Two Resurrections
The Bible speaks of two types of death—spiritual death and bodily death. It follows that there are two types of resurrections—a spiritual one and a bodily one. Spiritual “resurrection” (in quotes) is what happens to the LIVING. Bodily resurrection is what happens to physically DEAD people. Jesus spoke of both types of death in Matthew 8:22 when He said, “Let the dead bury the dead.”
This dual reality should not be surprising as we find it elsewhere. For example, there are spiritual battles (Ephesians 6:12) and battles of physical war (Luke 21:20-24).
All preterists reject the idea that resurrection entails physical corpses rising out of their graves. While there are different views among preterists, the Individual Body View of the resurrection (IBV) is that the immortal-body resurrection (and judgment) of the dead occurred at the Parousia—at the end of the age, in or just before AD 70. Hades, the temporary abode of the dead, was emptied and abolished at the Parousia per Revelation 20:13-14.[1] At that time everyone in hades went to their eternal destination―heaven for believers. This is referred to as the general resurrection.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:35 asks the question: “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised. With what kind of body do they come?’” The nature of after-life bodies is referred to as the “soul” (Revelation 20:4), “spirit” (1 Peter 3:19-21), or glorified “spiritual bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:35-49). Jesus said we will be like angels in heaven (Luke 20:36). The appearance of Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration in recognizable bodily form (Matthew 17:3) gives us a glimpse of the nature of our afterlife bodies. We can conclude that we will have actual bodies in heaven, though different from our old flesh-and-bone bodies. I call this the “Personhood View” of the resurrection, otherwise referred to as the Individual Body View (IBV).
The timing, according to the New Testament, of the general resurrection of the dead was a one-time event immediately ahead of the writers, thus AD 70:
“An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29; cf. 6:39-40)
“There is about to be a rising again of the dead, both of the righteous and unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15 YLT)
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is about to judge the living and the dead. . . .” (2 Timothy 4:1 YLT)
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.” (Revelation 22:12)
Thus, everyone who was residing in hades at AD 70 went to their eternal destination—heaven for believers, hell for unbelievers (hell being variously interpreted as either eternal conscious torment or annihilation). In Revelation 22:12 Jesus said He was coming soon to repay EVERYONE (in hades at that time per Revelation 20:13-14) for what they had done. EVERYONE would be raised on the last day per John 6:39-40, 54. This was the general resurrection.[2]
Spiritual death, on the other hand, is a biblical concept about being separated from God. So, spiritual resurrection is renewed fellowship with God, that is, “justification“ or “salvation.” In Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13-24 (cf. Romans 6:11), Paul said, “we are dead in our trespasses” (but made alive in Christ). This is spiritual death and spiritual (or metaphorical) resurrection. In the New Testament, salvation is applied to individuals upon belief:
“Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Thus, the timing of spiritual resurrection is whenever the individual comes to faith―an ongoing process indefinitely into the future.
In Genesis 2:17 we read that God told Adam that on the DAY he ate the forbidden fruit he would surely die. Adam ate the fruit but did not physically die that day. Indeed, he lived to be 930 years old. So, we must conclude that the death Adam experienced on that day was spiritual death (or perhaps better characterized as metaphorical death). What Adam was missing at the Fall was life-after-death, which was given to believers by Christ.
Today, when believers die, we go directly to heaven in our immortal, glorified bodies (Hebrews 9:27). There is no longer sheol/hades. And there is nothing in Scripture about our bodies being reunited with our souls at the end of time, as some futurists teach.
Spiritual/metaphorical resurrection is an ongoing process of justification/regeneration when people believe. This is different IN NATURE from bodily resurrection. Passages that discuss spiritual resurrection include: Luke 15:32; John 11:25; Romans 6:1-14, 23; 7:11; 8:6-11; Ephesians 2:1-7; 5:14; Colossians 2:12-14; 3:1-4; 1 John 3:14. What may confuse even some preterists is that there is a sense in the New Testament of the salvation of living believers being completed in AD 70—at the same time as the General Resurrection of the physically dead (Luke 21:28; Romans 8:18-23; Hebrews 1:14; 9:26-28; etc.). But this is not the same thing as the general resurrection of spirits of the physically dead from hades to heaven.
Spiritual “resurrection” and bodily resurrection are clearly different things―in nature, in timing, and to whom they apply. Spiritual resurrection is soteriological. Bodily resurrection is eschatological. Thus, the general resurrection of the physically dead (soul-spirits out of hades) was qualitatively different from the spiritual “resurrection” of living persons. This dual resurrection is reflective of what we believers experience today: We get saved while we are alive, and we go to heaven when we die.
Corporate Body View (CBV) preterists see no difference in these two types of resurrection. That defies reason to me. The word raised in 1 Corinthians 15:52 (“For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.”) is the same Greek word egeiro (Strongs 1453) used for Jesus’ resurrection in Matthew 28:6.
In the Old Testament, resurrection was applied to national Israel’s restoration to its homeland (Ezekiel 37). But, Jesus personalized everything. I believe that Corporate Body View (CBV) proponents are misapplying old covenant conditions for national Israel to new covenant realities.
Summary
These two resurrection events (a) effect different people―living vs. dead, (b) by a different process―soteriological vs eschatological, and (c) have a different mode―metaphorical vs. bodily.
Making Sense of Revelation 20:
Revelation 20:5a – “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.” This sentence is not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, including a version of the Codex Sinaiticus and a Syriac translation.
About 40% of the 200 available manuscripts of Revelation do not have 5a. 50% of the earliest manuscripts from 4th-13th centuries do not have it. Going back further in time, the earliest manuscript available for Revelation is the Revelation Commentary by Victorinus of Pettau (from 300 AD). And that commentary does not have 5a.
Even in the manuscripts where 5a is found, it is presented in inconsistent forms: In some scripts, it’s there only in the margins and not as part of the text. Some have it starting with a “But” whereas others prefix it with an “And.” Some manuscripts that came much later have the “again” whereas others do not. (The Anchor Bible describes the manuscripts’ evidence against 5a.)
If you take out 5a here’s how the text reads: “. . . They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power.” Now you have a coherent statement, that does not place the first resurrection a “thousand years” into the future. It also makes sense if you understand that the first resurrection was spiritual “You were dead in your sins and made alive in Christ” from Ephesians and Colossians. So those who accepted Christ (are saved) in the “first [spiritual] resurrection” and will not die physically at the second death (physical death) but live on in heaven. Then you can see how 20:13 is the Second Resurrection: soul-spirits out of hades. The confusion disappears.
*********
For more discussion on this, see other articles at this website in the General section, including “The General Resurrection of the Dead,” “Death, Heaven, and Adam,” “The Personhood View of the Resurrection,” “Why I Am Skeptical of the CBV View of the Resurrection,” and “The Corporate Body View vs Covenant Eschatology.”
[1] There are several passages that teach that the general resurrection was from sheol/hades (the temporary abode of the dead) to heaven―not a reconstitution of our disintegrated (or cremated) flesh-and-bone bodies from the grave to earth. Consider Genesis 37:35; 42:38; Job 14:13; Psalm 16:10; 49:15; 89:48, Isaiah 14:9-10; Ezekiel 31:15-17, Hosea 13:14; Acts 2:27. Revelation 20:13-14 teaches that sheol/hades was emptied and abolished, implying resurrection to heaven rather than to earth. Remember that Revelation is about events that “must shortly take place” (Revelation 1:1-3; 22:6), so the general resurrection was a past event. Jesus opened the gates of sheol/hades (Matthew 16:18; Revelation 14:13). In 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, Paul teaches that the resurrection body is a spiritual body, having shed the old kernel/shell of one’s body (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:18-5:1). In Philippians 1:22-23, Paul clarifies that our heavenly body is not a fleshly one. When Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in paradise (i.e. hades) that very day, it should be obvious that neither Jesus’ physical body nor the thief’s would be in paradise, as their physical bodies would remain on earth. Thus, it was their spiritual bodies that would unite in paradise. Daniel 12:2-3 and Philippians 3:21 teach the resurrection body is glorified, thus different from one’s earthly body. In Matthew 22:30 Jesus teaches that we will be like angels in heaven. In 1 Peter 1:4, Peter teaches that the afterlife body is a different one, suitable for heaven. And in 1 Peter 3:19, Peter said the Jesus visited the spirits in prison (i.e. hades), which is consistent with “spiritual bodies” described by Paul.
[2] John 5:24-25 has different interpretations. Some people note the word “now,” which appears to give an immediate time limitation different from verses 28-29. If this is correct, verses 24-25 may refer to spiritual resurrection. But Daniel Harden in his book The Resurrection of the Dead, chapter 20, argues that “now” in the Greek does not mean that these events were already occurring. Rather, that the events were set in motion that would result on their occurrence. It probably is the same resurrection as verses 28-29 which implies fulfillment of Jesus’ 3 resurrections (Lazarus in John 11:38-45, the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7:11-17, and the daughter of Jairus in Luke 8:49-56). But these resurrections were merely precursors of the general resurrection of the dead when spirits came out of hades to heaven in AD 70. With those “resurrections” the individuals probably died again and returned to hades.