The Resurrection of Jesus

The resurrection of Jesus is the most vital piece of evidence for Jesus being who we claim him to be. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." Paul, in his letter to the Church in Rome states that Jesus "was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead." Even the theologian R Bultmann, who believed that the resurrection is "the same thing as faith in the saving efficacy of the cross," had to admit that today's reading from 1 Corinthians 15 represents "an attempt to make the resurrection of Christ credible as an objective historical fact". In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke shows that the good news of Jesus was always accompanied by testimony to the fact of his resurrection. If Jesus was not raised, then, as Paul says, "we are of all people most to be pitied." But if he has been raised, then, as Peter says, we can "know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."