Raised? by Jonathan K. Dodson

Author:Jonathan K. Dodson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 3

Stepping into the Resurrection

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

– 1 Corinthians 15:17

Up to now we have looked at how the resurrection of Jesus is both intellectually plausible and part of a larger, compelling story. In this chapter, we want to look more closely at how to participate in his resurrection life as well as what we lose if we refuse to embrace the resurrected Christ.

To do this, we will lift one sentence out of Paul’s great chapter on the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15. This chapter, part of a larger letter Paul wrote to a first-century church, contains fifty-eight verses of careful reasoning on the meaning and importance of the resurrection. Verse 17 gets to the crux of the matter: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Here Paul puts it all on the line. If Christ hasn’t been raised, the Christian faith is fiction and we are stranded in the fall of humanity, trapped in our imperfections. In other words, there is no hope, no purpose, no plan for the future. This is all there is.

But if the resurrection is true, it means there is hope; there is purpose and a plan for the future. How do we get connected to that? In order to understand how we can “get into” the resurrection, let’s look closely at three essential but often misunderstood words Paul uses in this text — faith, sin, and Christ. If we can grasp what these words mean, we will be one step closer to seeing what we lose and what we gain by believing — or not believing — in the resurrection.

WHAT IS FAITH?

I realize faith is a somewhat nebulous word. As a noun, it can function as a catchall term for religion and spirituality. “What’s your faith?” someone might ask, and the answers can fall anywhere on a spectrum from Scientology to Islam. Interfaith dialog is popular today. Unless you’re an atheist with an ax to grind, having a “faith” is generally accepted. In some sectors of the U.S, it is becoming less cool to claim a religion, but that doesn’t mean people lack faith.

Faith is also a verb. It is something you do. “Have faith,” a person will say. We can wonder, “Faith in what?” In asking this, we tacitly recognize that faith is not just a religion — it is an action. Faith is an activity we all participate in. When we accept a job, we take it by faith. You can research the company, investigate their reputation, ask all the right questions, and come to the conclusion that this would be a great company to work for. You can get to the point where you believe this job is going to be a great fit, but you can’t know it with 100 percent assurance. You can’t be entirely confident that it will all work out. So when you accept the offer, you are accepting it on faith.

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