Catechesis Notes for the Week — “If in this life only we have hope in Christ…” (1 Cor. 15:19). “If believing in Christ does not result in the resurrection of our bodies from the dead and eternal life with God that is free of all sickness, sin, and corruption, then what is the point of the Christian faith? This is Paul’s assertion. ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.’ But Paul, unlike so many modern theologians and even the Jewish Sadducees of his day, actually believed in the historical Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of God, who actually suffered and died for the salvation of the world and who also actually rose bodily from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion. The Scriptures teach that the crucifixion and death of God’s Son upon the cross took away all sin and the curse of the creation. The Christian faith rests upon the fundamental assertion: ‘Christ is risen from the dead!’… His death reconciles us to God. His death swallowed up death because it took away the problem of sin.…” Lutheran Catechesis, p. 118b

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