Why Is the Resurrection So Important to Christians?

The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety. 

To me the importance of the resurrection is that it is the center of Christianity. It is the center of the gospel in particular and the wider belief of Christians as a whole. In a list of items in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Paul says if Christ has not been raised then we are of all persons most miserable. And this after he just got done giving a list saying “our preaching is vain, our witnessing is vain, we are still in our sins…” and twice he says “our faith is vain”. And you think, how long do we have to look at the New Testament to see a sentence like that—that our faith is in vain? I thought it was all about faith. But faith in what? If Jesus cannot rise from the dead, how can you expect to rise from the dead.

Another statement in Paul’s list that is especially close to me, in verse 18 he says “our loved ones who died in Christ have died in vain”. This is especially important to me because my wife died of cancer in 1995. If the Christian hope is gone then why am I here today? Why am I doing any of this? There are many other things I’d rather be doing. So, from a very practical viewpoint the resurrection anchors everything.

In fact, I often tell our students if the resurrection is true then we know that Christianity follows. If all we know is the gospel of the deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus on the factual side, if that is true then we can study other things in Scripture for all of eternity. “What view do you take on this”? I don’t know “what view do you take on this”? Sovereignty? Free Will? Let’s ask Paul! We will have eternity to ask these questions. But the ones that get you in, that get you past the entrance, the ones which require you to say “I do”, the resurrection is right at the center of everything.

It links in the New Testament over 300 verses connected to almost every area of theology and every area of practice. So, assuming we can get to the resurrection we have the center of our faith together at once.

Christianity.com: Why is the resurrection so important to Christians? - Gary Habermas from christianitydotcom2 on GodTube.

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