Resurrection in the Bible

(Paul speaks of the spiritual nature of the Resurrection)

“So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body ...I tell you this brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

(1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

Note

• Many Christians believe that after Christ died and was buried, His physical body rose on the third day and appeared to many of His followers, and entered heaven after forty days. The same physical body they believe will return to earth.

(Christ distinguishes and separates spiritual identity from flesh identity

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit...”

(John 3:6)

“God is a spirit”

(John 4:24)

Note

• The essence of Christ is the Spirit and is born from God; and flesh is not the same essence.

Christ refers to the Resurrection as spiritual

“I am the resurrection and the life...”

(John 11:25)

Note

• Christ says He is the “Resurrection” before He dies and therefore “resurrection” is clearly symbolic usage.

(Christ says His physical body is of no avail compared to the “body” of His teachings)

“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him ... This is the bread which came down from heaven ... he who eats this bread will live forever ... Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending where He was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

(John 6:56-63)

Symbolic nature of saying “ascended to heaven”

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

(John 3:13)

“...For I came down from heaven.”

(John 6:38)

“They (the Jews) said, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”

(John 6:42)

Note

• It is clear that being “in heaven,” “ascended to heaven,” and “come from heaven” all have spiritual meanings. What does it mean when Christ states, while His feet are walking on the earth, that He is already in heaven?

(Paul lists Resurrection appearances and includes himself who received revelation later by Light)

"and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

(1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

"As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

"“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

"“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied."

(Acts 9:3-5)

Note

• Resurrection appearances may not have been the physical body of Christ. Paul only saw a bright light long after the Crucifixion. Therefore, appearances may have been very spiritual experiences such as Paul describes for his own.

After Resurrection Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias

“... Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.”

(John 21:1)

Note

• The resurrected body was not the physical body that the disciples knew well and would recognize.

(Body of Christ is symbolic for community of believers which Paul was persecuting before he believed)

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

(1 Cor 12:27)

“...and He (Christ) is the head of the body, the church...”

(Col 1:18)

“...Saul, Saul why do you persecute Me?”

(Acts 9:4)

(God, a Spirit, alone has immortality)

“God alone has immortality.”

(1 Timothy 1:16)

“...God is a Spirit...”

(John 4:24)

Note

• The physical body of Christ would therefore not be immortal if God alone is immortal and only the Spirit has immortality.

(Jesus being described in the days of His flesh)

“Who in the days of His flesh...”

(Hebrews 5:7)

Note

• The days of flesh are spoke of in past tense meaning Christ is no longer in the flesh.

(Jesus promises to man crucified with Him that He will be in heaven that day)

“Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise...”

(Luke 23:43)

Note

• Since He promises that it will be that day, were both resurrected and did they both go to heaven that same first day of crucifixion?

Resurrection was not unique to Christ and is not the single fact that makes Jesus the Christ

Many non-Christians were resurrected along with Jesus

“The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of their tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared unto many....”

(Matthew 27:52-53)

Enoch and Elijah ascended bodily into heaven

"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."

(Genesis 5:24)

"As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."

(2 Kings 2:11)

Note

• Apocryphal scriptures or traditions say Moses and Isaiah ascended to heaven.

(The Bible describes Ezekiel resurrecting many dead bones and therefore having power over death also)

"So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

"Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army."

(Ezekiel 37:7-10)

Paul says as Jesus was raised so will believers also be raised

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection”

(Romans 6:5)

Note

• The bodies of the believers to be resurrected are clearly not their physical bodies which no longer exist, so Christ’s body must be unlike any physical body we know anything about.

(Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday making a literal interpretation of three nights impossible, emphasizing a spiritual interpretation)

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

(Matthew 12:40)

"Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[e] When he had said this, he breathed his last."

...

"Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

"It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin."

(Luke 23:46)

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,"

(Luke 24:1-2)

No indication that disciples touched Jesus after Resurrection

Jesus told Thomas to put his hand in his side then Thomas indicated he believed

“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.’ Thomas answered Him ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’”

(John 20:27-29)

Notes

• The “Doubting Thomas Argument” used by many Christians says disciple Thomas thrust his hand into the wounds of Christ so that he might believe the physical body of Christ was resurrected. However, the Bible quote does not say Thomas actually touched Jesus.
• Jesus says Thomas saw Him and not that Thomas touched Him. This quote could be interpreted that Thomas finally understood the wounds of Jesus as His willingness to sacrifice and a proof of His station and not a weakness. Christ then states blessed are those who never doubted His station to begin with.
• Furthermore, the physical body of Jesus suddenly materialized in a locked room.

Jesus told disciples to touch Him

“Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When He said this, He showed them His hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement...”

(Luke 24:39-41)

Note

• The Bible does not say the disciples ever handled Jesus; He suddenly appears in their midst unlike the capability of a physical body; states He is not a ghost but that His body (i.e., His teachings or church) has reality. Still the disciples don’t believe until He explains the Scriptures and eats a fish, the symbol for Jesus as Messiah. Ultimately then, the Resurrected body was unlike a normal physical body in behavior and the disciples only recognized Jesus as the Messiah after they understood His explanation of the Scriptures and His claim to be the Messiah. Therefore, the appearance of the “body of Christ” itself did not cause belief but onl y the understanding of what that unphysical body that was not an apparition explained of the scriptures led to the recognition that Jesus was the Messiah by the disciples.

Recognition of the reality of God’s Revelation and His Manifestation is the true Resurrection

• See Resurrection#Recognition of the reality of God’s Revelation and His Manifestation is the true Resurrection (which the disciples only fully recognized after Jesus’ death).

Resurrection is the complete transformation of a person

"For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

"“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

(1 Corinthians 15:53-55)

Note

• Resurrection is distinct from resuscitation or reanimation of a physical body.

Faith is based on the appearances of God, not the empty tomb

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

(1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

Note

• “faith in the resurrection was based not on the empty tomb, which Paul does not mention, but on the appearances of the Lord. The word used for “appeared” is the same Greek word used elsewhere for “visionary experiences” (emphasis added). We may today characterize these experiences as revelatory disclosures from the transcendent realm. No distinction was drawn between the resurrection and ascension. The appearances are manifestations of the resurrected and already ascended Christ from heaven.” (Harpers Bible Dictionary, p. 864, 1985)

Note

• The proofs of Bahá’u’lláh are the same as the proofs of Christ and the objections to Bahá’u’lláh are the same as the Jew’s objections to Christ. Many Jews felt Moses’ literal salvation of the Jews by parting the Red Sea was a greater miracle than the Physical Resurrection of Jesus. They denied Jesus because they were expecting the miracle of another literal salvation of the Jewish people rather than one person resurrecting only himself when the Bible had many examples of people being raised to heaven. Therefore, the believers should not reject the Messiah because He does not perform a miracle they want or expect, as the Jews did to Christ. One can look at the reasons one believes in Jesus and apply that Bahá'u'lláh

See also

• Resurrection
• Miracle and Unimportance of miracles as proofs in the Bible (if the Resurrection is treated as a miracle it is not the best proof)