The Resurrection of Christ

Who raised Jesus from the dead?

List below are the Bible references which read that it was the Father who raised Jesus from the dead:

• Acts 2:24; 2:30-32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 33-34, 37; 17:31.
• Romans 4:24; 6:4; 8:11; 10:9.
• 1 Corinthians 6.14; 15:15.
• 2 Corinthians 1:9; 4:14;
• Ephesians 1:19-20
• Colossians 2:12
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10.
• Hebrews 13:20.
• 1 Peter 1:21.

The Scriptural evidence is overwhelming in that the Father raised Jesus form the dead.

What EGW says

Taken from Desire of Ages, page 785.2:

When the voice of the mighty angel was heard at Christ’s tomb, saying, Thy Father calls Thee, the Saviour came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Now was proved the truth of His words, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again.... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Now was fulfilled the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 10:17, 18; 2:19. {DA 785.2}

Taken from Death and Resurrection of Christ - Did the Divinity of Christ Dies?

Christ remained faithful to His humanity even unto death. Jesus fully surrendered Himself to His human nature by laying aside his divinity-resisting the temptation to keep Himself alive through His divinity...And allowed his entire personage to experience death as we (humans) would experience death...

"HE[Jesus] COULD IN HIS DIVINE PERSON EVER HAVE WITHSTOOD THE ADVANCES OF DEATH AND REFUSED TO COME UNDER ITS DOMINION; BUT HE VOLUNTARILY LAID DOWN HIS LIFE, that in so doing He might give life and bring immortality to light. He must bear the sins of the world and endure the penalty which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. He died not through being compelled to die, but by His own free will. This was humility. The whole treasures of heaven were poured out in one Gift to save fallen man. He brought into His human nature all the life-giving energies that human beings will need and must receive. Wondrous combination of man and God! HE MIGHT HAVE ETERNALLY KEPT HUMAN NATURE WITHSTANDING THE INROADS OF DISEASE BY HIS DIVINE NATURE POURING IN VITALITY AND UNDECAYING VIGOR TO THE HUMAN. BUT HE HUMBLED HIMSELF TO MAN’S NATURE. HE DID THIS THAT THE SCRIPTURE MIGHT BE FULFILLED. The plan was entered into by the Son of God, knowing all the steps that He must descend in His humiliation to make an expiation for the sins of a condemned, groaning world." {Lt11-1887.17}

"Spirit of Jesus slept in the tomb"

“Jesus said to Mary, ‘Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father.’ When He closed His eyes in death upon the cross, THE SOUL OF CHRIST DID NOT GO AT ONCE TO HEAVEN, as many believe, or how could His words be true—‘I am not yet ascended to My Father’? THE SPIRIT OF JESUS SLEPT IN THE TOMB WITH HIS BODY, and did not wing its way to heaven, there to maintain a separate existence, and to look down upon the mourning disciples embalming the body from which it had taken flight. ALL THAT COMPRISED THE LIFE AND INTELLIGENCE OF JESUS REMAINED WITH HIS BODY in the sepulcher; and when He came forth it was as a WHOLE BEING; He did not have to summon HIS SPIRIT FROM HEAVEN. He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again.”—5 Bible Commentary, 1150-1151.

Note: Before His incarnation, Christ was fully divine w/ divinity and was capable of being omnipresent which he shared with the Father. Though Father and Son are spiritual Beings, Father and Son both have corporeal (bodily form which remained local) and non-corporeal (omnipresent) aspect to their personality. Father and Son’s non-corporeal personality is the “Third Person” or the “Holy Spirit”, a combination of their Spirit.

During His incarnation, Christ was fully divine and fully human, equipped with a spirit no different than a human spirit/mind. The “non-corporeal aspect of His divine personage which previously was omnipresent is now localized in the body. Thus we can say that it was only the Spirit of the Father that operated in omnipresent capacity during Christ’s incarnation.

After ascension, Christ’s omnipresence was restored but is now infused with His human experience. His previous “corporeal personality” is also infused with His human body while His non-corporeal personality is now infused with human mind/spirit. Thus, when we receive the Holy Spirit we receive the very life of Christ that is also imbued with his human experience along with the Father’s Spirit.

That said, I believe the whole Person of Christ died which includes His mind which governs both of His nature. This mind is what I think EGW is referring to as being asleep in the grave. I also believe Christ’s divinity (an unconscious but integral aspect to Christ’s blended personality that could have kept Him alive remained with Him locally in the grave) Again, keep in mind, while Christ had the dual personality-divine and human, he had/has one conscious mind. Thus, all that went into the grave remained in the grave unconscious.

"How impotent on this occasion was the power of the kings and rulers. They could not act their will on Him who was slain for the sins of the world. Had it been possible, the prince of darkness with his apostate army would have kept forever sealed the tomb that held the Son of God. But a heavenly host guarded the sepulcher. With majestic and terrible tread, the GOD OF HEAVEN, FOLLOWED BY THE ANGELS, WALKED ROUND THE TOMB OF CHRIST. They had been unseen witnesses of all that had taken place in the mock trial in the judgment hall. Every action was noted, every taunt recorded." 12MR 421.3

Note: Why wouldn't she say that God the Father, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit walked around the tomb sorrowful for the dead flesh that didn't really matter anyway because it was just a temporary shell that would make everyone think that Jesus actually died, but really didn't?

Thus, we can conclude that Christ did NOT maintained ANOTHER CONSCIOUS divine personage-a nature that was separated from his humanity. It “did not wing its way to heaven, there to maintain a separate existence.” But “all that comprised the life and intelligent of Jesus remained with His body,” including his spirit, and the divine nature which could have kept Himself alive.

Final Thoughts

If you look at the Bible and the testimonies holistically I believe you will see that God the Father raised Jesus by calling Him back to the life that was still within Himself. You can liken this to someone waking someone else up from his or her sleep. The external source is the impetus that wakes the person up but they do not provide life to them for that is already there.

Comments from others

Comments from SDA pioneers:

“And here is shown how remarkably the widest extremes meet in theology. The highest Trinitarians and lowest Unitarians meet and are perfectly united on the death of Christ—the faith of both amounts to Socinianism. Unitarians believe that Christ was a prophet, an inspired teacher, but merely human; that his death was that of a human body only. Trinitarians hold that the term “Christ” comprehends two distinct and separate natures: one that was merely human; the other, the second person in the trinity, who dwelt in the flesh for a brief period, but could not possibly suffer, or die; that the Christ that died was only the human nature in which the divinity had dwelt. Both classes have a human offering, and nothing more. No matter how exalted the pre-existent Son was; no matter how glorious, how powerful, or even eternal; if the manhood only died, the sacrifice was only human.And so far as the vicarious death of Christ is concerned, this is Socinianism. Thus the remark is just, that the doctrine of a trinity degrades the Atonement, resting it solely on a human offering as a basis. A few quotations will show the correctness of this assertion.” (J. H. Waggoner, 1884, The Atonement In The Light Of Nature And Revelation, pages 164, 165)