What Is Resurrection?
Resurrection means rising bodily from death into new life, and it is the event at the center of Christian faith. In the Old Testament this hope comes gradually into focus: Daniel says that 'those who sleep in the dust' will awake, and Job and the Psalms carry expressions of trust reaching beyond death. In Jesus' day resurrection was a disputed topic, accepted by the Pharisees and denied by the Sadducees. The Gospels tell of the empty tomb on the third day after Jesus' crucifixion and of encounters with the risen Jesus; this testimony turned a scattered group of disciples into a courageous community proclaiming the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul places the resurrection at the core of the gospel: 'If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.' For him Jesus' resurrection is the 'firstfruits' of the believers' future resurrection, and death is a defeated enemy. Resurrection faith shapes the present as well as the future: the New Testament grounds walking 'in newness of life' on this reality.