He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Posté par diaconos le 21 novembre 2020
Resurrection of the dead : « He is not the God of the dead, but of the living »
# General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief that a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead (Koine: ἀνάστασις [τῶν] νεκρῶν, anastasis [ton] nekron; literally: « standing up again of the dead »[1]) by which most or all people who have died would be resurrected (brought back to life). Various forms of this concept can be found in Bahai, Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian eschatology. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15 is used for the resurrection of the dead, Paul the Apostle is conveyed as quoting from the Book of Hosea 13, 14 where he speaks of the abolition of death. In the Pauline epistles of the New Testament, Paul the Apostle wrote that those who will be resurrected to eternal life will be resurrected with spiritual bodies, which are imperishable; the « flesh and blood » of natural, perishable bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and, likewise, those that are corruptible will not receive incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:35–54). Even though Paul does not explicitly establish that immortality excludes physical bodies, some scholars understand that according to Paul, flesh is simply to play no part, as people are made immortal.
# Belief in the resurrection is not shared by all believers in Judaism at the time of Jesus. The Gospel according to Matthew testified to the importance of this question posed by Christianity in the Jewish community of Palestine and Asia Minor. This question is also raised in other texts of the New Testament, mainly in the Epistles of Paul and in the book of Acts. In the Acts of the Apostles, this question, thanks to the resurrection of Jesus, was a central issue in preaching to the Jews. Themes such as eternal life, salvation or the kingdom of heaven were incomprehensible without considering the raising of the dead as conceived by Christianity. Several resurrections were attributed to Jesus (the daughter of Jairus, the son of a grieving widow, and his friend Lazarus), and the account of the very beginnings of the Church given in Acts testifies to the interest of the question of the raising of the dead. Two resurrections follow that of Jesus Christ: that of Dorcas (Tabitha) performed by the apostle Peter 5 and that of Eutyche performed by the apostle Paul6. For Christian eschatology, at the end of time, the resurrection of the dead will take place when the Kingdom of God is established.
From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
At that time, some Sadducees – those who maintain that there is no resurrection – approached Jesus and asked him : « Teacher, Moses commanded us : If a man has a brother who dies leaving a wife but no children, he must marry the widow to raise offspring for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers : the first married and died without children ; likewise the second and then the third married the widow, and so all seven died without leaving children. Finally the woman also died. Well then, in the resurrection, this woman, of which of them shall she be the wife, since the seven had her as their wife ? »
Jesus answered them : « The children of this world take wives and husbands. But those who have been judged worthy to share in the world to come and in the resurrection from the dead take neither wife nor husband, for they can no longer die : they are like angels, they are children of God and children of the resurrection.
May the dead be raised, Moses himself makes this clear in the account of the burning bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For they all live for him. » Then some of the scribes answered and said: « Teacher, you have spoken well. « And they no longer dared to ask him about anything. (Lk 20, 27-40)
Evidence of the resurrection of the dead
The sons of this century, the mortal men who live only for a time, marry and give their daughters in marriage, because it is necessary to do so to perpetuate their race. The expression this century is opposed to the century to come. Logically, the resurrection should be named before the coming century, into which it introduces man ; but for God, the two are but one and the same act of his grace and omnipotence. In speaking of those who will take part in the resurrection and in the age to come, Jesus had in mind only the children of God, those who will have been judged worthy or made worthy.
In the other world, marriage will no longer exist: the redeemed, being immortal, will no longer have to perpetuate their species, and will then be transformed into spiritual and celestial beings, like angels. The efficient cause of this transformation is the resurrection itself, by which God creates his children again in his image, so that the inner regeneration that takes place in them on earth will then comprise their whole being, spirit, soul and body : « May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your whole being, spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! « (1 Thess 5, 3)
Moses himself, and not only the prophets, Moses, the only authority recognised by the Sadducees, signified that the dead are raised ; this took place through the name that God gave himself in his appearance to Moses near the burning bush : « And he added : I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. « (Ex 3:6) Matthew reported that the crowd was struck by this profound interpretation of Scripture; and Luke said that even some of the scribes, more enlightened or more sincere than the others, felt compelled to approve of him; for, defeated by him, they no longer dared to ask him any insidious question.
Deacon Michel Houyoux
Links to other Christians websites
◊ Desiting God : Click here to read the paper → Historical Evidence for the Resurrection
◊ Message by Pastor Eric Chang : Click here to read the paper → He is not God of the Dead but of the Living
♥ By Michael Ots : « Is There Evidence for Life After Death ? (Resurrection of Jesus Christ) |
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