Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Is Harry Potter a Christ Figure?

There has been some speculation that Harry Potter is based on the story of Jesus in the Gospels and that Potter is set to die in the last book to save the world from the evil Lord Voldemort.

Gamblers wealthy or odd enough to wager on fiction have put down money with bookies. The prevailing bet? Potter to die. (In Seven.)

His death will be a noble one, it is prophesied in the blogs, a death both sacrificial and necessary to save the world from the satanic Lord Voldemort.

I agree with this line. I also expect Harry's death to show that his character's path is modelled on the Gospel accounts of Jesus, and, more significantly, that the link between him and wizardry-school headmaster Albus Dumbledore is patterned on the most essential relationship in the Christian Bible – that between Jesus the Son and God the Father.

[...]

In any case, here's why legions of Potter fans are betting Harry will die, according to AFP. They believe Book Seven will reveal Harry's body is a "Horcrux," an object that mystically helps Voldemort survive. Harry's letting himself die or be killed, the theory goes, would thus help defeat Voldemort.

In death, then, he would save the world.
The problem with this comparison is that salvation was not obtained by just the death of Christ but by his resurrection as well. Christ became the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20). We can expect life after death because he experienced life after death.
Romans 4:25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

2 Corinthians 4:14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
We walk in newness of life because he was raised from the dead:
Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 7:4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
If Potter is to be a true Christ figure, he would have to be bought back to life after death and I think that would make the Potter readers very happy.