Why do people deny the resurrection?
 |
| Cover of He Lives |
Because our risen Savior reigns and will continue to reign until “He has put all things under His feet,” until He has destroyed that last enemy of humanity, which is death, we possess a hope that our life is not in vain. We live because He lives, and our lives are to bear the fruit of righteousness, not the fruit of licentiousness. Because we have hope for the future, because we live under the Lordship of a risen Savior, we do not live as the world lives, in hopelessness and sin, but we live unto Christ and for His glory.
A world that rejects the Lordship of Christ and the hope of the resurrection through faith in Him has nothing to look forward to. All it can say is “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” It is not an accident that in a culture that has rejected God, despair and unrighteousness run rampant. If there is no hope, what does it matter how we live? “The natural consequence of denying the doctrine of the resurrection, involving as it does the denial of the Gospel, and the consequent rejection of all hope of salvation, is to make men reckless, and to lead them to abandon themselves to mere sensual enjoyments,” Hodge wrote. “If man has no glorious hereafter, he naturally sinks towards the level of the brutes, whose destiny he is to share.” If annihilation is all we can hope for, then why put ourselves in danger, why stand up for any truth, or seek to live by any principle? Why not just drift through life, taking instead of giving, oppressing the powerless instead of serving others sacrificially, wasting the days away in idleness instead of living righteously and working diligently?
Paul rebukes the Corinthians for believing such foolishness and for allowing men without knowledge to spread lies among them. They should have been ashamed for denying the resurrection and for engaging in sinful behavior, which was a consequence of that denial. To turn the tide of error, the Corinthians needed to awake to righteousness, to let their minds be rightly informed by the truth and to turn from sin.
Instead of being influenced by the culture of despair and ungodliness that surrounds us, let us embrace the hope of the Gospel and “awake to righteousness, and sin not,” that we might bring glory to Christ, our Redeemer and our King.
The connection between what we believe and how we act is unquestionable, and we have a testimony of that truth in this passage. Do you see the necessary connection between right doctrine and right living? As you study your Bible this week, look at the specific connection between any doctrine and its effect on the way you live.
