A further look at the United Methodist Church’s Articles of
Religion -- as stated in a previous post:
The United Methodist Church has several sources that
historically define its “doctrinal standards.”
These include the church’s Confession of Faith, the General Rules, John
Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the New Testament and Wesley’s Standard
Sermons. Also, in this roster of
foundational documents are the church’s Articles of Religion. In 1784 when the American Church was
chartered, John Wesley provided these Articles for the church. Wesley had composed 24 statements, and the
American church added a 25th that was America-specific. They have always been authoritative in
Methodism and the church included them in its Discipline from 1790 on. The third article is:
Article III — Of the Resurrection of
Christ
Christ did truly rise again from the
dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection
of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he
return to judge all men at the last day.
Given that “Christ did truly rise again from the dead” is
piling on a bit, we need to understand that, in Wesley’s day, there was great
indifference toward the church and toward the maintenance of what we sometimes call
“right doctrine.” It was a time when
philosophies of all sorts proliferated.
While most of these turned out to be but flashes in the pan, their
subject matter was of great debate. The
physical resurrection of Jesus had multitudinous detractors. Critics employed all kinds of theoretical
gymnastics in order to dispute or deny the physical resurrection. Some of what occurred were resurgences of old
– even ancient – heresies. While the
historical councils of the church dealt with a lot of these, there were people
in the eighteenth century who denied the authority of these ecumenical
gatherings. Others spun fanciful
arguments out of new cloth. As I say,
most fell by the wayside. But the forceful
rebuttal of Methodism remains.
It was (and is) an important tenet of Methodist theology
that the church understands the resurrected Christ to be perfect in his
nature. Being the melding of mortal and
divine, Christ in his resurrection stands with all vestiges of his mortality –
including any remainder of original sin or fallenness – removed. In this perfection he fulfills scripture and
stands as a foretaste of what awaits Christian believers in their own
resurrection. After all, “resurrection”
does not mean “resuscitation.” Jesus resuscitated
the widow’s son at Nain. Jesus
resuscitated Lazarus. We can’t go to
Israel today and meet these fellows. Jesus
returned their own imperfect, human lives for a season. But, these alive-again figures eventually
died once more, even as they await the rising that is before us all. “Resurrection” means “to be transformed,” “to
be made different from what one was before.”
In that, Jesus becomes perfect in his nature.
The article concludes with a credal affirmation of Jesus’
ascension, his station in the Kingdom of God, and his role as judge of
humankind in the last days.
Like so many of the statements in the Articles, much of the
third Article seems basic, even mundane.
But, part of the nature of these Articles is that they outline the faith
as Methodist people understand it. There
can be no comprehensive treatment of Christian theology that does not say something
about Christ’s resurrection. That a
statement is simple in its presentation does not hide the divine truth about
which it speaks. Good Christian teaching
does not require complex language. This Article
carries the freight admirably.
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