sarkakaiaima

The title for this short series of blogs could be taken to imply that there is a simple and short means of identifying exactly what is the “ultimate purpose of the resurrection.” If you, the reader, thought this was the case, I think you would be half correct. For I have proposed what I think is the straightforward and simple end goal of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ: To make it possible for our whole selves (including our bodies) to be united with him spiritually and to receive all the fullness of God’s gifts and thus be able to serve him in the way he intended when he created human beings.       However, the writers of Scripture tell us that this end goal can only be reached through a process. That is, God in Jesus Christ had to go through a process of suffering, dying and being raised back to life. And we who believe, through the engagement of our wills, must go through a process by which we abide in our Lord, the Vine, and receive all we nee...

I do not know much about agriculture or how to grow plants or trees for food. Frankly, this is something I have never had any interest in. However, the Lord used an agricultural metaphor as one of his primary metaphors to describe how believers relate to him. Namely, that he is heavenly Vine and we are branches connected to him (John 15:1-8). So a city boy like myself will need to learn something about this and think about the implications of what God is seeking to teach. Now that I have admitted my ignorance of nearly all things related to horticulture I will attempt some theological reflection. The vine grows in the ground and the branches which are connected to it, on which the fruit appears, must remain connected to serve their purpose. In some sense then the ground represents God, as Christ is “in” God the Father. “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30, NLT) Thus, if we are “in” the Vine (Christ) then we can receive the nutrients from the Vine to live and bear “fruit” fo...

I have noticed for some time that in the New Testament the death (on the cross) of our Lord Jesus and his resurrection are (almost) always referred to together. The only exception I can recall is Paul’s elaboration on the meaning of the cross (1 Corinthians 2). Yet even in that portion of the letter, the careful reader will understand, the resurrection of Christ is not absent from Paul’s thought—for he writes about it elsewhere in the letter. It appears that he was focusing on his own preaching of the cross of Christ in order to counter the Corinthians’ tendency toward arrogance and pride in themselves and what they took to be their superior spiritual experience. I would suggest that in the minds of many persons who do affirm faith in Christ there is a split between the two historical events. Mainly Christians tend to think, based upon what I have read and heard people say, that it is Christ’s death that saves us and the resurrection from the dead is a kind of necessary consequence...