Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 24:44-53; 1 Corinthians 15 "SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS IF THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION WERE TO BE REJECTED"
Day 353 – Luke 24
Text: Luke 24:44-53; 1 Corinthians 15
SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS IF THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION WERE TO BE REJECTED
Before the end of the first century, problems concerning the resurrection of Jesus had already arisen. Not only was the idea of Jesus’ resurrection doubted, the whole idea of resurrection was attacked.
There were people who despised and rejected the very idea of the possibility of resurrection. Against these detractors, Paul devoted a whole chapter in his first epistle to the Corinthian Church, to refute their false teachings. To deny the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was to deny more than just a single event.
Serious repercussions must be considered if the idea of the resurrection were to be denied or rejected:-
1. The very Gospel of salvation would be challenged.
2. The authority and authenticity of the Scriptures would also be questioned. The Scriptures contained and revealed God’s many plans with reference to the Messiah.
3. The power of God could well be questioned too. Had He not promised? Was He not able to bring His power to bear?
4. The very life and activities of believers might well be questioned too if the doctrine of the resurrection was suspect.
IDLE QUESTIONS OF THE DETRACTORS
One of the means employed by detractors to cause people to question the doctrine of the resurrection was to raise idle questions concerning the resurrection-body. Paul wrote,
“But someone will say,
‘How are the dead raised up?
And with what body do they come?”
1 Corinthians 15:35
Such questions were designed to put down the doctrine of the resurrection. The idea was to suggest that since nobody knew exactly how to describe the resurrection body then the whole idea of it all was to be rejected.
ARGUMENT FROM NATURE
Paul objected to this line of approach. He ventured to offer an important line of defense. He wrote,
“Foolish ones, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.
And what you sow, you do not sow to that body
That shall be, but mere grain – perhaps wheat or some other grain.
But God gives it a body as He pleases,
And to each seed its own body.”
1 Corinthians 15:36-38
Paul firstly offers a “natural argument”. He cites the example of grain. A seed of grain must first “die”, before it “lives”.
The seed that is sown is different from the plant that it becomes after it is put into the ground. God gives to each type of seed its own “body”.
Can God do that? A look at the farmlands would yield the answer. The very idea of “resurrection” may be drawn from nature itself.
The application is obvious. The human body is like a seed planted in the ground. It must first die. Death however is not the end of the story. It will live again. God can make it come alive. He will through resurrecting the body. The resurrection body would be quite different from the physical body.
Paul went on to put forward this argument in a very powerful form. He wrote forcefully,
“All flesh is not the same flesh,
but there is one kind of flesh of men,
and another flesh of animals, another of fish,
and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies;
But the glory of the celestial is one,
And the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon,
And another glory of the stars; for one star differs from
Another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written,
‘The first man became a living being.’
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.’
1 Corinthians 15:39-45
What a powerful and soul-uplifting thought Paul put forward concerning the human body. What would the resurrected body be like? Paul argued that it would be a glorious new body. It would no longer be full of weaknesses but instead be characterized by power instead. It would no longer be a natural, that is physical body. It would now be a spiritual body.
Adam was only a physical, human “living being”. Christ was a “life-giving spirit”. All believers would have a new resurrection body of which He was the firstfruits.
The doctrine of the resurrection, of both Christ and believers, was truly a deep and well-founded Biblical teaching. Detractors would be hard put to come up with serious objections to what the Apostle taught. Thank God for the glorious doctrine of the resurrection. Let us take time to appreciate this doctrine afresh.