Tag: gospel

Who Cares About the Resurrection?

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.

Jesus Christ

The New Testament gospel is quite straight forward:

  1. The kingdom of God is at hand.
  2. God’s anointed one, the flesh-and-blood-man Jesus, has defeated death by his own death and resurrection. This is an event that happened in history.
  3. This resurrection is available to all who put their faith (trust and loyalty) in Jesus.
  4. There is a coming judgment where the wicked will be cast out of the kingdom of God.
  5. All of this will happen within the first generation of Jesus followers.

The linchpin of this gospel is the resurrection of Jesus. Without that, there is no gospel.

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 is in vain and your faith is 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. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 (NRSV)

It would seem, then, that the best way to convince someone to embrace Jesus would be to convince them of the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is an event that happened in real history; therefore, it is falsifiable.

For now, let’s ignore the New Testament’s eschatological expectations (No. 5 above) and assume the kingdom is still at hand, and that there is still a future resurrection and judgment. The role of the evangelist remains valid and important. What is the message of evangelists most heard today?

In my own experience, I usually hear two messages (or a combination thereof):

  1. If you don’t put your faith in Jesus, you will die in your sins and go to hell. If you do trust Jesus, you will go to heaven.
  2. If you give your life to Jesus, you will have purpose and meaning in your life.

But never do I hear: “Jesus Christ, a flesh-and-blood man, rose from the dead, and I can prove it (or at least sufficiently convince you of it).”

Again, it would seem that convincing people of Jesus’s resurrection would be a far more effective method of converting people to Christianity than the other two messages provide. Why don’t modern evangelists focus on Jesus’s resurrection then?

Many evangelists assume the resurrection rather than argue for it. Especially in Western societies, the resurrection of Jesus is an already familiar idea. It sits in the corner and is almost ignored. The evangelist often skips over it and jumps directly to the more familiar message—forgiveness of sins, salvation, heaven, purpose, escape from hell, etc. The resurrection remains a foundational background rather than the subject in the foreground.

I am currently reading Dale C. Allison’s The Resurrection of Jesus. It is clear from the book that convincing someone that a first-century man literally rose from the dead is a demanding intellectual task. To do so requires a deep dive into ancient sources, the dating of texts, eyewitness testimony, empty tomb traditions, Paul’s experiences, historical methodology, and the probability of miracles. Most evangelists are not trained historians, and many in their audiences are not interested in detailed historical discussions. It is easier to ask, “Do you feel empty?” or “Do you need forgiveness?” than to spend hours examining historical texts—which, in the end, will probably not be that convincing. Allison admits that the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is insufficient on its own.

A shift occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Whereas early Christianity focused on Christ’s victory over death, his resurrection, and the kingdom of God, modern revivalists shifted the focus toward a personal relationship with Jesus, inner transformation, individual salvation, and personal testimony. The modern new believer is more likely to exclaim, “Jesus changed my life,” rather than, “God raised Jesus from the dead and the age to come has begun!”

Many Christians have only a vague understanding of resurrection. If you ask the average churchgoer, “What happens when you die?” they will most likely respond, “Believers go to heaven when they die. Non-believers don’t.” Resurrection is not prominent in modern Christian thought, and therefore is not prominent in evangelism.

Finally, fear and personal benefit are more persuasive. A modern person can be more easily convinced to fear judgment and hell, and to hope for meaning and purpose, than to be convinced of a 2,000-year-old historical claim, which is extremely difficult to believe.

The simple fact is that the Christian gospel evolves to match its time and place—it is a cultural artifact.

Maybe then it is not so surprising that most who believe in Jesus’ resurrection, however exactly they understand it, have as little need for modern historical criticism as birds have for ornithology. When Christians, on Easter Sunday, greet each other with the acclamation, “Christ is risen,” the expected answer, “Christ is risen, indeed!” is not a statement about investigative results. … Although ignorance should not be the mother of devotion, true religion nevertheless involves realms of human experience and conviction that cannot depend upon or be undone by … historical doubts, probabilities, and conjectures…

Dale C. Allison, The Resurrection of Jesus, page 365

Related reading: Dale Allison’s Provocative Thoughts on the Resurrection

Jesus is Not Coming Down From the Sky

There is No Santa

Imagine a young boy who believes in Santa Claus. He believes that the presents he finds under the tree each Christmas morning were placed there by a magical man who came down the chimney, and who afterward hopped on his sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.

But, one Christmas Eve, the boy decides he wants to see Santa for real and so he sneaks out of his room late at night hoping to catch Santa in action. What he does see, however, is his own parents carefully laying out presents, one by one, around the base of the tree. And so, he knows the truth. It is in fact his own parents who are delivering the goods.

Now, with this knowledge, would it be proper for the boy to then believe that it is his own parents who slid down the chimney? And it his own parents who will fly off into the night on the sleigh? No, of course not. The boy must disregard the entire Santa narrative. There’s no one coming down the chimney. It’s all his parents buying the presents from the store, wrapping them out of sight, and placing them under the tree. Once the boy discovers the truth about one thing, he must apply that truth to everything else.

First Century Cosmology

First century Christians did not have telescopes. They believed the realm above them was a series of layers transcending the dome of the sky. They believed that angels and God literally resided in and above the layers containing the sun, moon, and stars. God’s throne room was a literal place up in what we would call “outer space.” When Jesus ascended up to the Father, to sit at His right hand, Jesus literally went up to sit on a literal throne in a literal throne room.

Since Jesus was up in outer space, of course when He returns, he will return from outer space. Where else would He come from?

21st Century Cosmology

Today we have telescopes. We know that we live in one galaxy among billions, and that each galaxy contains billions, if not trillions, of stars. The universe is so vast, it is beyond comprehension. In fact, the universe is likely infinite. We know this now.

We know that there is no Santa. Therefore, is it proper for us to continue to believe that one day the world will see Jesus descending down to the earth through the layers of the heavens as they believed He would in the 1st century? Should we combine their cosmology with our own? No, of course not. Ask any Christian today where heaven is, and unless he’s a flat-earther, he will likely say that heaven is located in the spiritual realm, someplace beyond the material realm that we do not have access to.

New Testament Eschatological Language

New Testament (NT) eschatology is primarily Israel’s eschatology. The Church’s eschatology builds upon it, but then transcends it. The cosmos coming under judgement for the NT authors was the Israelite cosmos. The end was near, at hand, at the door, soon, and about to happen. Every NT author believed he was living in the last days. And he was, to the degree that the old order of things was coming to an end. The apocalyptic language of the NT reflects this.

Israel’s eschatology is not the Church’s eschatology. The Church’s eschatology is this: Just as a dragnet draws all the fish into the boat, so is all creation being drawn to the Father by the redemptive work of Christ. We don’t know when this work will be complete, and we don’t know what it will finally look like. For now it is beyond our comprehension, beyond our reach.

It’s okay to be somewhat agnostic when it comes to eschatology. Embrace the mystery. Whatever you do, don’t go on believing that your dad has a pack of flying reindeer hidden away in a barn somewhere.

We Are Not Israel

Israel is gone. Our faith is not “Judeo/Christian.” We are just Christian. Yes, Jesus was the Messiah Israel was waiting for, but He was not the Messiah they were expecting. Jesus was not the blood soaked Davidic warrior coming to destroy Rome and establish a powerful Israelite theocracy the 1st century Jews were hoping for. This is why He was rejected.

Jesus subverted all Messianic expectations. His kingdom is not of this world. He came to conquer a higher enemy. He came to do the will of the Father, not Israel. The Father’s will is to redeem His creation. This is what Christianity is: The redemption of creation through Christ.

For Christians, Israel has become allegory. The Old Testament scriptures are transformed to types and shadows. It’s not our literal history. It’s our mythology.

Most Christians live like this even if not fully aware of it. They may say the stories are literal history, but they always apply the stories allegorically to their own life’s journey. It doesn’t matter if the stories are literal history or not; anything to do with Israel we allegorize.

Jesus is not coming down from the sky. Israelite cosmology is not true. That’s okay, because we are Christians. We know more. We’ve seen more. We know what is mythology and what is reality. We know the truth, and what we know is true; we must apply it to everything else.