APRIL 7th, 2024 PASTOR DON PIEPER
The Corinthian Complex John 20:24-9/1 Cor 15:12-23
“THERE'S AN ORDER TO THIS!”
The first class I took in seminary was Ancient Greek. It was a summer course in which they crammed a year's worth of instruction into one month. Our professor told us that by the time he was done with us we would be dreaming in Greek. He was right - and it was a nightmare!
In my dream, I was painting graffiti on a Roman garrison when a centurion walks up....
Centurion: What's this then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
Don: Uh – it says, 'Romans, go home'.
C: No, it doesn't. What's Greek for 'Romans'? (grabbing Don's ear) ….Come on!
Don: Uh...., uh, R-Romain-oos?
C: And the genitive plural of Ainooss is?
Don: Uh – Anni?
C: (releasing ear, taking paint brush and correcting it) 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
Don: 'Go'. 'To go'.
C: Conjugate the verb.
Don: Oh. Uh – 'Ear', 'E-o', 'Imus', 'Itus', 'Eunt'.
C: So 'eunt' is....?
Don: Uh, third person plural, uh present indicative. 'They go'?
C: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the....?
Don: Oh, uh, the imperative?
C: And how many Romans?
Don: Um, plural! 'Itay.
C: 'Go home'? This is motion towards, isn't it, boy?
Don: So, uh, the dative, sir? (C grabs his ear) No, no - the accusitive! Accusitive!
C: (C release) Right! Now, write it a hundred times or I'll cut your head off. Hail Caesar!
Don: (painting as C walks off) Right! Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir...!
As I liked to joke in class: “it's all Greek to me”; to which my professor replied: 'It better be!' By the end of August, I felt like I'd had enough Greek to last me a life time. I can't help but wonder if that's how Paul felt sometimes as he wrote to the church in Corinth, Greece. After so many other issues he's had to clear up in this letter, now he's having to counter the Greek influence, as well.
The Greek philosophers taught that all things of the flesh were temporary, evil even, so the resurrection of the body was viewed as irrational. God would never bring back to life something that was inherently flawed and evil as was the human body. That's why Paul begins this section by asking, “Why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12)
Apparently, some of the Greek Christians in Corinth were contesting Paul's teaching about the implications of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. They were pushing an early Gnostic teaching that claimed that only Jesus' spirit was resurrected, “but if Christ has not been (bodily) raised from the dead, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.” (1 Corinthians 15:14)
Paul supports his resurrection claims and witness in three ways. First, he uses their own Greek language to do so. No less than seven times in these opening twenty-three verses, Paul uses the same Greek verb form that emphasizes Christ's bodily resurrection, found in verses 4,12,13,14,16,17 & 20.
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For example, in verse 16, the Greek is literally translated: “if then dead persons are not raised from the dead, (ouk egeirontai) neither has Christ been bodily raised... (oude Christos egaygertai).”
(1 Corinthians 15:16)
I love that! I love that Paul turns the tables on them by using their own language to emphasize his point. The Greek verb he chooses here, e-gay-ger-tai, refers to the body being resurrected. It's the very fact that Jesus rose from the dead, not just in spirit, but in his resurrected body, that we have the hope of experiencing likewise ourselves, Paul points out!
Second, Paul points to the evidence and witnesses cited in the creed he provides in the opening verses of this chapter, that we read and explored last Sunday, when he writes: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead...” using again that same Greek phrasing, 'Chistos egaygertai ek mekron'.
(1 Corinthians 15:20)
The statement is saying, in effect, as he's already established, “Christ died for our sins..., was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day... He was seen by Peter and by the twelve.”
(1 Corinthians 15:4-5)
Those resurrection sightings, as recorded in the gospel, tell how Peter and the others came in physical contact with Jesus after his resurrection. Jesus cooked breakfast for them, ate fish with them, drank wine with those walking to Emmaus, and even encouraged Thomas to put his hands in his nail pierced hands and on the wound in his side. Encountering their risen Lord was hands on experience!
He wasn't just a spirit – it was Jesus, in the flesh and blood. Paul's opening creed and his referring back to it, emphatically underscores what he's emphasized in his use of the Greek syntax – Jesus bodily rose from the dead. If he didn't, he asks, what's the point of our message and ministry?
Third, we can be sure of this because his bodily resurrection changes everything! For one, it means that we can be reconciled with God even though every sinful thought & action makes us to be his enemies. As Paul put it in his letter to the 'Romanes': “For if, while we're still God's enemies, were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more shall we be saved through his life!”
(Romans 5:10)
It's not just his death on the cross by which we are forgiven. It is his resurrection from the dead that actually seals the deal. For “If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)
Two, this means that we embrace a hope based not on our science, politics or our knowhow or abilities, but on one who has the power to bring life from death, redemption from self-destruction.
J.R.R. Tolkien illustrates the difference between these two hopes in his book, The Return of the King. At one point, Sam rescues Frodo from a prison tower in a land of darkness and later lies awake...
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“A white star twinkled through the darkness. The beauty of it smote his heart..., and there in that forsaken land, hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. His triumph in the tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and that of Frodo's, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back to Frodo's side, and putting away all fear, he fell into a deep, untroubled sleep.”
(from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King)
Timothy Keller notes: “Tolkien captures the difference between relative hope in human agency and infallible hope in God. In the tower, Sam had put his hope in his plan and prowess. Such stoicism, (which we learned from the Greeks by the way), can get us through some crises, temporarily, but real courage comes from a super-natural hope. It comes from a deep conviction that we're trapped temporarily in a little corner of darkness, and that the kingdom of God is an enormous place of light and high beauty and that is our certain, final destiny. It is so because of Jesus and his resurrection. He was so committed to bringing us into that light and beauty that he went first so that we can know that“weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
Jesus secured this for us by his death and resurrection. When this assurance abides in us, our immediate fate – how the current situation turns out – can no longer trouble and undo us. Defiance comes from looking at ourselves or our situation. Hope comes from looking at him & his resurrection”
(from Timothy Keller's The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter)
His resurrection changes everything! One, it means we can truly, completely be forgiven. Two, it means that we become people of hope – real hope – hope based on what God has done and will do!
And three, as Paul points out, it means we follow where our master has led. Paul puts it like this: “To be sure, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23)
Paul uses two metaphors here to convey this critical thought. First, he borrows from the Old Testament. In places like Exodus 23 and Leviticus 23, where God's people were instructed to give the first and best of their harvests to the Lord as a tithe offering. Likewise, God has expressed his faith-fulness and generosity by providing Jesus as the first fruit of the resurrection of the dead yet to come.
Paul then borrows an image from their military. The wording, “there is an order to this”, is a military expression referring to one's rank. The commander comes first, and thus receiving his due honor, and then his troops follow accordingly, marching in step in rhythm as their commander leads them to victory - only in this case, a victory like no other - a victory of sin, the devil and death itself!
“The resurrection means that we do not merely follow the teachings of a dead leader. Rather, we have a vital, loving fellowship with a living Lord. Jesus, the risen King, is present with us.”
(from Timothy Keller's The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter)
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Paul makes clear – there is an order to the resurrection. First, arises he who died under the inscription, the King of the Jews, now enthroned beside the Ruler of the Universe, who will one day make those who are sad glad and those who are dead truly alive. He's led the way and calls us to follow, a throng of those once dead only to rise again! “There's an order to this resurrection...!”
(1 Corinthians 15:23)
As Howard Storm puts it in his book, My Descent Into Death: “I thought when I died I would be over because I never gave a thought to God, so the thought of dying terrified me, but instead I felt more alive than I ever felt in my entire life. At one point, having cried out to Jesus to save me, a bright light came over me and out of that light, his hands and arms emerged, and they reached out and touched me and made me whole, inside and out. And with that healing I experienced a love that is beyond words. That love became the foundation of my life from then on.” He went from an atheist to an articulate advocate for Jesus. He's among many who have experienced Jesus physical touch.
(as quoted in John Burke's book, Imagine Heaven)
Who will you follow? The ways of the world, your unruly heart, or he who rose from the dead?