What is the significance of the resurrection? According to J. Christiaan Beker:
For Paul, the historicity of the resurrection of Christ and its “bodily” character are crucial. The historicity of the resurrection signifies its eschatological-temporal significance, that is, it is a proleptic event that inaugurates the new creation. The “bodily” character of the resurrection manifests the resurrection as an event that not only occurs in time but also signals the “bodily” ontological transformation of the created order in the kingdom of God. Therefore, the resurrection of Christ is both crucial and yet provisional. It is crucial because it marks the beginning of the new creation; it is provisional because it looks forward to the consummation of that beginning.
From Paul the Apostle: The triumph of God in Life and Thought (Fortress, 1980), 159.
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