Return To Home

<< The Trinity

Series Index

Justification by Faith >>

Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead!" When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. Acts 23:6-7.

Compared to the Trinity, the resurrection of the dead is not so much of a hot topic. Nevertheless, this is a crucial issue in orthodox Christianity, and there are some who deny the concept of a physical resurrection. Furthermore, it is an unfortunate phenomenon among Evangelical Christians today that there is a woeful ignorance regarding resurrection and its importance in the Bible. The fact of the matter is, the Christian hope has never been that we would spend eternity as "spooks" floating around on clouds, playing harps all day. Rather, our hope is that at the end of this age, all will be raised from the dead and the "saints" will live eternally with God. And this isn't a false hope, but it's supposed to be grounded in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some, of course, claim to be Christians, but deny Christ's resurrection, but we will soon see that this is incoherent. Since the Resurrection of Christ and the General Resurrection are intertwined issues, we will address both in this essay.

When Jesus drove the merchants out of the Temple courts, the leadership challenged Him to produce some sort of sign that he has the authority to do such things. Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?" But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. John 2:19-21. This is one of Jesus' many allusions to His death and resurrection, during His ministry. John adds an interpretive statement that Jesus was really refering to His body, and even admits it wasn't until later that the Disciples understood this (v. 22). Jesus refers to His body being raised from the dead, 3 days after his death. All four Gospels and Acts report that Jesus was raised from the dead, even Mark (cf v. 16:6), which some commentators consider the most "primative." One would have to reject the truthfulness of these accounts in order to suppose that Jesus was not raised physically from the dead.

Why is Jesus' resurrection so important? There are a few reasons that it is. First, Christ's resurrection vindicates His role as the Messiah as approved by God (after all, why would God bring Him back from the dead if He wasn't?). Paul uses the resurrection event in a similar manner: "because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead." Acts 17:31. Peter said,

"Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our forefather David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. So then, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, 'that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay.' This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it." Act 2:29-32

Peter appeals to Old Testament typology regarding a Messiah figure being raised from the dead, and applies it to Jesus as proof that he is the Christ that the Prophets anticipated.

Second, the salvation of the believer is attributed to Jesus' resurrection: He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification." Rom 4:25. Without justification, one cannot stand righteous before a just God.

Third, Christ's Resurrection is the prequal of the resurrection the Saints hope for. In Romans 6, Paul describes baptism as being symbolic of one's death and being raied again. There, he wrote, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. Rom 6:4-5. As I noted before, it was never the Christian hope to become ghosts floating around in "heaven," with haloes and harps and such. We will be raised like Jesus was.

We see the second and third points above further developed in what is probably the most popular passage on the subject:

Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. 1 Corinthians 15:12-21.

Much of what is said here is also covered in the above verses. However, this passage adds a logical argument to the debate. If there is no resurrection, then Christ was not raised from the dead. And the Christian faith is based on the resurrection of Christ, such that apart from it, there is no salvation (the phrase "still in your sins" is euphemistic with being condemned). The relationship between these premises imply that their converses are true: if our faith is to have any meaning, then it is to be a faith in a Resurrected Christ. Furthermore, if Christ was raised from the dead then we cannot say there is no Resurrection at all. Paul ties the last point into the universiality of the Final Resurrection, stating that through Christ, the "firstfruits" (the initial part of a harvest that was offered to God [cf. Ex. 23:19]; also they were a "taste" of the larger harvest which was to come), all will be raised. Thus you cannot have have a doctrine of the general Resurrection without Christ's Resurrection, and Christ's Resurrection is a precedent of what is to come. Simply put, the two come hand in hand.

It is clear that the Biblical teaching, and by extension the tradition teaching of Christianity, supports Resurrection. One would be hard pressed to divorce the notion from Scripture, though some have tried. Even in Paul's day, as evidenced by 1Cor. 15, there were those who tried, but if they were to take it to the logical conclusion, they would have emptied their faith of any meaning. Let us not foolishly follow in their footsteps, but recognize you cannot have Christianity apart from Resurrection.

<< The Trinity

Series Index

Justification by Faith >>