tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196630391794341478.post3250404003974681569..comments2024-03-27T06:28:06.962-05:00Comments on Homeward Bound: The resurrection: A story no one would make up, part 1ChrisBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04611311820554248004noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196630391794341478.post-72614659709652327822007-07-16T19:41:00.000-05:002007-07-16T19:41:00.000-05:00Steven, I've already addressed your first question...Steven, <BR/><BR/>I've already addressed your first question. Rather than addressing the rest individually, I'm going to offer a different way to approach the question of what Paul taught about Jesus' (and our) resurrected body.<BR/><BR/>1) Paul was a Pharisee; they taught a physical resurrection as derived from the Hebrew scriptures (Job 19:25-26, Isaiah 26:19). We shouldn't assume he's changed his ideas without good reason. If his statements can be taken in a way that makes them consistent with a bodily resurrection, they should be.<BR/><BR/>2) The gospels clearly teach that Jesus' body was physical (e.g., Mark 16:6; Luke 24:12, 39, 41-43; John 20:6-7; Acts 2:29-32). We shouldn't say that Paul's contradicting the Christian teaching without a very good reason. Again, if we can harmonize his statements with this notion, we should.<BR/><BR/>3) On at least one occasion (Romans 8:11) Paul says something that is hard to take in any other sense than a physical resurrection of our bodies.<BR/><BR/>4) Paul's statement that Jesus became a life-giving spirit does not necessarily mean that He had no physical body. In contrasting Adam and Christ, Paul is talking about the affect of their actions. If this is to be taken woodenly literal, we would have to say that Jesus <I>never</I> had a physical body (which is a heresy addressed in 1 John).<BR/><BR/>5) Paul's desire to be liberated from his body seems to be a cry to be liberated from his sinful nature. I don't think we can assume he's talking about the nature of the resurrected body in that passage. In that part of Romans Paul uses life and death to talk about the sin nature and the regenerated conscience/mind.<BR/><BR/>6) The resurrection of our bodies is always taken as a reason for hope. The NT says in a number of places that we are with the Lord when we die and then turns around and teaches a final resurrection of the dead. Unless a physical resurrection is intended, those comforting notions of a resurrection at the end of days make no sense.ChrisBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04611311820554248004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196630391794341478.post-26451163346097602082007-07-16T08:10:00.000-05:002007-07-16T08:10:00.000-05:00Dead on Chris.I'm looking forward to the rest of t...Dead on Chris.<BR/>I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196630391794341478.post-61828752175286829412007-07-16T07:56:00.000-05:002007-07-16T07:56:00.000-05:00Good questions. I'll have to wait until I get home...Good questions. I'll have to wait until I get home to address most of this, but the first one is simple. The Corinthians, like so many in the Grecoroman world, had accepted the idea that spirit was good and physical was bad and then read it back into their new religion. This is, incidentally, probably how the gnostics got a foothold in Christianity.<BR/><BR/>I'll address the rest this evening. Thanks for commenting.ChrisBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04611311820554248004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196630391794341478.post-66504050714179664452007-07-16T01:21:00.000-05:002007-07-16T01:21:00.000-05:00Why did people in Corinth convert to Jesus-worship...Why did people in Corinth convert to Jesus-worship and still scoff at the idea that God would choose to raise a corpse?<BR/><BR/>Why does Paul assure them that Jesus became a life-giving spirit?<BR/><BR/>Why does Paul trash the idea that resurrected beings were made from the dust that corpses dissolve into?<BR/><BR/>'The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God...'<BR/><BR/>Why does Paul plead in Romans 7:24 to be rescued from his body?<BR/><BR/>Easy questions.<BR/><BR/>People were not converted to Jesus-worship by tales of corpses rising.<BR/><BR/>Paul knew what happened to corpses, which is why he wanted out of there.Steven Carrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11983601793874190779noreply@blogger.com