Notice why Paul was laying aside all else, why he was seeking to gain Christ?

What does Paul say about us?

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. (Philippians 3:15—NIV)

Paul, toward the end of his life, was still striving to attain to the resurrection from the dead, and he admonishes us to have the same viewpoint.

Now, what does it mean to attain to the resurrection from the dead?

We know Jesus said all who are in the graves shall hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have practiced wickedness to the resurrection of judgment. There is no attaining to the resurrection because all will be resurrected whether they want to or not. So when the Apostle Paul was striving to attain to the resurrection he must have meant the resurrection to eternal life.

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28,29—NIV)

To say that Divine grace alters this passage to mean if we "make a decision for Christ" we will rise to eternal life even though we have practiced evil is to demonstrate the incredible mental corruption that has destroyed almost completely our understanding of the new covenant.

The Word of Almighty God stands precisely as written, let none dare alter it in any manner: "Those who have done well will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." Amen!

God's plan is simple. Let the body return to the dust and work on the inward nature by forming Christ in it. This is the new covenant—the forming of Christ, the Law and Word of God, in our mind and heart. Then when our inward nature meets God's standard of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God, our body will be raised from the dead. Our physical body will then be clothed with the house from Heaven that has been fashioned as we have sown our present body to the death and resurrection of Christ.

We see, then, that the resurrection to life must be attained by our submitting to the program of conformation to the moral image of Christ in our spiritual nature and entering untroubled rest in the Father's will through Christ. To pursue the change into Christ's moral image and to seek to live in the Father's will is to be an overcomer, a victorious saint. Nothing short of this qualifies us as an overcomer.

It is the overcomer, the victorious saint, who is given to eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise.

This is only sensible. Will God clothe an unrighteous, unclean, disobedient nature with immortality? The fact that we are righteous, holy, and obedient by imputation does not qualify us for the gaining of immortality in the body.

To be continued.