In contrast to the swoon theory, "orthodox" Christianity has maintained that Jesus actually and absolutely died on the cross. To use the words of one of my theology professors from seminary, "Jesus was dead, dead, dead."

In contrast to the notion that Jesus stayed dead, "orthodox" Christianity has maintained that Jesus died - but did not stay dead. The claim that Jesus lives again in the resurrection is, according to Paul, the cornerstone of our faith - the one thing we absolutely must believe.

The Resurrection

To think about the cross theologically, we must look beyond it, and realize that the death of Christ is (to the Christian tradition) absolutely and intricately connected with his resurrection.

The first thing to establish is the matter if the resurrection is what it isn't: the resurrection is not a resuscitation. When a doctor revives a patient who is clinically dead on an operating table, that is not a resurrection. Similarly, the moments where Jesus or one of the prophets brings a person back to life are technically not resurrections, either. In each case, these are resuscitations. Why do we say this?

First of all, because (for both Jesus and certain of the Jews living at Jesus' time) the matter of the resurrection - and how it was to occur - was pretty plainly understood. At no point do Jesus or the Pharisees (the main group of Jews who believed in the resurrection) think that the resurrection is something that will occur to an individual. The resurrection will be a one-time, general event, occuring at the same moment to all who are to be resurrected.

Second, the resurrection will involve a transformation of the bodies that are raised. They will have a connection to the body that died, but there will be distinct differences. Chief among these will be that the bodies raised in the resurrection will not die. Since everyone who has come back to life so far (save one, Jesus, of whom we'll speak in a moment) - whether in the Bible or on an operating table - has died again, this fact alone would indicate that resurrection (as Jesus understood it) has not yet happened.

Now, there is the matter that Jesus himself was resurrected, which seems to run counter to the claim made above. In fact, the matter of Jesus resurrection becomes a minor theological crisis for the early Christian tradition. So much so that Paul himself feels compelled to make an accounting of it. See, for example, 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul uses the individual resurrection of Jesus as a guarantee of the general resurrection - the "first fruits from among the dead".

The sovereign power of God is the power that even ends death. As Guthrie puts it (p. 278), in resurrection, Christ is Lord. Whose kingdom is it but Christ's, who defeats even the bondage death holds over us?

The Kingdom as "Already / Not Yet"

Christ's resurrection, theologically speaking, inaugerates a change in the cosmos. We are living, therefore, in an "in-between time" - between the bondage of sin (which we still see around us as a reality) and the hope of the Kingdom of God (which we know through faith in the assurance of Christ's death and resurrection). As-such, we can see moments in the Gospels when the Kingdom "breaks in" and transforms situations before our very eyes. To take but two examples:

In both these passages (and others like them throughout the Gospels), the Greek word which is translated here as "stand up" (anastasia), is the same word used for "resurrection".

So, while theologically we hold fast to the idea that there is one physical resurrection, of which Jesus is the first fruits, we can also find evidence in the text that these first fruits are at work in the world, transforming and resurrecting our social relationships and drawing the lost back into community.

In Christ's resurrection, the battle is won, but the war is not over. This is where Christian choice and responsibility finds its proper expression.

The Holy Spirit

Like the father and the Son within the Triune name of God, the Holy Spirit is a person - unique and distinct from the other two, while still remaining in unity. Very often, however, this is forgotten or overlooked. The Holy Spirit is not merely an abstract power in Christ or sent by the Father. It is with Christ, but distinct from Christ.

We must recognize that the Holy Spirit, in the theological sense, is one of many spirits which vie for our concern and attention. Part of our task as those growing in theological understanding is to begin to discern the differences between the Spirit of the Lord and the spirits of this world. What are some of the hallmarks of the Holy Spirit?

What does this Kingdom look like? Is it a gated community? Like a suburban neighborhood, or a prison? No. The mark of the Kingdom in the Spirit is hospitality - the hospitality that prompted the Samaritan to stop and help the bleeding man, the hospitality that prompted medieval Christians to take care of those (believers and non-believers alike) who were sick, the hospitality of Jesus in the general resurrection of the dead to new life.