The Unity of Jesus' Death and Resurrection

It is a weakness in our reasoning that the resurrection and the crucifixion are treated so often in isolation from one another. Paul taught that our faith rests upon both. There cannot be only one event true and the other false. If the death of Christ was "for our sins" than his resurrection must be true. The resurrection was proof Jesus was the truth.

Why is a bodily resurrection required? Because Jesus taught that he had laid down his physical life for our reconciliation with God. Paul went so far as to declare that there was no atonement for sin if Jesus did not resurrect bodily. "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17). If we preach the cross only, then we are being silent on half the gospel.

The truth of Paul's gospel was rooted in Jesus's teachings. On a visit to Jerusalem, recorded in John chapter 8, Jesus taught about the necessity of faith in himself.

"You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins."

Three times Jesus used the phrase "die in your sins" (NKJV), the same phrase Paul used in First Corinthians 15:17.

Our faith is not in his mission but in his person. To believe in the Son of God, you must believe in God as Father also. Jesus said, He who hates me hates my Father also (John 15:23). Father and Son go together like Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Faith in God must include faith in His Son because the Son reveals the nature of God. When Philip asked to see the Father, Jesus directed him to himself (John 14:7–9). As is true in life, the son is the image of the father. This was perfected in Jesus who was the express image of God's person (Hebrews 1:3). This was the truth that Jesus presented in John 8.

Jesus was unique because he was God "in the flesh." Paul would later write that Jesus did not despise his role as the servant Savior but came from God's heaven to earth. This was a change of form but not a change of personality. This is why he was called the unique (one-of-a-kind) Son of God, fully human without sin.

In Philippians 2:8, Paul wrote that Jesus humbled himself not only to die but to accept the demeaning and socially despised death of the cross. Faith in this revelation of Jesus's mission was the gospel message: Christ died for our sins. Not to believe it was to not believe in God at all. Faith that the gospel is true and that God forgives sins, is a faith in Jesus personally. As he taught, "unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins."

The death of Jesus required his resurrection for the Christian Gospel to be true. The gospel is, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." The Old Testament prophecies of Jesus's death included resurrection (Acts 2:25-28). Jesus always included his resurrection as the fulfillment of his mission (Luke 18:31-35).

Another name for the gospel is God's plan of salvation. Adam's sin brought death into the world, and after him every person also sinned. Even though each person's sins are different, all people face death (Romans 5:12-14). Therefore in the same chapter Paul proclaimed the reality of the resurrection. He explained that Jesus's atoning work was a reversal of Adam's sin and the resulting death that entered the world. When the atonement is viewed as the victory of God over death for mankind's benefit, the crucifixion and resurrection unity is obvious.

The gospel is positive (Luke 2:13, 14). The crucifixion was the provision of God to provide forgiveness, end death, and bring in the kingdom of God with everlasting righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:19). The resurrection was the proof of victory over death and it validated that Christ died as the sin-offering (I Corinthians 5:7), and that the power of death was broken. Christ Jesus was first, with all believers to follow him. Jesus's physical resurrection after his physical death proved that God accepted his death as a reconciling sacrifice on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:18).

The theme of the cross was the end of death, and not the power of God's wrath. The wrath of God was already in the world. It was death (Romans 1:28-32). If you want to present the horrors of hell in your preaching, just tell people that the tragedy, horror, hopelessness, and finality of physical death is just part one of rejecting God! That is what Jesus did (Mark 9). A second death will follow those who "die in their sins" without trusting in Jesus for forgiveness (Mark 9:42-48). The cross was not God whipping Jesus; it was God proving that physical death inflicted by evil men was no barrier to His kingdom coming to earth (Acts 2:23). Jesus said, I have power to lay down my life, and power to take it up again. He did as he said.

The cross was a reconciling sacrifice on behalf of sinners who want to return to God's holiness and truth. It split the temple veil to reveal a holy, loving and forgiving God ready to reconcile with sinners who believe in Jesus as “the way.” The bodily resurrection of Jesus was validation that our reconciliation with God was accomplished by his death when our penalty was laid upon his purity. The resurrection proved he died in our place, and rose to gather the spoils of his victory -- Lordship over the Kingdom of God. We who believe in him as Savior receive the gift of eternal life freely from God's hand through his Son, all to the praise of God.

"By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). The raising of that body from the dead is the assurance that God's reconciliation is true. Jesus was always pure and holy, and his death reconciled us to God. "To him all the prophets bear witness that through his name, whosoever believes in him will receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43).

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