All Christian content must pass through this very subject of death. Paul also explains the Christian faith on the basis of this matter.
tent house
Paul says this in verse 1. “We know that if the earthly tent in which we live is torn down, we will enter into an eternal house in heaven.” Paul describes our bodies as a tent house. The collapse of the tent house means that we will die. Only then will we enter the eternal home in heaven. In other words, to die means to move out of an imperfect house and enter the perfect house that God has built. Described as moving, these teachings of Paul are parables rather than facts. We explain certain truths in parables because they go beyond our imagination. Since Paul cannot accurately describe death, he is expressing that he takes off his tent as if he were moving out of a house in a rented house.
In fact, death is by no means an object that we can explain with anything decisive. Why? Because no one has returned from going beyond death yet. Let's say you are going through a foggy forest. When you're inside, you don't know if the forest is a real forest or a field. And I don't know how wide the forest is, how it differs from the rest of the surroundings. Once you get out of the forest, you can see the forest. Our life now is like walking in a forest where no one goes out and no one comes back. So, who can realistically explain the problem of death?
Of course, a biological explanation is possible. Death can be defined in terms of cessation of breath or cessation of brain waves. Death is the end of human biological movement. With death, a man must part with everything around him with which he was fundamentally related. Your solidarity with everything: family, church, work, hobbies, etc. is destroyed. However, in some respects, death can also be seen as an event of becoming one with everything in the universe again. Even though we are separated from our families, our bodies become dirt and become friends with the entire planet. The existing functions of the body disappear, but you can see that you relate to this world in a completely different way. In this respect, death is still a mysterious event.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am not lecturing on the nonsensical theory of death, or furthermore, spreading the theory of praising death. I'm talking about the point that death isn't just about the body, the protein mass. That body is the tent house that will fall down as Paul insisted. Looking at this alone, we have nothing to wish for in this world. This is because the health, youth, and beauty of our bodies are destroyed in an instant. Moreover, our life on this earth cannot be satisfied under any conditions. In this respect, you don't have to envy anyone in the world. Even people who seem okay to you always live with dissatisfaction and anxiety. This is the existence of human beings living in the veil of the body. So Paul says in verse 4a: “While we remain in this tent, we are groaning under heavy burdens.” No one is an exception here.
sky house
The explanations so far are general. Existential philosophers also pointed out the tragedy, dilemma, and absurdity of human life in this way. They, too, are fully aware of the fact that the fate of human beings must ultimately lead to death. If you are someone who wants to look at life honestly, this is the scope for anyone to see. People have nothing more to say about that. So most of the time, they don't face the problem of death by indulging in nihilism or fanaticism. But Paul does not. He tackles the problem of death with a whole new spiritual perspective.
A “house in heaven” awaits Paul. The house “is not built with human hands, but is built up by God.” (5b) What does the heavenly house mean here? Are you saying that God has even provided a luxury villa somewhere in outer space? Are you saying that Fangxion, who sometimes goes to rest during the holiday season, is ready? This heavenly house Paul is talking about is not such a building, but rather like a garment. Entering the heavenly house is like taking off your perishable clothes and changing into incorruptible ones. Paul made a similar statement in 1 Corinthians 15. “For this perishable body must put on immortality, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body is clothed with immortality, and this mortal body clothed with immortality, “Victory has swallowed up death. Death, where has your victory gone? O death, where is your sting?’ the scriptures will be fulfilled” (1 Corinthians 15:53-55).
In verse 2 of today's text, Paul says, "We long to clothe our house in heaven as a garment." The word “overlaying” the house is a poetic expression. The words “put on top” should be well engraved. Paul says in verse 4b: “This does not mean that we want to take this veil off. I only yearn for death to be swallowed up by life by overshadowing the heavenly house.” Paul's statement contains two very important facts.
First, the Christian faith does not give up the body. We do not take off our veil, but change into something else. It is here that the Christian faith is distinguished from Greek philosophy. Greek philosophy thought of death as the liberation of the soul from the prison of the body, whereas the Christian faith did not think so dualistically. Although the body and the spirit appear as different phenomena, they are one. Even if our body dies, it is still our body. Of course, our bodies will rot. However, rotting does not mean that it is completely destroyed. We may see rot as unconditionally strange, but it is only a change.
There have been occasions in the history of Christianity that disregard the human body, but that did not last long. The gnostic hypothetical falsehood that denied the humanity of Jesus was also indisputably removed from Christian history. Even though Paul was in a difficult state right now, he did not try to take off this tent by force. This is because even the present body is God's creation event, and even after death, its reality is still the essence of life that cannot be damaged. That is why Paul said that we do not want to take off the veil, but change it, and put it on.
Second, death is swallowed up by life. Paul translates the parable of putting on clothes in theological terms. At present, our body is an earthly tent house that has no choice but to collapse. But when we change into our heavenly home, even this death is incorporated into the life event. When death is swallowed up by life, it is overcome. If death enters into the great life event, that death will also become a part of life. Even if he was wearing old clothes, if he puts on new clothes, his appearance appears as new clothes, so when death swallows up life, death is no longer there. Life will rule all of us.
It seems that we have set foot on a very tricky subject today. Although it is a topic, the text itself is a bit complicated, so it is not easy to catch up. Let's be a little more patient and think about what it means to say that life swallows death. For example, here is a furnace. When scrap metal is melted in a furnace, it doesn't matter what it was used for in the past. The fire has swallowed up the iron. Nanjido in Seoul used to be a landfill site. It is said that the place where all life seemed to have died has now turned into a beautiful forest. I don't know if life has swallowed up death.
Today's Bible verses do not simply refer to such natural phenomena. This verse refers to the resurrection of Jesus. The fact that Jesus was crucified and resurrected is an event where life swallowed up death. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, it means that our destiny, which is now destined to die, that is, our body, which should be corrupted, has come to life. After the resurrection of Jesus, the forces of death fundamentally no longer dominate us. Because life has swallowed up death.
world of faith
But here we have to ask this question. Will this actually happen in our reality today? Can you really feel life swallowed up death? no. Rather, our lives seem to be ruled by the power of death. Personally, I often get discouraged. Many people around us die from unexpected accidents or diseases. Christians are no exception to this. Our bodies are easily destroyed, and our minds are easily discouraged. It is difficult to understand the saying that life swallowed up death if you look at today's reality.
Gentlemen, it is eschatologically possible for life to completely overpower the power of death. Even Paul's statement that life swallows up death does not mean that it has come true, but rather that we are waiting for it and hoping for it in today's reality, which seems like a heavy burden. The same is true of the resurrection of Jesus. It has already happened in history, but it is possible in the apocalypse for it to become a reality for everyone.
So, does that mean that life events have little to do with us today? It's not like that. We are only living in the tension of today, where death reigns, and the apocalypse, where life devours death. Don't be too greedy to resolve these tensions easily. Do not forget the events of the eschatological resurrection by being dominated by the reality of death, and do not distort our burdens in reality by passionately obsessing over the eschatological resurrection.
Such tensions are the very existence of Christians, but we can overcome them. No, I would be right to say this. The tension contains the spiritual peace that has already been overcome. Because we know that the forces of death that dominate reality are already being crushed by the spirit of an eschatological resurrection. The attitude of living on the basis of these facts is the Christian faith. So Paul said: “In fact, we do not live by sight, but by faith” (verse 7).
Paul is here replacing a life that depends on what you see with a life that depends on your faith. What we see before us cannot escape the power of death. If we hold on to those things, we miss the fact that life has swallowed up death. On the other hand, if we can believe in the resurrection that took place in Jesus Christ, we can see a world in which life reigns, a world in which life has swallowed up death. How is this possible? do you really see it? It is not. It has already happened, but it is still an event of God that we must wait for.
We are people whose lives are based on faith, not on sight. We believe that life has swallowed up death because of the resurrection of Jesus. Since death has already been swept into life, there is no difference between the dead and us still alive. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, death and life are now completely new events. Life has already embraced our bodies that have no choice but to collapse. This wonderful thing began with Jesus. For you.