Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

ighteous and that of the wicked, and the coming of Christ and the end of the world, by
a period of a thousand years. The Premillenarians, on the other hand, insist on such a
separation. Under the influence of Rationalism and with the advance of the physical
sciences some of the difficulties with which the doctrine of the resurrection is burdened
were accentuated, and as a result modern religious liberalism denies the resurrection of
the flesh, and explains the Scriptural representations of it as a figurative representation
of the idea that the full human personality will continue to exist after death.
B. SCRIPTURAL PROOF FOR THE RESURRECTION.
1. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. It is sometimes said that the Old Testament knowns of no
resurrection of the dead, or knows of it only in its latest books. The opinion is rather
common that Israel borrowed its belief in the resurrection from the Persians. Says
Mackintosh: “Strong evidence exists for the hypothesis that the idea of the resurrection
entered the Hebrew mind from Persia.” 27 Brown speaks in a somewhat similar vein:
“The doctrine of individual resurrection first appears in Israel after the exile, and may
have been due to Persian influence.” 28 Salmond also mentions this view, but claims that
it is not sufficiently warranted. Says he: “The Old Testament doctrine of God is of itself
enough to explain the entire history of the Old Testament conception of a future life.” 29
De Bondt comes to the conclusion that there is not a single people among those with
whom Israel came in contact, which had a doctrine of the resurrection that might have
served as a pattern for the representation of it that was current among Israel; and that
the faith in the resurrection which finds expression in the Old Testament does not find
its basis in the religions of the Gentiles, but in the revelation of Israel’s God. 30 It is true
that we find no clear statements respecting the resurrection of the dead before the time
of the prophets, though Jesus found that it was already implied in Ex. 3:6; cf. Matt.
22:29-32, and the writer of Hebrews intimates that even the patriarchs looked forward
to the resurrection of the dead, Heb. 11:10,13-16,19. Certainly evidences are not wanting
that there was a belief in the resurrection long before the exile. It is implied in the
passages that speak of a deliverance from sheol, Ps. 49:15; 73:24,25; Prov. 23:14. It finds
expression in the famous statement of Job, 19:25-27. Moreover, it is very clearly taught
27 Immortality and the Future, p. 34.
28 Christian Theology in Outline, pp. 251 f.
29 The Christian Doctrine of Immortality, pp. 221 f.
30 Wat Leert het Oude Testament Aangaande het Leven na dit Leven, pp. 263 f.
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