Looking forward to the Resurrection and Life to Come—The Nicene Creed for Noncreedal Christians Post 17

“And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.”

                It is appropriate that the final clause of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed speaks of the resurrection of the dead and the life in the world to come. This final clause has a future orientation and therefore speaks about eschatological matters (the Last Things). The Creed doesn’t delve into details, but it does remind us that the Christian faith addresses this fundamental question that is on the hearts and minds of many. That question deals with whether there is something lying on the other side of death. Because it is an eschatological concern, affirming it requires an act of faith. What is true of our resurrection and experience of life in the world to come is also true of the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection has a firm basis in Scripture and the traditions of the church, but it is not scientifically provable, and there were no cameras in the tomb.

                In affirming the resurrection of the dead, the Creed affirms the message Paul preached, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul places the resurrection of Jesus at the center of the Christian message. He roots the possibility of humanity’s experience of the resurrection in Christ’s resurrection. Thus, Paul writes: 

²¹ For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, ²² for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. ²³ But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power (1 Cor. 15:21-24). 

In describing the resurrection, Paul speaks of spiritual bodies, which are imperishable (1 Cor. 15:50-54).  

                This clause focuses on the resurrection of  humanity, while the resurrection of Jesus is established in an earlier clause, which declares:

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried,

and rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

When taken together, the two clauses root humanity’s resurrection from the dead in Christ’s resurrection, for as the creed states, Christ not only died and was buried, but on the third day rose from the dead. It’s important to note that the creed doesn’t go into details as to the nature of Christ’s resurrection or our resurrection, only that in reciting the creed we affirm that Christ was raised from the dead on the third day, and then based on that confession, we can “look forward to the resurrection of the dead. That means Christ’s followers (at the very least) can now experience freedom from the power of death. As Paul declared, death has lost its sting (1 Cor.15:54-55).

                When the bishops gathered at Nicaea and then at Constantinople, there was a common confession of faith that assumed the resurrection of Jesus and of those who believed, even if there might have been differences of perspective as to how this might take place. To get a sense of how fourth-century Christians might have understood the resurrection from the dead and life in the world to come, we can turn to figures such as Gregory of Nyssa, who addressed the subject in several texts. In one reflection on death, Gregory points to Paul’s views of death and resurrection:

Learn from the great Paul, when he examined our nature precisely, and said there is in us an ‘outer man’ and an ‘inner man,’ and while the former decays, the latter is renewed. Do not imagine, then, that in looking at the decaying man you are looking at yourself (even though there will be a time when that [outer man], too, will be free from decay—when in the restoration, what is mortal and corruptible will be changed into what is immortal and incorruptible’ ….  [Gregory of Nyssa, On Death and Eternal Life, p. 11].  

                One might ask about the day of judgment, something not mentioned in this clause. However, if we go back to the confession concerning Jesus, we see the day of judgment referenced. In that final clause concerning Christ Jesus, we confess: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.” Note that at that time, both the living and the dead will face judgment, which precedes the establishment of his unending kingdom. Again, the Creed doesn’t provide details as to the nature of this judgment, its outcome, only that the living and the dead face judgment, and the kingdom is unending. One would assume that the kingdom Christ comes to establish involves life eternal for those who inhabit the realm, for as Paul writes, those who experience resurrection exchange mortality for immortality.

                Luke Timothy Johnson, a Roman Catholic biblical scholar, offers a word that affirms God’s ability to create and to recreate, such that there is the possibility of resurrection. In making this confession, with hope for something more than this life, we have the foundation for conducting our lives in a particular way. Thus, he writes:

This final proposition of the creed serves as a rule of faith for the way we conduct our lives as Christians. We live as those aware that God’s work in the world is not yet finished, that the transformation of humanity itself and of creation is not yet complete, and that each of us and all of us still face judgment and resurrection. Specifically, we know that the body has a future in the new creation. Just as God has honored the human body through creation in the image of God and then through the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus, so God will honor the body through its glorification. This means that Christians must regard the body as a significant instrument for God’s work [Johnson, The Creed, p. 293].

Paul speaks of spiritual bodies, but that doesn’t eliminate an embodied future. As Johnson notes, this clause affirms the embodied existence now and into the future.

                Noncreedal Christians may have questions about aspects of this final clause, especially those who are not sure about what lies beyond death. But, for most, this is not controversial, especially since few details are given. The late Disciples of Christ theologian Joe Jones writes helpfully, in my mind, this assessment of Christian belief in the resurrection and life eternal:

While the traditions have been much more diverse than commonly suspected in how life beyond death is characterized, I am here affirming that persons are resurrected at the time of death, encounter the judging and forgiving grace of God, and are transformed into grateful and fulfilling persons in the life of the eternal triune God. I have affirmed that this is a single destiny for all persons, thus denying that death here is a resurrection to dual judgment, entailing blessedness for the righteous and faithful and condemnation and punishment for the unrighteous and sinful. I thus skirt all those questions about what happens to the dead as they await the general resurrection at the end of all things. [Jones, 
Grammar of Christian Faith, 2:734].

In other words, to say more than this is to enter into foreign territory, so to a great degree, we must ponder what is a mystery and live in the hope of the resurrection. Perhaps this is why the writers of the Creed refrained from saying more.

                While I am comfortable living with a bit of mystery when it comes to what lies beyond, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider the possibilities. With that in mind, especially in light of the many questions people have about what lies ahead and beyond, my colleague Ronald J. Allen and I have written two books that can help inquiring minds to ponder the possibilities. These books include: Second Thoughts about the Second Coming: Understanding the End Times, Our Future, and Christian Hope (WJK Books, 2023) and Second Thoughts about Hell: Understanding What We Believe (WJK Books, 2025).