Aaron,

There is a lot here to discuss. I hope you don't mind if I ask questions in small segments.

You said:
Consequently, I do not think Christ’s own literal resurrection on the third day after his death should be viewed as a mere “type” of Israel’s “covenantal transition” from one covenant body to another. Instead, Christ’s resurrection is representative of what the resurrection of the dead actually is: a literal passing “from death to life” (John 5:24) – that is, a living existence beyond the death of the mortal body.
I would like to refer to Rom. 6. Paul states that baptismal into Christ was a death and burial for those NT believers. Was this a literal death and burial in the physical sense? Was Christ's a literal death and burial in the physical sense? Further, they were promised a resurrection, just as Christ was raised. Vs. 5, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection."

With this in mind, how is it that you view resurrection in a literal, physical manner according to this passage?

I get the impression that "death" for you, must be defined as physically passing from the earth? If so, how can one who has physically passed from the earth bury another who has physically passed? "Let the dead bury the dead." And, how did "sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed (past tense) me." <--Paul, Rom.7:11?

Please look at Rom. 7: 8-12, and the Genesis account of the trespass of the command to not eat. Trespassing this command would cause death. How does physical death fit here if it doesn't occur for over 900 years later, -and- how is it that Paul is killed already, yet not physically dead, if the definition of being killed is physical expiration?

Paige