Thursday 03 April 2008
- Bible Book:
- 1 Corinthians
"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ". (v.20-22)
Background
In this letter, Paul is concerned with problems facing thechurch in Corinth and seeks to address them. This includes theirbehaviour, their morals and, in this passage specifically, falseteaching about the Resurrection.
Some Corinthians thought that they could be Christians withoutbelieving that Christ had physically been raised from the dead. Inresponse, Paul emphasises the central importance of theresurrection of Jesus to the Christian faith.
Paul uses the symbol of the first fruits. The first fruits of aharvest were traditionally offered as a sacrifice to God. This wasa symbolic way of dedicating all of the harvest to God. The firstfruits then became a guarantee of the fullness of thatharvest.
Now Paul speaks of a harvest of all humanity. Because Christ, beingfully human, has died and been raised from the dead, so this is theguarantee that all can be saved - all safely gathered in.
Many people today claim that Jesus was just a man and that histeachings are valuable without the need for belief in hisresurrection. But Paul is saying that to believe only that is tosell ourselves tragically short. Jesus' death and resurrection arenot symbolic, but are a physical fact. And this fact has made itpossible for those that put all their trust in Jesus Christ to besaved from death and live in joy and peace in the presence ofGod.
To Ponder
John Wesley believed that "All can be saved".What does that mean to you?
If someone said to you that they were strugglingto believe in Jesus' physical resurrection, what would you say tohelp them?