According to grammar, the out-resurrection in verse 11 is the goal of what Paul is seeking in verse 10. In these verses Paul says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the out-resurrection from among the dead.” In verse 10 we see that Paul aspired to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. He wanted to know Christ, experience Christ, and enjoy Christ. Paul’s goal is found in verse 11—attaining to the out-resurrection. In fact, this is the goal not only of verse 10, but also of verses 8 and 9. Paul counted all things refuse in order to gain Christ (v. 8) and be found in Him (v. 9), to know Christ, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, that he might attain to the out-resurrection. According to grammar, this is the proper interpretation of verses 8 through 11. Paul’s goal was to attain to the out-resurrection.
In this message we need to consider how to attain this goal of the out-resurrection. For this, we must know Christ in the power of His resurrection, we must know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, and we must know Him by being conformed to His death.
By incarnation the Lord Jesus took on human nature. He put on a body of blood and flesh. Did this body belong to the old creation or the new creation? Blood and flesh are part of the old creation. First Corinthians 15:50 says that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” This includes the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus. The principle here is that nothing which belongs to the old creation has anything to do with the kingdom of God. Therefore, the body taken on by the Lord Jesus belonged to the old creation.
During His years on earth, the Lord Jesus lived a human life. Was the Lord’s human living part of the old creation or of the new creation? Although the Lord Jesus had a body of flesh and blood belonging to the old creation and although He lived in the environment of the old creation, the life He lived did not belong to the old creation. On the contrary, the life lived by the Lord Jesus belonged wholly to the new creation. But how could He, a person with a body belonging to the old creation and dwelling in the environment of the old creation, live a life that belonged to the new creation? He could do this by continually dying to His old creation body and environment and living to God. This was the way He lived a life belonging entirely to the new creation.
We should not think that the Lord Jesus died only when He was crucified. No, He began to die, to live a crucified life, as soon as He was born. The Lord surely lived a human life, but it was a crucified life. By living a crucified life He died to the old creation.
The Lord’s living of a crucified life is illustrated by an incident which took place when He was twelve years of age. When His mother and father found Him after spending days looking for Him, His mother said, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing” (Luke 2:48). The Lord Jesus replied, “How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (v. 49). Here we see that even at the age of twelve the Lord was living a crucified life. Through His mother, Mary, He had received the life of the old creation. But instead of living according to this old creation life, He died to it and lived according to another life, according to the life of His Father.
John 6:57 helps us to understand this. Here the Lord Jesus said, “The living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father.” Yes, the Lord Jesus lived, but He lived by the Father. The Father lived in Him, and He lived the Father. This means that He did not live the life of the old creation received from His mother. Therefore, even though He had a body belonging to the old creation and was in the environment of the old creation, He did not live the life of the old creation. Rather, He lived a life which is divine and eternal, God’s life lived out in the old creation. Such a living is the element of the new creation.
Paul speaks twice of the new creation. In Galatians 6:15 he says, “For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” In 2 Corinthians 5:17 he declares, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation” (lit.). When did this new creation begin? The old creation began in Genesis 1:1, a verse which says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (lit.). The new creation had its beginning when the Lord Jesus began to live another life, a crucified life. He lived the life of the new creation while in a body belonging to the old creation and in the environment of the old creation. As He lived in this way, He was continually dying to everything of the old creation.
One day, with the help of Satan and his followers, the body of the Lord Jesus was put to death actually and absolutely. Then His old creation body was buried in a tomb. After three days this body was resurrected. However, there was a great difference between the resurrected body of Lazarus and the resurrected body of Jesus Christ. The resurrected body of Lazarus was unchanged; it still belonged to the old creation. But the resurrected body of Jesus Christ was changed both in nature and in form. As a body in the old creation, it was a body of flesh and blood, but as a body in the new creation, it became a spiritual body.