Causes of the Resurrection
which sleep in Jesus. And straight after; For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Unto the Hebrews, the second chapter; That by death he might abolish him, who had power over death. In the same epistle, the eleventh chapter: when Abraham at the commandment of God would have sacrificed his son Isaac, of whom he had the promise of posterity; he considered with himself, that God was able even to raise him up from the dead, from whence also he reduced him, to be a figure of the resurrection. Jude, in his epistle, brings in Enoch for a testimony, who was the seventh from Adam, and said; Behold, the Lord cometh in thousands of his saints, to give judgment against all men, and to reprove all the wicked. And soon after; Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life. Let it be sufficient, that we have brought these things out of the new testament: unto the which add the article of the apostles Creed, wherein we confess ourselves to believe the resurrection of the flesh. Further, all those places, wherein Christ is said, that he shall be judge of the quick and the dead, have relation unto this.
Causes of the Resurrection 55. Now that we have seen the signification of the word, and also the definition, and have sought whether this resurrection may be plainly set forth by natural reasons, and further have brought testimonies, as well of the old as new scriptures, now it follows that we speak somewhat of the causes thereof. It is the effect of faith, and it follows justification. Whereupon it is said in the sixth chapter of John; "He that believeth in me, hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up at the last day." So as God, by his power, is the efficient cause thereof.
For which cause Christ said unto the Sadducees; "Ye err being
ignorant of the scriptures, and of the power of God." And not only God the Father himself, but also the Holy Ghost is the cause of the resurrection. For (as we have already said) it is written in the epistle to the Romans; "If the spirit of him, which hath raised up Christ from the dead, dwell in you, &c." Yea moreover, the Son himself, which is
Christ Jesus, is a cause of this resurrection: for in the Gospel of John he said; "I will raise him up at the last day." And again; "Even as the Father raiseth up and quickeneth, even so also the Son quickeneth,
&c." Further; "They which be in the graves, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth, &c." In the eleventh of John; "I am the resurrection and the life." Moreover, there is an argument taken hereof; that Christ, by his death, took away sin, which was the cause of death. Verily no man doubts, but that the cause being removed, the effect is taken away. In the first to the Corinthians, the 15th chapter; "In Adam all men are dead, in Christ all men shall be revived: & as by one man came death, so by one man came the resurrection from the dead."
The final cause of resurrection is assigned to be, that the whole and entire man should be judged at the tribunal seat of God, and should receive rewards or punishments, according as he hath behaved himself. But the angels, although they shall be ministers of the resurrection, yet can they be no causes. Among the causes of the resurrection to come, the resurrection also of Christ is numbered: for Paul, in the first to the Corinthians, the 15th chapter, saith; "If the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again: and if Christ be not risen, our preaching is in vain." But we may argue on the other side;
"Christ rose again; Therefore we also shall rise again." So then, the resurrection of Christ seems to be the cause of our resurrection; which indeed is to be granted: but yet not so, as that very action, wherein Christ was raised up, and which is now past, is the efficient cause that performs or does anything, which should bring forth our