Thoughts for the Day

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, 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. For if the dead are not raised, 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....But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

Thoughts

We looked at Paul's first letter to the Corinthians in January. (Click on the tag "Corinth" above to remind yourself). Paul was writing to a church riven with division, and today we find another subject that divides them, the resurrection of the dead. We seem to be back to the Greek idea that 'spirit' is better than 'body'. So, how can a body be resurrected?

Paul says that if we don't believe in the resurrection from the dead, and the possibility of our own resurrection, in some glorified and altered state, then there is no hope for the future and our faith is a waste of time. If there is no resurrection then Jesus is not God, he did not defeat death and evil, and our sins have not been wiped away!

During the 20th century at least one prominent Christian denounced the resurrection of Jesus, causing furore. Martin Luther once wrote this: “Everything depends on our retaining a firm hold on this doctrine in particular; for if this one totters and no longer counts, all the others will lose their value and validity.” I hold to this: our faith needs to be strong enough to believe that God can do anything!

Lord Jesus Christ,
You were crucified,
yet rose from the dead,
having overcome evil and death.
You returned in a glorified body,
the same, but not the same.
We hope that all the faithful
who have died
may share with You
an eternal future.
Amen.