Rethinking Resurrection: A Closer Look at the Future Hope of All Believers

By Sunny Philip

DO YOU STILL BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION STORY?

This is a question I have had to face many times over the years as a speaker at conferences. I have faced this question from both Christians and non-Christians. It gave me an opportunity to tell them that I am a Christian today only because I believe in the resurrection story. As many are bus

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Feb 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887385709

Book preview

Foreword

Rethinking Resurrection is a significant contribution made by Dr. Sunny Philip who is a New York-based pastor and a well-recognized leader in the Indian diaspora community in the United States. This volume reflects considerable theological research, responsible biblical study, and an accurate assessment of the contemporary society. Although Dr. Philip claims that it is not meant to be an apologetic volume, the book will serve as a sharp tool in the hands of those who wish to share their faith in the risen Christ with their secular neighbors in the post-pandemic world.

Written from a devotional perspective, Rethinking Resurrection presents well-known Christian thinkers and well-respected theologians in a comprehensible and cohesive way. Even non-Christians will find the book interesting and informative. Beginning with recollections of the author’s youthful doubts about the biblical account of the resurrection of Jesus, the book reflects at least four decades of his increasingly mature thinking on the subject. The doubting undergraduate has become a mature student of the Bible and a dynamic preacher and faith-filled follower of the risen Christ.

Dr. Philip presents the best arguments of the skeptics and addresses their hardest questions in this book. He does this by presenting biblical narratives, historical facts, interfaith understanding, scientific data, theological ideas, and personal testimony. He does so with great respect for other faiths and for people who hold different positions on the subject.

Many Christians do not think about their faith. Rethinking Resurrection is an invitation to those to take their faith seriously. Bearing witness to the hope that is within us in the contemporary world of universalism and inclusion requires clarity of thinking on the cardinal doctrines of the church, especially the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus that points to our own future resurrection. In a world where even some Christians are trying to portray the resurrection of Jesus as just a metaphor, an Indian immigrant pastor has provided strong and credible evidence to help declare the truth of the matter.

Christianity is an eschatological religion. The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of Christian faith. The Christian hope promises our future resurrection, but its guarantee depends fully on the validity of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Dr. Sunny Philip’s monograph will invite non-believing readers to faith in Christ and encourage the believers by giving them much to ponder.

Thomson K. Mathew, D.Min, EdD

Professor Emeritus and Former Dean

College of Theology and Ministry

Oral Roberts University

In Their Own Words……

I found this work to be a demonstration of exhaustive research into the important matter of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It was written in both a scholarly and academic fashion, as you challenge the reader to a deeper insight into this power subject of Christs’ resurrection from the dead!

This book met my every expectation, which is normal coming from the pen of Dr. Philip as a student of Scripture, writing to the adherents who attend worship on a regular basis.

Dr. Ronald E. Frazier, Th.D.,

Associate Professor of New Testament Studies

Masters International University of Divinity

In the book Rethinking the Resurrection, Dr. Philip, makes the case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Born in a Christian home, he struggled with his faith in the early stages of his college years. In his quest for the truth, he discovered through the Biblical record and from numerous scholars that Christ indeed rose from the dead. In this book he builds a case for belief in the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection- the foundation of our Christian faith and the future hope of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!

I recommend this book for anyone searching for truth. You will find it in this volume on the Resurrection.

Bishop Andrew Binda,

Field Director for Asia/Pacific

at Church of God World Missions.

Introduction

The shadow of death always hung around our home as I was growing up. My mother was always sick for as long as I can remember. I can recall multiple occasions when people of my village gathered in our home thinking that my mother would pass away that night. I also had a brother who did not walk for almost five years because of polio until he had a visitation from Jesus. After he started walking, he fell off a ridge and hit his head on a boulder and started having epileptic seizures. Sometimes it would become very severe, and he would be on the brink of death from non-stop seizures. Therefore, there is no surprise if death, resurrection, afterlife, and so forth were a part of my thinking from an early age.

Then everything came to a head during my college years. Both my mother and my brother were still alive despite their challenges. But I fell into an intellectual quagmire. I had many questions about the Bible, which I read every morning and evening as a young person. I was not sure if I could believe the biblical accounts anymore. In the same college where I led student prayer meetings, I was secretly becoming an atheist. There was only one stumbling block in my progress to atheism: the historicity of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even in those late teen years, I was on a full-fledged search to find out the truth about these things. I was able to come across a number of books written by western authors and the rationalists of India. I could sympathize with many of their arguments. But none of them convinced me by their arguments denying the historicity of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It led to many sleepless nights and a total lack of peace in my life. I was also extremely confused about my future. Quite unexpectedly, Jesus intervened in my life, and I was slowly restored to faith.

The quest for the veracity of the biblical accounts of the last days of Jesus was always a part of my restored religious life. It has continued to this day.

During the COVID pandemic, as I had reasons to think about these topics a lot more, I also had an inspiration. I realized that I had developed an independence in this quest. While being a Christian, I was able to look at death, resurrection, and the afterlife from an independent point of view, and my sermons were becoming different.

I was acutely aware of how biblically illiterate our generation had become. Of the two and a half billion Christians in the world, most are nominal and ritualistic. Because of their awareness of the need for prayer covering in their lives, most are part of a congregation somewhere. How many actually think about the core issues of their faith is questionable. The hard questions and cross examinations that Christianity endured during the early centuries of the faith at a high cost are not a topic of interest to most Christians. As a result, faith has become more and more nominal to most Christians. It has made Christianity weak in the public square. I began to wonder how many of the millions exited from this earth had thought about what lies after it? I was inspired to write a book about the future hope of the believers during that bleak season. Finally, it has materialized.

My goal in writing this book is not to present a scholarly defense of the resurrection. This is by no means a book on apologetics. Many others have already done that. My goal is to wake up the faith of average Christians across the globe, challenge them to think about one of the core teachings of Christianity, and in that process, become more passionate about their faith. At the same time, because of the nature of the subject, I have ventured into a number of apologetical sources in some chapters.

I earnestly pray that the Holy Spirit will illuminate your hearts and minds as you read this book and your faith will become deeply rooted in the bedrock of core beliefs of Christian faith.

I am grateful to Dr. Thomson K. Mathew, the former dean of Oral Roberts University School of Theology, for reading the manuscript and writing a foreword. I am also grateful to Bishop Andrew Binda, Field Director for Asia/ Pacific, Church of God and Dr. Ronald Frazier, Professor of New Testament Studies at Masters International University of Divinity, for writing opinions of this book.

Sunny Philip

New York

October, 2022

Chapter One:

A Christian Problem

Christianity has a problem. Everything in Christianity depends on the resurrection of Jesus. People realized this from the first century. It prompted Paul to write to the Corinthian church, And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). Paul did not hesitate to dwell on it further:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

1 Corinthians 15:13–18

Talk about being brutally honest! This introspection did not stop Paul from talking about the resurrection, though. Neither did it stop other New Testament writers from talking about it. In fact, all the books of the New Testament talk about the resurrection one way or another. Each of the four gospels contains testimony about the resurrection of Jesus (see Matthew 28:1–20; Mark 16:1–8; Luke 24:1–53; and John 20:1–21, 25). The first message of the church recorded in the Bible was delivered by Peter in Acts 2. In that message, the central theme of Peter was the death and resurrection of Jesus.

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and