The first Christians proclaimed a message of Jesus' resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:22-38; 4:2). Jesus declared himself to be "the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25).
The resurrection has always been at the heart of the Christian message. In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on March 39, 2024, Kyle Kettering emphasized the importance of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.
In the Jewish world of the first century, Kyle explained, many believed in the resurrection. For example, the martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7 declared that they were not afraid of their persecutors because God would resurrect them (see e.g. verse 9). In talking with Jesus about her brother Lazarus, Martha professed her faith in "the resurrection on the last day" (Jn 11:24). The Pharisees, of whom the apostle Paul was one, were strong believers in the resurrection (Acts 23:6).
Not all Jews believed in the resurrection, though. The doctrine is not so easy to discern from just the Pentateuch, and the Sadducees were skeptical of it (Mt 22:23-33).
Greek thinking, which valued an immaterial soul over the human body, did not accept the idea of resurrection. Paul defended the resurrection to a largely Gentile audience in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15. He emphasized that this was a teaching "of first importance," one that validates the idea of Jesus' atoning death. Without it, Paul said, "we are of all people most to be pitied" (v. 19).
Kyle concluded that the resurrection
- validates Jesus' mission and teaching.
- provides power; it is thanks to the resurrection that Christ lives in us.
- gives us hope.
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