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General resurrection oruniversal resurrection is the belief in aresurrection of the dead, orresurrection from the dead (Koine:ἀνάστασις [τῶν] νεκρῶν,anastasis [ton] nekron; literally: "standing up again of the dead"[1]) by which most or all people who have died would beresurrected (brought back to life). Various forms of this concept can be found inChristian,Islamic,Jewish,Samaritan andZoroastrianeschatology.
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There are three explicit examples in the Hebrew Bible of people being resurrected from the dead:
While there was no belief in personal afterlife with reward or punishment in Judaism before 200 BCE,[2] in laterJudaism andSamaritanism it is believed that theGod of Israel will one day giveteḥiyyat ha-metim ("life to the dead") to the righteous during theMessianic Age, and they will live forever in theworld to come (Olam Ha-Ba).[3] Jews today base this belief on theBook of Isaiah (Yeshayahu),Book of Ezekiel (Yeḥez'qel), andBook of Daniel (Dani'el). Samaritans base it solely on a verse in theSong of Moses in theSamaritan Pentateuch, since they accept only theTorah and reject the rest of theHebrew Bible.
During theSecond Temple period, Judaism developed a diversity of beliefs concerning the resurrection. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.[4] Resurrection of the dead also appears in detail in the extra-canonical book ofEnoch,[5] in theApocalypse of Baruch,[6] and2 Esdras. According to the British scholar in ancient JudaismPhilip R. Davies, there is "little or no clear reference ... either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in theDead Sea scrolls texts.[7] BothJosephus and the New Testament record that theSadducees did not believe in anafterlife,[8] but the sources vary on the beliefs of thePharisees. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not.[9] According toJosephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will bereincarnated and "pass into other bodies", while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment".[10]Paul the Apostle, who also was a Pharisee,[11] said that at the resurrection what is "sown as a natural body is raised a spiritual body".[12]Jubilees refers only to the resurrection of the soul, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.[13] The Second Temple Judaism tradition atQumran held that there would be a resurrection of just and unjust, but of the very good and very bad,[14] and of Jews only.[15][16][full citation needed] The extent of the resurrection in2 Baruch and4 Ezra is debated by scholars.[17][18][19]
The resurrection of the dead is a core belief in theMishnah which was assembled in the early centuries of the Christian era.[20] The belief in resurrection is expressed on all occasions in theJewish liturgy; e.g., in themorning prayerElohai Neshamah, in theShemoneh 'Esreh and in thefuneral services.[21] Jewishhalakhic authorityMaimonides set down hisThirteen Articles of Faith which have ever since been printed in all RabbinicSiddur (prayer books). Resurrection is the thirteenth principle: "I firmly believe that there will take place a revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be His name."[22] ModernOrthodox Judaism holds belief in the resurrection of the dead to be one of the cardinal principles ofRabbinic Judaism.
Harry Sysling, in his 1996 study ofTeḥiyyat Ha-Metim in thePalestinian Targumim, identifies a consistent usage of the term "second death" in texts from the Second Temple period andearly rabbinical writings, but not in the Hebrew Bible.[23] "Second death" is identified with judgment, followed by resurrection fromGehinnom ("Gehenna") at theLast Day.[24]
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In theFirst Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15, ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν is used for the resurrection of the dead.[citation needed] In verses 54–55,Paul the Apostle is conveyed as quoting from theBook of Hosea 13:14 where he speaks of the abolition of death.In thePauline epistles of theNew Testament,Paul the Apostle wrote that those who will be resurrected toeternal life will be resurrected withspiritual bodies, which are imperishable; the "flesh and blood" of natural, perishable bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and, likewise, those that are corruptible will not receive incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:35–54). Even though Paul does not explicitly establish that immortality excludes physical bodies, some scholars understand that according to Paul, flesh is simply to play no part, as people are madeimmortal.[25] Other scholars understand that fleshly bodies do take part in the resurrection, while being transformed and glorified (becoming immortal and incorruptible, but without losing their physicality).[26][27]
TheGospel of Matthew has Jesus famously teach/preach for the first time in 4:17, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 6:19–21. It introduces the expressionἀναστάσεως τῶν νεκρῶν (lit. 'standing up of the dead'), which is used in amonologue by Jesus who speaks to the crowds about "the resurrection" called simplyῇ ἀναστάσει (Matthew 22:29–33). This type of resurrection refers to the raising up of the dead, all mankind, at the end of this present age,[28] the general or universal resurrection.[29]
In thecanonical gospels, theresurrection of Jesus is described as a resurrection of the flesh: from theempty tomb in Mark; the women embracing the feet of the resurrected Jesus in Matthew; the insistence of the resurrected Jesus in Luke that he is of "flesh and bones" and not just a spirit orpneuma; to the resurrected Jesus encouraging the disciples to touch his wounds in John. Ending his guidance inLuke 14:14 that hosts should invite "the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind" when they hold a banquet, Jesus refers to the "resurrection of the just".[30] Irish ArchbishopJohn McEvilly suggests that he "speaks as if the resurrection were for the just alone; because they alone shall rise to glory, and shall receive the reward of good works. The wicked shall rise, but only to receive condemnation."[31]
In theActs of the Apostles the expression ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν was used by theApostles andPaul to defend the doctrine of the resurrection. Paul brought up the resurrection in his trial beforeAnanias ben Nedebaios. The expression was variously used in reference to a general resurrection (Acts 24:21)[29] at the end of this present age (Acts 23:6, 24:15).[28]Acts 24:15 in theKing James Version reads: "there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust".
MostChristian denominations profess theNicene Creed, which affirms the resurrection of the dead; mostEnglish versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the phrase: "We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of theworld to come."[32]
The Christian writersIrenaeus andJustin Martyr, in the2nd century, wrote against the idea that only thesoul survived. (The word "soul" is unknown in the Aramaic; it entered Christian theology through the Greek.)[33][full citation needed] Justin Martyr insists that a man is both soul and body and that Christ has promised to raise both, just as his own body was raised.[34]
The first-century treatiseDidache comments: 'Not the resurrection of everyone, but, as it says, "The Lord will come and all his holy ones with him" (16.7).[35]
The Christian doctrine of resurrection is based on Christ's resurrection. There was no ancient Greek belief in a general resurrection of the dead. Indeed, the Greeks held that once a body had been destroyed, there was no possibility of returning to life as not even the gods could recreate the flesh.[citation needed][36]
Several early Church Fathers, likePseudo-Justin, Justin Martyr,Tatian, Irenaeus, andAthenagoras of Athens argue about the Christian resurrection beliefs in ways that answer to this traditional Greek scepticism to post-mortal physical continuity. The human body could not be annihilated, only dissolved – it could not even be integrated in the bodies of those who devoured it. Thus God only had to reassemble the minute parts of the dissolved bodies in the resurrection.[citation needed]
TraditionalChristian Churches, i.e. ones that adhere to thecreeds, continue to uphold the belief that there will be a general and universal resurrection of the dead at "theend of time", as described by Paul when he said: "He hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world" (Acts 17:31 KJV) and "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15 KJV).
The resurrection of the flesh is mentioned in theAquileian Creed (before the 4th century).[37][38] As the Aquileian Creed affirms, this faith was shared by the Christian Churches ofRome,Alexandria of Egypt andJerusalem.
Early Christian church fathers defended the resurrection of the dead against the pagan belief that the immortal soul went to theunderworld immediately after death, and afterwards it would be reincarnated into another body (metempsychosis). It is a Christian belief that the souls of the righteous go toHeaven.[39][40][full citation needed]
At the close of the medieval period, the modern era brought a shift in Christian thinking from an emphasis on the resurrection of the body back to the immortality of the soul.[41] This shift was a result of a change in thezeitgeist, as a reaction to theRenaissance and later to theEnlightenment. André Dartigues has observed that especially "from the 17th to the 19th century, the language of popular piety no longer evoked the resurrection of the soul buteverlasting life. Although theological textbooks still mentioned resurrection, they dealt with it as a speculative question more than as an existential problem."[41]
This shift was supported not by any scripture, but largely by the popular religion of the Enlightenment,deism. Deism allowed for asupreme being, such as the philosophicalfirst cause, but denied any significant personal or relational interaction with this figure. Deism, which was largely led by rationality and reason, could allow a belief in theimmortality of the soul, but not necessarily in the resurrection of the dead. American deistEthan Allen demonstrates this thinking in his work,Reason, the Only Oracle of Man (1784) where he argues in the preface that nearly every philosophical problem is beyond humanity's understanding, including the miracles of Christianity, although he does allow for the immortality of an immaterial soul.[42]
In Christian theology, it was once widely believed that to rise onJudgment Day the body had to be whole and preferablyburied with the feet to the east so that the person would rise facing God.[43][44][45] AnAct of Parliament from the reign ofKing Henry VIII stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection.[46][user-generated source?] Restricting the supply to thecadavers of murderers was seen as an extra punishment for the crime. If one believes dismemberment stopped the possibility of resurrection of an intact body on judgment day, then aposthumous execution is an effective way of punishing a criminal.[47][48][49][50] Attitudes towards this issue changed very slowly in the United Kingdom and were not manifested in law until the passing of theAnatomy Act 1832. Cremation was accepted more slowly; the first UK cremation did not take place till October 1882, on private land, and cremation was not declared lawful until 1884, when Dr.William Price, a Druid high priest, was tried and acquitted at South Glamorgan Assizes for the attempted cremation of the body of his baby son.[51]
Most Christians believe in the resurrection of the dead, though some progressive and liberal Christians regard resurrection as a symbolic, immaterial, or non-universal event,[52][53][54] rather than as the literal reunion of the body and soul of every good and evil person.[55][self-published source?][56][title missing][web 1][need quotation to verify] The near-unanimous consensus among Christians is based on the Bible.[57][58][note 1][59][60] 1 John 3:2 and Philippians 3:21, discussing the Second Coming of Christ, state:[61][62]
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
— 1 John 3:2
He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.
— Philippians 3:21
Some progressive and liberal Christians believe that only righteous people will be resurrected,[63][64][full citation needed] or that people will be reincarnated instead of resurrected,[65] or that the body will not be physical and immortal like Jesus' own glorified body,[25] or that there is no afterlife whatsoever.[66]
InCatholicism,Augustine of Hippo believed in a universal resurrection of bodies for allimmortal souls.[67] According to theCatholic Encyclopedia:
"No doctrine of the Christian Faith", says St. Augustine, "is so vehemently and so obstinately opposed as the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh." This opposition had begun long before the days of St. Augustine.[68]
According to theSumma Theologica, spiritual beings that have been restored to glorified bodies will have four qualities. which are the result ofdeification and thebeatific vision:
According to theCatholic Encyclopedia (1911) article on "General resurrection"[70]
TheFourth Lateran Council (1215) teaches that all men, whetherelect orreprobate, "will rise again with their own bodies which they now bear about with them" (chapter "Firmiter"). In the language of thecreeds and professions of faith this return to life is called resurrection of the body (resurrectio carnis,resurrectio mortuorum,anastasis ton nekron) for a double reason: first, since thesoul cannot die, it cannot be said to return to life; second the heretical contention ofHymeneus and Philitus that theScriptures denote by resurrection not the return to life of the body, but the rising of the soul from the death ofsin to the life ofgrace, must be excluded.
TheCatechism of the Catholic Church says:
997 What is "rising"? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus' Resurrection.
998 Who will rise? All the dead will rise, "those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."
999 How? Christ is raised with his own body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself"; but he did not return to an earthly life. So, in him, "all of them will rise again with their own bodies which they now bear," but Christ "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body," into a "spiritual body":
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. and what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel ....What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.... the dead will be raised imperishable.... For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. (1 Cor 15:35-37. 42. 53).
1001 When? Definitively "at the last day," "at the end of the world." Indeed, the resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ's Parousia:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thess 4:16)[71]
1038 The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust" (Acts 24:15), will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:28-29).[72]
Pope John Paul II, in his workTheology of the Body, taught that the resurrected saint will be deified beyond any understanding of deification, since the saint will experience the beatific vision not just by contemplation but with the whole self – all of one's senses, abilities, virtues, etc. – when one's whole self will rise as perfect as Jesus' risen humanity. This type of deification, John Paul II taught, cannot be obtained, experienced, or foretasted before the general resurrection because it will be given by Jesus at his Second Coming.[73]
In her dairy, Saint Faustina taught that resurrected saints' happiness will forever grow in quantity and quality, because the saints will forever contemplate God more and more.[74][self-published source?]
InLutheranism,Martin Luther personally believed and taught the resurrection of the dead, perhaps in combination withsoul sleep, though other scholars hold that his view was more nuanced or even that he held to the immortality of the soul.[75][76] The mainstream teaching ofLutheranism and what Lutherans traditionally believe is in resurrection of the body in combination with theimmortal soul.[77] According to the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), on the last day all the dead will be resurrected. Their souls will then be reunited with the same bodies they had before dying. The bodies will then be changed, those of the wicked to a state of everlasting shame and torment, those of the righteous to an everlasting state of celestial glory.[78]
InAnglicanism, scholars such as the former Bishop of DurhamN. T. Wright[79] have defended the primacy of the resurrection in Christian faith. Interviewed byTime in 2008, Wright spoke of "the idea of bodily resurrection that people deny when they talk about their 'souls going to Heaven'", adding: "I've often heard people say, 'I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.' That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional." Instead, Wright explains: "In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter anintermediate state." This is 'conscious', but 'compared to being bodily alive, it will be like being asleep'. This will be followed by resurrection into new bodies, he says. 'Our culture is very interested in life after death, but the New Testament is much more interested in what I've called the life after life after death.'"
Among the originalForty-Two Articles (1553) of theChurch of England, Article 39 ("The resurrection of the dead is not yeat brought to passe") reads (in modernised English orthography): "The resurrection of the dead is not as yet brought to pass, as though it only belonged to the soul, which by the grace ofChrist is raised from the death of sin, but it is to be looked for at the last day; for then (as Scripture doth most manifestly testify) to all that be dead their own bodies, flesh and bone shall be restored, that the whole man may (according to his works) have either reward or punishment, as he hath lived virtuously, or wickedly."[80][self-published source?]
InMethodism, M. Douglas Meeks, professor of theology and Wesleyan studies atVanderbilt Divinity School, states that "it is very important for Christians to hold to the resurrection of the body."[81]John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, in his sermonOn the Resurrection of the Dead, defended the doctrine, stating "There are many places of Scripture that plainly declare it. St. Paul, in the 53d verse of this chapter, tells us that 'this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.' [1 Corinthians 15:53]."[82] In addition, notable Methodist hymns, such as those byCharles Wesley, link "our resurrection and Christ's resurrection".[81]F. Belton Joyner inUnited Methodist Answers, states that the "New Testament does not speak of a natural immortality of the soul, as if we never actually die. It speaks of resurrection of the body, the claim that is made each time we state the historic Apostles' Creed and classic Nicene Creed", given inThe United Methodist Hymnal.[83] In paragraph 128 of theBook of Discipline of theFree Methodist Church it is written: "There will be a bodily resurrection from the dead of both the just and the unjust, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of the damnation. The resurrected body will be a spiritual body, but the person will be whole identifiable. The Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of resurrection unto life to those who are in Him."[84]
With regard toBaptists,James Leo Garrett Jr., E. Glenn Hinson, and James E. Tull write that "Baptists traditionally have held firmly to the belief that Christ rose triumphant over death, sin, and hell in a bodily resurrection from the dead."[85]
ManyDispensationalist Evangelicals believe in a universal resurrection, but divided into two separate resurrections; at theSecond Coming and then again at theGreat White Throne.[86]The Doctrinal Basis of the Evangelical Alliance affirms belief in "the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and the eternal punishment of the wicked."[87] Somemillennialists interpret theBook of Revelation as requiring two physical resurrections of the dead, one before theMillennium, the other after it.[88]
Mortalists, those Christians who do not believe that humans haveimmortal souls, may believe in a universal resurrection, such asThomas Hobbes inLeviathan.[89][edition needed] Some mortalist denominations may believe in a universal resurrection of all the dead, but in two resurrection events, one at either end of amillennium, such asSeventh-day Adventists.[90] Other mortalist denominations deny a universal resurrection, such asChristadelphians[91] and hold that the dead count three groups; the majority who will never be raised, those raised to condemnation, and a second final destruction in the "Second Death", and those raised toeternal life.
InChristian conditionalism, there are severalRestorationist churches, such as theSeventh-day Adventist Church,Christadelphians,Jehovah's Witnesses, and theologians of different traditions who reject the idea of the immortality of a non-physical soul as a vestige ofNeoplatonism, and otherpagan traditions.[citation needed] In this school of thought, the dead remain dead (and do not immediately progress to aHeaven,Hell, orPurgatory) until a physical resurrection of some or all of the dead occurs at the end of time, or inParadise restored on earth, in a general resurrection. Some groups, Christadelphians in particular, consider that it is not a universal resurrection, and that at this time of resurrection that theLast Judgment will take place.[92]
Latter Day Saints believe that God has aplan of salvation. Before the resurrection, the spirits of the dead are believed to exist in a place known as thespirit world, which is similar to, yet fundamentally distinct from, the traditional concept of Heaven and Hell. It is believed that the spirit retains its wants, beliefs, and desires in the afterlife.[93][full citation needed] Doctrine ofThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Jesus Christ was the first person to be resurrected,[94] and that all those who have lived on the earth will be resurrected because of Jesus Christ, regardless of their righteousness.[94] The Church teaches that not all are resurrected at the same time; the righteous will be resurrected in a "first resurrection" and unrepentant sinners in a "last resurrection."[94] The resurrection is believed to unite the spirit with the body again, and the Church teaches that the body (flesh and bone) will be made whole and become incorruptible, a state which includes immortality.[95] There is also a belief in Latter-day Saint doctrine that a few exceptional individuals were removed from the earth "without tasting of death". This is referred to astranslation, and these individuals are believed to have retained their bodies in a purified form, though they too will eventually be required to receive resurrection.[96][full citation needed]
According toIslamic eschatology, theDay of Resurrection (yawm al-qiyāmah)[97] is believed to beGod's final assessment of humanity. The sequence of events (according to the most commonly held belief) is the annihilation of all creatures, resurrection of the body, and the judgment of all sentient creatures. The exact time when these events will occur is unknown, however there are said to be major[98] and minor signs[99] which are to occur near the time ofQiyamah (end time). ManyQuranic verses, especially the earlier ones, are dominated by the idea of the nearing of the day of resurrection.[100][101]
In the sign ofAl Quiyamah, a trumpet will be sounded for the first time, and result in the death of the remaining sinners. Then there will be a period of forty years. The eleventh sign is the sounding of a second trumpet to signal the resurrection asba'as ba'da'l-mawt.[102] Then all will be naked and running to the Place of Gathering.[citation needed]
The Day of Resurrection is one ofthe six articles of Islamic faith.[103] Everybody will account for their deeds in this world and people will go toheaven orhell.
TheZoroastrian belief in an end times renovation of the earth is known asfrashokereti, which includes some form of revival of the dead that can be attested from no earlier than the 4th century BCE.[104] As distinct from Judaism this is the resurrection of all the dead to universal purification and renewal of the world.[105] In thefrashokereti doctrine, the final renovation of the universe is when evil will be destroyed, and everything else will be then in perfect unity with God (Ahura Mazda). The term probably means "making wonderful, excellent". The doctrinal premises are (1) good will eventually prevail over evil; (2) creation was initially perfectly good, but was subsequently corrupted by evil; (3) the world will ultimately be restored to the perfection it had at the time of creation; (4) the "salvation for the individual depended on the sum of (that person's) thoughts, words and deeds, and there could be no intervention, whether compassionate or capricious, by any divine being to alter this." Thus, each human bears the responsibility for the fate of his own soul, and simultaneously shares in the responsibility for the fate of the world.[106]
The difference between belief in resurrection of the flesh and resurrection of the soul was discussed byOswald Spengler in the second volume of hisDecline of the West books. According to him, resurrection of the flesh was a characteristic symbol of the magian high culture, which includesearly Christianity,Judaism andIslam. The validity of this classification is contested by contemporary scholars.
hujus carnis resurrectionem
The New Testament does not speak of a natural immortality of the soul, as if we never actually die. It speaks of resurrection of the body, the claim that is made each time we state the historic Apostles' Creed and classic Nicene Creed. (For the words of these creeds, seeUMH 880–882.)
