Reformation 500 WEEK 17: Heidelberg Catechism,
QUESTION 45
Question 45: WHAT BENEFIT DO WE RECEIVE
FROM THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST? First,
by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He might make us partakers
of the righteousness which He has obtained for us by His death. Second,
by His power we are also now raised up to a new life. Third, the
resurrection of Christ is to us a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.
Question 45
explains the biblical basis of article 5 of the Apostles’ Creed: “The third day
He arose from the dead.” The core of the gospel is that “Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The soul of
Christ, which (for three days) had been in the hands of His Father in heaven, truly
did return to His body in the tomb and come forth from the grave. His
resurrected body was adorned with immortality, no longer subject to the
frailties of a human body, but it was still flesh and bones
(Luke 24:36-43; John 20:24-29). Christ’s resurrection “is proven by the
testimony of angels, women, evangelists, apostles, and other saints, who saw
Him, felt Him, and talked with Him after His resurrection [Matt. 28:1-9; 1 Cor.5-8;
Acts 1:2-3]” (Ursinus, 233). Even Christ’s enemies could not deny but tried to
cover up the fact of the empty tomb (Matt. 28:11-15).
Christ’s
resurrection was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Psalm 16:8-11; Luke
24:46-47). Christ Himself foretold His own resurrection (Matt. 12:40; 16:21;
26:32). His resurrection proved He truly was the Messiah, the Son of God, who
came to give eternal life to all who believe in Him (John 20:30-31; Rom.
1:1-4).
Christ rose from
the dead to give us believers the benefits which He obtained for us by His
death. The first benefit is justification (which will be
explained more fully in Question 60). Christ “was raised for our justification”
(Rom. 4:25). Justification is God’s verdict that we are forgiven the eternal
penalty of sin and accepted as righteous on the basis of the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us (Rom. 4:1-8; 22-24). We are justified the moment God works true
faith in our hearts (Rom. 3:28).
The second
benefit of Christ’s resurrection is that by the power of His Holy Spirit we are
regenerated (born again), that is, raised spiritually from the dead, which
is exactly why we believe in Jesus (Eph. 2:8), and confess our sins to God (1
John 1:9), and desire to please God out of thankfulness for our salvation (Rom.
6:4). “And you God made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and sins”
(Eph. 2:1; cf. John 3:3).
The third
benefit of Christ’s resurrection is that it guarantees our physical
bodies will also be raised from the dead (Rom. 6:5; 1 Cor. 15:20-23). Our
salvation includes both soul and body. Both soul and body belong to our
faithful Savior Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 6:19-20). “He who raised Christ from the
dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Rom. 8:11). Since we still
have to suffer death in our body, we “who have the first-fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for … the redemption
of our body” (Rom. 8:23). Our resurrected body will be like Christ’s
resurrected body (this will be explained more fully in Question 57). “For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed
to His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).
NOTE: These Posts were written and designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .
Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert: Reformation 500 HC QAs 45
For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 17
 |
| Official Seal of the RCUS |
This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS). As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began. We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment