📖 Biblical Definition
The empty rock-hewn sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea, found vacant by Mary Magdalene, the other women, Peter, and John on the first day of the week. The body of Jesus was not stolen; it was raised. All four Gospels record the empty tomb; Paul lists multiple eyewitnesses (1 Cor 15) including five hundred at once. The empty tomb is the historical hinge of the Christian faith.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
EMP'TY, a.
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Containing nothing, or nothing but air. The empty tomb — in scripture, the rock-hewn sepulcher in which the body of Christ was laid, found empty on the third day.
📖 Key Scripture
Mark 16:6 — "He is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him."
John 20:5 — "He, stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying."
Luke 24:3 — "They entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus."
1 Corinthians 15:14 — "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern liberal theology spiritualizes the resurrection; Paul made it physical or nothing.
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Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15 is unsentimental: if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. The empty tomb is not a metaphor. The Lord's body was buried in a real tomb on a Friday afternoon and was not in that tomb on Sunday morning. The Gospels are unanimous; the eyewitnesses are listed; Paul names many of them by name and adds that more than five hundred saw the risen Christ at once.
Modern liberal theology, allergic to the supernatural, has tried to spiritualize the resurrection: he rose in the disciples' hearts, the cause of Jesus continued, resurrection means new life in our community. None of this is what Paul preached or what the apostles died for. Either a body left a sealed tomb on Resurrection morning, or Christianity is a kind hoax. The tomb is empty, and history pivots on the fact.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek mnemeion (G3419) + kenos (G2756).
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Usage
"The empty tomb is the historical hinge of the Christian faith."
"Modern liberal theology spiritualizes the resurrection; Paul made it physical or nothing."
"Either a body left a sealed tomb on Resurrection morning, or Christianity is a kind hoax."