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Arguing Over A Dead Man – Acts 25
Arguing Over A Dead Man – Acts 25
The Jewish leaders had Paul arrested and demanded that the Roman authorities put him to death. The Romans were left trying to figure out what all the commotion was about. Festus described the situation: "“When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive” (Acts 25:18-19).
As naive as Festus’s summary is, it does strike at the very heart of the greatest debate in the history of the world: Is Jesus DEAD or ALIVE?
Jesus lived. Many have hijacked the discussion from the very beginning by arguing that there never was the man ‘Jesus’. Early on in church history there was the Docetics who denied Jesus came in the flesh, arguing that a spirit being only ‘appeared’ to have a fleshly body. Later, some far removed from the actual time and events, argued that this ‘Jesus’ was a fictional character invented by early Christians.
Jesus died. Again, the debate gets hijacked when people deny that he died. This is at the root of the debate with Islam. Of course, Jesus did not arise from the dead IF he never died! It is abundantly clear that the text of our bible affirms repeatedly that Jesus died. Hence, the debate moves another step away from the issue as it now centers upon the reliability and authenticity of the bible text.
Jesus arose from the dead. Getting past these first two ‘side-tracks’ brings us to the heart of the gospel. Jesus SAID He would rise from the dead. The preaching of the apostles consistently affirmed that Jesus was raised from the dead. The Lord’s supper is a perpetual affirmation of Christian’s faith that Jesus both died, arose, and is coming again. Baptism has shown our belief in His resurrection as we are buried in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life.
If Jesus was not raised, then the whole of the New Covenant teaching becomes fruitless. As Paul said, if He was not raised then our faith is vain and we are still in our sins (read 1 Cor. 15 again!).
If however, Jesus IS raised from the dead, everything about life has changed. He is thus declared with power to be the Son of God BY such resurrection (Rom. 1:4). He was raised to glory, authority, and power. He was then made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). He became King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 17:14). He overcame all the spiritual enemies of God’s people and ensures our victory. He overcame death itself and offers us eternal resurrected life. ‘Though a man die, yet shall he live’. This is more than an intellectual debate; our eternal destiny hangs upon our answer. What is YOUR answer?
Hugh DeLong
