Theology of the Resurrection
Some suggestions from Theologians. Take your pick dears!
Raymond E Brown (He of the New Jerome Biblical Commentary and The Birth of the Messiah)
Focuses on the Christology of the Resurrection as reflected in parts early Christian writings, such as the Pauline Epistles, and
the Kerygma passages in Acts 2, Acts 10 etc. The Early Church's belief about the Resurrection is presented in these ancient
writings as the exaltation of Jesus to the status of 'Lord and Messiah' 'Leader and Saviour'. "That which God promised to the
Fathers, He has fulfilled for us their children by raising Jesus, as it is written in Ps 2: 'You are my son; today I have begotten
you.'" Of these passages, Brown comments "The resurrection of Jesus, considered as his enthronement in heaven, could be
spoken of as his royal coronation and thus in the Davidic context, as the moment of his being begotten as God's Son." For
Brown, the Resurrection is a kind of 'birth' for Jesus into a new identity. "Here, although by natural birth, Jesus is the Messiah
descended from David, by resurrection he is the Son of God through the Holy Spirit in power." Brown calls this two-step
Christology. Jesus becoming, through the Resurrection, something that He was not, prior to the Resurrection. However, Brown
argues, this 'two step Christology' developed further. Christian writers, such as Luke, and Paul do not believe that Jesus
'became' something at the Resurrection rather that what He had always been was revealed to the disciples through the
Resurrection.
Brown also suggests that with the Resurrection, the Church came to realise that blessings of the Kingdom of God are now
transferred from earth (which was where Jews believed, and still do believe, that they will be realised) to heaven. " .. now the
victory, peace, prosperity and divine worship are all transferred to heaven from the earth of Jewish expectation."
Peter Walker (Lectures in Theology at Wyclife Hall in Oxford)
For him, the central truth of the Resurrection is that Jesus is alive today. That means that a relationship with Jesus is as
possible for believers today as it was for the disciples who knew Him in Galilee two thousand years ago. The means by which
this is achieved is through the Holy Spirit. Walker points out that the first disciples who preached Jesus to Jews and Gentiles
alike in the Roman Empire discovered that those who whom they preached "most of whom had never met Jesus in a physical
sense, were able to meet with this Risen Lord as well. They too were able to enter into a relationship of love with Him." (1 Peter
1:18) The reason, Walker suggests, why this was, and is posible - is because Jesus was, and is alive. "If they could meet him
then, we too can meet him today."
(I like this one, dears. The Webmistress)
Marcus Borg (Jesus Seminar)
Links interpretation of Resurrection firmly with the interpretation of the Death of Jesus, and (conveniently, dears, conveniently!)
makes 5 points:
Rejection of pattern of 'world power' systems and vindication of Jesus as Lord. As Jesus' death was the world's
rejection of what God wanted to establish, so Jesus' resurrection was God's 'No' to the plans of the world. Borg quotes the
early kerygma as uttered by Peter in Acts Ch 2 - "This Jesus whom you crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ."
Borg observes that this formula is "both religious and political: the lords of this world crucified Jesus, but Jesus is Lord
and they aren't." So the story of Jesus becomes part of what Borg calls "the age-old conflict between the domination
system and the God of Israel, beginning with Moses and continuing through the the social prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It
is the continuation and climax of the conflict between the lordship of God and the lordship of Pharoah."
Defeat of the Powers By which Borg means the 'powers and principalities' against which Christians fight (see
Ephesians 5, full armour of God and all that'. The battle is not simply an earthly one, it's a cosmic one. (Quick divert into
literature, here. C S Lewis is best known for the Narnia books and works of Christian apologetic. Fewer people know his
sci-fi trilogy, which deals precisely with the spiritual battle on the cosmic stage. They're really rather good, if slightly dated
in their language (they were written in the 40's) Why not try reading them? They are called 'Out of the Silent Planet'
'Perelandra', and 'That Hideous Strength') Back to the Powers. Borg identifies these powers as metaphors to describe
those things to which we, in the human condition, are in bondage. He doesn't actually define what 'those things' are, which
isn't surprising, really, as neither he nor anyone else in the Jesus Seminar are going to enjoy the New Testament's
insistence that these powers are spiritual beings, great archons which exercise control over nations, religions, world
systems and world leaders, which oppose God and the rule of His Anointed. (Ps 2 "Why do the nations so furiously rage
together against the Lord and His Anointed? The Lord laughs at them ...") Satan, the Prince of the Power of the Air,
heads up this unpleasant group of dark rulers.
Borg would probably refer to Paul's words Colossians 2:15 as another text to support Jesus' defeat of the powers of evil by
His cross and resurrection - if he believed in them!
Revelation of the way to new life Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the way is opened to leave our old lives,
dominated by self and sin behind, and to take the long walk into the new life of Christ. As Paul puts it "I have been
crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live, I live by the power of Christ who died for
me." Borg helpfully links Jesus' command to take up the cross and follow Him with this concept. As Christians daily
follow Christ as disciples, they die to self and begin to find their new lives in Christ. The resurrection, then, is inextricably
linked with the death of Jesus. In order to rise to new life, death must take place first, the death of self and rebirth to the
new life of Jesus. Only then can He truly become 'the Way the Truth and the Life.'
The triumph of God's love The central meaning of the death of Jesus, for Borg, is the answer to the question 'How much
does God love me?' The answer, of course, is to be found in one of the Eucharistic prayers of the Anglican Church 'He
opened wide His arms for us on the cross..' The apparent defeat of the self-giving love of God on the cross, Jesus going
the way of so many prophets and radicals who have preached non-violence both before and since, is dramatically reversed
as the evil of the world is shown to be transient in the face of the transforming love of God. The power of His love defeats
even that 'old enemy' death.
Thank you Sam, dear, for kindly pointing out that I had not quite completed this. How observant you are!
Sacrifice for Sin (This section might also be useful as a comment on the theology of the Passion Narratives) Although
Borg does not agree with Wright that Jesus saw his own death as a sacrifice for sin, nevertheless, he view the crucifixion
and resurrection events as "a powerfully true metaphor of the grace of God." His argument is that after the events which
convinced Jesus' disciples, and later the Early Church, that Jesus' existence and life had not ended on the cross, they
began to apply Jewish sacrificial terminology to his death in order to explain its significance.
Two points emerge: 1 An anti-temple statement. Jesus' death is a sign that the temple sacrificial system is now
redundant. It no longer has "the monopoly" on forgiveness of sins (mind you, Borg doesn't think Jesus has, either!)
2. "Jesus is the sacrifice" becomes a metaphorical "proclamation of the radical grace of God, and our unconditional
acceptance." That is, God has decided that our sin need not be a barrier between us and Him. He has 'taken care of it'
and the death of Jesus is not so much the means, but a sign that the early Christians could understand that this
was so. Through this, people could recognise God's unconditional love for them and respond to it. If they did this, their
lives would (and presumably still will) be transformed. Humans no longer need see their relationship with God as
dependent upon their measuring up to God's high standards. As far as Borg is concerned, this view has the merit of
continuing to teach the unconditional love of God to His creation, and the opening of a way to Himself, without the burden
(as he sees it) of having to believe that Jesus was the means by which this was accomplished. All the events were signs,
presumably, of a pre-existent truth which the Jews (?) had missed.
Where does the Resurrection come into all this? Well, again, it is a 'sign' of this pre-existent truth, of the new life that all
can lead when they come to the God who recognises them and loves them unconditionally.
N T Wright (Canon Theologian, Westminster Abbey)
The Validation of Jesus as Messiah is where one must begin (see Romans 1:4) 'Israel's God, the creator, has affirmed
that Jesus really was, all along, his "son".' In particular, the resurrection demonstrates that the cross was a victory, not a
defeat. (See Col 2:15 - again) I do hope you are looking up these references as I am giving them, dears! Paul puts this
concept succinctly in 1 Cor. Ch 15, as he declares 'If Christ is NOT risen, then your faith is pointless.' The resurrection
and the resurrection alone demonstrates that the old barrier to God, our sins, has been dealt with, and effectively.
The new creation Wright sets great store on the importance of the physical, bodily, corporeal resurrection of Jesus from
the dead, as he insists that it is only through a bodily resurrection that all the prophecies of a new creation can be
adequately fulfilled. Wright refers us to Romans 8, where Paul talks of the creation groaning for transformation. (how this
phrase resonates with meaning today, as we humans threaten our environment to the extent that we feel it directly in terms
of the effects of global warming on the weather, and diseases caused by abhorrent treatment of the livestock over which
we are stewards) The bodily resurrection, Wright argues, is the sign of hope that 'the whole creation .... would shake off its
corruption and decay. The New Testament is full of the promise of a world to come in which death iself will be abolished ..'
Personal faith in and hope for resurrection, then is 'located within the larger hope for the renewal of all creation, for God's
new heavens and new earth.' He insists that the removal of the bodily resurrection from Christian theology and belief
leaves us with 'The development of private spirituality, leading to a disembodied life after death: the denial of the
goodness of creation, your own body included.' (my emboldenment)
The Webmistress puts in her twopennyworth: I think, dears, that this last point is central. Christianity is NOT a religion
that denies the goodness of being human, despite what some Christians, even some Christian denominations would have
us believe. The bodily resurrection of Christ seems to me to be the ONLY possible fulfilment of the Incarnation, that
ultimate sacrament, in which the Creator affirms totally, by complete identification, with the 'very good' -ness of being
human. All that it means to be human has been sanctified by the decision of the Word to be made flesh and to
'tabernacle amongst us'. Being human is affirmed as being the image of God, of being able to comprehend and to
communicate with God. I think it is only by starting at the Incarnation that the significance and non-negotiability of the
bodily resurrection can be fully appreciated.
(Back to Wright) The importance of 'NOW' What is done for God's glory now is 'genuinely building for God's future'.
What we do now matters, and matters for ever, because their nature is eternal, as is God's Kingdom. God's Kingdom is
being built now in acts of kindness, mercy, grace and courage. This life of God's Kingdom will last into the age to come,
and opens the door to it NOW.
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