Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Tuesday, April 16, 2013 Read – 1 Corinthians 15:12-34 When one reads the Old Testament one of the things we might notice is that there isn’t very much said about the resurrection of the dead. In fact, most of the Old Testament is silent about the issue. As important as the resurrection is for Christians this may seem rather strange. While the Old Testament is mostly silent there is just enough evidence to support the belief in the resurrection of the dead. From a historical point of view, the widespread belief in the resurrection of the dead did not happen until the time of the Maccabean revolt in about 165 BC. At that time Antiochus Ephiphanes had desecrated the Temple and was killing faithful Jews who opposed him. These “freedom fighters” came to the belief that God would be unjust if those who lost their lives were not granted a new life to enjoy – otherwise what was the point of fighting? Out of the aftermath of the Maccabean revolt more and more Jewish people began to believe in the resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees, whose origins go back to this same time of the Maccabean revolt and its aftermath, were strong supporters of the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, the aristocratic leaders of the nation, did not believe in the resurrection. By the time of Jesus belief in the resurrection likely was the prominent view among the people – although as the gospel stories show, the Sadducees still were not convinced. It is important for us to note that the Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead was very different from the Greek belief in the immortality of the soul. Jews simply did not divide a human being up into body and soul – the concept of the immortality of the soul was foreign to them. It was the resurrection of the whole person that mattered. It is interesting that over time much of Christianity has really adopted the Greek view of the immortality of the soul and somehow combined it with the idea of resurrection. But that is far afield from our discussion here. In this part of his letter Paul is disputing with those who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Were they Sadducees? That seems unlikely in a Corinthian setting – but not impossible. We simply don’t know enough about the recipient of Paul’s letter to decide – but the point is that for Paul, the resurrection of the dead is essential for Christian faith! Paul sees the resurrection – actually the death of Jesus – as not only dealing with the forgiveness of sins but also as God’s victory over death itself! Our minds travel back to Isaiah who wrote in the Isaiah 25 that God would come to swallow up death itself. This is a significant thing to remember about Christian faith – we have made it so much about forgiveness of sins that we sometimes forget that victory over death is also part of the meaning of the death of Jesus – Jesus died as much for our suffering as he did for our sins!