Accepted in the Beloved

“Such the earthy man, such also the earthy ones. And such the heavenly Man, such also the heavenly ones.” (1Corinthians 15:48)

Who is the earthy man? And who is the heavenly Man? The previous Scripture tells us. “The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven.” (1Corinthians 15:47) Adam was the man made of the earth, who is earthy which was complicated by the fall of man which we will study some more.  And the Lord Jesus is the second man and heavenly Man.

In Christianity, an earthy man is one like Adam, from the earth and having Adam’s nature, not just in the flesh but spiritually. After the fall, Adam’s nature changed. He was innocent of sin and of evil, not knowing sin. But when he disobeyed, his eyes were opened to evil. His nature changed. He was no longer innocent of evil. As a result, all mankind is born under condemnation. All mankind is born condemned. This is the reason Catholics baptize babies, so they will go to heaven. And if you’re not sure that babies have sin, at even one years old, they will lie. Just confront them about something. Or have another take his toy. They are possessive and will lie naturally. But it’s believed that little ones will go to heaven. There is no specific word from God about it, but there are implications taken from Scripture. One is when David fasted and prayed when his son from Bathsheba died. “And he said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell if God will be gracious to me so that the child may live? But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2Samuel 12:22-23) What David is saying is that he will see his son when he also dies and goes to heaven.

When Jesus walked on this earth some mothers brought their children to Jesus. The disciples rebuked the mothers and tried to keep the children from bothering Jesus. “But Jesus said, Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:13,14; Luke 18: 15,16) Although they have the sin nature, they do not have the capacity to distinguish right from wrong. They are deciding what to do on instinct, what is safest and easiest for them. They are learning what is right and wrong from parental cues. So, they are not responsible for “sin.” I imagine their conscious is something like a dog’s. They don’t know that chewing your new shoes is a no-no. There is also another Scripture that helps us determine that children who die before the age of knowledge of sin go to heaven. “And Jesus called a little child to Him and set him in their midst, and said, Truly I say to you, Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-3) Paul in writing to the Corinthians captured what Jesus was saying. “Brothers, do not be children in your minds, but in malice be like infants, and in your minds be mature.” (1Corinthians 14:20) Paul was saying to be like a baby where sin is concerned.

The heavenly ones are like the heavenly Man, Jesus, free from sin because Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness. “For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21) What an exchange. He took our sin, the punishment for sin, death for our sin and He gave us His righteousness, sonship and all the blessings of inheritance. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17)

Those who believe on Jesus and have made Him Lord are the heavenly ones bound for heaven. We are like our Lord, accepted in the beloved. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved.” (Ephesians 1:3-6) This is the Modern King James translation. In the King James version, verse 6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6)

In our Scripture verse of study, Paul was making a distinction. There are earthy ones and heavenly ones. The earthy ones are like Adam and have the sin nature. The heavenly ones are like Jesus, children of God, without sin and heaven bound.