LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Christ's resurrection makes the general resurrection of all a certainty
Submitted to Christopher Moody, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the completion of the course,
THEO530
Systematic Theology II
By
Rendy Richiez
Dic 11, 2022
OUTLINE
Thesis Statement
Christ's resurrection makes the general resurrection of all a certainty.
Research question
Why does the resurrection of Christ impact the resurrection and salvation of the believer?
Detailed outline
I. Resurrection of Christ.
A. Jesus is the life.
B. His death was part 1 of the plan.
C. Resurrected the third day.
II. The believer and Christ.
A. Jesus’s Death on my favor.
B. Promises of resurrection in the Bible for the believer.
C. For the believer death is just a dream.
III. The general resurrection for the believers.
A. Resurrection events in the New Testament.
B. Reference to the Resurrection at the end of times.
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Introduction
The Resurrection of the dead is a unique event widely supported by scripture; Here is a
controversial and enigmatic subject. Will the dead live again? Christians are at the forefront of
this controversy. No other segment of society has the views that we do on this important issue.
Paul was direct in his approach to the subject of the resurrection: "But if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ has not risen; and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is vain, and
your faith is also vain. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God; for I have testified of God
that he rose Christ, whom he raised not, if the dead are not raised: for if the dead are not raised,
neither has Christ been raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your
sins. If Jesus did not rise, then also those who fell asleep in Christ perished. But now Christ has
risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who slept" (I Corinthians 15:13-20).
With those words, Paul lays out his own firm belief that Jesus is in fact alive from the dead. Our
eternal hope and our ultimate motivation to live for God today rests on those statements.
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Resurrection of Christ.
Jesus is the life
In the gospels Jesus made a statement about himself that has been the subject of study by
theologians for many years. He declared saying of himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life,
no one comes to the Father except through me" within these four statements the one that interests
us the most is when he says "life". Many theologians have searched for a way to understand this
idea, and many have concluded that by joining with the other verses of John 1:4 Jesus is making
a statement that he is the source of life for all creation.
This is a very important statement because according to the theme of the resurrection, Jesus
implies that just as he raised other dead during his ministry and would rise again on the third day
after his death, he affirms that the final resurrection is a certainty for all who believe in it. It is
very important to understand that Jesus is life because it is related to our salvation and the
acceptance of his death for us. It will remain as a result that if a believing person dies trusting in
him at his second coming, he will be resurrected since he was connected with the source of life.
His death was part 1 of the plan
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They describe the resurrection accounts as legends. But this is equally impossible. The
Christian does not affirm that "someone" rose from the dead, but that this concrete person, Jesus
of Nazareth, is the one that God resurrected. Modern theology has recovered something very
good, saying that "Jesus died for living as he had lived” and nothing more than that; it was not,
as was said in previous explanations, because God needed an innocent victim to placate, which is
a very barbaric approach to other explanations. Jesus died to live as he had lived and rose
precisely because he had lived and died that way. It is very important to keep this in mind time to
see some things that we will say in the second part, about the meaning of the resurrection as an
indication against all human injustice, etc.
We must know that we will never reach the resurrection, not even by our strength. nor by
any special deduction that we make. to the resurrection it can only be reached if the risen
manifests itself. The NT makes it very clear; in him, the expression we find many times is they
saw... they saw... As it is in Greek, aorist means rather manifested, let himself be seen, said with
language more colloquial. Therefore, it is necessary to try to arrive at what was the experience of
the
witnesses, to understand a little what the resurrection of Jesus means. In this sense, the most
indisputable and historically certain thing is that had that experience, but we have not described
it as we would like, nor much less, its content. The testimony that the risen he told them, it is
described in many ways in the NT; in chapter 15 of the First Letter to the Corinthians - a kind of
creed that already exists in the 40s of the first Church - there are many phrases the Lord rose and
has been seen, or has been appeared to... that's why I'm not going to stop at this first part. Instead,
it is necessary to say without fear and calmly, that the gospels conclude with apparition
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narratives whose historicity is much more questionable. Not because the apostles were not
historical, true people, honest and honest, but because the notion of history that they had in those
times was different from we have. Anyone who has read Titus Livio or other historians of the
time, will understand that history was written many times, more to convey an idea than to convey
a fact. The narrations of the apparitions that we have in the gospels want, before everything, to
transmit a teaching; and the only way to do it in a world almost mostly illiterate, not very given
to thinking and reasoning, who had no university, professors, etc. as we have, was to tell it in a
certain way. For example, Lucas wants to convince the Greeks that, despite the idea they had that
matter was bad, and that therefore the resurrected he could not have a body, because it was
something bad, since that is not true, the resurrected in the way that we will say later- has a body
that is of the same entity as the ours, even if it is transformed.
The believer and Christ.
Jesus’s Death on my favor
Jesus' death and resurrection go far beyond salvation from our sins and the hope of
eternal life. Those who have put their faith in Christ must live according to a new ethic that
reflects the values of their Lord. Christianity is about much more than getting a ticket to heaven,
it guides us to live in a Christ-centered way that impacts all areas of our lives. All people
naturally live for themselves, but Christians now live for Christ as 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 clearly
teaches, “The love of Christ compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and
therefore all died. And he died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves, but
for the one who died for them and was raised from the dead.
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The apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20 reminds us that the message of the cross is current and
must be reflected in our daily lives: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. What I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave his life for me. The life of Christ in us is not reflected in our religious discourse or
leadership position but in our sincere love for others. A true Christian is one who lives with the
humility of Jesus, serves with the compassion of Jesus, and loves others with the sacrificial love
of Jesus. The death and resurrection of Christ go far beyond the historical events that we
remember every year, since they are the basis of our daily lives and the central foundation of our
practical ethics in favor of others. Christ died so that we do not live to serve ourselves and thus
find the true meaning of life.
Promises of resurrection in the Bible for the believer.
Just as Job talked about his future “deliverance,” the apostle Paul also talked about the
resurrection of the dead and what will happen to those alive when Jesus Christ returns. To
receive the gift of eternal life it is necessary that we first experience a transformation. The dead
in Christ will be raised to an incorruptible existence and those still alive when Jesus Christ
returns will be transformed from a physical existence to an incorruptible condition. The apostle
Paul described this portentous event very well: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: not all of us will
sleep; but we will all be transformed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet;
for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1
Corinthians 15:51-52).
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Those who have died lie unconscious, as if sleeping, waiting for the moment when they
rise from their graves and rise to a new life. When you are resurrected, the period from the last
moment you were conscious to the moment of your resurrection will seem like an instant to you,
as if you had just woken up.
Paul clearly explained how the resurrection will occur at the time Jesus Christ returns to
earth: “Neither do we want you, brothers, to be ignorant about those who sleep, lest you grieve
like the others who have no hope. Because if we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again, so
God will also bring with Jesus those who slept in him. Therefore, we tell you this by the word of
the Lord: that we who are alive, who will remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede
those who have slept. For the Lord himself with the voice of command, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven; and the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).
The general resurrection for the believers.
Resurrection events in the New Testament.
Regarding the subject of the resurrection, there is another important detail that we must analyze.
Some will be raised to receive eternal life, but others will be raised for the coming judgment.
Jesus himself spoke about this difference: "Do not be surprised by this: the hour is coming when
all those who are in the graves will hear his voice and those who have done good will come out
for a resurrection of life, and those who have done the evil, unto a resurrection of judgment”
(John 5:28-29, Jerusalem Bible). God has given us this temporary, mortal life in order to prepare
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us for eternal life. The promise and hope of the resurrection is inspiring and fascinating. But
when we know that there will also be a resurrection for judgment, this gives us reason to stop
and think. There’s examples of resurrection in the Bible that confirm that the general resurrection
will be a real event.
Elijah raised the son of a widow in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-24).
Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:8-35).
A dead man came to life by touching the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:21).
Jesus raised the widow's son at Nain (Luke 7:11-15).
Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus, a Synagogue leader (Matthew 9:18-25, Mark 5:21-43, Luke
8:40-56).
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43-44).
Many saints were resurrected at the death of Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:50-53).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:5-7).
Peter raised a female disciple named Tabitha from the dead in Joppa (Acts 9:36-42).
Paul raised Eutychius from the dead at Troas (Acts 20:6-12).
Paul was revived from a near-death condition. There is a possibility that Paul was actually dead
for a short time (Acts 14:19-20).
Abraham received back his only son Isaac, who was to be sacrificed on the altar. It is possible
that Isaac was already dead in the heart of his father, Abraham. There is a strong connection
between this story and the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Genesis 22).
Reference to the Resurrection at the end of times.
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The prophet Daniel said that there are only two possible destinations for men when they are
resurrected: eternal life or eternal damnation Daniel 12:2 said punishment will come as a result
of rejecting the words of Jesus. So that not understanding and therefore not obeying his
commandments in any way, will justify us before God on the day of judgment “He who rejects
me, and does not receive my words, has someone who judges him; the word that I have spoken,
it will judge him in the last day” John 12:48. The last day is the day of God's great judgment
where each one of us will give an account, even of the idle words that we have pronounced “ 35
The good man, from the good treasure of the heart, draws good things; and the bad man, from
the bad treasure, draws bad things. 36 But I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they
will give an account of it on the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and
by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:35-37
Conclusion
Paul stated that much of the difficulties he faced stemmed from the fact that he believed
in the resurrection. As he stood before the high priest Ananias, and an angry mob, he realized that
it was because of "hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am called into question" (Acts
23:6). May God grant us the same desire that Paul expressed: "That I may know him, and the
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power of his resurrection, and the participation of his sufferings, being made according to his
death; if by any means I can attain to the resurrection of the dead ". (Philippians 3: 10,11).
"Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4). "Where,
oh death, is your sting? Where, oh grave, is your victory?" (I Corinthians 15:55).
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