The Creed expresses this reality of hope by saying the Jesus “rose again from the dead.” While that is a true statement, one used elsewhere for Christ’s resurrection (e.g., Acts 10:41; 1 Thess. 4:14), it might be more helpful to understand Jesus as being raised (e.g., Acts 3:15; Rom. 6:4, 9), again looking to Jesus in His true and full humanity. 

“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Rev. 1:18, NKJV)

A full tomb means a futile faith. Faith is not in faith. Faith is founded on fact. If Christ’s resurrection is not a fact, our faith is groundless. Jesus’ work on the cross did not work. We open the box of the gospel to find it without power, no ability to save. We have believed a lie. We have lied to others. We are to be pitied like those who have invested in a scam.

But Paul doesn’t leave us in such a miserable state. He quickly goes on to say: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). All those horrors that Paul listed if Jesus hasn’t been raised being are turned on their head. Christ is risen. The hope of the gospel is real and extends into the age to come. Death is conquered. The bondage of sin has been broken.

If our trust is in Christ for these things, then our trust is founded. Our belief in the resurrection of the body that we assert later in the third section of the Apostles’ Creed is legitimate. The cupboard of hope is not bare. We who have hoped in Christ receive every blessing bound up in Him because He lives.

The Creed expresses this reality of hope by saying the Jesus “rose again from the dead.” While that is a true statement, one used elsewhere for Christ’s resurrection (e.g., Acts 10:41; 1 Thess. 4:14), it might be more helpful to understand Jesus as being raised (e.g., Acts 3:15; Rom. 6:4, 9), again looking to Jesus in His true and full humanity.

Read More