by Roland Wrinkle

A FOREWORD. This is the first part of a multi-part series, authored by Jack and I (and possibly others) dedicated to exploring the issue of the “General Resurrection of Believers” and whether we have faith in it. Ask yourself this question: When is the last time you particpated in a discussion, listened to a talk , read about or thought about the “General Resuurection? We will cover such matters as: What is the general resurrection? Was Jesus really bodily resurrected? Will we be bodily resurrected? Into what world will we be bodily resurrected? What happens to us when we suffer bodily death? What did the general resurrection mean to the early church? What does the general resurrection have to do with “eternal life” and the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus? Why is the general resurrection important to our Christian faith and ethics? John will post this dialogue on the church website, along with your responses and comments. None of this does any good unless you participate in some way, i.e. reading, talking, writing, thinking about the subject. We pray that you all will.

A DEFINITION OF THE “GENERAL RESURRECTION:” The bodily resurrection of believers to the fully consummated Kingdom of God here on earth at the second coming of Jesus.

So, here we go:

What is more scandalous than basing one’s entire faith superstructure on a man who died with seditious criminals on a Roman cross? How about basing one’s entire faith superstructure on the belief that this man literally got up from the dead…and is planning to return, to raise everybody else from the dead?”—Brian Blount

Jesus, having been bodily resurrected as “the firstfruits…of [the bodily resurrection of] those who belong to him” (1 Cor. 15:23) “is planning to return, to raise everybody else from the dead”? Is that really true? Is that what the bible actually says? If so, do we truly believe it? I fear that we don’t—and that is why we write. Only two-thirds of we Christians believe that Jesus was bodily resurrected from the dead and less than half believe that we will be bodily resurrected to the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming. What are so many of us missing?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE GENERAL RESURRECTION OF US?

Plenty: Isa. 26:19: Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead; Dan. 12:2: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt; Dan. 12:13: But you, go your way and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days; Mark 12:24 & 26: “…you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead….” and “As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses….”; John 5:25-29: Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live…. for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation[2]; John 6:39, 40, 44: No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day; John 11:24, 25: Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live; I Thess. 4:13-1: the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; Rev. 20:13: And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done; Rom. 8:23: and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies; I Cor. 6:14: And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power;  Rom. 8:11: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

WHAT DID PAUL THINK ABOUT THE GENERAL RESURRECTION?

Much: “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead [the GR]?  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead [the GR] has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ [the GR]. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ [the GR]. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father….” 1 Cor. 15

HOW IMPORTANT DID PAUL THINK THE GENERAL RESURRECTION WAS TO THE CHRISTIAN FAITH?

It Was Everything: “If there is no resurrection of the dead [the GR], then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised [the GR]. For if the dead are not raised [the GR], then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” 1 Cor. 15.

WHAT DID OUR FATHER (OF PRESBYTERIANISM) CALVIN THINK ABOUT THE GENERAL BODILY RESURRECTION OF THOSE IN CHRIST?

It Was Critical: “For although the soles of the dead are now living, and enjoy quiet repose, yet the whole of their [hope] depends exclusively on the resurrection; …they wait for that day, on which they shall be called to the possession of the kingdom of God. Hence as to the hope of the dead, all is over, unless that day shall sooner or later arrive….[T]he Corinthian’s had been imposed upon by some mistaken fancy of a figurative resurrection…. For as the resurrection is the completion of our salvation….” Calvin’s Commentaries.

THE APOSTLE PAUL CLOSES PART I OF THIS NEWSLETTER SERIES:

“Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news [The Gospel] that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain…..” 1 Cor. 15. And he was talking all about the General Resurrection of believers to the New Creation of God’s Kingdom here on earth at the second coming of His Son. Do we believe this fantastical stuff?—or are we content to just leave it at, “I believe our disembodied souls go to heaven when we die and we live in celestial bliss with the angels”? Paul’s answer is that it is too much for us to swallow, i.e. that the Gospel is “a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom….” 1 Cor. 1:14-15

Brain Blount (and Paul) ask whether we can base our “entire faith superstructure on the belief that this man literally got up from the dead…and is planning to return, to raise everybody else from the dead?” Our answer: It ain’t easy. Look for Jack’s first offering next.

[2] The great Frederick Buechner, in The Alphabet of Grace, gently tells us that we either allow God and Gospel “to make Christs of us before we’re done or else, for our sakes, graciously to destroy us.”