The God who Raises us from the Dead

“We believe…in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” These are the closing words of the Apostle’s Creed, words which Christians have confessed throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, many believers today have misconceptions concerning the future resurrection. Many think of everlasting life as a spiritual out-of-body experience. Others understand the future resurrection in isolation from other key truths, such as the doctrine of creation or the doctrine of God. In the next three articles, I will expound on the doctrine of the resurrection of the body unto eternal life. Indeed, our bodily resurrection is a fitting topic following Easter Sunday, when we celebrated our risen Lord. The doctrine of resurrection has three overarching aspects: 

(1) The Trinity: Our resurrection is grounded in the work of the Triune God
(2) Creation: Our resurrection of humans has ramifications for the rest of creation. 
(3) Ethics: Our resurrection impacts how we ought to live. 

Today, we will see that our bodily resurrection is inextricably bound to the work of the Triune God. According to the theologian John Webster, the Holy Trinity is “the ruler and judge over all Christian doctrines”¹ and is “foundational and pervasive”² in all of theology. In other words, the Trinity impacts everything. This sweeping claim is not merely Webster’s scholarly opinion; it is the clear testimony of Scripture. The Trinity is intricately woven through all biblical doctrines, including the resurrection of the body unto eternal life. God will raise the bodies of those who have been united to Christ through his Spirit. 

Scripture repeatedly describes God the Father as the one who gives resurrection. For “the Father raises the dead and gives them life.” (John 5:21) The Father is the source of all life, both in the present creation and in the future re-creation. He is the one who grants spiritual resurrection in this present age, as “he has caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) The Father not only causes us to be born again spiritually, but he also promises to give us future glorified bodies, as “God gives it a body as he has chosen.” (1 Corinthians 15:38) Thus, the doctrine of bodily resurrection traces back to God the Father as the giver of all life, whether spiritual or physical. How then does God accomplish this resurrection? By what means does he grant it? God grants bodily resurrection through what theologians call the diving missions: the sending of the Son and the Spirit. 

The first divine mission is the sending of the Son, the incarnation. When Christ came into the world, he accomplished the will of his Father to grant life to those who believe. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40) The mission of the incarnate Son will result in the final resurrection of believers. Furthermore, the incarnation connects to the doctrine of bodily resurrection by showing that the blessedness of believers is not restricted to the spiritual realm. As Bavink explains, the New Testament often speaks of God’s kingdom as “internal and invisible,” and construes future blessedness spiritually as “being always with the Lord.”³ However, this blessing must have an earthly dimension as well because “the New Testament teaches the incarnation of the Word and the physical resurrection of Christ.”⁴ The Son’s incarnation demonstrates that God’s ultimate plan for salvation involves human bodies in the physical world. 

The aspect of the Son’s mission that most directly impacts the topic at hand is his resurrection on the third day. “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39) This truth of Christ’s bodily resurrection is intimately connected with the truth that believers are united to Christ. For instance, Saint Augustine writes, “He was conformed to us by assuming mortality, we shall be conformed to Him by immortality; and this indeed is connected with the resurrection of the body.”⁵ Additionally, Saint Thomas Aquinas appeals to the biblical imagery of a body. “The members should be conformed to the head. Now our Head lives and will live eternally in body and soul.” As a result, “men who are His members will live in body and soul.”⁶ Scripture confirms the logic of these old theologians. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5) He is the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” the “firstborn from the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:20, Colossians 1:18). The Son truly rose from the dead, and he ensures that all of his people will follow closely behind him. 

The final crucial aspect of the Son’s mission is his second coming. The union between believers and Christ will reach its culmination upon his return. Though Christians are truly united with Christ, they have not yet seen him or been perfected like him. For “what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (John 3:2) The phrase “we shall be like him” refers to both our inner moral perfection and our outward bodily perfection. As Wayne Grudem explains, “This statement is true not only in an ethical sense but also in terms of our physical bodies.”⁷ Christ’s resurrection is the first fruit, and his return is the fully ripened harvest. At the harvest of the last day, Christ “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:21) Thus, Bavink correctly notes that Scripture “expects his physical return at the end of time., and immediately thereafter has in view the physical resurrection of all human beings, especially that of believers.”⁸ The Son accomplishes the resurrection of Christians through his incarnation, resurrection, and return. In this way, his mission fulfills the plan of God to give life to the dead. 

The second divine mission by which God grants resurrection is the sending of the Spirit. The Spirit began to indwell believers on the day of Pentecost, when God poured out his Spirit upon the apostles, showing many signs and wonders. However, Scripture paints a much broader picture which connects the sending of the Holy Spirit and the resurrection. One of the most vivid portraits occurs in the Old Testament, in a vision of the prophet Ezekiel. The Spirit brought Ezekiel to a valley full of bones. The bones were “very dry.” (Ezekiel 37:2) They were not mostly dead; they were all dead. God’s Spirit then instructed Ezekiel to prophesy over the dead bones, saying, “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6) Hebrew has the same word for breath and spirit (רוּחַ), so when God causes breath to enter the bones, it is not far-fetched to conclude that the very Spirit of God enters the bones. 

Now Ezekiel’s vision does not explicitly name the Holy Spirit as the New Testament does. Like a rushing wind, the Spirit’s presence is unseen, yet his effects are evident: the dry bones receive flesh and skin and breath. It is important to remember the context of this vision. The dry bones refer to “the house of Israel,” (Ezekiel 37:11), and this prophecy is most directly about Israel’s return from exile. Nonetheless, it also foreshadows the resurrection of all believers. God concludes the vision by declaring “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37:14) Hence God connects the promise of the Spirit with the promise of resurrection. The New Testament fills out this connection, teaching that the Spirit acts as a guarantor. He is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” (Ephesians 1:14) The indwelling Spirit ensures the Christian will receive a glorified body on the last day. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Christ, thereby applying to believers what Christ accomplishes in his incarnation, resurrection, and return. 

In conclusion, the work of the Trinity in the resurrection can be summarized in one verse: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11) God the Father has resurrected his Son, and believers are united to the risen Son by the indwelling Spirit, who guarantees our future, glorious, bodily resurrection. Since Christians are filled with the Spirit and are members of Christ, the same God who rose Christ will also give them life from the dead. Hence, when we examine the doctrine of bodily resurrection, the work of the Triune God is on full display, leading us back to worship the God who grants us new life.

1. John Webster, “Rector et Iudex Super Omnia Genera Doctrinarum? The Place of the Doctrine of Justification,” in God Without Measure, Vol. 1 (London: T&T Clark, 2016), 159.  ↩︎
2. John Webster, God Without Measure, Vol. 1, 159 ↩︎
3. Herman Bavink, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), 768. ↩︎
4. Herman Bavink, Reformed Dogmatics, 768.  ↩︎
5. Augustine, City of God, Bk. 20, Ch. 16.  ↩︎
6. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Q. 75, Article 1 ↩︎
7. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 833.  ↩︎
8. Herman Bavink, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), 768. ↩︎