COLUMN: Think Again – Why the resurrection matters

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/03/2024 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s an old saying that when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. It’s a pithy way to remind ourselves that some things are more important than others.

The same is true in matters of faith. If I’m asked to explain Christianity to someone, I’m not going to start by giving my opinion about how to properly interpret the book of Revelation. Instead, I’m going to focus on something much more fundamental.

In Acts 17:22-34 the Apostle Paul found himself in Athens where he was surrounded by people who had never heard about God or creation. Unlike his earlier visits to the Jewish synagogues, he couldn’t begin by showing how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures. Any truth claims he made would no doubt be viewed with considerable skepticism by the Athenians.

To get the attention of his audience, Paul began by establishing a common point of reference. He noted an altar to an unknown God and said he would reveal that God to them. Then Paul informed his listeners that there was only one God who had created the heavens and the earth.

With this point established, Paul noted that people naturally seek after this true God, as evidenced by the Greek poet who said that we are God’s offspring. This was Paul’s segue into the need for all people to repent of their sins. Furthermore, a future judgment would be carried out by a righteous man appointed by God.

Now if you were an Athenian, you’d likely wonder what evidence Paul could possibly have for such a dramatic claim. No doubt anticipating this objection, Paul boldly stated that this was proven “to all by raising him [Jesus] from the dead.”

The Athenians were shocked by this statement, as evidenced by the fact that some Athenians mocked Paul. After all, people don’t naturally rise from the dead. However, Paul got their attention since some Athenians asked to hear more about his message. Some even become Christian believers.

It’s important to note that Paul staked the entire truth of his gospel presentation on the reality of the physical resurrection of Jesus. He did this not only with the Athenians, but with the Jews when he visited their synagogues. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Everything centred on the resurrection of Jesus.

The remarkable thing about Christianity is that it is the only major world religion that stakes its entire veracity on an empirical claim that could be falsified. If it could be shown that Jesus did not rise from the dead, the entire faith collapses. Without Jesus’ resurrection, there would have been no first century church, no bold martyrs, and no New Testament.

In other words, the early Christians could have been stopped in their tracks if the resurrection was disproven. Had the Jewish or Roman authorities at any point produced the body of Jesus, the entire Christian movement would have collapsed. The fact they never did so tells us that they couldn’t produce the body, which means Jesus was no longer in the tomb.

Simply put, the bodily resurrection of Jesus is of first importance to the Christian faith. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the early Christians foolishly died for a lie.

Easter is the most important holiday for Christians because it reminds us of what our faith is based upon. We believe in Jesus because he is the Son of God who rose from the tomb and conquered death.

This is only true if the resurrection is true.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and a Steinbach city councillor. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.