Tuesday 25 April 2006

What does resurrection mean?

“[W]hat does ‘resurrection of the dead’ mean? The best help for understanding this is to abandon any effort to form an image or idea of it. That Jesus is risen from the dead does not mean that he returned to this earthly life as one who has death ahead of him once again. But it means that he, the dead one, has death (not just dying, but death) finally behind him, and is finally with God, and for this reason is present in this earthly life. What resurrection from the dead means can only be understood when we begin to apprehend what ‘God’ means.”

—Gerhard Ebeling, The Nature of Faith (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1961), p. 71.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Resurrection, as the postmodernists would say, is a metonymy for God.

Anonymous said...

You can't help but "form an image of it". Good greif that is the whole point to form an image of it. He appeared to disciples so they could SEE him and have an unequivacal "image of it" And the whole mission of the church since then (excepting Gerhard) is to pass that image along. Gerhards would rather replace a that wonderful image of a risen Jesus nail scars and all with a nebulous "aprension" of God. I know what resureccion means. It means not bloating up and stinking to high heaven. Come on, quit gutting the faith and try to believe at lest a little!!!! Spare us from nebuluse aprensions and give us a risen flesh and blood Jesus, that is the only thing that will nourish us!!!! That is what communion is about isn't it?

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