Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Resurrection and justice

This is what Joel Green says in his commentary on 1 Peter (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), page 28, about the resurrection.

Three interrelated motifs help to structure our understanding: (A) Resurrection signals the restoration of Israel. (B) Resurrection marks God's vindication of the righteous who have suffered unjustly; having been condemned and made to suffer among humans, the righteous will in the resurrection be vindicated before God. (C) Resurrection marks the decisive establishment of divine justice; injustice and wickedness will not have the final word, but in the resurrection will be decisively repudiated. To proclaim the resurrection, then, is already to proclaim a new world, and to call for a "conversion of the imagination."

I have been thinking that in Acts the earliest church proclaimed the resurrection (and the death) of Jesus the Messiah. But what would that have meant to the earliest Christians, according to their Scripture (our Old Testament)? Well, it's about God's justice for the oppressed, his victory over evil, and vindication of the righteous. Of course, in order to partake in the resurrection and eternal life one needs to give her/his allegiance to Jesus. But one wonder how often we miss the meaning of the resurrection because we don't know the Old Testament?