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57 results for “First resurrection”
Clear searchThe man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
Four Difficult Texts for Pretribulationism The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day A cumulative case should be exposed to the passages which appear least friendly to it. Four objections deserve particular attention: Second Thessalonians…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
Was Christ Begotten at the Resurrection? Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son “This day have I begotten thee” appears to be applied to Christ’s resurrection. Did Jesus become…
Read article →Not escape from the body, but its redemption
The Hope of the Resurrection Not escape from the body, but its redemption Many people imagine the Christian hope as an endless disembodied existence: the soul released from the body, leaving the physical wo…
Read article →Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
Is the Beatific Vision the Whole Christian Hope? Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation The beatific vision is the Christian teaching that the redeemed will see God and find their perfect happiness in Him. It draws upon magnificent…
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
“I Am the First, and I Am the Last” Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ If YHWH alone is Creator, Saviour and Lord of all, what are the New Testament writers saying when they place J…
Read article →Brian E. Daley · Historical theology · 1991
…o come really was. Daley traces the development of the intermediate state, apokatastasis, resurrection, judgment, and the principal eschatological expectations without pretending that the early Church spoke with one settled voice on every question. His great strength is his balan…
View recommendation →The glory philosophy could not contain
…in flesh, and then, after the body’s dissolution, was restored to deity. (See Note 2.) At first glance, this can sound surprisingly Christian. Nearly every landmark is present. There is the Word. There is creation. There is descent. There is flesh. There is a return to divine glo…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
Is the Pretribulation Rapture Without Biblical Basis? A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation In an article published by the Christian Research Institute, Hank Hanegraaff argues that the pretribulation rapture has no biblical bas…
Read article →The event is explicit; the real dispute is its timing
…event invented by dispensationalists. That framing confuses two different questions. The first is whether Scripture teaches that living believers will be caught up to Christ when the dead in Christ are raised. The second is when that event occurs in relation to the Tribulation a…
Read article →Irenaeus of Lyons · Early Christian theology and polemic · c. 180–190
…lue Irenaeus for his remarkably high view of Scripture and for the patience with which he first explains his opponents and then answers them. His rebuttal of Gnosticism contains powerful discussions of the true humanity and deity of Christ, bodily resurrection, the goodness of cr…
View recommendation →Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ
…ysiological stress. The subject is now more scientifically interesting than it was when I first encountered it. It is not, however, more authoritative than it was. Near-death experiences deserve humane attention and careful investigation. They may tell us something about memory,…
Read article →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
…ilate. The Qur'anic claim comes centuries after the event. The Christian claim appears in first-century sources, in traditions which predate the documents preserving them, in several streams of testimony and in non-Christian historical writing. A later source could correct earlie…
Read article →What Christ’s promise establishes—and what claims about infallible teaching still need to prove
…An argument is needed to connect them. The Confession at the Centre of the Passage Jesus first asks His disciples what others say about Him. He then brings the question directly to them: “But whom say ye that I am?” — Matthew 16:15 Peter answers: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
…nearly everyone else has missed. He speaks often of leaving this world, seldom of bodily resurrection, and hardly at all of the local church. Baptism and the Lord's Supper seem peripheral. Ordinary Christian service appears dull beside the latest prophetic timetable. Other belie…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…orgives sins in His own authority When a paralysed man is lowered through the roof, Jesus first addresses the man's deepest need: "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee" (Mark 2:5). The scribes immediately recognise the issue: "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive s…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…gy. It establishes the point necessary here: Constantine did not teach the Church for the first time that Jesus could be called God. Around a century before Nicaea, Tertullian was already defending both divine unity and a threefold personal distinction. His terminology was Latin…
Read article →The incarnation, the limits of created perspective and the love philosophy could not imagine
…s 1:31). The incarnation goes immeasurably beyond creation, but it does not establish the first contact between God and matter. Every atom already owes its existence to Him. What If the Visible Is Only the Vestibule? Our natural temptation is to treat the visible universe as the…
Read article →How the Law reaches its goal and appointed end in Christ
…nd into the deep to raise Him from the dead. God has already acted in the incarnation and resurrection. The saving word is near: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…ting righteousness. To seal up the vision and prophecy. To anoint the most Holy. Christ's first coming is indispensable to their fulfilment. The cross made the only sufficient atonement for iniquity. Nothing in a futurist reading suggests that His sacrifice was incomplete or that…
Read article →Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require
…ate origin story, but Scripture must decide the doctrine. The proper question is not “Who first arranged the system?” but “Does the arrangement explain the biblical text faithfully?” Criticism 2: “The Church becomes God's Plan B” Responsible dispensationalism does not teach that…
Read article →What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not
…led system identical to modern dispensational pretribulationism? No. Did Darby invent the resurrection of dead believers, the transformation and catching up of the living, heavenly ascent, every form of pre-Tribulation deliverance, and every interval between translation and publi…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…0:5–10 --- “A body hast thou prepared me.” Those words from Hebrews 10:5 may be among the first that come to mind when we ask how the Son became man. They are inspired words, and they are gloriously true. Yet a true sentence can still be placed inside a misleading mental picture.…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…er covenant, which was established upon better promises" (Hebrews 8:6). It then calls the first covenant old and ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13). This may appear to settle the question: if the new covenant is better, should the land, nation, and earthly kingdom associated wit…
Read article →Why apantēsis does not settle the timing of the rapture
…the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." —1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 T…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…logy, the Son is not the eternal Creator who shares the Father’s divine nature. He is the first and highest creature, identified with Michael the archangel, through whom Jehovah made everything else. That position is not new. Its vocabulary and arguments differ from those of Ariu…
Read article →The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
…tthew's gathering from the four winds. Paul's rapture passage gives a different emphasis. First Thessalonians 4 identifies "the dead in Christ" and believers who "are alive and remain". The dead rise, the living are caught up, and both meet the Lord in the air. Matthew 24:31 does…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…h rejected its King is addressed as the Jerusalem which will one day acknowledge Him. The resurrection did not erase the kingdom hope It is sometimes argued that the apostles expected a restored kingdom only because they had not yet understood Christ's spiritual mission. That exp…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…f God's household. It also recognises that Christ can bring a fulfilment greater than the first hearers understood. The difficulty is that the prophets already distinguish Israel's unworthiness from God's determination to restore it. Ezekiel names the profaning "house of Israel"…
Read article →Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
…former covenant old. Hebrews states: "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old." —Hebrews 8:13 It is therefore reasonable to say that the Mosaic covenant has become obsolete as the governing covenant. Believers are not placed under Sinai as the means of justi…
Read article →Does John 6 teach the literal eating of Christ's body?
…t in precisely that way. John 6:54 is officially connected with Eucharistic reception and resurrection, while contemporary apologists argue that Christ’s words must be read literally because He intensified them and permitted His hearers to leave.[2] Our task is to test that claim…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…as a Gentile religion which had displaced Israel. Jesus and the apostles were Jewish. The first believers worshipped in Jerusalem, appealed to Israel's prophets, and proclaimed Israel's risen Messiah. Thousands of Jewish believers formed the first Christian community. The inclusi…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
…tablish? A miracle is not merely something impressive, unusual or difficult to explain at first sight. Human beings produce extraordinary poetry, music, mathematics, architecture and acts of memory. A rare achievement does not become supernatural merely because most people could…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
…m God? Which son inherited the covenant line? Which son did Abraham prepare to offer? The first question does not force a choice between the brothers. God blessed both. The second and third questions do require a choice. The Bible answers both explicitly: Isaac. The Qur'an honour…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
…class members of God's household. Every sinner is reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The question is whether this unity in salvation removes the distinctions which Scripture continues to make between Israel, the Gentiles, and the Church. That qu…
Read article →What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
…s still born. Christ provides a greater exodus from sin, but Israel still left Egypt. The resurrection is greater than Israel's return from Babylon, but the exiles still returned to their land. In the same way, a worldwide kingdom can include the land promised to Abraham. A renew…
Read article →Why the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…ay: The Son was weary according to His human nature. than: The human Jesus was weary. The first statement distinguishes His natures while preserving the one Person. The second can suggest that there is a human person alongside the divine Son. The same care is needed when people s…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…story eventually became known, demonstrating the reality of God’s promise and the coming resurrection. The passage even records disagreement over their number: “(Some) will say: They were three, their dog the fourth, and (some) say: Five, their dog the sixth, guessing at random;…
Read article →Why a loaded label does not settle the question
…onians 4:16–17 is straightforward: The Lord descends from heaven. The dead in Christ rise first. Living believers are caught up together with them. They meet the Lord in the air. They remain with Him for ever. His concern is pastoral. Some Thessalonian believers feared that Chris…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…phets concerning the saving works of God: Christ’s coming, His virgin birth, His passion, resurrection from the dead and bodily ascension. Christ will appear again from heaven in the glory of the Father. Humanity will be raised, every knee will bow to Christ as Lord, God, Saviour…
Read article →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
…t towards “Messiah the Prince”. Other interpreters understand an anointed ruler after the first seven weeks and another anointed figure after the following sixty-two. These observations prevent us from arguing in a circle: Daniel uses a word translated “Messiah”; Jesus is called…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…living creatures, fresh water, and heavenly lights. A third of the trees is burned in the first trumpet judgement, not two-thirds; the waters become bitter under the third trumpet; seas and rivers become blood under later judgements (Revelation 8:7-11; 16:3-6). Scripture expressl…
Read article →How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name
…doing serious harm. Hymenaeus and Philetus had departed from the truth by saying that the resurrection had already taken place. Their teaching was not an innocent difference of opinion: "And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning t…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…ed. Jesus' authority, His unique Sonship, His predicted death, His saving purpose and His resurrection are embedded throughout the Gospel tradition. Selection by agreement is not recovery. It is manufacture. Did Jesus preach a different gospel from Paul? The next escape route sep…
Read article →The near was real. The far is still coming.
…ration, not whether Isaiah looks beyond Assyria. Ortlund, commentary on Isaiah 34–35. The first response must come from Isaiah himself. After the heavens are rolled together, Isaiah continues to describe the divine sword descending upon Edom. There is a named land, a named city,…
Read article →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
…ent is the story of Israel's God fulfilling Israel's Scriptures through Israel's Messiah, first proclaimed by Jewish witnesses in Jerusalem and then carried to the nations. Gentiles do not enter by replacing that story. We are welcomed into blessings which came through it. Recove…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…that He was crucified. Christianity says that He rose bodily from the dead. Islam has no resurrection of Jesus from a tomb because it denies the death which preceded it. Christianity says that the one God eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Islam treats that confessi…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
…Gentile believers receive Abrahamic blessing, the promised Spirit, adoption, forgiveness, resurrection life, and hope in the renewed creation. We are not distant observers of Israel's story but participants in the salvation which came through Israel's Messiah. Israel also experie…
Read article →What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future
…e the world and angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). Revelation describes those who share in the first resurrection as priests of God and of Christ who "shall reign with him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6). Jesus' parables connect faithfulness in present stewardship with responsibil…
Read article →Four popular claims tested in context
…command him" (Deuteronomy 18:18). The Muslim claim The argument has two principal parts. First, Muhammad appears to resemble Moses more closely than Jesus in certain biographical respects. Moses and Muhammad married, had children, led communities, exercised civil authority and b…
Read article →The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
…renouncing his original purpose, or transferring ownership to the tenants who replace the first husbandmen. Who are the "you" from whom the kingdom is taken? Matthew does not leave Jesus' immediate audience unidentified: "And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his par…
Read article →The Gospel, Human Perception, and the Illuminating Work of the Holy Spirit
…There is a biblical example of the difficulty in Athens. When Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection, some hearers concluded that he was proclaiming strange gods. They heard Christian proclamation through the categories available to them. Paul then declared the Creator, His rel…
Read article →Defining the position before testing it
…national Israel. Paul asks the decisive question Romans 9-11 was written after the cross, resurrection, ascension, and formation of the Church. If those events meant that Israel had ceased to possess a distinct identity in God's purpose, Paul had the ideal opportunity to say so.…
Read article →Governmental restraint, the final ten kings, and the preparation of the temple
…ration Tertullian explicitly connects Paul’s restraint with Rome. In chapter 24 of On the Resurrection of the Flesh, he asks: “What obstacle is there but the Roman state” He links its dissolution into ten kingdoms with Antichrist’s arrival. He also interprets the falling away pol…
Read article →Michael Brown, 2 Thessalonians 1, and the public vindication of the saints
…t decisive: the public vindication of the saints need not be the moment at which they are first gathered to Christ. The argument in its strongest form The Thessalonians were not debating prophecy from the safety of an academic seminar. They were suffering. Paul commends their “pa…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…thered after the Tribulation, the passage appears to place the rapture there as well. The first premise is possible. It is not yet proven. "Elect" can describe the Church, but it is not an exclusive technical title for the Church. The meaning intended here must be established fro…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
…s immediate mission with "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). When He first sent the Twelve, their commission had the same national focus: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep o…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…ct Christ Himself The New Testament repeatedly directs believers towards the Saviour, not first towards Antichrist, a covenant, a rebuilt temple, the abomination, or a numbered sequence of judgements. Believers look for "that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13). Their citizenship is in he…
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