Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

III. The Resurrection of the Dead
The discussion of the second advent of Christ naturally leads on to a consideration
of its concomitants. Foremost among these is the resurrection of the dead or, as it is
sometimes called, “the resurrection of the flesh.”
A. THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION IN HISTORY.
In the days of Jesus there was a difference of opinion among the Jews respecting the
resurrection. While the Pharisees believed in it, the Sadducees did not, Matt. 22:23; Acts
23:8. When Paul spoke of it at Athens, he met with mockery, Acts 17:32. Some of the
Corinthians denied it, I Cor. 15, and Hymenæus and Phyletus, regarding it as something
purely spiritual, asserted that it was already a matter of history, II Tim. 2:18. Celsus, one
of the earliest opponents of Christianity, made especially this doctrine the butt of
ridicule; and the Gnostics, who regarded matter as inherently evil, naturally rejected it.
Origen defended the doctrine over against the Gnostics and Celsus, but yet did not
believe that the very body which was deposited in the grave would be raised up. He
described the body of the resurrection as a new, refined, and spiritualized body. While
some of the early Christian Fathers shared his view, the majority of them stressed the
identity of the present body and the body of the resurrection. The Church already in the
Apostolic Confession expressed its belief in the resurrection of the flesh (sarkos).
Augustine was at first inclined to agree with Origen, but later on adopted the prevalent
view, though he did not deem it necessary to believe that the present differences of size
and stature would continue in the life to come. Jerome insisted strongly on the identity
of the present and the future body. The East, represented by such men as the two
Gregories, Chrysostom, and John of Damascus, manifested a tendency to adopt a more
spiritual view of the resurrection than the West. Those who believed in a coming
millennium spoke of a double resurrection, that of the righteous at the beginning, and
that of the wicked at the end of the millennial reign. During the Middle Ages the
Scholastics speculated a great deal about the body of the resurrection, but their
speculations are mostly fanciful and of little value. Thomas Aquinas especially seemed
to have special information about the nature of the resurrection body, and about the
order and manner of the resurrection. The theologians of the period of the Reformation
were generally agreed that the body of the resurrection would be identical with the
present body. All the great Confessions of the Church represent the general resurrection
as simultaneous with the second coming of Christ, the final judgment and the end of the
world. They do not separate any of these events, such as the resurrection of the
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