The Impact of the Resurrection (part one)

In recent years, a group of scholars has been examining the Scriptures to try to determine their authenticity. “Newsweek” magazine, in 1994, made this report on the fruit of the group’s collective wisdom:

“These experts believe that the biblical Jesus was a myth created by church-building Christians decades after the crucifixion. The real Jesus, many of them say, was no more the child of God than anyone else. The authorities executed him, almost casually, after he caused a disturbance in Jerusalem during the Passover. Jesus lived on in the hearts of followers old and new, but he did not physically rise from the dead. Taken down from the Cross, his body was probably buried in a shallow grave—and may have been eaten by dogs.”

            Such opinions are not new. In ancient Corinth, there was also a prevailing mentality that the resurrection had never happened. Most of their other problems (and voluminous they were) were practical in nature—wrong attitudes, division, sin, false worship—but this was a major doctrinal problem. It appears that they didn’t believe in the resurrection, but thought everything was here and now.

            Paul had serious concerns with this point of view. And, as he drew his first letter to the Corinthians to a close, he addressed this issue in his greatest New Testament apologetic for the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We don’t know the historical factors behind their unbelief, but:

• We do know that Greek philosophy refuted the idea of the resurrection of the dead, in fact teaching that the human body was a prison and that death was liberation from that prison—a liberation that they welcomed. Was that at the root of this problem? Or,
• Were there converted Sadducees (who rejected the entire concept of resurrection) that were teaching this?

            We don’t  know the root cause, but we do know that Paul dealt firmly and completely with this issue. And, it is vital that he did so, for just as the heart pumps life-giving blood to the whole body, every area of biblical truth intersects with the claims of the resurrection. Notice the pattern one teacher saw in Paul’s argument:

• The resurrection as the essence of the Gospel (vv.1-4)
• The resurrection as evidence by witnesses (vv.5-8)
• The resurrection as essential to faith (vv.12-19)
• The resurrection as explained in biblical logic (vv.20-49)
• The resurrection as expressive of eternal hope (vv.50-58)

            It is a brilliant and powerful argument, and worth examining. But we will not study it here. I want rather to focus on the impact the resurrection made on one human heart—the heart of the great apostle Paul himself. To that end, we will look at 1 Corinthians 15:8-11. In the courtroom of public debate, Paul has just called his witnesses to the stand—including Peter, the disciples, 500 believers, James, and so on. Now, however, Paul called his final eyewitness to the stand—himself (v.8a). In fact, in many ways, Paul could be considered a hostile witness. He had been converted in a post-resurrection, post-ascension appearance of Christ while engaged in the systematic extermination of believers in Christ. He had been on his way to Damascus when He encountered the risen Savior (Acts 9:1-6), and as a result, like the others, Paul had seen Jesus Christ resurrected, glorified, and alive.

            Now, Paul was doing what he loved best—he was giving his testimony. And, it caused him to reflect on the wonder of God’s grace and the reality of his own personal unworthiness—and this is the key. Here we clearly see the transforming impact of the resurrection in the life of this one man—formerly Saul of Tarsus, now Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles.

            We tend to be amazed at how great Paul was, but he tended to be amazed at how unworthy he was. Because he comprehended grace, Paul saw his own inadequacy. Listen to his testimony as his character declares his true life-view. What do we see? It starts with:

Humility (v.8b) “born out of due time” That is an interesting Greek phrase, and one that has a couple of possible interpretations…

premature birth

abortion

            What could it mean? Several possibilities…

1. Born late in relation to the other apostles. So he would be seen as born without the normal apostolic “gestation” period (the earthly ministry of Jesus)
2. Born prematurely to the other 144000 Jewish evangelists.
3. Abortion. This would speak of utter humility on the part of Paul. Far from deserving to be born again, he saw himself in an extreme sense of unworthiness. He saw himself as deserving to be spiritually aborted, not born from above.

            The bottom line is that we tend to talk and think in terms of rights, but Paul spoke in terms of privilege. How little we seem to know of true spiritual humility. He saw himself as totally void of worth or value, and incapable of even sustaining life by himself. Paul was convinced that he was unworthy of Christ, and humbled himself before Him.

4 Responses to “The Impact of the Resurrection (part one)”

1. Keith says:

   April 14, 2009 at 9:42 am

   Hi all,
   This is my first time here and please tell me if this is not on topic for “The Impact of the Ressurection”. I have a question on how local assemblies convey the impact of Jesus being raised from the dead.. My question stems from a recent experience I had acting as an elder of my local assembly. Our pastor decided that this year we would not have a sunrise service and instead would have an easter egg hunt after breakfast with the intent of “luring” in folks who would never normally come to our easter service so they would hear the Good News at least on that day. While the pastor said that no bunnies or commercial interests would be allowed, his only spoken explanation was that new people would hear the Word and maybe get saved.
   I objected to the “hunt” and held out for the “Sonrise” service , both of which were held, New people did show up and the congregation had fun with it. I looked like an old stick-in-the-mud ,and parts of the service did glorify Jesus. One man ,who was not at the easter egg hunt,did come forward and , hopefully,accepted the Lord at the end of the service.
   My question is this: Is the act of bringing worldly things such as egg hunts into Christian services lessening the “impact of the ressurection” ?
2. Bill Crowder says:

   April 14, 2009 at 10:14 am

   Thanks Keith for your thoughts. I wish the question had an easy, cut-and-dried answer, but I think there are a couple of things that need to be looked at. One thing to consider is that our culture has changed so much in the last 50 years that we do not have the same kind of Christian awareness or base of thinking that may have been present years ago. That means that sometimes we look for opportunities to connect with people that would seem out of place in other circumstances. For example, in Acts 17, Paul uses a very different approach in Berea, where the people had a working knowledge of and appreciation for the scriptures than in Athens, where it was a largely secular environment (much like our day today). In Berea, he taught the Bible but in Athens, he doesn’t even quote the scriptures. Instead he quotes from two pagan Greek poets. I think the model of building a bridge to people through things familiar makes sense. Having said that, we need to be careful that what we do and how we do it draws people to the Savior, rather than clouding the real spiritual issues. I suspect that this may have to do more with the execution of the event rather than the actual goings-on themselves. In the end, as you say, the goal is to glorify Christ, and it is easy to lose that priority while trying to do a good thing. Feel free to respond or push back. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
3. Keith says:

   April 14, 2009 at 9:59 pm

   Thanks Bill,
   For answering so quickly, This seems to be a very well run forum.
   From the information I can gather about Paul, he appears to use his past as a tormentor of the Christian brotherhood to which he now belongs to fuel his humility before the Lord. His rememberance of his being the “greatest” of sinners may be a characteristic that allowed him to be more sensitive to the need to magnify the name of Jesus in whatever way worked than to being a religious zealot as he was when he was named Saul. In this respect, I agree wholeheartedly with what you said about approaching people with familiarity. Yes , the impact of the ressurection was a confidence builder in the first ones who went forth into all the world. Paul’s race was not to win prizes here on earth , but to gain heavenly inheritance at the end of it. Paul talked as if he almost could not wait to reach that finnish line and his own ressurection to everlasting life.
   That said , I must say that before I accepted Lord Jesus as my savior and He saved me, for about 20years before, I watched new age paganism and outright witchcraft essentialy destroy my family. Although I ,personally did not participate directly, like Adam, I allowed it to exist in my family until finally the truth set me free and I went crying unto the Lord for help i did not deserve to get…but He gave.. In a way reverse from Paul’s sensitivity caused by his own Christian-bashing activities , my own sensitivity to pagan and worldly thinking has caused me to perhaps be overly guarded about what I am willing to allow into my new home and my new Christian family. Maybe this is just a guilt trip I have but as Paul said that even as food sacrificed to idols was lawful (and not harmful) for him to eat, his prudence told him that indulging in such things might cause a weaker brother to stumble and , therefore should probably be avoided.
   My problem with the egg hunt was not that it would affect me , but that a weaker brother and/or a child might suspect that a “Bunny” played a part in the ressurection of our Lord.
   However; as you correctedly stated this America today is not my grandfather’s America . Looking forward to the day when all the dead in Christ shall rise and the rapture has had a liberating effect onme and I no longer judge other’s actions like I used to. I just can’t help feeling that the worldly things we see going on in churches today are precursors to the ‘great pulling away of the church’ I have read about that will foretell the last days. Even so , come Lord Jesus.
   Then let us love that by various means ,some may yet be saved.
4. Bill Crowder says:

   April 15, 2009 at 6:34 am

   Thanks Keith,
   I appreciate your willingness to share your heart and your concerns. And, what you have shared is one of the great challenges facing church leaders in our growingly secular culture. How do you balance the need to reach people with the message of Christ with the need to guard those young in the faith from misunderstanding. I suspect a lot of it has to do with making sure that we give people full information. That we allow them to enjoy something “fun” but with the understanding that these things are not the real story—or even a part of the real story. By turning the focus on the Savior, and making sure the attention is on His work, it might protect against misunderstanding.
   Thanks again, Keith.