The Rest of the Story...

‘There is no resurrection of the dead’, they said.  Paul would have none of that foolish talk.  To whatever extent this popular ideology captivated the Corinth church; it clearly drew Paul’s impassioned response [1].  Consider the following portions of I Corinthians 15:

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain.

If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is in vain.

If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile.

If Christ has not been raised, then you are still in your sins.

With the obvious weight and attention Paul gives Resurrection Sunday in chapter 15 a thought crossed my mind.  I began to wonder what kind of movie review he would give The Passion of Christ? 

I remember coming to its final scene emotionally spent, yet yearning for more. 

Such has been my experience the few times I’ve watched The Passion.  Unlike any artistic medium before it, the film powerfully depicts Good Friday, but inevitably the movie leaves me unfulfilled.  Having plumbed the harsh realities of Jesus’s crucifixion for nearly two hours why not underscore the richness of His ultimate triumph?  Where’s the rest of the story? 

Sure, in the last sixty seconds Christ’s battered corpse materializes into a resurrected state, but immediately the music reaches a crescendo and the credits role.  Directors cut?  Nothing.  No extras, no deleted scenes – nothing.  

I’d like to imagine that Paul would’ve shared my sentiment.

Outside of the gospels I Corinthians 15 is the resurrection passage.  The full work of Christ, from the cross to the empty tomb, is what the prophets predicted, what the early saints evidenced, and what each of the apostles proclaimed (15:3-11).  Yet some had lost sight of God’s grand redemptive purpose.  Instead of holding to the apostolic teaching, some seemingly envisioned man existing eternally in an ethereal state.  Take note of Paul’s response: 

If there be no future bodily existence, then even Christ himself is still dead, and If Christ didn’t raise from the dead (12-13):

·      The message we preach and the message you believed is empty (14)

·      We are false witnesses and God is a liar (15-16)

·      We are still in our sin (17)

·      Those dead in Christ are eternally damned (18)

·      Those alive in Christ are foolish and to be pitied (19)

Christ’s physical death and resurrection enabled God’s plan for mankind to be realized.  To have one without the other would disrupt the divine intent.  Yet there’s more.  For Paul the sum benefit of Christ’s resurrection goes well beyond the singular focus of man’s eternal state.  The text enhances the scope of Christ’s resurrection to an all-together different, cosmic level.    

Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday comprise a singular hope: that God, through Christ, restored and secured creation’s ultimate intent.  Due to Christ’s resurrection, eschatological hope pulsates throughout I Corinthians 15.  The entire chapter peers toward this New Age; an age defined by perfect harmony of the spiritual and physical realm.  Both of these function in unbroken communion and glory to God the Father (15:24-28; 50-57).

We need a big lens by which to read I Corinthians 15.  Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits of a future where Christ himself will deliver the kingdom to God the Father (15:24).  Cosmic harmony is not only the climax of the gospel but also the very pinnacle of NT theology.  As evidenced in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is indeed making all things new.    

As Easter nears, may we be reminded that the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ extends as far as the curse is found.  The scope of our King’s rule reaches every crevice of creation.  May the spirit of I Corinthians 15 remind us of the hope in which we stand and the truth by which we are being saved (15:1-2).

Grace and Peace

[1] One such idea was the Greek notion that the soul of man, his immaterial essence, was immortal and that the man’s physical body, his material being, was a temporary albeit unfortunate necessity.  From this reasoning two things stood in stark contrast with apostolic teaching.  First, proponents of this viewpoint did not hold to a physical resurrection of the dead (I Corinthians 15:12; Luke 20:27ff; Acts 17:30-32).  Secondly, proponents of this view advanced the idea that bodily sin was, at the very least, tolerable for the material body would pass away.  Conversely, throughout I Corinthians Paul weaves together three interrelated ideas: our body belongs to the Lord, there will be a bodily resurrection, and we will give a physical account for our actions (3:16-17; 5:1-2; 6:12-20; 15:32-34, 58).