The dramatic difference between the Christian theology of death and You-Know-Whose© is the hope of new life ours provides and theirs denies. It is this distinction that Paul wanted to make very clear in his letters to the Corinthians. Put generically, life is not ended when we die, but we are resurrected and given new life in Christ. The impact of the notion of eternal life after death rippled throughout the world as individuals heard the good news. As we discussed in class, Paul teaches that death is nothing to be feared; it's a transition to our eternal lives. The Corinthians, firmly planted in Greek tradition, were unsure of the validity of the idea of resurrection through death, and asked for clarification. Paul eagerly replies. He puts very plainly that without resurrection as described in the gospel, with Christ dying and then being raised, the power of death over our lives is not ended and Christianity as a faith is ridiculous - a baseless tall tale. Death, as Paul explains, kills our sin, but without hope of revival we are left as we were before: hopeless and bound to death. Three days later, however, Jesus was brought back to life, and that seals the deal.
There is, however, a subconscious divide over this issue. In looking at the gospel message, many Christians come away solely with Jesus' death, and as we discussed in class, they're missing the whole point. Christ died for our sins, but he also was brought back to life, and that's the incredible part. It appears as though interpretation of the gospel has been subtly misaligned over the years, but I believe this is a simple problem to correct. As Paul did for the Corinthians, we must emphasize the role of Jesus' resurrection in our conversations with other Christians. We've got to give the message of hope back to the people, because that is, in the end, what really matters. Without it, our faith is a joke, and having that faulty notion in our world is no joke.
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