This expression is used to denote the revivification of the human body after it has been forsaken by the soul, or the re-union of the soul hereafter to the body which it had occupied in the present world. Considerable diversity of opinion has prevailed respecting the extent to which the doctrine of the resurrection was known to the ancient Jews. In the time of Christ, however, the belief of this doctrine in connection with a state of future retribution, was held by the Pharisees and the great body of the Jewish people, and was only disputed by the Sadducees.
But although the doctrine of the resurrection was thus prevalent among the Jews in the time of Christ, it might still have been doubtful and obscure to us, had not Christ given to it the sanction of his authority, and declared it a constituent part of his religion (e.g., Matthew 22; John 5, 8, 11).
The principal points which can be collected from the New Testament on this subject are the following:— 1. The raising of the dead is everywhere ascribed to Christ, and is represented as the last work to be undertaken by him for the salvation of man (;; , sq.;; ). 2. All the dead will be raised, without respect to age, rank, or character in this world (;; ). 3. This event is to take place not before the end of the world, or the general judgment (;;;;; ). 4. The manner in which this marvelous change shall be accomplished is necessarily beyond our present comprehension; and, therefore, the Scripture is content to illustrate it by figurative representations, or by proving the possibility and intelligibility of the leading facts. Some of the figurative descriptions occur in 5" class="scriptRef">John 5; Matthew 24;;; . 5. The possibility of a resurrection is powerfully argued by Paul in , sq., by comparing it with events of common occurrence in the natural world (see also , and compare ). But although this body shall be so raised as to preserve its identity, it must yet undergo certain purifying changes to fit it for the kingdom of heaven, and to render it capable of immortality (, sq.), so that it shall become a glorified body like that of Christ (;; ); and the bodies of those whom the last day finds alive, will undergo a similar change without tasting death (;;; , sq.; ).
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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