Paul’s View of the Resurrection
“I [Paul] have hope in God, which they [the Pharisees] also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15; see also Acts 26:6–8).
First, Paul clearly believed in the general resurrection, just like the Pharisees. However, it is equally clear that Paul defined it differently than the Pharisees did because they wanted to kill him over it! “Concerning the resurrection of the dead I [Paul] am being judged by you [Pharisees] this day” (Acts 24:21; see also 23:6).
Don Preston of the Preterist Research Institute points out something really interesting in his book Paul on Trial.[1] At first, the Pharisees said, “We find no fault in this man” because Paul said he believed in resurrection, just like they did (Acts 23:6–9). Yet about a week or so later, the Pharisees wanted to kill Paul over of his views of the resurrection (Acts 24:21). What changed? Evidently the Pharisees figured out what Paul actually believed about the general resurrection, namely, that it is a spiritual event that had already begun for believers in Christ (see Col. 3:1–2, Eph. 2:5–6, John 5:25–26).
One of the main reasons why the Pharisees rejected Jesus as Messiah was their carnal views of the fulfillment of Scripture. The Pharisees expected a physical kingdom of God, a physical Mount Zion, an abiding physical temple, a physical new Jerusalem, and a physical general resurrection. Yet Jesus and the apostles preached a spiritual kingdom of God (Luke 17:20–21), a spiritual Mount Zion (Heb. 12:22), a spiritual temple (Acts 7:48–49, 1 Pet. 2:5), a spiritual new Jerusalem (John 4:21–24, Heb. 12:22), and a spiritual general resurrection (John 11:25–26, Col. 3:1–2, Eph. 2:5–6, Acts 4:2). The Pharisees’ carnal fulfillment expectations kept them from accepting Jesus as Messiah.
Second, during his trial, Paul said the promise of resurrection was part of the law (Acts 24:14–15). Yet Jesus said not one jot or tittle would pass from the law until it was all fulfilled (Matt. 5:18–19). Therefore, either the resurrection–which was part of the law–has already happened, or every single part of the law is still binding, including Sabbath keeping, physical circumcision, feast day observances, dietary requirements, and everything else. To put it another way, if the law has passed away–and it did in the first century (Heb. 8:13)–then the resurrection must have happened too because it was part of the law!
Third, Paul said at his trial, “I have hope in God, which they themselves [the Pharisees] also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, of both the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). Paul was affirming his belief in the Old Testament teaching about the general resurrection, which the Pharisees accepted too. However, the only Old Testament passage that mentions “the resurrection of the just and unjust” is Daniel 12:2; therefore, this is the passage Paul must have been referring to. And when did Daniel say this resurrection of the just and unjust would happen? When “the power of the holy people”–aka: the law[2]–was “shattered” or ended (Dan. 12:7). Since the law ended in the first century (Heb. 8:13), then this is when the resurrection must have happened too.
Fourth, Paul literally said (in the passage under discussion): “There is about to be [Gk: mello] a resurrection of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). In fact, Young’s Literal Translation reads as follows: “And I [Paul] confess this to thee, that, according to the way that they [the Pharisees] call a sect, so serve I the God of the fathers, believing all things that in the law and the prophets have been written, having hope toward God, which they themselves also wait for, there is about to be [mello] a rising again of the dead, both of righteous and unrighteous” (Acts 24:14–15, italics mine). Paul expected the resurrection to happen soon, not in thousands of years!
It’s true that mello doesn’t always mean “about to be”; it occasionally means “will be,” indicating certainty (rather than imminence). However, most lexicons–including Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament–say the primary meaning of mello is “about to be.” The exception is “will be.”
This imminence fits perfectly with Paul’s other discussions about the timing of the resurrection. For example, Paul told the first-century Corinthians that some of them would still be alive when it happened: “We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed–in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51–52, italics mine).
Likewise, Paul promised the Thessalonians that some of them would still be alive when the second coming and resurrection happened:
“We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep [dead]. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:15–18).
Clearly, Paul believed the general resurrection was a spiritual event that happened in the first century!
For more about the resurrection–and other related issues–get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 3/10/24
[1] Don Preston, Paul on Trial (Ardmore, OK: JaDon Management, 2020), 9.
[2] The “power of the holy people” refers to the law. In Old Covenant times, whenever Israel obeyed the law, God blessed them immensely. However, when Israel disobeyed the law, God withdrew his blessing/cursed them and they faltered. Israel’s power was not in their numbers or weaponry or any other earthly thing; it came from obeying God’s law (Deut. 7, 32:30; Ps. 41:11; Jeremiah 7). See Don Preston’s book Watching for the Parousia, page 70.