Introduction

Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter. Think of all the sacred Christian traditions surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. We remember the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples, and we feel the quiet despair of Jesus in Gethsemane when we “come to the garden alone.” Christians mourn the suffering and death of Jesus on “the old rugged cross,” and they celebrate early Easter morning the joy when “Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph o'er His foes… Hallelujah! Christ arose!” After all, central to the faith of Christians is their belief that, through the sacrifice God made in the death of his Son, we are given the opportunity for eternal life. If we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are forgiven for our sins through his death and suffering and given eternal life through his resurrection. What could be more sacred than the Easter season?

In this chapter we will examine what “the Bible says” about the resurrection in an attempt to gain insightful understanding into this very central part of the Christian religion. In contrast to the birth of Jesus, his resurrection is a prominent part of Paul and is mentioned or assumed by every other NT writer. As with the birth stories, those of the resurrection are probably among the best known to Christians but also rarely studied critically by them.