1B: Jesus - His Resurrection Flashcards
Chiasm
a style of writing that repeats similar ideas in reverse sequence (ABCBA)
Apostle
‘the one who is sent’. name given to those in the early church who were sent by Jesus to preach the good news. amongst them were those who had been in Jesus’ group of disciples but joined early
Paul
a first century apostle who preached Christianity mainly to the Gentiles. wrote many letters to the churches that had set up in Gentile regions
Eschatology
study of the end times
Realised eschatology
the idea that the quality of life normally associated with a relationship with God after death can be experienced now
Immortal soul
idea associated with Plato. suggest there may be a kind of life after death but does not involve a body or a return to earth. if the soul is immortal it will reside forever in a non physical realm
Jewish eschatology
there was no consensus on what to believe about death and the afterlife in the Jewish tradition at the time of Jesus. Pharisees did believe in some kind of life after death but Sadducees didn’t
Rudolf Bultmann
German theologian who argued that the NT needs to be demythologise to be properly understood as an account of the theological beliefs of the early Church. described the resurrection narratives as ‘myths’
Demythologisation
removing the supernatural elements of a text to reveal underlying beliefs that are being expeessed
Existentialist
a philosopher who emphasises freedom of choice and personal responsibility but who regards human existence in a hostile universe as unexplainable
NT Wright
modern English theologian who argues for the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Jesus
Bad Arguments
the term used by Wright for arguments used by people who dispute the idea of Jesus’ resurrection being a historical and physical event (eg Swoon theory)
What is the difference between resurrection and resuscitation?
resurrection: being restored to life after a period of being dead and being given a new body that has some continuity with the old one
resuscitation: being restored within ones original body shortly after death has occured. body is the exact same as it was beforehand
What is meant by reincarnation?
- life after death is the re embodiment of a soul in a completely new body with no connection to the previous body
- example: a soul previously residing in a cat might be reincarnated in a human body
- found in many eastern religions eg Hinduism
What is meant by immortal soul?
- suggest there may be some life after death but doesn’t involve a replacement body or a return to earth
- in this view the soul is immortal, and after separating at the death of the body, it will reside forever in a non physical realm
What is meant by resurrection?
- comes from Latin word meaning to ‘live again’
- the Greek equivalent is specifically the word resurrection is used by Christianity to the even of Jesus rising from the dead
Matthew 10:28
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell
What does Matthew 10:28 suggest?
- Jesus had already told the disciples he would be killed and they should expect persecution
- they should not ‘fear those who can only kill the body’: implies that Jesus was hinting at some life after death
- death should not be feared; implies a dualist (idea that mind/soul and the body are two different things) understanding of human existence
- our souls may continue after our bodily death
John 20-21
- Jesus seeks to overcome the disciples sorrow, fear and doubt in order to bring them to faith
- “he saw and believed”: believed in resurrection just because of the empty tomb, he did not need physical evidence
- “‘Jesus said to her, “Mary!” she turned and said to him in Hebrew “Rabbouni! (teacher)”: Mary believes when she hears Jesus call her name. needed physical evidence
- Jesus breathed on the disciples and said “receive the holy spirit”: the disciples recognise Jews and receive the Holy Spirit. most important point
- Jesus shows his wounds to thomas: he needed substantial evidence but believes Jesus when he can touch his wounds
- “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name”: those who read the evidence will believe
Which disciple believed as soon as he saw the empty tomb?
John (‘the disciple who Jesus loved’)
How did Mary Magdalene recognise the risen Jesus in the garden?
she recognised him through his voice. (suggests there was discontinuity with his pre-crucfixion body since she didn’t recognise his appearance)
What instructions did the risen Jesus give Mary Magdalene?
he tells her to not hold on to him because he has not ascended yet. he tells her to tell the disciples
Which disciple needed to see Jesus’ wounds before he would believe in the resurrection?
Thomas
To which disciple did Jesus say ‘feed my sheep’?
Simon Peter
Some similarities between Jesus’ resurrection body and our bodies in John 20-21
- 20:13 Jesus shares a meal: normal behaviour, if he was a ghost why would he need to eat?
- 20:28 Jesus shows his wounds: physical evidence of his injuries from the crucifixion which have not healed and proves it’s the same body
- 20:16 Jesus speaks and Mary recognises his voice: only alive humans can speak, and his voice is the same: continuity of the same body
- 20:27 Jesus can be touched: if he were a ghost this wouldn’t be possible
Some dissimilarities between Jesus’ resurrection body and our bodies in John 20-21
- 20:4 disciples did not recognise Jesus: might be because his body was in some kind of unrecognisable state or maybe too far away
- 20:22 Jesus breathes the holy spirit on then
- 20:17 Jesus told Mary not to cling to him: a ghost? or maybe he does not want Mary to cling to him because he is going to ascend
- appearing through locked walls
John 20 is structured as a chiasm. What does this mean?
- chiasm is a structural written form which repeats ideas in a reverse sequence with a single key idea in the middle (ABCBA)
- key idea is hidden: power of the Holy Spirit will help the ressurection
- A1: John sees the empty tomb and believes
- B1: Mary comes to believe when she hears Jesus call her name
- C: the disciples recognise jesus and receive the holy spirit
- B2: Thomas believes when he touches Jesus’ wounds
- A2: Gospel writer emphasise everything he’s written to encourage people to believe
What is redaction criticism?
a type of Biblical study used by scholars to consider the role of gospel writers and redactors/editors of their source materials. choosing how to structure the previously oral sources in written form allowed gospel writers to promote their theological concerns and write in a way which would engage their intended readers
What theological points might the writer of John 20 be making?
- emphasising the importance of believing
- presents different responses of mary and the various disciples in each of the encounters in chapter 20 and 21
- some believe easily whereas others need more evidence
- the writer states his purpose: to testify to the evidence so that people can believe
- central point in chiasm suggest the holy spirit will help people to believe: could emphasise the role of the Holy Spirit in the early church
1 Corinthians 15 key points
- relates to Paul’s conversion experience
- accepts the resurrection as an objective fact, believes it is essential to his belief
- if the resurrection was a lie then the entire religion was built on a lie
- analogy of the sunflower seed: a dead flower can grow into a new and living one “what you sow does not come to life unless it dies”
- we do not die, we change states “we will all be changed”
- the heavenly body is immortal and powerful, and will inherit God’s kingdom
- God had power of death
1 Corinthians 15:42:44 describe the resurrection body. What are its key features? (think PIGS)
- Powerful
- Imperishable
- Glorious
- Spiritual
1 Corinthians 15: Paul testifies to the resurrection appearances
- Jesus died for our sins and was buried, then raised after 3 days: appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters - some dead, some alive
- appeared to all the apostles - Paul last because he persecuted the church of god
- Paul claimed he worked the hardest because the grace of god was with him
- gives the testimony of his own conversion: Jesus appeared to him even though he has persecuted the church
1 Corinthians 15: importance of the resurrection- if it doesn’t happen then faith is pointless
- if the resurrection did not happen then the whole faith was built on a lie and therefore pointless
- because death came through a human, that means resurrection must have come through a human too
- he compares Adam, whose disobedience brought in death and sin to the world, with Jesus whose disobedience to god restored life for those who are in union with christ (v21-22)
- v23-28 suggest an order in which this happens, eg Christ is raised first and later believers will be raised
1 Corinthians 15: explaining what the resurrection body will be
- v35-37
- v37-39: Paul uses the analogy of a seed planted in the ground. the seed is dead and buried in the ground, but once planted in this way brings forth new life with a continuity with the old life from whence the seed came
- PIGS
- resurrected body excels over the earthly body just as the plant is more excellent than the seed
- Paul implies the man of (Jesus) excels over the man of earth (Adam)
Philippians 1:21-24 key points
- “my desire is to depart and be with christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you”
- he has the hope of resurrection life which he is excited for, but we shouldn’t spend our lives looking forward to the resurrection
- living in the flesh is labour, life with Christ is better
- we should not fear death