What the Resurrection Is (and Is Not)

Michael Fierro
Jul 2
3 min read

Defining Resurrection: Anastasis

The New Testament word for resurrection is ἀνάστασις (anastasis)—literally “a rising up” or “standing again.”

But what stands up? Not just the soul. Not a symbol. Not hope in the abstract.In the early Christian proclamation, resurrection meant the rising of the body—not a resuscitated corpse, but a glorified, transformed, embodied life.

“Anastasis nekron” — the rising of the dead“Anastasis sarkos” — the rising of the flesh

The Resurrection of Jesus was not a return to earthly life. It was the beginning of a new kind of life—something never seen before.

Jesus’ Body: The Same and Yet Different

After His Resurrection, Jesus is still Jesus. He still bears the wounds of the Cross. He eats with His disciples. He can be touched and recognized.

And yet He is not exactly the same. He appears and disappears. He enters locked rooms. His closest friends don’t always recognize Him immediately.

It is His body—but glorified.
It is embodied life—but beyond decay or death.
It is not the undoing of death—it is the defeat of death.

What the Resurrection Is Not

To understand what the Resurrection is, we must also be clear about what it is not. Below are nine common misunderstandings, ancient and modern.

1. Not a Disembodied Spirit

Jesus is not a ghost.

He eats fish (Luke 24:42–43).
He invites the disciples to touch Him (John 20:27).

His Resurrection is bodily—but glorified.

2. Not a Resuscitation

This is not like Lazarus.

Lazarus returned to the same life and died again.
Jesus entered a new kind of life, never to die again.

3. Not Platonic Immortality

Greek philosophy saw the soul as trapped in the body.

Resurrection is not escape from the body.
It is the redemption and glorification of the body.

“The Word became flesh”—and that flesh is not discarded, but exalted.

4. Not Eastern Enlightenment

In Buddhism or Hinduism, salvation often means the loss of personal identity—absorption into the One.

But:

Jesus remains distinct, personal, individual.
He is still Jesus, the Son of Mary.
His Resurrection affirms individuality, not its erasure.

5. Not an Assumption

Like Enoch, Elijah, and Mary—some were assumed into heaven.But the Resurrection is different.

Jesus is not taken from earth to heaven.
He is raised from the realm of the dead into the realm of the living.

6. Not a Vision

The Resurrection was not a dream, vision, or mystical insight.

It was public.
He was touched.
He ate.
Many people saw Him at once.

This was not a private experience in someone’s heart. It was a shared encounter.

7. Not a Legend

Legends grow slowly over time.

The Resurrection was proclaimed immediately, in the very city where Jesus was killed.
The Gospels were written within decades, based on eyewitness testimony.
The tomb was known and could be checked.

This is not fiction. It is history.

8. Not a Myth

Myths convey symbolic truths—like grain gods who die and rise with the seasons.But no one claims those stories actually happened.

Jesus' Resurrection is not a myth. It is a real, historical event, in a specific place and time, affecting real people—and breaking every mythic category in the process.