According to Ehrman, these two Christologies existed alongside each other, calling the "low Christology" an " adoptionist Christology, and "the "high Christology" an "incarnation Christology." [186] While adoptionism was declared heresy at the end of the 2nd century, [204] [205] it was adhered to by the Ebionites, [206] who regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his divinity and his virgin birth, [207] and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish law and rites. [208] They revered James the brother of Jesus (James the Just); and rejected Paul the Apostle as an apostate from the Law. [209] They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a "reaction to the law-free Gentile mission." [210] Are you in a hopeless situation? There is nothing that our God cannot do. You can have hope because anything is possible. Choose to embrace the hope that is offered to you in Jesus. Let hope lift your spirits. Easter is the power of God’s love revealed.

The Greeks held that the soul of a meritorious man could be translated into a god in the process of apotheosis (divination) which then transferred them to a special place of honour. [77] Successors of Alexander the Great made this idea very well known throughout the Middle East through coins bearing his image, a privilege previously reserved for gods. [78] The idea was adopted by the Roman emperors, and in the Imperial Roman concept of apotheosis, the earthly body of the recently deceased emperor was replaced by a new and divine one as he ascended into heaven. [79] These stories proliferated in the middle to late first century. [80] Jesus crossed all of the boundaries that separated the people of his time because he viewed the world from the perspective of what unites us, not what divides us. In Resurrecting Jesus, Adya embarks on a fascinating reconsideration of the man known as Jesus, examining his life from birth to Resurrection to reveal a timeless model of awakening and enlightened engagement with the world. Through close consideration of the archetypal figures and events of the Gospels, Adya issues a call to "live the Christ" in a way that is unique to each of us.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” Dale Allison is one the very best Jesus scholars of our time. The six essays in this volume show him to be the master of the pertinent Gospel and early Jewish texts, modern biblical scholarship, and everything from patristics to modern psychology and theology. Moreover, they sparkle with his intellectual independence, fresh insights, and good judgment." --Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge, MA The resurrection of Jesus has long been central to the Christian faith and appears within diverse elements of the Christian tradition, from feasts to artistic depictions to religious relics. In Christian teachings, the sacraments derive their saving power from the passion and resurrection of Christ, upon which the salvation of the world entirely depends. [275] Easter offers hope, of renewed relationship with God Almighty. Easter offers hope in a hopeless situation. New growth springs forth following a harsh, cold winter season. The fresh green leaves of spring sprout forth. The budding of trees speaks of new life out of what appeared to be dead or dormant trees. One of the letters sent by Paul the Apostle to one of the early Greek churches, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, contains one of the earliest Christian creeds referring to post-mortem appearances of Jesus, and expressing the belief that he was raised from the dead, namely 1 Corinthians 15:3–8. [21] [22] [23] It is widely accepted that this creed predates Paul and the writing of First Corinthians. [16] Scholars have contended that in his presentation of the resurrection, Paul refers to this as an earlier authoritative tradition, transmitted in a rabbinic style, that he received and has passed on to the church at Corinth. [note 5] Geza Vermes writes that the creed is "a tradition he [Paul] has inherited from his seniors in the faith concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus". [25] The creed's ultimate origins are probably within the Jerusalem apostolic community, having been formalised and passed on within a few years of the resurrection. [note 6] Hans Grass argues for an origin in Damascus, [26] and according to Paul Barnett, this creedal formula, and others, were variants of the "one basic early tradition that Paul "received" in Damascus from Ananias in about 34 [AD]" after his conversion. [27]

Jesus crossed all of the boundary lines that separated the people of his time because he viewed the world from the perspective of what unites us, not what divides us. In these intimate sessions, Adya invites us to consider the man known as Jesus as a model of enlightened engagement with the world. He examines the story of Jesus from his birth to the Resurrection to reveal how the central events in Jesus' life parallel the stages of spiritual awakening that we may be called to experience ourselves. Adya concludes by illuminating five central archetypes of the Jesus story, Peter, John, Mary Magdalene, Judas, and Pontius Pilate, and the key insights they hold about the way we might relate to the spiritual impulse within. Asked to teach in 1996 by his Zen teacher of 14 years, Adyashanti offers teachings that are free of any tradition or ideology. "The Truth I point to is not confined within any religious point of view, belief system, or doctrine, but is open to all and found within all." For more information, please visit adyashanti.org. Do you believe in the resurrection? Do you have the hope of eternal life? Do you know Jesus as savior? All are welcome to follow Jesus. Understand, knowing about Jesus is not the same as having faith in Jesus. Knowing about Jesus is not the same as trusting and believing Jesus is your resurrection savior.Timothy 2:8: "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead... this is my gospel for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained...". [43] Two men appeared to the women in gleaming clothes. The women were frightened but the men said: Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again’ (Luke 24:5–7). Where is your focus today? The pain? The problem? The unknown? Don’t look past the fact that the tomb is empty. Don’t look past what the empty tomb means. Realize the empty tomb speaks of resurrection hope. In Judaism, the idea of resurrection first emerges in the 2nd century BC Book of Daniel as a belief in the resurrection of the soul alone, which was then developed by the Pharisees as a belief in bodily resurrection, an idea completely alien to the Greeks. [68] Josephus tells of the three main Jewish sects of the 1st century AD, that the Sadducees held that both soul and body perished at death; the Essenes that the soul was immortal but the flesh was not; and the Pharisees that the soul was immortal and that the body would be resurrected to house it. [69] Of these three positions, Jesus and the early Christians appear to have been closest to that of the Pharisees. [70] Steve Mason notes that for the Pharisees, "the new body is a special, holy body", which is different from the old body, "a view shared to some extent by the ex-Pharisee Paul (1. Cor. 15:35ff)". [71] It is early in the morning. It has been three days from the time Jesus was crucified, died, and laid in a tomb. Mary heads to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus for burial. There wasn’t time to anoint the body when Jesus was first placed in the tomb. When Mary arrived, she found the tomb empty and open. The stone had been rolled away. Mary feared that someone had taken Jesus’ body. Fear must have gripped her heart.

Peter claimed forcefully that Jesus appeared to him, [223] [185] and legitimised by Jesus's appearance he assumed leadership of the group of early followers, forming the Jerusalem ekklēsia mentioned by Paul. [223] [167] He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord," [224] [225] which may explain why the early texts contain scarce information about Peter. [225] [note 24] According to Gerd Lüdemann, Peter was the first who had a vision of Jesus, [221] 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. [227] [note 21]

Furthermore, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). He claimed to be the resurrection Himself; He has absolute authority over life and death (Revelation 1:18). Jesus is God. He could say He would raise up His body on the third day because He, being God, has power over death.