It\u2019s been a while, but in our last look on the resurrection, we ended with this image of our lives being held in the memory of God as we await, what the Apostle\u2019s Creed calls, the Resurrection of the Body. This is the orthodox way of expressing the hope for which we patiently wait. It is not the hope of the soul going to heaven when we die, but the hope of the \u201cResurrection of the Body.\u201d The way it is phrased is wonderfully ambiguous. There are a number of ways to interpret what \u201cthe body\u201d means, and when taken together they give us a fuller meaning of what salvation entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, \u201cthe body\u201d can mean Christ\u2019s literal, physical body. The Resurrection of the Body is about the resurrection of his<\/em> body. His body is the<\/em> body, raised from the dead in advance of all others. As Paul writes, \u201cChrist has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep\u201d (1 Cor. 15:20). Christ\u2019s risen body is like that first flower that blooms while the snow is still melting, giving us a glimpse of what is in store when spring comes and winter fully passes away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, \u201cthe body\u201d can refer to a figurative body. Think of Paul\u2019s famous analogy of Christ\u2019s body \u2014 the body of which we have been made members. It is a singular body made up of many parts. The body that is resurrected, in this case, is a people This, I think, is the corrective we need in thinking about salvation in the modern West. That is, we need to see salvation as a communal reality before it is individual. Or better, it is only individual because<\/em> it is communal. This is something that is entirely glossed over in the \u201cwill you go to heaven?\u201d way of thinking about salvation \u2014 a predominantly individualistic way of casting salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, \u201dthe body\u201d can be taken to mean bodies in general. Here, the Resurrection of the Body is about the resurrection of all bodies, not least of which is our own. This is perhaps the most intuitive interpretation. I look forward to the day when my<\/em> body will be raised. Of course this is true, but I think it best to understand resurrection in the order we have just laid out. The Resurrection of the Body is first about Christ, then about us, then about me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than seeing the story of Scripture told in five acts, we tend to see it, in our highly individualistic culture, as only three:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is missing? Acts TWO and FOUR, which are Israel and the Church. The way we understand salvation deeply affects the significance we place on these two acts. When the individual is at the center of God\u2019s plan for salvation, Israel becomes an oversight and the Church an after thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it matters how we see the End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Could we recast the<\/em> End as our<\/em> End and not simply my<\/em> End? Or what if we saw our individual ends as inextricably bound up with the communal End described in Scripture? Then maybe we could better appreciate how integral Israel and Church are. For it is within the living memory of these two communities that the story of Scripture has been and continues to be kept alive. And through the ongoing telling and retelling of this millennia old story, we are given the resources to know that we are not just anybody, but made into somebody by virtue of our inclusion in the<\/em> body, Christ\u2019s body. It is in<\/em>, through<\/em> and for<\/em> this body that we find our end and it is with <\/em>this body that we will be raised at the end on the last day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been a while, but in our last look on the resurrection, we ended with this image of our lives being held in the memory of God as we await, what the Apostle\u2019s Creed calls, the Resurrection of the Body. This is the orthodox way of expressing the hope for which we patiently wait. It … Continue reading The Resurrection of the Body<\/span>