I remember reading a while back that for the Israelites (who wrote the Old Testament) the concept of resurrection was a physical thing only. There was no such idea for them as a “spiritual” resurrection —it always indicated a bodily event.
Thus, when Paul writes about the resurrection to correct a wrong belief the Church in Corinth seems to be embracing (we’re not sure which specific belief he meant), he reemphasizes the physicality of the risen Christ.
Some contemporary pseudo-theologians have decided that the traditional understanding of the Bible has too much mystical stuff like miracles and prophecy in it, so they restructured various biblical books to eliminate it (despite the complete absence of any archeological evidence to support their actions), like separating Isaiah into two or three parts with multiple Isaiah authors over a couple centuries to explain the mention of Cyrus as a leader who comes to power 200 years after the early chapters mention him. The Dead Sea Scrolls (dating to about 150 B.C.) show Isaiah as a single scroll, not multiple sections eventually put together. The idea that Isaiah knew about Cyrus and wrote that prophecy is too mystical for these scholars to accept, so they declared the latter parts to have been written after Cyrus came to power, thereby making the text a mere historical record instead of a prophetic event.
A similar concept occurs with Jesus’ resurrection. An actual body moving around after its death can’t be explained naturally, so because it requires a supernatural explanation, these scholars reject it. Some kind of mass hallucination seems more likely to them (even though hallucinations are individual, not corporate, events). Or a lack of scholarly ability on the part of the New Testament writers to put into words the imagined continuation of Jesus in their lives (despite their ability to explain more complex theological issues quite coherently).
Rudolf Bultmann was one of the most well-known liberal existentialists in the 20th century and his perspective is the basis for much of today’s liberal theological thought. (For clarification, the term “liberal” in theological use has nothing to do with politics or governance. It is the term used to describe the theological perspective that removes the miraculous and nexplainable from the biblical writings).
In a letter he wrote to Karl Barth in November 1952, Bultmann declared:
“The New Testament authors did not, of course, present ‘general’ cosmic relations and connections in the form of a story of the gods. But sharing the mythical world-view of their age, they tell the story of the Christ event as a story of the gods, as a myth.”
As a result, Bultmann’s Christology rejects the virginal conception of Jesus, denies the miracles he performed throughout the Gospels, and denies his resurrection from the dead.
Yet in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (this Sunday’s epistle reading), Paul declares the importance of Jesus’ physical resurrection.
Now if Christ is preached as raised up from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised either. 14 But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. 15 And also we are found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if after all, then, the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either. 17 But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is empty; you are still in your sins. 18 And as a further result, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all people most pitiable. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. — 1 Cor 15:12–20 (LEB)
Daniel Stern, in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, wrote:
There are spokesmen within Christendom—Rudolf Bultmann comes to mind, with whom the term “demythologizing” is associated—who attempt to formulate a New Testament faith that does not acknowledge the resurrection of Yeshua as historical fact but consider it “true subjectively,” whatever that means—perhaps, “true in terms of my own faith, so that I can act on it as if it were true, even though the event did not happen.” This approach is an effort to meet the criticism of nineteenth- and twentieth-century naive empiricism (or, rather, graciously to accept defeat at its hands while salvaging something of the Gospel), but it is hard to see how such efforts at self-delusion can stand up to the crystal-clear claims and logic of these verses.
Paul shares his “Road to Damascus” experience three times in the Book of Acts, each time describing a physical encounter. In the verses preceding this week’s passage, he lists some of the more than 500 people who saw the risen Jesus.
For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised up on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, 6 then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, the majority of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all, as it were to one born at the wrong time, he appeared also to me. — 1 Cor 15:3–8
The foolishness of the idea of a non-physical Christ somehow compelling his disciples to go to their various violent deaths proclaiming his physical resurrection is as absurd today as it was in the first century.
People don’t willingly die for something they know is a lie. Many people have died for things they believed that turned out to be lies, but the fact that all 11 disciples (plus Matthias and Paul) endured torture without any of them recanting their declarations of a risen Christ shows the truth of their claim beyond any doubt.
Additionally, a resurrection without a body makes a liar out of Jesus. In John’s Gospel, when the Jewish leaders demanded a sign authorizing Jesus’ chastising the merchants in the Temple, John shows us this exchange:
Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up!” 20 Then the Jews said, “This temple has been under construction forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken. — John 2:19–22
John distinctly explains Jesus’ statement to indicate the physical rebuilding of his body after his death. A rising spirit would not be described as the rising of his body as the Temple.
Scripture and contemporary evidence point undoubtedly to the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from a tomb that still remains empty.
The resurrection is what separates us from all other religions. You can’t be a Christian without believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because if your Christ hasn’t risen from the dead, he’s a fraud and so are you.
But if your Christ has risen from the dead, he has conquered death and is the only one capable of offering the same for you. Only the risen Christ offers salvation; hence, only through him can you be saved.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Austin