Classics from the archives: Life from the other side: How the resurrection changed the world

Following on from Hannah Ploegstra’s “Why believers don‘t know what to think about death”, we thought it might be helpful to revisit another classic Briefing article on a similar subject: “Life from the other side: How the resurrection changed the world”. Peter Bolt discusses the fact that our Messiah rose from the dead and therefore what that means for us:

After precipitating a riot in Jerusalem, Paul was seized by the Romans (Acts 21:17-40). This launched him into a series of imprisonments and eventually a situation of house arrest in Rome itself (Acts 28). During a series of informal and formal trials, Paul had the opportunity to present his case and it became clear that, at least in Paul’s mind, he was on trial for the ‘resurrection of the dead’ (Acts 22:6; 24:14-21; 26:4-8).

Now, it must be said, if you were to invent a new religion or philosophy in those times, it was not a particularly shrewd move to centre your movement on the resurrection of the body. This would certainly make Christianity, along with the Jews who shared this hope, stand out. This message was in stark contrast to every other religion or philosophy. It wasn’t that the Greeks and Romans couldn’t conceive of a resurrection—of a body returning to life again—they just considered it to be impossible (apart from in mythology!). In addition, at least for those Platonists who believed in the immortality of the soul, it was extremely distasteful! They spent their lives trying to get rid of the encumbrance of the body: why would you want to have it in the afterlife? It is no surprise at all that Paul’s message of resurrection was met with mockery in Athens (Acts 17:32).

But Paul also found himself at issue with the Jews. This is surprising, because, as Paul reminded people at his various trials, apart from the Sadducee party, the Jews themselves already shared this hope. As even the Roman official Festus was able to discern, the debate seemed to turn on a dead man named Jesus, who, in Paul’s opinion, had already come back to life (Acts 25:19). But the debate was even bigger than the simple assertion that Jesus had risen. It turned on the significance of this thing that Paul, the former Pharisee, was now proclaiming as fact. Paul proclaimed that Jesus’ resurrection showed that he was the Messiah and, as the Messiah, he was the first to rise from the dead (26:23). If Jesus had risen, then this meant that the resurrection at the last day, which was the hope of their fathers, had already begun in the midst of human history. Paul joined the other early Christian preachers in proclaiming “in Jesus, the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 4:2).

Isn’t it interesting to notice how Paul summarizes the Christian message and the Christian movement? His preaching can be boiled down to the hope of the resurrection being realized in Jesus. The movement can be defined by this proclamation of resurrection: the Messiah has risen from the grave, and therefore …

But that is the major question. Therefore … what?

Read the full article at The Briefing site.