Craig, I couldn’t agree more with what you’ve said. I believe both lives are important as well. The people of ancient times also believed in an afterlife. Since it is really beyond our human minds to comprehend, they didn’t write much about it. Their main focus was this life. They believed that God gave them life on Earth for a purpose, and they were working to fulfill that purpose. This is pretty much why I tend to read the bible as speaking about the life we know. Besides, I figure that if we can learn to follow what God has prescribed for us in the here and now, what comes next shouldn’t be an overwhelming concern.
So, back to the questions at hand. What does it mean to be raised from the dead? To me, it means knowing God, seeing things from a spiritual perspective, and living life according to Him. The following verses tell us this:
Ephesians 4:22-24 “put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.”
Ephesians 2:1 “And you He made alive, who were dead from trespasses and sin.”
Ephesians 2:5-6 “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together.”
Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with your deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”
Romans 6: 11-13 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in it’s lusts, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead.
Romans 8:11 “If the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Now in 1 Corinthians 15:31 Paul mentions that he dies daily. And as in 1 Corinthians 15:53 when it says that this corruptible must put on incorruption, it is not the mortal body that is the cause of corruption. The heart and mind are the problem, which must be changed. The resurrection that Paul is speaking of seems to be the spiritual awakening of the people, to the knowledge of the one true God, His word and His ways. Resurrection being defined as the act of bringing back to practice, notice or use/returning to life.