Resurrection

THEODORE G. STYLIANOPOULOS

Belief in resurrection, and specifically res­urrection from the dead, is a distinct bibli­cal teaching that derives from Judaism and finds its full significance in the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth, historically proclaimed to have died, been buried, and risen from the dead. Much more so than in Judaism, resurrection is absolutely central to Christianity (1Cor. 15.12–19), especially Eastern Christianity, because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ constitute the foundational saving events, and the core of the gospel, which lie behind the birth and character of the church, the New Testament, and Christian theology and spir­ituality. While resurrection is chiefly tied to the resurrection of Jesus and to the hope of the resurrection of the dead at his glorious return, the term also carries diverse meta­phorical meanings such as the historical restoration of a people, life after death, immortality of the soul, and even an expe­rience of spiritual renewal in this present life. In ancient paganism the theme of res­urrection was connected not to a historical person or historical event, but rather to mythological deities such as Isis and Osiris whose cult celebrated the annual rebirth of nature and the power of fertility, a phe­nomenon that scholarship has widely judged to be entirely different from the Christian understanding in origin, scope, and meaning.

In the Old Testament the focus was on this present order of life, the main arena of God’s blessings and chastisements. Exis­tence after death was viewed as virtual non­existence, called Hades, a “land of forgetful­ness,” a place of shades (Ps. 88.10–12; 87.11–13 LXX), having no contact with the living and cut off from God himself (Ps. 6.5; 6.6 LXX). Exceptionally, some righteous persons such as Enoch (Gen. 5.24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2.11) escaped death not by resurrection but by direct transfer to heaven. In other rare cases, Elijah and Elishah revived dead children to ordinary life as apparent acts of healing (1 Kings 17.21–22; 2 Kings 4.34–5). Texts such as Hosea 6.1–3 and Ezekiel 37.1–14 look to the resurgence and restoration of Israel in space and time, although also easily seen by Christian interpreters as prophecies of the final resurrection of the dead. A singular text such as Isaiah 26.19 that foresees a resurrection of the dead is as rare as it is peripheral to classic Old Testa­ment teaching. Regular belief in a future resurrection of the dead, especially of the righteous as reward for their persecution and martyrdom, developed among Jews after 200 bce and is attested notably in Daniel 12.1–3 and 2Maccabees 7.9, 22–9. By the time of Jesus, among other divergent views of the afterlife, this doctrine was firmly established among the Pharisees (in contrast to the Sadducees, Mk. 12.18) and subsequently became a key teaching of mainstream Christianity.

Plate 55 Icon of the myrrh-bearing women at the tomb. By Eileen McGuckin. The Icon Studio: www.sgtt.org

the New Testament the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, based on apostolic memories and oral traditions, vary widely in detail. However, the fact and centrality of the resurrection constitute the bedrock of the Christian faith, attested by more than five hundred eyewitnesses (1Cor. 15.5–8). The gospels indicate that Jesus anticipated his death as blood covenant renewal and viewed his resurrection as God’s vindication of his ministry (e.g., Mk. 8.27–31; 14.22–5, 36, 61–2; cf. Acts 3.13–15). Matthew, Luke, and John link Jesus’ resurrection with the gift of the Spirit and the inauguration of the early Christian mission (Mt. 28.16–20; Lk. 24.44–9; Jn. 20.19–23; cf. Acts 2.32–3). The Gospel ofJohn magnificently integrates the life, death, resurrection, and enthrone­ment of the Son of God as the mutual glo­rification between the Father and the Son, marking the decisive victory over the power of death and the gift of abundant life through the Spirit, available to believers in the present as well as the future (Jn. 1.14;

5.24–9; 7.37–9; 12.30–1; 14.15–24; 17.1–5). In this similar rich vein, the Apostle Paul provides the most detailed theological explication of the death and resurrection of the incarnate Son (Gal. 4.4–6; Rom. 1.1–4) and Lord of glory (1Cor. 2.8; 15.1–4). For Paul, the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ mark the cosmic shift from the old age of sin, corruption, and death to the new era of grace, life, incorruption, and transformed bodily immortality (Rom. 3.21–6; 5.12–21; 8.18–39; 1Cor. 15.50–7). In Paul, as in John, God’s powers of salvation are at work both now and in the future in those who are united with Christ through faith and baptism, and who enact the pattern of Jesus’ death and resurrection by crucifying their sinful passions and offering themselves as living sacrifice to God (Rom. 6.1–23; 8.9–13; 10.9–13; 12.1–2; 2Cor. 4.7–18; Gal. 3.16–24).

The New Testament includes mention of the resurrection of Lazarus and of sev­eral others who are returned to ordinary life and presumed that they will die again (Jn. 11.43–4; Mk. 5.41–2; Mt. 27.52–3). But Jesus’ resurrection, and the expected future resurrection of the dead at the consummation, is of an entirely different order, involving God’s decisive process of salvation and a radical transformation of soul and body in which “the corruptible must put on the incorruptible and the mortal must put on the immortal,” and death will be swallowed up by life (1Cor. 15.53–5). Thus the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection is summed up not only in resolving the problem of sin and guilt, but also in overcoming the tragic reality of decay and death through the new creation, the epoch of the Holy Spirit, moving toward the glorification of crea­tion itself. Here lie the elements of the sharpest differences in theology between on the one hand medieval Western Chris­tianity with its emphasis on the cross and penal theories of substitutionary satisfac­tion of the divine justice, and on the other hand the tradition of Orthodoxy with its emphasis on the resurrection and thera­peutic views of salvation as rescue, healing, and liberation from humanity’s true enemies – the powers of sin, corrup­tion, death, and the devil.

SEE ALSO: Christ; Cross; Deification; Parou- sia; Soteriology

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Athanasius, St. (1976) On the Incarnation.

Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Aulen, G. (1965) Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of the Atonement. London: SPCK.

Florovsky, G. (1976) Creation and Redemption, Vol. 3: The Collected Works of Georges Florovsky. Belmont, MA: Nordland Publishing.

Kirk, J. R. D. (2008) Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Levenson, J. D. (2006) Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of God. New Haven: Yale University Press. Martin-Achard, R. and Nickelsburg, G. W. E. (1992) “Resurrection,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 5, ed. D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday, pp. 680–91.

Pelikan, J. (1971) The Christian Tradition, Vol. 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Pelikan, J. (1974) The Christian Tradition, Vol. 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wright, N. T. (2003) On the Incarnation of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.