Does Your View of the Resurrection Really Matter?

Avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened.

2 Timothy 2:16-18

Some people would say, “This is just a different interpretation of Christianity, and it has some things to commend it.” But Paul says, “No. This teaching is like gangrene. If you embrace it, it will lead you into more and more ungodliness. It is toxic. You don’t want anything to do with it. You don’t want to go anywhere close to it.”

So, Paul confronted the message of the false teachers. And what he says here is of vital importance because the same false teaching that troubled the early church is all around us today.

The false teachers brought a “this life only” message. And Paul warns the church against this. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19).

Then he shows the hope that is ours through the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (15:20). Jesus rose from the dead, and because He rose, all who have faith in Him will one day rise too.

If you have put your faith in Jesus, you have the most glorious future, and when you know that this future is yours, it will shape how you live.

How might you respond to someone who believes in a “this life only” version of the gospel?