This is Part 2 of a 7-Part sermon series titled “Easter according to Paul” preached at Mt. Gilead UMC in Georgetown, KY. The whole worship service is in the link below titled “Sermon Video,” and the sermon begins at minute marker 7:20. Click here for Part 1.

Sermon Video

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

What is Resurrection?

• How can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? (1 Cor 15:12)
• This was the major problem at Corinth; some did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.
• Paul goes to great lengths here to show them how ridiculous and illogical their denial of the resurrection was, because they supposedly believed that Christ was raised and that the dead are not raised.
• Here he reveals how absurd their logic and reasoning is.
• But their mistake in their thinking really boiled down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what resurrection is.
• And Christians today are not much better off than the Corinthians in understanding what resurrection is and means.
• And so, Paul’s interrogation is just as piercing to the church today as it was 2,000 years ago: how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? (1 Cor 15:12)

What Resurrection Is Not

• So let’s begin first this morning with what resurrection is not.
• It is not heaven or dying and going to heaven.
  1. Heaven is important, but it’s not the end of the world. Life after life-after-death.
  2. The problem of Plato – spirit > matter
  3. Christianity has been sold out on Plato for centuries; overemphasis upon spiritual matters or spiritualize everything.
  4. Our bodies matter (no pun intended); the physical world matters. God created Adam’s body first, then he breathed his spirit into him. God created a world to be inhabited and lived in by Adam. The physical realm matters just as much as the spiritual.
  5. And so resurrection is not heaven or dying and going to heaven, because heaven is the layover on our way to the destination of new heaven and new earth in new bodies.
• It is not spiritual resurrection.
  1. At times, the biblical writers talk about being raised with Christ in the heavenly places.
  2. Yes, that is true, just like heaven is true. We have been given new life. The Holy Spirit has regenerated and cleansed us from sin. We have been made new on the inside.
  3. But that is not what Paul is talking about here. Yes, the Bible talks about spiritual resurrection sometimes, but most of the time it is talking about the future, end-time, physical resurrection of our bodies from the dead.
  4. Again, this type of thinking is sometimes due to Plato’s overemphasis upon the spiritual instead of the physical.
• It is not resuscitation.
  1. Jesus did not simply come back to life into his old, dead, crucified body.
     • His body was resurrected, renewed, restored, glorified, and no longer under the power of sin or death. He was in a body that sin and death could not touch.
     • Did you ever wonder why the disciples didn’t recognize him after he was raised from the dead?
  2. Our resurrection also is not a mere resuscitation.
     • When Christ returns and he raises our bodies, we won’t just be returning to these bodies that we all are in here and now. Instead, they will be renewed and restored and immune to sin, death, decay, hunger, thirst, weakness, etc.
     • But the Greeks and those in Corinth didn’t understand this; instead, they feared it was some sort of grotesque zombie apocalypse. So they had a difficult time accepting resurrection because they thought of it as resuscitation into rotting corpse bodies. I’d be put off too from that.

What Resurrection Is

• So if the resurrection of the dead isn’t dying and going to heaven or the spiritual resurrection of the Holy Spirit giving us new spiritual life or the resuscitation of dead corpses, then what is it?
• Resurrection comes from the Greek word anastasis, where we get the name Anastasia. Quite literally, this means “standing up” or “raising up.” So a standing up of dead ones or raising up of dead ones from the grave.
• But it’s more than that. Resurrection means the salvation and restoration of our bodies. Paul says in 2 Cor 4:16, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” The problem that resurrection solves or fixes is that part where Paul says, “outwardly we are wasting away.” In Romans 8:23-24, he says, “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.” Our salvation is tethered to this hope that not only will our souls be saved and redeemed, but also that even our physical bodies will be saved and redeemed. This is our hope. This is the resurrection. And Paul in another place says, “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:20-21). Christ is our Savior and he has saved us from the power of sin, yet he has also saved us from death, physical death. That is what resurrection is—salvation from death. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4). O what a glorious day that will be!

So What?

• Well, so what? Why does this matter anyways? Well, for starters, Paul says that it is the most important thing in the Christian life. He says that if Christ hasn’t been raised, then the cross is nothing, our sins aren’t forgiven, and our loved ones who died in the Lord are lost forever because they were never saved in the first place. In fact, if Christ hasn’t been raised, then there is no salvation for anyone. Period.
• Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Cor 15:14). And he later adds, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Cor 15:17-18).
• So why is it important? Because everything else depends upon it. Jesus rising from the dead is the single most important reality in the world. And nearly every time that faith is mentioned in the New Testament, it is linked somehow to faith in the resurrection of Jesus. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And the resurrection of Jesus is the climax of all four Gospels, and from there on out, resurrection is found nearly on every page of the NT from Acts to Revelation.
• And so I will leave us here this morning to chew upon Paul’s piercing interrogation: “how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Cor 15:12). Let’s pray.