Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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Anything beyond judgment must meet t he following:
(1) It must be an act of the same God.
(2) It must be ac tual and revealed in a dist inc t and new ac t of God
(3) It must stand in a meaningful relation to the first ac t
(4) It must take place in history
(5) It must be in unity with the first event; i.e., it must be an event in the life of
the same historical subject, Jesus Christ.
This event is, of c ourse, t he resurrec t ion:(1) The raising of Christ is an ac t of God. It does not have any element of human
willing. T he resurrec t ion was not just a mirac le ac c redit ing Christ , but t he revelat ion
of God in him.
(2) It is an autonomous, new ac t of God. It c ame in the midst of real death and
delivered him from death. The resurrection is the great verdict of God.
(3) The c onnec tion of the c ruc ifixion and resurrec tion is the Yes of the rec onc iling
will of God, first in Christ ’s ac t of obedienc e in our plac e, and sec ond as the first
recipient of the grace of God the Father. Also, they are the two basic acts of God in
his one history with a sinful and c orrupt world. The one c onc erns our trespasses,
the other our justific ation.
According to the resurrec tion, the death of Jesus Christ as the negative ac t of
God took plac e with a positive intention. We need to c onsider the c onnec tion in
t ime :
(a) The resurrec tion dec ided that what Jesus Christ was then he is for all time;
he is the Mediator between God and man. There is a temporal togetherness of
GoodFriday and Easter; the one who was c ruc ified is risen. This togetherness is the
basis of the alt erat ion of t he sit uat ion of people of all t imes. T he t wo event s are in a
temporal sequence. There is a new life, seen in the forty days.
(b) The New Testament also differentiates its time from the time of Christ, not
only by looking back, but by looking forward to it, expecting the coming of the
Lord. Ours is a time of expectation and hope. So our time beco me s a t ime in
between times; as with Christ in the tomb between death and resurrection.
Jesus Christ is the absolute and final future of humanity. Obviously there is
now a limitation of his being with us. We do not deny this, but pray hopefully,
“ C o me , L ord Jesus!” I.e., hope specifically on Jesus Christ. We emphasize not
th e“not yet” but the “already.”
The one c ruc ified and risen Jesus Christ is the objec t of New Testament faith
and the c ontent of New Testament hope. The death of Jesus Christ is not an end
but a beginning.