III. What is the resurrection and what are the errors which are entertained concerning it?

The word resurrection sometimes signifies in the Scriptures man’s conversion, or his resurrection from sin as, “This is the first resurrection.” (Rev. 20:5.) But in this article the resurrection of the body means the restitution of the substance of our bodies after death out of the very same matter of which they now consist, and the reanimating or quickening of the same bodies with an incorruptible and immortal life by the same immortal soul, by which they now subsist; which God will effect through Christ at the end of the world, by his divine power and virtue, and which will result in the eternal glory of the elect and the eternal punishment of the reprobate.

The resurrection then, will consist, first, in the restoration of the same body, or the bringing together the mass or matter which now constitutes our bodies but which, after death, is scattered and dissolved in the different elements. Secondly, it will consist in the reunion of the body with the same soul which it had at first, by which it will also be quickened and be made immortal. The resurrection will in the last place, consist in the glorification of the elect and the eternal banishment of the wicked from the presence of God.

There are three great errors in relation to the doctrine of the resurrection:

1. There are some who deny it altogether, and affirm that the soul dies with the body. This was the view which the Sadducees entertained, as is evident from what is said of them in Acts 23:8. “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor Spirit.”

2. There are others who have admitted the immortality of the soul, but understand by the resurrection nothing more than regeneration. They deny that the bodies of the saints will rise, although their souls enjoy eternal felicity after death. The authors of this heresy seem to have been Hymeneus and Philetus, of whom Paul speaks: (2 Tim. 2:17, 18,) “Who concerning the truth have erred, saying, That the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.”

3. Others again, as the Anabaptists, deny that the very same bodies which we now have will rise again, and contend that God will create new bodies at the second coming of Christ. In opposition to all these errors, it becomes us to believe what the Scriptures affirm in relation to this subject, that the dead will most certainly rise again.