ANTHONY BUZZARD LIFE AFTER DEATH 23 resurrection at the return of Christ, if in fact the real moment of glory is to be achieved at death? If the resurrection is to be genuinely a resurrec- tion “from the dead” (as the New Testament describes it), how can it also, according to the popular scheme, be the conferring of spiritual bodies upon already living departed spirits? Would this really be a resurrection Life After Death: at all? The traditional idea becomes even more perplexing when we see that the New Testament verb describing the act of resurrecting the dead Resurrection or the Intermediate State? is the ordinary word for “to awake from sleep.” What possible sense can be made of the “waking up” of already fully conscious spirits in posses- ANTHONY BUZZARD, M.A. (Oxon.), M.A.Th. sion of the beatific vision? I.THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD The fact is that the average churchgoer has not given the matter much attention. The assumption is that the experts must know what they are The shattering of illusions is no doubt a painful process; yet if this talking about. The traditional idea is thus embraced wholeheartedly; should lead to a deepening of our comprehension of the apostolic ways must be found of squaring it with the New Testament. The task is message of the New Testament, the distress will be more than offset by apparently performed with ease, as the Ministry of Christian Information joy at new discovery. The reader is invited to take a closer look at the has shown. But the nagging question remains: What sense can be made almost universally accepted opinion that death for the faithful means an of an “awakening” (i.e., resurrection) of the living spirits of the departed? immediate presence with Christ in a realm beyond the skies. The New And there are other difficulties, not the least of which is the striking lack Testament is, of course, everywhere concerned with life beyond the of passages in the New Testament describing any present conscious state grave. An important question arises, however, as to how far our cherished for the dead. For while the New Testament states clearly that Jesus has traditional notions about departing at death to heaven are consonant with “passed into the heavens” (Heb. 4:14), no such description is applied to the New Testament view of our future. others who have died. The latter are constantly pictured as having fallen The Ministry of Christian Information (active in Britain), whose aim asleep, and as remaining asleep until the resurrection; and the resurrec- is to provide instruction about Christian belief on a wide variety of tion is invariably placed in the future, at the return of Christ. subjects, tackles this subject in a pamphlet entitled “Life after Death.” There can be no doubt that what the Apostle hoped to attain to was the Here we find it stated that “Paul described death as being ‘absent from the resurrection of the dead, to coincide with the reappearance of Jesus at the body and at home with the Lord’ (2 Cor. 5:6, 8), and ‘departing to be with end of the age: Christ’ (Phil. 1:23, 24). At death the spirit is immediately clothed until the resurrection with a temporary body. At death the natural body is laid . if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. This in the grave, where it returns to dust and remains till the resurrection, one thing I do . I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ when it is raised ‘a spiritual body.’ ” Jesus. For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for A quick glance at the verses offered as proof-texts might well satisfy the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it the enquirer, provided, that is, that one or two questions are not posed: may be fashioned like unto His glorious body . (Phil. 3:11, 13, 14, 20, Why the enormous emphasis throughout the New Testament on the 21). This passage contains the three indispensable elements of Paul’s eschato- ©1992, A Journal from the Radical Reformation, Fall 1992, Vol. 2, No. 1. 24 ANTHONY BUZZARD LIFE AFTER DEATH 25 logical view: Resurrection, Second Coming (“the Lord from heaven”), consciousness of the dead in another location, of which “intermediate and change of state from mortal to immortal. In complete agreement with state” Paul says not one word. It is only through resurrection that the dead the verses quoted, the great exposition of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 achieve the goal of being “with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:17). places the wakening of the dead in Christ at the Second Coming and Such is our reluctance to question the accepted scheme that we have equates this event with the moment when mortality is exchanged for not taken seriously the remarks of New Testament scholars who, though immortality: they may not be concerned with what we choose to believe, nevertheless In Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ, make it quite clear that the New Testament writers pinned their entire the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s, at His Coming. So also hope on the Second Coming and the resurrection to occur at that time— is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in and not before. The important question is whether we have not tried to incorruption. As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also “jump the gun” in ascribing immortality to departed spirits apart from bear the image of the heavenly. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the resurrection. To do this we must begin with an assumption of an Kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. We shall intermediate conscious state for the dead between death and the resurrec- not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling tion—and then “find” it in the New Testament. A more scientific method of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must would be to start with an open mind and test the received hypothesis put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Then shall against Scripture. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that such be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in scrutiny will show the received teaching to be unsound. It cannot claim victory” (1 Cor. 15:22, 23, 42, 49, 50-54). a basis in apostolic Christianity. There are two passages in the New Testament which are supposed to How, we are bound to ask, can this passage possibly be reconciled with provide solid evidence for Paul’s belief in the departed dead being the popular concept that the departed dead are already in possession of immediately “with Christ.” But before examining these, we note the immortality? Isn’t it plainly stated that resurrection confers immortality? remarks of J.A.T. Robinson about 1 Corinthians 15 (quoted earlier), the And resurrection is unquestionably placed “at His Coming,” “at the last resurrection chapter. His observations suggest that there has been some trumpet.” It is then that the dead shall be “raised,” i.e., “wakened,” “made “foul play” in this matter of trying to square our popular belief with Paul’s alive.” Is it not clear beyond all question that the dead must remain in the teachings. This fact should arouse our suspicions, for it is clear that if the grave until they are “raised” from it? There is no suggestion here that popular view does not accord with Scripture, we should expect just such resurrection means the reuniting of an already conscious spirit with its evidence of unfair handling of the New Testament. J.A.T. Robinson says: body. We are faced with an irreconcilable contradiction, if the dead have already been made alive. For it is quite specifically stated that they are to The reading of 1 Corinthians at funerals reinforces the impression that this be made alive “at His Coming” (v. 23). chapter is about the moment of death; in fact it revolves around two points: In 1 Thessalonians 4, the question had arisen in the minds of the the third day (Christ’s resurrection) and the last day. The modern age tries to apply Paul’s language to a single resurrection thought of as believers as to what would be the fate of those Christians who had died following immediately upon death.1 before the expected return of Jesus. Now Paul could have so easily removed all anxiety by pointing out that the dead “in Christ” were already These facts are sufficient to show that this central passage has not been happily with Christ, having at the moment of death overcome the grave allowed its proper sense; it has been forced to lend support to an idea and passed to their reward in heaven. It is well known that he says nothing unknown to Paul. of the sort; rather he reinforces the certainty that at the coming of Jesus, There is evidence of similar mishandling in another section of Scrip- the dead in Christ, those “asleep” (v. 14), will be resurrected and united ture normally quoted in support of the popular view. J.A.T. Robinson has with those who survive until the great day. The antidote to despair was the this to say: prospect of the resurrection at the future return of Christ, not the 1In the End God, Collins, Fontana Books, 1968, 105, emphasis mine.