Notes on the Resurrection

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  1. Introduction

    1. What does the Resurrection have to do with Ecclesiology? Without the bodily resurrection of Christ, the gospel and our salvation would be void of any meaning or significance.

    2. “Just as the heart pumps life-giving blood into every part of the body, so the truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of gospel truth. The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns and without which none of the other truths would much matter. Without the resurrection, Christianity would be so much wishful thinking, taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation.” MacAruthur NT Commentary on I Corinthians, p 398

    3. There would be no reason or effect in preaching the gospel, much less in teaching from any part of the Bible if the literal bodily resurrection were not true.

  2. Erroneous theories about the Resurrection

    1. People today have very interesting views as to who Jesus is and even what His purpose was for coming to earth. They also have interesting views as to what may have happened to Him on the cross, so as to dismiss the resurrection.

    2. In the book entitled “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist,” Norman Geisler notes seven theories that skeptics typically assert as an alternative to the resurrection.

      1. He notes the Hallucination Theory which asserts that the disciples simply hallucinated the appearances of Jesus. The problem with this theory, as Geisler points out, is that while individuals may hallucinate, groups of people do not. Furthermore, even if there were a group of people who hallucinated, they certainly wouldn’t have the exact same hallucination to the point that it could be written that they all saw the same thing at the same time. Furthermore, a hallucination does not explain the empty tomb of Jesus. If they all hallucinated, then where is the body?

      2. Next, is the Wrong Tomb Theory. Just as it sounds this theory suggests that the apostles simply went to the wrong tomb. The two most obvious problems with this theory is that first the disciples knew exactly where the tomb was; and in fact it was recorded in scripture as being the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea – who is said to be a member of the Sanhedrin. Second, is that if they did go to the wrong tomb and were convinced that Jesus was alive, the Jews and/or Romans could have easily gone to the right tomb and brought out his body as evidence against them. And if that’s not enough, the wrong tomb theory still does not explain the fact that Jesus was seen by more than 500 people.

      3. Next is the Swoon Theory, which states that Jesus merely fainted on the cross and was revived later and escaped. This is one of my personal favorites – and also happens to be the view of the guy that I mentioned at the beginning, the one who believes that aliens are ruling the world. First of all, Roman crucifixion did not fail. It didn’t fail. Those who were crucified, died.1 Second, embalming techniques, according to Geisler, included the usage of “seventy five pounds of bandages and spices” p 305. Third, its just not possible that after being beaten, hung on a cross – thereby caused to bleed profusely – and wrapped in 75 pounds of bandages and spices, that he could unwrap himself, muster up the strength to roll away what is estimated to be about a two ton rock, escape the Roman Guard – who would have probably killed him themselves before they let him get away and then nurse his own self back to health enough to have the strength to meet with all of his disciples three days later, with no apparent health problems whatsoever. 2 There are other evidences as well, but we’ll move on to the next theory.

      4. The Stolen Body Theory suggests that the disciples merely stole Jesus’ body from the tomb in order to claim that He has risen from the dead. Two major problems arise with this theory. The first is the question as to how in the world they got past the Roman guard, whose sole purpose was to guard the tomb so that there could be no theft of the body. Second, why would the disciples allow themselves to be beaten, abused, rejected and eventually killed for the lie that Jesus actually rose from the dead? It makes no sense.

      5. The Substitutionary Death Theory, suggested by the Quran nearly 600 years later states that Jesus was not himself crucified but that someone was in his place and that God merely took him up to heaven instead. Interestingly the Muslims believe that Jesus will return again and some may call him “messiah” but they do not believe in His death as substitutionary for their own sin – and I guess cannot because according to them he didn’t actually die. Obviously the biggest problem with this theory is that all of those who knew Jesus and who were with Him at the cross when he died, even all of the Roman guard, officials and the Jews who knew him; were, according to this theory, tricked into believing that Jesus was on the cross when in fact it was someone totally different. Furthermore, who was in the tomb and what happened to his body?

      6. The next theory, I call the Deceived Faith Theory which says that the disciples wanted to believe in Christ so much so that their study of the scriptures – after Christ’s death – compelled them to invent the theory of the resurrection. The idea is that they “searched the scriptures” and reasoned that there had to be a resurrection and so they then believed it. So again, first of all, where is the body? Second, it was after Christ appeared to the disciples that they were encouraged and emboldened and began to preach the gospel. His appearance affirmed the fact of the resurrection, which is something that was always in the mind of Jewish thought (see Job, Psa 19). It is not a new testament thought.

      7. Finally, he mentions that Copied Pagan Myth Theory which as it sounds states that the disciples merely imitated resurrection stories from ancient pagan myths. Problems with this view include once again, the empty tomb, eyewitnesses to His resurrection who gave their life to assert its truthfulness and other non-Christian writings that assert the death of Christ on the cross.

    3. Catholic Encyclopedia3 notes many of these views and posits another which is similar in nature to some of the views listed above, but is also worth noting. It is called the Modernist View and was also condemned by the Catholic church in 19074. Interestingly, this condemnation was sparked by a book written by the, then Catholic Priest, Loisy. He is reported as claiming that “the proofs alleged for the resurrection of Jesus Christ are inadequate; the empty sepulcher is only an indirect argument, while the apparitions of the risen Christ are open to suspicion on a priori ground, being sensible impressions of a supernatural reality; and they are doubtful evidence from a critical point of view, on account of the discrepancies in the various Scriptural narratives and the mixed character of the detail connected with the apparitions…the testimony of the New Testament does not furnish a certain argument for the fact of the Resurrection. This faith of the Apostles is concerned not so much with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as with His immortal life…”5

      1. Loisy was considered “one of the greatest biblical scholars of his generation.”6 He was one of their greatest thinkers and yet failed to see the importance of the Resurrection as if regards our faith or to recognize its consistent emphasis throughout Scripture.

    4. Joe Pagan – “Those eager to convert me respond that few Christians hold the resurrection to be the sole revelation of God, but I do not claim this. The resurrection is only the central revelation justifying the Christian faith, i.e. not just belief in god, but in a particular God with a particular plan that we have to follow or be damned. As Paul writes, ‘If Christ has not been raised, then your faith I s groundless’ (1 Corinthians 15:17)…[however] I cannot rationally bring myself to believe this story, I cannot rationally bring myself to be a Christian.”7

    5. Mormon view – “Latter-day Saints view the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the most glorious even of all time. Having the power to lay down his body and to ‘take it again’ (John 10:18), the Savior conquered death for himself and all mankind (1 Cor 15:22). LDS faith in the literal and physical resurrection of Jesus is greatly strengthened by ancient and modern testimonies of many witnesses.”8 “He rose from the tomb with an immortal, glorified body and initiate the first resurrection or the resurrection of the just…”9 They also believe that Jesus is both Father and Son, that Jesus was conceived through a union of the Father with Mary, specifically not the Holy Spirit and so on…10

    6. Quote from a Jewish article entitled “Who was Jesus?” “Jews believe that Jesus was a Jew who was born in Bethlehem, raised in Galilee, and killed in Jerusalem. His Aramaic name was Yeshua…He angered the Roman government, was arrested during his Passover trip to Jerusalem…[and] executed. A story about a man named Yeshu can be found in the Talmud. According to the Talmud. Yeshu was the son of a Jewish woman named Miriam who was betrothed to a carpenter. Miriam was either raped by or voluntarily slept with Pandeira, a Greek or Roman soldier. Miriam gave birth to Yeshu. [He] was a heretic who dabbled in sorcery and lead the people astray. The Sanhedrin ordered Yeshu stoned to death and his dead body was hung from a tree until nightfall after his death, in accordance with the ancient Jewish punishment for heretics. After Jesus’ death, a group of simple fishermen and artisans, called ‘Nazarenes’ after Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, became his followers. They observed Jewish laws…and believed that Jesus would return soon to inaugurate God’s kingdom on earth. They did not last for more than four centuries. The Romans killed many Nazarenes, for being observant Jews during the Jewish revolt of 70 C.E.”11

    7. There is one other attack against the resurrection of Christ. It is subtle, but probably one of the most widespread and effective. It happens whenever one who claims to be a born again believer but willfully and persistently obeys sin rather than Christ. A life that is consistently characterized the same as it was before faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a life that is inconsistent with the character of one who is truly submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ.

    8. The resurrection of Christ is and has always been under attack by those who refuse to believe in God’s way of salvation.12 We must remain faithful to the teaching of scripture and proclaim the original and true message of the Gospel, namely the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  3. The Importance of the Resurrection

    1. I Cor 15:13-14 “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.”

    2. In I Cor 15:14 Paul gives two major reasons as to why the resurrection is an essential element of our faith. I have used these two reasons as the broad outline of our discussion. Namely, that the resurrection of Christ is central to the message of the gospel and that it is central to the power of the gospel.

    3. In context, Paul was dealing with some in the church who were claiming that there was no bodily resurrection, but that the only real resurrection had already taken place13 The physical body was considered irrelevant, perhaps evil, and the spiritual life was to be preferred. Therefore to look for a literal bodily resurrection was unnecessary.

    4. However, as Paul points out, if there is no physical resurrection; then Christ could not have possibly risen from the dead, which is essential to the Gospel that was preached to them.

    5. The Fact of the Resurrection is central to the message of the Gospel

      1. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain” (I Cor 15:14). The preaching of the gospel is absolutely pointless if Christ had not been raised because the message of the gospel is in part the resurrection of Christ.

      2. I Cor 15:1-8. Paul says that the gospel, “which was preached to [them],” “which they received,” in which “they stand,” and by which they are saved, is the gospel of the death and resurrection of Christ, according to the Scriptures and as testified to by the Apostles.

      3. There was no other gospel given to them, but that of the resurrection of Christ.14 There are two main witnesses that Paul gives concerning the message of the resurrection. Three, if you include the witness of the Corinthian believers themselves. I’ll focus on the two because I believe these to be the main two direct witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. Namely, the OT and the Apostles.

      4. The Old Testament bears witness to the Resurrection

        1. Paul notes in these verses that Christ dying and rising from the dead is all “according to the scriptures.” The “scriptures” they would have understood as the Old Testament text. Paul made a habit of regularly preaching the death and resurrection of Christ from the Old Testament scriptures, particularly to the Jews in every city.15

        2. Jesus and the other Apostles also affirmed this.

          1. Jesus said that the only sign that he would give to that generation of the Jews was the sign of Jonah (Mt 12:39-40). Also, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus and explained to His disciples how “he should suffer and enter his glory…from all the scriptures” (Luke 24:25-27).

          2. Peter quoted from Psa 16 at Pentecost (Acts 2:25-31) and Paul again affirmed this before Agrippa in Acts 26:22-23.16

        3. In Paul’s mind, it should have been absolutely clear to anyone who knew the OT scriptures that the Christ had to suffer, die and rise again in fulfillment of God’s word to His people.

      5. The Apostles bear witness to the Resurrection

        1. If the text of the OT was not enough, then the testimony of His witnesses ought to have given sufficient proof. The risen Lord appeared to over 500 people, at least one of which they were personally acquainted, namely Paul. A number of these people saw the physical wounds, touched Him and also ate with Him, after He was raised.

        2. Paul gives a list of names of some who Jesus had appeared to, after His resurrection. Even if they had not met anyone else, they had met and knew Paul. Others had already faced tremendous persecution for the sake of the message. The Church at Corinth had seen Paul enduring persecution for the sake of the gospel of the resurrection of Christ. It was this gospel that they received and believed in. Now, ironically, they were undermining the integrity of the gospel that he had suffered for and had preached to them.17

        3. If the resurrection were not true, then Christ was not raised; both the Old and New Testaments are untrue and the Apostles are liars and false witnesses of God. 18 And the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is also false. There can be no message without the resurrection.

    6. The Fact of the Resurrection is central to the power of the Gospel

      1. Romans 1:16 states that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the “power of God unto salvation for those who believe.” In other words, without the gospel, there is no other power of God for salvation. There is no other power, there is no other way. God left the message of the gospel to be preached and in the message of the gospel is His power to save. So if we get that wrong, then there is no hope for salvation for anyone.

      2. Again in I Cor 15:14, Paul says that “if Christ has not been raised…then your faith also is in vain.”

      3. Why did Jesus need to be raised from the dead? What was the result? There are a number of passages that link the resurrection to different aspects of our salvation. That is what we will now examine.

      4. The Resurrection establishes the Lordship of Christ

        1. Scripture is pretty clear as to what happened when Christ was raised from the dead. If He had not been raised, then these things would not have happened.

        2. Jesus was declared Lord. As Lord, He is the head over all things. All flesh, all principalities and powers and His Church.

        3. He was appointed as judge over all flesh

          1. Acts 10:32-44 “Jesus was appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.”

          2. He also speaks of how they sat with Him, ate and drank after He rose from the dead. And that the Prophets bear witness to Him. These the same elements that Paul presents in I Cor 15:1-8.

          3. Also Acts 17:22-31 “God …has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

        4. He was appointed as head over all principalities and powers

          1. Eph 1:20-21 “He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand…far above all rule and authority and power and dominion”

          2. Col 2:10 “He is the head over all rule and authority”

        5. He was appointed as head of the Church

          1. Eph 5:22-32 “the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church, He himself being the Savior of the body.”

        6. Jesus Christ is Lord, being declared the Head over all things.19 Jesus is God and therefore is rightly called “the Lord;” and has always been the Son, however, He was also declared Lord over all by virtue of His resurrection.20

        7. That He has been declared Lord by His resurrection is essential to the gospel, because Paul says that it is in “The Lord Jesus Christ” that we must believe for salvation.21 We must believe in Him, the risen Lord, to be saved.

      5. The Resurrection confirms the Salvation of Believers

        1. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ also confirms the salvation of believers.

        2. I Peter 1:1-9 “He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…[we are protected] by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time…”

        3. Salvation is both present and future. He caused us to be born again and we are waiting for a salvation “at the last time.”

        4. The current salvation of believers

          1. His sacrifice was accepted by God

            1. This is seen clearly in His current position of power and authority as Lord, at the right hand of God the Father.

            2. Hebrews 1:13 “But to which of the angels has He ever said, ‘sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” This was a privilege given to Christ and to no one else.

            3. This is also seen in a declaration of righteousness given to those who have trusted in Christ.

            4. Romans 4:16-25 “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

          2. His sacrifice was effectual

            1. God has raised us up with Christ, spiritually and has given us a position with Him at the Father’s right hand.

            2. Ephesians 2:1-10 “You were dead in your trespasses and sins…but God…made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ…”

            3. God has raised us up with Christ and has freed us from the power of sin over us.

            4. Romans 6:1-7 “We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised form the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” We have been given new life in Him. Just as He was raised, so were we raised “in the newness of life.” Our new life in Christ should reflect a love for an obedience to His Lordship.

            5. Our new spiritual life is a foretaste of our physical resurrection; Christ Himself being the first fruits of it.22

            6. Christ’s resurrection ensured the coming of the Holy Spirit.23 Only after His resurrection, at Pentecost, was the Spirit poured out and did the church begin.

            7. Ephesians 4-6 “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says ‘when He ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men…and He gave some apostles, and some prophets and some evangelists, and some pastor-teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ…”

        5. The future salvation of believers

          1. Because of Christ’s bodily resurrection; all will be raised, and believers will be raised unto eternal blessing.242526

          2. I Cor 15:20-58 “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

            1. Our resurrection body will be physical27

            2. Our resurrection body will be eternal28

            3. Our resurrection body will be incorruptible29

            4. I Cor 15:35-44 “So also is the resurrection from the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” That it is raised a “spiritual body” does not negate the physical nature of it. His physical body was missing from the tomb because it was risen and transformed from what it was to a body suitable for a heavenly existence. This was Paul’s whole point in the discussion on the different types of flesh in vs 35-44.30

            5. Rev 21:1-5 “and there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain, the first things have passed away.”

Conclusion

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not some just some insignificant aspect of our salvation that is up for debate. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the gospel. We dare not belittle our God, His wisdom, plan and power by suggesting that He is not able or that He did not raise His Son as He foretold. And we dare not belittle our Savior who is also Lord and Judge over all. There is no gospel, there is no salvation, there is no new spiritual or physical life granted to anyone; if Christ has not been raised from the dead. Death still reigns, sin still reigns and all that we have to look forward to is certain judgment from a Holy God who has been infinitely offended by our sin. We have no hope for this life or the next. But He is risen. He is risen and because He is risen, the gospel is truthful and effective. The message of the apostles stands firm and the power of the gospel will continue to produce fruit in those who believe. Because He lives, He has been given authority to judge and to bless. Because He lives, His sacrifice has been accepted by God the Father and He has granted His Holy Spirit to gift those who believe in Him with life, and the ability to serve one another for His glory. Furthermore, because He lives, we know that we too do and will live to stand before God, in the flesh, to serve Him for eternity.

Application

  1. We must never compromise with the message of the gospel because, again, it is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe, and there is salvation in no other name. It is in His name, because He is risen and appointed as Savior and Lord.

    1. When we preach, we must preach with boldness. We should never allow fools who are carried away by the deceitfulness of sin to determine the wisdom of our allegiance to the gospel. No matter how “educated” they are, the unbeliever is still lacking in the one area where knowledge really matters, and that is the truth of Christ. Only the gospel of Christ, not intelligence, worldly importance, social prominence or financial independence will save. There is no other means of salvation provided for men. Never let them dissuade you from confidence in the simple message of the gospel to save.

    2. Furthermore, we must be confident in God’s ability to save through the gospel. Jesus came to save sinners. Therefore, there is no sinner – who every existed or will exist – who is incapable of being saved, if they believe. We are commanded to preach and proclaim the message. Believing is between them and God. The message is never the problem and so there is no reason for us not to proclaim the message for fear of it not being effective.

    3. When we preach, we must know the scriptures. Because there are a lot of false gospels, a lot of belief systems that mix truth with error and deception but we must stay true to what is true and not be dissuaded or dismayed by their cunning and rebellion from God.

    4. When people question our faith (because they will), we must remember that the evidence of our faith is found in the scriptures both the OT (which prophesied of Him) and the NT (who are witnesses of His resurrection). Furthermore that the indwelling of His Spirit, our transformed life, freedom from sin, love for God and His people are genuine evidences that God has left that His gospel is sure and authentic.

    5. When we preach Jesus as Lord over all, we are affirming that He is risen, that He has been given absolute authority over all; all people, principalities and the Church.

      1. He was appointed to judge and He will judge. God confirmed this by raising Him from the dead. The day is fixed and in that day there will only be judgment. No grace, no forgiveness, no mercy. The day is fixed for judgment. And people must know that.

      2. He should be obeyed. All flesh should obey Him and especially those who know Him. A life characterized by disobedience, regardless of a profession of faith, is not a life of faith in the LORD Jesus Christ. A Lord is obeyed because He has authority over you. This Lord has authority over life and death and will determine as He examines the hearts and minds of men whether they have truly believed in Him. Those who have truly believed in Him, will live lives of obedience. Those who have not believed in Him, will not. Those who love Him, keep His Word.31

      3. I love John 3:36 because it places everything concerning the Lordship of Christ and obedience to Him so succinctly when confronting someone with the Gospel of Christ “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” This is reminiscent of Psalm 2 where all the nations are commanded to “kiss the Son” or to “do homage to the Son” in other versions; lest they “perish in the way.” There is no salvation, there is no faith in the Lord without the effect of obedience.32

  2. The resurrection is necessary because it shows forth the power of God to work out salvation in our lives.33 He has died for our sins and been raised for our justification. Sin no longer has power over us and soon we will be removed from its presence.

    1. His resurrection ensures that sin no longer has dominion over us such that we must sin and we are certain of this because we were raised with Him. And when we refrain from sin, which was impossible before, and we affirm the effectiveness of Christ’s resurrection in our lives. Furthermore, when we use our bodies as instruments of righteousness, we show our thankfulness to God as our bodies are given in service to Him.34

    2. His resurrection ensures our position in and our ability to serve His church. Because He was raised, we are raised to new life in His Spirit and are joined together with one another in His body, so that we may use our gifts to serve each other in love.

    3. Finally, we show our thankfulness to God for Christ’s resurrection when we look forward to and long for the resurrection of our own bodies.

      1. The fact of the resurrection of our bodies reminds us of the reality of death and the relatively short amount of time that we have to live for the Lord in this life. Paul’s hope for the resurrection gave him great encouragement and reason to exhort the believers at Corinth to “be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord, because their labor in the Lord was not in vain.” We have limited time on this earth and so we are wise to spend it in that which will yield the greatest produce. That is labor for the Lord.35

      2. The fact of the resurrection assures us that we may spend all of our effort, all of our time, resources and vitality on serving the Lord because we know that in the end there will be rest. We may completely wear out our bodies, whether through just plain old working hard or by means of persecution and martyrdom. And that would be okay. Rest is not for now. Comfort is not for now. It is for eternity. We are given a short while to work and labor; and however back breaking and toilsome our labor is for the Lord, it is nothing in comparison to a new incorruptible, imperishable body and an eternity of rest in the Lord. Amen! We should be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord. His work. Because that labor will never be in vain. All other things will. Everything else that you see and may pursue will. Because it will perish. But labor for the Lord will never be in vain.

      3. How do we look forward to the resurrection?

      4. Take Paul’s example: He looked at this one thing, the resurrection, as much greater than all other things – and any other earthly goal that he could ever attain.

        1. Philippians 3:7-16 “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ”

        2. Philippians 3:20-21 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

        3. Paul’s “goal” in life was to get beyond this life to the next. And when we long for heaven, wherein is our citizenship, then we affirm and celebrate what Christ has done for us, not just on the cross, but also when He rose from the dead, triumphing over death once and for all.

      5. We look at the example of all of those who have gone on before us, believing in what was to come and enduring unto the end.

      6. “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 – alluding to Heb 11).

      7. We also look at the example of the Lord Jesus Himself:

      8. “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, has set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Heb 12:2-3)

      9. As we look ahead, we may affirm with Paul: “’O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’… Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus.” (I Cor 15:55-57).

The Gospel (I Cor 15:3-4)

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”

  1. “Christ died for our sins”

    1. For our sins

      1. That Christ died for our sins indicates that we have sin. Sin is referred to in a number of ways in scripture. It means “missing the mark,” which gives the picture of an arrow that strays from the bullseye. It is also described as overstepping predefined boundaries. This is probably one of the most graphic. We, all of humanity beginning with the first humans created, have overstepped God’s predefined boundaries.

      2. God may and has set boundaries because He is the creator. He created the heavens and the earth. He created all of mankind for His purposes. And so He has every right and absolute authority over what He has created. He has declared that He expects for us to live to His standard, as defined in His commandments.

      3. Since God is creator, He has absolute authority to define the boundaries for His creation and to judge when they overstep those boundaries. Furthermore, because He is the creator, He has absolute power and absolute resources at His disposal in order to judge over His creation. He is worthy of all respect and honor, being Himself creator, and so any offense against Him must be met with proportional judgment. The judgment that He has declared for breaking His law is death, under which we all stand.

      4. We are all under the death sentence because we all sin. All of us have missed His mark, all of us have overstepped His boundaries. We must understand that we have sinned, confess before God and repent.

    2. Christ died

      1. Christ is the one who was sent by God for the purpose of dying for our sins. There is no other man, and there is no other name that has been given by which we must be saved. God has declared that all must believe in Christ, His death on their behalf and His resurrection to be saved.

      2. In this, God has demonstrated His love toward us, because He sent Christ, His Son, to die for our sins. The love of God is not otherwise demonstrated to sinners. Only His holiness and righteousness.

      3. His death was substitutionary, taking our penalty upon Himself, as a perfect sacrifice in our place. Only a perfect sacrifice would suffice to satisfy God’s righteous anger. The righteous blood of Christ needed to be shed. His blood was righteous and He was perfect, being Himself the Son of God and completely obedient to God’s law, even to death.

      4. This was prophesied about in the Old Testament scriptures.

  2. “He was raised”

    1. That He was raised from the dead is the declaration of God to the world that His sacrifice was accepted by God.

    2. That He was raised from the dead gives new life to those who believe in His substitutionary death on their behalf. This new life is not a perfect, nor trouble free life; but it is a new spiritual life before God, and will eventually mean a new physical life in eternity. This new life enables those who believe in Christ to live an obedient life before their Lord and God.

    3. That He was raised from the dead is the declaration of God to the world that He has been given authority as Lord to judge over all of God’s creation. He has gone to Heaven and will return from Heaven to judge, in the day that God has appointed for Him to do so. Those who believe in Him, believe that He has been raised as Lord and that He has been given all authority to judge over all flesh.

    4. This is the story of the New Testament Scriptures.

1 Geisler Swoon Note 1 – “They then drove heavy, wrought-iron nails through his wrists and feet, and plunged a spear into his side. They didn’t break his legs to speed death because they knew he was already dead. (Crucifixion victims often died by asphyxiation because they couldn’t push themselves up to breathe. Breaking the legs would, therefore, speed death.)…The spear in the heart has also been verified as a Roman crucifixion technique by the Roman author Quintilian.” p 304-5

2 Geisler Swoon Note 2 – Other evidences to this point include the fact of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. How did Jesus appear to Paul in the way that He did? Another point involves the corroboration of Jesus’ death by non-Christian writers such as Josephus, Tacitus, Thallus and the Jewish Talmud. Geisler 306

3 Online Resource http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12789a.htm

4 Online Resource http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10lamen.htm

5 Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12789a.htm

6 Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Modern Western Theology. http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirWildWeb/courses/mwt/dictionary/mwt_themes_692_loisy.htm

7 Online Resource. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/introduction.html

8 Online resource http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/christ/index.htm

9 Online resource. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document/php?CISOROOT=/EoM&CISOPTR=4391&CISOSHOW=3818&REC=1

10 Encyclopedia of Mormonism. See above

11 An article written by Lisa Katz on About.com:Judaism. http://judaism.about.com/od/beliefs/a/jesus.htm?p=1

12 One of the authors quoted earlier also said that he failed to understand why “a ‘god of the universe’ couldn’t have simply rearranged the stars to spell ‘Jesus Lives’ the sort of feat that can never be replicated by technology and which would demonstrate a truly universal power over all of nature. Without miracles of such magnitude, a god fails to show the extent of his power, fails to advertise to all his subjects, and fails to prove himself thereby.” To which I would respond, first of all, who is he to determine how God should choose to reveal His power and to do His will? What if God desires to show forth His glory by means of a simple message, a foolish cross and a message carried about and proclaimed by a group of completely unremarkable people? God is God and may reveal Himself and His will how He wills. Quote from Richard Carrier – online – http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/1.html

13 Leon Morris, in his commentary on I Cor 15, lists a number of different possible aspects of this view, namely that “they may have held the typical Greek view of the immortality of the soul and rejected any idea that the body would rise. Death for such meant the liberation of the soul from its prison in the body, for the body, they held was [merely] a tomb. [Or] they may have thought of the state of the departed as the life of the ‘shades’ in Hades. They may have rejected the thought of bodily resurrection as a reaction to some Jewish views that the body will be raised exactly as it was when it died. Or, starting from the fact that the Christian has risen with Christ (Rom 6:5-8; Col 3:1-4, etc.), they may have held that the resurrection life believers live now is all the resurrection there is.” (Morris, TNTC, 207)

Gordon Fee, in his commentary on I Cor 15 also mentions possible reasons for the confusion. He states that the Corinthians must have had some sort of “conflict between them and Paul over what it means to be spiritual. In their view, by the reception of the Spirit, and especially the gift of tongues, they had already entered the true ‘spirituality’ that is to be, already they had begun a form of angelic existence (13:1; cf 4:9, 7:1-7) in which the body was unnecessary and unwanted, and would finally be destroyed. Thus for them life in the Spirit meant a final ridding oneself of the body, not because it was evil but because it was inferior and beneath them; the idea that the body would be raised would have been anathema” (Fee 715).

In other words, just as Morris pointed out, the believers most likely had come to the conclusion that the physical body was unnecessary and so a physical, literal resurrection was also unnecessary and unlikely. This also explains the many issues that Paul confronted concerning their sexuality, such as prohibiting immorality with a prostitute in ch 6 and also encouraging proper sexual relations between husbands, wives and single individuals in ch 7. They simply did not believe the physical body to be of any spiritual good.

14 Paul says in Galatians 1:8 that “if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”

15 see Acts 13:16-41 for an example.

16 John MacArthur, in his commentary on I Cor 15, speaking of what it means that Christ’s resurrection was “according to the scriptures” says that “Jesus, Peter, and Paul quoted or referred to such Old Testament passages as Genesis 22:8, 14; Psa 16:8-11, Psa 22; Isa 53; and Hosea 6:2. Over and over again, either directly or indirectly, literally or in figures of speech, the Old Testament foretold Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. No Jew who believed and understood the Scriptures, referring to what we now call the Old Testament, should have been surprised that the messiah was ordained to die, be buried, and then resurrected. Twice Paul repeats the phrase according to the Scriptures, to emphasize that this is no new thing, and no contradiction of true Jewish belief.” (Mac 402)

Another good text to consider is entitled “Messiah in the Old Testament” by Walter Kaiser. He has great comments on the Old Testament’s picture of the Messiah’s person and work.

17 see I Cor 15:30-32

18 see I Cor 15:15

19 Phil 2:5-11 “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death…for this reason, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name…and every knee will bow…and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The flow of the passage suggests a progression, from His humiliation to His exaltation. Because He humbled Himself “for this reason,” He has been exalted as Lord. Obviously implied is that He was also raised to receive that honor.

20 Romans 1:1-7, especially v 4 which, in context is speaking of “the Son” and says that He was declared the Son of God “with power” by the resurrection. That He is declared the Son of God with power speaks of the way in which He was raised. He was raised in power, as opposed to the meekness with which He initially came. He has always been the Son; therefore, He has always been God.

21 Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Salvation is always contingent upon the confession of and faith in the gospel which is the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as Lord.

22 I Cor 15:20-24

23 see Lesson #2 on “The Origin of the Church” Ecclesiology Notes

24 see Rev 20

25 see also I Cor 15:21-22

26 2 Tim 1:8-11

27 “The physical resurrection of Jesus and his eternal possession of a physical resurrection body, give clear affirmation of the goodness of the material creation that God originally made ‘And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good’ (Gen 1:31). We as resurrected men and women will live forever in ‘new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13)…In this very material, physical, renewed universe, it seems that we will need to live as human beings with physical bodies, suitable for life in God’s renewed physical creation. Specifically Jesus’ physical resurrection body affirms the goodness of God’s original creation of man not as a mere spirit like the angels, but as a creature with a physical body that was ‘very good’.” Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology pg 613

28 see Romans 6:8-10

29 see I Pet 1:3-5, in particular v 4, where Peter notes the quality of our inheritance.

30 Some have unwittingly mistaken this discussion to mean that Jesus’ resurrection was in fact a spiritual resurrection, contradicting what was previously mentioned in scripture. “Several scriptural accounts of the resurrected Jesus stress the materiality of Jesus’ body…[however], on the road to Emmaus, the men and women did not recognize Him; and in the account of the resurrected Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene, in John’s Gospel, Jesus instructed Mary not to hold onto him because he had not yet ascended to the Father. This represents a tension, in the New Testament accounts, between the materiality and ‘spiritual’ nature of the resurrected Jesus.” Jane Shaw – Online Resource – http://www.answers.com/topic/resurrection?cat=health

31 See John 14:23-24

32 “Genuine faith always obeys and endures. It must go beyond knowledge and assent of the truth of salvation. Faith is the root; works are the fruit.” John MacArthur “The Gospel according to the Apostles” p 34

33 See Eph 1:18-23

34 see Romans 12:1-2

35 The word for “labor” is “kopos” in the greek. It means “trouble, difficulty” and can also mean “work, labor, toil.” Paul uses it only one other time, and it is the only other time that it is used in the Bible. It is in 1 Thess 3:5 “For this reason when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor (kopos) would have been in vain.”

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