What Is Resurrection?
The rising of Jesus Christ bodily from death, and the Christian hope that believers will likewise be raised to new life.
Meaning
Resurrection means being raised bodily from death to life, not merely the survival of a soul, but a transformed physical body. Christianity's central historical claim is that Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and buried, was raised on the third day. Paul states plainly that if Christ has not been raised, Christian faith is empty and futile, making resurrection foundational rather than optional to Christian belief.
The idea did not appear from nowhere. Jewish tradition already contained belief in a future resurrection of the dead, expressed in Daniel's vision of many who sleep in the dust awakening to everlasting life. The Pharisees affirmed this hope while the Sadducees denied it, a live debate in Jesus' own time. Jesus told Martha that he himself is the resurrection and the life, tying the future hope directly to his own person.
The earliest Christian creeds, including the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, affirm the resurrection of the body as core doctrine, shared across Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. Christians differ somewhat on details, such as the exact nature of the resurrected body or the timing of the final resurrection relative to other end-times events, but the resurrection of Christ, and the promise that believers will share in a bodily resurrection, remains a nearly universal point of agreement across the historic Christian traditions.
In Scripture
John 11:25“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.”
Explore more terms in the Christian glossary, see how the traditions understand it on the denominations guide, or read related verses explained.
Resurrection: Frequently Asked
Is the resurrection about the soul or the body?
In Christian teaching, resurrection specifically refers to the body, not just the soul continuing on. Jesus was raised bodily, and Scripture describes believers as receiving transformed, physical resurrection bodies in the future, distinguishing the doctrine from a purely spiritual afterlife.
Why is the resurrection considered central to Christianity?
Paul states that Christian faith is meaningless if Christ was not actually raised. The resurrection is treated as historical proof that Jesus defeated death and that his claims about himself were true, making it the foundation the rest of Christian belief and hope rests on.
Did belief in resurrection exist before Christianity?
Yes. The Hebrew Bible, especially Daniel, describes a future resurrection of the dead, and by Jesus' time, the Pharisees affirmed this hope while the Sadducees rejected it. Christianity built on this existing Jewish expectation, centering it on Christ's own resurrection.