Five Reasons Why the Resurrection Was So Important to the First Christians:

3. The Resurrection and the Experience of the Spirit

A third reason why the resurrection was so important for the early church can be stated in this way: The resurrection of Jesus resulted in a profound experience of the Spirit within the early church. Thus, even though the vast majority of early Christians had never known the earthly Jesus or encountered the risen Lord, they experienced the power of God’s Spirit, which Jesus’ resurrection unleashed upon those who believed in him. This experience of the Spirit confirmed what they believed: that God had raised Jesus from the dead and enthroned him as Lord and Messiah. Three examples will illustrate what I mean.

First on Pentecost, God poured forth his Spirit upon the Apostles in a dramatic fashion. In his explanation of how and why this took place, Peter draws a relationship between Jesus’ resurrection and the Spirit. He explains: “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear” (Acts 2:32-33). The sequence of events that Peter describes is a follow. First, God raised Jesus from the dead. Second, God exalted him at his right hand. Third, exalted at God’s right hand, the risen Lord received the promised Holy Spirit, which he now pours out upon the church. The outpouring of God’s Spirit upon those who believe in Christ, then, testifies that Jesus is risen and alive.

Second, in Rom 8:11 Paul assures the Roman Christians that “if the Spirit of him [namely God] who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead [God] will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” For Paul and the early church, the experience of the Holy Spirit assured them that God would raise them from the dead just as God has raised Jesus from dead. The Spirit, then, was more than the source of wondrous gifts within the church; it was the first installment toward resurrection life (2 Cor 1:22). The Spirit was the one with whom believers were sealed for the day of redemption (Eph 4:30), and the possession of the Spirit was the assurance of their resurrection from dead. For having already received the gift of God’s life-giving Spirit, the power of Death no longer ruled over their lives.

A third example occurs in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. When trying to dissuade the Galatians from being circumcised, the Apostle reminds them of the intense experience of the Spirit they received when they believed in the gospel he proclaimed to them. Accordingly, he asks the Galatians: “Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Gal 3:5). Paul’s rhetorical question needs no answer since the Galatians are fully aware that they received the Spirit when they believed in the message of the gospel, long before they considered having themselves circumcised and doing the works of the Lord.

For the early Christians, then, the Spirit was the outcome of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and the assurance of their own resurrection from the dead. Without the resurrection, there would be no Spirit, and without the Spirit, there was no assurance of their resurrection from the dead. In addition to vindicating Jesus and his message, then, the resurrection provides believers with the gift of the Spirit, which assured them of their own resurrection from the dead.

Father Matera (This series of columns is taken from a book I am writing on The Resurrection of the Dead)