Life and Death As Paradoxical
By John Gavazzoni

The concept of paradox is employed to classify things that are, on one hand, seemingly contradictory, yet at the same time, viewed in a different way, complementary. So it is with scripture's treatment of life and death. For instance, we're faced with Paul's clear, explicit statement that death is the last enemy, yet viewed from the perspective of what God had in mind before death entered the world, death is the gateway to that enhancement of life that reaches its fullness in glorification as the goal of resurrection. (No death, no resurrection...obviously.)

So we have the paradox of enmity in the service of friendship between God and man...a friendship from God's end having the intention of nothing less than the best for His friends, and from man's end, intending the magnification of God's reputation as the best Friend a man could have. Summarizing: the enemy has become, has been made to be, not only a friend, but a necessary one which draws forth the full riches of mutually enjoyed friendship.

There's no getting around death's necessity according to Jesus, for as He said, "... unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (Jn. 12:24 NASB) Our Lord did not view death as merely the consequence of sin, though, while that is so, He saw death as integral to His plan to have His creation enjoy "life, and that more abundantly." Therefore, sin was the necessity to bring in the necessity of death, whereupon death would be passed upon all men, UPON WHICH all have sinned. (Rom. 5:12) It is not, as the NASB and Amplified Bible have it, BECAUSE all have sinned, but rather, from the Greek, UPON WHICH all have sinned.

Sin brought forth death which, passed on, released a vicious cycle of sin rooted in death. Sin, you know, is the outgrowth of death, and righteousness is the outgrowth of life. To sin means to miss the mark, the analogy drawn from archery, and a dying man just can't shoot straight no matter how hard he tries. Peering at the target, intending to hit nothing less than the bull's eye, he misses consistently, because death has blurred his vision and made his hands shaky. Death disables a man from hitting the target of doing what is good and right in the sight of God.

Thus we have a picture of a divinely-intended interplay between life and death: "Therefore, we are not cowards. Nay, even though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day." (2 Cor. 4:16, Weymouth New Testament) So I'll dare to say, "Hey, death, you want a piece of me, bring it on." Does that mean that our attitude, while this interplay plays out, is to be one only of being submissive to death? No, the paradox continues. The Christian's resistance, by the power of Jesus' resurrection, becomes integral to that interplay by which death's determination to keep on keeping on, ends in frustration. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." "Devil" means "adversary." "The last enemy [an enemy is an adversary] which shall be defeated is death."

Within the interplay of life and death is the interplay of our resistance AND our submission, a paradox within the paradoxical. We resist it while we welcome it, not only for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others: "We always carry the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our bodies." (2 Cor. 4:10, Holman Christian Standard Bible) In the Greek of the New Testament, to be a witness is to be a martyr, whether that be martyrdom in process in our daily lives as we lose our lives to gain Christ, to be shared with others, or capping off such a life by being finally martyred. The world couldn't fail to be impressed with how the early martyrs of the faith met death with resolute courage and an expectancy of receiving "the crown of life." Picture it, our journey has ended, you've been told that you're about to receive the crown of life, and who comes with the crown in hand, none other than your old enemy, death. Grinning from ear to ear, beaming with excitement, he places the crown of life on your head, as the hosts of heaven applaud with delight.

Scripture says "Oh death, where is thy sting, oh death, where is thy victory." By the cross of Christ, God will transform all enmity into friendship, and quite inexplicably, death will become an integral factor, an integral element of life itself, for death requires life for its existence. It's a killer, and a killer requires a living victim, but paradoxically, life requires death in order to release its full potential. We SHALL reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.