Resurrection as Spiritual Metaphor
By Austin Cline
Orthodox Christian doctrine holds that Jesus Christ literally rose from the dead after three days - but was that the way that Christians originally believed things happened? Many have argued that the letters from Paul, whose works pre-date the gospels, depict a spiritual and metaphorical resurrection rather than a literal rising from the dead.
Tom Harpur writes in the Toronto Star:
Paul couldn't be clearer, in his oft-quoted peroration in 1 Corinthians 15 on the resurrection of the dead, that Jesus' resurrection and hence our own one day was categorically and supremely a spiritual "event." He's so insistent on this, goes to such great lengths to expatiate upon it, and thunders it home with such eloquence that it's truly astounding how would-be Bible champions can read it and not comprehend its meaning. The entire passage is pure Platonism throughout.
Paul says plainly that this describes the resurrection of the dead, Jesus' and ours, for they are identical: "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown a natural, (or physical), body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body ... and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." In case this is not completely transparent, he then lays it down as emphatically as possible: "Now this I say ... flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption ... we shall all be changed!"
Paul, whose genuine epistles date much earlier than the Gospels, never mentions an empty tomb. Why not? He knew nothing of it. For him, the resurrection was an entirely spiritual matter. He knew nothing of the later resurrection stories in the Gospels about Jesus eating fish or walking about talking to fishermen. All of that was added as the demand for a more literalistic, made-for-the-lowest-common-denominator version imposed itself upon the original story.
How might Christianity have turned out if the focus had been not on a Jesus who rose literally from the dead but, rather, who was resurrected spiritually and metaphorically to his followers?
Resurrection as Spiritual Metaphor
By Austin Cline
Orthodox Christian doctrine holds that Jesus Christ literally rose from the dead after three days - but was that the way that Christians originally believed things happened? Many have argued that the letters from Paul, whose works pre-date the gospels, depict a spiritual and metaphorical resurrection rather than a literal rising from the dead.
Tom Harpur writes in the Toronto Star:
Paul couldn't be clearer, in his oft-quoted peroration in 1 Corinthians 15 on the resurrection of the dead, that Jesus' resurrection and hence our own one day was categorically and supremely a spiritual "event." He's so insistent on this, goes to such great lengths to expatiate upon it, and thunders it home with such eloquence that it's truly astounding how would-be Bible champions can read it and not comprehend its meaning. The entire passage is pure Platonism throughout.
Paul says plainly that this describes the resurrection of the dead, Jesus' and ours, for they are identical: "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown a natural, (or physical), body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body ... and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." In case this is not completely transparent, he then lays it down as emphatically as possible: "Now this I say ... flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption ... we shall all be changed!"
Paul, whose genuine epistles date much earlier than the Gospels, never mentions an empty tomb. Why not? He knew nothing of it. For him, the resurrection was an entirely spiritual matter. He knew nothing of the later resurrection stories in the Gospels about Jesus eating fish or walking about talking to fishermen. All of that was added as the demand for a more literalistic, made-for-the-lowest-common-denominator version imposed itself upon the original story.
How might Christianity have turned out if the focus had been not on a Jesus who rose literally from the dead but, rather, who was resurrected spiritually and metaphorically to his followers?
Resurrection as Spiritual Metaphor
