Every year on Easter Sunday we celebrate the premier miracle of the Christian faith. From the very beginning of Christian life in the early Church down to the present day, faithful Christians marvel, rejoice, and triumph in Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The early Church, even during the time of the apostles gives us a measure of the importance that was attached to the resurrection of Christ by meeting for worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7) and naming it the “Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10), thus celebrating Christ’s resurrection day every week. This is especially significant because many of the earliest Christians were Jews and would have had a strong attachment to worshipping on last day of the week. For twenty centuries the resurrection of Christ has been at the center of the Christian faith. Even modern liberal churches, that do not believe that Christ actually physically rose from the dead, make a big thing out of Easter.

This powerful emphasis on the resurrection of Christ is, as the German idiom often puts it, not without great cause. The Bible not only informs us of the fact that the New Testament church emphasized Christ’s resurrection, it gives us great and fundamental reasons for doing this, reasons that fit us as much today as they did during the time of the apostles. Our purpose in this article is to lay out some of these reasons for celebrating Christ’s resurrection so that our Easter celebration, and indeed our weekly day of rest and worship, may glorify God by being well-informed. Our procedure will be to look at several New Testament texts that emphasize the resurrection.

The Necessity and Certainty of Christ’s Resurrection⤒🔗

The New Testament’s great chapter about the physical resurrection of the body as the hope for the future of the Christian begins by speaking about the resurrection of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the apostle Paul summarizes the Christian gospel by declaring, “that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.” This, the apostle has said in verse 1, is “the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand.” Thus for Paul, the facts that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, are basically the Christian creed. Knowing the Corinthian church as he does, Paul is not so concerned to assure them that Christ died for their sins, but he is very concerned that some of them do not believe in the physical resurrection of the bodies of Christians. He then argues for the resurrection of the body by reasoning that “if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen,” and that would mean that the whole gospel would be false, something that Paul simply cannot abide.

Paul gives a number of reasons for the necessity of the resurrection of Christ. First, this teaching of Christ’s resurrection is “according to the Scriptures.” If there is no resurrection, then Christ has not risen, and therefore the Scriptures cannot be true. Again, for Paul such a thought is simply impossible. “Scripture cannot be broken,” as Jesus said, “every Scripture is God-breathed,” and for it to lie is to say that God “who cannot lie” has lied. Therefore to be a Christian is to believe in Christ’s resurrection, period. There can be no exceptions to this rule.

Second, Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15, that “if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain” (v. 14). Furthermore, this implies that if Christ is not risen, “your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (v. 17). Not only that, if Christ is not risen, Christians who have died are goners. “Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (v. 18). Without the resurrection of Christ, “we are of all men most pitiable” (v. 19), and we who preach the gospel of Christ’s resurrection are “false witnesses of God” (v. 15). For Christianity to have any credibility, it is necessary for Christ to have risen from the dead.

Thirdly, the testimony of the rest of the New Testament collaborates Paul’s teaching that Christ’s resurrection is necessary. Jesus Himself declares to Martha,

I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he shall die, yet he shall live.John 11:25

Luke reports that David prophesied of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2:31), and Peter proclaims that Christ has given us new life through His own resurrection from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).

Now, as to the certainty of Christ’s resurrection, the apostle points out the many witnesses, including himself, who saw Christ walking around alive. The appearances of Christ after His resurrection include not only the original eleven apostles (Judas had committed suicide), but also Paul himself as one “born out of time,” no doubt referring to Christ’s appearance to him on the road to Damascus, and five hundred other disciples at one time. In other words, the numbers of witnesses, and their credibility, is without question.

The rest of the New Testament also corroborates the certainty of Christ’s resurrection. In the texts mentioned in the previous paragraph, this is already clear. But there are also numerous instances to reinforce this conclusion. Peter on Pentecost declares to the assembled Jews of all nations,

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Acts 2:32

This statement follows Peter’s point that David prophesied Christ’s resurrection in Psalm 2 (Acts 2:29–31). These instances could, of course, be multiplied into many pages, for example, by studying the four Gospels about Christ’s resurrection, but the fact is clear, Christ has most certainly risen from the dead, and this resurrection is necessary to His work and to our salvation.

The Power of Christ’s Resurrection←⤒🔗

When we study the New Testament about the reasons that Christ’s resurrection is so important, we again find plenty to work with. We will give an overview of some important points but cannot claim to exhaust the subject.

The first point made by the Heidelberg Catechism about Christ’s resurrection is that by it He “overcame death” (Q45). Christ was the first and only human being for whom “it was not possible that He should be held by death” (Acts 2:24). A couple of persons had escaped death (Enoch and Elijah), and several had been raised from the dead (the Shunamite’s son, Lazarus, etc.) but they all lived only to die again. Christ’s resurrection is entirely different. Christ’s resurrection proves that His statement to Lazarus’ sister is literally true, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The significance of Christ’s resurrection is not only His coming to life again, but His resurrection is the power by which we too will be raised from the grave. Jesus did not die for Himself, nor did He rise for Himself, but He rose to overcome death for us. Christ’s resurrection is not only a “sure pledge of our blessed resurrection” (Heidelberg Q45) but is also the power by which we too will rise from the dead.

Secondly, Christ’s resurrection is the vindication of all He did and said. When the Jews sought a sign, Jesus told them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days” (John 2:19). He gave them and us a sign that what He was doing was true and entirely legitimate, which they did not understand and the disciples did not either until after His resurrection. This is why the New Testament so powerfully witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. This miracle is witness to the whole world about Who He is, and what He has done. Indeed, in Acts 17:31, Paul declares to the assembled Greek philosophers of Athens, that Christ’s resurrection is a public declaration, a waving flag to the whole world, that God will judge the world by Christ and that God now commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. The public power of Christ’s resurrection should not be forgotten in our efforts to evangelize the world.

Thirdly, the resurrection of Christ calls and enables us to rise from the deadness of sin and live a new life of obedience in thanksgiving to God for our salvation. Paul’s point in Romans 6 is that since we are by spiritual baptism united to Christ in His death, we are also united to Him in His resurrection. This means “that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), and “that we should no longer be the slaves of sin” (Romans 6:68). This point is also emphasized by the Heidelberg in Q45, “we are also by His power now raised up to the new life.”

Resurrection Faith←⤒🔗

The resurrection of Christ is not only so important as to be commemorated by having the church worship on the Lord’s Day (that is, the day of Christ’s resurrection), but it is also made the center of true Christian faith. The apostle Paul puts it most directly this way, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Note that Paul does not say, “If you believe Jesus did miracles,” or that “Jesus walked on water,” or even that “Jesus preached the gospel to the poor,” all of which He did. No, Paul points directly to the resurrection as the premier, that is, the central miracle and work of Christ. Christ was “raised again for our justification.” It is through faith in Christ’s resurrection that the “righteousness that He obtained for us,” is applied to us personally (Heidelberg Q45). Again, this is a measure of what the resurrection of Christ means for us, and for God Himself. In Christ’s resurrection, Christ’s exaltation becomes public, open and powerful to save (His exaltation actually began with His soul at death ascending to the Father). Christ’s humiliation is over, and His reward as ruler and judge of the universe has begun. As we noted above, His resurrection is a flag to all men of the coming judgment that is to be carried out by Christ Himself.

Real Christians really believe that Jesus really rose from the dead. Their faith in Christ’s resurrection is celebrated every Sunday. Their resurrection faith is a year-long source of joy and peace because of the power of His resurrection, and because when He comes again, we “shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 8:11).