The third day He arose again from the dead

One of the most of import teachings in the Christian religion is the resurrection of the dead. Co-ordinate to the New Testament, the apostles were witnesses to Christ's resurrection on the tertiary twenty-four hours. Christianity teaches that Christ rose in His literal, concrete body.

We believe that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rose Christ from the dead. The resurrection of the dead not but applies to Christ; simply, to those who die as well. Christianity emphatically teaches the resurrection. Those who claim otherwise are something other than Christian. The Westminster Larger Catechism states the resurrection of Christ well.

Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, non having seen corruption in death (of which information technology was not possible for him to be held), and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof (simply without bloodshed, and other common infirmities belonging to this life), actually united to his soul, he rose again from the expressionless the third twenty-four hours by his own power; whereby he alleged himself to exist the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for the justification, quickening in grace, back up against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last twenty-four hour period.
Westminster Larger Catechism Question 52

The apostles taught that the Old Attestation prophets spoke non only of Christ'southward resurrection, just of the resurrection of the dead for those who believe in Christ.

Some say in that location is no resurrection

During Christ's time, in that location was a group of Jews, called the Sadducee'due south, who believed there was no resurrection of the dead. Christ addressed this teaching in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He said,

On that 24-hour interval some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Him and questioned Him,. . .  But Jesus answered and said to them, "Y'all are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God. "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in matrimony, but are like angels in heaven. "But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you non read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob '? He is not the God of the expressionless merely of the living."
(Mat 22:23-32 NAS see also Mar 12:18 and Luk 20:27)

This passage expressly teaches that there is a resurrection of the dead. Jesus uses Exodus 3:6 every bit His proof of the resurrection.

Believing in the resurrection of Christ is important

The belief that God volition raise us from the dead and that Christ rose from the expressionless is an extremely important doctrine. Those who negate, explain away, or deny this teaching cannot peradventure claim to be Christian. Paul states,

At present if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some amongst you lot say that in that location is no resurrection of the dead? But if in that location is no resurrection of the dead, non fifty-fifty Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be faux witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your organized religion is worthless; you are nonetheless in your sins. And so those also who have fallen comatose in Christ take perished. If nosotros accept hoped in Christ in this life just, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the showtime fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a human being besides came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, and then also in Christ all shall exist fabricated alive.
(1Co xv:12-22 NAS)

Paul so doggedly teaches the resurrection of Christ that, he says, if there is no resurrection, and so Christianity is false and a lie. This sets those who deny the resurrection exterior of Christianity. Denying the resurrection is the teaching of some other organized religion, which, has no right to phone call itself Christian.

There were witnesses to Christ'due south resurrection

The apostles claimed to be witnesses to His resurrection. This is found in John and many places in Acts.

When therefore it was evening, on that 24-hour interval, the first twenty-four hour period of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace be with yous." And when He had said this, He showed them both His easily and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
(Joh 20:19-twenty NAS)
but put to death the Prince of life, the i whom God raised from the expressionless, a fact to which we are witnesses.
(Human action iii:15 NAS)
And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
(Act 4:33 NAS)
"This Jesus God raised upwards again, to which we are all witnesses.
(Act 2:32 NAS)

We are confident that the resurrection of Christ is true because the apostles were centre witnesses to Christ'southward resurrection. They truly saw Him in His torso, dined with Him, spoke to Him, and touched Him.

Christ rose in His torso

The apostles taught that Christ rose in His literal body. The New Testament states,

Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in 3 days I will raise information technology up." The Jews therefore said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the give-and-take which Jesus had spoken.
(Joh ii:19-22 NAS)
The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We take seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I volition not believe." And after 8 days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been close, and stood in their midst, and said, "Peace be with you lot." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and run into My hands; and reach hither your hand, and put information technology into My side; and exist not unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Considering you take seen Me, accept y'all believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and however believed."
(Joh 20:25-29 NAS)

Jesus did not raise simply equally a spirit or an apparition. Nor was He a hallucination of the apostles mind. He rose from the dead in His bodily torso. The Second Helvetic Confession states this well.

We believe and teach that the same Jesus Christ our Lord, in his true flesh in which he was crucified and died, rose again from the dead, and that non some other flesh was raised other than the one buried, or that a spirit was taken upwardly instead of the flesh, simply that he retained his truthful trunk. Therefore, while his disciples thought they saw the spirit of the Lord, he showed them his hands and feet which were marked by the prints of the nails and wounds, and added: "Run into my easily and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and encounter, for a spirit has non flesh and bones every bit you see that I accept" (Luke 24:39).
2nd Helvetic Confession; CHAPTER Xi. Of Jesus Christ, True God and Man, the Only Savior of the World – CHRIST IS TRULY RISEN FROM THE Dead.

Who raised Christ from the Dead?

The resurrection of Christ was washed past God. What we mean past this is that the Begetter raised Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead, and Christ raised Himself from the dead.

God raised Christ from the dead

Just God raised Him from the expressionless;
(Human activity 13:thirty NAS)
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus equally Lord, and believe in your middle that God raised Him from the dead, you lot shall be saved;
(Rom ten:nine NAS)

The Father raised Christ from the expressionless

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men, nor through the agency of homo, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Male parent, who raised Him from the expressionless),
(Gal one:ane NAS)
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may requite to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the cognition of Him. . . .  These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the expressionless, and seated Him at His right mitt in the heavenly places,
(Eph one:17-20 NAS)

Christ raised Himself from the dead

For this reason the Begetter loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. "No i has taken it abroad from Me, merely I lay it down on My own initiative. I accept authority to lay it down, and I have potency to accept it up once again. This commandment I received from My Father."
(Joh 10:17-18 NAS See likewise Joh 2:19-21)

The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the expressionless will also requite life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
(Rom viii:11 NAS)
who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, co-ordinate to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
(Rom 1:four NAS)

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is God and He raised Christ from the dead.

The Apostles taught the resurrection equally the promise through the prophets

The apostles not only witnessed the resurrection of Christ, they too constitute the resurrection in the Erstwhile Attestation as prophecy of what was promised to God'due south people at death. Christ said,

"But that the expressionless are raised, fifty-fifty Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
(Luk 20:37 NAS)

Christ clearly was pedagogy that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were raised from the dead at the time of their death. Paul says the hope given to the prophets was the resurrection from the dead.

. . . set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the mankind, who was declared the Son of God with ability by the resurrection from the dead, co-ordinate to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, . . .
(Rom 1:1-v NAS)

Paul explains that "the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain" was the resurrection of the dead which is only possible through Christ.

"And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to accomplish, as they earnestly serve God nighttime and day. And for this promise, O King, I am being accused by Jews. "Why is it considered incredible amongst you people if God does raise the dead? "And then and so, I thought to myself that I had to exercise many things hostile to the proper noun of Jesus of Nazareth.
(Human activity 26:6-ix NAS)
For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. "So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and groovy, stating nix but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to have place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.
(Act 26:21-23 NAS)

The "Promised Land" that the prophets were looking forrad to was not an earthly country; but, the paradise in heaven reserved for them. Only obtainable through the resurrection of the dead.

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, simply having seen them and having welcomed them from a altitude, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things brand it clear that they are seeking a country of their ain. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. Only equally it is, they want a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a metropolis for them. By religion Abraham, when he was tested, offered upwardly Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering upward his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants shall be chosen." He considered that God is able to enhance men even from the expressionless; from which he likewise received him dorsum equally a blazon.
(Heb 11:13-19 NAS)

The apostles were able to teach the resurrection because the Former Attestation conspicuously teaches the resurrection of the expressionless.

The Resurrection of the dead in the Sometime Testament

The Old Testament has enough of places that talk about the resurrection of the dead. Because of Christs resurrection, God's people will raise from the dead.

He will revive us after two days; He volition raise the states up on the third day That nosotros may alive earlier Him
(Hos 6:two NAS)
For G wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo disuse. Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; In Thy presence is fulness of joy; In Thy right hand at that place are pleasures forever.
(Psa 16:10-11 NAS)
Merely God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For He volition receive me. Selah
(Psa 49:15 NAS)
Your expressionless will alive; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the grit, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is equally the dew of the dawn, And the earth volition give birth to the departed spirits.
(Isa 26:19 NAS)
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, just the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
(Dan 12:2 NAS)
Even after my skin is destroyed, However from my flesh I shall run into God;
(Chore 19:26 NAS)

These passages show that at the time of expiry, the resurrection occurs.

Events that occurred when Christ rose from the dead

The resurrection of the dead is a straight result of Christ'southward resurrection. Christ said,

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the vocalisation of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. "For merely equally the Male parent has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, considering He is the Son of Man. "Practice not marvel at this; for an hr is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come up forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
(Joh 5:25-29 NAS)

When Christ rose from the dead, those who did adept deeds were raised to resurrection of life and those who did evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. Some of those who were dead already were raised at the time of Christs resurrection. All the residual of the people who died were resurrected at the time of their expiry.

Those who were not raised at the time of their death, were raised at the time of Christ'south resurrection.

and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
(Mat 27:five-53 NAS)

These are the ones whom Christ preached to, while in "Hell," during His death in the tomb.

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