Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross for our sins, that he was buried, and that, on the third day, he rose bodily from the grave. This is a part of what we confess in the Nicene Creed, almost in these exact words. But why do we believe these things?
In our postmodern age, people are less and less willing to believe in things that they have not actually experienced themselves, with their own five senses. A strong spirit of doubt and skepticism, regarding reports of events that happened in the past or in distant places, runs through the philosophy of postmodernism.
Many now reject the very concept of an objective truth that is accessible to everyone, and that makes a claim on everyone. This is one of the reasons why it is now common for a person to speak of “her truth” or of “his truth,” and not simply to speak of the truth.
Why do we believe in Jesus’ atoning death, and in his resurrection? Why do we want everyone to believe in these things? And why do we think that it should be possible for everyone to be persuaded that they should believe in these things?
As we ponder those questions, let us consider the reasons why St. Paul believed in these things.
Paul was not a disciple of Christ during the time of his earthly ministry. He did not personally see the things that took place during the Lord’s earthly life, or at the end of his earthly life.
But he still believed in these things, and was quite certain that they had really happened. And he tells us why, in today’s lesson from the First Epistle to the Corinthians:
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…”
Paul is not at this point appealing to his own personal experience as the reason for his certainty that these things really happened. He indicates instead that the knowledge of these things was “delivered” to him, and that he had “received” this knowledge by means of the testimony of others.
The Holy Spirit is the giver of life. He is the giver of spiritual life, and the creator of faith in the heart. So there definitely is a supernatural component involved in what we believe as Christians, and in our willingness to believe it.
But there is also the component of reliable testimony from reliable witnesses. People are willing to believe a lot of things on that basis. The academic discipline of history exists on that basis. Criminals are convicted in courts of law on that basis.
The knowledge of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that had been delivered to Paul, and that had been received and embraced by him, was rooted in the reliable testimony of reliable witnesses.
But notice this, too – especially in regard to what Paul says about the death of Jesus: It’s not just the historical event itself that he confesses to be real and true. He also expresses here his faith in the meaning and purpose of that death. It was “for our sins.”
There were people who experienced the objective historical fact of the death and burial of Jesus with their own physical senses. The Lord’s mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and the apostle John were with him on Calvary. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took care of his body after he died.
But none of those people experienced the meaning of their Savior’s crucifixion with their physical senses.
No one, whether friend or foe, was able to see with his eyes that the sins of the world had been placed upon Jesus, as he hung on the cross. No one, whether friend or foe, was able to see Jesus absorbing the wrath of God into himself on the cross, on account of those sins.
Those who were eyewitnesses to the suffering and burial of Jesus, and who also believed that Jesus had died for them, knew that the death of Jesus was for their sins, because the meaning of Jesus’ death had been “delivered” to them, too: by means of the testimony and explanations of God’s inspired Word; and by means of the faith that God’s Word and Spirit had engendered within them.
Strictly speaking, no human being saw the actual resurrection of Jesus. Nobody else was present in the tomb at that flash of a moment when his body was reanimated and glorified.
But we do have reliable testimonies of encounters with the living Jesus after the resurrection. St. Paul says that he, too, was privileged to see, and converse with, the risen Savior, in the special appearance that Jesus made to him on the road to Damascus.
But as with the death of Christ, so also with the resurrection of Christ: the meaning of this miracle would not be self-evident even to those who might have had a first-hand encounter with the resurrected Lord, apart from a divine explanation of its meaning.
As St. Paul expresses it, he believed that Jesus died for our sins “according to the Scriptures,” and that Jesus was raised on the third day also “according to the Scriptures.” This means two things.
First, the Scriptures – specifically the Old Testament Scriptures – had predicted and pictured the death and resurrection of Israel’s Messiah. Anyone who had carefully read those Scriptures should therefore have been expecting these things to happen.
But also, St. Paul’s statement means that the Scriptures are what give us the meaning of these events today.
The sensory perception of those who were there at the time can serve as evidence that these things did happen, as those witnesses give their first-hand testimony to what they experienced. But it is only the Scriptures – God’s own revelation and message to mankind – that can tell us that these events needed to happen, and that can explain why they needed to happen.
Regarding the death and burial of Christ, and regarding their purpose, the Prophet Isaiah tells us:
“His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. …He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked – but with the rich at His death…”
Regarding the resurrection of Christ – and regarding what the resurrection means, and what the resurrected Christ will do for the salvation of his people – Isaiah says this:
“Yet…He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many…
The apostle Paul writes in today’s text:
“I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.”
He also says: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.”
The gospel that St. Paul preached is the good news that God’s Son was crucified for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day, so that the grace of God can now be spread abroad to us all: to call us to faith, and to make us to be what God wants us to be.
According to his grace – his unconditional favor and love – God brings his pardon and forgiveness to us. That pardon and forgiveness cancel out the debt of righteousness and obedience that we owe to God, but that we could never pay ourselves.
And that pardon and forgiveness justify us. That is, they wash away all our sins in God’s sight, cover us with the righteousness of Jesus, and credit to us the obedience of Jesus.
But the grace of God does not only change our standing with God – as important as that is. The grace of God also changes us. With Paul each of us can therefore say:
“By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.”
The Holy Spirit presses the grace of God into us, at the deepest levels of our life – when the good news of God is proclaimed and believed. This transforms our character, reshapes our values, resets our priorities, and redefines our relationships.
According to the gospel, Jesus died on the cross. As a historical event, this is true. By means of the eyewitness testimony of those who saw this happen – which God caused to be written in the New Testament for your benefit – you are able to know that it happened, even though you were not there to see it for yourself.
But God’s grace, through the gospel, also supernaturally impresses upon you the saving truth that it was for your sins that Jesus died. You now have a clear conscience before God, and will no longer be weighed down by guilt and fear.
The revelation of God’s fatherly and forgiving heart toward you, through the death of his Son, has taken away that guilt and that fear.
According to the gospel, Jesus also rose from the grave. As a historical event, this, too, is true. By means of the eyewitness testimony of those who saw the risen Christ – which God caused to be written in the New Testament for your benefit – you are able to know that this happened, even though you were not there to see it for yourself.
But God’s grace, through the gospel, also supernaturally impresses upon you the saving truth that Jesus rose again for you, so that eternal life is now yours. You, who know Christ by faith, will live forever, beyond the grave. And your own body will be resurrected from the dust of death on the last day.
Each of us can therefore say with the confidence that God’s Word has given us: I have not believed in vain. I have received what was delivered to me. By the grace of God I am what I am. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!