Demythologizing the faith once entrusted to the saints.
At this time every year Christians all across the world celebrate the greatest event in human history — the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from among the dead. The age-long desire of man to somehow escape death and live on in immortality finds it’s only hope of fulfillment in this one incomprehensible event.
Yet within the world of Christendom there is a persistent and prevailing myth that mars the wonder and beauty of that glorious event. In the realm of orthodox, catholic Christianty, there is the belief that Jesus is God himself. As a corollary to this belief is the notion that Jesus actually raised himself from the dead. Then the supposed fact that Jesus raised himself from the dead is used as proof of his Deity. This is clearly circular reasoning. But is this really what Scripture tells us about the resurrection of Messiah? Let’s examine the Scriptures together to see if this is indeed a biblical truth or a mere myth.
The Scriptural evidence is overwhelming with respect to the fact that Jesus did not raise himself from the dead but was raised by another, i.e. God , the Father. The following list of verses show this to be the case (please look up each of these passages for yourselves): Acts 2:24, 31-32; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:39-40; 13:29-37; 17:30-31; Romans 4:24; 6:4; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:15; 2 Cor. 4:14; 13:4; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:12; 1Thess. 1:10; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 1:21.
Besides these verses, which explicitly state the fact that Jesus was raised by another person, namely God, there are at least 28 verses in the NT which state that Jesus would be or has been raised from the dead. In each of those 28 verses the Greek word egeiro, in one form or another, is used in the passive voice, implying that Jesus was a passive participant in his resurrection i.e. he was raised by another.
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, in order that I might receive it back again. No one takes it from me by force, but I lay it down of myself. I have the privilege to lay it down and the privilege to receive it again. This command I received from my Father.
This certainly takes away from the passage any idea of Jesus raising himself by his own power, thus harmonizing it perfectly with the preponderance of testimony that Jesus was raised by another – the Father.
Orthodox Christian apologists see this as a clear declaration by Jesus that he would raise himself from the dead, thus proving himself to be God. But can this one verse cancel out the overwhelming testimony of the NT authors. Peter was no doubt present when Jesus said this, but as we find in his recorded messages in the book of Acts, he surely did not take Jesus’ words to mean that he raised himself. Peter’s testimony, again and again, is ” … but God raised him from the dead … “ Acts 2:24; “God raised this Jesus to life … “ Acts 2:32; “You killed the prince of life, but God raised him from the dead.” Acts 3:15; ” … Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead … ” Acts 4:10; “The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead … ” Acts 5:30; “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead … ” Acts 10:39-40; “Through him(Jesus) you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him … .” 1 Peter 1:21.
Even the very context of our passage throws doubt on the ‘orthodox’ interpretation. In verse 22 we read, “After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said.” The word for ‘raised‘ is a passive voice verb, implying that Jesus was passive in his resurrection. Note, John did not write “after he raised himself from the dead … .” The apostle is commenting on the words of Jesus and does not say what the apologists say. How odd! So what did Jesus mean if not that he would raise himself? I stress again, we want to avoid interpreting Jesus’ words here in such a way that they are in contradiction to the clear teaching of the rest of the NT. There are, at least, two possible solutions, and perhaps even others that I haven’t thought about.
The first solution is to take Jesus’ words here in the same sense as we saw at John 10:17-18, so that he is simply saying, under the analogy of the temple, “Kill me and in three days, upon receiving my life back again, I will raise my body up.” The word for ‘raise‘ is often used in the gospels of someone going from a lying down position to a standing position. When Jesus was buried he was placed inside a tomb cut out of the side of a mountain. In the tomb there would have been a stone slab upon which his body was laid. When he was brought back to life and made immortal, by the power of God, his Father, he would have still at that moment been lying down on the stone slab. It was then under his own power that he stood up. So Jesus, in this view, would not be saying that he would bring himself from a state of death to a state of life again, but merely that, having received his life back, he would raise his body up from a lying down position to a standing position. This would provide the proof of his authority that the Jews demanded, not proof of his deity, but of his messiahship.
I believe it is reasonable to propose that when Jesus said “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,” he was speaking as God, in the first person, not as himself. Other examples of Jesus speaking in a prophetic role as God may be Luke 11:29-32, 42-52; 13:34-35; 17:22-36; Matt. 11:20-24; 21:43-44; 23:13-39. Or should we just assume that Jesus never spoke in this unique way as a prophet.
We must avoid the error of the apologists of orthodox Christology at this point. They are guilty of pitting their literal interpretation of one verse against the unanimous and unambiguous testimony of the whole NT, resulting in a contradiction between Jesus and the apostles whom he chose. I have offered here two solutions which avoid this error. If anyone has an alternative solution I am interested in hearing it. Please comment on this post for open discussion.
Jesus would raise as only his physical body. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of a living, spiritual temple into which believers are being built as living stones. Might that entire spiritual edifice, his “body” the church be more in line with what Jesus is raising up? The Father raised Jesus from the dead, but Jesus is raising the living spiritual temple composed of all believers in place of the temple of stone which Jesus said be destroyed with not one stone left upon another.
Robbjerk, thanks for your comment. Yes Jesus is raising up a spiritual temple with himself as the chief cornerstone, but I don’t believe that is what he meant, for three reasons. 1.) John says that he spoke of his body and comments that the disciples understood it of his physical body after his resurrection 2.) Jesus was actually physically raised after being destroyed 3.) he said this raising would happen in three days after the destruction. This happened literally in his bodily resurrection but would be hard to explain on the spiritual temple raising, which only began then but is still continuing.
Let the Truth Come Out A WordPress.com Website.