1B - Jesus Resurrection Flashcards
The Resurrection in John 20
John 20 has been seen as having a chiastic structure (ABCBA)
A – John sees and believes
B – Mary believes when Jesus calls her name
C – The disciples recognise Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit
B – Thomas believes when he can touch Jesus wounds
A – John says that those who read this evidence will believe.
The Resurrection in John 21
Three sections
Jesus appears to disciples by the Sea of Galilee – described as standing on the shore – he describes the disciples to a miraculous catch of fish.
Jesus commissions Peter to shepherd his people – Jesus questions Peter and gives him the instruction to care for his people. Jesus spells out the cost of that love – describing the nature of death that Peter would die. Some argue that this is a later addition.
John’s testimony confirmed – John identifies himself as the Beloved Disciple – responsible for writing this Gospel and claiming to be an eyewitness account.
Significance of the Holy Spirit in John 20 + 21
Jesus breathes on the disciples and says – receive the Holy Spirit – same verb used in Genesis 2 when God creates man from the dust of the ground.
Is this the same event as the Pentecost event in Acts 2?
Evidence suggest two different events – it doesn’t seem to have the same transformative effect that the Pentecost event does – marks the inauguration of the church’s mission which doesn’t actually begin until Pentecost.
Paul’s Understanding of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15
Paul argues that the Resurrection is objective fact – does so on the basis of the eyewitness of others and his own conversion experience on the road to Damascus.
If there is no resurrection the Christian faith is futile, because those who have died have and will perish unlike being resurrected like Christ was.
Jesus is the ‘second Adam’ – just as Adam had brought death into the world through disobedience, through his own obedience Jesus has brought resurrection. Christians can have certain hope of their own resurrection on the basis of Christi’s resurrection.
Contrasts our earthly body with the Resurrection body we will receive by using the analogy of a seed and grain. ‘The man of heaven’ excels over the ‘man of dust’.
In the same way as our earthly existence is a unity between a body and soul, likewise our resurrection existence will be a unity between our resurrection bodies and souls.
Resurrection is different to resuscitation – Jesus’ resurrection is different to the raising of Jairus’ daughter – he appears in another from. He can eat, drink, talk etc but can also walk through locked doors or vanish – a new mode of existence.
Contrasts to a Greek idea present at the time which argued that just the soul was immortal. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that there will be a resurrection of the body and soul.
Bultmann’s Approach to the Resurrection
Argued for the need to demythologise the New Testament – to interpret it in terms that modern readers can understand.
Myths are events in which supernatural powers are at works. They are use to explain our world and ideas about the divine in human terms.
Classes Jesus birth and resurrections as myth stories – NT authors use the mythological terminology of their time – making it impossible for modern readers to believe their accounts without suspending their intellect and knowledge.
Bultmann`s key ideas about the Resurrection
The resurrection is not a historical event – instead it is a myth story designed to sustain faith.
Whilst the earliest disciples believed it was true one cannot expect scientifically minded modern readers to believe in it.
Jesus is the son of God (not literally) – instead in the sense that he is an expression of God.
Belief in the resurrection is unnecessary – in fact it is contrary to faith. ‘The one who was crucified is alive again if you see him as such with the eyes of faith’. Realising the cross of Christ is not a defeat but a victory.
Modern Christians cannot accept an unprovable resurrection, it would not add any meaning to the crucifixion.
Victory comes through the cross and belief in it’s saving power – transmitted through the word of preaching of the disciples – Easter is therefore not about the rising of Jesus but of the faith of the Early Church.
NT Wright’s Approach to the Resurrection
Surveys the historical context:
In Greek thought there was no evidence for a belief in a bodily resurrection. Some writers wrote about Sheol as a place of shadows.
In the early OT belief in resurrection is ‘vague and unfocussed’ – idea of Sheol as a place of the dead similar to Hades.
In later Judaism there is greater evidence of belief in a bodily resurrection for God’s people but even by times of Jesus there is a broad spectrum of belief from those who insist to those who completely reject it.
Why is it the early Christians emerge claiming Jesus as the Messiah proved by his raising from the dead?
NT Wright`s Key Ideas about the Resurrection
The early Church emerges with a clear and definite teaching about the resurrection – a much more sharply focussed belief. For all Christians their ultimate hope is in the resurrection.
Not just an act of new creation nor a disembodied bliss but a resurrection body.
The resurrection event splits history into two – Jesus resurrection first followed by his people.
Jesus the Messiah was completely different to the common expectation of what the Messiah would do. Had not won a decisive victory over Israel’s enemies or restored the Temple or established God’s reign in the world – why did Christians continue to regard Jesus as the Messiah after all this? The bodily resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion.
Jesus resurrection is not just a spiritual presence or a resuscitation but a complete transformation – he can be touched and eats but yet appears and disappears.
All other historical explanations for the origins of Christianity are less convincing than that Jesus really did rise from the dead – he should be declared the Messiah and son of God.
