Seeing Light

A Critical Enquiry into the Origins of Resurrection Faith

Peter Gant

• Publisher: Sacristy Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781789590494
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Christians assert that God raised Jesus from the dead, but no-one outside the Christian faith-community takes them seriously. For most people, the resurrection of Jesus is a non-event. A story or a myth perhaps, but nothing more.

This book tackles the problem of the resurrection head-on. As a scientist, the author is committed to a modern post-Enlightenment worldview. He rejects belief in miraculous divine intervention andargues that the true nature of historical events can only be established by the rigorous interrogation of sources.

Thehistorical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is subjected to detailed scrutiny, with the greatest weight being assigned to the earliest and most reliable testimony.

The picture that emerges is sharply at variance with conventional Christian understandings. What is usually regarded as the "Jewish background" becomes the foreground. The Gospels, previously central to any discussion of the resurrection, are only one source among many that give an account of faith in the risen Christ.Very early traditions embedded in the earliest Christian texts move centre-stage. Resurrection faith emerges when visions of Jesus, already exalted in heaven, begin to interact with theological faith-interpretations of the "Jesus event".

The author emphasizes that rejecting belief in the resurrection as a historical event does not undermine belief in non-physical realities. Nor does it exclude the possibility of revelation being delivered through historical events freighted with intrinsic significance.

Chapter 7

The Earliest Resurrection Testimony

To investigate the earliest form and content of emergent belief in the resurrection and heavenly exaltation of Jesus may seem an ambitious undertaking, given that he apparently died in 30 or 33 CE and that the earliest of the four Gospels—none of whose authors were eye-witnesses of the events they describe—was probably not written until sometime around 70 CE. (The other Gospels were written towards the end of the first century, although they contain earlier traditions.)

The earliest historical testimony that we have is embedded in the letters of Paul, the first of which was written in 50–51 CE, some seventeen years after Jesus’ death and some twenty years before the earliest of the Gospels. This embedded material includes what appear to be early hymns or hymnic fragments and brief formulae (possibly primitive creeds and confessions of faith) apparently antedating the documents in which they are now located. Some of these fragments can be identified with reasonable certainty. We also have information bearing on the early worship practices of Jesus’ followers. When this evidence is set alongside first-hand, personal testimony referring to experiences almost contemporaneous with the death of Jesus, significant conclusions emerge.

Resurrection formulae

Scattered throughout Paul’s letters and the works of later New Testament writers are brief formulae or affirmations which appear to have been part of the preaching and tradition of the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus after his death (at this stage they were not yet called Christians). These formulae and affirmations are of two basic types. Statements of the first type make no mention of Jesus’ death; they refer only to his resurrection. Statements of the second type are based on an explicit antithesis of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Examples of the first type include:

. . . his Son . . . whom he raised from the dead—Jesus . . .

1 Thessalonians 1:10

. . . Christ has been raised from the dead . . .

1 Corinthians 15:20

. . . we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us . . .

2 Corinthians 4:14

. . . declared to be the Son of God with power . . . by resurrection from the dead . . .

Romans 1:4

. . . him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead . . .

Romans 4:24

. . . just as Christ was raised from the dead . . .

Romans 6:4

. . . God raised him from the dead . . .

Romans 10:9

. . . God the Father, who raised him from the dead . . .

Galatians 1:1

Somewhat later examples of the same formula include:

God . . . raised him from the dead . . .

Ephesians 1:20

God, who raised him from the dead . . .

Colossians 2:12

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead . . .

2 Timothy 2:8

God, who raised him from the dead . . .

1 Peter 1:21

Similar formulaic statements later appear in the Acts of the Apostles in sermons which Peter and Paul are represented as having preached at a very early date, in the first instance only a few weeks after the death of Jesus:

“. . . God raised him up, having freed him from death . . .”

Acts 2:24

“. . . the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.”

Acts 3:15

“. . . by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 17:31

Early examples of the type of saying in which Jesus’ death and resurrection are explicitly opposed include:

. . . we believe that Jesus died and rose again . . .

1 Thessalonians 4:14

Christ died . . . and . . . was raised . . .

1 Corinthians 15:3–4

[Jesus] . . . was handed over to death . . . and was raised . . .

Romans 4:25

. . . Christ died and lived again . . .

Romans 14:9

It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised . . .

Romans 8:34

Taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that statements such as “God raised Jesus from the dead.” were used by the followers of Jesus as summary affirmations of belief—or “faith statements”—at a very early stage. They were in existence before Paul wrote any of his letters, and they almost certainly originated in the forties or even the thirties of the Common Era. These brief, formulaic statements are the earliest evidence we have, not just for belief in the resurrection of Jesus, but for the existence of Jesus himself as a historical, human figure.

The origin and purpose of these sayings is uncertain. One possibility is that they originated in a liturgical or worship setting. The titles given to Jesus in sayings of this type—“Christ”, “Lord”, and “Son of God”—are now almost certainly significant, but a distinction has to be made between titles applied to Jesus in the underlying tradition and titles that may have been added to a saying by the author of the letter in which the formula appears. Analysis suggests that in the basic formula it was always “Christ” or “Jesus Christ” who was said to have died and been raised.

As indicated in the previous chapter, there are complex issues surrounding the attribution of the Hebrew title “Messiah” (Christos in Greek) to Jesus during his lifetime. Nevertheless, Jesus was undoubtedly regarded as “Messiah” by his followers at a very early stage following his death and the initial emergence of resurrection faith. The fact that the title would have had its full relevance only in a Jewish rather than a Hellenistic environment suggests that the resurrection “faith formula” originated among the earliest Aramaic-speaking Jewish followers of Jesus, probably in the form of a sentence such as “God raised Jesus from the dead,” perhaps coupled with the declaration that “Jesus is the Messiah.” It was probably among the Greek-speaking Jewish followers of Jesus (the “Hellenists” of Acts 6:1) that the two clauses first became amalgamated, thereby creating statements such as “God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.” These basic statements became freighted at an early stage with additional understandings, including the understanding that the death and resurrection of Jesus were “for us” and “in accordance with the scriptures”.

The uncertainty concerning the precise circumstances in which the designations “Christ”, “Son of God”, and “Lord” first became attached to Jesus is less important than was once supposed. It is now clear that the relevant concepts and usages were available—and possibly linked with one another—in some circles within late Second Temple Aramaic-speaking Judaism. The concept of a supreme, quasi-divine being having lordship over all other heavenly powers was already available. In the Qumran scrolls there are examples of the Aramaic term mar functioning as a substitute for the divine name YHWH in much the same way as the equivalent Greek word kyrios substitutes for the name YHWH in the Septuagint. There is also evidence in the Qumran scrolls and in 4 Ezra suggesting that the concepts of the Messiah, Lordship, and the Son of God were already connected in Jewish exegesis of 2 Samuel 7:14, Psalm 2:7, and—possibly—Psalm 110:1. Another Qumran scroll apparently depicts the figure of an exalted human or heavenly warrior-king who exercises messianic functions and is designated “Son of God” (see Chapter 4 above). Although the worship of Jesus as supremely exalted cosmic Lord may have reached its full fruition only later in the Greek-speaking Gentile church, the acclamation, invocation, and veneration of Jesus as risen and exalted Lord appears to have been a feature of the devotional life of the early Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians just as much as it was of Paul’s later Hellenistic Gentile churches.

Christological hymns

In addition to the basic, formulaic assertion that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, embedded in several New Testament texts are a number of probably pre-Pauline, Christian hymns, or hymnic fragments. These focus not on the resurrection of Jesus but on his heavenly exaltation. A number of criteria have been proposed for the identification of these pieces. They include the use of a rhythmical style, a vocabulary differing significantly from that of the context in which the piece is set, and the presence of christological reflection expressed in exalted and liturgical language. A number of these early hymns and hymn-like fragments have been identified in the letters (sometimes called epistles) known as Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews, and 1 Timothy. The prologue to the Gospel of John may also be an early Christian (or even pre-Christian) hymn. Because these fragments almost certainly antedate their present settings, they provide important information concerning the formation and development of early Christian thinking, including resurrection belief, Christology, and worship practices.

The most important of these hymns and fragments is located in the letter to the Philippians. Paul is exhorting his readers not to be selfish. They are to put the interests of others before their own. He quotes the example of Jesus:

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:6–11

There are a number of reconstructions based on different arrangements of lines and verses. Some allow for the possibility that the phrases “even death on a cross”, “in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” and “to the glory of God the Father” may be Paul’s own additions. One suggestion is that the hymn originally comprised three strophes (or distinct, balanced sections) and that it might have been sung or recited in early Christian worship. For example:

Who being in the form of God

Did not claim godly treatment

But he emptied himself

Taking the form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of men

And being found in shape as a man

He humbled himself

Becoming obedient unto death.

Therefore God super-exalted him

And gave him the supreme name

So that at Jesus’ name every knee should bow

And every tongue confess “Jesus Christ is Lord”.73

Philippians 2:6–11 has generated an enormous specialist literature. There are complex stylistic and linguistic and interpretive issues, including the unresolved question of whether there was an Aramaic original underlying the present Greek text. Reasons given for regarding the passage as a self-contained entity include: the logical structure proceeding step by step to the eventual climax; the parallelism; and other linguistic and stylistic features. There are a number of problems associated with the translation and interpretation of the hymn. The meanings of the Greek phrases translated into English as “in the form of God”, “equality with God as a thing to be exploited”, “taking the form of a slave”, and “being found in human form” are all disputed. The Greek term harpagmon, translated as “exploited”, “grasped”, or “claimed”, poses particularly thorny questions.

The hymn’s apparent attribution of pre-existence to Jesus is striking. It seems to be implied that Jesus already existed in heaven prior to his birth as a human being. Although he was a pre-existent heavenly being, Jesus then declined to cling on to his heavenly status. He willingly emptied himself of his heavenly attributes and assumed human form and human likeness, with all that this implies in terms of contingent being.

There is an alternative interpretation of the hymn that avoids the idea of pre-existence. The premise is that from the outset the hymn is talking about Jesus as a human being here on earth, albeit a man of unique godliness, destined for immortality. According to this alternative interpretation, Jesus voluntarily emptied himself not by coming from heaven to earth, but here on earth by embracing servitude, suffering, and death, prior to his eventual vindication by heavenly hyper-exaltation. The hymn, it is suggested, is a theological story, the central theme of which is the vindication of a righteous man who has suffered unjustly. Jesus is a kind of Adam-in-reverse. Both Adam and Jesus are made in the image of God. But whereas Adam was disobedient and sought to exalt himself, Jesus was obedient, even though his obedience led to his death. Adam’s disobedience resulted in his disgrace. Jesus by his obedience has been hyper-exalted in heaven.

On either interpretation, the primary significance of the story is its depiction of Jesus’ post-mortem exaltation. Jesus died, and yet he is now alive with God in heaven, highly exalted and appointed to be universal Lord of all. Other notable features of the story include the lack of any mention of resurrection, the absence of any eschatological perspective, and the awarding to Jesus of the “name that is above every name”.

The hymn refers to Christ Jesus being “in the form of God”, but it offers no explanation as to what this might mean. Another early christological hymn embedded in the letter to the Colossians is much more explicit, both in its declaration of pre-existence and in its explanation of the relationship between Jesus and God. The author reminds his readers that God has rescued them from the power of darkness and brought them into the kingdom of his beloved Son. He goes on to say of Jesus:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Note about quotations
• The Problem Exposed
• Resurrection and Immortality
• Angels and Angelomorphic Transformation
• The Heavenly Redeemer
• Jesus’ Vision of the Future
• Estimations of Jesus
• The Earliest Resurrection Testimony
• Resurrection Belief: Twenty Years On
• Resurrection Belief: Later Narratives and Stories
• The Resurrection as History: What Actually Happened
• The Resurrection as Interpretation and Revelation
• Suggested Further Reading
• Notes