For those of you, who watched the Piper eschatology discussion, you might have noticed that Sam Storms conceded that "anastasis" always means bodily resurrection outside of Revelation. So being the nerd that I am, I decided to write to him and ask him about John 11:25 as well. He was gracious enough to give a quick response.Thanks Howard. Another person also wrote and mentioned this text. I'll look into it. Blessings!Since I know there are two of us (Pastor Paul and myself), I just have to wonder who else pointed this out. What is really interesting though is that if these really really smart guys have never considered John 11:25 as supporting the A-Millennial position, perhaps it is not as clear as it appears to me?
So I decided to go through the text again last night. Martha states that Lazarus will rise in the resurrection which she ties with "the last day". So obviously there is the resurrection in the age to come in which all things are made new. There will be the new heavens and new earth. The wicked will be cast out. The righteous will shine like the sun. The meek inherit the earth. In other words, all of the Old Testament promises will be realized.
Yet Jesus does something similar with His view on the "mystery of the Kingdom" throughout Matthew's Gospel. He speaks of a resurrection that begins with Himself. He states,
Joh 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,Jesus speaks of a current resurrection that starts with Himself and those who believe in Him to also be resurrected now. This is strikingly similar to the "now and not yet" phases of the Kingdom.
Joh 11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
So I have to wonder how a scholarly claim can be made that "anastasis" always means bodily resurrection. Was this text simply assumed in the study by N.T. Wright and others to mean bodily resurrection or are there actual exegetical reasons for making this claim? If so, what are they?
Perhaps next I will write N.T. Wright to see where I am wrong.
1 comment:
Well, I have looked around the internet for ways to write NT Wright. I can't find a way to do that. I looked at his book on the subject online. The first couple of chapters seem to deal with the subject in a broad and historical manner. I am not certain if there is any exegesis of any texts that speak to bodily resurrection since the chapters online do not do so. So guess it is either buy the book or wait on the really smart guys.
:-)
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