The resurrection of Jesus, the assertion central to the observance of Easter, is a non-negotiable component of the Gospel. Paul states this clearly: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Why are these particular teachings “of first importance”? They are the ground upon which we claim the hope of eternal life.
Jesus died to atone for our sins. As the sacrificial and substitutionary Lamb of God, he fulfilled all righteousness even to the point of dying on a cross. Then, in fulfillment of what was said about the coming Savior, he died among the wicked and was buried with the rich. But most important of all that is of “first importance,” he rose again from the dead. This is critical. For as Paul bluntly states, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Why is this so? Because it is the resurrection that validates and vindicates Jesus.
He told his disciples beforehand, on several occasions, that he would be given over to be scourged and crucified but would come back to life “on the third day.” That this indeed happened validates the words he spoke about his death and resurrection and by extension all that he taught and said. The resurrection also vindicated Jesus against all the charges that were leveled against him. He was not a demon-possessed, blaspheming criminal deserving of death. To the contrary, he “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). In the words of Peter, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24).
If Jesus did not rise from the dead then he could not have been the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He would have been just another human being who needed the Lamb of as much as anyone else. But with his resurrection his person and purpose were proclaimed. Faith in him is not futile. It is that which saves the sinner for “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
