Paul's Theology of Resurrection in 2 Corinthians
(avg. read time: 32–65 mins.)
As with my post on theology of resurrection in Romans, a large portion of this post will concern material I have already covered, particularly since 2 Cor 4:13–5:10 is the most detailed text and attracts the most controversy. But I will add on to those observations here with what I have covered elsewhere and with what I am covering here for the first time. Also as with the Romans entry, I plan for this to be part of a book that will be last in the series, and thus my ideas about what all will be featured are not as extensively worked out.
Paul’s second canonical letter to the Corinthians is particularly interesting for exploring biblical theology of resurrection. None of the letters to Corinth, or any of his letters for that matter, are what one might properly call the “early Paul,” as even his earliest letters were written well over a decade after his encounter with the risen Jesus. As such, it is not so much that we are getting Paul’s thoughts when he is significantly older and has had more time to reflect on certain matters as compared to his other letters. Rather, what we see in 2 Corinthians is Paul responding less extensively and directly to problems in Corinth than in 1 Corinthians and providing his most extensive reflections on apostolic ministry. That ministry involves not only declaring the story of God’s eschatological action in Jesus’s crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation, but it also involves embodying that action and its fruit in the patterns of ministry.
The God Who Raises the Dead (1:9)
The thanksgiving section of this letter (1:3–11) is occupied with giving thanks to God for his consolation in the midst of affliction. The consolation he and his fellow workers receive from God in their sufferings is, in turn, what they pass on to others. This is something the author of Hebrews will describe more explicitly in terms of Jesus as the heavenly high priest (esp. 4:14–16), but Paul implies here that Christ’s own sufferings are connected with the consolation Christ brings (1:5). Naturally, this consolation is possible because Christ has already gone through his sufferings and come out the other side risen from the dead. Perseverance thus makes them better comforters/consolers to others. Moreover, it is their way of participating in the pattern of faithfulness unto death that has its end in God raising them from the dead to everlasting life. He further affirms this pattern by saying that he and his fellows suffer “for your consolation and salvation” (1:6). Their suffering does not produce salvation in the way that Christ’s literally did, but in suffering on behalf of those they minister to, Paul and his fellows become Christlike. Likewise, when Paul speaks of them sharing in his and his fellows’ sufferings, which will mean that they will share in the consolation, he is reaffirming that gospel pattern to the ministry and its fruit (1:6b–7).
The one who enables this perseverance, even when it seems that death is assured (1:8–9a) is none other than the God who raises the dead (1:9), who thereby provides the ultimate consolation for those who persevere by providing them everlasting vindication for their perseverance. That God resurrects the dead is presented as the ultimate basis for the assurance that the proclaimers will be rescued (1:10). That is, the ultimate hope is that, whether or not the apostles die, God will give them the ultimate salvation of everlasting life with him, whether that involves rescuing them from all threats of death or rescuing them out of death via resurrection. Paul and his fellow workers believe this is so because this is how God has revealed who he is: the God who raises the dead. He has revealed himself as such through raising Jesus from the dead, as the same kind of adjectival participial construction appears in 4:14 in reference specifically to Jesus. Both constructions signify how God’s raising of the dead is a characteristic or identifying action. That is, this action is especially revelatory of God. It is fitting to describe him in this way because of the assurance that the one who has promised is faithful and will do it. It is also fitting in light of all that Paul had previously told his audience in Corinth about the inherent link of Jesus’s resurrection with our resurrection. Therefore, the God who raised Jesus from the dead can be fittingly called “the God who raises the dead.”
As I have sought to demonstrate on many occasions, the fact that this is a characterizing action of God also shows that a certain foundation of resurrection belief is operative: the inexorable, faithful love of God. The faithful love is inexorable because nothing, not even death and its subjecting power, can hinder its purpose. The inexorable love is faithful because it maintains a character of consistency and keeping promises at any cost. The inexorable faithfulness is loving because God wills the ultimate good for those who receive it in the expression of absolute, unwavering commitment to bring them into everlasting union. Resurrection to everlasting life demonstrates that this is who God is, the God whose love even death cannot stop, as he will even raise the dead to keep promises he has made to them. This is the God proclaimed in the gospel and this is the God that the proclaimers of the gospel serve and trust in through all afflictions they face.