1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (2)

Let us consider the possible root of the denial of the resurrection in the philosophy of the day.  I don’t believe this is essential for us to understand Paul’s teaching.  But it will be helpful in recognizing similar philosophies in our day.  Scripture teaches us to beware of worldly philosophy (1 Cor. 3:15; Col. 2:8).  So what views were prevalent in Corinth?

Greeks tended to believe either that resurrection was impossible or that it might take place in isolated miracles.  Concerning the latter, Aesculapius the Physician (one of the gods) could raise the dead.  There were occasional storied of raisings only to have the person die later.  In the end, Greek philosophy was atheistic; or we can say most Greeks were practical atheists, living as if there were no gods, and especially gods involved in this life.

Stoicism taught the need to be indifferent to pleasure or pain.  Man’s goal was to seek virtue in all things; health, happiness or possessions were of no account.  Even if sentenced to death the Stoic could be noble, like Socrates who took his own life.  This philosophy became popular among the elite of Rome.  What it did was to seek to eliminate expectations and thus to make hope an irrelevant topic.

We see this approach today, for example, in the Serenity Prayer: “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”  The prayer is good in many situations.  But the Stoic applied it to hope after death.  And the problem with this is that the Creator has place within the human soul a deep yearning to know Him and to enjoy Him forever (Job 19:25-27; Eccl. 3:11).  To end the search for God is to leave the person in a pitiable, miserable condition.  It denies the gracious provision of God in Christ.

Epicureanism alsoo denied the possibility of a resurrection but had a different thought about life.  Their approach was to devote oneself to sensuous and luxurious living.  It was more the approach of the beer ads from years ago: You only go around once in life; reach for the gusto!  There was a certain wisdom to this philosophy, advising you seek pleasure without overindulging so that you did not incur the evil it can bring.  For Epicureans the body was simply a bundle of atoms; pleasure was never about good or evil but simply about feeling good.

Does that sound familiar in our day?  Of course it does!  John Dalton’s Atomic Theory and the predominant theory of evolution teach this very truth.  And yet we must say again that it denies something deep in the soul of mankind.  But even more critical, it denies the Creator’s word to mankind.  We are not simply physical beings, and happiness can never be relegated to simply meeting material needs.  Philosophy offers no solution for sin’s guilt except to deny or ignore it.  

But now is Christ risen from the dead!  What words of comfort these are to the soul.  Praise God there is hope in this life as well as in the life to come.