The Connection between Jesus' and Our
Resurrection
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Question
What is the relationship between Jesus' resurrection and the resurrection of believers?
Answer
Jesus' resurrection and the resurrection of believers are tightly connected, in Paul's thought especially. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 15. Paul will tell us there, to some of the Corinthians believers and to us today who doubt the resurrection of the body, and Paul connects the resurrection of the body — Jesus' resurrection — with the defeat of sin. So, first and foremost, Jesus' resurrection, not simply his death on the cross, but his resurrection from the grave shows us that death is defeated. And because death is defeated, thus sin is defeated. Now, Paul will talk about how Jesus' death and resurrection. In that he'll use this term called first fruits," which is an unfamiliar term to most of us today, but back in Paul's day it was related to the sacrifices and the tithes that the Jews would bring to the temple. You gave the first fruits of the land to thank God, and those first fruits were symbolic of your whole harvest. So, when Paul is saying that Jesus is the first fruits, what he's saying is God is promising that our bodies, believers bodies, will also be raised. And so, that first fruits language is a wonderful promise to us. The believer's raised body, Paul says, will be a glorified body. It will be imperishable and immortal. It's important for us to remember that Jesus lives now eternally in a raised body, so that when believers die and we enter into our final home, we will have a glorified body. We don't know what exactly it will look like, but we won't be spirits floating around in the air. We'll live in the new heavens and the new earth, immortal because our life is hidden in Christ.