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The entire New Testament assumes the truth of the claim that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. The only way to truly understand the New Testament is when we read it knowing that these earliest Christian authors accepted as a fundamental fact that Jesus, crucified and buried, now lives. The importance of the Resurrection for these Christians can be seen from the ways in which the New Testament authors refer to it. The stories of the resurrection appear in all four Gospels: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21. In Acts 1:22 Peter states the requirement that the replacement apostle for Judas had to have been a witness to the resurrection. In Acts 24:21, Paul declares that he is on trial because of the resurrection. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, delivers the early church’s doctrinal statement about the resurrection appearances. In fact, the whole of 1 Corinthians 15 defends Paul’s certainty that Jesus was raised from the dead and now lives. In the centuries since, numerous other explanations of the resurrection have been offered. For example, one argument claims that Jesus was in a coma and revived in the tomb. Or another says that His disciples suffered hallucinations. Or another says that His disciples broke into the tomb and stole His body.
In spite of the doubting, debating, and attempted destroying, Christians have maintained their faith in the Resurrection as the essential evidence to the truth of God’s activity among humans in the person of Jesus Christ. The New Testament was written from this perspective. The church is founded on it.
He lives—we live! In His Service and Your Service, Pastor Gerke
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