Salvation in Christ · The Resurrection of Christ
egeirō · to raise up · ἠγέρθη, “He is risen!” (Matt 28:6)
the third-day victory — risen bodily, proving His deity, securing our justification, guaranteeing our rising
One word · He was raised
The angel’s cry at the empty tomb is the hinge of history: “he is not here, for he is risen (ἠγέρθη), as he said” (Matt 28:6). On the third day God raised Jesus bodily — “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death” (Acts 2:24). This was no ghost or legend: “handle Me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).
And He was seen — by Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred at once, James, and Paul (1 Cor 15:5–8). His resurrection “declared Him to be the Son of God with power” (Rom 1:4), proved the cross was accepted, and “raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25). And because He is the firstfruits, all who are His will rise too.
The bodily resurrection on the third day; the many witnesses; the vindication of His deity; the ground of our justification and new life; and the guarantee of our own resurrection.
The third day, as He said.
οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἠγέρθη γὰρ καθὼς εἶπεν
ouk estin hōde, ēgerthē gar …
He is not here, for He is risen, as He said.
A real, bodily resurrection on the third day (1 Cor 15:4; Acts 2:24) — the same Jesus, with a body that could be touched and could eat (Luke 24:39–43), now glorified and deathless. Not a resuscitated corpse, not a phantom, not a metaphor: risen indeed.
Seen by many; history, not myth.
… ὤφθη … ἐπάνω πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ
… ōphthē epanō pentakosiois …
…He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, then to over five hundred at once.
The risen Christ appeared to many over forty days, “by many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3) — most of the five hundred still living when Paul wrote, able to be questioned. The empty tomb, the eyewitnesses, and disciples transformed from cowards into martyrs are the bedrock of the claim.
The Father's vindication and proof.
τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει … ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν
… horisthentos huiou theou en dynamei …
…declared to be the Son of God with power … by the resurrection from the dead.
The resurrection is the Father’s public vindication of Jesus — proof that His claims were true and His sacrifice accepted. “God has made this Jesus … both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The empty tomb is heaven’s “Amen” to the cross. (See the study on the deity of Christ.)
Raised for our justification.
… ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν
… dia tēn dikaiōsin hēmōn
…who was raised for our justification.
His rising proves the cross worked: “if Christ is not raised … you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17) — but He is, so we are justified. And His risen life becomes ours: “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4), “born again to a living hope through His resurrection” (1 Pet 1:3).
His rising guarantees ours.
νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἐγένετο
… aparchē tōn kekoimēmenōn
but now Christ is risen … and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
His resurrection is the firstfruits guaranteeing the full harvest (1 Cor 15:23): “because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). He is “the firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18), “alive forevermore,” holding “the keys of death” (Rev 1:18). (See the companion study on the resurrection of the dead.)
The resurrection is wronged two ways. On one side it is denied as history — reduced to a myth, a legend, a “spiritual” idea, or the disciples’ inner experience; the body explained away, as the first cover-up tried to do. On the other, it is affirmed as a doctrine yet ignored in practice — a powerless faith that serves a Christ still, in effect, in the tomb, never reckoning with a living Lord and His resurrection power.
… εἴπατε ὅτι οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ νυκτὸς ἐλθόντες ἔκλεψαν αὐτόν
… eklepsan auton — they stole Him
…tell them, “His disciples came by night and stole Him away.”
From the first hour, the resurrection has been explained away. But the lie cannot account for the empty tomb, the eyewitnesses, or men dying for what they knew. “If Christ is not raised … your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:14, 17) — everything hangs on it, and it stands.
τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ
… tēn dynamin tēs anastaseōs autou
…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.
It is possible to believe the resurrection as a fact yet never live in its power — serving a Lord one treats as absent. Paul’s lifelong aim was to know the power of the risen Christ. He is alive; live in the strength, presence, and hope of a Lord who conquered death.
So lift your head: the tomb is empty, and your Lord is alive forevermore. Because He rose, your sins are gone, your justification is sure, death is a conquered enemy, and your own resurrection is guaranteed. Do not serve a memory or a dead teacher — walk with a living Christ, in the power of His resurrection. Let the joy of the empty tomb steady you in every sorrow and embolden you in every fear. He is risen indeed.
REVELATION 1:18 · ALIVE FOREVERMORE
ἐγενόμην νεκρὸς καὶ ἰδοὺ ζῶν εἰμι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων
I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore — and I have the keys of death and Hades.
Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen (Luke 24:5–6). He is alive — so live in His risen power.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith and a claim about history — “if Christ is not raised … your faith is futile, you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:14, 17). It is attested by the empty tomb (which His enemies could not refute with a body), by many eyewitnesses, by disciples transformed into martyrs, and by the very existence of the church. It is not a symbol of “new beginnings” or merely the disciples’ inner experience, but a real event in space and time.
It was a transformed, glorified body — recognizably Jesus, still bearing the wounds, able to eat, yet no longer bound by death or ordinary limits — the pattern of our own resurrection body. And the resurrection is inseparable from the cross: the cross without it is defeat; it without the cross is empty. Together they are the gospel (1 Cor 15:3–4). Finally, the resurrection is not only a fact to confess but a power to live in — “that I may know … the power of His resurrection” (Phil 3:10). (See the companion studies on the cross, the deity of Christ, and the resurrection of the dead.)
The resurrection is presented as a historical event with public evidence: an empty tomb no one could refute by producing a body, more than five hundred eyewitnesses at once (1 Cor 15:6), disciples transformed from frightened deserters into bold martyrs, and a church born and sustained on the claim. “If Christ is not raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (15:17) — Paul stakes everything on it. It is not a pious legend that grew up later, but the testimony of those who saw, many of whom died rather than deny it.
The resurrection is not only a past fact to believe but a present power to live in. Jesus is “alive forevermore” and holds “the keys of death and Hades” (Rev 1:18). So we do not serve a dead teacher or a cherished memory, but a living Lord who reigns, intercedes for us, and dwells in us by His Spirit. Paul’s lifelong passion was “to know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Phil 3:10) — let that be ours, living each day in the strength of the One who walked out of the grave. (See the companion study on the deity of Christ.)
| Theme | Key texts |
|---|---|
| Risen bodily, the third day | Matt 28:1–6; Luke 24:36–43; 1 Cor 15:3–4 |
| Attested by witnesses | 1 Cor 15:5–8; Acts 1:3; 2:32 |
| Declared Son of God | Rom 1:4; Acts 2:24, 36 |
| The ground of our life | Rom 4:25; 6:4; 1 Cor 15:17; 1 Pet 1:3 |
| The firstfruits | 1 Cor 15:20–23; John 14:19; Col 1:18; Rev 1:18 |