Christus Victor
Epiphany: The Revealing of Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsOne of the atonement theories is called “Christus Victor.” This is the understanding that the death and resurrection of Jesus leads to victory over the powers of death and sin. The truth of this understanding of the atonement is found in our passage for today. But it is more than that as well. It is also a reminder to us that the victory won in Christ is not something that has no consequences now. In fact, Christ’s victory places him on the throne of glory right now. We will explore what this means for us.
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35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Introduction
This week, we are concluding our three weeks in 1 Corinthians 15 that shows us the ultimate revealing of Christ and who he is through the resurrection. Last week, we focused on the fact that the reality of the resurrection is the heart of the gospel message. Christ has defeated humanity’s greatest enemy and put it under his feet. When he comes again, we will enter with him into the new creation that he has established.
One term that has been used to describe what Christ has done on our behalf is the Latin phrase, Christus Victor. This is one of the ways we use to describe how it is that Christ saves us. Most of the time we use a term like penal substitutionary atonement to talk about Christ’s work. That is, Christ took our place on the cross and died the death we deserved. Believing and trusting in him gives us salvation because his righteousness becomes our righteousness. But Christus Victor brings another level to the work of Christ. This view brings out themes that are present in the New Testament and in our passage today that God in Christ has victory over the powers of evil in this world, mainly Satan. Jesus has rescued us from the powers of Satan and established himself as the rightful king over the cosmos.
The victory that Christ has won for us is critical for our understanding of life in general. This victory tells us that all of the suffering that is endured in this life because of sin will be changed. The power over sin has already been defeated in Christ, but the effects of sin will not be gone until he comes again and that includes suffering and death.
Today, we are going to learn what Christ’s victory ultimately means for us as we follow him and trust in him in this life.
1. Christ gives us victory over death. (vs. 35-38)
1. Christ gives us victory over death. (vs. 35-38)
Paul’s next move in his argument about the reality of the resurrection is to answer questions that have either been posed to him in a letter written by the Corinthians, or they may only be rhetorical questions to forward his teaching. “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” He begins his answer with a strong statement, “You foolish person!” In other words, he is not happy that they even question the reality of the resurrection in the first place. This is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. How could they not believe it? As we mentioned briefly last week, the issues the Corinthians may have had with the resurrection of the body had to do with their misunderstanding that it was nothing more than a re-animation of dead bodies. This would mean that even Jesus was a dead person with the same kind of physical body that he had.
Paul pushes the Corinthians to a different theological conclusion. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day believed that the resurrected body was similar but different from the bodies we now have. So, Paul would have similar understandings as well as physical evidence that is documented in the gospels. He uses the analogy of a seed that is sown into the ground. He goes back to the metaphor that he used earlier in association with first fruits at the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. He expands on it focusing on the radical transformation that takes place from a seed to a harvest.
The new creation that comes when Christ returns and that is found in
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
This new creation will be populated by those whose bodies have been transformed into something new and different. Jesus tells us in John 12:24-26
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
In Christ, God has defeated death and given us the victory over it. This leads us to our next point.
2. Christ gives us victory over our mortal bodies. (vs. 42-44)
2. Christ gives us victory over our mortal bodies. (vs. 42-44)
We know that if the Lord tarries and does not come that we will die. This is a fact of life. Our mortal bodies will no longer exist. All of us have placed within the ground the bodies of loved ones. Ashes have been spread over land and sea as a final resting place. However, Paul reminds us is that regardless of what happens to our mortal bodies they will be given new life and transformed to possess and reflect the divine glory. The same God who created all things and brought all things into existence has the ability to restore our bodies no matter how much of it may remain - “From dust you came and to dust you shall return.” Just as the perishable body of Jesus was sown into the ground and was recognizable as the same person in the resurrected state even though glorified so will be our nature in the resurrection of the dead when he returns. Paul later says in 1 Corinthians 15:53
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
But notice what Paul says about this resurrected body:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Our mortal bodies are sown in the dishonor of Adam’s sin and perishable. But we are raised to imperishability, that is we will not die again, and glory. We will return to the idealized state of humanity prior to the fall of creation and shine even brighter.
Our mortal bodies are sown in weakness. We have physical limitations, disease, disabilities. We experience aging and our bodies become frail. Paul uses himself as an example of this in Philippians 3:21
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
All these weaknesses will be replaced by a resurrected body that exemplifies transformation and revitalization. All disease and frailty will be gone. There will be no more aches and pains. We will have a body that is strong and will be sustained for eternity. Paul says in Romans 8:11
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
And again in Revelation 21:4
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
We will have victory over our mortal bodies and all of the weaknesses and frailties associated with it. This leads us to our final point.
3. We will rise in the image of Christ not the image of Adam. (vs. 45-50)
3. We will rise in the image of Christ not the image of Adam. (vs. 45-50)
In verse 44, Paul concludes his list of the ways the new body will be different from our present bodies by saying that we are sown as a natural body but raised as a spiritual body. The word that is translated as “natural” could also be translated as “soul-animated.” This is important because Paul is relating the natural body back to what is said in Genesis 2:7
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God breathed life into Adam and he became a living soul or living creature. What Paul means by “soul” is that which brings a sense of aliveness through breath, blood, energy and purpose. All this is common to humanity. So the point is what brings life not what the body is actually composed of. What brings life to us as human beings is the fact that we are upright and moving. We are breathing and have energy and purpose. Once those functions end so do we in our present bodies. If we stop breathing, we will die. Breath is what gives us life.
Paul talks about the new body that we will have and be raised into is animated and given life through the Spirit. Again, the body is not composed of “Spirit-stuff” but is given life through the Spirit. Our existence through the Spirit overcomes the state of death that characterizes the first Adam and creation. We will participate with the last Adam and the new creation at the resurrection.
Just as an aside look at Ezekiel 37:9-10 where the dry bones that have been manipulated back to having full bodies is brought to life:
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Even in this instance where Israel is begin reconstituted after their time in exile, it is God that breathes life into them. They are already bodies but are not given life or animation, if you will, until God breathes. But this breath is not the same as when he breathed into Adam. This is the Holy Spirit that gives life.
Now, in Christ, when we are raised from the dead, the old is gone and the new has come. All the aspects the constitutes what is living in this world will be changed because our bodies will be changed from ones that are natural and of this world to ones that are spiritual and of Christ and the new creation. We will not be of the dust but of heaven. We will not have the image of the one born of dust, but we will bear the image of the man from heaven, Jesus Christ. 1 John 3:2 says,
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
The body we will have will be imperishable and undefiled. We will be in the image of the resurrected Christ. It is a body that will not die and is not effected by the ways of this world because we will be in the new creation.
Conclusion
The ultimate victory that is given to us is the victory over death. As we have learned over the past three weeks, our trust and belief in Christ as Lord and Savior is something that is not just beneficial now but is for eternity. We are no longer beholden to the sin that is given to us through Adam. When humanity fell in the Garden, it separated us from God. That separation led to humanity falling deeper and deeper into sin. Even a great flood that destroyed all but eight human beings did not eradicate sin from humanity. As soon as they got off the ark, Noah himself sinned through drunkenness. When God made covenant with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob to be the seed to a chosen nation, they still fell into sin. When God delivered the people of Israel from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians and gave them the Law at Sinai, they squandered their relationship with God and fell into sin. Yet, it was through these sinful people that God himself chose to come so that humanity could finally be fully redeemed and brought into a relationship with God that had been intended all along. It is through the one man, Jesus Christ, that all people, Jew and Gentile alike, can come into the promise of God and know true salvation not based on our own personal works but on the work of Christ alone.
It is this same God who initiated all these actions who will bring us full circle through Christ back to the place that we were originally intended to be. In his presence for eternity. Jesus did the work that Adam could not do. The old has passed away and behold Jesus is making all things new. Through him, we will be raised again to life in a new physical body that will not die but be with him for eternity. Brothers and sisters, this is the promise and hope of those who are in Christ. This world is not the end. The suffering, disease, deformities, and pain will all be gone. The bodies we now have that are weak and frail. Our new bodies that are given life through the Spirit will be eternal.
Christ has the victory over hell, death and the grave.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise be to God!