Resurrection of Jesus

In the New Testament, Jesus is crucified, dies, is buried within a tomb, and resurrected (came back to life) three days later. Christians celebrate the resurrection at Easter. Easter and Christmas are the most important Christian holidays.

Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God. They believe that the best proof of this is that he came back to life after his death. In Christian theology, the death, resurrection, and return to heaven of Jesus are the most important events of the Christian faith.^[1][2] The Nicene Creed states: "On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures".^[3] 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."^[4] According to John R. Rice, a Baptist evangelist, the resurrection of Jesus was part of God's plan for forgiving people by paying the penalty for man's sin.^[5] The Catholic church teaches:

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.^[6]

Compared to other ancient stories of men or Gods being resurrected from the dead, the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is extensive and strong. ^[7]

All of these New Testament writers tell about the resurrection.

• Gospel of Matthew Chapters 27-28
• Gospel of Mark Chapter 16
• Gospel of Luke Chapter 24
• Gospel of John Chapters 20-21
• In all of the Gospels, Jesus says that He will die and rise again.
• Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1 and others
• Paul's letters in many places
• Writer to the Hebrews Chapter 13, verse20
• Saint Peter 1st Peter, Chapter 1, verse 3
• Both Jesus and the Apostles said that the Old Testament told about the Messiah(Christ) rising from the dead.

1. ↑ Dunn 1985, p. 53.
2. ↑ Dunn 2009, p. 149.
3. ↑ 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 978-0-86012-455-9
4. ↑ Terry Miethe in Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate, ed. Terry Miethe (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), xi. Quoted by Michael Martin, "The Resurrection as Initially Improbable". In Price, Robert M.; Lowder, Jeffrey Jay, eds. (2005). The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave. Amherst: Prometheus Books. p. 44. ISBN 1-59102-286-X.
5. ↑ John R. Rice, The Importance of Christ's Resurrection in the Christian Faith. In: Curtis Hutson (2000), Great Preaching on the Resurrection, ISBN 0-87398-319-X pp. 55–56
6. ↑ Catechism of the Catholic Church 647
7. ↑ https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection