Preface on Resurrection

For the average Christian, resurrection speaks of the reconstitution of individuals as both bodies and souls at the end of time. The writers of scripture, however, have a range of uses for the term "resurrection." The scriptures use the word to speak of Israel's national restorations/victories (Isa 26:13-14,19-20; Ez 37), personal salvation, baptism, the transfer of departed souls from the Old Testament Hades (Heb. sheol) into God's heaven, and the final state at the end of time.

Of these uses, the most overlooked application of the term pertains to the removal and transfer of the Old Testament dead ones from Hades into God's transcendent heaven--a major New Covenant shift which occurred during the first century. In OT times, the righteous dead did not ascend into heaven, but were kept in Hades due to the absence of a covenant sacrifice that cleansed them fully. Christ himself went to this Hades at his death (Acts 2:27,31), before ascending to heaven.

While nearly all Christian groups recognize that this major change took place for the dead between the Old Testament and New Testament eras, the precise timing of that change is almost never identified.

This article takes the view that the precise time of this change was signified in the destruction of the Temple at AD 70, the time of God's great "visitation" (Luke 19:40-44) and "days of vengeance" (Luke 21:20-22) upon Israel. The following questions and answers are offered to clarify this perspective.

Question: To what does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 pertain?

Answer: 1 Thess 4:13-17 is a discussion about when the Old Testament dead would escape Hades/Sheol and be united to Christ in the heavenlies. In the passage, St. Paul says that their release from Hades was about to happen at the "parousia," or presence of God.

Question: Why do you link the resurrection of the Old Testament dead to the destruction of the Temple at AD 70?

Answer: The desecration and desolation of the Temple at AD 70 was a central teaching of Christ (Matt 23:33-24:2; Matt 24:15-20; Lk 21:20-22; Lk 19:40-44; Matt 21:40-45), and one St. Paul explicitly references at 2 Thess 2:3-4. The "parousia" of God (lit. "presence" - compare to Ps 68:2,7-8; Ps 97:5) discussed in the 1 Thess 4:13-17 passage is the same one discussed at 2 Thess 2:1-8, which St. Paul clearly ties to the profanation/desecration of the Temple (cf. 2 Thess 2:3-4 to Matt 24:15). In New Testament writings, the destruction of the Holy Temple at AD 70 is called God's "visitation" (Luke 19:40-44; Matt 23:33-38), the "days of vengeance" (Luke 21:20-22), and the "coming of the Lord" (Matt 21:40-45). The dead in Hades were to be united to Christ in heaven when the earthly Temple met its predicted final profanation and desolation.

Question: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 speaks of a "coming" of Christ--how does this relate to AD 70?

Answer: The language about God descending from heaven with clouds and with trumpet blast (1 Thess 4:16-17) is standard biblical language used of all of God's comings to judgment carried out during Old Testament times (See: Zech 9:13-15; 2 Sam 22:10-16; Hab 3:3-15; Isa 19:1-2; Micah 1:1-6; Nahum 1:1-5; Ps. 97:2-5; Ps 104:1-3; Jer 4:13). Though all of those past comings of God were dramatic world-changing events, they were transacted by an almighty God who did not make himself physically visible to mortals. (Note that the "cloud coming" of Christ in Revelation 14:14-20 also takes place in the heavenly unseen realm, though the resulting diasters on earth are manifest and real because of His power and presence.) So it was at the time of God's judgment upon Israel in AD 70, when the dead in Hades were gathered unto Christ in the heavenlies. And, again, the term "coming" is the Greek word "parousia" (lit. "presence" - compare to Ps 68:2,7-8; Ps 97:5).

Question: What does St. Paul mean in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 that Christ would destroy the man of sin who dececrates the Temple with the "brightness" of his coming?

Answer: The "destruction by brightness" language of 2 Thess 2:8 is used of God's judgments, in which God's brightness is credited with destroying His enemies (see past judgments like Hab 3:4, Ps 44:2-3, Ps. 18:12, Ps. 80:14-19). So it was when Christ's judgment on Israel at AD 70 (Matt 21:40-45) wiped out the Zealot messiahs responsible for the Great Revolt against Rome.

Question: Why does Paul say that the living will be caught up after the dead at some point to be with them?

Answer: Paul says explicitly that the dead ones were to go unto Christ first, and that the living ones would be caught up later (1 Thess 4:15-17). Christians agree that the faithful departed now go to be with Christ and the saints in heaven at their death. But the departed ones of the Old Testament era did not go to heaven at their death; those persons went to be with Christ at AD 70 when they were released from Hades.

What was the error of Hymenaeus and Philetus concerning resurrection, as mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:16-18?

Answer: Long before the Old Testament dead ones exited Hades at the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, Hymenaeus and Philetus had begun teaching that the resurrection of the dead ones in Hades had already taken place. This error of timing was a damnable Judaizing heresy akin to all those who argued that salvation came through the Old Testament sacrifices and Moses, not Christ. First, let's examine what Paul says against Hymenaeus and Philetus:

Avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. (2 Timothy 2:16-18)

To grasp the seriousness of this timing error, we must recall that St. Paul's teaching linked the resurrection of the OT dead out of Hades to the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple system (2 Thess 2:1-10; cf. Matt 24:15). This linkage was crucial for one reason: it placed the victory over death and hades outside of the Old Covenant era and Temple system. In saying that the dead had achived their victory while the Old system stood, Hymenaeus and Philetus were in league with the Judaizers who falsely taught that salvation came by keeping the Law covenant of Moses.

It's important to notice that St. Paul, in 1 Cor 15:54-56, explicitly mentions the victory of the dead over Hades and says that the Law covenant of Moses had stood in the way of their rising. Belief that justification and salvation came from the Law Covenant of Moses was a damning, faith-destroying error Paul continuously rebukes in his epistles:

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?...as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse (Galatians 3:1-2,10)

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified....I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (Galatians 2:16,21)

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4)

No one is to act as your judge in regard to [Jewish] food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ...If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? (Colossians 2:16-17,20-22)

This tendency for many early Jews to persist in attributing the full blessedness of salvation to the keeping of the Law of Moses was damning, for it denied the work of Christ's blood sacrifice and the New Covenant. According to Paul, such people were "bewitched," "under a curse," and had "fallen from grace" for saying in essence that Christ died needlessly. The teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus concerning an early resurrection under the Old Covenant system was one such Judaizing error.

(As a final footnote: Some have argued that the error of Hymenaeus and Philetus was not one of the timing of resurrection as scripture states, but rather of the nature of resurrection. Aside from the fact that Paul explicitly says timing was the error, if the nature of the resurrection to heaven for the OT dead had been envisioned as a reunion with former bodies lying in earthly graves, a simple visit to any local graveyard of the saints would have sufficed to prove Hymenaeus' teaching wrong. But in fact, Paul nowhere says that the nature of the event was in dispute. To the contrary, Paul in 1 Cor 15:44-49 says the OT dead would be "raised a spiritual body." When we add that statement to 1 Cor 15:54-56, where Paul speaks about the dead in Hades getting victory over the Law Covenant; and when we also see that 1 Thess 4:13-17 is linked to the desecration of the Temple at 2 Thess 2:1-10; it combines to prove that Paul is speaking of the exit of the OT dead from Hades at the full end of the Old Testamental period in AD 70.