Book Review - Resurrection Realities

One of the most difficult things for a pastor to do when he has been at the same church for a number of years is remain fresh in his preaching on high days such as Easter and Christmas.  It is difficult to find new ways to say the same thing, or to discover new insights into heavily-studied passages that will give birth to fresh sermons.

Just like I always review Martin Hengel's powerful little book, Crucifixion, for Holy Week, I always pick up and find fresh profit from reviewing Merrill C. Tenney's text, Resurrection Realities, for Easter.

Resurrection Realities, also published as The Vital Heart of Christianity, is a small, 96 page book that explains the theological significance of the resurrection of Christ for our salvation (lots of Pauline stuff here).  He also demonstrates how the resurrection is biblically the proof of his sonship, lordship, judgeship, and of the driving force behind the expansion of Christianity.  Each chapter is an exposition of key scriptural texts, and as such, it is eminently helpful in preparing meaty sermons.

Here is a small excerpt from chapter 1:

The most important doctrine of our Christian faith is not the virgin birth with its tender and sacred mystery, nor the atonement on Calvary where the blood was shed that brought the love and forgiveness of God to a ruined world, but the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Without the resurrection the virgin birth would be incredible, for why should we accept a biological miracle as the origin of a life that was swallowed up hopelessly in death?  Without the resurrection there would be no atonement, for the value of Christ's death as an atonement depends upon the quality of the one who died.  If, like other men, He succumbed to death and never triumphed over it, His death might have been that of a martyr or hero; but it could never have been the means of bringing salvation to others.  The resurrection singles Him out as different from others and gives a different value to all the other facts of His life (page 12).

I don't believe this great book is in print, but used copies of it abound.  This is truly one of those books whose helpfulness has stood the test of time.