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If Christ Be Not Raised
from April 2021
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by Dr. Alan Hix
Culturally, we seem fascinated by stories of famous people. It doesn’t always seem to matter whether the stories are true or false: we love to read them. The most famous story about George Washington centers around a cherry tree. When he was 6 years old, he received a hatchet as a gift. The story tells us that he decided to test the effectiveness of the hatchet on one of his father’s cherry trees. When confronted with the deed, he is reported to have admitted, “I cannot tell a lie: I did cut it with my hatchet.” Although this story gives us a wonderful moral about honesty, we know that this story was actually invented by Mason Locke, one of Washington’s early biographers. We still cherish the story, but its actual truthfulness is not all that important.
This month, we celebrate the holiest day in the Christian calendar. For Christians, Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the central tenet of the Christian faith. An important question to ask is: Was it a physical resurrection or merely a spiritual one? This question has been debated since the earliest days of the church. Someone outside of the Christian faith might ask the question, “Does it really matter?” The progressive scholar Marcus Borg argued that the meaning of Easter was not about what happened to the body of Jesus. What was important for Borg was that Jesus continues to be known and that He is Lord.
In his first letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul insists that what happened to the body of Jesus DOES matter. “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20).
In Christ’s bodily resurrection, we have the proof that Jesus is the Son of God He claims to be. Paul insisted that the resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. Without it, we truly have no hope. But, he counters, Christ HAS been
raised, and in doing so, He has paved the way for those who believe in Him to experience that same resurrection power.
Charles Wesley’s hymn “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” is sung Easter morning in churches around the globe. His second verse echoes Paul’s grand declaration to the Corinthians:
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia! Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!
So this Easter, as we emerge from a year in the shadow of a pandemic, let us celebrate with the fullness of our hearts: “Christ is risen—He is risen indeed!”
About The Author Dr. Alan Hix is an Associate Professor of Christian Studies at Shorter University. In addition to being and educator, he has served churches as a pastor, been involved in mission trips to Africa, Canada, and Alaska, and participated in archaeological excavations in Israel for several years.
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