Jesus & Gospel · Intermediate · ABOUT 155 MINUTES
Study the empty tomb, appearances, early testimony, theological meaning, and resurrection as Christian hope
Primary passage: Mark 16:6
Mark 16:6 stands within the account of women arriving at Jesus’ tomb after the Sabbath. They come expecting to find a dead body and are concerned about how the stone will be moved, but they encounter a young man who announces that Jesus has risen. The verse therefore records more than an empty burial place. It presents the tomb as the location where the women learn that Jesus is alive and that death has not had the final word over him.
Primary passage: 1 Corinthians 15:6
First Corinthians 15:6 belongs to Paul’s sustained defense of the resurrection. Some in Corinth were apparently denying that the dead are raised, so Paul begins by reminding the church of the gospel he had received and delivered: Christ died for sins, was buried, was raised, and appeared to witnesses. The reference to more than five hundred believers therefore functions within an argument. Paul is not offering a detached list of curiosities; he is calling the Corinthians back to the apostolic message on which their faith rests.
Primary passage: Romans 4:25
Romans 4:25 concludes Paul’s discussion of faith, Abraham, and God’s way of counting the ungodly righteous. The verse places Jesus’ death and resurrection in a deliberate relationship: he was handed over because of our trespasses and raised in connection with our justification. Paul is not discussing the resurrection as a miracle disconnected from the cross. He presents the two events together within God’s saving work, showing that the resurrection confirms and completes the significance of Jesus’ sacrificial death.
Primary passage: 1 Corinthians 15:20
First Corinthians 15:20 begins a new turn in Paul’s argument about the resurrection of the dead. After explaining the disastrous consequences if Christ has not been raised, Paul states that Christ has in fact been raised and calls him the firstfruits of those who have died. The image draws on the idea that an initial portion of a harvest represents and anticipates the larger harvest. Paul uses it to connect Jesus’ resurrection with the future resurrection of his people.
