point, as articulated by what became the Athanasian creed, is that only a Christ who was divine could have endured a death and achieved a resurrection that would have accomplished for all humankind a redemption of human experience that would make human affinity with the divine--i.e., salvation--possible (Athanasius 80). That is the meaning behind the phrase "victory of the cross" (Athanasius 73). Neither man nor demigod could have that victory; only God could. If Jesus is not divine, the Incarnation has no meaning. But he is, and it does, according to Athanasius.
If Jesus' divinity is important because only God could reopen closed heavenly gates, the Resurrection is important because only it could seal the new covenant between God and mankind. St. Jerome cites 1 Corinthians 15 to the effect that flesh and blood will not enter the Kingdom of God. But the body will, transfigured by "incorruption and immortality" (Jerome 438). Augustine agrees, adding that fleshly imperfection will have been overtaken by what will have been "supplied by Him who can create out of nothing as he wills" (Augustine 392).
That line of thought is present at 1 Corinthians 15:12-22, wherein the Resurrection is linked to the Day of Judgment, when mankind's fate will be disposed of for eternity. Thus the doctrine of salvation requires and insists on the doctrine of the Resurrection. They mutually support each other, and together they support the very raison d'Otre of Christianity itself:
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the
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