I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body |
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It is quite clear in the New Testament scriptures that belief in the resurrection was considered to be the norm in the early Church. Yet there were obviously those who either denied this doctrine completely or who "spiritualised" it. Because of this tendency, which obviously was a problem in the Corinthian Church, Paul wrote the amazing chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Any discussion on the Resurrection must refer to this chapter and, in this article, it will be the major focus of our thinking. Of the BodyThe statement in the Apostles' Creed differs from the New Testament in its terminology here. Paul refers to the resurrection of the dead. The Creed uses a cruder term in that it is phrased "The Resurrection of the Body". I use the term "cruder" because it is fully possible to use the phrase "resurrection of the dead" in a "spiritualised" fashion and yet deny that the body is to be physically raised. But if we think that "Resurrection of the Body" is crudely physical in its interpretation then we will surely find that the original wording of the Creed is yet more so. The words "of the Body" are of comparatively modern origin. The original version was sarkoV anastasin (sarkos anastasin) in the Greek version or carnis resurrectionem in Latin which was correctly translated as "resurrection of the flesh". There seems no doubt, therefore, that the writers of the Apostles' Creed believed that the resurrection was literally to be a physical resurrection - not simply something that looked like a body but a literal body made of flesh and blood. When one considers that, for the New Testament writers, the "flesh" is virtually synonymous with sinfulness and that Paul speaks of "crucifying the flesh", we are forced to realise that the inclusion of these words in the creed must have been for a good reason. Creeds, we must remember, were not written simply as a summary of what Christians do believe. They were written mainly as result of the need to state that what some people were teaching was incorrect. Thus, when the creed tells us that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried, it does so to counter suggestions that Jesus did not really die but only appeared to do so. When we find it so firmly stated that the resurrection is the "resurrection of the flesh" then we may assume that there were those who were weakening the doctrine of the resurrection into some idea of " spiritual resurrection" rather than "physical resurrection". How can some of you say . . .The problem of those who claimed that there was no resurrection was clearly around from the earliest days of the Church. Paul challenged the Corinthian Church: "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" (1 Cor. 15:12) Perhaps it is as well for the Church of the 20 th and 21st centuries that this problem arose in the 1st. It means that we have some guidelines in the Bible. We know from Paul that true believers in the 1st century held that there was to be a resurrection and that the resurrection was to be a physical one. But Paul also makes it clear that the body with which we shall rise will not be the same as the body with which we now live and with which we may die.
The example is ChristPaul argues that if we wish to know what our resurrection will be like then we must look to the resurrection of Jesus. If there is no resurrection then Christ has not been raised from the dead. If Christ has been raised then there is no problem with believing that we also shall rise. "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (1 Cor. 15:20) If Christ is the firstfruits then his resurrection is the pattern for the whole harvest. In the same way that we all die both spiritually and physically because of our relationship with Adam so we shall all be made alive, both spiritually and physically because of our relationship with Jesus, the firstfruits.
A Different BodyWhen Jesus rose from the dead, was it the same body with which he was buried? The question is a vexing one. We know, for instance that the scars which had won our salvation were still visible for he pointed them out to Thomas. Yet he was not always recognised immediately. The travellers on the road to Emmaus only recognised him in the breaking of bread. He was "flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39) and he was tangible. He ate and drank and broke bread. Yet he also appeared and disappeared and passed through locked doors. He was real, physically as well as spiritually - but he was not the same. Paul explains it in these terms: "But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." (1 Cor 15:35-44) There is, of course, a relationship between that which is sown and that which is raised. Yet it is not the same. The body Jesus had after his resurrection was similar to, but not the same as, the one he had until his death. He had lived for thirty three years in a perishable, or corruptible body. Now he had "put on incorruption" as the AV puts it. A MysteryThere are those who believe that our resurrection takes place when we become Christians. And, of course, there is a sense in which this is true. When we are "born again" we pass from darkness into light and from death into life. Yet Paul, who certainly believed this, also taught that there was more yet to come. The new life we have now in Christ is still just "a foretaste of glory divine". The resurrection, according to Paul, is a future event which will come at the end of this age and will be the birth of the age to come. After that great event death, already vanquished on Calvary, will finally be no more. This amazing, stupendous event will be heralded by, what Paul calls, the last trumpet. Paul reveals it like this: "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:51-57)
(All full biblical quotations in this article are taken from the New
International Version and have been inserted into the text using "QuickVerse
for Windows" from
Parsons Technology .)
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