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{{short description|Foundational Christian doctrine that states that Jesus rose from the dead}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}{{Use Oxford spelling|date = January 2025}}
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[[File:Rafael - ressureicaocristo01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''[[Resurrection of Christ (Raphael)|Resurrection of Jesus Christ]]'' (Kinnaird Resurrection) by [[Raphael]], 1502]]
{{Death of Jesus|expanded=Resurrection}}
{{Gospel Jesus}}
{{Christianity|state=collapsed}}

The '''resurrection of Jesus''' ({{langx|grc-x-biblical|ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ|anástasis toú Iēsoú}}) is the [[Christianity|Christian]] belief that [[God in Christianity|God]] [[Resurrection|raised]] [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] from the dead on the third day{{efn-la|name="third day"}} after [[Crucifixion of Jesus|his crucifixion]], starting—or [[Preexistence of Christ|restoring]]<ref group=web name=EB_ih/>{{efn-la|name=EB_restoration}}—his [[Session of Christ|exalted life]] as [[Christ (title)|Christ]] and [[Jesus is Lord|Lord]].<ref group=web name="Holcomb"/> According to the [[New Testament]] writing, Jesus was [[Firstborn (Judaism)|firstborn from the dead]], ushering in the [[Kingdom of God (Christianity)|Kingdom of God]].{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=152}}<ref group=web name="Holcomb"/> He appeared to his disciples, calling the apostles to the [[Great Commission]] of forgiving sin and baptizing [[Repentance in Christianity|repenters]], and [[Ascension of Jesus|ascended to Heaven]].

For the Christian tradition, the bodily resurrection was the restoration to life of a [[Spiritual body|transformed body]] powered by [[Pneuma|spirit]],<ref group="web" name="Habermas.2005" /> as described by [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] and the [[gospel]] authors, that led to the establishment of Christianity. In [[Christian theology]], the resurrection of Jesus is "the central mystery of the Christian faith."{{sfn|Siniscalchi|2011|p=363}} It provides the foundation for that faith, as commemorated by [[Easter]], along with Jesus's life, death and sayings.{{sfn|Dunn|1985|p=53}} For Christians, his resurrection is the guarantee that [[Universal resurrection|all the Christian dead will be resurrected]] at Christ's {{Transliteration|grc|[[Second Coming|parousia]]}} (second coming).{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|pp=153–154}} The resurrection is seen as a theological affirmation that intersects with history as a precondition for understanding the historical Jesus, his suffering, and vindication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bockmuehl |first1=Markus |author-link1=Markus Bockmuehl |title=The New Cambridge Companion to Jesus |date=2025 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1009232999 |pages=82–83}}</ref>

Secular and [[liberal Christian]] scholarship asserts that religious experiences,{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=72–73}} such as the [[Vision theory of Jesus's appearances|visionary appearances of Jesus]]{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008b|p=141}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=98, 101}}{{efn-la|name="Hurtado_visions"}} and an inspired reading of the biblical texts,{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=72, 84}} gave the impetus to the belief in the exaltation of Jesus{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=109–110}} as a "fulfillment of the scriptures,"{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} and a resumption of the missionary activity of Jesus's followers.{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|pp=151–152}} Scholars differ on the historicity of Jesus' burial and the empty tomb.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ludemann |first=Gerd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RdECNYZrAgIC&q=ludemann+resurrection |title=The Resurrection Of Christ: A Historical Inquiry |year=2010 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1615925155 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Scholars of [[Historical Jesus|Jesus as a historical figure]] tend to generally avoid the topic, since many see resurrection as a matter of faith, or lack thereof, and outside of the scope of historical study.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bockmuehl |first=Markus |editor-last=Bockmuehl|editor-first=Markus|title=The Cambridge Companion to Jesus|chapter=7. Resurrection |date=2001|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780521796781|page=103|quote=Nevertheless, what is perhaps most surprising is the extent to which contemporary scholarly literature on the ‘historical Jesus’ has studiously ignored and downplayed the question of the resurrection...But even the more mainstream participants in the late twentieth-century ‘historical Jesus’ bonanza have tended to avoid the subject of the resurrection – usually on the pretext that this is solely a matter of ‘faith’ or of ‘theology’, about which no self-respecting historian could possibly have anything to say. Precisely that scholarly silence, however, renders a good many recent ‘historical Jesus’ studies methodologically hamstrung, and unable to deliver what they promise...In this respect, benign neglect ranks alongside dogmatic denial and naive credulity in guaranteeing the avoidance of historical truth.}}</ref>

[[Easter]] is the main [[Christian festival]] celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, symbolizing God's [[redemption in Christianity|redemption]] and rooted in [[Passover]] traditions. The resurrection is [[Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art|widely depicted in Christian art]] and connected to [[relic]]s like the [[Shroud of Turin]], which some believe bears a miraculous image of Jesus. Judaism teaches that Jesus' body was stolen and he did not rise. [[Gnosticism]] holds that only the soul is resurrected.<ref name="Rudolph">Kurt Rudolph, ''Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism'', p. 190 (T & T Clark Ltd, 1970, second and expanded edition, 1980; 1998). {{ISBN|0567086402}}</ref> [[Islam]] generally teaches that Jesus was [[Islamic views on Jesus's death|not crucified]] but directly ascended to God; however [[Ahmadiyya|Ahmadiyya Islam]] believes that Jesus survived the crucifixion and carried on his mission elsewhere.

== Biblical accounts ==

{{See also|Overview of resurrection appearances in the Gospels and Paul|l1=Overview of resurrection appearances in the Gospels and Paul (table)}}
[[File:Noel-coypel-the-resurrection-of-christ-1700.jpg|thumb|right|''Resurrection of Christ'', [[Noël Coypel]], 1700, using a [[Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art|hovering depiction]] of Jesus]]

The conviction that Jesus was raised from the dead is found in the earliest evidence of Christian origins.{{sfn|Licona|2010|pp=223–235}}{{efn-la|In 1 Corinthians 15:3 – 7, [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] passes on what Judaism valued as the best evidence: first-person testimony of the resurrection. According to [[John S. Kloppenborg|John Kloppenborg]], Paul's "argumentation in chap.15 revolves around the reality of the resurrection; the tradition adduced by Paul in support of his argument must have contained some element of proof of the resurrection (i.e., witnesses) – otherwise there would have been no reason for Paul to adduce it in the first place".{{sfn|Kloppenborg|1978|p=358}} That this teaching predates Paul and the New Testament book that contains it has been almost universally acknowledged.{{sfn|Kloppenborg|1978|p=351}} [[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]] dates the text to within one to two years of the crucifixion.<ref>[[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]], Did Jesus Exist? (New York: Harper Collins, 2012), pp. 22, 27, 92, 93, 97, 111, 141, 144, 145, 155, 158, 171, 173, 260, 263; especially pp. 131, 132, 157, 164, 170, 251, 254.</ref> However, whether the pre-Pauline material is from the earliest [[Aramaic]]-speaking community or from the Jewish-Hellenistic church is disputed.{{sfn|Kloppenborg|1978|p=352}}}}

===Paul and the first Christians===
{{See also|Pauline Christianity}}

The moment of resurrection itself is not described in any of the canonical gospels, but all four contain passages in which Jesus is portrayed as predicting his death and resurrection, or contain allusions that "the reader will understand".{{sfn|Powell|2018|p=unpaginated}} The New Testament writings do not contain any descriptions of a resurrection but rather accounts of an [[empty tomb]] and appearances of Jesus.{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=141}}

One of the letters sent by [[Paul the Apostle]] to one of the early Greek churches, the [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]], contains one of the earliest [[Creed#Christian creeds|Christian creed]]s referring to post-mortem appearances of Jesus, and expressing the belief that he was raised from the dead, namely 1 Corinthians 15:3–8.<ref>{{Bibleverse|1 Corinthians|15:3–8}}</ref>{{sfn|Neufeld|1964|p=47}}{{sfn|Taylor|2014|p=374}} It is widely accepted that this creed predates Paul and the writing of First Corinthians.{{sfn|Kloppenborg|1978|p=351}} Scholars have contended that in his presentation of the resurrection, Paul refers to this as an earlier authoritative tradition, transmitted in a rabbinic style, that he received and has passed on to the church at Corinth.{{efn-la|Early creed:
* Neufeld, ''The Earliest Christian Confessions'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964) p. 47
* Reginald Fuller, ''The Formation of the Resurrection Narratives'' (New York: Macmillan, 1971) p. 10
* Wolfhart Pannenberg, ''Jesus{{snd}}God and Man'' translated Lewis Wilkins and Duane Pribe (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968) p. 90
* [[Oscar Cullmann]], ''The Early Church: Studies in Early Christian History and Theology'', ed. A. J. B. Higgins (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966) p. 64
* Hans Conzelmann, ''1 Corinthians'', translated James W. Leitch (Philadelphia: Fortress 1969) p. 251
* Bultmann, ''Theology of the New Testament'' vol. 1 pp. 45, 80–82, 293
* R. E. Brown, ''The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus'' (New York: Paulist Press, 1973) pp. 81, 92
* Most Fellows of the Jesus Seminar also concluded that this tradition dates to before Paul's conversion, {{c.|AD 33}}.<ref>[[Robert W. Funk|Funk, Robert W.]] and the [[Jesus Seminar]]. ''The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus.'' HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. ''Empty Tomb, Appearances & Ascension'' pp. 449–495.</ref>}} [[Geza Vermes]] writes that the creed is "a tradition he [Paul] has inherited from his seniors in the faith concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus".{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=121–122}} The creed's ultimate origins are probably within the Jerusalem apostolic community, having been formalised and passed on within a few years of the resurrection.{{efn-la|Origins within the Jerusalem apostolic community:
* Wolfhart Pannenberg, ''Jesus – God and Man'' translated Lewis Wilkins and Duane Pribe (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968) p. 90
* Oscar Cullmann, ''The Early church: Studies in Early Christian History and Theology'', ed. A. J. B. Higgins (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966) pp. 66–66
* R. E. Brown, ''The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus'' (New York: Paulist Press, 1973) p. 81
* [[Thomas Sheehan (philosopher)|Thomas Sheehan]], ''First Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity'' (New York: Random House, 1986) pp. 110, 118
* Ulrich Wilckens, ''Resurrection'' translated A. M. Stewart (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1977) p. 2}} [[Hans Grässel|Hans Grass]] argues for an origin in Damascus,<ref>Hans Grass, ''Ostergeschen und Osterberichte'', Second Edition (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1962) p. 96</ref> and according to Paul Barnett, this creedal formula, and others, were variants of the "one basic early tradition that Paul "received" in Damascus from Ananias in about 34 [AD]" after his conversion.<ref name=Barnett182>{{cite book |last=Barnett |first=Paul William |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPMIYtpKtDwC&q=from+Ananias+in+about&pg=PA182 |title=Finding the Historical Christ (Vol. 3 of After Jesus) |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0802848901 |page=182}}</ref>

{{blockquote|[3] For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,{{efn-la|name="died for"}} [4] and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,{{efn-la|name="third day"}} [5] and that he appeared to [[Saint Peter|Cephas]], then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.<ref>oremus Bible Browser, [http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+15:3%E2%80%9315:41&version=nrsv 1 Corinthians ''15:3–15:41'']</ref>}}

In the Jerusalem {{Transliteration|grc|ekklēsia}} (Church), from which Paul received this creed, the phrase "died for our sins" probably was an [[Christian apologetics|apologetic]] rationale for the death of Jesus as being part of God's plan and purpose, as evidenced in the scriptures. For Paul, it gained a deeper significance, providing "a basis for the salvation of sinful Gentiles apart from the Torah".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=131}} The phrase "died for our sins" was derived from [[Isaiah]], especially 53:4–11,<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|53:4–11}}</ref> and [[4 Maccabees]], especially 6:28–29.<ref name="bibleverse|4|Maccabees|6:28–29"/>{{efn-la|name="died for"|The {{Transliteration|grc|kerygma}} from 1 Corinthians 15:3–5 refers to two mythologies: the Greek myth of the noble dead, to which the Maccabean notion of martyrdom and dying for ones people is related; and the Jewish myth of the persecuted sage or [[Righteousness|righteous]] man, c.q. the "story of the child of [[Wisdom (personification)|wisdom]]."{{sfn|Mack|1995|pp=86–87}} The notion of 'dying for' refers to this martyrdom and persecution.{{sfn|Mack|1997|p=88}}

James F. McGrath refers to 4 Maccabees,<ref>{{bibleverse|4 Maccabees|6}}</ref> "which presents a martyr praying "Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them. Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs".<ref name="bibleverse|4|Maccabees|6:28–29">{{bibleverse|4 Maccabees|6:28–29}}</ref> Clearly, there were ideas that existed in the Judaism of the time that helped make sense of the death of the righteous in terms of atonement."<ref group=web name="McGrath.2007">James F. McGrath (2007), [https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2007/12/whats-wrong-with-penal-substitution.html ''What's Wrong With Penal Substitution?'']</ref>

See also Herald Gandi (2018), [https://www.tms.edu/blog/resurrection-according-to-scriptures/ ''The Resurrection: "According to the Scriptures"?''], referring to Isaiah 53,<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|53}}</ref> among others:

"[4] Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. [5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed ... [10] Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. [11] Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities."}} "Raised on the third day" is derived from Hosea 6:1–2:<ref>{{bibleverse|Hosea|6:1–2}}</ref>{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=73}}

{{poemquote|Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.{{efn-la|name="third day"}}}}

Paul, writing to the members of the church at Corinth, said that Jesus appeared to him in the same fashion in which he appeared to the earlier witnesses.{{sfn|Lehtipuu|2015|p=42}} In [[2 Corinthians 12]] Paul described "a man in Christ [presumably Paul himself] who ... was caught up to the third heaven", and while the language is obscure, a plausible interpretation is that the man believed he saw Jesus enthroned at the right hand of God.{{sfn|Chester|2007|p=394}}

The many Pauline references affirming his belief in the resurrection include:
* Romans 1:3–4: "...concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord".<ref>{{bibleverse|Romans|1:3–4|NIV}}</ref>
* 2 Timothy 2:8: "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead... this is my gospel for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained..."<ref>{{bibleverse|2Tim|2:8|NIV|2 Timothy 2:8}}</ref>
* 1 Corinthians 15:3–7: "...that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures..."<ref>{{bibleverse|1Cor|15:3–7|NIV|1 Corinthians 15:3–7}}</ref>

=== Gospels and Acts ===
{{Main|Mark 16|Matthew 28|Luke 24|Acts 1|John 20}}
{{See also|Gospel harmony|Passion of Jesus|Burial of Jesus|Empty tomb|Myrrhbearers}}
[[File:Pilon-risenchrist2.jpg|thumb|Germain Pilon (French, {{abbr|d.|died}} 1590), ''Resurrection of Jesus Christ''. Marble, before 1572]]

Jesus is described as the "[[Firstborn (Judaism)|firstborn from the dead]]", {{Transliteration|grc|prōtotokos}}, the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir".{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=152}}<ref group=web name="Holcomb">[[Justin S. Holcomb]], [https://www.christianity.com/god/jesus-christ/what-does-it-mean-that-jesus-is-the-firstborn-from-the-dead.html "What Does It Mean that Jesus Is 'The Firstborn from the Dead?{{'"}}]</ref> His resurrection is also the guarantee that all the Christian dead will be resurrected at Christ's {{Transliteration|grc|[[Second Coming|parousia]]}}.{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|pp=153–154}}

After the resurrection, Jesus is portrayed as calling the apostles to the [[Great Commission]], as described in Matthew 28:16–20,<ref name="Bibleref2|Matthew|28:16–20">{{Bibleverse|Matthew|28:16–20}}</ref> Mark 16:14–18,<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|16:14–18}}</ref> Luke 24:44–49,<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|24:44–49}}</ref> Acts 1:4–8,<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|1:4–8}}</ref> and John 20:19–23,<ref>{{bibleverse|John|20:19–23}}</ref> in which the disciples receive the call "to let the world know the good news of a victorious Saviour and the very presence of God in the world by the spirit".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Castleman |first=Robbie F. |title=The Last Word: The Great Commission: Ecclesiology |journal=Themelios |volume=32 |issue=3 |page=68 |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-last-word-the-great-commission-ecclesiology/}}</ref> According to these texts, Jesus says that they "will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you",<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|1:8}}</ref> that "repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [the Messiah's] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem",<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|24:46–47}}</ref> and that "if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained".<ref>{{bibleverse|John|20:12–23}}</ref>

The shorter version of the [[Gospel of Mark]] ends with the discovery of the empty tomb by [[Mary Magdalene]], Salome, and "Mary the mother of James". A young man in a white robe at the site of the tomb announced to them that Jesus has risen, and instructed them to "tell Peter and the disciples that he will meet them in Galilee, 'just as he told you{{'"}} ([[Mark 16]]).{{sfn|Boring|2006|pp=3, 14}}

In the [[Gospel of Matthew]], an angel appeared to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, telling her that Jesus is not there because he has been raised from the dead, and instructing her to tell the other followers to go to Galilee, to meet Jesus. Jesus then appeared to Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" at the tomb; and next, based on Mark 16:7, Jesus appeared to all the disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus claimed authority over heaven and earth, and commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel to the whole world.{{sfn|Cotter|2001|p=127}} In this message, the end times are delayed "to bring the world to discipleship".{{sfn|Cotter|2001|pp=149–150}}

[[File:Konstanz Münster Westportal R07 Marien am Grab 01.jpg|thumb|''The three Marys at the Tomb of Christ ''(1470) at the west portal of [[Konstanz Minster]], Baden-Württemberg, Germany]]

In the [[Gospel of Luke]], "the women who had come with him from Galilee"<ref>{{Bibleverse|Luke|23:55|}}</ref> come to his tomb, which they find empty. Two angelic beings appeared to announce that Jesus is not there but has been raised.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Luke|24:1–5||24:1–5}}</ref> Jesus then appeared to two followers on their way to Emmaus, who notify the eleven remaining Apostles, who respond that Jesus has appeared to Peter. While they were describing this, Jesus appeared again, explaining that he is the messiah who was raised from the dead according to the scriptures "and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem".<ref>{{Bibleverse|Luke|24:37–47||24:37–47}}</ref>{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=211}} In [[Luke–Acts]] (two works from the same author) he then [[Ascension of Jesus|ascended into heaven]], his rightful home.{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=211}}

In Acts of the Apostles, Jesus appeared to the apostles for forty days and commanded them to stay in Jerusalem,<ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|1:3|ESV|1:3}}</ref> after which Jesus ascended to heaven, followed by the coming of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] at [[Pentecost]] and the missionary task of the early church.{{sfn|Brown|1973|p=103}}

==Jewish-Hellenistic background==
[[File:5part-icon.jpeg|thumb|Five-part resurrection [[icon]], [[Solovetsky Monastery]], 17th century]]

===Jewish===
{{See also|Jewish eschatology|Resurrection of the dead}}
In Judaism, the idea of resurrection first emerges in the 3rd century BC [[Book of Enoch#The Book of the Watchers|Book of Watchers]]{{sfn|Elledge|2017|pp=130ff}} and in the 2nd century BC [[Book of Daniel]],{{sfn|Schäfer|2003|pp=72–73}} the later possibly as a belief in the resurrection of the [[soul]] alone, which was then developed by the Pharisees as a belief in bodily resurrection, an idea completely alien to the Greeks.{{sfn|Schäfer|2003|pp=72–73}} [[Josephus]] tells of the three main Jewish sects of the 1st century AD, that the [[Sadducees]] held that both soul and body perished at death; the [[Essenes]] that the soul was immortal but the flesh was not; and the [[Pharisees]] that the soul was immortal and that the body would be resurrected to house it.{{sfn|Schäfer|2003|p=72}} Of these three positions, Jesus and the early Christians appear to have been closest to that of the Pharisees.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=430}} [[Steve Mason (biblical scholar)|Steve Mason]] notes that for the Pharisees, "the new body is a special, holy body", which is different from the old body, "a view shared to some extent by the ex-Pharisee Paul (1. Cor. 15:35ff)".{{sfn|Mason|2001|p=169}}

The evidence from Jewish texts and from tomb inscriptions points to a more complex reality: for example, when the author of the Book of Daniel wrote that "many of those sleeping in the dust shall awaken",<ref>{{Bibleverse|Dan|12:2}}</ref> religion scholar [[Dag Øistein Endsjø]] believes he probably had in mind a rebirth as [[angel]]ic beings (metaphorically described as stars in God's Heaven, stars having been identified with angels from early times); such a rebirth would rule out a bodily resurrection, as angels were believed to be fleshless.{{sfn|Endsjø|2009|pp=124–125}} Other scholars hold that Daniel exposes a belief in a bodily resurrection.{{sfn|Elledge|2017|pp=21, 23}} Other texts range from the traditional Old Testament view that the soul would spend eternity in the underworld, to a metaphorical belief in the raising of the spirit.{{sfn|Lehtipuu|2015|pp=31–32}} Most avoided defining what resurrection might imply, but a resurrection of the flesh was a marginal belief.{{sfn|Endsjø|2009|p=145}} As Outi Lehtipuu states, "belief in resurrection was far from being an established doctrine"{{sfn|Lehtipuu|2015|pp=32}} of [[Second Temple Judaism]].

===Greco-Roman===
{{Main|Immortality#Ancient Greek religion|Jesus in Comparative Mythology}}

The Greeks traditionally held that a number of men and women gained physical immortality as they were translated to live forever in either [[Elysium]], the [[Islands of the Blessed]], heaven, the ocean, or literally right under the ground. As such, some scholars have attempted to trace resurrection beliefs in pagan traditions concerning death and bodily disappearances and setting the Jesus tradition within a more Greco-Roman context.{{sfn|Endsjø|2009|pp=54–70}} Such scholars have argued that the [[empty tomb]] narrative and subsequent appearances of Jesus are best understood as literary motifs within the context of Greek literary works that exhibit similar narratives in Greek mythology.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Robyn Faith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjaKzQEACAAJ |title=The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture |year=2021|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108835305 |page=149 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Gopnik |first=Adam |date=2025-03-24 |title=We're Still Not Done with Jesus |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/31/miracles-and-wonder-elaine-pagels-book-review-heretic-catherine-nixey |access-date=2025-05-26 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Richard C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6G3fBQAAQBAJ&q=Resurrection+and+Reception+in+Early+Christianity |title=Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317585855 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Alexander |title=Raised from Ignorance to Knowledge: Recognition and the Resurrection Appearances of Luke 24 |url=https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/1c18dg794?locale=it |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=etd.library.emory.edu |language=English}}</ref>

However, there is no evidence that the portrayal of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels (the three earliest gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke) was directly influenced by pagan mythology in any significant way.<ref>Eddy, Paul Rhodes; Boyd, Gregory A. (2007), ''The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, pp. 53–54.</ref>{{sfn |Allison |2021b |pp=19–21 }} Rather, it is widely agreed that the portrayal of Jesus in the gospels is deeply influenced by Jewish tradition.<ref>[[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]] (2012), ''Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth,'' HarperOne, pp. 198–199</ref><ref>[[E.P. Sanders]] (1993), ''The Historical Figure of Jesus'', London, England, New York City, New York, Ringwood, Australia, Toronto, Ontario, and Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books, pp. 88–91, 112–113.</ref> The earliest followers of Jesus were devout Jews who abhorred Paganism, and would have been unlikely to shape their accounts of their founder on pagan myths.<ref>Eddy, Paul Rhodes; Boyd, Gregory A. (2007), ''The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, pp. 53–54, 98–99.</ref> According to [[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]], most of the alleged parallels between Jesus and pagan deities only exist in the modern imagination, and there are no "accounts of others who were born to virgin mothers and who died as an atonement for sin and then were raised from the dead".<ref>{{cite web|first1=Bart D. |last1=Ehrman|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman|year=2012|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544.html|title=Did Jesus Exist?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822020811/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544.html |archive-date=2018-08-22|website=The Huffington Post|url-status=live}}</ref> The attitudes towards resurrection were generally negative among pagans.{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=53}}<ref group=web>{{cite web| url = https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/jesus-resurrection-and-christian-origins/ | title = Jesus' Resurrection and Christian Origins, N.T. Wright| date = 12 July 2016}}</ref> For example, [[Asclepius]] was killed by Zeus for using herbs to resurrect the dead, but by his father [[Apollo]]'s request, was subsequently immortalized as a star.<ref>Emma and Ludwig Edelstein (1998), ''Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies'', Johns Hopkins University Press, vol. 1, p. 51</ref><ref>[[Sabine G. MacCormack]] ''Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology'' p. 47</ref><ref>Theony Condos (1997), ''Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans'', Phanes Press, p. 141</ref>

According to historian of religion Jonathan Z. Smith, modern scholars hold that "dying and rising gods" trope is incorrect since early sources on numerous gods show that gods who have died, do not resurrect or even go through rebirth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jonathan Z. |title=Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of early Christianities and the Religions of late antiquity |date=1990 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226763637 |pages=100–02}}</ref> Furthermore, claims of dying and resurrected gods is based on dubious reconstructions of later sources since early indigenous sources never make such claims, and there is no clear instance of a dying and rising deity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2005 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |isbn=978-0028659978 |pages=2535–36, 2539 |edition=2nd |chapter=Dying and Rising Gods |quote=The category of dying and rising gods, once a major topic of scholarly investigation, must now be understood to have been largely a misnomer based on imaginative reconstructions and exceedingly late or highly ambiguous texts... There is no unambiguous instance in the history of religions of a dying and rising deity....The majority of evidence for Near Eastern dying and rising deities occurs in Greek and Latin texts of late antiquity, usually post-Christian in date....This pattern will recur for many of the figures considered: an indigenous mythology and ritual focusing on the deity's death and rituals of lamentation, followed by a later Christian report adding the element nowhere found in the earlier native sources, that the god was resurrected....As the above examples make plain, the category of dying and rising deities is exceedingly dubious. It has been based largely on Christian interest and tenuous evidence.}}</ref>

From Hellenistic times on, some Greeks held that the soul of a meritorious man could be translated into a god in the process of [[apotheosis]] (divinization) which then transferred them to a special place of honour.{{sfn|Wright|2003|pp=56; 76}} Successors of [[Alexander the Great]] made this idea very well known throughout the Middle East through coins bearing his image, a privilege previously reserved for gods.{{sfn|Cotter|2001|p=131}} The idea was adopted by the Roman emperors, and in the Imperial Roman concept of apotheosis, the earthly body of the recently deceased emperor was replaced by a new and divine one as he ascended into heaven.{{sfn|Cotter|2001|pp=131, 135–136}} These stories proliferated in the middle to late first century.{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=76}}

The apotheosised dead remained recognisable to those who met them, as when [[Romulus]] appeared to witnesses after his death, but as the biographer [[Plutarch]] ({{c.|AD 46|120}}) explained of this incident, while something within humans comes from the gods and returns to them after death, this happens "only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled".{{sfn|Collins|2009|pp=46, 51}}

==Historicity of the burial and empty tomb narratives==
Contemporary scholarship on the historical Jesus has often avoided the question of the resurrection, treating it as a theological rather than historical matter, a tendency Bockmuehl argues weakens the methodological rigor and completeness of such research.<ref name="Bockmuehl 2001 103">{{cite book |last=Bockmuehl |first=Markus |author-link=Markus Bockmuehl |title=The Cambridge Companion to Jesus |date=2001 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521796781 |editor-last=Bockmuehl |editor-first=Markus |editor-link=Markus Bockmuehl |page=103 |chapter=7. Resurrection |quote=Nevertheless, what is perhaps most surprising is the extent to which contemporary scholarly literature on the 'historical Jesus' has studiously ignored and downplayed the question of the resurrection...But even the more mainstream participants in the late twentieth-century 'historical Jesus' bonanza have tended to avoid the subject of the resurrection – usually on the pretext that this is solely a matter of 'faith' or of 'theology', about which no self-respecting historian could possibly have anything to say. Precisely that scholarly silence, however, renders a good many recent 'historical Jesus' studies methodologically hamstrung, and unable to deliver what they promise...In this respect, benign neglect ranks alongside dogmatic denial and naive credulity in guaranteeing the avoidance of historical truth.}}</ref>

Scholars differ on the historicity of the empty tomb story and the relation between the burial stories and the postmortem appearances. Scholars also differ on whether Jesus received a decent burial. Points of contention are (1) whether Jesus's body was taken off the cross before sunset or left on the cross to decay, (2) whether his body was taken off the cross and buried specifically by [[Joseph of Arimathea]], or by the Sanhedrin or a group of Jews in general, and (3) whether he was entombed (and if so, what kind of tomb) or buried in a common grave.

With regard to the question of what produced the faith that Jesus was raised from the dead, Schroter and Jacobi state that the assumption of the empty tomb, and the view that the disciples were convinced they saw Jesus risen from the dead, finds wide support in New Testament scholarship. Challenges such as [[Gerd Ludemann]]s, who argues that the tomb was not really empty but takes the stories of Jesus's appearances as describing real events, explaining them as subjective visions, remain a minority.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Schroter |first1= Jens |last2= Jacobi |first2= Christine |title= The Jesus Handbook |year= 2022 |publisher= Eerdmans |page= 789 |isbn= 978-0802876928}}</ref>{{efn-la|Jacobi: "In the more recent past [...] [[Gerd Ludemann]] (1994, 2002) drew on the subjective vision hypothesis and described Jesus's tomb as "full". This position can be considered a minority opinion. At present however, the assumption that Jesus's tomb was indeed empty and that his disciples were convinced that they had seen the resurrection Jesus finds wide support among New Testament scholars."}} Yet they also note that "The question about the historicity of the empty tomb [...] cannot be answered." They say that the empty tomb does not seem to be the factor that produces faith in the resurrection, but rather functions as a narrative link between crucifixion and resurrection.{{efn-la|Schroter and Jacobi (2022): "The question about the historicity of the empty tomb, therefore, cannot be answered. Nevertheless, it is decisive that no significance is ascribed to it according to the witness of the New Testament. In the Gospels, the empty tomb in itself does not produce faith. Its function on the level of the narrative, however, consists in linking the experience of the crucifixion and burial with the appearances. To this extent it is a part of the narrative implementation of the Easter traditions in the framework of the story of Jesus in the Gospels."}}

===Burial===
{{Main|Burial of Jesus}}

An often noted argument in favour of a decent burial before sunset is the Jewish custom, based on Deuteronomy 21:22–23,<ref>{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|21:22–23|NRSV}}</ref> which says the body must not be left exposed overnight, but must be buried that day. This is also attested in the Temple Scroll of the Essenes, and in [[Josephus]]' ''Jewish War'' 4.5.2§317, describing the burial of crucified Jewish insurgents before sunset.{{sfn|Brown|1973|p=147}}{{sfnp|Dijkhuizen|2011|pp=119–120}}{{sfnp|Dunn|2003b|p=782}}{{sfnp|Evans|2005}}{{sfnp|Magness|2005}} Reference is made to the [[Digest (Roman law)|Digesta]], a Roman Law Code from the 6th century AD, which contains material from the 2nd century AD, stating that "the bodies of those who have been punished are only buried when this has been requested and permission granted".{{sfnp|Evans|2005|p=195}}{{sfnp|Allison|2021|p=104}} Burial of people who were executed by crucifixion is also attested by archaeological finds from [[Jehohanan]], a body of an apparently crucified man with a nail in the heel which could not be removed who was buried in a tomb.{{sfnp|Magness|2005|p=144}}{{sfnp|Dunn|2003b|p=782}}

Contra a decent burial, [[Martin Hengel]] has argued that Jesus was buried in disgrace as an executed criminal who died a shameful death,{{sfnp|Magness|2005|p=141}}{{sfnp|Hengel|1977}} a view which is "now widely accepted and has become entrenched in scholarly literature".{{sfnp|Magness|2005|p=141}} [[John Dominic Crossan]] argued that Jesus's followers did not know what happened to the body.{{sfnp|Allison|2021|p=94}}{{efn-la|Allison refers to "Crossan, Historical Jesus, 391–4; idem, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994), 123–58; idem, Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996), 160–77))"}} According to Crossan, Joseph of Arimathea is "a total Markan creation in name, in place, and in function",{{sfnp|Allison|2021|p=94, note 4}}{{efn-la|Allison refers to Crossan (1996), ''Who Killed Jesus?''}} arguing that Jesus's followers inferred from Deut. 21:22–23 that Jesus was buried by a group of law-abiding Jews, as described in Acts 13:29.

New Testament scholar Dale Allison writes that this story was adapted by Mark, turning the group of Jews into a specific person.{{sfnp|Allison|2021|pp=94–95}} Roman practice was often to leave the body on the stake, denying an honourable or family burial, stating that "the dogs were waiting."{{sfnp|Allison|2021|p=95}}{{sfnp|Crossan|2009|p=143}} Archaeologist Byron McCane argues that it was customary to dispose of the dead immediately, yet concludes that "Jesus was buried in disgrace in a criminal's tomb".{{sfnp|McCane|2003|p=89}} British New Testament scholar [[Maurice Casey]] also notes that "Jewish criminals were supposed to receive a shameful and dishonourable burial",{{sfnp|Casey|2010|p=451}} and argues that Jesus was indeed buried by Joseph of Arimathea, but in a tomb for criminals owned by the [[Sanhedrin]].{{sfnp|Casey|2010|p=451}} He therefore rejects the empty tomb narrative as legendary.{{sfnp|Casey|2010}}

New Testament historian [[Bart D. Ehrman]] writes that it cannot be known what happened to Jesus's body; he doubts that Jesus had a decent burial,{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=82–88}} and also thinks that it is doubtful that Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea specifically.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=82}} According to Ehrman, "what was originally a vague statement that the unnamed Jewish leaders buried Jesus becomes a story of one leader in particular, who is named, doing so".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=84}}{{efn-la|In an earlier publication (2003), Ehrman recognized that "Some scholars have argued that it's more plausible that in fact Jesus was placed in a common burial plot, which sometimes happened, or was, as many other crucified people, simply left to be eaten by scavenging animals", but further elaborated by stating that "[T]he accounts are fairly unanimous in saying ... that Jesus was in fact buried by this fellow, Joseph of Arimathea, and so it's relatively reliable that that's what happened."<ref>[[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]], From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity, Lecture 4: "Oral and Written Traditions about Jesus" [The Teaching Company, 2003].</ref>}} Ehrman gives three reasons for doubting a decent burial. Referring to Hengel and Crossan, Ehrman argues that crucifixion was meant "to torture and humiliate a person as fully as possible", and the body was normally left on the stake to be eaten by animals.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=85}} Ehrman further argues that criminals were usually buried in common graves;{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=86}} and Pilate had no concern for Jewish sensitivities, which makes it unlikely that he would have allowed Jesus to be buried.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=87}}

A number of Christian authors have rejected the criticisms, taking the Gospel accounts to be historically reliable.{{efn-la| {{harvtxt|Wright|2009|p=22}} argues that the burial of Christ is part of the earliest gospel traditions.}} [[Dale Allison]], reviewing the arguments of Crossan and Ehrman, finds their assertions strong, but "find[s] it likely that a man named Joseph, probably a Sanhedrist, from the obscure Arimathea, sought and obtained permission from the Roman authorities to make arrangements for Jesus's hurried burial".{{sfnp|Allison|2021|p=112}} [[James Dunn (theologian)|James Dunn]] states that "the tradition is firm that Jesus was given a proper burial (Mark 15.42–47 pars.), and there are good reasons why its testimony should be respected".{{sfnp|Dunn|2003b|p=781}}

Dunn argues that the burial tradition is "one of the oldest pieces of tradition we have", referring to 1 Cor. 15.4; burial was in line with Jewish custom as prescribed by Deut. 21:22–23 and confirmed by Josephus ''War''; cases of burial of crucified persons are known, as attested by the Yehohanan burial; Joseph of Arimathea "is a very plausible historical character"; and "the presence of the women at the cross and their involvement in Jesus's burial can be attributed more plausibly to early oral memory than to creative story-telling".{{sfnp|Dunn|2003b|pp=781–783}} [[Craig A. Evans]] refers to Deut. 21:22–23 and Josephus to argue that the entombment of Jesus accords with Jewish sensitivities and historical reality. Evans also notes that "politically, too, it seems unlikely that, on the eve of Passover, a holiday that celebrates Israel's liberation from foreign domination, Pilate would have wanted to provoke the Jewish population" by denying Jesus a proper burial.{{sfn|Evans|2005|pp=188–190, 195}}

According to religion professor John Granger Cook, there are historical texts that mention mass graves, but they contain no indication of those bodies being dug up by animals. There is no mention of an open pit or shallow graves in any Roman text. There are a number of historical texts outside the gospels showing the bodies of the crucified dead were buried by family or friends. Cook writes that "those texts show that the narrative of Joseph of Arimethaea's burial of Jesus would be perfectly comprehensible to a Greco-Roman reader of the gospels and historically credible".<ref>Cook, J. (2011). Crucifixion and Burial. New Testament Studies, 57(2), 193–213. {{doi|10.1017/S0028688510000214}}. p. 213.</ref>

===Empty tomb===
{{Main|Empty tomb}}

====Skepticism about the empty tomb narrative====
Early on, the stories about the empty tomb were met with skepticism. The Gospel of Matthew already mentions stories that the body was [[Stolen body hypothesis|stolen from the grave]].{{sfnp|Dunn2003b|p=836}} Other suggestions, not supported in mainstream scholarship, are that Jesus had [[swoon hypothesis|not really died on the cross]], was lost due to natural causes,{{sfnp|Ehrman|2014|p=88}} or was [[Substitution hypothesis|replaced by an impostor]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.christianpost.com/voices/jesus-twin-brother-and-the-truth-about-easter.html|website=The Christian Post|first1=Robin|last1=Schumacher|date=12 April 2020|title=Jesus' twin brother and the truth about Easter}}</ref><ref>[[The Gospel of Afranius]]</ref>

The belief that Jesus did not really die on the cross but only appeared to do so is found in a wide variety of early texts, and probably has its historical roots in the earliest stages of Christianity.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2004|p=270}} According to Israeli religion scholar [[Guy Stroumsa|Gedaliahu Stroumsa]], this idea came first, and later, docetism broadened to include Jesus was a spirit without flesh.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2004|pp=267, 268}} It is probable these were present in the 1st century, as it is against such doctrines that the author of [[Johannine epistles|1 and 2 John]] seems to argue.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2004|pp=267, 268}}

The absence of any reference to the story of Jesus's empty tomb in the [[Pauline epistles]] and the Easter [[kerygma]] (preaching or proclamation) of the earliest church has led some scholars to suggest that Mark invented it.{{efn-la|Bultmann dismisses the empty tomb story as "an apologetic legend."{{sfnp|Bultmann|1963|p=287}}}} Allison, however, finds this [[argument from silence]] unconvincing.{{sfn|Allison|2005|p=306}} Most scholars believe that the [[Gospel of Mark]] and the [[Gospel of John]] contain two independent attestations of an empty tomb, which in turn suggests that both used already-existing sources{{sfn|Aune|2013|p=169}} and appealed to a commonly held tradition, though Mark may have added to and adapted that tradition to fit his narrative.<ref>Engelbrecht, J. "The Empty Tomb (Lk 24:1–12) in Historical Perspective." Neotestamentica, vol. 23, no. 2, 1989, pp. 245.</ref> Other scholars have argued that instead, Paul presupposes the empty tomb, specifically in the early creed passed down in 1 Corinthians 15.{{Sfn|Ware|2014|p=498}}{{Sfn|Cook|2017|pp=56–58}} Christian biblical scholars have used textual critical methods to support the historicity of the tradition that "Mary of Magdala had indeed been the first to see Jesus", most notably the [[Criterion of Embarrassment]] in recent years.{{sfn|Dunn|2003b|pp=843}}<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Richard Bauckham|author-first1=Richard|author-last1=Bauckham|title=Gospel Women, Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels|year=2002|pages=257–58}}</ref> According to [[Dale Allison]], the inclusion of women as the first witnesses to the risen Jesus "once suspect, confirms the truth of the story".{{sfn|Allison|2005|pp=327–328}}

====Empty tomb and resurrection appearances====
[[N. T. Wright]] emphatically and extensively argues for the reality of the empty tomb and the subsequent appearances of Jesus, reasoning that as a matter of "inference"{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=711}} both a bodily resurrection and later bodily appearances of Jesus are far better explanations for the empty tomb and the 'meetings' and the rise of Christianity than are any other theories, including those of Ehrman.{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=711}} [[Raymond E. Brown]] concurred, stating "...in my judgment, the evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is strong...", and critiqued skeptical objections.<ref>{{cite book |last= Brown |first= Raymond |author-link= Raymond E. Brown |year= 1994 |title= An Introduction to New Testament Christology |publisher= Paulist Press |pages= 163–66 |isbn= 978-0809135165}}</ref> [[James Dunn (theologian)|James DG Dunn]] writes that the majority of scholars of the Bible believe that the evidence shows that the Resurrection of Jesus is historical.<ref>{{cite book |last= Dunn |first= James |author-link= James Dunn (theologian) |year= 2019 |title= Why believe in Jesus' Resurrection? |publisher= SPCK |page= unpaginated |isbn= 978-0281076581}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2025}} [[Dale Allison]] argues for an empty tomb that was later followed by visions of Jesus by [[Apostles in the New Testament|the Apostles]] and Mary Magdalene, while also accepting the historicity of the resurrection. While he acknowledges contradictions in the Gospels' narratives, he argues that they agree on the important themes and that the differences are inconsequential when judging the historical event as a whole.{{sfn|Allison|2021|pp=3, 310–335, 337, 353}} Allison has endorsed David Graieg's work on the Resurrection appearances, which also argues that early Christians remembered Jesus as having physically risen from the dead. Using a methodology based on memory theory, Graieg argues that [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] in [[First Corinthians]] remembered Jesus as having bodily risen from the dead and that the resurrection was of core importance to early Christians. Graieg argues that Jesus physically rose from the dead and that he was remembered by Christians as having risen in a metamorphized form.<ref>{{cite book |last= Graieg |first= David |year= 2024 |title= Resurrection Remembered: A Memory Approach to Jesus' Resurrection in First Corinthians |publisher= Routledge |page= Preface (unpaginated) |isbn= 978-1032679983}}</ref>

Religion professor [[Dag Øistein Endsjø]] points to how the notion of an empty tomb would fit with the [[Ancient Greek religion|ancient Greek beliefs]] that any case of immortalization always required absolute physical continuity. A vanished body could consequently be an indication of someone having been made immortal, as seen for instance in the case of [[Aristaeus]], the Trojan prince [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]], and princess [[Orithyia of Athens]], whose mysterious disappearances were seen as the result of their being swept away to a physically immortal existence by the gods, [[Heracles]] whose lack of bodily remains after his funeral pyre was considered proof of his physical immortalization, and [[Aristeas|Aristeas of Proconnesus]] who was held to have reappeared after his body vanished from a locked room, which Endsjø interprets as something like a resurrection.{{sfn|Endsjø|2009|pp=58–60, 63, 83, 93}}{{sfn|Lehtipuu|2015|pp=62–63}}

J. D. Atkins argues that the narratives of Jesus contacting the disciples physically in Luke and John are not apologetic responses to docetism, and Siniscalchi suggests the gospels reliably preserved memory of the earliest appearance traditions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Atkins |first=J. D. |title=The Doubt of the Apostles and the Resurrection Faith of the Early Church |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2019 |isbn=978-3161581656 |pages=380–410}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siniscalchi |first=Glenn |title=The Doubt of the Apostles and the Resurrection Faith of the Early Church (review) |url=https://academic.oup.com/jts/article/72/2/950/6444245 |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=October 2021 |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=950–51|doi=10.1093/jts/flab104 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Jorg Frey also argues against applying docetism to first century works.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frey |first=Jorg |title=Docetism in the Early Church |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2018 |isbn=978-3161540844 |pages=27–50}}</ref> Smith argues that Mark has integrated two traditions, which were first separate, on the disappearance (from the tomb, interpreted as being taken to heaven) and appearance (post-mortem appearances), into one Easter narrative.{{sfn|Smith|2010|pp=2, 179–180}}{{sfn|Smith|2007}} According to [[Géza Vermes]], the story of the empty tomb developed independently from the stories of the post-resurrection appearances, as they are never directly coordinated to form a combined argument.{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=142}} While the coherence of the empty tomb narrative is questionable, it is "clearly an early tradition".{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=142}} Vermes notes that the story of the empty tomb conflicts with notions of a spiritual resurrection. According to Vermes, "[t]he strictly Jewish bond of spirit and body is better served by the idea of the empty tomb and is no doubt responsible for the introduction of the notions of palpability (Thomas in John) and eating (Luke and John)".{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=148}} Ehrman rejects the story of the empty tomb, and argues that "an empty tomb had nothing to do with it ... an empty tomb would not produce faith".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=98}} Ehrman argues that the empty tomb was needed to underscore the physical resurrection of Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=90}}

== Nature of the resurrection body ==

[[Géza Vermes]] notes that the story of the empty tomb conflicts with notions of a spiritual resurrection. According to Vermes, "[t]he strictly Jewish bond of spirit and body is better served by the idea of the empty tomb and is no doubt responsible for the introduction of the notions of palpability (Thomas in John) and eating (Luke and John)".{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=148}}

Both Ware and Cook argue, primarily from Paul's terminology and the contemporary Jewish, pagan and cultural understanding of the nature of resurrection, that Paul held to a physically resurrected body (''[[wikt:σῶμα#Noun|sōma]]''), restored to life, but animated by spirit (''[[pneuma]]tikos'') instead of soul (''[[Soul in the Bible|psuchikos]]''), just like the later Gospel accounts.{{sfn|Ware|2014b}}<ref group=web name=Hurtado.Ware">Larry Hurtado (11 September 2014 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/paul-on-jesus-resurrection-a-new-study/ ''Paul on Jesus' Resurrection: A New Study'']</ref> The nature of this resurrected body is a matter of debate. In 1 Corinthians 15:44,<ref name="auto">{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|15:44}}</ref> Paul uses the phrase "spiritual body" (''sōma pneumatikos''),<ref group=web>{{cite web| url = https://www.stfonline.org/1-corinthians-1544-soul-body-spiritual-body| title = ''1 Corinthians 15:44 ''| work = Spirit & Truth Fellowship International| date = 14 May 2013}}</ref> which has been explained as a "Spirit-empowered body",{{sfn|Ware|2014b}}<ref group=web name=Hurtado.Ware"/><ref group=web name="Brown.body"/> but also as a "celestial body", made of a finer material than the flesh.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=94}}<ref group=web name="Brown.body">Taylor S. Brown (August 3, 2018), [https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thechristianrevolution/2018/08/the-resurrection-of-the-body-spiritual-physical-both-actually/ ''The Resurrection of the Body: Spiritual? Physical? Both, Actually.'']</ref>{{efn-la|name="Habermas"}}

In the [[Epistle to the Philippians]] Paul describes how the body of the resurrected Christ is utterly different from the one he wore when he had "the appearance of a man", and holds out a similar glorified state, when Christ "will transform our lowly body", as the goal of the Christian life – "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 15:50), and Christians entering the kingdom will be "putting off the body of the flesh" (Colossians 2:11).{{sfn|Lehtipuu|2015|pp=42–43}}{{sfn|Endsjø|2009|pp=141, 145}} Paul opposed the notion of a purely spiritual resurrection, as propagated by some Christians in Corinth, which he addresses in 1 Corinthians.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=94}} The developing Gospel tradition emphasized the material aspects to counter this spiritual interpretation.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=90}}

Paul's views of a bodily resurrection went against the thoughts of the Greek philosophers to whom a bodily resurrection meant a new imprisonment in a corporeal body, which was what they wanted to avoid – given that, for them, the corporeal and the material fettered the spirit.<ref>''Meditation and Piety in the Far East'' by Karl Ludvig Reichelt, Sverre Holth 2004 {{ISBN|0227172353}} p. 30</ref>

[[James Dunn (theologian)|James Dunn]] notes that there is a great difference between Paul's resurrection appearance, and the appearances described in the Gospels. Where "Paul's seeing was visionary ... , 'from heaven{{'"}}, in contrast, the Gospel accounts have a "massive realism" to them,{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=115}} as seen for example in Luke having Jesus insisting that he was of "flesh and bones",<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|24:37–39}}</ref> and John having Jesus asking Thomas to touch his wounds.<ref>{{bibleverse|John|20:27}}</ref> Dunn contends that the "massive realism' ... of the [Gospel] appearances themselves can only be described as visionary with great difficulty – and Luke would certainly reject the description as inappropriate".{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=115}} According to Dunn, most scholars explain this as a "legendary materialization" of the visionary experiences, "borrowing the traits of the earthly Jesus".{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=116}}{{efn-la|According to Sheehan, Paul's account of the resurrection is not meant to be taken as referring to a literal, physical rising from the grave.<ref name="Sheehan.2013">{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-gospel-according-to-thomas-sheehan/Content?oid=873733|title=The Gospel According to Thomas Sheehan|last=McClory|first=Robert|work=The Chicago Sun-Times|year=1989|access-date=31 March 2013|archive-date=31 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031085104/http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-gospel-according-to-thomas-sheehan/Content?oid=873733|url-status=dead}}</ref> Paul's understanding of the resurrection, and perhaps Peter's as well, is a metaphorical one, with the stories of Jesus's (figurative) resurrection reflecting his triumphant "entry into God's eschatological presence."{{sfn|Sheehan|1986|p=111}} Sheehan:{{blockquote|The word "resurrection" is a metaphor that unfortunately has been taken literally. That's where the confusion begins. In the New Testament the word for "resurrection" means literally "awakening," like waking up your kids in the morning. The New Testament says not that God "resurrected" Jesus from the dead, but that he "awoke" him. Using metaphoric language, the New Testament says God awoke Jesus from the sleep of death and brought him into God's heavenly presence. There's nothing here about an event in space and time. Resurrection doesn't mean coming back to life."<ref name="Sheehan.2013"/>}} Sheehan quotes Helmut Koester:{{blockquote|"Resurrection is thus a mythological metaphor for God's victory over the powers of unrighteousness. ... The preaching of Jesus' resurrection was thus the proclamation that the new age had been ushered in": "The Structure and Criteria of Early Christian Beliefs" in Robinson and Koester, Trajectories, 223, 224.{{sfn|Sheehan|1986|p=261}}}}}} Yet, according to Dunn, there was both "a tendency away from the physical ... and a reverse tendency towards the physical".{{sfn|Dunn|1997|pp=116–117}} The tendency towards the material is most clear, but there are also signs for the tendency away from the physical, and "there are some indications that a more physical understanding was current in the earliest Jerusalem community".{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=117}}

== Significance in Christianity ==
{{Main|Salvation in Christianity}}
[[File:Wien Deutschordenskirche Flügelaltar Flügel R 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Right wing of the winged [[triptych]] at the [[Church of the Teutonic Order, Vienna]], Austria. The artwork depicts Christ's crucifixion and [[burial of Jesus|burial]] (left), and resurrection (right).]]

===Foundation of Christian faith===
In [[Christian theology]], the death, resurrection, and [[Session of Christ|exaltation]] of Jesus are the most important events, and the foundation of the Christian faith.{{sfn|Dunn|1985|p=53}}{{sfn|Dunn|2009|p=149}}{{efn-la|{{Bibleverse|1 Cor|15:12–20}} {{Bibleverse|1 Peter|1:3}}}} The [[Nicene Creed]] states: "On the third day{{efn-la|name="third day"}} he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures".<ref>Updated version of the Nicene Creed added at [[First Council of Constantinople]] in 381 AD, in Norman Tanner, ''New Short History of the Catholic Church'', p. 33 (Burns & Oates, 2011). {{ISBN|978-0860124559}}</ref> According to Terry Miethe, a Christian philosopher at Oxford University, the question {{"'}}Did Jesus rise from the dead?' is the most important question regarding the claims of the Christian faith."<ref>Terry Miethe, in: Gary Habermas & Anthony G. N. Flew, ''Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate'', ed. Terry Miethe (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), p.xi. Quoted by [[Michael Martin (philosopher)|Michael Martin]], ''The Resurrection as Initially Improbable'' (chapter). In: {{cite book|title= The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave|editor1-first= Robert M.|editor1-last= Price|editor1-link= Robert M. Price|editor2-first= Jeffrey Jay|editor2-last= Lowder|year= 2005|publisher= Prometheus Books|location= Amherst|isbn= 159102286X|page= 44|url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781591022862/page/44}}</ref> According to [[John R. Rice (pastor)|John R. Rice]], a Baptist evangelist, the resurrection of Jesus was part of the plan of [[Salvation (Christianity)|salvation]] and [[Redeemer (Christianity)|redemption]] by [[Atonement in Christianity|atonement for man's sin]].<ref>John R. Rice, ''The Importance of Christ's Resurrection in the Christian Faith''. In: Curtis Hutson (2000), ''Great Preaching on the Resurrection'', {{ISBN|087398319X}} pp. 55–56</ref> According to the [[Roman Catechism]] of the Catholic Church, the resurrection of Jesus causes and is the model of the resurrection of all the dead, as well as the cause and model of [[Repentance in Christianity|repentance]], which the catechism calls "spiritual resurrection".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/trent/tcreed05.htm| title = Master Nazareth Catechism: Catechism of the Council of Trent: Article V}}</ref> Summarizing its traditional analysis, the Catholic Church states in its Catechism:
{{blockquote|Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#647| title = Catechism of the Catholic Church 647}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1S.HTM|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText|date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125132200/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1S.HTM |archive-date=25 November 2021 }}</ref>}}

For orthodox Christians, including a number of scholars, the resurrection of Jesus is taken to have been a concrete, material resurrection of a transformed body.{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=272; cf. 321}}<ref group=web name="Habermas.2005">Habermas (2005), [http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/J_Study_Historical_Jesus_3-2_2005/J_Study_Historical_Jesus_3-2_2005.htmResurrection ''Research from 1975 to the Present: What are Critical Scholars Saying?'']</ref>{{efn-la|name="Habermas"|According to Christian apologist [[Gary Habermas]], "Many [conservative] scholars have spoken in support of a [transformed] bodily notion of Jesus' resurrection."<ref group=web name="Habermas.2005"/> According to Habermas, Paul refers to a physical body in 1 Corinthians 15:44.<ref name="auto"/> Habermas notes that Paul doesn't use solely the word ''pneuma'', but speaks about [[Spiritual body|"spiritual [''pneumatikos''] body [''soma'']"]]. According to Habermas, Paul refers to a physical body, arguing that "Paul says three things in one chapter [of Philippians] that indicates that he's talking about a physical resurrection." The first is that Paul says that he is a Pharisee, implying that he believes in a physical resurrection. The second is that, in Philippians 3:11, Paul says "That I may attain the resurrection of the dead", using the phrase ''eks-anastasis'' ("εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν") (out-resurrection), "resurrection from out among the dead ones." And third, in Philippians 3:20–21 "He Jesus will change my body to be like His body." Habermas further notes that in Philippians 3:20,21, Paul speaks of a "glorious body" which is resurrected.<ref group=web name="Habermas.Flew">John Ankerberg and Gary Habermas (2000), [https://articles.mycrashlab.com/articles/guests-and-authors/dr-gary-habermas/the-resurrection-of-jesus-christ-was-it-physical-or-spiritual/ ''The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Was it Physical or Spiritual?'']</ref>}} Scholars such as [[Craig L. Blomberg]] and [[Michael R. Licona|Mike Licona]] argue there are sufficient arguments for the historicity of the resurrection.{{sfn|Blomberg|1987|p=253}}{{sfn|Licona|2010}}{{sfn|Habermas|2024}}

In secular and [[liberal Christian]] scholarship, the post-resurrection appearances are often interpreted as being subjective [[Vision (spirituality)|visionary experiences]] in which Jesus's presence was felt,{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008b|p=141}}{{sfn|De Conick|2006|p=6}} as articulated in the [[vision theory of Jesus's appearances]].{{efn-la|According to Habermas, a Christian [[Apologetics|apologist]], both internal states of mind, such as [[hallucination]]s, [[conversion disorder]], and bereavement-related [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]], as well as objective phenomena such as illusions have been proposed as possible natural explanations for what the disciples believed they saw.{{sfn|Bergeron|Habermas|2015|p=158}}}} In the 21st century, modern scholars such as [[Gerd Lüdemann]] have proposed that [[Saint Peter|Peter]] had a vision of Jesus, due to severe [[grief]] and [[mourning]].{{efn-la|"Gerd Lüdemann 2012: 552 (cf. 550–557); 2004: 159 (cf. 163–166); 1994: 174 (cf. 173–179). See also Bart Ehrman 2014: 183–206, although Ehrman never describes the vision he proposes. Other proponents of some form of vision hypothesis include Michael Goulder (1996, 2000, 2005) and James Crossley (2005), although Goulder proposes only a spiritual resurrection belief emerged initially, and Crossley considers Jesus' predictions of his own death historical and a contributing factor to the resurrection belief."}} Ehrman notes that "Christian apologists sometimes claim that the most sensible historical explanation for these visions is that Jesus [physically] appeared to the disciples".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=107}}

===First ''ekklēsia''===
{{Main|Jewish Christian}}

The belief in the resurrection by Jesus's early followers formed the proclamation of the first ''ekklēsia'' ({{lit|assembly}}).<ref>Reginald H. Fuller, ''[[The Foundations of New Testament Christology]]'' (New York: Scribners, 1965), p. 11.</ref>{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=40}} The "visions of the resurrected/exalted Christ" reinforced the impact Jesus and his ministry had on his early followers,{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=53–54, 64–65, 72–73}} and interpreted in a scriptural framework they gave the impetus to Christ-devotion{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=53–54, 64–65, 181, 184–185}} and the belief in the exaltation of Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=109–110}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=138}} Jesus's death was interpreted in light of the scriptures as a redemptive death, being part of God's plan.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=185–188}} The subsequent appearances led to the resumption of the missionary activity of Jesus's followers,{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|pp=151–152}} with [[Saint Peter|Peter]] assuming the leadership role in the first ''ekklēsia'' (which formed the basis for the Apostolic succession).{{sfn|Pagels|2005|pp=43–45}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116}}

In the ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', a 1st-century account of Jewish history by [[Josephus]], believers of the resurrection are discussed. However, this reference to the resurrection is widely believed to have been added by a [[Christian interpolation|Christian interpolator]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|author-link=Bart D. Ehrman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpoNAQAAMAAJ|title=The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195084818|language=en}}</ref> Within the [[New Testament Apocrypha|non-canonical]] literature of [[Gospel of Peter]], there is a retelling of the resurrection of Jesus.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Walter Richard Cassels|Walter Richard]]|title=The Gospel According to Peter: A Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQtKAAAAMAAJ|publisher=[[Longman|Longmans, Green]]|date=1894|page=11|accessdate=2022-04-02}}</ref>

====Ushering in the last days====
Jesus's followers expected God's Kingdom to come soon, and Jesus's resurrection was the first event of the Endtime.{{sfnp|Borg|Crossan|2006|p=185}}{{efn-la|name=last days}} As Borg and Crossan note, "For Mark the kingdom of God is already here because the Son of Man is already present".{{sfnp|Borg|Crossan|2006|p=185}}

====Exaltation and Christology====
{{See also|Ascension of Jesus|Session of Christ|Christology}}

=====Christ-devotion=====
The New Testament writings contend that the resurrection was "the beginning of His exalted life"{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=135}}{{efn-la|Novakovic quotes C.E.B. Cranfield, ''The Epistle to the Romans'', 1:62.{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=135, note 78}}}} as Christ and Lord.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=508, 591}}<!-- Hurtado (2003) nor Hurtado (2005) has so many pages... --><ref group=web name="Holcomb"/> Jesus is the "[[Firstborn (Judaism)|firstborn]] of the dead", ''prōtotokos'', the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir".{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=152}}<ref group=web name="Holcomb"/> [[Gregory Beale]] writes:

{{blockquote|"Firstborn" refers to the high, privileged position that Christ has as a result of the resurrection from the dead ... Christ has gained such a sovereign position over the cosmos, not in the sense that he is recognized as the first-created being of all creation or as the origin of creation, but in the sense that he is the inaugurator of the new creation by means of his resurrection.<ref group=web name="Holcomb"/>}}

Hurtado notes that soon after his death, Jesus was called Lord (''[[Kyrios]]''), which "associates him in astonishing ways with God".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=179}} The term Lord reflected the belief that God had exalted Jesus to a divine status "at God's 'right hand{{'"}}.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=181}} The worship of God as expressed in the phrase "call upon the name of the Lord [''Yahweh'']" was also applied to Jesus, invocating his name "in corporate worship and in the wider devotional pattern of Christian believers (e.g., [[baptism]], [[Exorcism in Christianity|exorcism]], [[Faith healing|healing]])".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=181–182}}

According to Hurtado, powerful [[religious experience]]s were an indispensable factor in the emergence of Christ-devotion.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=64–65, 181, 184–185}}{{efn-la|See also Andrew Chester (2007), ''Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and New Testament Christology'', Mohr Siebeck; and Larry Huratdo (11 December 2012), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/early-high-christology-a-recent-assessment-of-scholarly-debate/ {{"'}}Early High Christology': A Recent Assessment of Scholarly Debate"].}} Those experiences "seem to have included [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]] of (and/or ascents to) God's heaven, in which the glorified Christ was seen in an exalted position".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=72–73}}{{efn-la|name="Hurtado_visions"|These visions may mostly have appeared during corporate worship.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=73}} Johan Leman contends that the communal meals provided a context in which participants entered a state of mind in which the presence of Jesus was felt.{{sfn|Leman|2015|pp=168–169}}}} Those experiences were interpreted in the framework of God's redemptive purposes, as reflected in the scriptures, in a "dynamic interaction between devout, prayerful searching for, and pondering over, scriptural texts and continuing powerful religious experiences".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=184}} This initiated a "new devotional pattern unprecedented in Jewish monotheism", that is, the worship of Jesus next to God,{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=53}} giving Jesus a central place because his ministry, and its consequences, had a strong impact on his early followers.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=53–54}} Revelations, including those visions, but also inspired and spontaneous utterances, and "charismatic exegesis" of the Jewish scriptures, convinced them that this devotion was commanded by God.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=72–73, 185}}

Ehrman notes that both Jesus and his early followers were [[Jewish eschatology|apocalyptic Jews]], who believed in the bodily resurrection, which would start when the coming of God's Kingdom was near.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=99}} According to Ehrman, "the disciples' belief in the resurrection was based on [[Vision theory of Jesus's appearances|visionary experiences]]",{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=98, 101}} arguing that visions usually have a strong persuasive power, but also noting that the Gospel-accounts record a tradition of doubt about the appearances of Jesus. Ehrman's "tentative suggestion" is that only a few followers had visions, including Peter, Paul and Mary. They told others about those visions, convincing most of their close associates that Jesus was raised from the dead, but not all of them.{{efn-la|name=Sanders.first"}} Eventually, these stories were retold and embellished, leading to the story that all disciples had seen the risen Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=101–102}} The belief in Jesus's resurrection radically changed their perceptions, concluding from his absence that he must have been exalted to heaven, by God himself, exalting him to an unprecedented status and authority.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=109–110}}

While the vision theory has gained support among critical scholars since the last quarter of the 20th century,<ref name=Habermas_2011_Trinity>Gary Habermas (2001), [http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/trinityjournal_latetwentieth/trinityjournal_latetwentieth.htm ''The Late Twentieth-Century Resurgence of Naturalistic Responses to Jesus' Resurrection'']. Trinity Journal (TRINJ 22NS (2001) 179–196)</ref> conservative Christian scholars who believe in a bodily resurrection reject the visionary theories in favor of a literal interpretation of the textual accounts of a physical resurrection.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.equip.org/free/DJ923.htm |title=Habermas |access-date=2005-08-26 |archive-date=2003-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030207070853/http://www.equip.org/free/DJ923.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/visions.html|title=Visions of Jesus: A Critical Assessment of Gerd Lüdemann's Hallucination Hypothesis|author-first1=William Lane|author-last1=Craig}}</ref><ref>Michael Morrison [http://www.gci.org/Jesus/resurrectionhistory The Resurrection of Jesus: A History of Interpretation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329191338/http://www.gci.org/Jesus/resurrectionhistory |date=2015-03-29 }}</ref>{{sfn|Habermas|2005|pp=135–153}}<ref>{{cite journal|author-last1=Wright|author-first1=N.T. |title=Christian Origins and the Resurrection of Jesus: The Resurrection of Jesus as a Historical Problem|journal=Sewanee Theological Review|year=1998|url=https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/christian-origins-and-the-resurrection-of-jesus-the-resurrection-of-jesus-as-a-historical-problem/}}</ref>{{sfn|Wright|2003|pp=690–691}}{{sfn|Allison|2005|pp=324–325}}

=====Low and High Christology=====
{{See also|Early High Christology|Preexistence of Christ}}

It has long been argued that the New Testament writings contain two different Christologies, namely a "low" or [[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} The "low Christology" or "[[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead",{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=120, 122}} thereby raising him to "divine status",<ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14>{{cite web|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Incarnation Christology, Angels, and Paul |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/incarnation-christology-angels-and-paul-for-members/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=2 May 2018|date=14 February 2013}}</ref> as in Romans 1:4.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Romans|1:4|NRSV}}</ref> The other early Christology is "high Christology", which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father's will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come",<ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14/>{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=122}} and from where he [[Christophany|appeared on earth]]. The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship.{{sfn|Loke|2017}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{sfn|Talbert|2011|pp=3–6}}<ref group=web name="Hurtado.2017">Larry Hurtado, [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/the-origin-of-divine-christology/ ''The Origin of "Divine Christology"?'']</ref>

According to the "evolutionary model"{{sfn|Netland|2001|p=175}} c.q. "evolutionary theories",{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=3}} as proposed by Bousset, followed by Brown, the Christological understanding of Christ developed over time, from a low Christology to a high Christology,{{sfn|Mack|1995}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2003}}<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG">[[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]], ''How Jesus became God'', Course Guide</ref> as witnessed in the Gospels.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} According to the evolutionary model, the earliest Christians believed that Jesus was a human who was exalted, c.q. [[Adoptionism|adopted]] as God's Son,{{sfn|Loke|2017|pp=3–4}}{{sfn|Talbert|2011|p=3}}{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=unpaginated}} when he was resurrected,<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG"/><ref name=":0">Geza Vermez (2008), ''The Resurrection'', pp. 138–139</ref> signalling the nearness of the [[Kingdom of God]], when all dead would be resurrected and the righteous exalted.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2008|p=unpaginated}} Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John.<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG"/> Mark shifted the moment of when Jesus became the son to the [[baptism of Jesus]], and later still Matthew and Luke shifted it to the moment of the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|divine conception]], and finally John declared that Jesus had been with God from the beginning: "In the beginning was the Word".{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=unpaginated}}

Since the 1970s, the late datings for the development of a "high Christology" have been contested,{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=5}} and a majority of scholars argue that this "High Christology" existed already before the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} This "incarnation Christology" or "high Christology" did not evolve over a longer time, but was a "big bang" of ideas which were already present at the start of Christianity, and took further shape in the first few decades of the church, as witnessed in the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=5}}<ref group=web name="Bouma.2014">{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Jeremy|title=The Early High Christology Club and Bart Ehrman – An Excerpt from 'How God Became Jesus'|url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|website=Zondervan Academic Blog|publisher=[[HarperCollins]] Christian Publishing|access-date=2 May 2018|date=27 March 2014}}</ref><ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14/><ref group=web>Larry Hurtado (10 July 2015 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/early-high-christology-a-paradigm-shift-new-perspective/ {{"'}}Early High Christology': A 'Paradigm Shift'? 'New Perspective'?"]</ref>

According to Ehrman, these two Christologies existed alongside each other, calling the "low Christology" an "[[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology", and the "high Christology" an "incarnation Christology".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} While adoptionism was declared [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] at the end of the 2nd century,<ref>{{cite book|last=Harnack|first=Adolf|author-link=Adolf von Harnack|title=History of Dogma|year=1889|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.II.III.III.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iAvGNlIWg9IC&q=adoptionism+heresy&pg=PA23 |title= The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History: The People, Places, and Events That Shaped Christianity |author1= Edward E. Hindson |author2=Daniel R. Mitchell | page=23|publisher= Harvest House Publishers|year= 2013 |isbn= 978-0736948074 }}</ref> it was adhered to by the [[Ebionites]],<ref>{{Cite book | editor1-last = Cross | editor1-first = EA | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1989 | contribution = Ebionites | editor2-last = Livingston | editor2-first = FL}}</ref> who regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his [[divinity]] and his [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites}}</ref> and insisted on the necessity of following [[Halakha|Jewish law and rites]].<ref>{{Cite book | first = Kaufmann | last = Kohler | chapter-url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=E | chapter = Ebionites | editor1-first = Isidore | editor1-last = Singer | editor2-first = Cyrus | editor2-last = Alder | title = [[The Jewish Encyclopedia]] | date = 1901{{ndash}}1906}}</ref> They revered [[James, brother of Jesus|James the brother of Jesus]] (James the Just); and rejected [[Paul the Apostle]] as an [[Antinomianism#Supporting Pauline passages|apostate from the Law]].<ref name="Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book| author = Hyam Maccoby| title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity| pages = 172–83| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0062505858| author-link = Hyam Maccoby}}, [http://ebionite.tripod.com/mac15.htm an abridgement]</ref> They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a "reaction to the [[Paul and Judaism|law-free Gentile mission]]".{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=282}}

In the "pre-existence" Christology, Christ's resurrection and exaltation was a restoration of the exalted status he already had, but had not grasped at, as described in Philippians 2:6–11.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Philippians|2:6–11|NRSV}}</ref><ref>Capes, Nelson Raymond, [https://ir.stthomas.edu/sod_mat/6/ "Philippians 2:6–11: Pre-Existence or Second Adam Christology? A Comparison of the Exegeses of Three Modern Scholars with that of St. John Chrysostom"] (2012). School of Divinity Master's Theses and Projects. 6.</ref><ref group=web name=EB_ih>EB, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/Incarnation-and-humiliation Incarnation and humiliation]</ref>{{efn-la|name=EB_restoration|EB: "Session at the right hand of the Father was apparently a Christian interpretation of the first verse of Psalm 110. It implied the elevation—or, as the doctrine of preexistence became clearer, the restoration—of Christ to a position of honour with God. Taken together, the Ascension and the session were a way of speaking about the presence of Christ with the Father during the interim between the Resurrection and the Second Advent."<ref group=web name=EB_ih/>}}

====Redemptive death====
{{See also|Salvation in Christianity#Atonement|Redeemer (Christianity){{!}}Redeemer}}

Jesus's death was interpreted as a redemptive death "for our sins", in accordance with God's plan as contained in the Jewish scriptures.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=185}}{{efn-la|name="died for"}} The significance lay in "the theme of divine necessity and fulfilment of the scriptures", not in the later Pauline emphasis on "Jesus's death as a sacrifice or an expiation for our sins".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} For the early Jewish Christians, "the idea that Messiah's death was a necessary redemptive event functioned more as an apologetic explanation for Jesus's crucifixion"{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} "proving that Jesus's death was no surprise to God".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=187}}{{efn-la|Hurtado cites Green, ''The Death of Jesus'', p. 323.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=187, n.55}}}}

====Call to missionary activity====
{{Main|Great Commission|Apostles|Christian mission}}

The New Testament accounts describe the resurrected Jesus calling his followers to missionary activity in what has been traditionally labelled as the [[Great Commission]], where he instructs them to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit".<ref>[[Matthew 28:16]]–[[Matthew 28:20|20]]</ref>

According to Dunn, the appearances to the disciples have "a sense of obligation to make the vision known".{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=131}} [[Helmut Koester]] states that the stories of the resurrection were originally [[Epiphany (feeling)|epiphanies]] in which the disciples were [[Great Commission|called to a ministry]] by the risen Jesus, and were later used as evidence of the event.{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}} Biblical scholar [[Géza Vermes]] argues that the resurrection is to be understood as a reviving of the self-confidence of the followers of Jesus, under the influence of the Spirit, "prompting them to resume their apostolic mission".{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|pp=151–152}}{{efn-la|Vermes describes are eight possible theories to explain the resurrection of Jesus, concluding that none of these six possibilities "stands up to stringent scrutiny",{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=149}} and then stating that the resurrection is a "resurrection in the hearts of men."{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=152}}}} According to [[Gerd Lüdemann]], Peter convinced the other disciples that the resurrection of Jesus signalled that the end-times were near and God's Kingdom was coming, when the dead would rise again, as evidenced by Jesus. This revitalized the disciples, starting off their new mission.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=180–181}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=100}}<ref group="web" name="Ehrman.Lüdemann">[[Bart D. Ehrman|Bart Ehrman]] (5 October 2012), [https://ehrmanblog.org/gerd-ludemann-on-the-resurrection-of-jesus-for-members/ ''Gerd Lüdemann on the Resurrection of Jesus'']</ref>

====Leadership of Peter====
{{Main|Saint Peter|Apostolic succession}}

[[Saint Peter|Peter]] claimed forcefully that Jesus appeared to him,{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=101–102}} and legitimised by Jesus's appearance he assumed leadership of the group of early followers, forming the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia'' mentioned by Paul.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116}} He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord",{{sfn|Pagels|2005|pp=45–46}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}} which may explain why the early texts contain scarce information about Peter.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}}{{efn-la|According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about the [[Paul and Judaism|strictness of adherence]] to the Jewish Law, the more conservative faction of James the Just took the overhand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}} According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power", but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities.{{sfn|Bockmuehl|2010|p=52}}}} According to [[Gerd Lüdemann]], Peter was the first who saw Jesus,{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=180–181}} noting that Peter and Mary both had appearance-experiences, but arguing that the tradition of Mary's appearance is a later development, and her appearance probably was not the first.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=112–113}}{{efn-la|name=Sanders.first"|According to Sanders, "there seems to have been a competition: 'I saw him,' 'so did I,' 'the women saw him first,' 'no, I did; they didn't see him at all,' and so on."<ref name="Sanders.2007">"Jesus Christ." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 January 2007</ref>}}

According to [[Christian proto-orthodoxy]], Peter was the first to who Jesus appeared, and therefore the rightful leader of the Church.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}} The resurrection forms the basis of the [[Apostolic succession]] and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter,{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=43}} to whom Jesus appeared, and is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}} Though the Gospels, and Paul's letters, describe appearances to a greater number of people, only the appearances to the [[Twelve Apostles]] count as lending authority and Apostolic succession.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|pp=47–48}}

===Paul – participation in Christ===
{{Main|Participation in Christ}}

The appearance of Jesus to Paul convinced him that Jesus was the risen Lord and Christ, who commissioned him to be an apostle to the Gentiles.{{sfn|Donaldson|1997|p=259}}{{sfn|Dunn|2009|p=352}}{{sfn|Hultgren|2011|p=118}} According to Newbigin, "Paul presents himself not as the teacher of a new theology but as the messenger commissioned by the authority of the Lord himself to announce a new fact – namely that in the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus God has acted decisively to reveal and effect his purpose of redemption for the whole world".{{sfn|Newbigin|1989|p=5}} The teachings of the apostle Paul form a key element of the Christian tradition and theology. Fundamental to Pauline theology is the connection between Christ's resurrection, and [[Redemption (theology)|redemption]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The creed: the apostolic faith in contemporary theology|first1=Berard L. |last1=Marthaler|year=2007|isbn=978-0896225374|page=361|publisher=Twenty-Third Publications }}</ref> In 1 Corinthians 15:13–14, 15:17, and 15:20–22, Paul writes:

{{blockquote|If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain ... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile ... But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise. Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did. Because of Adam, all people die. So because of Christ, all will be made alive.{{sfn|Vermes|2008b|p=xv}}<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|15:13–14}}, {{bibleref2-nb|1 Corinthians|15:17}}, {{bibleref2-nb|1 Corinthians|15:20–22}}</ref>}}

The ''[[kerygma]]'' of 1 Corinthians 15:3 states that "Christ died for our sins"-{{efn-la|name="died for"}} The meaning of that ''kerygma'' is a matter of debate, and open to multiple interpretations. Traditionally, this ''kerygma'' is interpreted as meaning that Jesus's death was an atonement or ransom for, or propitiation or expiation of, God's wrath against humanity because of their sins. With Jesus's death, humanity was freed from this wrath.{{sfn|Briscoe|Ogilvie|2003}}<ref group=web name="Peterson">David G. Peterson (2009), [http://davidgpeterson.com/atonement/atonement-in-pauls-writings/ ''Atonement in Paul's writing''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321181957/http://davidgpeterson.com/atonement/atonement-in-pauls-writings/ |date=21 March 2019 }}</ref>{{efn-la|name="atonement.Paul"|Atonement:<br>* Briscoe and Ogilvie (2003): "Paul says that Christ's ransom price is his blood."{{sfn|Briscoe|Ogilvie|2003}}<br>* Cobb: "The question is whether Paul thought that God sacrificed Jesus to atone for human sins. During the past thousand years, this idea has often been viewed in the Western church as at the heart of Christianity, and many of those who uphold it have appealed to Paul as its basis ... In fact, the word 'atonement' is lacking in many standard translations. The King James Translation uses 'propitiation', and the Revised Standard Version uses 'expiation.' The American Translation reads: 'For God showed him publicly dying as a sacrifice of reconciliation to be taken advantage of through faith.' The Good News Bible renders the meaning as: 'God offered him, so that by his sacrificial death he should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in him.' Despite this variety, and the common avoidance of the word 'atonement', all these translations agree with the New Revised Standard Version in suggesting that God sacrificed Jesus so that people could be reconciled to God through faith. All thereby support the idea that is most directly formulated by the use of the word 'atonement.'"<ref group=web name="Cobb">John B. Cobb, [https://www.religion-online.org/article/did-paul-teach-the-doctrine-of-the-atonement/ ''Did Paul Teach the Doctrine of the Atonement?'']</ref>}} In the classical Protestant understanding, which has dominated the understanding of Paul's writings, humans partake in this salvation by faith in Jesus Christ; this faith is a grace given by God, and people are justified by God through Jesus Christ and faith in Him.{{sfn|Stubs|2008|pp=142–143}}

More recent scholarship has raised several concerns regarding these interpretations. According to [[E. P. Sanders]], who initiated the so-called "[[New Perspective on Paul]]", Paul saw the faithful redeemed by participation in Jesus's death and rising. Though "Jesus's death substituted for that of others and thereby freed believers from sin and guilt", a metaphor derived from "ancient [[Korban|sacrificial]] theology",<ref group=web name="EB.Paul">E. P. Sanders, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle ''Saint Paul, the Apostle''], [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]</ref><!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{efn-la|name="sacrifice"|According to ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' (1906), "The Mishnah says that sins are expiated (1) by sacrifice, (2) by repentance at death or on Yom Kippur, (3) in the case of the lighter transgressions of the positive or negative precepts, by repentance at any time ... The graver sins, according to Rabbi, are apostasy, heretical interpretation of the Torah, and non-circumcision (Yoma 86a). The atonement for sins between a man and his neighbour is an ample apology (Yoma 85b)."<ref group=web name="JE.SIN">''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'', [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13761-sin "SIN"]</ref><br><br>The Jewish Virtual Library writes: "Another important concept [of sacrifices] is the element of substitution. The idea is that the thing being offered is a substitute for the person making the offering, and the things that are done to the offering are things that should have been done to the person offering. The offering is in some sense 'punished' in place of the offerer. It is interesting to note that whenever the subject of Karbanot is addressed in the Torah, the name of G-d used is the four-letter name indicating G-d's mercy."<ref group=web>Jeewish Virtual Library, [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sacrifices-and-offerings-karbanot "Jewish Practices & Rituals: Sacrifices and Offerings (Karbanot)"]</ref><br><br>''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' further writes: "Most efficacious seemed to be the atoning power of suffering experienced by the righteous during the Exile. This is the idea underlying the description of the suffering servant of God in Isa. liii. 4, 12, Hebr. ... of greater atoning power than all the Temple sacrifices was the suffering of the elect ones who were to be servants and witnesses of the Lord (Isa. xlii. 1–4, xlix. 1–7, l. 6). This idea of the atoning power of the suffering and death of the righteous finds expression also in IV Macc. vi. 27, xvii. 21–23; M. Ḳ. 28a; Pesiḳ. xxvii. 174b; Lev. R. xx.; and formed the basis of Paul's doctrine of the atoning blood of Christ (Rom. iii. 25)."<ref group=web name="JE.ATONEMENT">''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' (1906), [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2092-atonement "Atonement"]</ref>}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> the essence of Paul's writing is not in the "legal terms" regarding the expiation of sin, but the act of "participation in Christ through [[Eucharist|dying and rising with him]]".{{sfn|Charry|1999|p=35}}{{efn-la|Jordan Cooper: "Sanders sees Paul's motifs of salvation as more participationist than juristic. The reformation overemphasized the judicial categories of forgiveness and escape from condemnation, while ignoring the real heart of salvation, which is a mystical participation in Christ. Paul shows this in his argument in his first epistle to the Corinthians when arguing against sexual immorality. It is wrong because it affects one's union with Christ by uniting himself to a prostitute. Sin is not merely the violation of an abstract law. This participationist language is also used in Corinthians in the discussion of the Lord's Supper wherein one participates in the body and blood of Christ."<ref group=web name="Cooper.2014">Jordan Cooper, [https://www.patheos.com/blogs/justandsinner/krister-stendahl-and-the-new-perspective-on-paul/ ''E.P. Sanders and the New Perspective on Paul'']</ref>}} According to Sanders, "those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death, and thus they escape the power of sin ... he died so that the believers may die with him and consequently live with him".<ref group=web name="EB.Paul"/> Just as Christians share in Jesus's death in baptism, so they will share in his resurrection.<ref name ="Ehrman 2006">[[Bart D. Ehrman|Ehrman, Bart]]. ''Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend''. Oxford University Press, US. 2006. {{ISBN|0195300130}}</ref> [[James F. McGrath]] notes that Paul "prefers to use the language of participation. One died for all, so that all died.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Corinthians|5:14}}</ref> This is not only different from [[Penal substitution|substitution]], it is the opposite of it".<ref group=web name="McGrath.2007"/>

Paul insists that salvation is received by the grace of God; according to Sanders, this insistence is in line with Judaism of {{circa|200 BC|AD 200|lk=off}}, which saw God's covenant with Israel as an act of grace of God. Observance of the Law is needed to maintain the covenant, but the covenant is not earned by observing the Law, but by the grace of God.<ref group=web name="Cooper.2014"/>

===Church Fathers – atonement===
{{Main|Ransom theory of atonement}}

The [[Apostolic Fathers]], discussed the death and resurrection of Jesus, including [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]] (50–115),<ref>Ignatius makes many passing references, but two extended discussions are found in the [[Letter to the Trallians]] and the [[Letter to the Smyrnaeans]].</ref> [[Polycarp]] (69–155), and [[Justin Martyr]] (100–165). The understanding of the [[Greek Fathers]] of the death and resurrection of Jesus as an atonement is the "classic paradigm" of the [[Church Fathers]],{{sfn|Weaver|2001|p=2}}{{sfn|Beilby|Eddy|2009|pp=11–20}} who developed the themes found in the New Testament.<ref name="ODCC.Atonement">Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church'', p. 124, entry "Atonement". New York: Oxford University Press. 2005</ref>

During the first millennium AD, the ransom theory of atonement was the dominant metaphor, both in eastern and western Christianity, until it was replaced in the west by Anselmus's satisfaction theory of atonement.{{sfn|Oxenham|1865|p=114}} The ransom theory of atonement says that Christ liberated humanity from slavery to sin and [[Satan]], and thus death, by giving his own life as a [[ransom]] [[Sacrifice#Christianity|sacrifice]] to Satan, swapping the life of the perfect (Jesus), for the lives of the imperfect (humans). It entails the idea that God deceived the devil,{{sfn|Pugh|2015|p=5}} and that Satan, or death, had "legitimate rights"{{sfn|Pugh|2015|p=5}} over sinful [[soul]]s in the [[afterlife]], due to the fall of man and [[Original sin|inherited sin]].

The ransom theory was first clearly enunciated by [[Irenaeus]] (c. 130–c. 202),{{sfn|Oxenham|1865|pp=xliv, 114}} who was an outspoken critic of [[Gnosticism]], but borrowed ideas from their dualistic worldview.{{sfn|Pugh|2015|p=4}} In this worldview, humankind is under the power of the [[Demiurge]], a lesser God who has created the world. Yet, humans have a spark of the true divine nature within them, which can be liberated by [[gnosis]] (knowledge) of this divine spark. This knowledge is revealed by the [[Logos]], "the very mind of the supreme God", who entered the world in the person of Jesus. Nevertheless, the Logos could not simply undo the power of the Demiurge, and had to hide his real identity, appearing as a physical form, thereby misleading the Demiurge, and liberating humankind.{{sfn|Pugh|2015|p=4}} In Irenaeus' writings, the Demiurge is replaced by the devil, while [[Justin Martyr]] had already equated Jesus and the Logos.{{sfn|Pugh|2015|p=4}}

[[Origen]] (184–253) introduced the idea that the devil held legitimate rights over humans, who were bought free by the blood of Christ.{{sfn|Pugh|2015|pp=5–6}} He also introduced the notion that the devil was deceived in thinking that he could master the human soul.{{sfn|Pugh|2015|p=6}}

===Late Antiquity and early Middle Ages===
Following the [[Constantine I and Christianity|conversion of Constantine]] and the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313, the [[First seven Ecumenical Councils|ecumenical councils]] of the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries, that focused on [[Christology]], helped shape the Christian understanding of the redemptive nature of the resurrection, and influenced both the development of its iconography and its use within Liturgy.<ref>''The resurrection and the icon'' by Michel Quenot, 1998 {{ISBN|0881411493}} p. 72</ref>

Belief in bodily resurrection was a constant note of the Christian church in antiquity. [[Augustine of Hippo]] accepted it at the time of his conversion in 386.<ref>''Augustine: ancient thought baptized'' by John M. Rist, 1996, {{ISBN|0521589525}} p. 110</ref> Augustine defended resurrection, and argued that given that Christ has risen, there is resurrection of the dead.<ref>''Augustine and the Catechumenate'' by William Harmless, 1995, {{ISBN|0814661327}}, p. 131</ref><ref>''Augustine De doctrina Christiana'' by Saint Augustine, R.P.H. Green, 1996, {{ISBN|0198263341}}, p. 115</ref> Moreover, he argued that the death and resurrection of Jesus was for the salvation of man, stating: "to achieve each resurrection of ours, the savior paid with his single life, and he pre-enacted and presented his one and only one by way of sacrament and by way of model".<ref>''The Trinity'' by Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo.), Edmund Hill, John E. Rotelle, 1991, {{ISBN|0911782966}}, p. 157</ref>

The 5th-century theology of [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]] provides an insight into the development of the Christian understanding of the redemptive nature of resurrection. The crucial role of the sacraments in the mediation of salvation was well accepted at the time. In Theodore's representation of the [[Eucharist]], the sacrificial and salvific elements are combined in the "One who saved us and delivered us by the sacrifice of Himself". Theodore's interpretation of the Eucharistic rite is directed towards the triumph over the power of death brought about by the resurrection.<ref>''Adventus Domini: eschatological thought in 4th-century apses and catecheses'' by Geir Hellemo, 1997, {{ISBN|9004088369}}, p. 231</ref>

The emphasis on the salvific nature of the resurrection continued in Christian theology in the next centuries, e.g., in the 8th century Saint [[John of Damascus]] wrote that: "...&nbsp;When he had freed those who were bound from the beginning of time, Christ returned again from among the dead, having opened for us the way to resurrection" and Christian iconography of the ensuing years represented that concept.<ref>Vladimir Lossky, 1982, ''The Meaning of Icons'', {{ISBN|978-0913836996}}, p. 189</ref>

===Present-day===
Thorwald Lorenzen finds "a strange silence about the resurrection in many [[pulpit]]s". He writes that among some Christians, ministers and professors, it seems to have become "a cause for embarrassment or the topic of apologetics".{{sfn|Lorenzen|2003|pp=3–4}} The idea of a bodily resurrection remains controversial.<ref>Wright, N. T. "The Surprise of Resurrection."." Craig A. Evans and NT Wright, Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened, ed. Troy A. Miller (2009): p=75</ref>

According to psychiatrist and author Adrian Warnock, many Christians neglect the resurrection because of their understandable preoccupation with the Cross.<ref name="Warnock">Warnock, Adrian, [http://raisedwithchrist.net ''Raised With Christ''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112105429/http://raisedwithchrist.net/ |date=12 November 2009 }}, Crossway 2010</ref>

===Denominations===
==== Roman Catholic Church ====
The resurrection of Jesus is the good news that the Roman Catholic Church proclaims:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#638|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 2 ARTICLE 5 PARAGRAPH 2|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref> "the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a8.htm#1846|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – Part 3 Section 1 Chapter 1 Article  8|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref> The importance of the resurrection is connected to the incarnation of Jesus: by becoming incarnate God has assumed every human unto himself, for his humanity is made of every human (just as a temple is made of stones), and by resurrecting himself God has also resurrected every human.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a3p1.htm#460|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – Part  1 Section 2 Chapter 2 Article 3 Paragraph 1 |website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref>

By rising from the dead, Jesus is the beginning of the resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day and the beginning of the spiritual resurrection (justification or "new life") of sinners,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#654|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – Part 1 Section 2 Chapter 2 Article 5 Paragraph 2 |website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref> since Jesus is the first human resurrected by God, as the head of the human race as God incarnate, whereby in him all people have already been resurrected and justified, since his resurrection is the principle of the resurrection of the dead and justification of sinners.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#655|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – Part 1 Section 2 Chapter 2 Article 5 Paragraph 2|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref>

The resurrection is a historical yet transcendent event. The historical resurrection transcends spacetime by affecting every human, from Adam and Eve's repentance after the fall to the resurrection of Lazarus (who returned to an earthly life) to the conversion of Saint Paul to the resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#647|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 2 ARTICLE 5 PARAGRAPH 2|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref>

By rising from the dead, Jesus shows what the risen bodies of the saints (i.e., justified sinners) will be like. From the moment of his incarnation, Jesus's soul experienced the [[beatific vision]], because he is true God and true man,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a3p1.htm#470|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 2 ARTICLE 3 PARAGRAPH 1|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref> and from the moment of his resurrection Jesus's body shared in his soul's experience of the beatific vision. At the resurrection, Jesus's whole humanity was deified, and so, shares in the personal mode of existence of the Second Person of the Trinity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#646|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 2 ARTICLE 5 PARAGRAPH 2|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref> [[Deification]] includes four properties: impassibility (freedom from evil, i.e., temptation, sin, suffering, error, inconvenience, boredom, Satan, and death), subtility (freedom from restraint by the laws of science, which includes [[shapeshifting]], [[teleportation]], [[time travel]], control over nature, and superhuman senses and prowess), agility (one's body will not act faster than one's mind or give in to emotion and impulse, for the body will be as obedient to the soul as the soul is to God), and clarity (resplendent beauty and the [[five crowns]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm#645|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 2 ARTICLE 5 PARAGRAPH 2|website=www.scborromeo.org}}</ref>

== Easter ==
{{Main|Easter}}

Easter is the preeminent Christian [[feast day|feast]] that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, and according to Susan J. White is "clearly the earliest Christian festival".<ref>''Foundations of Christian Worship'' by Susan J. White, 2006, {{ISBN|0664229247}}, p. 55</ref> According to James Dunn, "In Easter we celebrate man become God ... that in the death and resurrection of Christ God has broken the stranglehold of human selfishness, has proved the enduring and conquering strength of divine love".{{sfn|Dunn| 2003|p=268}} According to Thorwald Lorenzen, the first Easter led to a shift in emphasis from faith "in God" to faith "in Christ".{{sfn|Lorenzen|2003|pp=3–4}} According to Raymond Harfgus Taylor, Easter "focuses upon the consummation of the [[Redemption (theology)|redemptive act]] of God in the death/resurrection of Jesus Christ".<ref>''Mercer Dictionary of the Bible'' by Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, 1998, {{ISBN|0865543739}}, p. 224</ref>

Easter is linked to the [[Passover]] and [[Exodus from Egypt]] recorded in the [[Old Testament]] through the [[Last Supper]] and crucifixion that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the [[Passover sacrifice|Passover meal]] a new meaning, as he [[Jesus predicts his death|prepared himself and his disciples]] for his death in the [[Cenacle|upper room]] during the Last Supper. He identified the loaf of bread and cup of wine as [[Body of Christ|his body]] soon to be sacrificed and [[Blood of Christ|his blood]] soon to be shed. 1 Corinthians 5:7 states, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast{{snd}}as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed";<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|5:7|NIV}}</ref> this refers to the Passover requirement to have no yeast in the house and to the allegory of Jesus as the [[Lamb of God|Paschal lamb]].<ref>{{bibleverse||John|1:29}}, {{bibleverse||Revelation|5:6}}, {{bibleverse|1 Peter|1:19}}, {{bibleverse|1 Peter|1:2}}, and the associated notes and Passion Week table in {{Cite book|editor=Barker, Kenneth|title=Zondervan NIV Study Bible|publisher=[[Zondervan]]|location=[[Grand Rapids]]|year=2002|isbn=0310929555|page=1520}}</ref> The Jewish feast of [[Bikkurim (First-fruits)|First-fruits]] is regarded by [[Dispensationalism|dispensationalists]] as foreshadowing its fulfilment in the resurrection of Jesus based on 1 Corinthians 15:20 "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Clarence |title=Dispensational Truth, Or God's Plan and Purpose in the Ages |date=2010 |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |isbn=978-1616402662 |page=159 |edition=Scanned copy of 1918 book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D4x4ftJlu_QC |access-date=19 December 2022}}</ref>

Whilst the fact that the crucifixion is remembered on [[Good Friday]] and Easter celebrated two days later may appear to contradict biblical accounts that Jesus rose on the third day, in Semitic tradition any part of a 24-hour period could be called "a day and a night".<ref>{{cite web |last=Köstenberger |first=Andreas |author-link=Andreas J. Köstenberger |title=Did Jesus Rise on the Third Day? |url=https://biblicalfoundations.org/raised-on-the-third-day/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204094439/https://biblicalfoundations.org/raised-on-the-third-day/ |archive-date=February 4, 2024 |website=Biblical Foundations |date=9 April 2023 |access-date=March 31, 2024}}</ref>

== In Christian art ==
{{Main|Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art}}
[[File:Anastasis Pio Christiano Inv31525.jpg|thumb|The [[Chi Rho]] with a wreath symbolizing the victory of the Resurrection, above Roman soldiers, {{circa|350}}]]

In the [[Catacombs of Rome]], artists indirectly hinted at the resurrection by using images from the Old Testament such as the [[Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego|fiery furnace]] and [[Daniel in the lions' den]]. Depictions prior to the 7th century generally showed secondary events such as the [[Myrrhbearers]] at the tomb of Jesus to convey the concept of the resurrection. An early symbol of the resurrection was the wreathed [[Chi Rho]] (Greek letters representing the word "Khristos" or "Christ"), whose origin traces to the victory of [[emperor Constantine I]] at the [[Battle of the Milvian Bridge]] in 312, which he attributed to the use of a cross on the shields of his soldiers. Constantine used the Chi Rho on his standard and his coins showed a [[labarum]] with the Chi Rho killing a serpent.<ref>''Understanding early Christian art'' by Robin Margaret Jensen, 2000, {{ISBN|0415204542}}, p. 149</ref>

The use of a wreath around the Chi Rho symbolizes the victory of the resurrection over death, and is an early visual representation of the connection between the crucifixion of Jesus and his triumphal resurrection, as seen in the 4th-century sarcophagus of Domitilla<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www1.georgetown.edu/centers/liturgy/envisionchurch/40399.html |title=Cross and Crucifix in the Christian Assembly – Part I (The Early Christian Period: Crux Invicta, Crux Gemmata) |access-date=24 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624144232/http://www1.georgetown.edu/centers/liturgy/envisionchurch/40399.html |archive-date=24 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in Rome. Here, in the wreathed Chi Rho the death and Resurrection of Christ are shown as inseparable, and the Resurrection is not merely a happy ending tucked at the end of the life of Christ on earth. Given the use of similar symbols on the [[Aquila (Roman)|Roman military banner]], this depiction also conveyed another victory, namely that of the Christian faith: the Roman soldiers who had once arrested Jesus and marched him to [[Calvary]] now walked under the banner of a resurrected Christ.<ref>''The passion in art'' by Richard Harries, 2004, {{ISBN|0754650111}}, p. 8</ref>

The cosmic significance of the resurrection in Western theology goes back to [[Saint Ambrose]], who in the 4th century said that "The universe rose again in Him, the heaven rose again in Him, the earth rose again in Him, for there shall be a new heaven and a new earth".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.iii.iii.html#iv.iii.iii-p220| title = Ambrose, ''On the Belief in the Resurrection'', 102}}</ref><ref name="Sherry2005">''Images of redemption: art, literature and salvation'' by Patrick Sherry, 2005, {{ISBN|056708891X}} p. 73</ref> This theme developed gradually in the West, later than in the East where the resurrection had been linked from an earlier date to redemption and the renewal and rebirth of the whole world. In art, this was symbolized by combining the depictions of the resurrection with the [[Harrowing of Hell]] in icons and paintings. A good example is from the [[Chora Church]] in Istanbul, where [[John the Baptist]], [[Solomon]] and other figures are also present, depicting that Christ was not alone in the resurrection.<ref name="Sherry2005"/> The depiction sequence at the 10th-century [[Hosios Loukas]] shows Christ as he pulls Adam from his tomb, followed by Eve, signifying the salvation of humanity after the resurrection.<ref>''Heaven on Earth: art and the Church in Byzantium'' by Linda Safran 1998 {{ISBN|0271016701}} p. 133</ref>

=== Gallery of art ===
: ''For a Commons gallery see'': [[Commons:Structured gallery of Resurrection of Christ|Resurrection gallery]]

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Hans Memling - Resurrection - WGA15008.jpg|''Resurrection of Christ'', by [[Hans Memling]], 15th century
File:Luca Giordano - Resurrection - WGA09020.jpg|''Resurrection'', by [[Luca Giordano]], after 1665
File:Hans Multscher - Flügel-Innenseite des Wurzacher Altars (rechts unten) - Google Art Project.jpg |''Resurrection'', by [[Hans Multscher]], 1437
File:Dieric Bouts - Resurrection - WGA02963.jpg |''Resurrection'', by [[Dieric Bouts]], {{circa|1450–1460}}
File:Der-Auferstandene 1558.jpg|''Der Auferstanden'', by [[Lucas Cranach the Younger|Lucas Cranach]], 1558
File:Resurrection.JPG|[[The Resurrection (Piero della Francesca)|''The Resurrection'']], by [[Piero della Francesca]], 15th century
File:Alonso López de Herrera - The Resurrection of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Resurrection of Christ'', {{interlanguage link|Alonso López de Herrera|es}}, {{circa|1625}}
File:Brooklyn Museum - The Resurrection (La Résurrection) - James Tissot.jpg|''The Resurrection'' (La Résurrection), by [[James Tissot]], c. 1890, [[Brooklyn Museum]]
File:Berliner Dom - Altarraum 4 Fenster Auferstehung.jpg|''Resurrection of Jesus'', by [[Anton von Werner]], [[Berlin Cathedral]]
File:Resurrected Jesus two Maries.jpg|Stained glass depiction with two Marys, [[St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church|Lutheran Church]], South Carolina
File:Fra Angelico - Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb (Cell 8) - WGA00542.jpg|''Women at the empty tomb'', by [[Fra Angelico]], 1437–1446
</gallery>

== Relics ==
{{Main|Acheiropoieta|Shroud of Turin|Veil of Veronica}}
[[File:Turin plasch.jpg|thumb|[[Secondo Pia]]'s 1898 negative of the image on the [[Shroud of Turin]] has an appearance suggesting a positive image. It is used as part of the devotion to the [[Holy Face of Jesus]].]]

The resurrection of Jesus has long been central to the Christian faith and appears within diverse elements of the Christian tradition, from feasts to artistic depictions to religious relics. In Christian teachings, the [[sacrament]]s derive their saving power from the passion and resurrection of Christ, upon which the salvation of the world entirely depends.<ref>''The encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 5'' by Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan Milic Lochman, Geoffrey William Bromiley, John Mbiti 2008 {{ISBN|080282417X}} p. 490</ref>

An example of the interweaving of the teachings on the resurrection with Christian relics is the application of the concept of "[[Acheiropoieta|miraculous image formation]]" at the moment of resurrection to the [[Shroud of Turin]]. Christian authors have stated the belief that the body around whom the shroud was wrapped was not merely human, but divine, and that the image on the shroud was miraculously produced at the moment of resurrection.<ref>Charles S. Brown, 2007 ''Bible "Mysteries" Explained'' {{ISBN|0958281300}} p. 193</ref><ref>Peter Rinaldi 1972, ''The man in the Shroud'' {{ISBN|0860070107}} p. 45</ref> Quoting [[Pope Paul VI]]'s statement that the shroud is "the wonderful document of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, written for us in letters of blood" author Antonio Cassanelli argues that the shroud is a deliberate divine record of the five stages of the Passion of Christ, created at the moment of resurrection.<ref>Antonio Cassanelli, 2001 ''The Holy Shroud: a comparison between the Gospel narrative of the five stages of the Passion'' {{ISBN|085244351X}} p. 13</ref>

== Views of other religions ==
Groups such as [[Jews]], [[Muslims]], [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]], and other non-Christians, as well as some [[Liberal Christianity|liberal Christians]], dispute whether Jesus actually rose from the dead. Arguments over death and resurrection claims occur at many religious [[debate]]s and [[interfaith dialogue]]s.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2003|p=13}}

=== Judaism ===
{{further|Judaism's view of Jesus}}

[[Jewish Christian|Christianity split from Judaism]] in the 1st century AD, and the two faiths have differed in their theology since. According to the ''[[Toledot Yeshu]]'', the body of Jesus was [[Stolen body hypothesis|removed]] on the same night by a gardener named Juda, after hearing the disciples planned to steal the body of Jesus.<ref>Michael J. Cook, "Jewish Perspectives on Jesus", in Delbert Burkett (editor), ''The Blackwell Companion to Jesus'', pp. 221–223 (Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2011). {{ISBN|978-1405193627}}</ref><ref>Gary R. Habermas, ''The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ'', p. 205 (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2008). {{ISBN|0899007325}}</ref> However, ''Toledot Yeshu'' is not considered either canonical or normative within [[rabbinic literature]].<ref>Dan, Joseph (2006). "Toledot Yeshu". In Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Encyclopaedia Judaica. 20 (2nd ed.) pp. 28–29</ref> Van Voorst states that ''Toledot Yeshu'' is a medieval document set without a fixed form which is "most unlikely" to have reliable information about Jesus.<ref>Van Voorst, Robert E (2000). ''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' WmB Eerdmans Publishing. {{ISBN|0802843689}} p. 128</ref> The Blackwell Companion to Jesus states that the ''Toledot Yeshu'' has no historical facts as such, and was perhaps created as a tool for warding off conversions to Christianity.<ref>Michael J. Cook ''Jewish Perspectives on Jesus'' Chapter 14 in "The Blackwell Companion to Jesus" edited by Delbert Burkett 2011 {{ISBN|978-1444327946}}</ref>

=== Gnostics ===
[[File:Holy Sepulchre P1040539.JPG|thumb|A [[rotunda (architecture)|rotunda]] in [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]], called the ''Anastasis'' ("Resurrection"), which contains the remains of a [[Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel|rock-cut room]] that Helena and Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus]]

Some [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]] did not believe in a literal physical resurrection. "For the gnostic any resurrection of the dead was excluded from the outset; the flesh or substance is destined to perish. 'There is no resurrection of the flesh, but only of the soul', say the so-called [[Archontics]], a late gnostic group in Palestine".<ref>Kurt Rudolph, ''Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism'', p. 190 (T & T Clark Ltd, 1970, second and expanded edition, 1980; 1998). {{ISBN|0567086402}}</ref>

=== Islam ===
{{main|Islamic view of Jesus's death|Jesus in Islam}}
[[Muslims]] believe that [[Jesus in Islam|ʿĪsā]] (Jesus) son of [[Mary in Islam|Mariam]] (Mary) was a holy prophet with a divine message. The [[Islamic views on Jesus's death|Islamic perspective]] is that Jesus was not crucified and will return to the world at the end of times. "But [[Allah|Allāh]] raised him up to Himself. And Allāh is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise".<ref>[[Qur'an]], [[Surah 4]]:158</ref> The [[Quran]] says in Surah An-Nisa [Ch 004: Verse 157] "And because of their saying, 'We killed Messiah ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allāh',{{snd}}but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared so to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts".<ref name="Qur'an, Surah 4:157">[[Qur'an]], [[Surah 4]]:157</ref>

==== Ahmadiyya ====
[[Ahmadiyya|Ahmadi Muslims]] believe that, as Jesus is the Messiah to the [[Israelites|Children of Israel]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sher |date=1954 |title=Holy Qur'an – Arabic text and English translation |url=https://alislam.org/quran/3:50 |url-status=dead |website=Alislam |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=18 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218055344/https://www.alislam.org/quran/3:50 }}</ref> his objective was to gather their following. For this reason, Ahmadis believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion, as supported by the Qur'an,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sher |date=1954 |title=Holy Qur'an – Arabic text and English translation |url=https://alislam.org/quran/4:158 |url-status=dead |website=Alislam |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=16 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116062614/https://www.alislam.org/quran/4:158 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sher |date=1954 |title=Holy Qur'an – Arabic text and English translation |url=https://alislam.org/quran/4:159 |url-status=dead |website=Alislam |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=18 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118160402/https://www.alislam.org/quran/4:159 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sher |date=1954 |title=Holy Qur'an – Arabic text and English translation |url=https://alislam.org/quran/4:160 |url-status=dead |website=Alislam |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203050103/https://www.alislam.org/quran/4:160 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sher |date=1954 |title=Holy Qur'an – Arabic text and English translation |url=https://alislam.org/quran/61:15 |url-status=dead |website=Alislam |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=2 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402211113/https://www.alislam.org/quran/61:15 }}</ref> as a death on the cross would be a cursed one, supported by the [[Bible]].<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Deuteronomy 21:23 |url=https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/21-23.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=Biblehub |archive-date=12 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212123930/https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/21-23.htm }}</ref> This belief is held as Jesus had other "sheep" to tend to.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John 10:16 |url=https://biblehub.com/john/10-16.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=Biblehub |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326151743/https://biblehub.com/john/10-16.htm }}</ref>

After surviving the crucifixion, Jesus and his mother migrated to another land<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sher |date=1951 |title=Holy Qur'an – Arabic text and English translation |url=https://alislam.org/quran/23:51 |url-status=dead |website=Alislam |access-date=26 March 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330003627/https://www.alislam.org/quran/23:51 }}</ref> where he continued his mission.

== See also ==
* [[Chronology of Jesus]]
* [[Outline of Jesus]]
* [[Divine Mercy Sunday]]
* [[Dying-and-rising god]]
* [[Swoon hypothesis]]
* [[Substitution hypothesis]]
* [[Tomb of Jesus]]
** The ground on which the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] stands is venerated by most Christians as [[Golgotha]], the [[Calvary|Hill of Calvary]], where the New Testament says that Jesus was crucified. This tomb is venerated as the tomb of Christ by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, and Oriental Orthodox churches.
** [[The Garden Tomb]], discovered in the 19th century, is considered the actual site of Jesus's grave by some Protestant Christians.
** [[Talpiot Tomb]], discovered in 1980, subject of the controversial 2007 documentary ''[[The Lost Tomb of Jesus]]''
* [[Jesus in India (book)]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist|35em|group=lower-alpha|refs=
<!-- L -->
<-- last days -->
{{efn-la|name=last days|Ushering in the last days and the Kingdom of God:
* James Dunn (2006), The Theology of Paul the Apostle, p.240: "...the resurrection of Jesus was understood by Paul (as those before him) as ushering in a new age, even the last days."
* [[Paula Fredriksen]] (2018), When Christians Were Jews, pp. 86–87: "The Kingdom truly was at hand. Jesus' own resurrection was for them meaningful as the first of a cascade of anticipated Endtime events."
* {{harvtxt|Wright|2003|p=272}}: "He [Paul] believed himself to be living at a new stage in the eschatological timetable: the 'age to come' had already begun, precisely with the Messiah's resurrection."}}
<!-- T -->
<!-- third day -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="third day">TestSee [http://ourrabbijesus.com/articles/resurrection-on-the-third-day/ "Why Was Resurrection on 'the Third Day'? Two Insights"] for explanations on the phrase "third day". According to {{harvtxt|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=73}} and Pinchas Lapide, "third day" may refer to {{bibleverse|Hosea|6:1–2}}:

{{poemquote|Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.}}

See also {{bibleverse|2 Kings|20:8}}: "Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?{{'"}}

According to {{harvtxt|Sheehan|1986|p=112}}, Paul's reference to Jesus having risen "on the third day ... simply expresses the belief that Jesus was rescued from the fate of utter absence from God (death) and was admitted to the saving presence of God (the eschatological future)."</ref>
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
; Printed sources
{{refbegin|30em}}
<!-- A -->
* {{Cite book | last =Allison | first =Dale C. Jr. |author-link =Dale Allison | date =2005 |title =Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and Its Interpreters | location =New York | publisher =T & T Clark International | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbGoAwAAQBAJ | isbn =978-0567397454}}
* {{cite book |last=Allison |first=Dale C. Jr. |author-link =Dale Allison |date =2021 |title=The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History |location =New York |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn =978-0567697578}}
* {{cite book |last=Allison |first=Dale C. |author-link =Dale Allison |date=2021b |title=The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0567697561 }}
* {{Cite book|last =Aune | first =David | year =2013 | title =Jesus, Gospel Tradition and Paul in the Context of Jewish and Greco-Roman Antiquity | publisher =Mohr Siebeck | isbn =978-3161523151 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=XT_nwOG-bwAC&pg=PA169}}
<!-- B -->
* Beck, W. David; [[Michael R. Licona|Licona, Michael R.]] (2020). ''Raised on the Third Day: Defending the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus''. Lexham Press. {{ISBN|978-1683594321}}.
* {{Citation | last1 =Beilby | first1 =James K. | last2 =Eddy | first2 =Paul R. | year =2009 | title =The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views | publisher =InterVarsity Press }}
* {{cite journal|author1-last=Bergeron|author1-first= Joseph W.|author2-last= Habermas|author2-first=Gary R.|title=The Resurrection of Jesus: A Clinical Review of Psychiatric Hypotheses for the Biblical Story of Easter|journal= Irish Theological Quarterly|volume= 80|issue= 2|year=2015|pages= 157–72|doi= 10.1177/0021140014564555|s2cid= 165159439|url= https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lts_fac_pubs/402}}
* {{Citation|last1=Blomberg |first1=Craig L. |title=The Historical Reliability of the Gospels |location=Leicester, UK |publisher=Inter-Varsity Press |date=1987 |isbn=978-0877849926 |oclc=15415029 }}, 2nd ed. 2007
* {{Citation | last =Bockmuehl | first =Markus N. A. | author-link =Markus Bockmuehl | year =2010 | title =The Remembered Peter: In Ancient Reception and Modern Debate | publisher =Mohr Siebeck}}
* {{cite book | last1 =Borg | first1 =Marcus | last2 =Crossan | first2 =John Dominic | year =2006 | title =The Last Week | publisher =HarperCollins}}
* {{Citation | last =Boring | first =M. Eugene | year = 2006 | title =Mark: A Commentary | publisher =Presbyterian Publishing Corp | isbn =978-0664221072| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=zmP5-Jp8VzsC }}
* {{Citation | last1 =Briscoe | first1 =D. Stuatt | last2 =Ogilvie | first2 = Lloyd J. | year =2003 | title =The Preacher's Commentary: Romans Vol. 29 | publisher =Thomas Nelson}}
* {{Citation | last =Brown | first =R.E. | year =2008 | title =Christ in the Gospels of the Liturgical Year | editor-last =Witherup | editor-first =Ronald D. | publisher =Paulist Press| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=V6UN0efsqRAC&q=%22the+moment+of+God%27s+revealing+the+Christological+identity%22&pg=PT126| isbn =978-0814635315 }}
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* {{Citation | last =Loke | first =Andrew Ter Ern | year =2017 | title =The Origin of Divine Christology | volume =169 | publisher =Cambridge University Press | isbn =978-1108191425 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Et0qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5}}
* {{Citation | last =Lorenzen | first =Thorwald | year =2003 | title =Resurrection, Discipleship, Justice: Affirming the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Today | place =Macon, Georgia | publisher =Smyth & Helwys}}
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{{refend}}

; Web sources
{{Reflist|1|group=web}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* {{Citation | last1 =Barton | first1 =John | year =2010 | last2 = Muddiman | first2 =John | title = The Pauline Epistles | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn =978-0191034664 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Frw8BAAAQBAJ&q=%22Paul+supports+the+notion%22%22resurrection+appearances%22&pg=PA122}}
* {{Cite book | last1 =Bauckham| first1 =Richard|chapter = The Fourth Gospel as the Testimony of the Beloved Disciple|editor1-last = Bauckham
|editor1-first = Richard|editor2-last = Mosser|editor2-first = Carl |title = The Gospel of John and Christian Theology | publisher = Eerdmans
| year =2008|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3b2I8v2Gh8oC&pg=PA138|isbn= 9780802827173}}
* {{cite journal|last=Bergeron|first=Joseph W.|title=The Crucifixion of Jesus: Review of Hypothesized Mechanisms of Death and Implications of Shock and Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy|journal= Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine|volume=19|year=2012|issue=3 |pages=113–16|doi=10.1016/j.jflm.2011.06.001 |pmid=22390994 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Bynum |first=Caroline Walerk |date=1996 |title=The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200–1336 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press}}
* {{Citation | last =Charlesworth | first =James H. | year =2008 | title =The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide | publisher =Abingdon Press | isbn =978-1426724756| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=YTIGy5t45WgC&q=%22The+composition+of+Luke-Acts%22%2C%22usually+dated+around+80-90%22%2C%22perhaps+between+90+and+110%22&pg=PT64 }}
* {{cite book|last= Craig|first=William Lane|title=Did Jesus Rise From the Dead|publisher=Impact 360 Institute|year=2014|isbn=978-0991597710}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Cook |first=John Granger |year=2018 |title=Resurrection of Jesus Christ |editor1-last=Hunter |editor1-first=David G. |editor2-last=van Geest |editor2-first=Paul J. J. |editor3-last=Lietaert Peerbolte |editor3-first=Bert Jan |encyclopedia=Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/2589-7993_EECO_SIM_00002960 |issn=2589-7993|url=https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=wyatt-sawyer-sermons }}
* {{cite book|title=The Resurrection: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Resurrection of Jesus|editor1-last=Davis|editor1-first=Stephen T. |editor2-last= Kendall|editor2-first=Daniel|editor3-last= O'Collins|editor3-first=Gerald|year=1997|publisher=OUP|isbn=978-0191518379}}
* {{Cite book|last =Evans|first = Craig A.|title = Luke|publisher = Baker Books|year =2011|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mBkB2Beyi2QC|isbn= 978-1441236524}}
* {{Citation | last =Finlan | first =Stephen | year =2004 | title =The Background and Content of Paul's Cultic Atonement Metaphors | publisher =Society of Biblical Literature}}
* {{Citation | last =Finney | first =Mark | year =2016 | title =Resurrection, Hell and the Afterlife: Body and Soul in Antiquity, Judaism and Early Christianity | publisher =Routledge | isbn =978-1317236375 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=1FiaCwAAQBAJ&q=%22a+trajectory+away+from+that+of+Paul%22&pg=PA181}}
* {{cite book|last=Fuller|first=Reginald Horace|title= Formation of the Resurrection Narratives|publisher=Fortress Press|year=1971| isbn=978-0800613785| page= 2}}
* {{Citation | last =Garrett | first =James Leo | year =2014 | title =Systematic Theology, Volume 2, Second Edition: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical, Volume 2 | publisher =Wipf and Stock Publishers}}
* {{cite journal |author-last=Goodacre |author-first=Mark |date=September 2021 |title=How Empty Was the Tomb? |editor-last=Lawrence |editor-first=Louise |journal=[[Journal for the Study of the New Testament]] |publisher=[[Sage Publications]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=134–48 |doi=10.1177/0142064X211023714 |s2cid=236233486 |issn=1745-5294}}
* {{Cite book |last=af Hällström |first=Gunnar |date=1988 |title=Carnis Resurrection: The Interpretation of a Credal Formula |publisher=Societas Scientiarum Fennica= Helsinki}}
* {{Cite book |last = Harrington|first = Daniel J.|title = What Are they Saying About Mark?|publisher = Paulist Press|year = 2004|isbn = 978-0809142637|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LQqpXA9h8-AC&pg=PA54}}
* {{cite book |last1=Harrington |first1=Daniel J. |title=The Gospel of Matthew |date=1991 |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0814658031}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Humphreys |first1=Colin J. |last2=Waddington |first2=W. G. |date=1992 |title=The Jewish Calendar, a Lunar Eclipse and the Date of Christ's Crucifixion |journal=Tyndale Bulletin |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=331–51 |doi=10.53751/001c.30487 |s2cid=189519018 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book | last=Karkkainen | first=Veli-Matti | title=Hope and Community: A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, vol. 5 | publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company | issue=v. 5 | year=2017 | isbn=978-1467448741 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfyZEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 | access-date=2 December 2022 | page=84}}
* {{Citation | last =Kubitza | first =Heinz-Werner | year =2016 | title =The Jesus Delusion: How the Christians created their God: The demystification of a world religion through scientific research | publisher =Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag}}
* {{Citation | last =Loke | first =Andrew Ter Ern | year =2020 | title = Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: A New Transdisciplinary Approach | publisher =Routledge | isbn =978-0367477561 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=FcHgDwAAQBAJ}}
* ''[[editio princeps]]'': {{cite book|last1=Lüdemann|first1= Gerd|last2= Özen|first2=Alf|title=Was mit Jesus wirklich geschah. Die Auferstehung historisch betrachtet|language=de|publisher=Radius-Verlag |location=Stuttgart|year=1995|isbn=978-3871730337|page=138|oclc=1404522476}} 
* {{cite book|last1=Lüdemann|first1= Gerd|last2= Özen|first2= Alf|first3=Harmina |last3=van der Vinne|year=1996|language=nl|title=De opstanding van Jezus. Een historische benadering|oclc=68765000|publisher=Ten Have; Averbode, [[Baarn]], [[Averbode (publisher)|Averbode]], cop. 1996|page=199|isbn=9025946658}} 
* {{cite book|language=en|last1=Lüdemann|first1= Gerd|title=The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry|url=https://archive.org/details/resurrectionofch0000ldem|publisher= [[Prometheus Books]]|location= [[Amherst, New York|Amherst, NY]]|year= 2004|isbn=978-1591022459 |oclc=55228734}}
* {{Citation | last =McGrath | first =Alister E. | year =2011 | title =Christian Theology: An Introduction | publisher =John Wiley & Sons
| isbn = 978-1444397703 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=bus5TyjTfxYC&q=%22the+resurrection+of+Christ+is+of+central+importance+to+Christian+faith%22&pg=PA310}}
* {{Cite book|last = Osiek|first = Carolyn|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HIp_0N3uPPcC&pg=PA205|editor1-last = Levine|editor1-first = Amy-Jill |chapter = The Women at the Tomb: What Are They Doing There?|title = Feminist Companion to Matthew|year = 2001|publisher = Bloomsbury |isbn = 978-0567284143}}
* {{cite book |last1=Park |first1=Eung Chun |title=Either Jew Or Gentile: Paul's Unfolding Theology of Inclusivity |date=2003 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0664224530 |edition=illustrated}}
* {{Citation | last =Parker | first =D.C. | year =1997 | title =The Living Text of the Gospels | publisher =Cambridge University Press | isbn =978-0521599511 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=yYkvZR-oWVwC&q=Parker+the+living+text+of+the+gospels}}
* {{Citation | last =Pate | first =C. Marvin | year =2013 | title =Apostle of the Last Days: The Life, Letters and Theology of Paul
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* {{Citation | last =Plevnik | first =Joseph | year =2009 | title =What are They Saying about Paul and the End Time? | publisher =Paulist Press | isbn =978-0809145782 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_-Ze1kASbcIC&q=%22But+the+end+of+the+formula+is+not+that+clear%22&pg=PA5}}
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{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Resurrection of Christ}}

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