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The Catholic Telegraph
February 9, 2001The erroneous opinion that some of the Corinthians seem to have held, namely that, whatever may have happened to Christ, there is no such thing as resurrection for the rest of us, has some implications. Paul discusses some of those implications in this Sunday’s live letter. He begins with a logical dilemma that requires careful attention if we are to follow it.
If you say that there is no resurrection from the dead, you cannot say that Christ rose from the dead. But if, as we believe, Christ did rise from the dead, then you cannot say that there is no resurrection. Either Christ rose from the dead, and there is, therefore, resurrection from the dead, or He didn’t and then there is no resurrection for anybody. You can’t have it both ways.
Then the text speaks of three consequences that would follow if there is no resurrection and Christ has not been raised from the dead.
The first consequence is that salvation from our sins is an illusion and our conviction that we are saved is mere fantasy. (The main penalty for sin is death. We were condemned to die because of our turning away from God. Christ’s triumph over sin, therefore, must necessarily involve a triumph over death. If Christ and those who follow Him are condemned to die at the end of their earthly lives without hope of anything further, then the forgiveness of sins that Christ supposedly won for us has no meaning. We are no better off than we were before.)
The second consequence if there is no resurrection has to do with the fate of the followers of Christ who have already died. (The earliest Christians were looking for the second coming of Christ to take place quite soon. Christ would then take the faithful to eternal happiness with Himself. That raised a problem about those believers whose earthly life had ended before Christ’s coming. That’s the problem that Paul alludes to here.) If there is no such thing as future resurrection, then those who have already died are simply dead. They have missed out on the coming of Christ and there is nothing more for them to look forward to.
Thirdly, if there is no resurrection from the dead, there is a significant consequence for all of us, and that consequence is that our life is meaningless. We have been cheated by our commitment to a Christ who cannot save us. We must continue to fight a losing battle against sin without hope of victory. Religious beliefs like this can only arouse pity. It’s better to be a pagan!
Now Paul draws his conclusion: as a matter of fact Christ did rise from the dead, and so there is resurrection! Moreover, Christ’s resurrection is not just an event of personal importance to Him. It marks the beginning of a whole new kind of human life, the initiation of a vast harvest of which we, too, will be a part.
Paul has been talking to the Corinthians about how things would be if there were no resurrection of the dead. We accept the idea of resurrection, but it’s important for us to be aware of the positive side of the three consequences that Paul lists.
First, because Christ has risen from the dead and because there is therefore resurrection, we can be confident that Christ has triumphed over sin and that we are saved. In Jesus we see that death is no longer the last word, and so sin has somehow been overcome. Because we share the life of the risen Christ through baptism, sin has been overcome in us. The resurrection of the dead is not merely an event of significance that lies ahead of us in the future. It’s something that colors our whole human existence now.
Secondly, because of the reality of the resurrection and of Christians’ participation in the life of the risen Christ, our loved ones who have gone before us in death are not simply dead. They are still alive because they are still in Christ. They await the final manifestation of Christ at the end of time, but in the interim they remain dear to Him and to us. As the Church’s liturgy prays, "For your faithful people, Lord, life is changed, not ended."
Finally, our Christian faith in the resurrection constitutes grounds for real hope, real joy, real happiness even in this life. Granted, Christian life can be demanding. It often seems that our faith requires a lot of us. Perhaps it also seems that other people, untrammeled by an awareness of their responsibilities to a loving and saving God, can live more freely and easily than we do. But our faith in the ongoing life of the risen Christ, our conviction that we will share that life not only here and now but in the final kingdom with Father, Son, and Spirit gives meaning and direction to our lives that non-believers cannot share. We know we are important to God and we know that that importance will last forever.
At every Eucharist we celebrate the death and rising of Christ. In that celebration, we also celebrate our own present and future. Easter, the feast of resurrection, isn’t just about Christ. It’s about us, too.
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Conversation Questions
Is there any reason whatsoever for faith and hope if there is no resurrection?
What meaning could resurrection have for those who do not believe in Christ?
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