"Resurrection: Yes or No ? "

 

1st.Corinthians 15:14-17  "And if CHRIST be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of GOD; because we have testified of GOD that HE raised up CHRIST: WHOM HE raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not CHRIST raised: and if CHRST be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."

     Can you not believe in the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST and still be a Christian ? The short answer is no, JESUS' sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection form the core of the believer's faith. In writing to the saints in Rome, Paul opened his letter with the fact that GOD's SON, JESUS CHRIST our LORD, "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the SON of GOD with power, according to the SPIRIT of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:3-4 pictured above). In John 11:25 JESUS told Martha, "I AM the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in ME, though he were dead, yet shall he live." It is easy to put a check mark in a box on a survey to profess that you are a Christian, but it is another thing to truly believe the Gospel. After speaking concerning the imputed righteousness received by Abraham, the Apostle Paul indicated that we, too, enter into the imputed righteousness of CHRIST "if we believe on HIM that raised up JESUS our LORD from the dead; WHO was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:24-25 pictured below).

     Paul addressed this same issue (faith in the finished work of CHRIST - HE died, was buried, and rose again) and declared that it was all in accordance with the Scriptures. The truth of the resurrection of CHRIST is crucial and central to Christianity. The Corinthian believers were challenged with this truth by these words: "IF CHRIST be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. . .And IF CHRIST be not raised, you faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (vv.14, 17). If you say you are a Christian but do not believe in JESUS' resurrection, the only person you are deceiving is yourself ! JED

Your servant in CHRIST,
Julie

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