PMW-2026-012 by Brandon D. Crowe

Introduction
Professor Brandon Crowe of Westminster Theological Seminary has presented us with a compelling message regarding the centrality of the physical resurrection of Christ to Christianity. He focuses particularly on the resurrection in Acts. Despite the neo-Gnosticism arising from within the aberrant hyper-preterist movement, the physical realm is important — now and forever. I highly recommend reading this important work. Consider the following quote from the conclusion of Crowe’s The Hope of Israel: The Resurrection of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles (pp. 189–90). The headings are mine (KLG).

The physical resurrection
As we conclude, I would like to consider briefly some ways that the physical of Jesus underscores the distinctiveness of the early Christian message. Acts itself is a witness to the centrality of belief in the physical resurrection in early Christianity, and we find evidence for this belief in the New Testament canon. Theologian Herman Bavinck put it well: “From the beginning the resurrection of Christ was an enormously important constituent of the faith of the church: without that faith it would never have started.” Indeed, in many ways the bodily resurrection encapsulates the distinctiveness the Christian message in the ancient world and manifests a key point of unity among early orthodox Christians. The vine of early Christianity rose on the trellis of shared theological convictions; the physical resurrection was one of those key convictions. Several implications are entailed in this doctrine.

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First, the resurrection underscores the nature of orthodox Christology. In distinction from docetic and gnostic tendencies, the resurrection states that Jesus is true man, with a real body, who physically suffered and was physically raised from the dead. This corresponds to the importance of the words and actions of Jesus in history, which are a concern of Acts (cf. 10:36-38) and early Christian theologians. Paraenesis is tethered to the work of Christ in history.

The goodness of creation

Second, the resurrection affirms the goodness of creation. As one who is truly human, Jesus is raised and exalted in a human body. There is no need to escape from creation or from the physical body. As the second and last Adam, Jesus’s abiding presence as the resurrected one affirms God’s created order. This further has implications for Christian ethics — what is done in and with the body is important in light of the resurrection. Cyril of Jerusalem stated the matter starkly: “The root of all good works is the hope of the Resurrection.”

Gentry conclusion
Crowe provides several more observations that I hope you will check out. I would like to add in closing myself, that he cites Charles Hill’s noting that “the perfect tense in 1 John 4:2 bespeaks a continuing, fleshly existence of the resurrected Christ” (p. 186 n61). This is an important issue for affirming the continuing incarnation of our Mediator (which is denied by hyper-preterists, bringing their heresy into Christology itself), for “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). Thus, he remains forever a true man in order to be our perfect mediator: “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

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