It was an astounding claim: that a man who had suffered a violent and shameful death and lay three days in a tomb now was alive and about. He had arisen notwithstanding efforts by the Roman governor Pilate [whose name has been discovered engraved on an ancient stone in Caesarea] to secure his tomb: with an official seal, threats, and even armed guards! For centuries, opponents of Christianity have attempted plausibly to deny this, the central doctrine of Christianity.
However, there is no rational explanation as to why his dispirited band of fishermen, common laborers, and two or three of what we would call "professionals " should illegally conspire to concoct so extraordinary a story as the resurrection of Jesus. They paid for their claims with their lives, and no one was able to dispute successfully what the early Christians saw.
Further, we have written records of what happened. These fragments date from about the time the events are said to have taken place, proving that the Bible is a contemporary record of the events it describes.
It is unreasonable to think that anything happened to the body of Jesus except what the disciples claimed and evidently believed, as unprecedented as that was: Jesus had arisen from the dead and ascended into heaven forty days after teaching and confirming his resurrection to his friends.
What does this historical event mean, however? Apart from its meaning, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth might be just another amazing unsolved mystery. After all, a man named Ripley made a decent living gathering "Believe It or Not" events and recounting them in books and museums. How do we know that the resurrection of Jesus was not just another unsolved mystery of life? What difference would it make today, twenty centuries later, if someone in ancient Judea happened to come to life after being dead and buried? After all, many strange claims in history have been made.
The answer to this question is found in the words which Jesus taught, both by Himself and through his apostles. The answer is found in the life He lived and taught us to live. The answer is found in what He taught this world was all about.
The meaning of the resurrection of Jesus is that death is not the final victor. People wonder about life after death, and the meaning of life, which ends after so short a time. Why do people die? Is there any way to conquer death? Why do we fear death? If we do not fear death, should we? What must we do to be saved from death and whatever lies beyond the grave?
The early disciples traveled far and wide to spread the good news that in Christ Jesus God was making reconciliation of men and women with God through His resurrection. Jesus and His disciples taught and wrote that mankind needs to be reconciled to God because of our sins. He explained why people act and react the way they do. Jesus offered forgiveness for sins to all those who believe upon him. The reconciliation would come about if people would repent of sin. Obviously, however, first we need to believe that we are sinners.
Paul, the apostle, spoke these words to philosophers at a forum on Mars Hill in Athens in the first century. But, what does it mean to repent? Why should people repent? Of what do they need to repent?
Repentance means to be deeply sorrowful for wrongdoing, and to turn around to do something more worthwhile. The apostle Paul wrote to early Christians in Thessalonica (a town in northern Greece) and said their reputation for repentance was well known. He said that they had "turned from worship of idols to serve the living and true God." This turnaround is called repentance.
But few in the western world today worship literal idols made of stone or gold. Of what do most of us need to repent? The answer to this question is found in the law of God. God has summarized His law in ten commandments. The commandments may be numbered in several ways, but the Scriptures make plain that all morality may be itemized in ten areas of importance. (Exodus 34:28) These are:
For violations of this standard of morality, we all need to repent.
Repentance is like one side of a coin, however, the other side being faith. We cannot truly repent unless we put our trust in some authority beyond ourselves. To have faith involves committing in trust to someone or something worth trusting. Having faith is compared in the Bible to drinking, and eating, and breathing. It is a natural and real thing, but it is intangible. Repentance and faith may not be noisy, but they always produce a change.
For centuries, people have expressed their faith by "creeds," which are named from the Latin word, "credo," or, "I believe." This is my creed:
I am a Christian. I believe a personal God made the world and everything it contains. I believe that people have offended this Holy God of heaven and need to be reconciled to Him. The good news, however, is that God has made that possible, when we could not. The Bible teaches that sickness and death are the fruit of sin, though God is not petty and evil afflicts both unbelievers and believers because all have sinned against God. I believe that all the misery in the world is evidence of the truth of the Bible's teaching about sin, death, and divine retribution, though God sometimes allows evil to come upon His favorite children, both because they are unworthy of perfect bliss and because God uses adversity to teach us important lessons. However, the Bible promises that someday all who trust in Him will enjoy relief from all suffering and pain.
I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Eternal God and the Only One who can reconcile us to God. I have faith in Him which faith is, itself, a gift from God. Not everyone called a Christian is right with God, but Jesus is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life. I believe the historical evidence is convincing that Jesus lived, died, and actually arose from the dead.
British literary critic C.S. Lewis has written in his book Mere Christianity:
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that [alternative] open to us
I am a Calvinist. But just what does that mean? To many, the term "Calvinist " conjures up all sorts of negative images. To some, to be a Calvinist means to be a fatalist. "What will be, will be" is the philosophy of some. However, Calvinism is not fatalism, because every true Calvinist trusts that events are controlled not by an impersonal force of destiny but by a living person. (To be more precise, I believe God exists as three distinct Persons, but in a way no human can understand He is One Being. There is no analogy to Him satisfactory to human thought, so we use the word Trinity to describe Him. He is far more complex than we can imagine, and He has all power and all knowledge. He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. He is God so, by definition, He is unlike anyone else.)
To others, to be a Calvinist means to be without compassion. To believe in the doctrines of Calvinism suggests to some that you are content that some never make their peace with God. However, every true Calvinist shares the sentiment of Paul the apostle who said that, if it were possible, he could wish himself accursed in order that those he loved would be reconciled with God.
What is true Calvinism? Simply put, a Calvinist is a Christian who believes that the God of the Bible is in control of all the affairs of mankind, and that every detail that occurs was part of His eternal decrees, including those who among us will believe. He ordained whatever comes to pass, including whether or not we will receive Him, and all things work together for good to those that love Him; those who are the "called ones" according to His purpose. Not a sparrow falls, nor a hair of our head is lost, apart from the Heavenly Father. This world view has become known as "Calvinism" because John Calvin, a sixteenth century preacher in Geneva, Switzerland, wrote some of the clearest explanations of this truth ever committed to paper. The view might as well be known as "Lutheranism" because Martin Luther also believed the same doctrine. In fact, Luther considered his greatest work a treatise known as "The Bondage of the Will."
I am also a Baptist. Most people think that to be a Calvinist you must be a Presbyterian. However, the doctrines of Calvinism have been the established doctrines of Episcopal, Baptist, and Reformed churches around the world for centuries. Not just Presbyterians are Calvinists, but the Presbyterian churches and their confession have been associated with Calvinism as much as any other.
I believe that Jesus taught his followers to express their faith by the symbol of immersion in water, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Spirit. Therefore, children too young to express faith in Christ may not be baptized. I believe God wants disciples of Christ Jesus to join together in congregations to worship him, and that those congregations should be governed locally by leaders chosen by the congregation from among its members. Therefore, any association of local church congregations should be entirely voluntary and local churches should remain independent to govern themselves.
Government and government leaders should not interfere in the work of the church. Similarly, the church must respect the role of the government and should not become involved in partisan politics, except to teach how the Bible enlightens us about political issues. God has not taught us about things like a flat tax, the United Nations, and the role of Social Security or welfare. He wants us to make wise decisions about such things based upon general principles in Scripture. Churches should be lighthouses of kindness to all, service to one another, and worship of God. They should not be political organizations.
Click the highlighted words for one of the most lucid essays on the topic of Calvinism written in our time, by one of the great theologians of this age, J.I. Packer. If you read it carefully, it should help to explain more clearly what it means to be a Calvinist. It is, in a sense, a book review. However, for those who have never read the book it concerns, the Essay is a valuable contribution to theological discussion by itself. Read it carefully, and consider whether the historic doctrines of Calvinism do not really best summarize what the Bible has to say.
I hope to put web links here about matters which I think should be provocative.
Here are some interesting links:
SOME DENOMINATIONS:
Orthodox Presbyterian Church,
Presbyterian Church in America,
Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanted),
Reformed Church in the United States;
Free Reformed Churches of North America;
The Free Church of Scotland,
Bible Presbyterian Church,
Brethren in Christ, and
Doctrine of the
United Brethren in Christ
Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod; Association of Reformed Baptist; Primitive Baptist sites: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5, and
6.
United Reformed Church, Protestant Reformed Church, Presbyterian Reformed Church.
History of the Churches of God.