📖 Biblical Definition
Greek anastasis, resurrection / rising up, the principal NT term for resurrection. The semantic compound structure (ana, up + stasis, standing) carries the basic sense of standing up — supremely the rising of the dead body to renewed life. The NT theology of anastasis is foundational to the gospel: the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on the third day (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20; Acts 2:24-32; 1 Corinthians 15) is the central historical event of the Christian faith and the guarantor of the believer's salvation. If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). Paul's great resurrection chapter (1 Corinthians 15) lays out the doctrine: Christ's resurrection (vv. 3-8); the believer's resurrection as guaranteed by Christ's (vv. 12-23); the nature of the resurrection body (vv. 35-50); the eschatological transformation (vv. 51-58). The Pharisaic faction had believed in resurrection; the Sadducees had denied it (Acts 23:8); Paul aligned with the Pharisaic confession against Sadducean denial (Acts 23:6, I am called in question for the hope of the resurrection). The Reformed-confessional doctrine of the resurrection (Westminster XXXII, of the resurrection of the dead) articulates the substantive NT teaching. The patriarchal-Reformed reader holds the integrated biblical hope: Christ has risen; the believer's body will rise on the last day; the redeemed will reign with Him in the new heavens and earth.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Greek anastasis (G386), resurrection / rising up; principal NT term; Christ's resurrection (1 Corinthians 15) the guarantor of believer's resurrection.
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ANASTASIS, Greek noun (G386; resurrection, rising up) From anistemi (G450, to stand up, raise up). Principal NT term for resurrection. NT theology: Christ's resurrection on the third day (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20; Acts 2:24-32) the central historical event of the Christian faith. Paul's great chapter (1 Corinthians 15): without Christ's resurrection, preaching and faith are vain; with it, the believer's resurrection is guaranteed. Sadducees denied resurrection; Pharisees and Paul confessed it (Acts 23:6, 8). Reformed-confessional doctrine: Westminster XXXII.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 — "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
1 Corinthians 15:14 — "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."
Romans 6:4-5 — "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
John 11:25-26 — "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern theological liberalism denies the bodily resurrection of Christ, reducing anastasis to symbolic-mythological category; biblical and Reformed-confessional doctrine retains the historical bodily resurrection.
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The principal modern corruption of biblical anastasis is theological liberalism's denial of the historical bodily resurrection of Christ, treating the resurrection as symbolic-mythological category or as subjective psychological reality in the disciples' minds rather than as the historical event Paul defends in 1 Corinthians 15 with reference to above five hundred brethren at once who saw the risen Lord (1 Corinthians 15:6). Paul's argument is precise: if Christ is not risen historically and bodily, the Christian preaching is vain, the faith is vain, the apostles are false witnesses, and believers are of all men most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). The Reformed-confessional retention of the historical bodily resurrection (Westminster XXXII) is the precise opposite of liberalism's denial. The patriarchal-Reformed reader holds the bodily resurrection of Christ as the central historical event of the Christian faith and the guarantor of the believer's bodily resurrection in glory.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
G386; from anistemi (G450); 1 Corinthians 15 the great resurrection chapter; Westminster XXXII.
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['Greek', 'G386', 'anastasis', 'resurrection, rising up']
['Greek', 'G450', 'anistemi', 'to stand up, raise up (verb)']
['Hebrew', 'H6965', 'qum', 'to arise (OT equivalent verb)']
Usage
"Anastasis: resurrection; Christ's on the third day; believer's at the last day."
"If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain (1 Corinthians 15:14)."
"I am the resurrection, and the life (John 11:25)."