Did Jesus Rise by His Own Power?

last edited: April 1, 2024

The truth that GOD raised Jesus from among the dead belongs to the heart of the Evangel. It was the spearhead of the message as it was preached from the beginning in the book of Acts. On the day of Pentecost Peter testified in Jerusalem:

… GOD, however, raises Him…
Acts 2:24

And later, at the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, he proclaimed:

… the Inaugurator of life you kill, yet GOD rouses Him from among the dead, of Whom we are witnesses.
Acts 3:15

GOD, in the first place for you, raises His Servant…
Acts 3:26

Later, in the house of Cornelius, Peter said:

… Him GOD raises the third day …
Acts 10:40

With Paul, the message proves to be no different. In Antioch he argued:

Yet GOD raises Him from among the dead;
Acts 13:30

And in the midst of the philosophers on the Areopagus, Paul spoke of…

… a man whom HE (= GOD) designates, furnishing faith to all by raising Him from among the dead.
Acts 17:31

It should therefore not surprise us that this central message is repeated dozens of times in the letters. Paul writes in Romans 10:9 that this is the saving Evangel:

For if you (…) believe in your heart that GOD raises Him from among the dead, you shall be saved.

Within Judaism in the days of the apostles, it was self-evident that a human being could only be raised by GOD. But under the influence of pagan polytheism and Greek philosophy, this became completely different within Christianity in just a few generations. “The Man Christ Jesus,” “God’s Son,” was made into “God the Son.” A doctrine was developed that is both unbiblical and illogical, in which Jesus is “perfect God and perfect man” (Athanasius, 30). A doctrine that is contradictory in itself. For a human being can die; GOD cannot. A human being is dependent; GOD is not. If Jesus was perfect God, He did not need to be raised, but could rise by His own power. That is also what is commonly taught and echoes in songs. Think of the well-known Easter hymn “Daar juicht een toon” with the variant:

He rose from the grave by His OWN power,
for He is God, clothed with might!

Realize well what that means! If the one who lay in the tomb of Arimathea was perfect God, then He was not truly dead. And then He was not — and could not be! — raised by GOD from among the dead.

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