The Bible records incidents that define two kinds of resurrection: (1) restoration of a deceased person to the conditions of the present life and (2) resurrection that confers upon the deceased a new and permanent form of life.
Before Jesus
The first resurrection type, a restoration or resuscitation, is stated or implied in a few Old Testament passages (i.e. the Elijah and Elisha cycles - 1 Kings 17:17-24 and 2 Kings 4:18-37 respectively). At the same time, the absence of a general resurrection concept of the second type is consistent with the Old Testament’s silence on any form of afterlife. The Hebrew understanding of the self as this earthly body made it impossible to conceive of a resurrection that was not restorative of that self, as can be observed in the passages cited.
Belief in a general resurrection as an afterlife first surfaces in the Inter-testamental period during the three centuries before Jesus' birth, particularly the Maccabean period, 167-37 B.C. (cf. Daniel 12:2, 2 Macabees 7:9, 11, 23 and 14:46). We learn from the New Testament and First Century (A.D.) historian Josephus that, by Jesus' time, the Pharisees believed in this kind of resurrection to an afterlife while the Sadducees and Samaritans did not (Matthew 22:23, Mark 12:18, Luke 20:27 and Acts 23:8).
New Testament restorative resurrections
Three of Jesus’ miracles, usually classified as resurrections, are in the vein of restoration or resuscitation:
- Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9:18 ff, Mark 5:21ff and Luke 8:40ff) - though Jesus, himself, denied this as a resurrection (see quoted passages)
- the Nain widow’s son (Luke 7 ff), which many scholars also classify as a resuscitation since in ancient Palestine burial occurred on the day of death
- Lazarus (John 11:1-44), which stands by itself because he was resuscitated after three days in the tomb.
The resuscitation of Eutychus by Paul (Acts 20:8-12) is clearly more resuscitation than resurrection.
Jesus and the resurrection
Far more important to ELCA members is Jesus’ own resurrection - which picks up the second biblical concept: conferring a new form of life on the deceased. This is properly the object of Christian belief in a resurrection of/from the dead. It is the empty tomb, not Jesus’ resurrection as event, that first confronts us in the New Testament narrative of his rising from the dead.
ELCA members note that Jesus foretells his death and resurrection several times (e.g., Matthew 16:21, 17:9, 17:23, 20:19, Mark 8:3, 9:9, 9:31, 10:34; Luke 9:22, 18:33), but that each of these predictions is accompanied by explicit notices that the predictions were unintelligible to the disciples. Likewise, accounts of Jesus’ resurrection emphasize the doubt and uncertainty of the disciples.
In four passages (Mark 16:12, Luke 24:16, John 20:14 and 21:4) the witnesses fail to recognize the risen Christ. Nor is Jesus seen by any who are not in his wider circle of disciples (with the exception of St. Paul). Clearly, Jesus’ resurrection was not simply a return to his previous condition of life.
All of this has led some scholars to write that the risen Jesus (and apparitions of the risen Jesus) is a supernatural reality which does not belong to this world and cannot be the object of historic investigation. Rather, Jesus' resurrection is an object of faith.
Accordingly, ELCA members believe that what history does is to demonstrate the disciples’ faith in the resurrection. Their witness and testimony to Jesus' post-death appearances make it abundantly clear that the resurrection was a primary object of the apostolic proclamation from Christianity’s very beginning.
(In Acts 1:22 we see that the person who is to replace Judas as one of the 12 must be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.)
Resurrection in Christ
"In the New Testament the resurrection is not an argument for faith but that which faith first apprehends, the risen and glorified Jesus. The resurrection is the climactic achievement in the saving deeds of God. To recognize the event as a fact is nothing; to accept it as a saving deed is to believe in it and to receive the salvation which is achieved by it. In John 20:29 it is faith in the resurrection, not observation of the fact, which is blessed by Jesus" (Dictionary of the Bible, p. 733).
ELCA members’ faith in Jesus’ resurrection and his promises for us underlie our belief that we will be resurrected - created anew - in him. It is the ultimate life passage - from this earthly life to a promised new creation. In the New Testament, it is often explicit and always implicit, particularly in St. Paul’s writings, that redemption is achieved by death and resurrection together. Redemption is God the Father’s work and it is this God who raised Jesus from the dead (e.g. Romans 4:24, 1 Corinthians 6:14, Ephesians 1:20). Jesus’ resurrection places him in a new life which comes from the Father who is the source of all life. In this act, Jesus' redemptive work is complete. He is the firstborn of those who rise (Colossians 1:18) and in his resurrection Jesus communicates a new life to those who believe in him. For ELCA members the resurrection is not a return to the conditions of the present life, but to a life of the spirit, a new and permanent form of life, the life already possessed by the risen Jesus.
"Neither could the gates of death, nor the tomb’s dark portal, nor the watchers, nor the seal, hold you as a mortal. Alleluia! Now we cry to our Lord immortal, who triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal." (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #363)
Resurrection for all?
Most New Testament passages refer to the resurrection of believers, some to a general resurrection to eternal joy, some to eternal punishment. While there are many to cite, examples of this include:
- Jesus was delivered to death for our sins and rose for our righteousness (Romans 4:24f)
- Baptism is burial with Christ in death, from which the Christian is raised to a new life like his (Romans 6:4 ff)
- The Christian is born anew to a life of hope through the resurrection of Jesus (1 Peter 1:3-4).
But ELCA members also look to New Testament texts that go beyond those parameters. St. Paul tells us, "In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven." (Colossians 1:18 ff; see also Romans 8:21-22). Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler coined the phrase "Cosmic Christ" in his 1952 address to the New Delhi assembly of the World Council of Churches, saying, "It is now excruciatingly clear that Christ cannot be a light that lighteth everyone coming into the world, if he is not also the light that falls upon the world into which everyone comes."
For ELCA members, the resurrection that completes the victory of Christ over sin and death is not intended for Christians alone. Our understanding of the resurrection’s significance for humanity is enhanced by Luke 14:14: "You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous," and when Jesus reminds us that "those who do what is true come to the light, that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God," (John 3:21).
Beyond that,
- our belief that Christ came into the world to redeem the world (John 3:17)
- our belief in the proclamation that God has "a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth," (Ephesians 1:10)
- our trust in God’s righteousness
causes us to bear witness that Christ, the principal of creation, is also the principal of the new life initiated by his resurrection for all creation. For St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:19, "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us."
ELCA members believe that, being "entrusted" with this message of reconciliation, we are to proclaim this salvation intended for all humankind, this redemption of the whole world, this resurrection to new life. And because it is in the "hands" of the faithful, righteous God who raised Jesus as the firstborn of the dead, we give God thanks!
Sources:
The Lutheran April 2004 issue, p. 23
Dictionary of the Bible, John L. McKenzie, S.J., McMillan, 1965