As we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, we do so in full assurance of the truth of the Gospel message. Our faith is based on the message and its impact. In a recent Turning Point Daily Devotional, David Jeremiah said that a Latin phrase has survived for two millennia: sine qua non. Like many Latin words and phrases, it is rarely translated into English. Instead, it is used in its Latin form. To paraphrase, sine qua non means “something indispensable or essential,” as in anatomy is a sine qua non for a career in medicine.
The Christian faith has its own sine qua non, its own indispensable or essential element: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To paraphrase the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, without the miracles of the Resurrection of Christ, faith and the Christian life are futile. We are still in our sins. Those who say it really doesn’t matter if Christ rose from the dead have it all wrong. Everything depends on the Resurrection! Christ’s being raised from the dead was God’s seal on the work Christ accomplished on the cross, the work of propitiation, forgiveness, and reconciliation, the greatest miracle of all.
That is the Good news! That same power and Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will also transform us from death to life (Romans 8:11). It is up to us to grasp this truth, and in doing so, we become new. This transformation through Christ becomes our message as we represent our Lord until He returns. Our living out the faith in a God honoring way is, sine qua non, essential if the world is ever going to be brought from death to life.
Live like you believe the gospel and others will want to know why.
Blessings,
Rick