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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
As we began last week, we gain insights into the truth of the resurrection by watching how
inspired writers responded to some misstatements by false teachers.
The Resurrection Features a Body; It is Not a Disembodied State.
Many Greek philosophers believed in the survival of the soul after the death of the body, and
a wispy, floaty afterlife. Plato taught that the body was impure, and needed to be ignored in
life, and cast off in death. Plato famously said, in the Phaedo, the soul is “released from the
regions of the earth as from a prison … and lives in the future altogether without a body.”
This is NOT the teaching of the Bible, which teaches the human body is God’s gift, and an
instrument to be used for God’s glory.
In Corinth, Paul found many Greeks believing in Jesus, but scoffing at the notion of a
resurrection. “Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some
among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12). Paul asserts
sternly in vv. 13-19, that denying the resurrection causes many serious problems. Denying
the resurrection denies the resurrection of Jesus Himself, making Jesus a dead victim.
Denying the resurrection makes the apostles untrustworthy. Denying the resurrection makes
faith in Jesus worthless. Denying the resurrection makes Christian life temporary.
The Corinthians still weren’t convinced. They said, “With what kind of body are the dead
raised?” (15:35). Paul’s replies angrily, “you fool!” Apparently, the Corinthians’ question in
verse 35 was not an honest question seeking information, but a childish retort, more like, “oh
yeah, well if you’re so smart, what kind of body could it possibly be?”
Paul proceeds to enlighten them. God has already demonstrated in creation His ability to
fashion different kinds of bodies, all wonderful and all suited to their environments. Even
heavenly objects differ. Why should it be incredible to imagine God creating a new body
designed to last eternally in the kingdom? In contrast to the present earthly body, the
heavenly body will be powerful, imperishable, honorable, and spiritual.
Now, this last term sometimes still confuses us. By “spiritual,” Paul does not mean “lacking a
body,” or “like Casper the Ghost.” Rather, he means a body provided and sustained by God’s
Spirit. Consider, for example, the “spiritual food and drink” of 1 Cor. 10:3-4. It was still real
food, but it was provided by God. Its source was God! Our new spiritual bodies will be
fashioned by God for dwelling in the heavenly realms but will most certainly be bodies.
Remember that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Like a seed to a
mature plant, Jesus had a real body that was in some ways a continuation of the previous
body (John 20:27, Rev. 5:6) but a great improvement upon it.
What do we learn? A spiritual body is a wonderful body, not a disembodied existence.
Christianity Without Resurrection is a Meaningless Waste of Time.
In Acts 17, Paul’s preaching attracted the attention of the philosophers of Athens. They set him in their midst to probe deeper. They listened politely, it would seem, to Paul’s reasoned discussion of the nature of a Creator God. But when he
got to the raising of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, “some began to sneer” (17:32).
Throughout Acts, the doctrine of resurrection triggers the most awful reactions (see Acts 23:6-7, 24:15, 26:23)! And so, it does today. Many are willing to accept, or at least tolerate, the pleasant Gandhi-esque aspects of Christianity—
forgiveness, neighborliness, inner tranquility.
However, dare to mention that you believe Jesus’ resurrection is a historical fact, or mention that you are focused more on the eternal life to come than the present one, and you become a loony
zealot!
But Jesus does not leave us the option to say, “I like what Jesus said, but I don’t go for that miraculous resurrection stuff.”
The teachings of Jesus have authority because His resurrection proved that He is the divine Son of God and long-promised Messiah (Romans 1:3). Without this authority, His words are a meaningless waste of time. You could choose to follow any philosophy or ethic you like; humanism, hedonism, eco-terrorism, whatever; none of it really can make a claim to truth.
Furthermore, His resurrection assures us that He will require obedience to His word. 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” (Acts 17:31).
What do we learn? Christianity without a resurrected Jesus is devoid of power and purpose. His resurrection is of “first
importance” (1 Cor. 15:3-8). There’s no point in accepting the principles of Jesus without the assurance of a future with
Jesus. It is impossible to truly accept the gospel story without accepting the resurrection.
