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Resurrection from the dead, part 2

We are indebted to the Apostle Paul for his treatise on resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, as this gives us many details that we would not otherwise have in Scripture. Paul presents Christ’s resurrection as the definitive proof of resurrection. Essentially, Paul was refuting the belief of the Sadducees who were the rulers of the temple until the Romans destroyed the city in 70 A.D.

The Example of Christ’s Resurrection

By presenting Christ’s resurrection, Paul also defined resurrection in physical terms and not merely in spiritual terms. In this Paul was in agreement with the Pharisees. Even today there are some who define resurrection purely in spiritual terms, as did the Sadducees. They say that the first resurrection occurs when one becomes a believer. Their baptism, they say, is about death and resurrection.

Certainly, there is an important truth in seeing baptism as a death-to-life experience as we identify with Christ Himself. But this is no substitute for physical resurrection. Baptism is a public witness to an inner transformation. It signifies putting to death the “old man” (the natural man affected by Adam’s sin) and the rise of the “new man” that has been begotten by God. The principle is the same as what we see in a physical resurrection.

Hence, the spiritualized view presents the first resurrection as spiritual. As for the second resurrection, there is disagreement. Some say the second is physical; others deny any physical resurrection at all—that is, resurrections leading to immortality, not just people being raised from the dead such as Lazarus, who died a natural death many years later.

Sadducee Influence in the Church

1 Corinthians 15:12-14 says,

¹² 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? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

If these resurrection deniers were Jewish, it is likely that they were former Sadducees who brought their previous beliefs with them into the church. If they were Greeks, they must have brought their past beliefs and culture into the church. In fact, it is for this reason that the milk of the word must be taught to new believers, so that they understand these foundational truths and can be set free from the religious culture to which they were accustomed.

Paul boldly asserts that if anyone denies the physical resurrection of the dead that they must also deny Christ’s resurrection, undercutting the foundations of their salvation.

Greek Influence in the Church

Resurrection was a foreign concept to Greek culture. When Paul preached in Athens, he was met with much skepticism when speaking about Christ’s resurrection. Acts 17:18 says,

¹⁸ And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him [Paul]. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities”—because he was presenting Jesus and the resurrection.

Paul then found an altar with this inscription, “To an unknown God” (Acts 17:23), and he took the opportunity to unveil this “unknown God” to the Greek audience. His conclusion is seen in Acts 17:30-32,

³⁰ Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, ³¹ because He 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. ³² Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.”

The Greeks had a different view of creation, which eliminated the idea of resurrection, so it is no wonder that “some began to sneer.” The Greek world view was based on the idea that the devil (or “demiurge”) created matter, and so matter—the physical world—was inherently evil and that only spirit was good. This obviously contradicted the first chapter of Genesis, where God created the physical universe and pronounced it “good” at each stage. When finished, we read in Genesis 1:31,

³¹ God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The Greek view that the devil created all that was physical made the philosophers sneer at the idea that men could come back into a physical body and still be “good.” They themselves believed in reincarnation, where men return (through a birth mother) into another physical body, but that body is yet imperfect. They believed that men would return many times through the ages until they reach perfection by their own works.

Biblical resurrection is a single event at the end of the age and is based on one’s faith rather than works done in the flesh. It is the climax of the Christian experience, depicted by the feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month (Hebrew calendar). This is the day of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:52), although we do not know the year in which this will occur. The feast of Tabernacles is the day when those believers who are alive at the time are “changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51).

Whether one is raised from the dead or changed without first dying, both groups receive a physical body that is glorified and is in the image of Christ. Both groups then have two bodies, as it were: a physical body and a spiritual body. This allows them to go to heaven or to earth at will, even as Jesus did after His resurrection. This is prophesied in the two garments of the priests, where they were required to minister in the outer court in woolen garments, but they changed into linen garments when they ministered to God in the Holy Place. Wool creates sweat and speaks of the physical body; linen is the spiritual garment.

Those who are raised in the first resurrection will be the first to have direct access to both heaven and earth. They will preach the gospel with power even as Jesus did during His ministry. They will do so in a physical body, because they will be “priests of God” (Revelation 20:6), and the priests were not allowed to minister to the people in the outer court while wearing their linen garments.

All of this points to the purpose of resurrection. Those who have died in Christ will need a new body to do the work required in the age to come.