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What We Can Learn about the Resurrection by its Opponents’ Misstatements
What We Can Learn about the Resurrection by its Opponents’ Misstatements
Sometimes you can learn a lot about a movement by working backward from its opponents’ claims. For example, I’ve always found it hilarious to listen to Democrats give Republicans sincere-sounding advice about how to win voters. I dunno, but you just might want to do the exact opposite!
So too, we gain insights into the truth of the resurrection by watching inspired writers responded to misstatements.
The Resurrection Has Not Already Happened
Paul warns Timothy of some false teachers who “say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18). How could anyone believe the resurrection has already occurred—people are still getting sick and dying! Obviously, the false teachers were redefining resurrection, not as God’s transformation of our current bodies into glorified bodies, but rather as the cleansing of the conscience and new spiritual life of believers.
Now, there’s a sense in which the power of the resurrection is already present in a Christian’s life. We have been buried with Him in baptism so that “as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-7). He made us “alive together with Christ … and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:5-6). Without argument, Christians should be living as those who are already part of God’s people, alive from the dead.
But we do this in anticipation of an even greater victory when God’s kingdom is universal. Let us not be duped into thinking the church as we see it in this world today is the final word on resurrection. The church is a beautiful thing, no doubt. But, if it’s all we can hope for, it leaves the saints still dealing with persecution (2 Timothy 3:12), hardship (2 Timothy 2:3), suffering (Revelation 2:10), sickness (2 Timothy 4:20), sorrow (1 Peter 2:19), exile (Hebrews 11:13-14), and death (Romans 8:36). Is that really the culmination of the Christian experience? Being in the church is awesome, but Bible writers—who were very much in the church, too—spoke of longing for the future. Paul said, “For this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God” (1 Timothy 4:8-10). Paul faced execution bravely, saying, “the Lord will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18). He inspired other Christian laborers, saying, “Your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). You see, if we have hoped in this life only, “we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).
By the way, there’s another version of this false teaching (see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2) that suggests the Judgment Day and resurrection already happened but happened secretly to a special group of holy people, invisible to the rest of the world. This is what various UFO cults and the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. But Scripture is clear that Judgment Day will be obvious
to all (Revelation 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-12) and that the evil people will experience a resurrection, too (Acts 24:15, John 5:29).
So, what do we learn? The promised resurrection hasn’t happened yet! It’s not a metaphor. Our great hope of eternity is intact, and it motivates us to serve God. Paul’s condemnation of these false teachers proves that the blessings we enjoy thus far in the church are merely a foretaste of an even better resurrection life.
The Resurrection Doesn’t Always Fit Our Earthly Fantasies
In Jesus’ time, the Sadducees approached Jesus with a situation which they felt demolished the doctrine of resurrection: a woman legally married to a succession of seven men. They triumphantly asked, “in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” (Matthew 22:23-33).
Jesus pointed out that their concept of resurrection was all wrong (not to mention their concept of God’s power). Biblical resurrection does not offer a continuation of physical associations and pleasures here on earth. Jesus said, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.” While certain relationships demand things like submission now, the resurrection is a kind of life in which these dependencies become unnecessary, for the bodies of people are different.
Let’s be hesitant to paint earthly experiences and pleasures into Paradise. I’ve heard people at funerals suggest grandpa is fishing in the big lake in the sky, or that Dale Earnhart is racing his car around the big oval track in the sky, or that martyrs are cavorting with their 72 virgins (as an aside, I’ve never understood the appeal of this to Muslim women). You might enjoy BBQ, but don’t expect a smoker in the resurrection. We will be in such a state where we’ll have something even better, perhaps a body that does not suffer hunger at all!
So, what do we learn? We hardly possess the vocabulary to grasp just how good a thing God has in store for us. Let us not limit our notions of resurrection to the pleasures of the realm we see now. To be continued next week…
--John Guzzetta
