We’re gathered here this morning because of our hope in the resurrection of the dead. The possibility of someone who has died rising again to life is the bedrock of our faith. Even though the idea is highly dubious to many, at the same time, it is engaging and intriguing.
If you wonder about the words engaging and intriguing, take a minute to recall all the movies and television shows over the last 20 years or so featuring people who return from the dead in some fashion to interact with people still in their mortal bodies—Heaven Can Wait, Sixth Sense, (even one for children) All Dogs Go To Heaven, just to mention a few. We don’t have time to recount all the Oprah shows, etc., and the books and the radio talk shows, and on and on, all devoted to the topic of what happens after people die or when people nearly die or when people die for a few minutes or so and come back to life.
Engaging and intriguing, to say the least. Many people, perhaps most people, are interested in the possibility of someone rising again to life after death.
For those of us who are Christians, we are more than just interested. As I have already indicated, we are committed! I’ll say again, we are here because of our certain hope in the resurrection of the dead. We are committed in particular to our belief in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Responses
Of course, not everyone joins with us in our faith. When the Apostle Paul visited the Areopagus on Mars Hill in Athens in Acts 17, the Bible says: some believed, some mocked, and some withheld judgment until they could hear more. And then there are people like Hymenaeus and Philetus, who evidently believed Jesus rose from the dead, but who for some reason began teaching that the resurrection God promised for believers had already occurred. Paul calls them out and rebukes them harshly in 2 Timothy 2:17-18.
So with all this said, professing Christians are usually rock solid in reference generally to the prospect of people someday rising again from dead. That’s what makes the makes the question Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 15:12 so stunning: “how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?”
This morning I want to talk with you about the historical reality behind this question. And I want to do this for two reasons: (1) because it informs a more accurate understanding of this text overall; and (2) because it suggests some very critical points of application for us.
Corinthian Deniers of the Resurrection
For the sake of brevity, let me just state that there were indeed people in the Church at Corinth who altogether stopped believing in a resurrection of the dead— not because they thought it had already happened (like Hymenaeus and Philetus; 2 Timothy 2:17-18); and not because they no longer believed it was possible (like some of the Athenians at the Areopagus on Mars Hill); but rather, because they stopped believing it was needed. They stopped believing that resurrection from the dead offered them anything of value.
As crazy as that sounds, you have to understand the kind of thinking that crept into the Corinthian church. Many of them began to embrace an interpretation of OT Scripture that was a mix between allegory and Hellenist/Jewish philosophy. The foremost tenant of their thinking was this: matter (including the matter that makes up the body) is inherently evil; spirit is inherently good.
So, if you asked these Corinthians, aren’t you looking forward with hope and joyful anticipation to the resurrection of your body someday after you die?, they would have replied: “Heavens, no! Why would I ever want another body! I prefer life as a disembodied spirit. Life as a disembodied spirit is far superior!”
By the way, the Hellenist/Jewish philosophers of that day used the word “naked” to describe the immortality and more desirable condition of a spirit living apart from its body. See 2 Corinthians 5:1-5.
Back to our text, as certain ones among the Corinthians began to embrace this philosophical dualism between matter and spirit, they moved away from believing in any resurrection of the dead.
One of the Big Questions
One of the big questions that emerges from this kind of thinking is, What is to be done about the bodies we now live in? How are we to manage bodily appetites and desires?
There are essentially two answers: (1) asceticism (rigorous self-denial) or (2) hedonism (excessive self-indulgence—if matter cannot be redeemed, and if true religion is exclusively spiritual, why not live it up and enjoy as much sensual pleasure as possible?).
Many Corinthians began turning to asceticism or hedonism. Consequently, we see the Apostle Paul addressing both throughout his letter. Paul deals with the asceticism of celibacy in chapter 7. Paul addresses a host of hedonistic behaviors in the chapters that surround chapter 7: e.g., he addresses sexual immorality (5-6); eating food sacrificed to idols (8-10); and drunkenness (11). In other places, Paul also confronts several other hedonistic self-centered, self-indulgent practices: e.g., lawsuits against believers to defend one’s rights (6); the flaunting of certain social conventions (11); and then there was the issue of competition in the use of spiritual gifts (12-14).
And in addition to all of these, Paul also takes on the division in the church that flared up because the spiritual elitism that was so integral to this philosophy the Corinthians were embracing. Their philosophy divided people (Christians) into two groups: (1) those who were more spiritual and (2) those who were less spiritual. The ones who considered themselves more spiritual were actually called the spiritual or the mature (along with several other similar terms). Those who were less spiritual were called soulish or infants. If you read through the early chapters of 1 Corinthians, you’ll find Paul using their own language against them to call them up short for their divisiveness.
Back to 1 Corinthians 15:1-34
So let’s go back now to 1 Corinthians 15 to see how all of this plays into what Paul wrote about resurrection from the dead, in general, and Christ’s resurrection, in particular.
In 15:1-2, we find a bit of an introduction: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”
The idea behind “believing in vain” is professing belief without having actually considered the facts; in other words, without having had the grounds or any reason to believe.
Keep in mind, there is no such thing as “blind faith”. Blind faith is not saving faith. Saving faith is grounded in certain propositions about who Jesus was and what He did for us. Paul begins to get into these things in 15:3-9. First he quotes from what we now know was an early Christian hymn or recitation: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (vs. 3-4).
Don’t miss the power of this summary and the implications of each phrase:
· Christ died – refutes those who began teaching that Christ only seemed to be human, since they believed that all matter is inherently evil.
· for our sins – establishes the vicarious nature of Jesus’ death.
· according to the Scriptures – OT Scriptures, such as Isaiah 52-53, et Al.
· that he was buried – Underscores the reality of His death and the significance of the empty tomb.
· that he was raised on the third day – using inclusive reckoning
· according to the Scriptures – once again, the OT Scriptures, such as Psalms 16, 110, and others.
All of this, Paul writes, is of “the first importance.” It is the substance of our faith. It is the essence of what we believe. It is indispensable.
The Resurrection
In the verses that follow, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection that he passed on to them initially. See 15:5-9.
Allow me to read one commentator’s words regarding this:
The contents of the early Christian “creed” embedded in verses 3-7…refute all the classic suggestions that have been made down through the centuries to account for the origin of resurrection faith apart from a literal bodily resurrection. That Christ “died” disputes the claim that he merely swooned and recovered in the tomb. “That he was buried” renders implausible the views that the disciples stole his body or that the women went to the wrong tomb. Eventually a body could have been produced and the disciples’ story laid to rest. The verb ophthe (“appeared”) refers more naturally to an objective reality that the disciples saw rather than to some subjective vision…The number of witnesses and numerous occasions on which Christ appeared seem to rule out mass hallucination. By mentioning Jesus’ appearance to two people who did not believe in him (Paul and James), Paul refutes the contention that the appearances were the projections of individuals who had so much personally invested in Christ that they simply couldn’t imagine him remaining dead.
Suffice it to say, whether here or in the Gospels, there is enough credible eyewitness evidence of Jesus’ resurrection that no one has to swallow their intellect to believe. They must only swallow their pride, humbly acknowledging their sin and utter inability to save themselves from sin’s power over them or from the certain judgment that is coming.
In 15:11, Paul wraps it up by saying: “Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.”
Implications of No Resurrection
Going back to the text, in 15:12-34, Paul lays out numerous theological and practical implications of no resurrection from the dead. Allow me to summarize them in a single statement: the power and promise of resurrection from the dead are absolutely necessary for hope and victory in Christ.
Without the resurrection of the dead, there is no hope and there is no victory against death and sin. This is precisely the opposite of what the Corinthians’ philosophy had led them to believe. In their thinking, resurrection victory over sin and resurrection victory over death had become meaningless. According to their philosophy, victory over sin came through embracing the inherent good of the spirit; while, on the other hand, eschewing the inherent evil of the material. And victory over death of the material body simply did not matter.
Paul answers these outgrowths of the Corinthian philosophy by telling them: if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (15:17).
Listen carefully, there is no victory over sin apart from the resurrection of the dead in general, and apart from the resurrection of Christ in particular. And there is no victory over death. Paul continues in 15:18: “Then those also have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men”—no victory over death!
In 15:20-29, Paul goes on to explain that not only is there is no victory over sin and no victory over death apart from the resurrection of the dead in general and apart from the resurrection of Christ in particular, but not believing in the resurrection places you (and all other unbelievers) on the wrong side of the victory that has already been secured through Christ and His resurrection and that is marching steadily toward the present when the end finally comes.
Paul wanted the Corinthians to know the same principle he expressed in more positive terms in Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Here in our text Paul wants his readers to understand this from the opposite perspective: If you do not confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and do not believe in your heart, God has raised him from the dead, you will be defeated…”For He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (15:25). “All his enemies” includes anyone still in their sins because of unbelief.
Application
I want to stop here this morning and move into some application.
1. Believe on Jesus from your heart, that he died for your sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day—that God raised him from the dead.
a. Stop trusting in any other philosophy or religious way of thinking other than what the Apostle Paul describes as of “first importance”
b. There is no other way—not through any other philosophy or religious system, and certainly not on your own.
c. By the way, this includes all of the popular alternatives flying around out there, whether it’s the latest book on near-death experiences or the latest Oprah show: 15:33 warns specifically against the outcomes of hanging out under the influence of the world’s thinking about Christ or about life after death. They are the “bad company” Paul has in mind. And their theologies and their philosophies do not call you or me to righteousness, but rather to corruption.
Have you ever noticed in Hollywood’s fascination with what comes after this life how rarely, if ever, the eternal destinies of Christians and non-Christians are accurately contrasted? One commentator I read this week pointed out how often “either all people are seen as going to ‘heaven’, or else they are distinguished on the basis of how good or bad they were during their time on earth” (Blomberg, p. 310).
d. Please listen carefully, there is no other way to deal with the power of sin and death, other than through the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2. Christians, there are two applications for you:
a. Let the reality of Christ’s resurrection draw you into experiences of victory over sin in your life. One of the ways the power of Christ’s resurrection is operationalized in your life is through your personal experiences of victory over sin. Through Christ’s resurrection, you possess the power to do right—you possess the same power to do right that raised Jesus from the dead. And this power operationalized in your life demonstrates what you believe and whose side you’re on. It demonstrates it in a way that impacts the unbelievers we encounter. See 15:34: “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning: for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
b. Let the reality of Christ’s resurrection draw you into experiences of selflessness. There are Christians, who even apart from the issue of sin, who live as if there is no resurrection from the dead in general or of Christ in particular. Many of these Christians take risks and endure hardships for the sake of their well-being here on earth, but they hardly, if ever, take risks or endure hardships for the sake of the life that is to come.
In a roundabout way, Paul explains how the promise and power of resurrection make taking risks for Christ worth it and enduring hardships for Christ worth it. See 15:30-32a.
Let me encourage you to consider doing something intentionally and specifically each day this week in light of the coming resurrection of the dead. At the very least, ask yourself: What hardship is Christ calling me to endure in light of the reality of the coming resurrection of the dead? What risk is Christ calling me to take in light of the reality of the coming resurrection of the dead? What act of obedience is Christ calling me to do in light of the reality of the coming resurrection of the dead?
Jesus has risen from the dead, and so will you and so will I through faith in Him. So let us live like we believe it!
He has risen!
He has risen indeed!
No comments:
Post a Comment