The Reality of the Resurrection

Jesus' resurrection has stirred doubt and debate since the women ran back into Jerusalem telling stories about an empty tomb. A few decades later Paul had to defend the Resurrection to skeptical church members at Corinth: "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?" (1 Corinthians 15:12). Even then Jesus' resurrection was questioned.

We depend on the faithful testimony of those who have gone before us. They passed on an unfathomable message: "Christ is risen!" Generation after generation of believers have received and struggled with that message.

Contemporary theologians continue to probe the meanings of the Resurrection. Their insights can help us claim its truth anew. Here are four.

The Resurrection is a historical reality, not just the believers' subjective experience.

For many years theologian Rudolf Bultmann's view held sway: "Jesus is risen into the New Testament proclamation." Bultmann supported a subjective interpretation: What is most important is not what happened to Jesus but what happens to those who believe in him and his resurrection. We can't know any historical details about the Resurrection, Bultmann said. We only know that the early church kept believing and proclaiming Jesus after his crucifixion.

The disciples' actions - proclaiming Christ and giving birth to the church despite the shock of Good Friday - remain a strong argument for the truth of the Resurrection. But recent scholarship has emphasized the historical nature of the risen Jesus.

Wolfhart Pannenberg powerfully contends for the historical character of Jesus' resurrection based on the sources that commend it, both the testimony of original witnesses to the risen Jesus and the tradition of the empty tomb. Jesus' resurrection has more credible historical evidence than many ancient events whose occurrence we don't question, for example, some incidents in Julius Caesar's life.

The Jews of first-century Palestine held a lively hope for the final resurrection of the dead. Jesus' resurrection was experienced within this horizon as the first fruit of the final resurrection. In Pannenberg's view, we know where we are going; Jesus' resurrection shows us the end of history.

This position challenges those who reduce Jesus' resurrection to a misinformed psychological state in the disciples' minds. Christian faith isn't based on mass hallucination. It is grounded in God's action in history - the raising of Jesus from the dead.

The resurrection verifies Jesus' identity and the truth of his message.

Jesus announced the nearness of God's kingdom. He taught his disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come" (Luke 11:2). His parables portrayed the unexpectedness of the kingdom's arrival and revealed God's undeserved mercy. He made the kingdom present in his works - healing the sick, forgiving sinners and welcoming dubious characters to share the fellowship of a meal. Jesus boldly forgave sins, claiming God's authority. He courted controversy by welcoming outcasts and frequently violated religious law. With breathtaking audacity, he sharpened God's law. "You have heard that it was said," he would say quoting a bit of the law. "But now I say to you ...."

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