Did Jesus actually rise from the dead in a literal sense? Many in the progressive (i.e., liberal) Christian community say “no.” They argue that Jesus’ resurrection was spiritual, not material. In taking this view, these progressive Christians find themselves at odds with the Apostle Paul.
“The great divide is between conservative and progressive Christianity, which form opposite ends of the spectrum of American Christianity.” So wrote the late Marcus Borg in his landmark book Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most. Borg’s statement is correct. Denominational differences today pale in comparison to the differences between the self-styled “progressive” wings of the Christian community and the more conservative or orthodox traditions of Christianity.
One of the most fundamental differences between these schools of thought (progressivism vs conservative orthodoxy) is how one views the resurrection of Jesus. Was it literal? Or was it spiritual? Or perhaps both?
In the following video (an excerpt from my online Easter message to Olney Baptist Church), I argue that the traditional, conservative, orthodox view of the Resurrection is rooted in the clear teachings of the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15.
The fifteenth chapter (granted, the early church added the chapters later, but the portion of Paul’s letter we today know as the fifteenth chapter) clearly points to Jesus’ literal resurrection as proof that Jesus conquered death and that therefore we can look forward to life after death ourselves — more specifically, to a “resurrection of the dead.”
Don’t take my word for it. Let’s examine I Corinthians 15:1-19 together. See for yourself…
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
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, then Christ is not risen.
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
My ministry mentor, David R. Stokes, likes to say: “Before we can understand what a passage of Scripture means, we must know what it meant!”
I invite you to open up your Bible and read the rest of I Corinthians 15. Read it through without preconceived modern or postmodern notions. Try to imagine, if you can, being a first century Christian with doubts about the afterlife. Try reading this letter as if you were a member of the church of Corinth receiving this in the first century.
When progressive Christians deny the resurrection of Jesus, they deny the miracle that Paul cites as the foundation to Christianity itself.
And to say that the Apostle Paul isn’t referring to a literal, material resurrection of Jesus in I Corinthians 15 represents frankly a terrible, if not outright dishonest, hermeutic approach to the text. For Paul and the other apostles, Jesus really did rise from the dead!
Paul stakes everything on the resurrection, and he’s not talking about some kind of esoteric or abstract phenomenon, but a real, genuine, bodily resurrection!
We can look forward to eternity with Christ because Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
