God’s Vindication for New Life: An Easter Reflection
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
– 1 Corinthians 15:12–28
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
– Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”
What should make all the difference in your life? In the words of Robert Frost’s famous poem, it is “the road less traveled” that changes everything. Theologically, that road less traveled is the road which leads from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is that road which guarantees a whole new life and one that changes everything. Every Easter (actually, every Sunday) we are confronted with two roads that promise to take us forward, but only one of those roads truly leads to life.
The Well-Traveled Path
On the one hand, there is the well-worn path of this world promising life to those who will grab, scrape, work, and preserve. It is life secured by our own blood, sweat, and tears. It is the American way of life. Life comes to those who work hard.
We work to preserve the health and beauty of our bodies.
We work to secure our incomes and the standard of life we desire.
We work to escape the penalty of our mistakes and misdemeanors.
Upon this road you may even find a sign posted saying, “Pray like it all depends upon God, yet work like it all depends upon you.” That is a common saying from my childhood, which sought to reinforce the importance of life secured through diligent effort. No wonder we don’t pray upon this road. While we give lip service to God’s presence, we live like all that matters is the work we do. Life is something I earn. Life is something I have accomplished.
The Road Less Traveled
On the other hand, there’s Easter. Easter greets us as a road less traveled, inviting our steps and holding forth promise. It definitely starts as a fork in the road. To be upon this path is to say no to every other path of life and cling to the work of another. This is the life guaranteed by resurrection and is the road of Jesus—the road of Resurrection Life.
On this road, we discover that it is God who is the one passionate about life and not we ourselves. It is God who has pursued us. It is God who has imparted life to us. It is God who has found us; we did not find him. The road of Resurrection Life is the road where God vindicates his great love and his great work. Life is not found by those who work hard for it; it is enjoyed by those who get caught in the rising tide of resurrection.
According to the apostle Paul, the resurrection of Jesus set in motion an irreversible sequence of events guaranteeing life for all who are connected to Christ. It is the Resurrection Road that makes all the difference. This Easter, as we again contemplate the great realities of life and death, let us consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:12–28, which unpack for us the abiding significance of our commonly held conviction that Jesus has indeed been resurrected from the grave.
The message is clear: Because Christ has risen to new life, we too may now enter into new life.
But how? How do we travel this road, one guaranteed not by our steps but the steps of Christ? Our passage provides three insights to guide us on this journey: (1) We are no longer under the sentence of death; (2) We are no longer in our sins; (3) We are no longer powerless in our struggle.
1. We are no longer under the sentence of death (vv. 16, 20–23)
Paul’s first point is straightforward. Those with whom he is arguing had denied the physical resurrection of believers at the final day. They had imagined their everlasting rest as disembodied and merely spiritual. Even so, it was incontrovertible that Christ rose on the third day in a glorious resurrection body (vv. 1–4). Yet, as Paul argues, if there is no resurrection from the dead for believers (v. 12), how could there also be a resurrection of Jesus Christ (v. 13)? If we deny our own resurrection, then we are also denying the resurrection of Christ.
What is Paul’s point, you ask. Christ’s resurrection is a foretaste of what is to come, the “firstfruits” of the resurrection of every believer (v. 20). Firstfruits does not only refer to “firstness” either, but, like the offerings of the Old Testament, is representative of the whole harvest that is devoted unto God. As the firstfruits of the resurrection, then, Christ is the guarantee that we ourselves will be resurrected. Death has no hold upon us. In fact, death is no longer death for the Christian. Rather, it becomes our entry into New Life.
The late pastor and author Eugene H. Peterson once said,
Procrastinated death is a legacy of modern medicine. In a culture where life is reduced to heartbeat and brainwave, death can never be accepted as having meaning beyond itself. Since there is no more to life than can be accounted for by biology—no meaning, no spirituality, no salvation—increasingly desperate attempts are made to put it off, to delay it, to deny it.
The Resurrection means that death does not have to be denied, nor should it be feared. In fact, at its appropriate time it can even be embraced because it is entry into a far more joyous and substantial life.
We sometimes forget this, especially in the midst of grief at the loss of a loved one or in a long season of illness when God doesn’t bring immediate relief. In such times, though, we must remember that we travel the road of the resurrection. For the Christian, death is not the final sentence nor is it God’s “no.” Indeed, it’s God’s great “yes” and entryway into our glorious everlasting life.
2. We are no longer in our sins (vv. 17–19)
Turning from our future promise to our present hope, perhaps the nearest blessing associated with Christ’s resurrection is the forgiveness of our sins. According to Paul, if Christ is not risen, we “are still in our sins” (v. 17). But, of course, Christ has been raised—and for those who are connected to him by faith, the new life of the resurrection means that we are freed from sin’s penalty.
Whereas the resurrection guarantees the future resurrection of our bodies, the resurrection right now guarantees freedom from our sins. We don’t have to wait for the resurrection’s ultimate impact on our lives. As those forgiven, the resurrection power has already begun.
In John Bunyan’s classic The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian sets out on his journey still carrying the load of his sin upon his back. As the Holy Spirit gradually reveals that this is a load he cannot bear, he is led to the place where the burden of sin can be removed. Of course, he is led to the Cross of Christ. There, Bunyan says, was “Christian glad and lightsome, saying with a merry heart, ‘He hath given me rest.’”
Indeed, the resurrection of Christ is the vindication that Jesus’s cross-bearing work truly atoned for all our sin, offering us full forgiveness and received now by faith. It is not enough to confess that Jesus has risen or that we too will rise; we must also joyfully claim the promise of Christ’s resurrection for us now. Are you living in the knowledge that the guilt and power of your sin have already been broken? Don’t forget the resurrection means something now!
3. We are no longer powerless in our struggle (vv. 23–28)
Finally, let’s not miss that the rising tide of the resurrection overwhelms every power and authority arrayed against Christ and his Kingdom. Notice what the apostle Paul writes in verses 24–25: “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”
Here, Paul affirms the struggle against the temptations of this world and the snares of the devil with which every Christian is familiar. Yet he speaks about them as defeated foes. In his mind, the Resurrection means certain defeat for every enemy of God and all our enemies too. In the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 26,
How does Christ execute the office of a king?
Christ executes the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
As we consider the conflicts across the globe, the political strife at home, and the decline of virtuous Christian conduct in the church, it sometimes feels as if the Enemy is winning—in this world and in our hearts. I resonate with my friend and pastor, Zack Eswine, who described his own experience, “Sometimes I greet the morning like a troubled atheist, lost in a God-empty story that cannot handle what frightens me.” Indeed, there is nothing the Devil would love more than for us to believe the resurrection makes no difference and that we are all alone. To all those perennial doubts and persistent feelings of powerlessness, though, the resurrection shouts victorious power. The resurrection of our Lord is vindication that we are not living in a God-empty story but in one soaked with his sacrificing presence and power. The resurrection is the assurance that our Lord has disarmed these powers that had formerly threatened to undo us. The answer in our current struggle against temptation and fear is to faithfully lay claim to this fact, recognizing that these powers have been disarmed.
This is freeing in another way too. As those who share in the power of Christ’s resurrection now, we really can say no to temptation and yes to new life. This owes not to our strength, but to the strength of the resurrection into which we have entered.
So, let’s claim not only our forgiveness but Christ’s present power as we seek to live for him and bring about his Kingdom in this world!
Taking the Road That Matters
In reality, the Resurrection Road of new life is the only road of life. All other roads, no matter how well-traveled, are roads of death. So, this Easter let us take up this path. Let us find ourselves on the Resurrection Road.
Just as Paul and Silas said to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” And as the angel said to the women at Jesus’s empty tomb, “He is not here, but has risen” (Matt. 28:6). Our Savior has been raised up! Because he has, we will be too—yet even now we live in the resurrection power of the new life in Christ. Like the road less traveled, it is Christ’s resurrection that makes all the difference!
