If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are more sad than anyone else.
- 1 Corinthians 15:19 (NLV)
This verse struck me as a bit odd.
In this life only, as if we have more than one life?
Of course, this is just one of many translations of this verse, but still, I had to Google it.
I found a great explanation on Bibleref dot com (spelled out to avoid the link form spamming everyone).
What would be the point of a version of Christianity in which Christ was never raised from the dead? People who do not believe in resurrection from the dead must confront this essential question. The picture is bleak. If Christ was not raised from the dead, then the gospel is false and those who teach it are liars. Those who believe it have wasted their time and are still unforgiven by God for their sin and bound for hell. Those who have already died suffer in that eternal death already.
Perhaps this group of misled Corinthians believed in annihilation of both body and spirit at death, as many in the culture believed. If so, they would have viewed the benefits of faith in Christ to be limited only to this life before absolute death. Paul begins here to reject that any such experience would be worthwhile. If our hope in Christ is a hope that ends with our physical death in this life, what a waste of time!
This lament is especially poignant for people like Paul, who suffered extreme persecution for their faith. If Jesus Christ was not literally raised from the dead, then the physical and emotional abuse Paul suffered was truly pointless. Here, again, reason and logic shine through in Christianity: if there is no life to come, it makes sense to view people who believe in it with pity. Some today do exactly that. Paul says they are right to do so—if Christ and those who follow Him are not resurrected to new life.
That makes sense, and it kind of follows that quote attributed to Albert Camus:
I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live as if there isn't and to die to find out that there is.
It really is sad when we question God’s existence in our own minds.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to share your thoughts, but please also be respectful.