"According to the Scriptures"

In the Nicene Creed, we confess: “On the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures.” The Son of God, who for us men and for our salvation was incarnate, crucified, suffered, and buried, was raised on the third day “according to the Scriptures.” 

In the Gospel of John, we read that Peter and John, even when they saw the empty tomb, “did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9). The resurrection of the Son of God on the third day must be understood according to the Scriptures, that is, according to the witness of the prophets and the apostles (Acts 10:39-43).

In the closing verses of Luke’s Gospel, the risen Lord Jesus says to his disciples:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:44-48)

As we read on in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles will cite Scriptures from the Old Testament that prophesy Jesus’s resurrection. For example, both Peter and Paul quote Psalm 16:10 in their Gospel preaching (Acts 2:27; 13:35): “for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption.”

But when we confess that the Son of God “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” there is more in view than the fulfillment of specific prophesies. We are confessing that the whole narrative of Scripture points to and is fulfilled in Jesus’s resurrection. And we are confessing that we can only understand the resurrection of Jesus within the narrative of Scripture. 

Peter and John witnessed the empty tomb and met the risen Lord Jesus Christ on the third day, but they did not yet understand the Scripture. The risen Lord Jesus appointed the apostles as witnesses of the resurrection (Luke 24:45), but only after he opened the Scriptures and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:48). 

We believe the Son of God “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” The apostles proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus’s death and resurrection according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3-4). We can only know the meaning of Jesus’s death and resurrection if we understand the Scriptures. In my next note, I will briefly consider the meaning of Jesus’s death and resurrection according to the witness of the prophets, the Old Testament. In the following note, I will consider the meaning of Jesus’s death and resurrection according to the witness of the apostles, the New Testament.