Matthew 22:23 English Standard Version (ESV) The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question,

Let us begin with the fact that there was a disagreement between the Socialites and the religious leaders at the time of Jesus’ ministry to Jews. The Sadducees were the social class of the temple and as such held their own theologies differing from the religious leaders. Looking forward some 2000 years we find that social theology has not differed all that much. It is still a hotbed issue. Just how important is it to our Christian theology?

1 Corinthians 15:12-13, 17-19 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Mark 16:6 English Standard Version (ESV) And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

During those early days there were witnesses who saw the tomb empty and some who got to see Him personally. And that was not the only sign of the power of resurrection.

Matthew 27:51-53 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁵¹ And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

While many might deny these words, do you believe?

Genesis 2:7 English Standard Version (ESV) then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 2:7 King James Version (KJV) And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

I reduced the title of this devotional to living because there is a division in interpretation of the Hebrew word nephesh which according to Strong’s H5215 is soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion. The use of creature is all inclusive without distinct of attributes for which the word soul is included within the terms. Nowhere within that definition is the term “breath of life”. Nowhere within that definition is the word spirit.

Because of this we can limit the definition of soul to be contained within the realm of this life of man/woman. The soul is a component part of life and does not exist without life. The death of the body includes the death of the soul, no matter how you choose to define the soul. So what is this saving of the soul that is limited to only a life we live?

Luke 20:36-38 English Standard Version (ESV)

^36 “for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sonsof the resurrection. ³⁷ But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”

If there is no resurrection there will be no soul to be with God and no eternal salvation. This being the case then the first theology to affect our eternal salvation is that of the resurrection. No resurrection no salvation.