“For I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance
with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most
of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he
appeared also to me” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8, ESV).
April
9, 2014
Dear Members and Friends of Second
Reformed Church,
We
are in the Lenten season and Easter is upon us.
The
Scripture I have quoted above is a summary of the Gospel message by Paul. A central piece of the Gospel message is that
Jesus physically rose from the dead – He was not just a spirit – He was not
just a fond memory – no, He really and truly, in the same physical body in
which He lived and died, rose from the dead and walked among His people again.
Ah,
but the word “physical” is not used in the text I have quoted. Does it really matter if Jesus physically
rose from the dead. Some people ask me
why I harp on saying that Jesus physically
rose from the dead. There are at least
two reasons:
First,
the Scripture tells us that Jesus could be touched, that He could handle
material things, and His Body was missing (cf. John 20:1-18, John 20:27, John
21:9-14).
Second,
God considers the material world good, promised to give the material world to
His people, and said our bodies would be restored as proof of our adoption (cf.
Genesis 1:26-31, Matthew 5:5, Romans 8:23).
If
the material world is good, contra our twenty-first century American Platonic
sensibilities, why would God get rid of the physical realm? Does the Creation glorify and prove God’s
very existence? (cf. Romans 1:18-23).
Justin
Martyr, a Christian apologist writing in the mid-second century A.D., explains
the goodness of the physical body in his book, On the Resurrection:
“But the proof of the possibility of the
resurrection of the flesh I have sufficiently demonstrated, in answer to men of
the world. And if the resurrection of the flesh is not found impossible on the
principles even of unbelievers, how much more will it be found in accordance
with the mind of believers! But following our order, we must now speak with
respect to those who think meanly of the flesh, and say that it is not worthy
of the resurrection nor of the heavenly economy, because, first, its substance
is earth; and besides, because it is full of all wickedness, so that it forces
the soul to sin along with it. But these persons seem to be ignorant of the
whole work of God, both of the genesis and formation of man at the first, and
why the things in the world were made. For does not the word say, “Let Us make
man in our image, and after our likeness?” What kind of man? Manifestly He
means fleshly man, For the word says, “And God took dust of the earth, and made
man.” It is evident, therefore, that man made in the image of God was of flesh.
Is it not, then, absurd to say, that the flesh made by God in His own image is
contemptible, and worth nothing? But that the flesh is with God a precious
possession is manifest, first from its being formed by Him, if at least the
image is valuable to the former and artist; and besides, its value can be
gathered from the creation of the rest of the world. For that on account of
which the rest is made, is the most precious of all to the maker.” (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.viii.vii.html).
Join us in worship this Holy Week:
4/13/14 Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-11 “Who Is This?”
4/17/14 Maundy Thursday 7 PM
John 13:1-17, 31b-35 “Love One Another”
4/18/14 Good Friday 7 PM
Psalm 116:1-8
“You Saved My Life”
4/20/14 Easter
John 20:1-18
“I Have Seen the Lord!”
In His
Service,
Rev. Dr.
Peter A. Butler, Jr.
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