The "Divine Warrior" Theme and Christ's Work in 1 Cor 15:24-28
(avg. read time: 14–29 mins.)
Leonard J. Greenspoon and Jon D. Levenson have each posited the significance of the “divine warrior” theme for the origins of resurrection belief among the Jews and the Israelites before them.1 It is more of a significant factor in Greenspoon’s account, but in both cases the “divine warrior” theme is appealed to as important for an internal development account for Jewish resurrection belief (as opposed to an account that focuses primarily on identifying a sufficiently effective external influence). This image was initially connected with the exodus—the most dramatic and most frequently referenced of demonstrations identifying Israel as God’s people—then augmented through other events such as the conquest of the promised land, and later became formative for hopes of God’s future action (Exod 15:1–21; Deut 32:1–43; 33:26–27; Josh 23–24; Judg 5; Pss 18; 24:7–10; 29; 77:16–20; 89:10–11; 97). Whether or not other new exodus imagery is present, this element at least connects the hope of Israel to the exodus and thus provides a framework of a kind of new exodus of more permanent consequence (Isa 24–27; 34–35; 51:9–11; 59:15b–21; Hab 3; Zeph 3:9–20; Hag 2; Zech 9; 14). Although one may argue about the significance of this image in this or that text, it is less debatable that it is operative in many texts in the OT.
What, then, about the NT? It is by no means absent, as one can see manifestly in Revelation. But I argue that one text in which scholars have overlooked its significance is 1 Cor 15:24–28, where Paul connects the imagery with resurrection. I think one reason NT scholars have too often overlooked this connection is that they have overlooked the contribution of this image to the OT that was so deeply formative for Paul’s life. As such, I will first review the significance of this imagery for resurrection belief, particularly with a focus on two texts: Deut 32 and Isa 25–26. Then I will consider its role in Paul’s specific text as a means of articulating the picture of Jesus’s implementation of God’s victory in his resurrection and the general resurrection.