Christianity Today Op-Ed: Paul’s View on Death Changed Mine, by Osvaldo Padilla (Beeson Divinity School, Samford University):
There’s a Latin phrase that has become a part of the Book of Common Prayer: “Media vita in morte sumus.” In the midst of life we are in death.
As I age, … more and more funerals occupy formerly empty spaces on my calendar. This should not come as a surprise. We are all aging. And aging, always, without exception, leads to death—morte sumus.
I have been consciously running from this reality. … [I]t’s only now, as I pass midlife and feel moments of fear while awaiting test results for my body, not others’ bodies, that I have come to realize that unless the Lord returns soon, I am going to die. In particular, 1 Corinthians 15 has shown me that even as my life is in a period of flourishing—media vita—the reality is that death is coming for me.
The apostle Paul knew death much closer (and sooner) than I. … Paul’s view of his own death shows up in Philippians, where he went so far as to write, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!” (1:21–22). …
Reading Paul’s letters allows us to see someone who, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, was trying to make sense of Christ’s death on the cross: Why did Jesus have to die if he was truly the Messiah? Why did he have to die, of all places, on a cursed cross? What did this ignominious death have to say about Jesus’ identity? What did his death tell us about Jesus’ relationship with God? What did it have to do with Israel, the world, and Paul himself? …
After spending about a year and a half in Corinth planting and building up its churches, Paul moved on to continue his missionary work elsewhere. It is clear that Paul’s departure severely weakened the once-vibrant churches. Shortly after he left, they were consumed with a way of seeing the world that was far from what Paul had taught them. Their behavior was actually not very different from that of unbelievers. They were full of division, pride, sinful expressions of sexuality, selfishness, and misuse of spiritual gifts. All this showed that the Corinthians lacked the essence of believers in Christ—love as it had been expressed on the cross.
In writing to the Corinthians, Paul had to go back to basics: the gospel itself. … In chapters 1–4, Paul corrected their view of the crucifixion of Jesus. And in chapter 15, he corrected their view of his resurrection.
It appears that their problem with the Resurrection was twofold. First, some were making the claim that resurrection was not possible (15:12–19). Paul contradicted this claim by reminding them that Christ himself had been raised from the dead! …
The second problem the Corinthians had with resurrection appears to be how it happened. How is it possible that after the decomposition of these frail bodies we will receive glorious, incorruptible bodies? How is it possible that we will be raised immortal—not in some vague spiritual way but materially? This is indeed a difficult (even impossible!) question, and Paul did not answer it as such. …
If we were to summarize 1 Corinthians 15, then, we could do so with one question: Do you believe in the power of God? Because Paul believed in the power of God, the God who raises the dead, he concluded the chapter triumphantly:
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (vv. 53–57)
This is impossible to understand, but Paul believed it. He believed it because he believed in the power of God as it was manifested in the resurrection of Jesus. Augustine observed about this passage, “People are amazed that God, who made all things from nothing, makes a heavenly body from human flesh. … Is he who was able to make you when you did not exist not able to make over what you once were?” …
Resurrection exists because Jesus was raised from the dead, not the other way around. For Paul, reality was Christocentric. For the believer, joy always comes after suffering and Friday is always followed by Sunday because this is how it was with Jesus.
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