Resurrection of Jesus

===First ''ekklēsia''===
{{Main|Jewish Christian}}

The belief in the resurrection by Jesus's early followers formed the proclamation of the first ''ekklēsia'' (lit. "assembly").<ref>Reginald H. Fuller, ''[[The Foundations of New Testament Christology]]'' (New York: Scribners, 1965), p. 11.</ref>{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=40}} The "visions of the resurrected/exalted Christ" reinforced the impact Jesus and his ministry had on his early followers,{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=53–54, 64–65, 72-73}} and interpreted in a scriptural framework they gave the impetus to Christ-devotion{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=53–54, 64–65, 181, 184-185}} and the belief in the exaltation of Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=109–110}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=138}} Jesus's death was interpreted in light of the scriptures as a redemptive death, being part of God's plan.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=185-188}} The subsequent appearances led to the resumption of the missionary activity of Jesus's followers,{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|pp=151–152}} with [[Saint Peter|Peter]] assuming the leadership role in the first ''ekklēsia'' (which formed the basis for the Apostolic succession).{{sfn|Pagels|2005|pp=43–45}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116}}

In the ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', a 1st-century account of Jewish history by [[Josephus]], believers of the resurrection are discussed. However, this reference to the resurrection is widely believed to have been added by a [[Christian interpolation|Christian interpolator]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpoNAQAAMAAJ|title=The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-508481-8|language=en}}</ref> Within the  [[New Testament Apocrypha|non-canonical]] literature of [[Gospel of Peter]], there is a retelling of the resurrection of Jesus.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Walter Richard Cassels|Walter Richard]]|title=The Gospel According to Peter: A Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQtKAAAAMAAJ|publisher=[[Longman|Longmans, Green]]|date=1894|page=11|accessdate=2022-04-02}}</ref>

====Ushering in the last days====
Jesus's followers expected God's Kingdom to come soon, and Jesus's resurrection was the first event of the Endtime.{{sfnp|Borg|Crossan|2006|p=185}}{{refn|group=note|name=last days}} As Borg and Crossan note, "For Mark the kingdom of God is already here because the Son of Man is already present".{{sfnp|Borg|Crossan|2006|p=185}}

====Exaltation and Christology====
{{See also|Ascension of Jesus|Session of Christ|Christology}}

=====Christ-devotion=====
The New Testament writings contend that the resurrection was "the beginning of His exalted life"{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=135}}{{refn|group=note|Novakovic quotes C.E.B. Cranfield, ''The Epistle to the Romans'', 1:62.{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=135, note 78}}}} as Christ and Lord.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=508, 591}}<!-- Hurtado (2003)  nor Hurtado (2005) has so many pages... --><ref group=web name="Holcomb"/> Jesus is the "[[Firstborn (Judaism)|firstborn]] of the dead", ''prōtotokos'', the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir".{{sfn|Novakovic|2014|p=152}}<ref group=web name="Holcomb"/> According to [[Gregory Beale]]

{{blockquote|"Firstborn" refers to the high, privileged position that Christ has as a result of the resurrection from the dead [...] Christ has gained such a sovereign position over the cosmos, not in the sense that he is recognized as the first-created being of all creation or as the origin of creation, but in the sense that he is the inaugurator of the new creation by means of his resurrection.<ref group=web name="Holcomb"/>}}

Hurtado notes that soon after his death, Jesus was called Lord (''[[Kyrios]]''), which "associates him in astonishing ways with God".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=179}} The term Lord reflected the belief that God had exalted Jesus to a divine status "at God's 'right hand'".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=181}} The worship of God as expressed in the phrase "call upon the name of the Lord [''Yahweh'']" was also applied to Jesus, invocating his name "in corporate worship and in the wider devotional pattern of Christian believers (e.g., [[baptism]], [[Exorcism in Christianity|exorcism]], [[Faith healing|healing]])".{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=181-182}}

According to Hurtado, powerful [[religious experience]]s were an indispensable factor in the emergence of Christ-devotion.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=64–65, 181, 184-185}}{{refn|group=note|See also Andrew Chester (2007), ''Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and New Testament Christology'', Mohr Siebeck; and Larry Huratdo (11 December 2012), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/early-high-christology-a-recent-assessment-of-scholarly-debate/ {{"'}}Early High Christology': A Recent Assessment of Scholarly Debate"].}} Those experiences "seem to have included [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]] of (and/or ascents to) God's heaven, in which the glorified Christ was seen in an exalted position."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=72–73}}{{refn|group=note|name="Hurtado_visions"|These visions may mostly have appeared during corporate worship.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=73}} Johan Leman contends that the communal meals provided a context in which participants entered a state of mind in which the presence of Jesus was felt.{{sfn|Leman|2015|pp=168–169}}}} Those experiences were interpreted in the framework of God's redemptive purposes, as reflected in the scriptures, in a "dynamic interaction between devout, prayerful searching for, and pondering over, scriptural texts and continuing powerful religious experiences."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=184}} This initiated a "new devotional pattern unprecedented in Jewish monotheism," that is, the worship of Jesus next to God,{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=53}} giving Jesus a central place because his ministry, and its consequences, had a strong impact on his early followers.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=53–54}} Revelations, including those visions, but also inspired and spontaneous utterances, and "charismatic exegesis" of the Jewish scriptures, convinced them that this devotion was commanded by God.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=72–73, 185}}

Ehrman notes that both Jesus and his early followers were [[Jewish eschatology|apocalyptic Jews]], who believed in the bodily resurrection, which would start when the coming of God's Kingdom was near.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=99}} According to Ehrman, "the disciples' belief in the resurrection was based on [[Vision theory of Jesus' appearances|visionary experiences]],"{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=98, 101}} arguing that visions usually have a strong persuasive power, but also noting that the Gospel-accounts record a tradition of doubt about the appearances of Jesus. Ehrman's "tentative suggestion" is that only a few followers had visions, including Peter, Paul and Mary. They told others about those visions, convincing most of their close associates that Jesus was raised from the dead, but not all of them.{{refn|group=note|name=Sanders.first"}} Eventually, these stories were retold and embellished, leading to the story that all disciples had seen the risen Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=101–102}} The belief in Jesus's resurrection radically changed their perceptions, concluding from his absence that he must have been exalted to heaven, by God himself, exalting him to an unprecedented status and authority.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=109–110}}

While the vision theory has gained support among critical scholars since the last quarter of the 20th century,<ref name=Habermas_2011_Trinity>Gary Habermas (2001), [http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/trinityjournal_latetwentieth/trinityjournal_latetwentieth.htm ''The Late Twentieth-Century Resurgence of Naturalistic Responses to Jesus' Resurrection'']. Trinity Journal (TRINJ 22NS (2001) 179-196)</ref> conservative Christian scholars who believe in a bodily resurrection reject the visionary theories in favor of a literal interpretation of the textual accounts of a physical resurrection.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.equip.org/free/DJ923.htm |title=Habermas |access-date=2005-08-26 |archive-date=2003-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030207070853/http://www.equip.org/free/DJ923.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/visions.html Craig]</ref><ref>Michael Morrison [http://www.gci.org/Jesus/resurrectionhistory The Resurrection of Jesus: A History of Interpretation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329191338/http://www.gci.org/Jesus/resurrectionhistory |date=2015-03-29 }}</ref>{{sfn|Habermas|2005|pp=135–153}}<ref>Wright, N.T. "Christian Origins and the Resurrection of Jesus: The Resurrection of Jesus as a Historical Problem." Sewanee Theological Review, 1998.</ref>{{sfn|Wright|2003|pp=690–691}}{{sfn|Allison|2005|pp=324–325}}
=====Low and High Christology=====
{{See also|Early High Christology|Preexistence of Christ}}

It has long been argued that the New Testament writings contain two different Christologies, namely a "low" or [[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology."{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} The "low Christology" or "[[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead,"{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=120, 122}} thereby raising him to "divine status,"<ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14>{{cite web|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Incarnation Christology, Angels, and Paul |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/incarnation-christology-angels-and-paul-for-members/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=2 May 2018|date=14 February 2013}}</ref> as in Romans 1:4.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Romans|1:4|NRSV}}</ref> The other early Christology is "high Christology," which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father’s will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come,"<ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14/>{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=122}} and from where he [[Christophany|appeared on earth]]. The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship.{{sfn|Loke|2017}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{sfn|Talbert|2011|pp=3–6}}<ref group=web name="Hurtado.2017">Larry Hurtado, [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/the-origin-of-divine-christology/ ''The Origin of "Divine Christology"?'']</ref>

According to the "evolutionary model"{{sfn|Netland|2001|p=175}} c.q. "evolutionary theories,"{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=3}} as proposed by Bousset, followed by Brown, the Christological understanding of Christ developed over time, from a low Christology to a high Christology,{{sfn|Mack|1995}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2003}}<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG">Bart Ehrman, ''How Jesus became God'', Course Guide</ref> as witnessed in the Gospels.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} According to the evolutionary model, the earliest Christians believed that Jesus was a human who was exalted, c.q. [[Adoptionism|adopted]] as God's Son,{{sfn|Loke|2017|pp=3–4}}{{sfn|Talbert|2011|p=3}}{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=unpaginated}} when he was resurrected,<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG"/><ref>Geza Vermez (2008), ''The Resurrection'', pp. 138–139</ref> signalling the nearness of the [[Kingdom of God]], when all dead would be resurrected and the righteous exalted.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2008|p=unpaginated}} Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John.<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG"/> Mark shifted the moment of when Jesus became the son to the [[baptism of Jesus]], and later still Matthew and Luke shifted it to the moment of the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|divine conception]], and finally John declared that Jesus had been with God from the beginning: "In the beginning was the Word".{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=unpaginated}}

Since the 1970s, the late datings for the development of a "high Christology" have been contested,{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=5}} and a majority of scholars argue that this "High Christology" existed already before the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} This "incarnation Christology" or "high Christology" did not evolve over a longer time, but was a "big bang" of ideas which were already present at the start of Christianity, and took further shape in the first few decades of the church, as witnessed in the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=5}}<ref group=web name="Bouma.2014">{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Jeremy|title=The Early High Christology Club and Bart Ehrman – An Excerpt from 'How God Became Jesus'|url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|website=Zondervan Academic Blog|publisher=[[HarperCollins]] Christian Publishing|access-date=2 May 2018|date=27 March 2014}}</ref><ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14/><ref group=web>Larry Hurtado (10 July 2015 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/early-high-christology-a-paradigm-shift-new-perspective/ {{"'}}Early High Christology': A 'Paradigm Shift'? 'New Perspective'?"]</ref>

According to Ehrman, these two Christologies existed alongside each other, calling the "low Christology" an "[[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology, and "the "high Christology" an "incarnation Christology."{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} While adoptionism was declared [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] at the end of the 2nd century,<ref>{{cite book|last=Harnack|first=Adolf Von|title=History of Dogma|year=1889|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.II.III.III.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iAvGNlIWg9IC&q=adoptionism+heresy&pg=PA23 |title= The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History: The People, Places, and Events That Shaped Christianity |author1= Edward E. Hindson |author2=Daniel R. Mitchell | page=23|publisher= Harvest House Publishers|year= 2013 |isbn= 9780736948074 }}</ref> it was adhered to by the [[Ebionites]],<ref>{{Cite book | editor1-last = Cross | editor1-first = EA | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1989 | contribution = Ebionites | editor2-last = Livingston | editor2-first = FL}}</ref> who regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his [[divinity]] and his [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites}}</ref> and insisted on the necessity of following [[Halakha|Jewish law and rites]].<ref>{{Cite book | first = Kaufmann | last = Kohler | chapter-url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=E | chapter = Ebionites | editor1-first = Isidore | editor1-last = Singer | editor2-first = Cyrus | editor2-last = Alder | title = [[The Jewish Encyclopedia]] | date = 1901{{ndash}}1906}}</ref> They revered [[James, brother of Jesus|James the brother of Jesus]] (James the Just); and rejected [[Paul the Apostle]] as an [[Antinomianism#Supporting Pauline passages|apostate from the Law]].<ref name="Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book| author = Hyam Maccoby| title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity| pages = 172–183| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-06-250585-8| author-link = Hyam Maccoby}}, [http://ebionite.tripod.com/mac15.htm an abridgement]</ref> They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a "reaction to the [[Paul and Judaism|law-free Gentile mission]]."{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=282}}

In the "pre-existence" Christology, Christ's resurrection and exaltation was a restoration of the exalted status he already had, but had not grasped at, as described in Philippians|2:6-11.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Philippians|2:6-11|NRSV}}</ref><ref>Capes, Nelson Raymond, [https://ir.stthomas.edu/sod_mat/6/ "Philippians 2:6-11: Pre-Existence or Second Adam Christology? A Comparison of the Exegeses of Three Modern Scholars with that of St. John Chrysostom"] (2012). School of Divinity Master’s Theses and Projects. 6.</ref><ref group=web name=EB_ih>EB, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/Incarnation-and-humiliation Incarnation and humiliation]</ref>{{refn|group=note|name=EB_restoration|EB: "Session at the right hand of the Father was apparently a Christian interpretation of the first verse of Psalm 110. It implied the elevation—or, as the doctrine of preexistence became clearer, the restoration—of Christ to a position of honour with God. Taken together, the Ascension and the session were a way of speaking about the presence of Christ with the Father during the interim between the Resurrection and the Second Advent."<ref group=web name=EB_ih/>}}

====Redemptive death====
{{See also|Salvation in Christianity#Atonement|Redeemer (Christianity){{!}}Redeemer}}

Jesus's death was interpreted as a redemptive death "for our sins," in accordance with God's plan as contained in the Jewish scriptures.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=185}}{{refn|group=note|name="died for"}} The significance lay in "the theme of divine necessity and fulfilment of the scriptures," not in the later Pauline emphasis on "Jesus's death as a sacrifice or an expiation for our sins."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} For the early Jewish Christians, "the idea that Messiah's death was a necessary redemptive event functioned more as an apologetic explanation for Jesus's crucifixion"{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} "proving that Jesus's death was no surprise to God."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=187}}{{refn|group=note|Hurtado cites Green, ''The Death of Jesus'', p.323.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=187, n.55}}}}

====Call to missionary activity====
{{Main|Great Commission|Apostles|Christian mission}}

The New Testament accounts describe the resurrected Jesus calling his followers to missionary activity in what has been traditionally labelled as the [[Great Commission]], where he instructs them to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit."<ref>[[Matthew 28:16]]–[[Matthew 28:20|20]]</ref>

According to Dunn, the appearances to the disciples have "a sense of obligation to make the vision known."{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=131}} [[Helmut Koester]] states that the stories of the resurrection were originally [[Epiphany (feeling)|epiphanies]] in which the disciples were [[Great Commission|called to a ministry]] by the risen Jesus, and were later used as evidence of the event.{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}} Biblical scholar [[Géza Vermes]] argues that the resurrection is to be understood as a reviving of the self-confidence of the followers of Jesus, under the influence of the Spirit, "prompting them to resume their apostolic mission."{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|pp=151–152}}{{refn|group=note|Vermes describes are eight possible theories to explain the resurrection of Jesus, concluding that none of these six possibilities "stands up to stringent scrutiny",{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=149}} and then stating that the resurrection is a "resurrection in the hearts of men."{{sfn|Vermes|2008a|p=152}}}} According to [[Gerd Lüdemann]], Peter convinced the other disciples that the resurrection of Jesus signalled that the end-times were near and God's Kingdom was coming, when the dead would rise again, as evidenced by Jesus. This revitalized the disciples, starting off their new mission.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=180–181}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=100}}<ref group="web" name="Ehrman.Lüdemann">Bart Ehrman (5 October 2012), [https://ehrmanblog.org/gerd-ludemann-on-the-resurrection-of-jesus-for-members/ ''Gerd Lüdemann on the Resurrection of Jesus'']</ref>

====Leadership of Peter====
{{Main|Saint Peter|Apostolic succession}}

[[Saint Peter|Peter]] claimed forcefully that Jesus appeared to him,{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=101–102}} and legitimised by Jesus's appearance he assumed leadership of the group of early followers, forming the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia'' mentioned by Paul.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116}} He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord,"{{sfn|Pagels|2005|pp=45–46}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}} which may explain why the early texts contain scarce information about Peter.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}}{{refn|group=note|According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about the [[Paul and Judaism|strictness of adherence]] to the Jewish Law, the more conservative faction of James the Just took the overhand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}} According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities.{{sfn|Bockmuehl|2010|p=52}}}} According to [[Gerd Lüdemann]], Peter was the first who saw Jesus,{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=180–181}} noting that Peter and Mary both had appearance-experiences, but arguing that the tradition of Mary's appearance is a later development, and her appearance probably was not the first.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=112–113}}{{refn|group=note|name=Sanders.first"|According to Sanders, "there seems to have been a competition: 'I saw him,' 'so did I,' 'the women saw him first,' 'no, I did; they didn't see him at all,' and so on."<ref name="Sanders.2007">"Jesus Christ." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 January 2007</ref>}}

According to [[Christian proto-orthodoxy]], Peter was the first to who Jesus appeared, and therefore the rightful leader of the Church.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}} The resurrection forms the basis of the [[Apostolic succession]] and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter,{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=43}} to whom Jesus appeared, and is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}} Though the Gospels, and Paul's letters, describe appearances to a greater number of people, only the appearances to the [[Twelve Apostles]] count as lending authority and Apostolic succession.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|pp=47–48}}