Article April 7, 1980 Issue

Jesus' resurrection—the key to ours

DOROTHY E. KLEIN

Is resurrection a subject of interest to those concerned about getting on with the business of living? If the quality of our lives and what we bring out in them are important to us, yes—resurrection is vital to each of us, right now!

In all history there is no event of deeper significance than Christ Jesus' triumph over death and the grave. In what took place between the advent of Jesus upon the human scene and his personal exit from it, we find the key to our own salvation, our own resurrection.

What is resurrection? Resurrection from what, to what? Resurrection is generally defined as rising from the dead. But what can rising from the dead have to do with life and living right now? The Apostle Paul indicates the answer in his concise and provocative definition of both life and death: "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."^{Rom. 8:6;} Paul clearly indicates that both life and death are states of thought. To be "carnally minded" is death here and now as well as after the experience commonly called death. Then, resurrection, rising from the dead, doesn't focus on death but puts the focus on "spiritualization of thought," on how to live a full and meaningful life—something we're all vitally interested in.