The Continuation of the Sign

and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures

I like good news. But the problem is that I don’t like waiting for it. I don’t want to wait three days to see victory over my trials. I need my victory now! I don’t want to feel my hopes being crushed in a present defeat. But this is what God has ordained for me. But when I feel that I am without hope, I have this good news. I have the hope of His resurrection, according to eyewitnesses, and the confirmation of the Word of His power that, at the worst point in human history, this Man Jesus Christ of Nazareth truly arose from death and appeared to many, whose testimony has gone out into all the world through these eyewitnesses and was believed and has endured intense scrutiny throughout the ages to even today.

Therefore, we have the Scriptures as a divine witness and human history as a supplemental testimony of this fact that He rose from the dead. This is the main point of the Scriptures and the hope of the apostolic doctrine that succeeds the office of the Lord’s apostles. The Scriptures are the result of the singular office of the apostles because they had only one doctrine through which the New Testament Scriptures were confirmed and established. It is properly called the apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42). But the Creed, here, doesn’t point to church authority or historical authority as the confirmation of this fact. It points to the Scriptures as the only trustworthy source, and the Creed doesn’t point to itself as the authority but derives it from the Scriptures. Therefore, it requires the gift of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the seeker who pursues answers to this question of the resurrection of this Man Jesus after three days.

Faith concerning this fact must be born in the heart and mind of a man from the testimony of the Scriptures, not from church councils. The resurrection life promised to the one who believes comes only through the Spirit of the Word, confirming this faith to the seeker through the Scriptures (Rom.8:16-25; 10:16-18; 1Cor.15:3-5). Therefore, it is the Scriptures we must receive (Jn.12:48-50; 13:17-20; 17:7-10, 13-18, 20-26). If we deny these as the authority and confirmation of this witness, then we deny the resurrection, and if we deny the resurrection, we are without hope and are still in our sins (1Cor.15:12-19), and He will deny us (2Tim.2:11-13). Therefore, the resurrection stands as the apostolic sign that continues today in the bread and cup of the new covenant in His blood (Matt.12:39-42; Jn.6:26-29; Rom.10:14-15; 1Cor.11:26; Acts 1:9-11; 2:42; Matt.24:23-26, 30-31). The power of His resurrection with the testimony of the Scriptures is what puts life in the cup that symbolizes and memorializes His blood as the substitutional sacrifice (Jn.2:18-22; Mk.15:28-30; Lk.24:44-48; Acts 10:40; Jn.3:11-15; 6:30-33, 48-63 /emphasis vs. 30-33, 48-51, 62).

Therefore, only where the Scriptures are properly taught according to the apostolic doctrine will the witness of the Spirit abide (1Jn.1:1-3, 5-10; Acts 20:28-32), confirming to those who believe the power of His resurrection for their continual sanctification and assurance of justification (1Jn.2:24-29). It is in this practice that the Spirit promises to bear witness to the truth and where true love for the body of His resurrection and communion in this blood will abound, for He is heaven, and we are on earth by the Spirit of His grace in our body of death (Rom.8:10-11; 1Cor.11:26; Jn.9:5-7; Matt.14-16; Jn.3:13), but He has claimed victory over it if we hold fast to the putting off of that death (1Cor.15:43-49). Therefore, in this sign, we join ourselves to His death (Rom.6:1-6), which declares His victory over sin (1Cor.15:50-57), so that we should be joined to His resurrection life (Jn.11:23-26). Believing in the hope of the resurrection of that day is not the same as believing in the Mediator who is the resurrection and the life of that day (2Pet.1:19-21; 1Pet.1:22-25). Do you love His appearing (2Tim.4:8)? Do you look for His appearing a second time apart from sin (Heb.9:28)? Therefore, join where this Word is preached and this sign is displayed according to the Scriptures (1Cor.11:23-26; 2Tim.4:1-6)?

Our procedure will be to glance first of all at the indications furnished by the New Testament, and then to turn to the writers of the second and third centuries. The distinction between declaratory creeds proper and mere declarations of assent in answer to questions is one which must be borne in mind.

J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, Third Edition. (London; New York: Continuum, 2006), 41.