Don Stewart :: Who Brought Jesus Back from the Dead?

Who Brought Jesus Back from the Dead?

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ – Question 9

The Bible has much to say about the mode of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It testifies that the three members of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, as well as God the Holy Spirit, were involved in Jesus’ resurrection. The evidence is as follows.

1. God the Father Raised Jesus

The Bible says that God the Father brought Jesus Christ, God the Son, back from the dead. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter said the following to the crowd which had gathered:

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. (Acts 2:32, 33 RSV)

It was the Father who brought the Son back from the dead.

The Apostle Paul also testified that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. He put it this way in his letter to the Romans:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4 RSV)

Here Paul attributed it to the “glory of the Father.”

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he again noted that Jesus was raised by God the Father. He began his letter by stating this fact:

Paul an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. (Galatians 1:1 RSV)

By raising God the Son from the dead, God the Father reversed the death sentence that was pronounced on Him and exalted Jesus Christ to the Lord of glory.

2. Jesus Brought Himself Back from the Dead

We are told that Jesus also arose by His own power. Three years before His death on the cross, He predicted it would occur. John writes about the Jewish religious leaders questioning the claims of Jesus:

The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:18, 19 RSV)

The Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus for some sort of sign. Notice that Jesus said, “I will raise it up.” He would raise Himself.

He repeated this claim. On another occasion, speaking of His life, Jesus declared,

No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do. (John 10:18 CEV)

This is a tremendous claim by Jesus. He has the authority to lay down His life and He has the authority to take it up again.

3. The Holy Spirit Raised Jesus

The Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was also involved in the resurrection of God the Son. Paul wrote,

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 RSV)

It was the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead. The Apostle Peter wrote about the Holy Spirit’s role in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He put it this way:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. (1 Peter 3:18 RSV)

Peter stresses that Jesus was made alive “in the spirit.” This seems to be another reference to role of the Holy Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus. Thus, like the Father and the Son, the Spirit brought Jesus brought back from the dead.

4. God Raised Jesus

We also have statements that God raised Jesus. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter said to the crowd that had gathered that God raised Jesus from the dead:

But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. (Acts 2:24 NASB)

It was God who raised Jesus.

Peter also said to Gentile Cornelius that it was God who raised Jesus from the dead. He said the following:

But God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. (Acts 10:40 NIV)

Paul the apostle also testified that it was God who brought Jesus back from the dead. We also read about this in the Book of Acts:

But God raised him from the dead. (Acts 13:30 RSV)

The evidence is clear: God the Father brought Jesus back from the dead, God the Son, Jesus, raised Himself, and the God the Holy Spirit brought Jesus back to life.

Elsewhere it says “God” raised Jesus from the dead. This is an indication that all three members of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, were involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is also further indication that each of these personages is God Himself.

In sum, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was something that the various members of the Godhead participated in.

Summary – Question 9
Who Brought Jesus Back from the Dead?

Jesus Christ was brought back from the dead three days after His death on the cross. The New Testament says that each of the three members of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were involved in the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection is individually ascribed to each one of them.

Indeed, we are told that God the Father brought Jesus back from the dead. However, Jesus Himself said He had the authority to bring Himself back to life after His death. Elsewhere the resurrection of Jesus is attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yet the Scripture also says that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Not only does this show that the resurrection of Christ was something that each member of the Godhead participated in, it is also another line of evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity—the one God consists of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the fact that the Scripture singles out each member of the Trinity as having part in the resurrection as well as saying “God” brought Jesus back from the dead shows that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the one God.