Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Resurrection: A Belief That Matters - Devotional
GracetoYou.org ^ | 1997 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

Posted on 04/24/2021 6:35:32 AM PDT by metmom

“How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12).

Without the truth of bodily resurrection, the Christian faith would not make sense.

Even though Paul and the other apostles made the resurrection of Christ and His followers from the dead a central part of the gospel message, some new Gentile converts (the Corinthians especially) had difficulty accepting the idea of bodily resurrection. That struggle resulted mainly from the effects of Greek dualism, which viewed the spiritual as inherently good and the physical as inherently bad. Under that belief, a physical resurrection was considered quite repulsive.

The only way for the doubting Gentiles to accommodate their dualism was to say that Jesus was divine but not truly human. Therefore, He only appeared to die, and His appearances between the crucifixion and ascension were manifestations that merely seemed to be bodily. But Paul knew that was bad doctrine. He wrote to the Romans, “Concerning His Son . . . born of the seed of David according to the flesh . . . declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3-4).

To deny the actual, bodily resurrection of Christ creates some very significant doctrinal problems. Without His resurrection, the gospel is an empty message that doesn’t make sense. Without the Resurrection, Jesus could not have conquered sin and death, and thus we could not have followed in that victory either.

Without physical resurrection, a life of faith centered on the Lord Jesus is worthless. A dead savior cannot provide any kind of life. If the dead do not rise bodily, Christ did not rise, and neither will we. If all that were true, we could not do much more than conclude with Isaiah’s Servant, “I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity” (49:4). But the glorious reality is that we can affirm with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and . . . .without my flesh [after death] I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26).

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God that the truth of the Resurrection makes our theology credible and the gospel powerful.

For Further Study

Sometimes Jesus’ closest followers have doubts about the Resurrection. Read John 20:19-29. How did Jesus prove to the disciples that it was really Him? What else did Jesus implicitly appeal to when He confronted Thomas’s doubts?


TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: gty

1 posted on 04/24/2021 6:35:32 AM PDT by metmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy; boatbums; CynicalBear; daniel1212; ealgeone; Elsie; Gamecock; HossB86; Iscool; ...

Studying God’s Word ping


2 posted on 04/24/2021 6:35:54 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: metmom

Thank you, Metmom!


3 posted on 04/24/2021 7:29:33 AM PDT by SouthernClaire (God Bless America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: metmom
“How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12).

Well; there seems to be a LOT of folks on FR that says it ain't so; judging from their insistence that when a Christian dies they zip directly to heaven.

4 posted on 04/24/2021 3:31:08 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SouthernClaire
If the dead do not rise bodily, Christ did not rise, and neither will we.

How do we get around this??


I fully expect to croak and be tossed into a hole; where I will SLEEP until awakened by a loud trumpet blast!

5 posted on 04/24/2021 3:33:28 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

The soul goes to heaven immediately. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Moses was walking with Christ on the Mount of transfiguration not sleeping in a hole. The body will not be resurrected until the rapture


6 posted on 04/24/2021 3:42:53 PM PDT by Mom MD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Mom MD

I don’t understand why there is so much confusion about that. It’s clearly described in scripture.


7 posted on 04/24/2021 3:44:38 PM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

“How do we get around this??”

Ha, ha. Not sure, Elsie. Maybe moving to a different universe? But may end up with a far worse future. 🥵


8 posted on 04/24/2021 3:46:06 PM PDT by SouthernClaire (God Bless America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

I would suppose that from our point of view you may be in that hole for years but from your point of view you will be in that hole for about the twinkling of an eye.(since heavenly time is not our time)


9 posted on 04/24/2021 3:56:37 PM PDT by mitch5501 ("make your calling and election sure:for if ye do these things ye shall never fall")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Mom MD
  ‘to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord’
 
 
Sorry; but IS TO BE is not found among any of the following translations...
 
2 Corinthians 5:8
 
New International Version
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

New Living Translation
Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

English Standard Version
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Berean Study Bible
We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Berean Literal Bible
Now we are confident and are pleased rather to be absent out of the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

New American Standard Bible
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

New King James Version
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

King James Bible
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Christian Standard Bible
In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Contemporary English Version
We should be cheerful, because we would rather leave these bodies and be at home with the Lord.

Good News Translation
We are full of courage and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and be at home with the Lord.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.

International Standard Version
We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.

NET Bible
Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

New Heart English Bible
We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because of this we trust and we long to depart from the body and to be with Our Lord.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord.

New American Standard 1977
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Jubilee Bible 2000
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

King James 2000 Bible
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

American King James Version
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

American Standard Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But we are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Darby Bible Translation
we are confident, I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

English Revised Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Webster's Bible Translation
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Weymouth New Testament
So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.

World English Bible
We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Young's Literal Translation
we have courage, and are well pleased rather to be away from the home of the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

10 posted on 04/25/2021 6:45:01 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: Mom MD
The body will not be resurrected until the rapture

What if there IS no 'body'?

Besides, is it not written ...


1 Corinthians 15:50
But this I say my brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit The Kingdom of Heaven...


And, if we get a NEW body, then it is not resurrected but created.

12 posted on 04/25/2021 6:49:06 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

Bookmark


13 posted on 04/25/2021 7:05:42 PM PDT by TianaHighrider (God bless President Trump. Prayers for PDJT and his loyal supporters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

#11 was posted prematurely; before it was fully typed.
Nothing sinister going on. LOL


14 posted on 04/25/2021 8:46:56 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson