IV. Of the Resurrection of Christ.
CHRIST did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, wherefore He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until He return to judge all men at the last day.
The third article, as a quick refresher, was, ” Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed that He went down into Hell.”
The fourth article is, at least to me, a no-brainer. As always, anyone is welcome to lay into it. Is this essential? Are you out of the family if you reject such a belief?
Personal note: Welcome back! I was absolutely thrilled with the response to these threads previously. Thanks for discussing! Love you folks!
Yes, essential. You don’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, you are just not a Christian. Period.
” Is this essential? Are you out of the family if you reject such a belief?”
Yes. Without the resurrection, we have no Christianity. Without His ascension, we have no promise.
Very essential–Romans 10:9-10, I Corinthians 15, et al.
Essential? Of course.
I love the brevity and yet the fullness of this article.
Christ rose from the dead.
His body(flesh, bones) – not another body.
I would like some explanation for the phrase “appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature”. What does that mean exactly?
On second thought, I do think that this phrase is missing the eyewitness testimony if the apostles and others who saw Christ after the resurrection and before the ascension. I think this is important enough that Paul mention them, even if the Apostles and Nicene creeds do not. What think ye? 🙂
Ascended unto heaven.
“and there sitteth until He return to judge all men at the last day.” He is in heaven until He returns to judge all men. Some may take “The last day” as a distinctly amil position, but I am not sure that the phrase needs to be constructed so.
Papias,
Your first question is a good one as it is a confession that carries a promise.
Christ’s resurrection body was perfect and we will receive the same perfection upon our own resurrection.
My old truck is falling apart…yesterday it died outside the shop where I was taking it to get fixed.
We replaced the broken part, but there will be more broken parts coming.
My old body is breaking down too…except when it dies it will be replaced with perfection, never to break again.
This article is primary to everything else in the faith.
I agree this one is an essential. Just curious, however, as to what others may think about those who may disagree with at least parts of this statement. Say like a full preterist who would say that the Second Coming and all associated judgment has already taken place and there is no further return of Christ to come. Can somebody be wrong on something like this and still be in the faith?
Full preterism was just an example. My question was meant to be more of a general one in regards to those who may disagree with any one or more of the details in this article.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
Appertain – “to belong or be connected as a rightful part or attribute.”
Thanks for that explanation Michael.
So the statement “and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature” – has to do with our resurrection as well?
No doubt that Christ’s resurrection and ours is connected.
But in this phrase, I am leaning more towards the idea that this statement has to do with Christs resurrected body is not just His flesh and bone – but other items as well. Certainly His memories were in place?
Besides Christ’s flesh and bone, what other things did his body consist of?
Papias,
“Some may take “The last day” as a distinctly amil position, but I am not sure that the phrase needs to be constructed so.”
I think it is imperative if you put it next to Jesus’ words in Matt 25:31-31
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
“and there sitteth until He return to judge all men at the last day.”
MLD,
I am thinking that someone will say, “Look, Christ will return and judge on the last day”, thinking that the Return and Last Day are the same day occurance. I don’t think that the statement says that or needs to have that understanding.
If I was becoming a Anglican, I would question this statement and what its saying. If its a simple Christ is in heaven until He returns to judge all men…”, then I am OK with that. if its saying that His Return is the same as the Last Day, then I am not so sure about that?
Clear as mud? 😉
“Thinking that the Return and Last Day are the same day occurrence.”
They are. 🙂
I think that is exactly what Jesus was saying in Matt 25:31-46. I don’t know how Jesus’ words can be read any differently… but that’s just me.
MLD’s number 12…..that makes sense to me. The “last day” would seem to imply that a new day is coming.
I recently finished a novel whose plot centered around the discovery of Christ’s skeleton, which disproved the Resurrection. The book was poorly written but the author did catch the responses of different groups of Christians to the news that Christ did not rise from the dead:
1. The liberals said “We told you so.” (In other words, Science is king.)
2. The moderates said “This is terrible news but we can re-examine some verses and it will be ok.” (In other words, Science is king.)
3. The “fundamentalists” (that is, true believers) said “We know Christ rose from the dead, who cares what a bunch of scientists say.” (In other words, Christ is king.)
The discovery turned out to be a hoax, by the way.
in the novel the author went to great lengths to prove the discovery was genuine by means of every scientific test known to mankind and they all came out positive for it being Christ’s grave. If such a thing were to occur in real life- if scientists “proved” they found the remains of Christ- how would you respond? I myself would ignore science and trust in Christ and the words of Scripture, just like I do regarding Creation, etc, no matter who sneers at me for believing in “antiquated mythology.”
Those of you who trust in science, watch out. Some day a scientist just might dig up some convincing bones.
Xenia, Amen!!
According to Article IV, it looks like the Anglicans who wrote this believed that Christ “there sitteth until He return to judge all men at the last day” without any kind of pre-mil partial return to the earth. It is a very amil statement but of course, everyone was amil in those days and most still are!
Well said, Xenia. I agree completely.
The Resurrection: absolutely essential!!!
Pre-mil, Amil, Milisecond, Rob and Laura Petry’s neighbor Millie, Mil Mascaras…I really don’t care anymore. Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. I care enough to know what I believe, but don’t care enough to make it a hill to die on, or cause someone else to die on, as the case may be.
I can feel myself starting to come down from the PhxP withdrawals. Good thing. I was getting cranky!
Oh…and thank goodness we’re back, cuz London was getting even crankier than me!
(insert cheshire grin smiley here)
So what’s with the descended to hell part?
Just a test run to see if this is getting thru