Paul's Claim Of Life After Death Essay

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If Christ was not raised from the dead, Christianity is futile. That claim is not founded upon logical reasoning, but is Paul’s claim in 1 Corinthians 15; that if Christ was not raised, the apostles preaching was in vain, faith is in vain, and we are still in our sins. Indeed, Christianity hinges on the reality that Jesus died and was raised—never to experience death again. Left on its own, there is nothing revolutionary about the claim of life after death, nearly every religion attempts to answer that question. The significance of the resurrection is that through it, Jesus proved that He was the Messiah. With the Greek terms for resurrection (anastasis and egeiro) occurring multiple times in the speeches of Acts, there is evidence that the …show more content…
Peter first uses the word when giving the requirements of the twelfth apostle. Along with accompanying the apostles from the time of Jesus’ baptism to His ascension, the man who was to take Judas’ place was required to have been a witness of the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:22).
Peter next uses Anastasis in Acts 2:31 linking Christ’s resurrection with David’s prophecy that He would not be abandoned to Hades, nor would His flesh suffer decay (Ps.16:10).
Peter is not simply implying that Jesus had not yet begun to decompose, but that He could not, because death could not hold Him. In Acts 4, Anastasis is used twice more as the content for what the apostles were preaching and teaching. These accounts make it clear that the most compelling event for the gospel commission, was Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Egeiro
Egeiro was also used four times by Peter in Acts to speak of Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40). In Acts 3:7 Luke uses egeiro to describe Peter’s miraculous healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple. Peter essentially uses this miracle as a sermon starter for the gospel message he was about to proclaim. Peter ask the people why they are amazed that God could raise a man to walk if He had already proved that He could raise Jesus to

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