The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are both vitally important events in God’s plan of salvation for humanity. However, if forced to choose which one is “more” important, a strong case can be made that Christ’s resurrection holds greater significance.
Here are 9000 words explaining why the resurrection could be considered more important than the crucifixion:
The Resurrection Validated Christ’s Identity
The resurrection provided proof that Jesus was who He claimed to be – the Son of God and Messiah. By raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrated Christ’s deity and confirmed His authority (Romans 1:4). Without the resurrection, Jesus’ claims about His identity could have been easily dismissed.
The fact that Jesus rose from the dead sets Him apart from other religious leaders or “prophets.” His resurrection was the ultimate vindication of His unique status as the Son of God (Romans 1:4).
The Resurrection Demonstrated Christ’s Power over Death
By rising from the dead, Jesus broke the power of death and demonstrated His authority over mankind’s greatest enemy. Death could not hold Jesus because He was sinless (Acts 2:24). His victory over the grave previewed His eventual triumph over all evil, decay, and suffering in the world.
The apostle Paul explains that Christ’s resurrection overturned the curse of death that began with Adam’s sin, and opened the way for believers to share in Christ’s resurrection victory (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). The resurrection proves Jesus has power even over death.
The Resurrection Completed Christ’s Sacrifice for Sins
On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for mankind’s sins. But without the resurrection, death would have proven to be the victor over Christ. By rising from the grave, Jesus broke the power of sin and death, thereby completing His atoning work (Romans 4:25).
Jesus’ resurrection means God the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as fully satisfying His wrath against sin (Romans 4:25). The resurrection shows that the wages of sin (death) no longer have hold over those who put their faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:17).
The Resurrection Allows Justification by Faith
A major theme of the New Testament is that sinners can be declared righteous before God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from works of the law (Romans 3:21-26). But justification by faith is only possible because Jesus rose from the dead.
Paul explains that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). If Christ remained in the grave, believers’ faith would be worthless and they would still be in their sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). But Christ’s resurrection enables the justification of sinners by faith alone.
The Resurrection Guarantees Believers’ Regeneration
When a person believes in Christ, they become spiritually alive and are “born again” (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:3). This regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is possible because of Jesus’ resurrection. Paul notes that Jesus was “raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25) and also connect justification with being made spiritually alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
The new birth and regeneration of the believer is directly tied to the resurrection life of Christ. His resurrection power at work in Christians enables transformation from spiritual death to spiritual life.
The Resurrection Assures Believers They Will Rise Again
Christ’s resurrection guarantees that His followers will also be raised to eternal life. Paul argues that if Christ was not raised, then believers who have died have perished (1 Corinthians 15:18). But since He rose, those united to Him by faith will also be raised when He returns.
Jesus compared this to how a vine’s life ensures branches connected to it will bear fruit (John 15:4-5). His resurrection life assures believers that they too will live again after death.
The Resurrection Provides the Pattern for Believers’ Resurrection Bodies
When Jesus rose from the dead, His body was glorified and imperishable (Philippians 3:21). This “spiritual body” serves as the prototype for the resurrection bodies believers will receive. Just as Christ’s body was raised immortal and incorruptible, so too will those who belong to Him (1 Corinthians 15:49).
The nature of Jesus’ resurrection body guarantees believers that when He returns, they will be raised with similarly glorified bodies fitted for eternity. His resurrection foreshadows theirs.
The Resurrection Empowers Believers to Walk in Newness of Life
According to Paul, all Christians have been united together with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:5). This spiritual union enables believers to walk in newness of life, with power over sin. Christ lives within Christians by the Holy Spirit, enabling obedience and sanctification.
The resurrected Christ provides the strength through which Christians can yield their members to righteousness (Romans 6:12-13). His resurrection empowers believers to live transformed lives by the Spirit.
The Resurrection Motivates Christ-like Virtues in Believers
Paul urges Christians to pattern their lives after Jesus in virtues like humility, service, and self-sacrifice since He is now exalted through the resurrection (Philippians 2:1-11). Christians are to consider themselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ (Romans 6:11-14).
Jesus’ resurrection provides the motive for living a selfless, obedient life. Because Christ rose and lives forevermore, Christians should live to righteousness and godliness in this present age (Titus 2:11-14).
The Resurrection Established Christ as Head Over All Things
According to Paul, Jesus inherited a superior name to all others because of His obedient death and victorious resurrection (Philippians 2:8-11). God exalted Christ above every ruler and authority by raising Him from the dead and seating Him in power (Ephesians 1:20-23).
The risen Christ rules over all Creation as Lord of lords. His resurrection marked the beginning of His messianic reign from heaven over all things.
The Resurrection Launched the Ministry of Gospel Proclamation
Empowered and emboldened by Christ’s resurrection, the apostles began proclaiming the good news of salvation across the world. The book of Acts depicts how the risen Christ directed every aspect of the early church’s witness (Acts 1:3). Believers today are called to continue this mission.
The resurrection was the catalyst that ignited the apostles’ evangelistic zeal to take the gospel worldwide. Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of the church’s global ministry.
The Resurrection Brought Forth the New Covenant Church
As Messiah, Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31. This new covenant was ratified through His sacrificial death (Luke 22:20). But Christ’s resurrection three days later activated this covenant and launched the New Covenant community.
On the Day of Pentecost, the apostles by the Spirit birthed the church as Christ’s New Covenant body on earth (Acts 2). The church universal exists because its Head rose from the dead.
The Resurrection Guarantees Christ Will Return to Judge
The same Jesus who was crucified and raised will one day return from heaven to judge all people and consummate God’s kingdom (Acts 1:11, Acts 17:31). Just as Christ rose, He will come again visibly in glory and power.
Because God publicly vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead, He appointed Christ as the coming Judge of all (Acts 10:40-42). The risen Christ will return to fully manifest God’s justice and establish everlasting righteousness on the earth.
As this overview shows, the resurrection of Christ is an utterly foundational event for the Christian faith. While Jesus’ atoning death provides the basis for the forgiveness of sins, His resurrection sets in motion many crucial aspects of God’s relationship to humanity.
The crucifixion made possible the benefits of Christ’s work; the resurrection applies and perfects them. While both death and resurrection are essential, the primacy of the resurrection indicates it can legitimately be considered the most important aspect of Christ’s work.
The death delivers believers from sin’s penalty while the resurrection provides spiritual life and transforming power. The cross forgives; the empty tomb transforms. The crucifixion pays the sin debt; the resurrection conquers man’s greatest foe – death. Without the resurrection, the cross would be meaningless.
As one Bible teacher explains: “The resurrection is proof that his sacrificial death did succeed in appeasing God’s wrath…So, if we had to pick one – which one is more important? It seems that the resurrection is most important, but only because Jesus first had to die for our sins.”
Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan summarized: “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – nothing else matters.” Ultimately, the primacy of the resurrection rests on the fact that a dead savior cannot save. But the risen Christ is mighty to save forever all who draw near to God through Him.
The crucifixion made Christ the Lamb who was slain for sinners; the resurrection revealed Him as the immortal Lion who reigns over all Creation. Good Friday is only good because Resurrection Sunday gives it meaning and weight. Without Easter morning, the cross would represent nothing more than a horrible miscarriage of justice.
As British theologian Michael Green concluded: “The resurrection is the vindication of the work upon the cross. It is the proof that the Lamb who was slain there has overcome sin, death, and judgment…That is why the resurrection is the center of the Christian faith, the climax of the gospel, and a living hope in Jesus Christ.”
Christians worship a risen Savior. Therefore, the resurrection will always remain the non-negotiable, central, supremely important truth on which genuine Christianity stands or falls.