Chuck Smith's View of the Resurrection

 

This page contrasts the Biblical teachings on the resurrection with Chuck Smith's teachings.

 

Chuck Smith teaches that the body is not raised but replaced with a different body. Smith also denies the physicality of the resurrection body. The following sections will show from Chuck Smith's own words that he consciously rejects the historical and Biblical doctrine of the resurrection.

 

What is the resurrection?

 

The resurrection is the raising of the body of the dead and the reuniting of the body with the spirit of the person. This is what the church has always meant by the word "resurrection". Resurrection is not a replacement body. Resurrection is of a physical body as well.

 

What happens at death according to the Bible?

 

When a person dies their spirit goes to be with God and their body gets buried in the ground. In the resurrection the body is raised from the dead. At the last day all people will be raised from the dead. Their souls will be reunited with their bodies. The bodies will no longer be corrupted, but will be transformed from corruptible to incorruptible. Transformation is different than replacement.

 

Books with good theology on the resurrection

 

To get an idea of what is right and what is wrong on the resurrection, here are some suggestions:

 

• The book by Geisler is interacting with the views of Murray Harris who has views of the resurrection much like Chuck Smith's views.
• The book by N. T. (Tom) Wright is the best book on the resurrection.
• The book by Stewart is a debate between Tom Wright and John Dominic Crossan on the resurrection.
• Athanasius (c. 295-373) wrote on the resurrection in, On The Incarnation, Chapter 5. He wrote:

 

 

Now for some really bad theology

 

Chuck Smith, Sr. has an unorthodox teaching on the resurrection of the believers. Here are some tapes where Smith denies the historical view of the resurrection:

 

Links to each of Chuck Smith's "problem teachings" are here

 

Tape	Teaching	Start Time	End Time
5263	Spiritual resurrection body, not physical.	1:01:38.0	1:02:05
5263	Denial of physical resurrection.	1:04:30	1:05:31
5263	Resurrection happens at death.	0:29:37	0:30:30
5266	Smith's Refutation of Orthodox View of the Resurrection	00:10:00	00:15:00
8156	2 Cor 5 - "Mystic connection" to resurrection body	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
8166	Jesus had a new body	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
8166	Real me - Gnostic heresy	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
8166	Replacement body	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
8166	Smith mocks resurrection and audience laughs	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
TEMAA	Resurrection denied	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
TEMAA	Jesus "seemed" to be same body	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx
TEMAA	Literal sense hermeneutic not used in this case.	xx:xx:xx	xx:xx:xx

 

Here's Smith's commentary on 2 Cor 5 where he states that we will receive a different body. If the body is different it is not resurrection.

 

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/chuck_smith_c2000/2Cr/2Cr005.html

 

What are the issues?

 

• Smith teaches a spiritual resurrection not bodily
• Smith has problems with material continuity
• Smith essentially denies the future resurrection of believers
• Smith's has a major time fallacy
• Is Smith just Ignorant of the Orthodox View of the Resurrection?
• So What's Wrong With Smith's View of the Resurrection of the Believer?
• What Books Are There On This Subject?
• What Does It Matter Anyway?
• Why is there no response to these heresies from others?
• Where can I hear these quotes?
• Instructions to hear only the extracted portions
• Historical Views of the Resurrection

 

The Bible says God does redeem the body.

 

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

 

Hear Chuck Smith (9-22-98) deny that God redeems the body.

 

Chuck Smith is bringing another gospel.

 

What tapes does CC have on this?

The following information can be found on the following The Word For Today tapes (by Chuck Smith):

5266

 

Tape #	Description of Tape
4743	John 6:41-47 Smith again mocks the orthodox view (near end 1st side, start 2nd side). Very long quote attempting to explain why Jesus did not mean what he said.
5263	1 Cor 15-16 Several minutes of statements
5266	2 Cor 5 About 5 minutes of direct statements
5702	Acts 20 The Resurrection From the Dead (Not many details on this one)
8150	1 Cor 15 May 19, 1997 Sunday Evening Service
8156	July 6, 1997 2 Cor 5
8661	May 19, 1997 1 Cor 15:35 How are the dead raised?
8667	July 13, 1997 2 Cor 5:1 The Building of God

 

Not only does Smith have a deviant view of the resurrection, but also he defends his own view against the orthodox view of the resurrection. We let people know where to find the quotes, but no one actually went and checked them out. This is your chance to be a Berean and not have to work too hard. You can now hear the tape for yourself if you have Real-audio installed.

 

There are four aspects to Smith's teaching that are aberrant. Hear Chuck Smith teach it. These include:

 

Spiritual Resurrection Not Bodily

The first problem is the nature of the resurrection body. The resurrection body is a real physical body. It can be handled and touched. It is not a spirit body. Smith said on the tape #5263:

 

 

Flesh and Blood Exegetical Errors

Smith's statement betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the phrase "flesh and blood" in 1 Cor. Paul is not denying that the resurrection body is flesh. After all the resurrection body of Jesus was flesh per Luke:

 

 

 

Paul is using "flesh and blood" as a synonym for corruption. The parallel is illustrated as follows:

Verse	Is	Will Be
1 Cor 15:42	sown in corruption	raised in incorruption
1 Cor 15:43a	sown in dishonour	raised in glory
1 Cor 15:43b	sown in weakness	raised in power
1 Cor 15:44	sown a natural body	raised a spiritual body
1 Cor 15:47	of the earth	from heaven
1 Cor 15:49	image of the earthy	image of the heavenly
1 Cor 15:50a	flesh and blood	kingdom of God
1 Cor 15:50b	corruption	incorruption
1 Cor 15:51	sleep	changed
1 Cor 15:52	dead	incorruptible
1 Cor 15:53a	corruptible	incorruption
1 Cor 15:53b	mortal	immortality
1 Cor 15:54a	corruptible	incorruption
1 Cor 15:54b	mortal	immortality

 

Thus the phrase "flesh and blood" is a synonym for the corruptible body before the resurrection, not a denial that the resurrection body will be flesh. All of the descriptions in the "will be" column are adjectives which describe the characteristics of the resurrection body.

 

The phrase "put on" that is used in verses 53 and 54 make an interesting point:

 

 

The phrase "put on" is defined in Strongs as "746. enduo, en-doo'-o; from G1722 and G1416 (in the sense of sinking into a garment); to invest with clothing (lit. or fig.):--array, clothe (with), endue, have (put) on.". This illustrates that point that the resurrection body is put on to the current body as added attributes of immortality and incorruption. It typically describes clothing that is put onto the body. Our bodies that are raised have incorruption put on them.

 

Material Continuity Problems

 

Smith teaches that the resurrection body of a believer does not have a material continuity to his body when alive. At death the believer receives a new body (not the future resurrection). Thus, in Smith's view, the resurrection body does not have continuity with the pre-resurrection body.

 

Smith said:

 

 

Smith also wrote in Snatched Away:

 

 

On the next page, Smith wrote:

 

 

Many Calvary pastors that we have talked to hold the same view as Chuck Smith. A few have recognized the serious challenge to Christian Orthodoxy presented by Smith's view.

 

Chuck Missler in his Immortality tape series defends Smith's view based upon the scientifically centered idea that God knows the genetic code for all of us, and that God will use that genetic code to regenerate our old bodies out of different material.

 

 

Denial of Future Resurrection for Believers

Another real problem is that Smith teaches that the believer receives their resurrection at the point of death and not at the future resurrection. This is on tape #5263. The statement Smith made was:

 

 

A Time Fallacy

Smith misunderstands the nature of linear time to try to explain his view of the resurrection. It also could be used to explain the differences in timing between the rapture and the Second Coming. Smith teaches that since God is in eternity, we will be too at death. Per Smith, at death we are fast-forwarded to the last day. Hence, although we receive our resurrection bodies at death, this is just simply also the last day. From tape 4743:

 

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

 

There are too many problems with this to explain them all here.

 

Let's look at just a few.

 

 

These people are in heaven and in time (in heaven). There is a linear progression of the events in heaven. The passage also shows the souls of those beheaded during the tribulation period in Heaven. Also, if Smith was right, then why are their souls and not resurrected bodies there?

 

 

Another problematic passage is:

 

 

The apostle Paul had no concept of this extra-Biblical concept and in fact, Smith goes to scientific explanations about his concepts of the nature of time, as there are no Biblical texts to make his case.

 

Maybe Smith is Just Ignorant of the Orthodox View of the Resurrection?

 

We thought for sure that was the case, that was, until we heard Smith's Tape # 5266. That section of the tape is much too long to transcribe (over 5 minutes).

 

It might be smart to get a copy of these tapes from The Word for Today to keep. Once the word gets out, there's a good chance they will be edited or no longer available.

 

Contrast Smith's words with the following verses:

 

 

Contrary to Smith, this is the believer, not the unbeliever. Smith extensively mocks the orthodox view of the resurrection on tape 4743.

 

So What's Wrong with Smith's View of the Resurrection of the Believer?

The view denies the bodily resurrection of the believer and in the process it implicitly denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus Himself from the dead. There are many, many passages that deal with Smith's aberrant view, and we shall examine a few of them here.

 

Jesus said about our future resurrection:

 

 

This shows a distinct resurrection, not a series of resurrections which happen at the death of each person. Taking Smith's view, the phrase all that are in the graves would have no meaning, since they have already received their resurrection bodies over time.

 

 

This passage shows the souls of those beheaded during the tribulation period in Heaven. If Smith was right, then why are they souls and not resurrected bodies?

 

Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

 

Same question here.

 

 

How can the dead be raised incorruptible (at the end of time) if they were already raised over time (when they died)? This is a contradiction that Smith avoids on the tape # 5266 by saying that God is outside of time. Sorry, this is still a contradiction in your view. We are not talking about God, but man and his relationship to time. Man; even in heaven still has a temporal (time-based) existence as seen in the Revelation 6:9 passage. Otherwise, you end up with soul-sleep, a doctrine that Smith explicitly denies in the tape.

 

Why does the text say we shall be changed? If Smith's view was true, it should say instead we shall receive a replacement body.

 

 

Christ was not raised as a spirit, but as a physical being.

 

 

The body that died was the one that came up from the dead, but incorruptible (never to die again). If Smith were right, there would have been a body in the tomb. Surely, Smith must then state that Jesus was a singularity and that we are different than him. He had a material continuity, and we don't. That's the heresy that the next verse addresses:

 

 

Our resurrection bodies shall be like his. Physical (like his was) and based on some sort of a material continuity with our old body (like his was).

 

 

Jesus lived his life in a body of flesh (Smith should agree with this).

 

 

The flesh is not a bad thing, in and of itself. Christ came in the flesh and was not fleshy.

 

What Books Are There On This Subject?

 

Another source is any standard Systematic Theology. For instance, Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology, reprinted 1993, by Eerdmans says on page 724:

 

As all Christians believe in the resurrection of the body and a future judgment, they all believe in an intermediate state. That is, they believe that there is a state of existence, which intervenes between death and the resurrection; and that the condition of the departed during that interval is, in some respects, different from that which is said to be subsequent to that event.

 

Hodge goes on to say:

 

 

What Does It Matter Anyway?

Smith himself explains that the central message of the New Testament is the resurrection of the believer. Hear Smith say it.

 

As Larry Taylor has noted, the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of Christ is a fundamental one:

 

 

Assertion of a "spiritual resurrection body" and a denial of a physical body are a denial of the "bodily resurrection".

 

Why No Response To These Heresies From Others?

 

Also, Craig Hawkins has publicly responded to Smith's teachings on the resurrection and termed them as heretical. Hanegraaff, Geisler, and others have been hesitant to attack Smith on his deviant view publicly since they are connected to Calvary.

 

Norman Geisler has written a paper which was in the CRI Journal on this subject. Read Giesler's paper.

 

Hanegraaff and CRI, rely on Calvary Chapel members for much of their support. According to a former member of the CRI correspondence department, when CRI would receive tapes about Smith's heretical teaching, they would be told that CRI would not touch the subject. Smith has ordained Hanegraaff as a CC pastor.

 

Where Can I hear these quotes?

You can either buy the tapes from The Word for Today, or you can listen to them on-line for free. The real audio files for Smith's commentaries are on-line. The tape for 1 Cor 15-16 is almost 90 minutes long. This tape has not been altered and is hosted by Smith himself on the web.

 

More On This

We have added a clip from Smith's 6 July 1997 sermon on this subject. Tape is 8156, 2 Cor 5. Here's the transcript of the relevant portion:

 

 

Chuck: Here's a hint about what the "mystic relationship" is. It's the same body. Jesus was not a special case, but was our prototype in the resurrection.

 

This statement clearly contradicts past statements that are documented on this page. In this statement Smith is trying to come closer to the historical doctrine of the resurrection, but still has many problems that will be discussed in this page.

 

TEMAA Call of 4-15-97

Added a tape clip from the "To Every Man An Answer" radio program with Don Stewart and Chuck Smith. Program aired on 4-15-97. Hear Chuck Smith and Don Stewart deny the historical doctrine of the resurrection of the believer for a caller who asked about "organ donation". Smith denies in this call that our body is the same one that is raised. Don Stewart walks a fine line here (he's not as bad when he's alone on this subject).

 

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