The Resurrection Debate
For over 2,000 years now people have been debating whether the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a foundational historical event of Christianity or a religious myth. However, when one studies the progress of the early church, the center of attention has always been the doctrine of the resurrection. This resurrection doctrine played such a key role in early Christendom that many were willing to be martyred for the faith in hope of their own personal resurrection. In a society where death was a constant reality because of persecution and the fear of death, the hope of a life after death experience was attractive to many believers in the first century.
In fact, what we have come to believe about First Corinthians 15:3-8 appears to be some sort of a creed reflecting an earlier oral tradition of the Church that Paul is reciting to his readers rather than an original passage composed by Paul himself. Also, a careful look at the passage reveals a few lines of support indicating this theory. Paul opens the passage stating that he had "delivered" to his readers something that he had "received." In other words, Paul is claiming his authority to speak these words, using technical rabbinic terms, indicating he's passing along what is called "holy tradition". He further does a systematic thesis to describe the series of events as he comprehends them.
So for the first twenty or thirty years, the oral tradition that the early church leaders embraced, who were it fact eyewitnesses, was the death, burial, and resurrection doctrine of Jesus Christ. This foundational doctrine shaped church polity for the next few centuries and became integrated with the now popular holiday known as Easter.
The Celebration of Easter as the ceremonial date of the Resurrection was an important part of worship by the end of the second century. But there had been disputes over the exact date of the Easter observance between the Eastern and Western Churches respectively. The East which were the Greek speaking churches and the West, which were the Latin speaking Churches, differed on the date respectfully. The East wanted the celebration to be on a weekday because early Christians observed "Passover" every year on the 14th of Nisan, the month based on the lunar calendar. But, the West wanted the celebration to be observed always on Sunday regardless of the date, because Jesus rose on the first day of the week. It really became an important technical issue for the Church.
The Council of Nicaea in 325, A.D. was convened to address this problem among other issues. The question of the date of Easter was problematic and needed a resolution that would unify the Church. The council decided that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. But adjusting the date of the Equinox was still a strong issue for the Church. The Alexandrians, noted for their rich knowledge in astronomical calculations were given the assignment. It was decided that March 21st would be the perfect date for the spring equinox.
The dating of Easter today follows the same formula in the Western churches. The observance starts on the first day of the full moon that occurs on or following the spring equinox on March 21st, and it became a movable feast between March 21st and April 25th every year. This year oddly enough, both the East and the West will celebrate Easter on the same date, April 24th.
Generally in the East, most churches still observe Easter according to the date of the Jewish Passover festival. Regardless of what date we celebrate our Lord's vicarious death, the fact is that the bodily resurrection is both a physical and scientific fact of history. Jesus was a real historical man that lived and died over two millenniums ago, yet there is no trace of His DNA on this planet.
The foundation of Christianity rests on the Faithful acceptance of this truth. So while we focus on getting the world to believe in salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, internally we argue over minor points of accuracy. I propose this year, we settle the Resurrection Debate. It doesn't matter when just that it happened. Let's put away our need for clarity and trust our dependence on Faith and hope of the soon return of Jesus Christ.
One cannot disprove it, only believe it. One cannot debate it, only accept it. Soon we shall see Jesus in all His glory. No wonder Jesus stated no one will know the day or the hour when He returns(Mark 13:32) . We can't even agree on the day He died and rose again; how are we going to know when He returns? Will He come in one of our many time zones? Will the rapture or resurrection occur in the East or West? Will it be day in the Eastern hemisphere or the Western hemisphere? Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Dennis M. Golphin
doctordmg@gmail.com
