Do We Treat the Resurrection as a Footnote?

Sometimes we make mistakes for all the right reasons. Christians in the Reformed tradition want people to understand that their hope of acceptance before God lies not in the good things they have done, but through faith in Jesus alone. To remind people of this, we point them to Jesus’ death, and so we should. Jesus, in His death on the cross, bore our sins in His own body. He died, not for any sins He had committed, but for ours. He died a death He did not deserve to die so God’s justice might be fully satisfied and our sins might be fully covered. The New Testament teaching on Jesus’ substitutionary death for us is clear and we dare not downplay it for one moment

In our passion for people to understand Jesus’ death for them, we tend to tack the resurrection on quickly at the end as if it a postscript. We preach in detail about Jesus’ death, compelling people to understand what Jesus has done on their behalf. Then it seems as if at the end we say, “oh yeah, He was raised from the dead too.”

Well-meaning errors are still errors. We shouldn’t downplay or cease preaching and emphasizing the work of Jesus on the cross, but we must give the resurrection of Jesus it’s due place in the life of our church. Hear these descriptions of Apostles’ teaching from Acts.

“And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” (4:1-2)

“And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” (4:33)

“Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.” (17:18)

Then when you read the sermons in the book of Acts, the preaching of Jesus’ resurrection occupies a central place.

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” (2:29-32)

“But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” (3:14-15)

“let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” (4:10)

“The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (5:30-32)

“And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” (10:39-41)

“And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. (13:29-31)

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (17:30-31)

As you see from these passages in Acts, the Apostles proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus from the dead as an essential part of the Gospel message. We believe this intellectually, but is this the way we talk about the Christian message? Do we show the centrality of the resurrection for the Christian message and for Christian living, or do we leave it in the background?

For Further Reading:Raised? by Jonathan Dodson and Brad Watson
Scandalous by D.A. Carson