Completing the Reformation
Scripture Readings: Mark 16:1-8 and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 35-38, 50
I need your help, because it is vital that Protestant churches complete the work of the Reformation. The Protestant Reformation sought to recover the life of faith of the New Testament church. Preaching from the Bible became the heart of worship, and reading from the Bible the duty of every Christian. However, the reformers' understanding of the early church and its scripture was flawed, and so half a millennium later we are reaping a very mixed harvest. It is our responsibility now to sort out the wheat from the weeds.
The reformers assumed that the Jesus of the gospels
founded the church of Acts, and that this original and pure faith was corrupted
by the religious establishment that attained the support of the Roman Emperor,
Constantine, in the fourth century. To resist the 
dogma
of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the reformers declared that the word of God was
clearly revealed in the Bible, but this stimulated a literal interpretation of
scripture that led to fundamentalism. Certainly, Protestant dogma about the
Bible has led to as much grief as Catholic dogma about the Pope, and hardly a
day passes without a news report of religious intolerance that reflects this
historic and tragic battle about the love of God.
Now, a contemporary understanding of early church history enables us to complete the work of the Reformation by reading the Christian Bible critically. We are challenged to critique the literal reading of the New Testament through liberal interpretation in order to discover and embrace the living truth of scripture. To see how we can, and should, do this, consider what resurrection means in the gospels and in Paul's letters.
The Gospels
The gospel of Mark reports that Mary of Magdala and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb, find the stone rolled away, and are told by a young man in a white robe that Jesus "has been raised" and has gone to Galilee, where he will meet them. The oldest manuscripts of this gospel end by reporting that the women "fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." (Mk. 16:1-8)
In the gospel of Matthew, an earthquake opens the tomb and an angel delivers to the two Marys the message given, in the gospel of Mark, to them and to Salome. As the two women run to tell the disciples, Jesus "meets" and speaks to them. The gospel reports, "they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him." After the women tell the disciples what they have witnessed, the eleven disciples go to Galilee and see and worship Jesus, although "some doubted." (Mt. 28)
The gospel of Luke records that two men in dazzling
clothes tell the two Marys and Joanna that Jesus has been raised. In this
account, Jesus appears to two followers on the road to Emmaus and to Simon
(Peter), before coming among his disciples in Jerusalem, where he says:
"Look at my hands and my feet, see that it is I myself. Touch me and see;
for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." Jesus
eats a piece of fish and explains to them how the scriptures prophesy his death
and resurrection. Then he instructs them to remain in Jerusalem, leads them to
Bethany, blesses them, and is carried up into heaven. (Lk. 24)
In the gospel of John, Mary of Magdala comes alone to the tomb and finds the stone rolled away. She does not see an angel, or a young man, or two men, but she does meet Jesus in a nearby garden. Jesus says to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father." Then Jesus sends her to his "brothers" with the message: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." The gospel of John also relates the doubt of Thomas, who (unlike Mary) is invited to touch Jesus, and an appearance by Jesus to some of his disciples by the Sea of Galilee, where he eats fish with them and converses with Peter. (Jn. 20-21)
We see immediately that these accounts differ. There are
no actual resurrection appearances in the gospel of Mark, and the women run away
in fear without speaking to anyone. When we read the gospel of Mark along with
the gospels of Matthew and Luke, it seems clear that the latter two gospels are
edited versions of the gospel of Mark. This helps to make sense of the
resurrection accounts, for the two later gospels add appearances and
conversations with the risen Jesus, although these differ significantly. In the
gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples to go to Galilee, and he appears to
them there. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the disciples to stay near
Jerusalem, and he appears to them there. The gospel of John is even more
different in its account of the 
empty
tomb, and it includes diverse resurrection appearances by Jesus in Jerusalem and
in Galilee.
Read literally, these gospels proclaim a physical resurrection. This is implied by the empty tomb in the gospel of Mark, and the other three gospels offer evidence that the risen Jesus is flesh and bone, not merely a spirit. The New Testament gospel stories present the resurrection of Christ as a miraculous raising, from the dead, of the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Teaching of Paul
However, Paul has a different view of resurrection. Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth: "I handed on to you . . . what I in turn had received; that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters . . . Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all . . . he appeared also to me." (1 Cor. 15:3-8)
Paul doesn't specify what scripture passages he has in mind, but his reference to "the scriptures" is not to the gospels. Paul is writing his letters in the 50s, but he never refers to any of the New Testament gospels and seems to be completely unaware of them. Moreover, we know from church history that the Old and New Testaments are not authorized as Christian scripture in the Roman Empire until after the Nicene Council in the fourth century. When Paul writes in the middle of the first century to the church at Corinth, he is passing on the tradition of teaching he has received from the church in Jerusalem led by the former disciples of Jesus and by James, the brother of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15 preserves the teaching of the Jerusalem
church: that Christ died in
accordance with the Jewish scriptures. Clearly, this passage presents an earlier
understanding of the resurrection than the stories in the gospels. Paul's letter
enables us to see what resurrection meant to Christians in the 40s and 50s,
whereas the gospel accounts reflect church teachings in the 70s and the last
quarter of the first century. Paul brings us as close to an eyewitness account
as we can get, and this fact cannot be overemphasized in reading and
understanding the New Testament.
Paul's letter to the Corinthians affirms that Christ was buried and raised, but it does not mention an empty tomb. Paul testifies that Christ appeared to the disciples and other witnesses, such as James, and also to him. But a few verses later in the letter to the Corinthians, Paul says the resurrection of Jesus was not physical but spiritual.
In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul explains that resurrection is the fulfillment of God’s will for all creation. The resurrection of Christ is the beginning of the resurrection of the dead that awaits all "those who belong to Christ." (vs. 20-23) The resurrection of the members of the church in Corinth will be the same as the resurrection of Christ. "There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies," (v. 40) Paul writes. Physical bodies are not raised after death, because "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." (v. 50)
1 Corinthians 15 proclaims that those with faith will be raised from the dead, like Christ, with spiritual bodies. The teaching of Paul, based on the tradition he has received from the church in Jerusalem, is that the resurrection is spiritual transformation not physical resuscitation.
The
New Testament reveals that there was a debate among first century Christians
about resurrection. The gospels of Matthew, Luke and John relate that among the
disciples some doubted, and Paul addresses this issue in his letter to the
Corinthians: "But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what
kind of body do they come?' Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare
seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain." (1 Cor. 15:35-37)
"So it is," Paul says, "with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised in imperishable . . . It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body . . . What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." (1 Cor. 15:42, 44a, 50) To explain the resurrection, Paul uses the metaphor of a seed sown in the ground, and the new life that rises from "dying" of the seed. In the case of resurrection, however, it is not a new physical body that is raised, but a spiritual and imperishable body.
The contrast between this metaphorical interpretation and
later literal interpretations of resurrection may be explained by a liberal
reading of Christian scripture. The New Testament reveals that first century
Christians had different understandings of
resurrection, and so there is no justification for reading Christian scripture
literally as the word of God. The Christian Bible is the church's testimony that
was authorized in the fourth century by bishops serving at the pleasure of the
Roman Emperor. Christian scripture is the heart of our faith, but the historical
and literary character of the New Testament calls for critical interpretation.
Living Truth
Completing the Protestant Reformation requires a liberal rather than a literal reading of scripture. The history of the church, which is revealed in the Christian Bible, requires this honest and humble approach — honest, because the New Testament contains diverse teachings, and humble, because neither the church nor the Bible speaks literally for God. But a liberal reading of scripture will also be misleading, if its critique of literalism encourages complacency about understanding and living Christian faith.
To see how we may discern the living truth of scripture
through a liberal reading of the Bible, we turn to a passage in another of
Paul's letters. In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul describes his conversion experience
and call to ministry by saying, "[God] called me through his grace, [and]
was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might proclaim him 
among
the Gentiles." In the New Revised Standard Version of the New Testament the
statement that God "was pleased to reveal his Son in me" reads God
"was pleased to reveal his Son to me," but a note explains that
the original Greek means "in me." And the Jerusalem Bible
contains the correct translation of the Greek phrase used by Paul.
This passage is worth pondering. In the letter to the Corinthians Paul says the risen Christ appeared to him, as to the other apostles, and in the letter to the Galatians Paul describes this appearance of Christ as God's grace revealing "his Son in me." For Paul, the resurrection of Christ not simply a past event or even the beginning of the end of history. The resurrection of Christ is the new life within Christian life now.
This is the living truth of
Christian faith! Death is defeated by the rising of Christ within our lives, as
the living "spiritual body" of Christ, the church. Through faith we
experience the presence of Christ, as love and forgiveness, and together, as the
church, we are able to manifest the resurrected Christ, through our worship,
witness and service. This is the
grace that Paul affirms, and the gift of the Spirit that the church has to share
with the world. This living truth may be revealed within our individual lives
and our corporate witness, as the body of Christ, by a liberal reading of
scripture that unmasks the tragic misunderstandings of Protestant literalism.
Here is the real mystery of faith, the good news of the gospel, and the witness that is worthy of our time, our talents, and our treasure. The reformation of the church will be complete when we stop preaching the literal word of God and instead proclaim, through a liberal reading of scripture, the living truth of Christ in ministry and mission. Amen.
