Professor: Rushdoony Dr. R.J.R.

Subject: Systematic Theology

Genre: Lecture

Lesson: 3 of 19

Track: #03

Year:

Dictation Name: 03 The Power of His Resurrection

[Rushdoony] Thy Son Jesus Christ from the dead, and has given us the promise of the Resurrection so that we live now as citizens of the new creation. Glory be to Thee oh Christ who for us hast overcome death, broken the power of sin, and opened unto us the gates of everlasting life. Glory be to Thee oh God the Spirit who doeth lead us into all truth in the risen Christ. We praise Thee Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and we pray that now and always we may live in the joy and the resurrection and the certainty of our victory in Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, amen.

Our scripture is in Philippians the third chapter verses eight through eleven. Philippians 3:8-11.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Our subject this morning is the phrase in verse ten, the power of His resurrection. There are several Greek words in the New Testament which are translated as power. The word used very frequently is dunamis, which we have in the word dynamite. It is found 118 times in the New Testament. Other words used unite the concepts of power and authority, and the New Testament associates both power and authority with Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact when we look at the words that are used in the New Testament, applied to Jesus Christ, they bring together power and authority, dominion, Lordship, freedom of action, strength, and rule. And all these terms are associated with what the resurrection does for us. 

The scriptures tell us that God declares that “he that sinneth against Me wrongs his own soul.” “All they that hate me love death.” The plain implication is that if we are not in Christ we are born losers. If we are in Christ we are re-born victors. Now Paul uses this word “dynamis” or “dunamis” which we have as dynamite, when he speaks with regard to the resurrection in our text. When he says the power of the resurrection he is talking about the explosive world changing power which the resurrection of Jesus Christ wrought. Moreover the word that is in the Greek and is translated as power here means the power to live and act independently of physical or spiritual strength. It refers to an inherent, not a derived power. That Christ has an inherent power that breaks all boundaries, all powers, destroys all restrictions, and it is this power, the power of the resurrection which is ours in Jesus Christ.

The stoics took that word and equated it with God quite logically. Because they concluded that that word could not be associated with anything other than a supreme being. Paul says this power is the cause of our salvation. This power is the power in all faithful preaching, this power is something the world does not know. The natural man, the fallen man does not have this power,