Church of the Nations

“The(?) Pragmatic Truth of (the) Resurrection” or
“It Is True Because It Works/It Works Because It Is True”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Easter/Resurrection Sunday | April 12, 2009
Richard M. Wright
Church of the Nations

It Works Because It Is True (PDF)

It Works Because It Is true (Slide Show)

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Is it true because it works? Or does it work because it is true?

In the year two thousand and five at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary two famous scholars discuss the resurrection of Jesus.

On the one hand N. T. Wright who is a bishop and a scholar of the New Testament. On the other hand John Dominc Crossan also a scholar of the New Testament.

Tom Wright defends the view that the resurrection of Jesus truly happened. Jesus was dead. Jesus was alive again.

Crossan defends the view that the resurrection of Jesus is a metaphor. Jesus was dead. But Jesus was not raised from the dead.

Crossan argues that it does not matter if the resurrection of Jesus truly happened or not. What matters is the meaning of the resurrection. The resurrection represents the transformation of the universe from a world of injustice and violence to a world of justice peace and holiness.

Is the resurrection “true” because it works – because it makes a difference? Or does the resurrection work because it is true – because it truly happened?

Now brothers (and sisters) I want to remind you of the good news I proclaimed to you. By this good news you are saved. What I received I passed on to you as of first importance. That Christ did for our sins according to the Bible (the Old Testament). That he was buried. That he was raised on the third day according to the Bible. And that he appeared to Peter then the Twelve then more than five hundred.

What the apostle Paul writes to the Christian community in Corinth in the book of First Corinthians chapter fifteen. Shortly after the end of our Bible reading for this morning Paul continues:

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised then what we proclaimed has been useless and your faith has been useless.

I will be honest with you. I have not been comfortable with what Paul writes. If Christ has not been raised – if the resurrection of Jesus did not truly happen – then our message and your faith are useless. I used to think – I believe strongly in the resurrection of Jesus that Jesus was raised from the dead. But if it did not truly happen why is the message why is our faith useless? Do we not still have the life the teachings the example of Jesus? Why is the resurrection of Jesus so important – so important that the apostle Paul says if it did not happen then the Christian message the Christian faith the Christian movement are useless?

I do not think I understood this Bible reading.

If you read carefully the writings of the apostle Paul – truth is practical. It makes a difference. It is important to have correct Christian beliefs because only the truth will work. Only true Christian teachings will accomplish the purposes of God for the world and for the Christian church.

It is true because it works. And it works because it is true.

I do not think the apostle Paul would understand or agree with John Dominic Crossan. The resurrection of Jesus is true because it makes a difference. And it makes all the difference in the world because it is true.

The issue for the apostle Paul in our Bible reading for today is not whether the resurrection of Jesus truly happened or not. But instead? But even more? But also? Why the resurrection of Jesus is so important for the Christian message for us and for the world.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead does not only confirm his message. Richard Hays is a scholar of the New Testament who writes: “The resurrection of the dead is constitutive of the gospel”. That is – the resurrection is essential to the Christian message and makes it what it is.

Two weeks ago someone in Church of the Nations asks me a powerful and intelligent question: “What is the purpose of religion?” What is the purpose of the Christian faith?

Kallistos Ware is an Orthodox bishop and a scholar who writes that the goal of the Christian life is deification. To be transformed and to share in the life of God. To be transformed includes being saved from our sin and our brokenness – the damage we do to ourselves and to other and the damage others do to us and to one another.

But God does not want only to transform our souls – God wants to transform our physical bodies as well. Think about this for a moment. Why do we not tell the story this way – that Jesus was a great teacher or even Jesus was the Son of God and when he is killed his soul or his spirit goes to be with God his father in heaven?

Justin Martyr was an early Christian teacher who said: “Some who are called Christians say there is no resurrection of the dead and their souls when they die are taken to heaven”.

Why resurrection? And why is resurrection an essential part of the basic Christian message. As Paul says “Christ died for our sins and on the third day was raised”?

The resurrection of Jesus shows many things – and one of them is that God cares about the whole creature (body and soul) and God cares about the whole creation (spiritual and physical). Resurrection shows that God is working to heal the whole creature and the whole creation. God does not throw away bodies – he raised and transformed the body of Jesus and one day will raise and transform us as well. And God will not throw away or abandon the physical creation.

Kallistos Ware writes: “This idea of cosmic redemption (the healing or salvation of the universe) is based upon a right understanding of the incarnation (that God the Son became human). Christ took flesh – something from the material world – and so has made possible the redemption and transformation of all creation – not merely the immaterial but the physical” (The Orthodox Church, 235)

This helps us appreciate the holiness of the world – created good by God broken by sin and injustice but saved with us in Christ – leads us to care about the health of the creation in the present.

Vladimir Lossky in his book The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church writes this: “In order to achieve that union with God to which the creature is called (to which we human beings are called) it was necessary to break through three barriers – sin death and nature (our nature as human beings and not God)”. (The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 167)

In his incarnation – when God the Son became human – he broke through the barrier of nature. In his crucifixion Jesus broke the barrier of sin. In his resurrection he broke through the barrier of death. Richard Hays is a scholar of the New Testament who writes: “The resurrection of Jesus offers the real possibility of our transformation into a new life of God (with God?) in which our sin is forgiven and overcome” (op cit., 261).