Where is Jesus' resurrection described in the Bible?
The resurrection of Jesus is recounted in the closing chapters of all four Gospels: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20-21. The four accounts share the same core: Jesus is crucified and laid in a tomb outside Jerusalem; on the morning of the first day of the week (Sunday)…
The resurrection of Jesus is recounted in the closing chapters of all four Gospels: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20-21. The four accounts share the same core: Jesus is crucified and laid in a tomb outside Jerusalem; on the morning of the first day of the week (Sunday), women going to the tomb find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty; the news "He has risen" is given first to them. The accounts complement each other in detail: Matthew has the angel at the tomb and the guards; Luke, the risen Jesus appearing to two disciples on the Emmaus road; John, Mary Magdalene recognizing Jesus in the garden and doubting Thomas' confession, "My Lord and my God!" In a culture where women's testimony carried little legal weight, recording women as the first witnesses is taken as a mark of the account's early and unvarnished character. The oldest written summary of the resurrection is in 1 Corinthians 15, composed before the Gospels: Paul passes on what he "received" — that Christ died, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas (Peter), to the Twelve, then to more than five hundred at once. The same chapter states the event's place in the faith plainly: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain." In Christianity the resurrection is not a happy ending but the center; worship on Sunday is itself a trace of this event. The four accounts and 1 Corinthians 15 can be read chapter by chapter on this site; the Holy Week reading plan follows the cross and resurrection narrative day by day.