Of First Importance

“An unbreakable bond or unity exists between Christ and Christians in the experience of resurrection. This bond has two components - one that has already taken place, at the beginning of Christian life when the sinner is united to Christ by faith, and one that is still future, at Christ’s return.

In terms of a distinction Paul himself makes (2 Cor. 4:16), so far as believers are ‘outer man,’ that is, in terms of the body, they are yet to be raised; so far as they are ‘inner man,’ at the core of their beings, they are already raised.”

- Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. “Resurrection and Redemption: How Eschatology and the Gospel Relate“

“The resurrection assures us that when Jesus claimed to be God’s promised Rescuer and when he claimed to have the divine authority to forgive repentant sinners who put their trust in him, he spoke the truth. If he had been lying, he would not be sitting at the right hand of God but suffering the penalty due him for deceiving millions of people into trusting a false messiah. Instead, he was ‘declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.’ (Romans 1:4). The resurrection is God’s stamp of approval on Jesus’ claim to be our Lord and Savior.”

- John Ensor, The Great Work of the Gospel (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2006), 101-102.

“The fact that Jesus was raised in the middle of human history, and not at the very end of it, means that God has not abandoned this world. He intends to overhaul it; His purpose is to make all things new.

The resurrection of the dead does not mean that this world will be burnt to a cinder, and then God will create another one to replace it. No, God will restore this created order. This world is groaning, longing for the day of our resurrection. Just as the Lord’s body glorified was the same body that was crucified, so your body will one day be laid to rest in the ground and will be the same body that rises. In the same way, this world, these oceans, the starry host above us, will all be made over, glorified, and we will dwell here forever.

The intermediate state, the place where believers will go if they die before the general resurrection, will be Christ. It will be blessed. It will be glorious. But it is still just a way station. It is rest before the final consummation. And the final consummation will be here, and you will be here, and all your loved ones in Christ will be here, and we cannot begin to comprehend how glorious it will be.”

- Douglas Wilson, “Restoring from Within”

“God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Therefore God is concerned not only for the salvation of souls but also for the relief of poverty, hunger, and injustice.

The gospel opens our eyes to the fact that all our wealth (even wealth for which we worked hard) is ultimately an unmerited gift from God. Therefore the person who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust.

Christ wins our salvation through losing, achieves power through weakness and service, and comes to wealth through giving all away. Those who receive his salvation are not the strong and accomplished but those who admit they are weak and lost. We cannot look at the poor and the oppressed and callously call them to pull themselves out of their own difficulty. Jesus did not treat us that way.”

- The Gospel Coalition’s “Theological Vision for Ministry” (2007), Section 5e

“Jesus Christ did not rise alone. He rose as the head of a whole body of people elected to have faith in him, to benefit from him, and to extend his mission in the world.”

- Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Engaging God’s World (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans, 2002), 81.

“The resurrection validated that Jesus was himself sinless and that he died for our sins, just as he said. Acts 2:24 says, ‘God raised [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.’ Why did the justice of God make it impossible for Jesus to stay dead? It was impossible for Jesus to stay dead because he had lived a perfectly righteous life and therefore death, as God’s just punishment for sin, had not crime against God to pin itself to. On the streets of Boston, the kids salute the law of justice by saying, ‘If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.’ In the case of Jesus, the voice of justice says, ‘He can’t do the time, ’cause he did no crime.’”

- John Ensor, The Great Work of the Gospel (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2006), 101.

“The resurrection . . . sharply defines what it must mean to have faith in Christ. Because Christ has been raised from the dead, we are not putting our faith in merely a historical event but in a living, death conquering, and reigning Savior. Our faith is based on something in the past, but it is placed in One who is very much alive today. Notice how the apostle Paul speaks of faith in terms of a living Christ: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20). Paul is living by faith in the living Christ. And he prays that this would be our normative Christian experience: ‘that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith’ (Ephesians 3:16-17).”

- John Ensor, The Great Work of the Gospel (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2006), 102.