Jesus, the Bedrock

Christ’s very human Death and bodily Resurrection are foundational and indispensable to the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

The Apostle Paul discussed the future resurrection of believers in 2 Timothy in response to denials of this “healthy teaching” by false teachers. Faith in the promised resurrection is central to the hope of salvation taught by Jesus and his Apostles. This teaching is unquestionably reliable because it is based on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

Christ’s Death and Resurrection together form the bedrock on which the Apostolic Faith and the Church must be built. Construction undertaken with any other building materials will produce a teetering structure built on a foundation of very dry sand, just as Jesus warned:

[Photo by Pavel Neznanov on Unsplash]

• “Every man who hears these words of mine and does them not will be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and struck that house, and it fell, and great was its collapse” – (Matthew 7:26-27).

• “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” – (1 Corinthians 3:11).

The theme of “healthy teaching” is prominent in this epistle, and the future resurrection is a basic component of the Apostolic Teaching since Jesus “nullified death” when God raised him from the dead – (2 Timothy 1:9-10). Paul previously described the center of his Gospel in his first letter to the Corinthians:

• “That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day”– (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

The real death and bodily resurrection of Jesus were essential to the message preached by Paul and the other Apostles. Christ is the “power of God who saved and called us <…> according to His peculiar purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages” – (2 Timothy 1:9).

This salvation has only been manifested in relatively recent times, though it was put in motion eons ago. As promised in the Hebrew Scriptures, the arrival of the Messiah inaugurated the era of fulfillment. This included the general resurrection of the dead, which began with Jesus, the “firstborn of the dead.”

• “God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to the peculiar purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages but has now been manifested through the appearance of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has nullified death and thrown light upon life and incorruptibility, through means of the gospel.” - (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

Paul does not mean that death no longer occurs by declaring that Jesus “nullified death.” The Greek verb does not mean to “destroy” or annihilate something, but to “nullify” it, to make it ineffective, to “discharge or idle” it, to invalidate its legal claim (katargeô, Strong’s Concordance, #G2673).

The complete cessation of Death, both its reality and its dominion over humanity, will not occur until the “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ of Jesus (παρουσια). As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, through his death:

• “Jesus destroyed the one who had the dominion of death, that is, the Devil, and delivered those men who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” - (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Death still occurs to all men, but no longer is it capable of holding us in its iron grip on the followers of Jesus. We need no longer fear death since Christ has overcome it for us. (“The last enemy that will be abolished is death”). When he returns, he will abolish it with absolute finality by raising us from the dead and giving us immortal bodies. “Then comes the End,” and we will shout victoriously:

• “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? <…> Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” - (1 Corinthians 15:24-28, 15:54-57).

As Paul tells Timothy, Christ's resurrection has brought life and “immortality” to light. The Greek noun translated as “immortality” does not mean eternal. Immortality is the opposite of death, it is the state of deathlessness, being without death. Those who receive immortal bodies will never die again – (aphtharsia, Strong’s Concordance - #G861).

HIS RESURRECTION

Immortality is not something we possess by nature. It was lost when Adam sinned, and death has reigned over all living creatures ever since. However, we will be raised and transformed when Jesus returns. This will not be the case for all men. Only those redeemed by his death will be raised to “everlasting life” - (1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

Paul instructed Timothy to “remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” His past resurrection is the unmovable foundation of our faith and the unwavering guarantee of our resurrection when he returns - (2 Timothy 2:8-18).

Paul was persecuted on account of this Gospel, and central to it was the proclamation that God’s Son died, and three days later, God raised him from the dead. That proposition was contrary to the beliefs and philosophies of Paul’s time, just as it is to the ideologies and practices of the world in which we now live - (Acts 17:16-21, 17:32).

Paul may have suffered for the Gospel, but this was so “the elect may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with everlasting glory <…> If we die with him, we will also live with him <…> If we suffer, we will also reign with him”- (2 Timothy 2:8-18).

Death still occurs, but it will not have the final word. “Salvation,” resurrection, and “everlasting glory” will be obtained when Jesus returns to gather his elect. Those who deny this hope engage in “profane and empty babblings” that lead to ungodliness - (1 Corinthians 15:10-20, 1 Timothy 6:20, 2 Timothy 2:16).

To deny the resurrection is to reject the essence of the Gospel. There is no “Good News” apart from the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Denying resurrection is the opposite of “healthy teaching.” In 1 Corinthians, Paul rejected denials of this kind with eloquence and logic:

• “For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. Moreover, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then they also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. But now has Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who sleep” – (1 Corinthians 15:16-20).

If Jesus does not raise the dead bodily when he returns, our salvation will remain incomplete, and we will become without hope and forever lost. Belief in the future resurrection is based on the unshakable foundation of Christ’s past Death and Resurrection. Denying the resurrection is foolishness and suicidal, rendering the Gospel of Jesus Christ powerless to save us.

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SEE ALSO:

• Death, the Last Enemy - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the end of the Last Enemy, namely, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• Rescued from this evil age - (Paul anchored all that God has done for us in the resurrection of Jesus, which also inaugurated the Messianic Age - Galatians 1:1-5)

• Jesus Reversed Death - (Paul reminded Timothy of the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death since false teachers were denying the future resurrection of believers)

• Completion and Resurrection - (Paul expresses his goal of going on to completion, a process that will culminate in bodily resurrection when Jesus arrives in glory)