Significance of Christ's Resurrection

By Pastor Lian (spring 2007:ACTS)

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE HISTORICITY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

A. The Resurrection Event as a Myth
B. The Resurrection Event as a Non-event
C. The Resurrection Event as a Historical Event

II. THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCES OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

A. The Empty Tomb
B. The Appearance of the Risen Christ
C. Paul’s Understanding of Christ’s Resurrection

III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

A. It Affirms the Divinity of Christ Jesus
B. It is the Climax of the Redemptive Work of Christ Jesus
C. It is the Substance to the Christian Hope of Eternal Life
D. It Serves as the Central Element of Christian Faith

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY



INTRODUCTION
Moltmann entitled one of his books as The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology. Accordingly, the Cross of Christ is the foundation of Christian Theology. Moreover, the title of the book shows the importance of the Cross, which is an important element and all the more the center of Christian preaching.
When the Cross of Christ has so much importance in the formation and development of Christian Theology what would be the place of Christ’s victorious resurrection from the death in the faith and belief of Christians? Would it be appropriate to say Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of Christian faith since the Cross of Christ is the foundation of Christian Theology? If yes, this would mean the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ are equally important. And if it is so, what significance would the resurrection of Christ has in the life and experience of Christians?
This short paper will elaborate the importance of Christ’s resurrection as it focuses on the significance of it. This will encourage lay people in the Church to regain their strength in Christ. The paper is divided into three chapters; the first chapter is the summary of the different views of the historicity of Christ’s resurrection, the second chapter deals with the Biblical evidences of Christ’s resurrection and the third chapter listed out some points of the significance of Christ’s resurrection. These will be followed by the conclusion and bibliography.

I. DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE HISTORICITY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

Theologians have different views and understanding on the historicity of Christ’s Resurrection. Some of these views are misleading since they are based on assumptions. The following is the summary of some of the different views.

A. The Resurrection Event as a Myth

This view claims that the resurrection of Christ Jesus did not really happen in the human history. History, according this view, was homogenous and continuous. Because of this understanding, the resurrection of Christ Jesus become a serious doubt since there is no resurrection and no one experience such kind of miraculous event in this present day. The miraculous event like Christ’s resurrection was, thereby, regarded as simply the spiritual experience of the disciples, and the early church was said to be misguided to accept such event as historical fact.
One of the prominent theologians who hold this view is Bultmann. He regarded the resurrection of Christ as a mythical event. For him, Christ’s resurrection is something which has happened in the subjective experience of the disciples, not in the public arena of human history. “Jesus”, he said, “has been raised up into the kerygma as the element of Christian preaching.” In this way, the resurrection of Christ Jesus was treated as a Myth.


B. The Resurrection Event as a Non-event

This view is different from the previous one when it tries to explain the origin of Christian faith in Christ's resurrection without relating to any miraculous fact. Strauss, one of the proponents in this view, held the view that belief in the resurrection is a subjective concept in the mind. Besides, he further said that the death of Jesus is transfigured into an imaginary risen Christ, and the gospel writers are to be regarded as sharing the mythical world view of their cultural situation. This means faith in Christ’s resurrection is the outcome of an increasing imagination on the personality of Jesus.
H.S. Reimarus and G.E. Lessing also hold such view. They did not actually want to put their faith on the experience and testimony of other people unless they experienced the same. They also charged the New Testament writers as forcing its readers to rely totally upon human testimony on miracles such as the resurrection of the dead. In this way, the resurrection of Christ Jesus was treated as a non event.



C. The Resurrection Event as a Historical Event

According to this view, the resurrection of Christ Jesus is not simply the subjective experience of the disciples, but a clear and confirm event that took place in human history. Karl Barth used the empty tomb as the evidence of the resurrection that took place in public. For him, faith does not depend upon the provisional results of historical enquiry. He, therefore, denied the validity of the critical enquiry of historical event.
On the other hand, there is a prominent New Testament theologian named Pannenberg. He believed that Christ’s resurrection really took place in human history and that was not just the imaginary of the disciples. He also stressed on the importance of historical critical enquiry for evidences. For him, “only within the framework of history all theological questions and answers have meaning which God has with humanity.”

The above views discussed show the importance of having clear evidence in order to believe and accept the resurrection of Christ as a historical fact.

II. THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCES OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

This chapter will examine the historicity of Christ’s resurrection by observing some of the evidences found in the Bible.

A. The Empty Tomb

The empty tomb is mentioned in all the four gospels. During the first century, this tradition has been accepted by both those who believed in the resurrection and those who denied it. However, in the twentieth century a number of objections have been raised in the theological circle to challenge the emptiness of the tomb. Some says that the tradition of the empty tomb was created later on simply to convince people that Christ has been resurrected from the death. And, some other says that it did not play any important role in the preaching of the early church, and is doubtful. For this reasons the report of the New Testament writer on the empty tomb have been taken as unreliable.
Such arguments depended on assumptions are baseless. The disappearance of Jesus’ body in the tomb directly connects us to the appearance of the risen Christ to some women and the disciples. Moreover, the empty tomb could serve as “the evidence to support Christ’s return from the dead in a transformed body.”

B. The Appearance of the Risen Christ

According to the book of Acts, the risen Christ appeared to his followers for a period of 40 days (Acts 1: 3) on several occasions in Jerusalem and its surrounding. He appeared not only to some women and his 11 remaining disciples, but also to many other followers when they were together (1 Cor. 15:6; Mat. 28:16-20; Lk. 24:13-35). This shows that Christ’s resurrection was not just the subjective experience of few people within themselves, but the objective experience of many people that had happened in the human history. The appearance of the resurrected Christ to his followers along with the empty tomb corresponds to the bodily resurrection of the dead.

C. Paul’s Understanding of Christ’s Resurrection

For Paul, it was not just the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus on the Cross that convinced him, but the risen Christ to whom he encountered personally. This experienced brought him into the church from the outside and into the Apostle band from the opposition. He did not even enquire about the empty tomb since his personal encounter with the risen Christ was so real to be objective. Kreitzer says, “his [Paul] concerned was not to prove the historicity of the Resurrection, but to draw out its implication for the life and faith of his readers.” This means the historical fact of Christ Jesus bodily resurrection is beyond doubt.
From the above evidences it is clear enough that the resurrection of Christ Jesus was a historical fact, which took place not only within the interior of the disciples and some women, but also a public event with the knowledge of the Chief Priests and the Elders (Matt. 28:11-15).


III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

The preceding chapter shows that Christ’s resurrection was a historical event that took place in public arena. The present chapter will list out some points of the significance of Christ’s resurrection.


A. It Affirms the Divinity of Christ Jesus

The resurrection event affirms the Divinity of Christ Jesus. Aleister says, “…one fundamental role of the resurrection relates to the Christological affirmation of the divinity of Christ.” If Christ has not been raised from the death there will be no reliable evidence of his divinity. The teaching of the church on the doctrine of incarnation will be baseless, and the claim “Jesus is the only way” (Jn. 14:6) will be meaningless. Pannenbarg says, “…the early Christian conviction that the same Spirit of God by which Jesus has been raised now already dwells in the Christians… what God would do at the end of all events has been done in Christ’s resurrection.”

B. It is the Climax of the Redemptive Work of Christ Jesus

The resurrection accomplishes the redemptive work of Christ Jesus. Apostle Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.” (1 Cor. 15:17-18 NIV). This means there is no life without the resurrection, and all shall remain in sin. No one can see God without being cleansed and justified in Christ Jesus. This cleansing and justification work is completed not only in the death of Christ Jesus on the Cross, but also in the resurrection of Christ from the death. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection from dead serves as the climax of the salvation plan of God for humanity. This is the Soteriological implication of the resurrection.

C. It is the Substance to the Christian Hope of Eternal Life

The resurrection of Christ Jesus becomes a substance to the Christian hope of eternal life. Paul says, “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” (Rom. 6:5 NIV). This means faith in Christ Jesus without his resurrection, if it can be, would not make any difference to that of faith in other religion. Robert H. Stein rightly says, “The faith of the disciples is the effect of the resurrection of Jesus. Without the latter the former is a mere illusion.” So, the Christian hope of eternal life is firmly rooted in faith in the risen Christ. This is the eschatological implication of the resurrection.

D. It Serves as the Central Element of Christian Faith

According to Aleister, “the first generation Christians has regarded the resurrection as an essential and perhaps even the central element of the Christian faith.” It is the power of the risen Christ that has changed the life of many people. Peter was changed from coward to martyr, James from skeptic to church leader and Paul from persecutor to Apostle. It is the resurrection message that really influence and convince the people into conviction when Peter preached on the day of the Pentecost (Acts 2:14-39). Therefore, the central element of Christian faith is that of Christ’s resurrection from the death.

CONCLUSION

The evidences of Christ’s resurrection confirm the above points of its significance to be true and reliable. If the reality (event) is reliable, then faith in Christ through that reality along with personal experience (repentance) is without invalid. It is not that Christians have new life because of the fact of Christ’ resurrection, but because they have faith in the fact of Christ’s resurrection and the Spirit of God that raised Christ from the death now dwells within them.
Therefore, the foundation of Christian faith does not base only on the death of Christ on the Cross, but also and all the more in Christ’ victorious resurrection from the death.




BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kreitzer, L.J. “Resurrection” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed., Hawthorn, Gerald F., Leicester, England:Inter-varsity Press, 1993.

McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction, 3rd ed., Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2001.

___________. Studies in Doctrine: Understanding Doctrine, Understanding the Trinity, Understanding Jesus, Justification by faith, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1998.

Naulak, Phung Za Pao. “Pauline conception of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15”, Th.M. Thesis, Asian Center for Theological Studies and Mission, 1990.

Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Jesus- God and Man, 2nd ed., Trans., Lewis L. Wilkins and Duane A. Priebe London: SCM Press Ltd., 1968.

Stein, Robert H. Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ, Leicester, England: Inter Varsity Press, 1996.