Resurrection as Mystical Union with Christ

Eschatology of John Part 22: Halftime Review

Do Paul and John have different, perhaps competing, eschatologies? Is John the triumphalist optimist while Paul shifts from optimism to pessimism in his eschatological expectations? Does John over-emphasize the “already” while Paul pays more attention to the “not-yet”?

Some of these alleged differences are subtle and won’t be addressed in this article, but I want to pause here in our chapter-by-chapter evaluation of John to go back to the original question about the “one hope” of both Paul and John.

What is that one eschatological hope?

To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

We are familiar with the phrase “in Christ,” but here we have the expression “Christ in you.”

This idea of mutual indwelling is prevalent in John’s writings, and since we’ve covered it so much already, I won’t belabor the point here; instead, I want to focus on one aspect of this by zeroing in on one eschatological theme: resurrection.

Original Goodness, Original Lie, and God’s Eternal Plan

I found this video to be very informative. It’s called From Adam to Christ: From Male and Female to Human Being.

In Genesis 1, God spoke several things into existence. In all but one, the expression “let there be” is used to denote a new creation event. Finally, in Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man in our image…” We know from Jesus in Luke 24, Paul in almost all of his letters, and Peter in 1 Peter 1:10-12 that God had Jesus in mind here, for Adam was fashioned after the Eternal Logos’s image.

In other words, Jesus is the substance or body that casts the shadow that is the images or types in the Hebrew Scriptures. As Paul says, “These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17).

When God says “it was very good,” he sees Christ because creation is a depiction of the divine nature, a nature which we share of in Christ.

Compare Paul to Peter here:

Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. Romans 1:20

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3–4

So creation is a depiction of God’s power and divine nature. This power and divine nature is revealed through the gospel, that is, through Christ. Through God’s power, we are called to partake in this divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world.

But how is the corruption in the world?

Peter said that we have received theses things through “the knowledge of him…”

Which means that the corruption is in the world through a lack of knowledge. As Paul said in Romans 1, people at one time knew God, but they became futile in their thinking, became fools by claiming wisdom, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Then Paul delivers the final blow:

and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Romans 1:23

Do you see what has happened here? Seeing the end from the beginning, having the telos always before him, God created man in the image of the Eternal Logos. Adam was created as a miniature Logos. To quote Luke 3, “son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God” (Luke 3:38).

But through the Original Lie in Genesis 3, death came, and what is this death but an exchange of the image for something less? And what is this? A mortal human, which is not the way God intended humans to exist—united with the Eternal Logos, God in us and us in God, just as Christ eternally dwells in the Father and the Father eternally dwells in the Son.

So what is God’s eternal plan? Here’s Paul again:

With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1:8–10

In other words, God’s plan from the very beginning was divine union, to make humans partakers in the divine nature.

Do you see why Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and Life? He is the Way to union with the Father, and he makes this Way because he is the Eternal Truth that overcomes the Original Lie, and this produces Life.

Which brings us to resurrection.

What is Jesus? He is Resurrection

Let’s go back to our article from last week. Do you remember what Jesus told Martha?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25–26

If Jesus is resurrection, then to be “in Christ” is to be “in resurrection.” This also means for Christ to be in us is for resurrection to be in us.

So Paul’s eschatological hope is “resurrection in you, the hope of glory” because Jesus is the resurrection.

Now, watch what happens to common passages from John and Paul when we realize this. As you read these passages, play with the words a bit. I’ll do the first and let you do the rest.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. John 1:1–4

What has come into being in him was resurrection life.

What has come into being in him was mutual-indwelling with the Father, Son, and Spirit.

What has come into being in him was the Truth that trumps the Original Lie.

What has come into being in him was himself in us and us in him.

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life. John 5:24

For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, John 5:26

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. John 6:50

Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death. John 8:51

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Let’s switch to Paul…

Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:3–5

For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:21–22

but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4–7

And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2:13–15

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1–3

Do you see what’s going on here? Both Paul and John are saying the same thing: Jesus has come to show us what it means to be fully human. Not just mortals, to use Paul’s expression, but partakers of the divine nature.

The eschatological hope, then, is union with Christ through the Spirit. When we believe the word of Christ, which is Truth, then the delusion of the Original Lie falls from our eyes like scales and we see everything in a new way. We discover the life that was “from the beginning.” We learn that the thing most original to us is not sin but goodness, not death but life, not darkness but light.

Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus is the new creation. Jesus is the end, the goal, the whole point of everything.

What does this mean for us? Well, a lot, but to put it in a few lines:

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. Hebrews 2:14–15

Now, let’s have a little fun…

1 Corinthians 15 and the Fear of Death

In the early church there were some who were convinced that those who died before the coming of the Lord would somehow miss out on the eschatological blessing of resurrection.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13

This was apparently a common fear because it seems as if the Corinthians also thought this. Now, watch what happens to 1 Corinthians 15 when we keep the “fear of death” in mind. I’ll quote Paul then I’ll paraphrase Paul.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:1–2

Don’t forget the gospel I preached to you. You received it, you stand in it, and it is this gospel, which is God’s power by which he destroys death, that is transforming you into the divine image (2 Timothy 1:8-10). But you need to keep this message close to your hearts because missing what I’m about to tell you renders everything else useless.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures….[catalogue of resurrection appearances]…]Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:3–11

The gospel is that Jesus died, but the gospel is also that Jesus was buried and rose again. All this is in accordance with the Scriptures, it wasn’t a surprise to God, and this is confirmed by the testimony of many who saw Jesus alive. Regardless of who baptized you, the point is that you believed it at some point.

[This is why Paul sometimes says “Christ who died, or rather, was raised”—Romans 8:34]

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:12–14

Why do you think death is the end of the line? If you really think that death is the end of the line, then why did you believe that Jesus defeated death? We don’t just say that Jesus died; we say that he was raised, all of which was according to the Scriptures.

We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:15–19

If your crippling fear of death makes you think that death is the end, then are you saying that we have misrepresented God? Do you really believe that? Not only that, but if Jesus didn’t rise again, then he was just another victim of the state, and he has not been declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit, which renders his sacrificial death useless. If this is true, then what’s the point of anything? Being “in Christ” in this life causes us pain, rejection, and persecution. Why would anyone believe this if there is no hope beyond this life? You’re saying that the sufferings of this present time have nothing to be compared with!

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:20–23

Christ conquering death means that death isn’t the end for us. While Adam’s sin gave us a reason to be afraid of death as if death meant no more communion with God, Christ has shown us that death isn’t the end, that Christ rescues those who belong to him. Those who died in Adam come alive in Christ. Jesus’s resurrection was God’s way of vindicating him, and Jesus’s coming is his way of doing the same for those who belong to him.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:24–26

Jesus’s parousia, his presence, is what this has all been about. Through the sword of his mouth, the gospel, the power of God, the very thing by which you are being saved, Jesus is destroying our relationship to death rooted in fear. He exposes the principalities and powers who put us in bondage to the fear of death. He sits in heavenly places, and he invites us into the same (compare Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 2:3-7; Colossians 2:11-15).

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 this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:27–28

When I say that all things would be put under Jesus’s feet, I obviously don’t mean the Father. God is still all and in all. Jesus is coeternal with the Father, but he is not the Father; he is the eternally begotten Son.

1 Corinthians 15:29-34

Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought with wild animals at Ephesus with a merely human perspective, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Sober up, as you rightly ought to, and sin no more, for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:29–34

If death is the end, why are there some among you who are baptized on behalf of the dead? What good would that do? Why are we putting ourselves in danger every day if we thought that death was the end? If I looked at death like most humans, why would I put my life on the line every day? Death isn’t the end but the beginning!

If this life is all there is, let’s throw a party. Please do not be deceived by these who trouble you. Remember the good news. Your crippling fear of death has kept back the life-giving knowledge of God from some among you. You should be ashamed for perpetuating the Original Lie!

1 Corinthians 15:35-41

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 1 Corinthians 15:35–41

Someone among you may wonder how the dead come back to life. What if they’re eaten by the lions? What if they’re lost at sea? What if they give their bodies to be burned? How could they be raised like Jesus?

You miss the point! Death isn’t the end; it’s the beginning! There’s no reason to be afraid of it. It is as natural as planting a seed. When you plant a seed, you don’t expect a giant seed to come out of the ground; instead, you get something so much better. There are different kinds of bodies. Just like humans have their own kinds of body, animals and birds and fish have their bodies. Even the heavenly and terrestrial bodies differ, and they both have their own glory.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 1 Corinthians 15:42–44

This is what I’ve been trying to tell you about our life in Christ. What goes into the ground is perishable, but you aren’t perishable because you are united with Christ. There’s no reason to be afraid.

You may see dishonor, weakness, and finite humanity, but God sees glory and power and someone untied with the divine nature. This life isn’t all there is. There’s no reason to be afraid.

Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:45–49

You see, there is no reason to be afraid of death because we are not united with Adam; we are united with Christ along with Adam. Adam had to come first as a figure of Christ so we could really appreciate what we have now. God fashioned him out of dust and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life to prefigure Christ. Now that Christ has come, why do we continue in the delusion brought about by Adam’s transgression? If Jesus has conquered the principalities and powers and exposed them for what they are, why do we continue in bondage? Haven’t you put to death the old man? Aren’t you being transformed by the gospel into the image of Christ?

1 Corinthians 15:50

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:50

What I’m getting at here, my friends, is that in being baptized by the Spirit of God you no longer walk according to the flesh. You wouldn’t be able to inherit the kingdom of God if you were. You are according to the Spirit and heirs of the kingdom. You have been born from above and now bear the image of the heavenly because you are partakers of divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through the lust of the first man.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Look, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51–52

But since you don’t get this, let me give you something to look forward to. When the last trumpet sounds, as our dear brother John talks about, the mystery of God will be finished and you will know that what I’m talking about is true.

For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:53–57

This Adam-image we’ve been bearing isn’t all there is. This body of death will not have the last word. The veil Isaiah saw over the nations will be removed. Instead of saying “let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die,” we will eat of the resurrection banquet Isaiah told us about. The exile from the garden will not last forever. Sin has no power over us. The Law may have given sin power, but the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The ministry of death will not have the last word. We have victory, which is union with God, through Jesus. Do not be afraid of death.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Don’t let these messengers of satan trouble you. They may masquerade as angels of light, but they do not bring the good news of God that is according to the Scriptures. Keep working. It will be worth it in the end. Death is not the end. It is the beginning.