That Christ rose from the dead on the third day has been from the very
beginning the unquestioned belief of the Christian Church. It is the
main theme of the first Christian sermon ever produced, that by Peter
on the day of Pentecost. The Gospel records are perfectly plain as to
the nature of Christ's Resurrection. He rose from the grave in His
complete Personality, spiritual and bodily, though His risen body was
free from certain limitations of pre-resurrection life. It was the
same body as His disciples had known before His death. Of this He bade
them assure themselves by actual contact. That He rose from the dead
in His human as well as in His divine nature is the guarantee that we
men can share in His resurrection. "Even so in Christ shall all be
made alive".
As to the exact nature of our own Resurrection body, naturally it is
not possible to speak with exact certainty. Yet it is certain that the
Christian doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead means much more than
the survival of the spirit. It teaches plainly and clearly a bodily
resurrection. In the inspired statement of St. Paul, found in the
familiar Lesson of our Burial Service, (1 Cor. xv. 20-end), we have
four great facts set forth regarding the body which is laid in the
grave, and what it will become at the Resurrection:
First: It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
Secondly: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.
Thirdly: It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Fourthly: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
From this it is clear that our resurrection body will be such, as under
the different conditions prevailing in the future life, will have every
element of personality which we possess now, but in a glorified and
spiritual form. "I" shall be "I" in the resurrection body, and
recognisable as such to those who know and love me now. Beyond this we
need not go. For it is God Who will raise us from the dead, and to Him
nothing is impossible.
CHRIST AND His CHURCH.
Though the actual word "Church" is only found twice in the Gospels, on
both occasions in St. Matthew (XVI. 18 and XVIII. 17)--that Christ
meant His followers to form a visible Body with proper equipment for
the task of evangelising the world after He had left it in the flesh is
shown clearly by the following facts. In the first place He selected
twelve men, whom He kept together, trained together by close and
constant association with Himself, and to whom He gave the distinct
commission not merely to preach the Gospel but to admit men into the
fellowship by the Sacrament of Baptism. He also instituted the
Sacrament of the Holy Communion which, though it had other purposes,
was certainly intended to be, and was in fact, from the first, a bond
of visible corporate union of all Christians. Also the early records
of Christianity, as found in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles,
point conclusively to the conviction that in the foundation of the
"Churches" in different places, and in the beginnings of very definite
organization that are there seen, general instructions given by our
Lord were being followed by the Apostles. It has been argued that, as
the first Christians were convinced that our Lord's return would be
quite soon, they would not have concerned themselves with the
foundation of a Society intended to last for an indefinite future. It
is quite true that they did believe that the second Advent of Christ
would not be long deferred. This belief arose partly from a mistaken
interpretation of certain sayings of our Lord, in which they confused
His prediction of the fall of Jerusalem with the end of the present
age, and partly from a very natural idea that His manifestation in
Glory could not be separated by any length of time from His
Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. The fact remains, however,
that the foundations of the Christian Church were planned with the care
and forethought that an age-long existence called for, with the result
that, when the expectation of an almost immediate return was seen to be
unfounded, the disappointment did not in the slightest degree weaken
the faith or check the growth of the Church. The certainty that Christ
would return remained, as it still remains, one of the component parts
of the Christian's belief about Christ. When the time comes, He will
most certainly return "to be our Judge", but as He Himself said "Of
that day and hour knoweth no one ... neither the Son, but the Father
only". It is not for us to speculate therefore about the exact date of
Christ's return, but to endeavour to live in such a state of
preparation that we should be ready to meet Him at whatever time His
second Advent may occur. "Blessed are those servants whom their Lord,
when He cometh, shall find watching."
Christ is the Head of His Church, which is therefore a Divine
Institution, though it works in the world by human instruments. Into
this Body we are admitted at Baptism, and by virtue of Christ's
Headship become by our admission "Members of Christ, Children of God,
and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven".