Should The Corinthians Respond To The Resurrection Of Jesus?

In 8:11 Paul refers to the "Spirit" as God. He is saying that if we believe that it was God who raised Jesus from the dead, then we will be given an everlasting life within us. This passage in 8:11 is one of Paul 's main points he tries to make throughout all his letters. His central focus on the resurrection of Jesus is what Paul wants us to identify with. Jesus ' resurrection marked a change from an era under the wrath of God to an era of grace. In Paul 's point of view, this reality changed everything. In I Corinthians 15:21-22 Paul draws our attention to the second Adam in Christ which everybody was made alive through. This is the "good news" and the cornerstone of Christianity that God raised Jesus from the dead and started a new era.

He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God”(The Holy Bible). The history and the facts of Christ are very important to the Christian faith. If Christ had never been resurrected from the dead, then the whole Christian religion would be false (“History of Christianity”). 1 Corinthians 15:14 explains, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain”(The Holy Bible). The resurrection of Christ is extremely important to Christians, because the resurrection proves what they believe, giving purpose to their lives. “About 32 percent of people in the world, or 2.1 billion individuals, describe themselves as Christians. Some Christians believe that only those who are 'born again ' can claim to be Christians, which is why the number tends to fluctuate”(King).

A vast portion of the Jews – especially mainstream Jews – never would have accepted the idea of a resurrection or an afterlife. Some Pharisees held a belief in resurrection but nothing on a par with what Paul preached. However, to call a man a god was entirely alien to any kind of Jewish belief. It would have been an utter blasphemy. It is no wonder that Paul was harmed physically and run out of numerous cities as was recounted in Acts, or in Paul’s own

In Romans 1-8 Paul is writing to teach the doctrine of Christ. Although Paul goes into much more depth in these eight chapters, his message ultimately boils down to the following sentence. We have all sinned and deserve death, however, through the redemption and sanctification of Christ we have been saved and should now lead, Christ centered lives of faith.

As Edwards preached 2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord”1 he showed his audience that he has embraced The Lord and because of his salvation does not fear death (absent from the body). For Edwards, and his followers, death was just the beginning of a new life in heaven. “The pure in heart are blessed; for they shall see God”1. But being absent from the body was not a guaranteed trip to heaven, for only those who on earth have a spiritual connection with Christ will see him face to face in heaven. Edwards words are ultimately used to encourage his audience to join him in his beliefs so they too will no longer fear death and instead, when they are away from their body, they will be with the Lord – “The souls of true saints, when absent from the body go to be with Jesus

However, Christ’s resurrection ensures our regeneration. We have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter explicitly connects Jesus’ resurrection with our regeneration or new birth (1 Peter 1:3-4). When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality of life, a “resurrection life” in a human body and human spirit that were perfectly suited for fellowship also obedience to God forever. In his resurrection, Jesus earned for us a new life. Notably, we do not receive all the new “resurrection life” when we become Christians, for our bodies remain as they were, still subject to weakness, aging, and death. But in our spirits, we are made alive with new resurrection power.

Paul was also concerned how this sin had affected the Corinthian Church. The consequences of our

These ideals are very different from modern-day beliefs about death. Christian views about the afterlife include the two options for our souls after death: heaven- the happy, safe, and comfortable place where the good people go, and hell-the fiery, and dangerous place some go to if they made bad choices on Earth. Others believe in reincarnation, where a person’s soul lives on and takes the form of something else. Many people, no matter their religious stance, want to believe that there is something else after death, because it makes it easier when the time comes. It certainly eases some of the grief and anxiety that people face over death, and is far more comforting than the beliefs that ancient Mesopotamians held about death.

The Epicureans did not believe in human existence after death. The Stoics believed that only the immaterial spirit survived death. The idea of a body surviving death did not make any sense to the Greeks. So, they began to ridicule him. There are many today who reject the gospel and laugh at preachers. To reject the message of the gospel is to reject God’s offer of salvation for all eternity. To reject the message of the gospel is an agreement to personally pay for your sins. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” Jesus paid for your sin so you would not have to pay them.

According to Wright, they will be immortal. He puts it like this, “In particular, this new body will be immortal. That is, it will have passed beyond death not just in the temporal sense but also the ontological sense of no longer being subject to sickness, injury, decay, and death itself” (160) This means that we are going to have stronger, healthier, more perfect bodies that God will give us as a gift of love. We may not even look the same, something will be different about our bodies. In fact, when Jesus was resurrected from the dead the disciples did not recognize him. This was a man whom they had worked for years with and for, yet they did not recognize him in the new body. Wright claims that this immorality is different than the common idea of immorality. He says that people believe immorality has to do with souls, not bodies. After I read this, I immediately disagreed with that, because I have only thought of immorality of souls living forever, not bodies. After I had thought over this statement a bit more, I found myself agreeing with it. In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:4 says, “While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.” I knew that verse, yet I still never made the connections in my head. While our earthly bodies do not go up to heaven, I believe our souls do until the Lord returns and then we will be raised with our new bodies. If we die before the Lord returns, then we will be with the Lord in heaven, yet not complete until he returns to the earth. One thing that Wright says that I do not agree with is, “…immortality is something that only God possesses by nature and that then he shares, as a gift of grace rather than an innate possession, with his people” (161). I believe that everyone will live forever,

In 1 Thessalonians 4 it talks about the rapture will occur at “the coming of the Lord.” However, in upon reading 1 Corinthians 15:52 it says this will happen during “the last trump.” In fact, some have found that the word contradicts however, that is not correct we need the Holy Spirit who gives the revelation of the word of God. According to 1

Moreover, the church at Thessalonica, were struggling to maintain their expectant and patient demeanor, considering what they perceived as a delay in Christ’s return. The event causing difficulty for the believers of the church Thessalonica, is the parousia or the second coming. The Greek word parousia is defined as coming, presence and arrival, often paired with Christ (1 Corinthians 15:6) and Lord Jesus (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8). However, when used outside of the context of the second coming of Christ, the word does not convey technical or spiritual significance, even when utilized in the Gospels for the advent. The hope of Christ second coming “denotes the expected manifestation of Christ, as

The resurrection of Jesus Christ separates Christianity from all other religions. Christianity without the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is merely one religion among many. "And if Christ is not risen," said the Apostle Paul, "then our preaching is empty and your faith is in vain”. (1 Corinthians 15:14) Furthermore, "You are still in your sins!” Paul could not have chosen stronger language. (Mohler)

Beginning as a direct rebuttal of Corinth beliefs regarding resurrection and eventually evolving into a explicit and according to Paul irritable account of the events that lead to resurrection of the dead. The passage showcases Paul’s authority on followers of Christ and just how seriously his understanding and beliefs regarding Christ were taken. Again as 1 Corinthians is in part a direct address to his intentions in helping the church and part response to Corinth inquiries.The Resurrection of the Dead passage Paul structures his response in a way that makes no room for his commentary to be misinterpreted or ignored. Verses 12-19 are a clear formulation of taking Corinthian rebuttals to resurrection and using their own phrasing to admonish their disbelief.These verses are structured as a continuous unfolding of Paul's response. It begins in verse 12 with an acknowledgement that some in Corinth do not believe in resurrection of the dead and then continues on verse after verse appealing to that disbelief. The structure is a very much a “this, then this, then this argument, mounting the consequences of not believing in resurrection of the dead on top of one another until he reaches a conclusion that should cause all disbelief to vanish; if Corinthians do not believe in resurrection then they cannot believe that Christ was resurrected and if they do not believe that then their faith must be in vain.

It also meant than human beings would not be immortal and would eventually die. There was no suggestion that they would go to heaven. Christianity developed from Judaism. This religion believed originally that when people died they went to a dark place under the earth called Sheol. Later, Jews began to believe that they might share some sort of eternal life with God after death.