“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
(rf. I Cor. 15:12-19 ESV)
The Apostle Paul lived in a time when belief in the resurrection from the dead was not something generally accepted by the population. For many, such a concept would surely have been a nice hope and a very outside possibility, but one not likely personally experienced. It would have been viewed as more of a “pipe dream”, nice but not apt to happen. Whereas those in Paul’s day would have at least affirmed the belief in a deity or deities who had the power to raise people from the dead if they chose to do so but such would be out of their purview only because the gods were largely silent, indifferent or non-caring about the experiences of human life.
Our society takes a more natural, rather than supernatural tact. Resurrection by a validly dead individual, especially after a three-day interval, would be a thoroughgoing impossibility. If someone does come back to life after being declared dead, it is because there were still vestiges of life within their organs, enabling outside forces to restore them successfully. In an all-natural, all scientific belief system, such miracles are not even on the radar.
As Paul shared with the Corinthian Church, the entirety of our Christian faith rests upon the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. The fact that He was crucified (a most painful and excruciating form of execution) and that He was in the grave for days following (being raised to life “on the third day”) just provides a more supernatural and awe-inspiring backdrop to this amazing event. The raising of Christ from the dead was designed to glorify the Father by declaring the Son completely innocent of the charges brought against Him by His accusers as well as to fully accept His life, ministry and death on the cross as payment and substitute on behalf of God’s chosen people.
If any of these Scriptural truths were a sham, then all believers, but especially those who lead, teach and evangelize, would in Paul’s words be “most to be pitied” (vs. 19). However, we are confident in the veracity of God’s Word to us as well as the testimony of history, that Jesus was victorious over the grave and was seen personally by many others, not just His disciples. We are likewise encouraged because the very same resurrection power as shown by Jesus is experienced and exhibited every time a person is called “out of darkness into His light” (rf. I Pet. 2:9), gaining the wondrous gift of salvation and becoming one of God’s children.
So, as Christians, we have great reason to celebrate the season of Easter. He has given us new life in Him, abundant and free, as a result of His blessed resurrection. Let us make sure that all of our family, friends, coworkers, etc. know about the good news, the Gospel, of the Son of God in conquering death itself that we might have His life in this life.
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