The Possibility and Necessity of the Resurrection
I congratulate you, my brothers and beloved ones, on the glorious Feast of the Resurrection, wishing you and our beloved country every good and blessing.
In this article, I would like to speak to you about the possibility, necessity, and indispensability of the Resurrection.
The Possibility of the Resurrection
The raising of bodies after death is a miracle that falls within God’s omnipotence. Undoubtedly, raising bodies is easier than creating them.
For the same God who granted them the grace of existence is surely able to restore them to existence. He created them from the dust of the earth, and He can surely return them from the dust again. Indeed, even deeper than this, He created everything from nothing—He created the earth and its dust from nothing, and then from the dust He created man.
Which is more difficult, then: creation from nothing, or the raising of the body from dust?
It is the unlimited power of our Creator God, who merely wills—and all that He wills comes to be, even without uttering a word or giving a command.
Therefore, the Resurrection is a doctrine for believers.
Whoever believes in God and His power can believe in the Resurrection, for in essence it depends on God’s will, knowledge, and power.
From the standpoint of will: God wills that man should rise from the dead and return to life. He has promised man the Resurrection and eternal life. And since God has promised, He will surely fulfill what He has promised.
From the standpoint of knowledge and power: God knows where the elements of those dissolved bodies are, and where their bones rest. He knows how to reshape and reassemble them. He also knows where the souls of those bodies are. It is easy for Him to command them to return to their bodies, and easy for them to obey.
He is capable of all this—blessed be His great name and exalted divine power.
Whoever denies the possibility of the Resurrection necessarily denies miracles altogether, and therefore denies creation from nothing, denies God’s power, and might even deny His existence!
This ignorance is found among atheists, pseudo-scientists, and unbelievers. But as for those who believe in God and in His unlimited power, they believe in miracles—including the miracle of the Resurrection.
The Necessity of the Resurrection
Just as the Resurrection is possible through God’s power, it is also necessary because of His justice, goodness, and mercy.
It is necessary for justice:
It is necessary for every person to be held accountable for his deeds on earth—whether good or evil. He must be rewarded for the good and punished for the bad.
If there were no Resurrection, people would rush into worldly pleasures and corruption without concern for what happens afterward. And if there were no Resurrection, injustice would prevail, and the strong would oppress the weak without fear of eternal punishment.
But belief in the Resurrection, and in the judgment and reward that follow it, serves as a deterrent to people. They realize that justice will surely take its course—if not in this world, then in the next.
The Resurrection is necessary for balance:
There is no equality on earth. There is the rich and the poor, the happy and the miserable, the pampered and the tormented.
If there is no equality on earth, it is only fitting that there be balance in heaven. Whoever was deprived of his rights on earth may receive them in heaven, and the Lord will compensate him for what he lost in this life—if his deeds were pleasing to God.
God has promised man eternal life.
His promise is for the whole human being—not only for the soul, which is part of man.
If only the soul were granted immortality and eternal bliss, then we could not say that the whole human being enjoys eternal life while the body is deprived of it. Therefore, the body must rise from death and reunite with the soul, and the eternal reward is for the whole person.
The Resurrection is necessary; otherwise, the human body would share the same fate as animal bodies.
What, then, is the distinction of this rational, speaking being whom God endowed with the gifts of thought, invention, knowledge, and the ability to build spacecraft that reach the moon, orbit the earth, and return safely?
Is it reasonable that this wondrous human being—who invented the computer, the fax, and the mobile phone—should have a body that ends up like that of a beast, insect, or reptile? The mind cannot accept this. Therefore, the Resurrection must be.
The Resurrection is consistent with human dignity.
Man, who surpasses all other embodied creatures, and who can, by God’s gift, control and care for them, or use them rightly—surely the dignity of his body must surpass that of the irrational and speechless creatures under his authority.
The Resurrection is also necessary to restore to us the ideal life we lost here.
It offers us the vision of that beautiful, perfect life in the other world—where there is no sorrow, no tears, no corruption, no injustice, no flaw, and no deficiency.
Rather, it is the life of eternal joy, of the perfect human being without sin, and of blessed fellowship with God, His angels, and His saints.
How beautiful is that life in the other world—one that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man.”
The Resurrection is a feast; therefore, my congratulations to all on the Feast of the Resurrection.
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper on April 23, 2006.
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