The God who gives life to the dead - 5/2/15, 20:35 / 1

The God who gives life to the dead

Rom 4,1625
In Romans 4, Paul offers the example of Abraham in his discussion about justification through
faith. Part of it is talking about the faith of Abraham and the faith of all Christ-believers. Paul
gives a profound description of that faith of Abraham, as stated in v. 17: Abraham believed in
the God, who makes the dead alive and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
As we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in this Easter season, today
we will reflect on that powerful expression of Paul concerning the God who gives life to the
dead. In this expression, we can identify three elements: God as the subject, Gods action of
giving life, and the dead as recepients of that action.
About 40 years ago, Nils Dahl of Yale Divinity School lamented that while scholars investigate
so many aspects of early Christianity and the New Testament writings, they have almost
forgotten the theme of God to the extent of neglecting it. Nowadays, it appears that a persisting
problem is no longer so much about neglecting God, rather more about misconceiving God.
Some picture God as the Souvereign, who endorses and supports political or ideological
expansion. In various contexts people seem to connect God closely with their own race, causing
them to close their doors for other peoples who seek refuge in foreign territories. Still, for many,
God is thought of as a straight-gendered God, who does not or cannot tolerate those who are
otherwise.
In his letters, Paul pays considerable attention to God and Gods action. His letter to the Romans
alone mentions God 143 times and has more occurrences of the word than the gospels of
Matthew and Mark combined. While many gods in Pauls context were connected with violence,
exploitation and oppression, his God is very much identified with peace, compassion,
encouragement, faithfulness and justice. Paul loves to refer to God as the subject, who does
things. For him, God is the source of love and at the same time does love (cf. Rom 1,7); God is
the author of grace and peace (1,7). God is the author of justice and also does justice (cf. 1,17
18).
Considering the politics of his day, the one viewed as the subject was the Caesar of Rome.
People believed that things may come to pass according to the word of the Emperor. Paul insists
that even if there may exist powers-that-be God continues and remains the primordial subject and
the source and cause of everything, whose power and dominion can be subdued by no one, not
even the Caesar of Rome. He summarizes it beautifully in his doxology in Rom 11,36:
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
For Paul God is not so much known for who God is but for what God is doing. In the first
chapter of the letter, Paul potrays God as correcting the offenders those who do not give God
due praise and honor (cf. Rom 1,24ff). In chapter three, God is described as justifying both the
sinners and their victims, through the death of Jesus Christ (Rom 3,21ff). And here in our text

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(4:17), Paul strikingly expresses it: God makes the dead alive. The verbal phrase to make alive
is expressed in the Greek text in one word, which is in the present past participle
(zoopoiountos). It literally conveys an idea of God who continually gives life.
The point of Pauls expression here is plain: God is and remains pro life. God is against anything
that endangers life. Gods commitment to life is powerfully manifested in the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ. By raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrates that death indeed has no
sting. In antiquity death was not primarily seen as a natural phenomenon. There were also cases
of induced deaths. Looking at the precarious situation of the Christians under Emperor Nero, at
the time of writing Romans, Paul is perhaps considering that induced death could possibly be
experienced by Christians as a result of persecution. Paul knows very well how far persecution
could go, based on his experience in Thessalonica during his ministry there.
Reference to the dead could be symbolic here. In the Roman Empire there were individuals
who were condemned to death, either by an emperor or a Roman ruler. The condemned (Lat.,
damnati) were already considered dead even before they died. Among them were plain
innocents, like Ignatius of Antioch, who was fed to wild beasts. Caligula, who was the Roman
Emperor during the early missionary life of Paul, is an example of a ruler who condemned
innocents. There was a certain Aesius Proculus, who because of his height and good looks was
called Colosseros (extraordinarily handsome). Caligula just simply let him be dragged and
brought to the arena. There he was forced to fight two times in a row. Fortunately, he survived.
But Caligula commanded to bind him, clothe him with rags and bring him through alleys to be
seen by all women in the arena, before he was finally strangled (to death).
That God is the God who gives life, does not show Pauls wit or sense of humor. He is serious is
proclaiming that God is at work in giving life. For Paul, death is not a form of defeat.
Abraham believed that even if he was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, God would allow him to
come home with Isaac still intact. As he was on his way to Moriah, the supposed place of the
sacrifice, he says to his men: Stay here I and the boy will go over there and worship and we
will come again to you. That is a kind of faith that sees life beyond death. In contexts of
oppression, that faith the God who gives life becomes a formidable weapon. The book of
Maccabees narrates a story of the martyrdom of the seven brothers and their mother, during the
reign of the oppressive Greek ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes IV. One brother utters the following
words before he died:
One cannot but choose to die at the hands of mortals and to cherish the hope God gives of being
raised again by him. But for you [Antiochus IV] there will be no resurrection to life! (2Macc
7,14).
Brothers and sisters, these stories of old give us a glimpse of what Paul could have in mind when
he speaks of the God who gives life to the dead. The Good News is: The resurrection is Gods
protest against death. In the midst of the forces of death, the power of the God of life prevails,

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even if death itself is at hand. This faith in the resurrection is what the oppressors and powersthat-be cannot subdue. Why did and do many of our brothers and sisters risk their lives in
fighting injustice and oppression? Is it not primarily because of their faith in the resurrection?
The resurrection, which demonstrates that God is a God of life, inspires Christ-believers to fight
poverty, corruption, injustice and violence because these are subtle forces of death that slowly
brings helpless victims to the grave.
Our country today seems to be moving toward destruction and hopelessness, governed by many
leaders, who siphon the countrys resources and eliminate those who are against it with much
freedom and impunity. The forces of death seems to reign in our midst. But since we believe in
the God who gives life, we do not submit to fatalism and allow fate to take its course. Rather, we
are certain of Gods life-giving power and we as a people will be able to rise again. As a
community of Christs resurrection, we oppose injustice and violence, not merely for the sake of
the victims around us, but also because it is what it means to believe in the God who gives life.
Jrgen Moltmann, in his The Spirit of Life, rightly proclaims:
To experience the power of the resurrection, and to have to do with this divine energy, does not
lead to a non-sensuous and inward-turned spirituality, hostile to the body and detached from the
world. It brings the new vitality of a love for life (p. 9).
May the message of Christs resurrection continue to inspire us to defend and protect life against
whatever forces of death. Faith in the resurrection marks a present experience of victory over evil
forces, which may yet to take place in the future. Let us live in that hope. Amen.