Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 42:2 (NA 1991)
Article: Resurrection And Parousia Of The Son Of Man
Author: George R. Beasley-Murray

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TynBul 42:1 (1991) p. 296

Resurrection And Parousia Of The Son Of Man

George R. Beasley-Murray

Introduction

Christ died,

Christ rose,

Christ will come again.

This age-old confession of the Church, which is especially associated with the Lord’s Supper, is rooted in the very beginnings of the Christian faith.

To declare that Christ was raised of necessity is to speak of the Messiah who died. More specifically, it relates to Jesus, crucified under Pontius Pilate at the instigation of Jewish rulers. The death and the resurrection of Jesus are manifestly inseparable for Christian faith, as indeed for Christian theology; that is attested alike in the records of the primitive kerygma and in the developed apostolic writings. But whereas the resurrection of Jesus self-evidently was preceded by his death, the Easter resurrection is the absolutely inalienable presupposition of the gospel, for without it there would have been no gospel to be proclaimed. ‘God went down with the Titanic’ said a survivor of the shipwreck, overwhelmed by the tragedy of the event. So also faith in Jesus as redeemer-king died when Jesus died on the cross (cf. Lk. 24:18-21), but through his resurrection it came alive with vast dimensions.

The centrality of the resurrection of Jesus for faith, however, has a future as well as a past dimension. Resurrection is essentially a feature of the last times, the outstanding element of hope for the people of God, since it connotes entry upon life in the eternal kingdom of God. An examination of the NT makes it evident that the resurrection of Jesus was linked not alone with his death but also with his parousia. The nature and significance of this connection will be the primary theme of this study.

TynBul 42:1 (1991) p. 297

I. Resurrection And The Parousia: Texts

1. The earliest of these is a statement in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, in all probability a confessional fragment cited by Paul:

You turned to God from idols,

to serve a living and true God,

and to wait for his Son from heaven,

the one whom he raised from the dead -

Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.1

The language of the first two lines is reminiscent of apostolic preaching to pagans, such as is found in Acts 14:15. That of the last three is notable in its emphasis on a lively anticipation of the parousia of the Son of God, whom God raised f...

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