Refer to 2 Timothy 1 blog article to get background of this last letter of Paul before he is beheaded in Rome by Nero about 65-66 AD. Remember he pretty well knows that this is his last winter. He is writing a very personal letter to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. Instead of verse by verse, I am just giving some key texts and how they might apply to us.

2 Timoty 2:³ Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him. ⁵ And if someone likewise competes as an athlete, he is not crowned as victor unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. ⁷ Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” Soldier. Athlete. Farmer. Paul challenges Timothy to practice the hard work, self sacrifice, suffering, and endurance in his ministry as an evangelist. 1) Soldiers normally leave the comforts of home to go serve in the forces of his country. He can no longer just say “what do I want to do today”. He can’t just entangle himself with the affairs of everyday life. bible hub.com “The verb “emplekó” is used metaphorically in the New Testament to describe becoming entangled or involved in something, often with a negative connotation. It suggests being caught up or ensnared in affairs that distract or hinder one’s primary focus or mission.” 2) Athletes have to exercise great mental and physical discipline and training in order to win the victor’s crown. Roman athletics evolved to include iconic sports like gladiatorial combat (Trained fighters, often slaves, prisoners of war, or condemned criminals, battled each other or wild animals in amphitheaters) and chariot racing in grand venues like the Colosseum and Circus Maximus.  Wrestling and boxing: Popular sports that helped to improve overall fitness and build strength and stamina. Running: A favorite activity in ancient Rome, with boys competing in footraces on the Campus Martius. Naval battles staged in flooded amphitheaters or specially constructed basins. 3) Famers work so hard to plant and harvest in all kind of weather conditions, exhibiting great patience when things go wrong. Timothy needs to be like these 3 things: soldier, athlete, and farmer.

2 Timothy 2:¹⁵ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. ¹⁶ But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ men who have gone astray from the truth, claiming that the resurrection has already taken place; and they are jeopardizing the faith of some.”  (Young’s Literal Translation) These verses interest me b/c of Hymeaeus and Philetus. I am a full preterist, so I believe that the resurrection of the dead took place in 70 AD at the end of the Jewish Age. So I also believe that the “resurrection (of the dead) ha already taken place). So am I a heretic to be withdrawn from? Some have indeed withdrawn from full preterists i their congregations. The difference is this: Those 2 false teachers were teaching that the resurrection of the dead had already taken place and yet it was only about 64 AD when Paul wrote 2 Timothy. So the resurrection had not taken place at that time. A similar issue in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, ² not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” The issue there was the 2nd coming, but the resurrection would occur at the 2nd coming, so the 2 events are tied together. Someone in Thessalonica was teaching that the 2nd coming had already happened when Paul wrote that letter in about 52 AD. But I am not denying the resurrection of the death. I just believe in happened in 70 AD. I guess in principle some would say that I am a heretic for my beliefs.

Why do I believe the resurrection of the dead has already happened in 70 AD. Acts 24:¹⁴ `And I confess this to thee, that, according to the way that they call a sect, so serve I the God of the fathers, believing all things that in the law and the prophets have been written, ¹⁵ having hope toward God, which they themselves also wait for, [that] there is about to be (3195 méllō – properly, at the very point of acting; ready, “about to happen.”a rising again of the dead, both of righteous and unrighteous.” Notice “there is about to be a resurrection”. Go to this site and look at how the word mello is used. https://parousiafulfilled.com/mello-about-to-happen/index.php The word always in context means “about to be at a place or about to happen”. Most of the translations translate it correctly “about to” except in eschatological passages like Acts 24:15. There they translate it “there shall certainly be a resurrection” which is totally inaccurate. Paul is saying that the resurrection is about to happen. Soon. Imminent. Either the resurrection did happen soon after Paul said that or he is a false prophet. Or he is just mistaken in his thinking which would mean he wasn’t really inspired by the Holy Spirit in his writings. And if he was mistaken here, then why would we listen to anything that he wrote?

So where did Paul get his prediction that the resurrection was “about to happen” when he spoke in Acts 24:15. He said that he got it from the “Law and prophets”. So where did the old testament predict the resurrection of the dead? That has to be Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. ² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” Does Daniel tell us when that resurrection will take place? It will happen at “the time of the end ” (12:4, 9), not the “end of time”. It would occur at the same time as the “abomination of desolation: 12:¹¹ and from the time of the turning aside of the perpetual [sacrifice], and to the giving out of the desolating abomination, [are] days a thousand, two hundred, and ninety.” Daniel 9:²⁶ And after the sixty and two weeks, cut off is Messiah, and the city and the holy place are not his, the Leader who hath come doth destroy the people; and its end [is] with a flood, and till the end [is] war, determined [are] desolations. ²⁷ And he hath strengthened a covenant with many — one week, and [in] the midst of the week he causeth sacrifice and present to cease, and by the wing of abominations he is making desolate, even till the consummation, and that which is determined is poured on the desolate one.'” The predicted end event of the 70 weeks was the abomination of desolation (and the end of the city and the holy place) of the temple. Jesus said in Matthew 24:¹⁵ `Whenever, therefore, ye may see the abomination of the desolation, that was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever is reading let him observe).” He then added 24:³⁴ Verily I say to you, this generation may not pass away till all these may come to pass.” That word genea is always used in the NT of a 40 year period or the people living in a 40 years period (just as we say the baby boomers generation). Matthew 1 lists 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus, which is about 2,000 years if a generation is 40 or so years. So the abomination of desolation of Daniel 12:11 and 9:11 had to occur while the generation Jesus was speaking to would still be alive. That can only be the destruction of the temple and city in 70 AD by the Romans as God’s punishment on the Jews for all their evil sins.

Back to Acs 24:15. Paul was referring to the Daniel 12:1-3 resurrection, saying it was “about to happen” soon after he predicted that and he said that in about 55 AD. There is no other OT passages from the Law and the Prophets that predicts a resurrection of the dead. All the OT righteous and wicked went to the hadean world to await that resurrection of the dead at the end of the Jewish age in 70 AD. It was a spiritual resurrection. There were no actual bodies coming out of the tombs. But we trust that it did happen. The OT dead received their final sentencing when they were raised in 70 AD. The righteous received eternal life and immortality. The wicked received eternal separation from God, either in hell forever or being annihilated (a different subject not relevant here). Therefore, I am not a heretic for saying that the resurrection of the dead did happen in 70 AD b/c that is what the apostle Paul predicted. Yes, it has already happened but no heresy here.

BTW Paul was preaching a spiritual resurrection, not a physical bodily resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, he said that the physical bodies would be raised as “spiritual, incorruptible, glorious, and heavenly” body. He said that “flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God”. He then said 15:⁵¹ lo, I tell you a secret; we indeed shall not all sleep, and we all shall be changed.” He is saying that at least some of the ones he is writing to would still be alive when this resurrection of bodies would occur. He added” 15:⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trumpet, for it shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we — we shall be changed: ⁵³ for it behoveth this corruptible to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality; ⁵⁴ and when this corruptible may have put on incorruption, and this mortal may have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the word that hath been written, `The Death was swallowed up — to victory; ⁵⁵ where, O Death, thy sting? where, O Hades, thy victory?’ ⁵⁶ and the sting of the death [is] the sin, and the power of the sin the law”. The believers, dead or alive, would be given “immortality” at the resurrection which would occur within the lifetime of those he was writing to. That fits Acts 24:15 and Daniel 12:1-3 perfectly.

So, in my opinion, we are not still waiting for a resurrection of the dead some day in our future. After 70 AD every baptized believer receives eternal life and immortality when he becomes a Christian. He can lose it if he falls from grace, but he has immortality and will live forever even after he dies. John 11:²⁵ Jesus said to her (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” Is that not immortality?

Some say we die and still go to a holding place in hades like the OT dead. But most say that we die and go to be with Jesus immediately and begin enjoying eternal life with Jesus. I always ask those who say that, “if they go to be with Jesus immediately, then don’t they a spiritual body? why would they need to some day in the future at some future resurrection get their physical body raised from the dead so they could be with Jesus forever? they are already enjoying being with Jesus. They have all the spiritual body they need!” I never get much of an answer for those questions.

The key here is Acts 24:15 and mello. Please study that closely before rejecting all this. Is Paul mistaken in his prediction that the resurrection was about to happen when he spoke that? That has huge ramifications if Paul was mistaken. If he is correct, and he is, then that helps answer a lot of questions about the resurrection of the dead and when it happened.

Thanks for reading. This article might stretch your thinking a little bit.