Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 22
July 23, 1970
NUMBER 11, PAGE 5a

Preaching To The Dead

Carol Bates

"And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins." Eph. 2:1. At one time these people were dead and now they have been blessed with life again. This means that at one time Paul was preaching to dead people.

What kind of death is Paul talking about? How were these people dead? It must be a spiritual death as Paul says in the last laid of the verse that they were dead through their trespasses and sins. These people had been dead in sin. In the eyes of the world they were very much alive, physically they were alive, but in the eyes of the Lord they were dead. Since they were dead, the question comes to mind as to how they were made alive again.

In the book of Acts we find the record of the conversion of the Ephesians. (Acts 19) When Paul had first come to Ephesus he found twelve who had received the wrong baptism. They had received the baptism of John. Paul therefore had to teach them concerning John's baptism and its purpose. After they had been taught, he then had them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Verse 5) Afterward Paul preached Jesus there in the city of Ephesus with good results. How do we know that Paul preached Jesus in Ephesus? We find in verse 13, "But certain also of the strolling Jews, exorcists, took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. . . . "

What was the result of Paul's preaching to the dead? "Many also of them that had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. And not a few of them that practice magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver " (Verses 18 and 19)

What happened to bring about such a great change in these people? What made them burn their books? What brought them from a state of death to a state of life? Let us consider what they did. Paul preached and they heard the word (Eph. 1:13). Upon hearing the word they believed what Paul taught (Eph. 13; Acts 19:18) and upon realization of their condition they confessed before God (Acts 19:18) and they showed their repentance in the burning of their books of magical arts. They were then baptized into Christ. (Acts 19:5)

How do we know that all that believed were baptized, and not just the ones spoken of at the first — the twelve who had received John's baptism. This is the question that we might reasonably be asked by someone we are trying to teach.

We can prove that all were baptized. We know that Paul preached unto them baptism because he says that they were now alive who were once dead. When does one receive this newness of life? Paul says we receive the newness of life when we are baptized. "Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. "(Rom. 6:3,4)

The world today is filled with dead people walking around. This is where you and I come in. We have a responsibility to these people to raise them from death. Not miraculously, but by teaching them of the life to be found in the Lord Jesus. More of us need to realize our duty to preach to the dead, to raise them to life. We need to be diligent in spreading the life-giving message.

— 100 Woodrow, Bedford, Ohio