A skeptic wrongly objected to a Christian who stated Jesus raised Himself from the dead. She asserted that the Bible said otherwise, and then listed the verses below as proof text.
“God raised him up” (Acts 2:24). [1]
“You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 3:15).
“Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:10)
“The God of our fathers raised Jesus” (Acts 5:30).
“God raised him on the third day” (Acts 10:40)
“God raised him from the dead (Acts 13:30)
“Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rm. 6:4)
“God raised him from the dead” (Rm. 10:9)
One can certainly say that these Bible verses taken in isolation affirm God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead. But it is wrongheaded to suppose Jesus did not raise Himself up from the dead. Missing is the careful consideration of those verses withing the context of the entire panoply of the Scriptures.
Jesus unambiguously stated that He would raise Himself up from the dead. The Gospel of John recounts the Lord entering the Jerusalem temple, and finding sellers of oxen, sheep, and pigeons, along with money-changers inside. He then fashioned a whip out of cords, and chased them out, turning over their tables, and pouring out their coins (Jn. 2:13-17).[2] The Jews then asked, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” They wanted Jesus to justify His actions. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” replied Jesus (Jn. 2:19). Whereas the Jews thought He was speaking of the temple, John explains that the Lord spoke “about the temple of his body” (Jn. 2:20-21). Notice Jesus’ use of the first-person singular pronoun “I.” He is thus declaring that He will resurrect Himself from the dead.
Upon another occasion, Jesus stated, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (Jn. 10:17-18). Here again Jesus announces that He would raise Himself up from the dead.
Whereas the Jewish opponents plotted to kill the Christ, the Lord pronounced their efforts as useless, declaring that He had power over His own life and that nobody could take it against His will. But John Chrysostom notes, “This power does not belong to human beings. We do not have the power of laying down our own lives unless we put ourselves to death” and “Our Lord alone had the power to lay down his life, showing also that he was able to take it up again by that same power. Do you see how he proved from his death that his resurrection was indisputable?” (Homilies on the Gospel of John, 60.2).[3] Athanasius points out that Jesus’ authority over His own death and resurrection points to His divine identity: “To be troubled was proper to the flesh, and to have power to lay down his life and take it again when he wanted was no property of people but of the Word’s power. For human beings die not by their own power but by necessity of nature and against their will. But the Lord, being himself immortal but having mortal flesh, had power as God to become separate from the body and to take it again when he wanted to” (Discourses Against the Arians, 3.29.57).
Resurrection life flows even in the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul tells Christians, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rm. 8:9b-11). Here a couple of significant insights are given about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For one, “the Spirit of Christ” indicates to us that the Spirit is an agent associated with Jesus Christ. It is the indwelling of the Spirit that identifies us with the community of Christ. The same Spirit is also an agent associated with “he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead,” i.e., God the Father. Not that the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, it is the Father who raised Jesus from the dead in this instance.
The indwelling Holy Spirit thus plays a significant role in bringing resurrection life to the believer. We are told that “although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” This righteousness is best understood as the sort that comes “apart from the law…the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Rm. 3:21, 22). This is that righteousness that brings to us life (Rm. 5:12-21). Moreover, we are told that the Father “raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Thus, the indwelling Holy Spirit plays an active role in the revivification of the body. “The new life we now share in the Spirit is precisely that life which we will have in full at the final re-creation of reality when our total being will be transformed in God’s new world (v. 11b). That is the life we now share because of the presence of God’s Spirit among us (v. 9a),” writes Paul Achtemeier.[4]
William Hendriksen explicates the way the Son and Spirit interact with the Father as follows: “That the Father acts through the Spirit is plainly stated in verse 11. That even Jesus himself did not remain entirely passive in his resurrection is implied in John 10:17, 18. It is he who claims the power not only to lay down his life but also to take it up again. Moreover, the very One who in Rom. 8:11 is described as the Spirit of the Father is in verse 9 called Christ’s Spirit. In fact, as it were in the same breath, God’s Spirit is in verse 9 called Christ’s Spirit.”[5]
We can say without contradiction that God the Father plays a part in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ raises Himself up from the dead. Moreover, the indwelling Holy Spirit identifies us with Christ, and the same Spirit is identified with the Father who raised Jesus from the dead, who will likewise raise our mortal bodies through the Spirit. Our redemption is a work of the Triune God of the universe. [6] From new life to eternity, Christianity is experiencing life in the Trinity.
— WGN
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] For discussion on the Gospel of John placing the temple cleansing at the start of Christ earthly ministry contrasted to Synoptic Gospels placing the temple cleansing at the end see my post “Just How Many Times Did Jesus Cleanse the Temple?”
[3] All early church fathers cited from, Joel C. Elowsky, ed., John 1–10, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), unless noted.
[4] Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1985), 135.
[5] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, vol. 12–13, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 253.
[6] God is one ousia (nature or substance) revealed in three hypostases (subjects or persons), namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Godhead are distinct according to their relationships to one another. Yet, there is not three Gods but only one God.
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