Articles by Norman L. Geisler
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Norman L. Geisler
President & CEO of Southern Evangelical Seminary
Professor of Theology and Apologetics
B.A., Wheaton College
Th.B., William Tyndale College
M.A. Wheaton Graduate School
Ph.D., Loyola University, Chicago, IL
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Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute
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"The Battle for the Resurrection: An Interview with Dr.
Norman Geisler" (an article from the Interview column of the
Christian Research Newsletter, Volume 5: Number 1, 1992) by
Ron Rhodes.
The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter
is Ron Rhodes.
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_Throughout the 30-year history of the Christian
Research Institute, we have endeavored to limit the focus of
our attention to the proclamation and defense of the
essentials of Christianity. We have always allowed a great
deal of latitude regarding secondary or peripheral issues
such as the perpetuity of the spiritual gifts, the timing of
the Rapture, the proper mode of baptism, and so forth.
However, when it comes to the essentials of the faith, we
have never equivocated._
One of these essentials is the doctrine of the
resurrection of Christ. Recently, this has become a matter
of controversy among some Christian scholars. In this issue
of the _Newsletter,_ Dr. Norman Geisler is interviewed
regarding what is at stake in this controversy.
Newsletter: _Dr. Geisler, why is the issue of the
Resurrection so important?_
Dr. Geisler: Because we're not talking about one of the
trivials of Christianity, we're talking about one of the
essentials. The apostle Paul said, "If Christ has not been
raised, then our preaching is vain" (1 Cor. 15:14). If the
Resurrection did not really happen, the apostles were false
witnesses, our faith is futile, we're still lost in our
sins, the dead in Christ have perished, and we're the most
pitiful people on the face of the earth -- to say nothing of
the fact that there's no hope beyond the grave. Clearly,
this is a transcendentally important issue. You can deny the
inerrancy of the Bible and still be saved. If you deny the
bodily resurrection, however, there's no basis for salvation
(Rom. 10:9).
Newsletter: _You really can't preach the Gospel without
this doctrine, can you?_
Dr. Geisler: The Resurrection is the heart of the
Gospel. According to 1 Corinthians 15:2-6, the Gospel
includes Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and His
appearances to people in proof of His resurrection. Without
the physical resurrection of Christ, there is no Gospel.
Newsletter: _If a person was asked, "Do you believe in
the empty tomb, in the Resurrection, and in the bodily
appearances of Christ?" would this be a sufficient test of
orthodoxy?_
Dr. Geisler: If you used that as a test to determine
whether you should hire somebody to be the pastor of your
local church, congratulations, you may have just hired a
Jehovah's Witness.
Newsletter: _Because a Jehovah's Witness could go along
with that definition?_
Dr. Geisler: Yes. They affirm all of those things.
Newsletter: _If that's the case, then what question
should we be asking?_
Dr. Geisler: We should ask: "Do you believe that Jesus
was raised in the _same physical body in which he died?_"
That's the crucial question, because if the body that died
didn't come back to life, the Devil won and God lost.
Newsletter: _What are the key elements, then, in the
orthodox view of Christ's resurrection?_
Dr. Geisler: Two of the key elements are _sameness_ and
_physicalness._ Christ's resurrection body was the _same
body_ in which He died. That's why He could say to Thomas,
"See the scars in my hand, put your hand in my side" (John
20:27). It had to be a _physical_ body because the physical
body died, and if that physical body didn't come back to
life, there was no victory over death and sin. So, two of
the key elements of the orthodox view of the Resurrection
are sameness and physicalness, or, to put it another way,
numerical identity and essential materiality.
Newsletter: _As far as this issue of "sameness" is
concerned, let me play devil's advocate. Why is this such a
big deal anyway?_
Dr. Geisler: Because the victory has to be at the point
of defeat. If the point of defeat is physical death, then
the victory has to be resurrection of the physical body. The
soul didn't die. The soul lived on. It was the body that
died, and if the body that died didn't come back to life,
then there was no victory over death and sin. In Acts 2:31
we read, "His flesh did not see corruption." The flesh of
Christ did not corrupt in the tomb because He was raised
incorruptible.
Newsletter: _What scriptural evidence is there for the
"sameness" and "physicalness" of Christ's resurrection
body?_
Dr. Geisler: Christ said His resurrection body had
"flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39). He had the same physical
scars (John 20:25). He was touched on two occasions (Matt.
28:9; John 20:17), and challenged the disciples (Luke 24:39)
and Thomas (John 20:27) to feel His wounds. He also ate
physical food four times after the Resurrection (Luke 24:30,
42-43; John 21:12-13; Acts 1:4).
Newsletter: _All this is related to the different views
on the empty tomb. Can you elaborate on this?_
Dr. Geisler: The _orthodox_ view says God raised the
body of Christ from the dead. The _liberal_ view says
someone took the body from the tomb. The _neo-orthodox_ view
says that God destroyed the body -- which is the same as the
view of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They say Christ's dead body
turned into vapor, or gas, and leaked out the cracks of the
tomb. That's not a resurrection, that's an annihilation.
*The key question becomes: If you were in the tomb on
the first Easter Sunday morning, what would you have seen?*
The _orthodox_ view says you would have seen that body
come back to life again and walk away. The _liberal_ view
says you would have seen somebody come in and take the body.
This new view (_neo-orthodoxy_) -- which is now held by some
eleven percent of so-called evangelical scholars -- says you
would have seen that body vanish before your very eyes.
Well, that's a Houdini act -- "now you see me, now you
don't." That's not a resurrection.
Newsletter: _And the statistic of eleven percent is
based on what?_
Dr. Geisler: I took a survey of the Evangelical
Theological Society -- scholars who sign a statement saying
that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God -- and asked
them, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the
dead in the same material body of flesh and bones in which
he died?" And eleven percent said "no"!
Newsletter: _That's an alarming figure. Why do they even
belong to the society?
Dr. Geisler: That's a good question. How can you believe
that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and deny the
materiality of the resurrection body when the Bible says
four times clearly that Jesus was resurrected in the flesh,
and says dozens of times that He was resurrected in a
physical, material body?
Newsletter: _As you noted in your article, "I
Believe...in the Resurrection of the Flesh," published in
the Summer 1989 CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, one Christian
scholar who has written several books arguing for the
nonmaterial nature of Christ's resurrection body is Murray
Harris, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School._
Dr. Geisler: Yes. Murray Harris has written two major
books on the subject -- _Raised Immortal_ and _From Grave to
Glory._ He believes that Jesus was not resurrected in a
continuously material body -- it was not a body of flesh. He
believes that Christ's body was transformed from a
_physical_ to a _spiritual_ body at the instant of the
Resurrection and that Jesus only materialized on a few
occasions, temporarily assuming bodily form for apologetic
purposes.
Now, here's the real problem. Major magazines, many
scholars, and one major seminary have pronounced this view
"orthodox," and various countercult groups are scurrying
around saying, "Hey, we're going to have to apologize to the
Jehovah's Witnesses if this is orthodox, because this is
substantially the same view that the Jehovah's Witnesses
have held on the nature of the resurrected body."
Newsletter: _Bottom line -- what are the consequences of
denying that Christ was raised immortal in the same physical
body in which He died?_
Dr. Geisler: In brief, if Jesus wasn't resurrected in
the same physical body, then God lost in His purpose to
create a physical world, because the physical world was
destroyed and never restored. God also lost in salvation
because Jesus' physical body died but was never brought back
to life. As well, Christ lied because He looked at His
disciples in Luke 24:39 and said, "See my hands and my feet,
that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not
have flesh and bones as you see that I have." Furthermore,
there's no hope that you'll see your loved ones in heaven (1
Thess. 4:13-18). To summarize, if Jesus wasn't raised in a
physical body, then God failed, Christ lied, and there's no
hope beyond the grave.
Newsletter: _What is your closing admonition to our
readers?_
Dr. Geisler: In essentials _unity,_ in nonessentials
_liberty,_ and in all things _charity._ I believe that
adage, but the Resurrection by any count is an essential.
It's a fundamental of the Christian faith, and I would like
to see Christians rise up and defend the crucial _physical
nature_ of the bodily resurrection against these
neo-orthodox incursions into the Christian church that are
now being blessed by major scholars and magazines. I think
we need to stand up and be counted on this doctrine and say
that these people have made a tragic mistake. It's a
fundamental doctrine, and these people have denied one of
the orthodox pillars of the church.
Newsletter: _This is not a time for silence._
Dr. Geisler: Silence is not golden when one of the great
doctrines of the Christian faith is in the balance. Silence
is cowardice. Silence in this context is probably one of the
greatest sins of omission that can be committed by a
Christian who wants to preserve the orthodoxy of the faith.
_You can contact Dr. Geisler by writing him at: Southern
Evangelical Seminary, 5801 Pineville-Matthews Rd.,
Charlotte, NC 28226-3447; or phone: (704) 543-1200._
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End of document, CRN0041A.TXT (original CRI file name), "The
Battle for the Resurrection: An Interview with Dr. Norman
Geisler" release A, June 30, 1994 R. Poll, CRI
(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their
help in the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS
circulation.)
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