The Apostle Paul wrote to the
Corinthians: “if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain” (1 Cor. 15:14). This shows the central place which the
resurrection of Jesus Christ has in the gospel message of salvation, the gospel
which Paul says, “I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein
ye stand; by which also ye are saved” (vv. 1,2).
Objections to the resurrection
There are many references in
Scripture to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and each Gospel contains
detailed accounts of his appearances to people after his resurrection. Attempts
have been made to dismiss the truth of these accounts on a number of different
grounds:
• The women who first saw the
resurrected Jesus went to the wrong tomb, an empty one, and wrongly concluded
he had risen.
• Jesus did not really die, but
revived after being put in the tomb.
• The body of Jesus was removed
from the tomb by someone. To deny that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead
is to deny that the Scriptures are the Word of God, so clear and detailed are
they on the matter. In any case, these efforts to deny that the resurrection
really happened do not make sense for a number of reasons:
• There was considerable reluctance
to believe that Jesus had actually risen. Twice Mark records that the disciples
did not believe those who said that they had seen the risen Jesus, and when he
appeared to them he reproved them for this (16:14). John records that Mary
Magdalene did not at first recognise the resurrected Jesus when she met him,
and Thomas declared that he would not believe until he had seen the wounds of
his crucifixion (20:11-18,24-29).
• How could a man laid to rest as
dead have had the strength to roll away the great stone from the mouth of the
tomb and then convince people he had been raised?
• The Jewish authorities were
strongly opposed to the idea that Jesus had risen, and if they could have
produced his body they would have done so.
• The apostles suffered much from the
authorities for preaching that Jesus rose from the dead. They must have been
thoroughly convinced that he had, which rules out the idea that they had taken
his body from the grave and pretended that he had risen. Many witnesses The
Apostle Paul refers in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 to the many witnesses there were to
the resurrection of Jesus:
• Peter
• The apostles
• Over 500 brethren
• James (presumably Jesus’s
brother)
• The apostles again
• Paul himself. In Acts 1 we read
that Jesus “shewed himself alive” to his apostles “by many infallible proofs”
(v. 3), and that the eleven apostles, in choosing a successor to Judas
Iscariot, were mindful of the need to chose one who had been a follower of
Jesus in his ministry and who could be “a witness with us of his resurrection”
(vv. 21,22). In their preaching the apostles attested to the fact that Jesus
Christ had indeed risen from the dead. Peter, preaching to
the Jews on the day of Pentecost, said: “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof
we all are witnesses” (2:32). It is recorded later that “with great power gave
the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (4:33).
The importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is
a key element in God’s plan for the earth. The following is a selection of
passages in which the significance of his resurrection is brought out:
1. “Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you . . . whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it”
(Acts 2:22,24). Jesus, because he was sinless, did not deserve to be left dead
in the tomb, and so God raised him.
2. “God . . . That brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20). Jesus, though Son of God by
the circumstances of his birth, shared our nature, being mortal and subject to
temptation. By his perfect obedience and death upon the cross he overcame sin
and instituted a new covenant that brought eternal life, which he was the first
to obtain.
3. Our faith is counted to us for
righteousness, “if we believe on Him That raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification” (Rom. 4:24,25). The resurrection of Jesus is just as important
in God’s plan of salvation as his death. He did not die as our substitute but
as our representative. If the former were the case he would have remained dead,
but he has gone before us as our representative, dying to sin and being raised
to a new and eternal existence.
4. Paul in Colossians speaks of
believers as “buried with [Christ] in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised him from the
dead” (Col. 2:12). Believers show they believe in God’s work through Christ by
identifying themselves in baptism with his death and resurrection.
5. “The gospel of God . . .
concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according
to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4).
Jesus had to be Son of David and Son of God to fulfil the promises to David of
one who would rule over God’s Kingdom for ever. His resurrection to immortality
confirmed that he was this promised Son, with power to rule the world and to
save his people from sin.
6. “[God] raised [Jesus Christ] up
from the dead, and gave him glory” (1 Pet. 1:21). Jesus was not a divine being
who divested himself of his divinity to die on earth, then took it up again
afterwards. God glorified him by raising him from the dead and exalting him to
His right hand.
7. “[God] hath appointed a day, in
the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath
ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised
him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s
assurance that one day he will return to the earth to judge the world.
8. “But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order:
Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor.
15:20-23). Believers in Christ do not go to heaven at death, they wait in the
grave for him to return from heaven to raise them and give them the immortal
life which he already possesses. Without his resurrection they have no hope of
life (vv. 17-19).
