Part 6: Focus on the Resurrection (x) Paul's faith

But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, ‘Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!’ (Acts 23:6)

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. (Acts 24:14-16)

In both Paul’s defence before the Sanhedrin and before Felix he made mention of the resurrection of the dead. He made no mention of going to Heaven. In the first defence Paul famously used this doctrine to divide the opinions of Pharisees and Sadducees, yet it was still an honest appraisal of his faith. He was preaching Jesus as the Messiah – a message rejected by both religious groups – and yet the truth was that ‘the hope and resurrection of the dead’, which was believed by the Pharisees, was personified in this Man. He is not the hope of the ‘immortal’ but the hope of those who are dead, that hope being fulfilled in the resurrection.