The Resurrection

The third day He rose again from the dead.

            We Lutherans are very good at preaching the crucifixion. And good for us. Paul himself resolved to know nothing among the Corinthians except Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). But consider for a moment, the same apostle’s statement in the same letter: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

            So, here’s the thing. Without the resurrection, Jesus’ death is just another death. But the resurrection is God’s declaration that Jesus’ death was not just another death. The resurrection is God’s great act of vindication. It says Jesus did not deserve to die, so God righted the wrong. And if Jesus did not deserve His death, then His death had another meaning, namely, that He had died as the substitute for a race under an ancient death sentence. It was the fact of the resurrection that caused Jesus’ first disciples to reconsider His death; it was the fact of the resurrection that cause Paul, after the incident on the Damascus road, to reconsider everything he thought he knew about the Messiah and His work. It’s the resurrection that shines a light on what God has been up to since before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 4:4).

            The Creed makes clear: this is not a matter of either/or. You are not either a believer who emphasizes the crucifixion or a believer who emphasizes the resurrection. If you are going to get it right, you have to say that the Crucified One is the One whom God raised from the dead. And, of course, you can’t have resurrection without a death. There’s no Easter without Good Friday, and Good Friday isn’t good without Easter. Paul says in best in Romans 4:25, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

            Leave it to the Creed to say exactly what has to be said to give voice to the fullness of the faith!