The most important event in all of human history and the foundation upon which Christianity stands or falls is the resurrection of Jesus. Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ during Easter. Theologian Eric Sauer spoke of Easter in this way.
The present age is Easter time. It begins with the resurrection of the Redeemer, and ends with the resurrection of the redeemed. Between lies the spiritual resurrection of those called into life in Christ. So we live between two Easters, and in the power of the first Easter we go to meet the last Easter.
All Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Anyone who claims to be a professed Christian but does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus has made a false profession.
However, some do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus or anyone else. Many of today’s liberal theologians may agree that there is some spiritual resurrection. Still, they regard belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus as not important to the Christian faith and not necessary for the Christian religion. Others believe in the historical event of the bodily resurrection of Jesus but consider it a matter of history and not a matter of the Christian faith. And all these who question the bodily resurrection of Christ place themselves at odds with Christianity and God Himself.
The Bible clearly and often indicates that Jesus’s bodily resurrection is a historical and theological fact. If the resurrection as described in Scripture is not true, then this attacks the very truthfulness of the biblical writers and calls into question the infallibility of Scripture. Since a critical presupposition of Christians is sola scriptura as the true Word of God in its original manuscript, those who are Christians must believe in the veracity of Scripture.
The apostle Paul states that by Jesus’ bodily resurrection, God declared Him to be the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). Paul makes his case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus by writing in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 as follows.
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Before Jesus’ resurrection, other people were raised from death to life (e.g., Lazarus, John 11:38-44). So why isn’t the resurrection of Christ just another raising of a deceased human being who is brought temporarily back to life? Regarding the miraculous raisings before Jesus, all of those people were dead. However, their raising from the dead differed from the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus received a heavenly, imperishable, glorified body that was eternal; thus, it could not see death. This is the same kind of body all believers will receive at the general resurrection on the last day.
On the other hand, all the miracle raisings (e.g., Lazarus) involved their earthly, perishable bodies being restored and reunited with their disembodied spirits; these were not glorified bodies. They then remained on earth for some time and died as all humans must. Their “raised” bodies were fully earthly human flesh and not glorified bodies like Christ’s resurrection body, and like all human resurrected bodies, will be at the general resurrection. Glorified bodies are eternal and incapable of death, whereas an ordinary human body is perishable and, of course, will die.
Eternal resurrection begins a new life in a new heavenly, imperishable, glorified body that will never be subject to death. Since Lazarus and the others were raised from the dead in their earthly, perishable bodies, without entering a glorified state as Jesus did and as all believers will at the general resurrection, they had to subsequently die to receive a new life and a new body at the Judgment.
Thus, Jesus is the first fruit―the first human being to receive a resurrected body in the glorified state. All true Christians on the Day of Judgment at the end of the world at the general resurrection will receive the same kind of glorified body that Jesus had at His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:42-44). And no other human besides Jesus will receive a resurrection body until all the elect receive theirs together on the last day.
Paul, writing about Jesus’s resurrection, referred to Him as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20) and “the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18). He argues that Jesus’s resurrection was a raising from death to life, as with Lazarus and the other miracle raisings in the Bible. Still, the raised body of Christ was clearly different. Christ’s body was His resurrected body, glorified and eternal.
The resurrection of Christ happened exactly as described in holy Scripture, and it was different from any other raising from death to life. Paul explained the importance of this resurrection to Christians in this way.
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:50-55).
God commanded the curse of death for all human beings after Adam committed the first sin (Gen. 3:19). There was no way for human beings to avoid death in and of themselves because of the guilt of original sin arising from that first sin by Adam. Our sins were redeemable only when Jesus became an incarnate man and lived a perfect life. Through Jesus’ substitutionary, propitiatory death on the cross to pay for the sins of believers and on the ground of His merited righteousness earned by living a perfect life, were the elect able to receive justification and adoption from God and the promise of eternal inheritance (Eph. 1:14).
Because Jesus was the first to die and be raised from the dead, never to die again, He defeated death and made possible the general resurrection of all believers on the last day. This is why the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is foundational to Christianity and is the most critical event celebrated by Christians.
[1] Bibliographic note: Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 351-55; Hodge, Charles, A., Systematic Theology, vol. II, Hendrickson (2016), 626-30.
