Lawless Christianity Part VI: A Resurrection Allegory?
This is part 6 of 7. If you haven't read the previous parts, please do so before continuing, thank you! If you would like to contact the author you can email here: justin.hornbaker@gmail.com.
A Resurrection Allegory?
Is there an allegorical or spiritual “resurrection life” we must experience as Christians while still on this earth? The leaders teaching these ideas hammered away at what they called a “resurrection life” that is our main goal for our earthly life here as Christians. They would say we need to “move on from the the cross to the resurrection life” to truly experience a genuine life in Christ. But here we have a serious doctrinal issue arise. William Lane Craig in his book Reasonable Faith, in his chapter The Resurrection of Jesus, in the subsection of The Empty Tomb (pg. 361) points out,
I have gone back myself and searched all the passages where it talks about resurrection, and I cannot find one that I could even try to allegorize or spiritualize myself. Every one of them is in reference to the resurrection of the physical death and not used for a spiritual one. The word “raised” is used to reference our spiritual rejuvenation in Jesus Christ, but from what I’ve found the apostles were careful to use the word resurrection for a bodily event, and not as an allegory or spiritualization of our salvation connection during this life with God. Furthermore, a resurrection implies that you were alive once before, but have died and need to be brought back to life. There is serious heretical problems when you apply this to our spiritual condition. If we are spiritually resurrected, you imply that we were once spiritually alive in Christ, but died from that and now have to be resurrected. Something like that would be more akin to Mormon theology than historical orthodox Christian theology, since they believe we were spirit babies who knew Christ before we were sent to earth in our physical bodies!
To be continued... (Part 6 of 7)
Originally titled "Antinomianism: A Self-Refuting Heresy."
“One of the greatest merits of N. T. Wright’s exhaustive study of pre-Christian and Christian beliefs about resurrection is his demonstration that “resurrection” always meant physical, bodily resurrection. He insists, “Lust us be quite clear at this point . . . when the early Christians said ‘resurrection’ they meant it in the sense it bore both in paganism (which denied it) and in Judaism (. . . which affirmed it). ‘Resurrection’ . . . meant bodily resurrection; and that is what the early Christians affirmed.”” (Wright, Christian Origins, 3:209)
I have gone back myself and searched all the passages where it talks about resurrection, and I cannot find one that I could even try to allegorize or spiritualize myself. Every one of them is in reference to the resurrection of the physical death and not used for a spiritual one. The word “raised” is used to reference our spiritual rejuvenation in Jesus Christ, but from what I’ve found the apostles were careful to use the word resurrection for a bodily event, and not as an allegory or spiritualization of our salvation connection during this life with God. Furthermore, a resurrection implies that you were alive once before, but have died and need to be brought back to life. There is serious heretical problems when you apply this to our spiritual condition. If we are spiritually resurrected, you imply that we were once spiritually alive in Christ, but died from that and now have to be resurrected. Something like that would be more akin to Mormon theology than historical orthodox Christian theology, since they believe we were spirit babies who knew Christ before we were sent to earth in our physical bodies!
To be continued... (Part 6 of 7)
Originally titled "Antinomianism: A Self-Refuting Heresy."
