What does Paul mean by "life from the dead"?

Explanation:

Paul writes that the Jews’ rejection means the reconciliation of the world, so what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? We can detect what Paul means by life from the dead because the phrase from the dead always denotes resurrection.³ Therefore, Israel’s acceptance resulting in life from the dead means Israel’s acceptance results in the final event of resurrection from the dead.

Counterargument:

The problem here is that there are other instances where from the dead does not refer to the resurrection from the dead. Specifically, in Romans 6:13 Paul exhorts the Romans to present themselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. Clearly, in this instance Paul uses the phrase to refer to the current state of the Romans, in which they have already been brought from death to life. Of course, the resurrection has not yet transpired so there are occasions when the phrase from the dead is used to denote a spiritual reality and not the event of the resurrection at the end of the ages.

Response to counterargument:

There is one important grammatical note to keep in mind when interpreting Romans 6:13. Specifically, Paul writes that one should present himself to God ὡσεί from the dead. The term ὡσεί carries the nuance of as if or as though.⁴ Paul is not saying that the Romans should present themselves to God as they pretend that they have been raised from the dead. Rather, he is saying that they present themselves to God as those who identify with the fact that Christ himself has been raised from the dead. In other words, Christ literally has been raised from the dead, and the Romans should be motivated by this to live as though they have been too.

Explanation:

To understand what Paul means by life from the dead, it is important to consider his logic in this section. Specifically, in Romans 11:12 he implies that the inclusion of the Jews will have an impact on the entire world. We can detect this because Paul says that if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!⁵ In other words, if their rejection brought riches to the whole world, how much more will the riches on the whole world be given their inclusion. So Israel’s inclusion will impact the whole world.

In what way? It cannot impact the whole world in the sense of spiritual renewal because Paul writes in Romans 11:25–26 that a spiritual hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.⁶ In other words, a spiritual renewal will come upon the world before Israel’s inclusion.

Since Israel’s acceptance will impact the whole world, and such impact is referred to as life from the dead and is not worldwide spiritual renewal, life from the dead must refer to the resurrection from the dead.

Counterargument:

There is one problem with this argument. It relies on the notion that when Paul says how much more their inclusion in Romans 11:12, this much more refers to riches for the whole world. The fact is, when Paul says that if the Jews’ failure means riches for the world and Gentiles, how much more will their fill inclusion mean, he may mean, How much more rich will it be in general when Israel is included. Of course, if Paul is not saying that the world will be that much richer when Israel is included, then this view cannot use Paul’s logic to argue that Israel’s inclusion, which happens after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, means the whole world will be raised from the dead when Israel is accepted.

Response to counterargument:

The logic of Romans 11:12 implies that the riches of Israelite inclusion is directed toward the world as a whole.⁷ This is the case because there is no other logical way to understand why Paul includes the phrase how much more in Romans 11:12. He writes that if Israelite trespass is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean. The how much more must be related to more riches, and the ones receiving riches in Romans 11:12 are the world and Gentiles. So Paul is saying that if Israel’s rejection meant riches for the world (and Gentiles), how much more will their riches be when Israel is included. Of course, this makes perfect sense with the logic Romans 11:15, where Paul explains that their acceptance will be life from the dead in the sense of resurrection. For the Jews’ trespass meant that the world is reconciled to God, and Jewish acceptance will usher in even more riches by ushering in the end of the age and resurrection from the dead.

One weakness of this view is that the grammar does not intuitively point in the direction of the final resurrection. If Israel acceptance ushers in the resurrection, we would think that Paul would say that more clearly. For example, he might say, What will their acceptance mean except ushing in the resurrection era? As it stands life from the dead is ambiguous and could easily mean spiritual renewal for those Israelites who accept the gospel.

Explanation:

Those who do not believe the gospel are spiritually dead. On the other hand, those who do believe the gospel are raised to new life in Jesus Christ. Thus, we can see that the full inclusion of Israel is life from the dead in the sense of spiritual renewal.⁹

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that the phrase ἐκ νεκρῶν (from the dead) is used forty-seven times in the New Testament, and in arguably every instance it refers to the resurrection.¹⁰ So while it may be true that those who are do not believe the gospel are spiritually dead, that Paul uses the phrase life from the dead suggests that he is referring to the resurrection in Romans 11:15.

Response to counterargument:

If Paul wanted us to take it that the acceptance of the Jews will result in the resurrection of the dead, he would have said so. In fact, we know Paul refers directly to the resurrection of the dead in another letter, not as from the dead but as resurrection from the dead.¹¹

This view is possible, for it is true that the acceptance of the Gentiles would mean their spiritual renewal. Still, the context suggests that life from the dead is more than the reconciliation of the world, and what could be more than the reconciliation of the world except the final resurrection?