Inspired Imperfection by Gregory A. Boyd

Author:Gregory A. Boyd [Boyd, Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5064-5563-1
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2019-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

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Before reviewing this material, however, I must briefly respond to a potential objection at this point. One could argue that the resurrection rather than the crucifixion should be considered the culminating point of Jesus’s ministry, for Jesus’s death obviously wouldn’t have been either revelatory or salvific if he had not risen from the dead. This is of course true, but it is also vitally important that we understand that the meaning of Jesus’s resurrection is centered on the cross.

Once the church inherited political power in the fourth and fifth centuries, the resurrection began to be thought of in triumphalist terms that contrasted it with the crucifixion. That is, the resurrection came to mean that Jesus suffered so we don’t have to. And because he suffered for us, we can now live in the victory of Jesus’s resurrection power.

This is a fundamental distortion of the understanding of the resurrection in the NT and early post-apostolic church. The resurrection accomplishes a lot of things, according to the NT. It confirms that the crucified one was and is the fully divine and fully human Son of God. It confirms that, in Christ, God has defeated the powers of death and has in principle reconciled the entire creation, and all of humanity, back to God. And it confirms that the cross is the definitive revelation of God’s true character.

But, according to the NT, the resurrection also confirms that the way of the cross—the way of other-oriented, self-sacrificial love—is ultimately victorious and is the way God wants God’s people to live. Hence, the cross is held up not only as something God did for us but also as something we are called and empowered to emulate. This is why Jesus told his disciples that they must “pick up your cross daily and follow me.”[5] So too, Peter says disciples must be willing to suffer, for “Christ . . . suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.”[6] Indeed, for Paul, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is working in the heart of believers to empower them to be conformed to Christ’s own cruciform character.[7]

For all these reasons, I agree with those scholars who argue that the cross and resurrection are best understood as two sides of one and the same event.[8]

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