The question of an empty grave

A stern statement from any comment further follows the creed: “and he was buried.” This states that Jesus did die, that he was fully involved in the human part of death. He passed the path of death, including the bitter and seemingly hopeless end in the grave. Jesus’ tomb was obviously known. And here it is naturally the question immediately arises: Did he stay in the grave? Or is there a grave left empty after his resurrection?
This question has been widely discussed in modern theology. Mostly it is finally found that the tomb is empty. It cannot be evidence favoring the resurrection. Even if it were empty, it could be explained in another way. It then deduces that question an empty grave is not essential and that this body can be left aside. And that often means so much that it is quite possible that the tomb was not empty, which at least avoids disputes with modern science possibilities of bodily resurrection. But behind it all, it only costs an incorrect question. Of course, the empty tomb itself cannot be proof favoring the resurrection. According to the evangelist John, Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty, and it came immediately to the knowledge that someone had to take the body of Jesus. Alone an empty tomb cannot prove that a resurrection has taken place. It is true. However, the question can be asked the opposite: Is the resurrection compatible with retaining the body in the grave?

Could Jesus rise from the dead if he was still lying in the grave? What would be that a resurrection? At present, several conceptions of the resurrection have been invented, for which the fate of the body is not relevant. In truth, however, the resurrection’s very content also melts away from them, and one must ask what kind of reality in this kind of Christianity at all. Be that as it may, Thomas Song, Ulrich Wilkens, and other authors are right to state that in Jerusalem at that time, it would be simply impossible to announce a resurrection if it were possible to point out that there is a dead body in the grave. Therefore, when placed correctly, the question must be said that although the empty grave as such certainly cannot be evidence of the resurrection, it remains a necessary condition for faith in the resurrection, which, however, concerns the body and through it the person within its integrity.

The motto of St. Paul is about the empty tomb explicitly does not say, but is quite obviously assumed. All of them the four gospels of him in their accounts of the resurrection they talk quite extensively. To understand the empty tomb from a theological point of view, I consider it important to read the passage from the Turkish discipline of St. Peter, where the apostle openly announces Jesus to the assembled crowd for the first time resurrection. He does not announce it in his own words, but quotes from 16: 9-11, where it says: “… My body rests in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, and shalt not suffer that thy saint may see corruption. He will show me the way of life … “(cf. Acts 2: 26-28) Peter quotes the text of the psalm according to the Greek Bible. This is different from the Hebrew text, in which we read: “Thou shalt not give my soul to the grave; and thou shalt not allow thy saint to see the sepulcher. Shows the way of life for me. ”(Z 16,10-11) According to this wording, the psalmist prays in the certainty that in a situation of danger in which he apparently found himself, God would protect him and save him from death; therefore, he can be sure that he will not see the grave. The wording which Peter quotes is different: the point here is that the prayer will not remain in the underworld and see no violation. Peter assumes that this psalm originally prayed to David, and therefore states that David also had this hope she did not fulfill: “He died, they buried him, and his grave is with us until now. “(Acts 2:29), A grave with the body of the deceased it is proof that no resurrection has taken place.

The psalms are nevertheless true: for they are true of David. Yes, Jesus turned out to be the true David even in that the words of the promise were fulfilled on him: “You will not allow that thy saint may see corruption. ” About whether this speech comes from Peter or who else he could have compiled it and when and where exactly it was created, we don’t have to discuss at this point. In any case, it goes about the old type of proclamation of the resurrection and high authority. This wording in the early Church also indicates that it was attributed to St. Peter himself and was considered the initial announcement of the resurrection.

When in Jerusalem’s original creed, we are preserved by St. Paul, who says that Jesus rose according to I certainly write this as a key biblical testimony for the original text in the mind of Psalm 16. It is clearly said here that Christ, the definitive David, will not see corruption – and that so, he really had to rise from the dead. “Do not see the violation” – this is nothing more than the definition of the resurrection. Until the decay meant definitive confirmation of death. Death triumphs in the decay of the body, which it disintegrated into basic elements – man thus dispersed and returned to the universe. The deceased man no longer exists as a human being – at most, he remains as a shadow in the underworld. From this point of view, it was of fundamental importance for the early church that the body of Jesus did not decompose. Only then was it true that he did not remain in the grip of death and that life in it really prevailed over death? What Early church read from the word Z 16:10 according to the Septuagint also determined the thinking of the whole period patristic. The resurrection essentially involves the fact that Jesus’ body was not subject to corruption. In this sense, the tomb is empty as part of the announcement of resurrection by a fact which, in the strict sense of the word, corresponds to Scripture. Theological speculation, according to which it is possible to merge Jesus’ resurrection and decay in his bodies, is inherent in modern thought. Still, they are in clear contradiction with biblical opinion. In this regard, it is confirmed that the declaration of resurrection would not be possible if the body of Jesus remained to lie in the tomb.