Paul Beasley-Murray

“The Bible Speaks Today” is an IVP series containing a number of Old and New Testament commentaries. This book, however, is the second in a related series on “Bible themes.” As such, “The Message of the Resurrection” is a commentary on the various passages of the New Testament that address the subject of the resurrection. The approach is helpful and frustrating.

The thematic approach is helpful in emphasizing the centrality of the resurrection to the preaching of the apostles and the faith of the disciples. I used this book as a guide to my personal devotional time and enjoyed being led from passage to passage and finding the same message emphasized. Beasley-Murray iterates the truth that the resurrection should not be an once-a-year celebration called Easter, but the daily life-blood and energy that drives the Church forward.

The frustrating part of the book is that while it functions strictly as a commentary, the Scripture passages are arbitrarily chosen and arranged. Hence the book would be difficult to use as a reference (as commentaries are most often used). It is as if someone took a commentary on the whole New Testament, lifted out those sections that address the resurrection and discarded the rest. You are left with the typical verse-by-verse commentary, but only on selected verses. Hence, there is a lack of synthesis between the passages. As a commentary, I found it helpful but not exceptional.

The first four chapters address the witness of the four evangelists (Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John). This chapter is followed by “The Witness of Paul to the Resurrection.” Next is “The Witness of Peter and His Friends to the Resurrection.” Only two of the seven passages covered in this chapter are from Peter (his sermon from Acts 2 and his first letter, 1:3-9). One passage is from Paul (his message given at Athens, Acts 17), and three are from John (taken from Revelation). These passages by Paul and John are included in the chapter on “Peter and his friends” in spite of the fact that the author had already devoted an entire chapter each to the witness of these two men.

There were several helpful illustrations and quotes related to different individuals’ views of death and the resurrection that a preacher/teacher would find very useful. The final chapter (“The Witness of Theologians to the Resurrection”) gives an interesting, though somewhat parochial, overview of the “resurrection debate” among theologians, beginning with Rudolf Bultmann in 1941 on the skeptic side and the author’s father (George Beasley-Murray) in 1947 on the affirmative side. The book includes a study guide which I did not examine. Unfortunately, there is no Scripture index, demanding that one familiarize himself with the layout of the book before being able to use it effectively as a resource.… (altro)