Special thanks to Connie of Crossway for a review copy of this book.
Whenever I hear about a book that deals with resurrection in some form, I get excited. As I’ve been teaching the Bible in a local church context for a few years, I’ve encountered few people with much knowledge regarding the Bible’s teaching on resurrection. Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but that’s about it. When I ask what the implications are of Christ’s resurrection, I’m answered with confused looks and blank stares. Every now and then someone will refer to Romans 6:4, “…raised to walk in newness of life,” in a discussion. Almost no one has mentioned the resurrection of the body from 1 Corinthians 15. Ephesians 1:18-19? Silence. You get the idea.
So naturally I’d gravitate toward a book like Adrian Warnock’s Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything. Warnock, himself a local church preacher and teacher, has noticed a dearth of resurrection related sermons and books. He notes that there has been such a strong focus on the cross, which is certainly central, that we might forget just how crucial the resurrection is to Christian faith and life. Warnock helps us correct this neglect with this book.
In 260 pages, Warnock tries to cover a lot of ground. He delves a little into apologetics for the empty tomb, though not enough to convince an unbeliever (nor do I think he was trying to). His discussion on the central role of Jesus’ resurrection in the book of Acts was extremely helpful. I’m not sure how anyone could not reference the resurrection in their evangelism after reading this chapter! I’d love to see Warnock take advantage of the related website (see below) and post more thoughts on the importance of the resurrection to the book of Acts and our evangelism.
But have you ever been a little disappointed in a book, only you have to admit that you aren’t being entirely fair? That’s my relationship with Warnock’s book. I had an idea of what I thought the book would be when I started reading, only to find out that Warnock had a different idea. Is it fair for me to critique a book based on how I would have written it? Probably not. But let me explain where I’m coming from.
What I had anticipated was a series of sustained expositions and focused reflections on relevant biblical passages. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of Scripture references included; they are sprinkled all throughout the book. But I didn’t want to be sprinkled; I wanted to be immersed (baptist humor, sorry).
Even in his helpful discussion on the resurrection of believers, I felt like Warnock missed some possibilities to demonstrate how the biblical writers applied this doctrine. For instance, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 contains a reference to God raising our bodies just like he raised Jesus’ (v14). Warnock cites this verse once, and that at the heading of a chapter. But Paul doesn’t mention this purely to teach about the resurrection of the believers (a topic he picks up in 1 Corinthians 15), he makes an important connection to how we should honor God with our bodies now. If there were less prooftexting and more exposition, I felt like passages like this wouldn’t slip through the cracks. Adrian doesn’t have to try to convince me that the resurrection “changes everything”- Paul does it for him!
I have a couple other smaller critiques. First, and this is more for the editors than Warnock himself, but when did it become acceptable not to cite authors of articles contained in books? For example, a footnote will cite the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, with the editors’ names, but not the actual article and writer quoted. This happens multiple times. I guess I’m just sensitive to it because this practice would have been ripped apart by my seminary professors.
Second, there were a few times when I was confused about why Warnock chose to include something. There were a couple chapters on revivial, which included a number of good thoughts. In fact, if Warnock is looking for a topic for a second book, he’d probably do well with that one. But I kept wondering, what does this have to do with the resurrection? Spending multiple pages on Elijah as an example of reviving prayer is all well and good, but I’m not sure how we got from “Jesus is Risen” to “Pray like Elijah!”
Along those same lines, Warnock devoted a couple pages to the idea that the theophanies of the Old Testament (Ezekiel 10, Isaiah 6, etc) were actually visions of Jesus. Besides being a debatable interpretation, I kept wondering, what does this have to do with the resurrection? And when this interpretation forces Warnock to conclude that Jesus is “both the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days” (152, italics original), I have to think he’s pushing it too much. After all, how is this different from saying “the Son is the Father,” a theological position I doubt Warnock wants to convey?
I realize that these points will make it appear that I didn’t like the book. In fact, I gained a lot from it. Like Warnock, I care deeply about this subject and burn to make known the glory of Christ’s resurrection (hence a review over my self-imposed world limit). I’m so grateful to have a book on this subject that I can turn to and learn from. My guess is that this book will repay further readings.
There were a couple places where Warnock was simply outstanding. I mentioned his discussion on Acts, but perhaps the most powerful place for me was in his discussion of experiencing the risen Savior. As I read through quotes from the likes of Edwards and Spurgeon, I literally had to stop reading multiple times because I was so thoroughly convicted by my own apathy. Keep in mind, this almost never happens with me. If I truly believe that the same power that God used to raise Christ from the dead exists in me, I would not be so complacent. Oh Lord, forgive me!
So as you read my critique of the book, keep in mind that I came into it with an idea of how the book would be written. That alone can color how one reads a book, largely unfairly. I think this book would be a wonderful resource for Christians and small groups, and it can even be complemented with Warnock’s website: http://raisedwithchrist.net/. Most importantly, this book will inspire readers to search the Bible more deeply to understand what the resurrection means for us, and how it truly does change everything.
Thanks for the review, Danny. Perhaps you could bless us all with a series on the resurrection. I would love to hear more about what you have to say.
The timing of this post is funny. I’m in the middle of listening to a talk by Peter T. O’Brien on Eph. 2:1-10 and he brings up the lack of discussion on the resurrection when preaching the gospel, especially the sense in which we are currently experiencing the resurrection and the victory that comes through it.
If you’re interested in O’Brien’s talk you can find it here.
Hi Marcus, someday I’d love to do a series (teaching/blog post) on the resurrection. The amount of time it would take to do it justice scares me, though.
Regarding O’Brien’s talk, I saw the post (was it on New Testament Perspectives?) about the lectures at Moore. Wow. I’m not sure how I missed all that before. I was going to start listening to some of O’Brien’s stuff, since I’ve only read his commentaries and never heard him speak. Should I start with his lectures on Ephesians?
I completely understand the time commitment, no pressure of course. :) I know that I’m still a little light on my understanding of the resurrection. Is there any book that you’ve found helpful that you might recommend in addition to Warnock’s book?
Yeah, I got it from New Testament Perspectives (he’s a great resource for finding resources!) too. I just started listening to some of his talks today (early in the week were the Barth talks, which I thought were an outstanding defense of believer’s baptism). It’s been a few years since I went through his commentary on Ephesians so I wanted a refresher. It was more of a sermon than a lecture, so not exactly what I was expecting but I really enjoyed it. So I guess I can’t tell you where would be a good place to start since I only started this morning. I was planning to begin w/ Ephesians and then move to Philippians since I’ve read both of those commentaries through. After that I’ll switch to Hebrews to see if I want to pick up his new commentary (what I really mean is that I’ll listen to them with the intention of proving to myself how much I need his commentary).
Your last comment sounds exactly like something I would say. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had said it to my wife at some point.
As for resurrection resources, I was just about to write a post on it, but realized that I really haven’t read too many books or heard too many sermons on the resurrection. The single best book is N T Wright’s “The Resurrection of the Son of God.” Phenomenal. But I can’t really recommend it to most people because of the sheer size and detail. I haven’t read his “Surprised by Hope,” though I’ve heard it’s good.
As I think about it, what we really need is someone like D A Carson to write a book that focuses on exposition of resurrection texts. He’s done this with prayer, the Sermon on the Mount, 1 Corinthians 12-14, etc.
Are there any I’m missing? There has to be…
It sounds like we’re on the same page. One of these days I need to get around to The Resurrection of the Son of God. I’m going to start the New Testament and the People of God soon and probably get through the rest of his series on Christian origins over the next couple of years. I have read Surprised by Hope and it was very good and helpful but I want more. What I would like to read (and it sounds like you would too), would be more like a biblical theology of the resurrection along the lines of what you get in the NSBT series edited by Carson.
Good review Danny. I was led to believe I might get a review copy of this book, but nothing has shown up so far. Much as I am pro bloggers writing books, it seems strange that there have not been many contributions on this subject from more heavyweight theological minds.
I agree with Marcus, an NSBT on Resurrection would be welcome. I read “The Message of the Resurrection” by Beasley-Murray last year, which does survey the NT teaching systematically, although I was hoping it would be a little more inspiring than I found it.
On iTunes, there is a chapel service at Seattle Pacific (pretty sure it’s them) from Gordon Fee in the early 90’s where he preached from 1 Corinthians 15. I really liked it. I could see him writing a great book on the resurrection, I’m just not sure he’s up for it now that he’s retired.
Maybe someone (I volunteer one of the two of you guys, since you have tons of free time) should collect all the great sermons on the resurrection that are floating around the internet. I’m sure we can come up with some great ones- Carson, Fee, Wright, etc.
Mark, as for your surprise at the lack of resurrection books, Warnock offers one possible suggestion. He notes that there are fewer controversies amongst Christians over the resurrection of Jesus than there are over the cross. Where there are controversies, there are people clamoring to get their opinion heard (via books, for example). That’s one possible suggestion.
Ok, I’ll take up the challenge (not that I have lots of free time :P, but I can listen to talks at work so I should be able to find time to fit it in).
Hey there – really thoughtful review of the book; I had a couple of similar experiences scratching my head and asking, “Why is this here?” The big one being the discussion of the baptism with the Holy Spirit being separate event. It took me a couple of weeks of thinking about how it related, although there is some (Spirit comes in light of Jesus’ resurrection, etc.).
Thought it was a phenomenal resource overall, though.
Thanks again for your review.
Hi Danny,
Thanks for a helpful review.
It might interest you to know that I’ve just had a shorter book on the resurrection published here in the UK. If you would like a review copy I’m sure the publisher would be happy to send you one. The books is ‘Lifted: Experiencing the Resurrection Life’ and is an exposition of how Jesus’ resurrection impacts us with regard to assurance, transformation, hope and mission.
Best,
Sam Allberry