W. Ross Hastings - The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Exploring Its Theological Significance and Ongoing Relevance

Christians everywhere value the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead two thousand years ago. Often they do so because they have heard that it is a historic fact and therefore a sound foundation for their faith. The first chapter of this book certainly confirms all of this to be true. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best-attested facts in history. Many books have been written on this theme. This book, however, is not really about that. It is not apologetics. Rather, it is theology. It answers the question, So what? What did and what does the resurrection mean? What does it mean for God? For Jesus? For humanity? For creation? For science? For the arts?

I recently traveled in a small plane piloted by my bonus-son Brandon Carrillo. When I told him what this book was going to be aboutthat we know and value the fact that Jesus rose from the dead but that we dont often think deeply about its meaninghe said, You mean its like the buttons on the cockpit of my plane? You cant just flick one of them on without knowing what it does, what its going to do to the engine or the wings. You have to know its meaning. Exactly! I responded. We Christians flick the switch of the resurrection because we know we have to believe it (Rom. 10:9) or because it makes for credible witness to our faith, but we often dont know its meaning, all that it has done, what it continues to do now, for us and for creation.

Chapter 1 briefly revisits the question of the historicity of the resurrection, emphasizing that it was a bodily event and looking at the distinct emphases of the Gospel writers. Chapters 26 as a whole focus on what the resurrection has accomplishedthat is, what it means for our salvation . Chapter 2 begins the exposition of the meaning or theological significance of the resurrection by exploring the question, What does the resurrection have to do with the atonement, our salvation, and, in particular, our regeneration and our justification? Chapter 3 asks the question, What does the resurrection of the person of Christ and his personal history have to do with our history, and so with our salvation? This chapter focuses on the significance of the resurrection for three great themes of the Christian tradition: Christs participation in humanity, recapitulation, and the Christus Victor (Christ the Victor) model of the atonement. Chapter 4 asks the pertinent question, What does the resurrection have to do with our actual transformation as personsthat is, our progressive sanctification? This chapter includes a discussion of the relationship between justification and sanctification as theosis , or deification, a term that has been used for centuries to speak of our transformation to become like God in character as a result of being in union with Christ. Chapter 5 moves to the question, What does the resurrection of Jesus have to do with our vocation or mission as humans, as the church, and as individual Christians? In light of who Jesus is as resurrected in a body and as the last Adam, we will gain a sense of the integral depth and width of what mission really is, including the role that our everyday work plays. Chapter 6 moves on from consideration of what the resurrection means for us in the kingdom that has come to ask the question, What does the resurrection mean for the kingdom when it is fully come? What is the future of Christians after we die, or when Christ returns? This chapter involves discussion of the glorification of the believer, bodily resurrection, and what we can know about resurrected bodies in light of Jesuss postresurrection body.