Who resurrected Jesus?

But when we come to the Resurrection of Christ, while it was the expression of the exceeding greatness of the power of God (Eph. 1:19-20), which shows the folly of comparing it to a plant, God raising Him from the dead as Man, we must remember that it is also attributed to His own divine power (John 2:19, 21 and 10:17-18) in which He was declared to be the Son of God with power. (Rom. 1:4.) And also to the Spirit in 1 Peter 3:18, so that the whole Trinity was engaged in this wonderful act of divine power and love.

With regard to the expression, "the Spirit of holiness," I would notice that the Holy Spirit is, so to speak, the operative power in the resurrection as in everything that God has created or done. Thus Peter says, with regard to the Lord's resurrection, "Put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18); and of the believer it is said, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you," Rom. 8:11. But why is it spoken of as "according to the Spirit of holiness"? Because the Holy Spirit is, as it were, the operative power of God for producing in man all that is well-pleasing to Him. This power is, of course, always in God. By it He created the world; by it He wrought in the instruments of the Old Testament and in the prophets. But now He had been acting in the human life of Christ, and in the production of the new form of humanity, according to this divine power. The prophets uttered what was given them to say, and with that the divine inspiration ceased; besides, what they announced was not for themselves. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. But Christ as Man was born of the Holy Spirit; His life, though human in every respect, was the expression of the power of the Holy Spirit. He cast out devils by the Holy Spirit. His words were spirit and life. The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily, but His humanity was the expression of that which was divine by the Holy Spirit, in love, in power, and specially in holiness. He was the Holy One of God. By the Holy Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God. In all things He served His Father; but His service was the perfect presentation of what was divine, of the Father Himself, in the midst of men - He, as to His humanity, by the Spirit, at every moment answering to the Godhead, the expression and effulgence of it without spot or blemish. All the offerings of the Old Testament are types of Christ; but in this connection the meat-offering is the corresponding and most striking type. Cakes of fine flour, unleavened, mingled with oil, anointed with oil, parted in pieces, and oil poured upon them. What a striking type of the humanity of Christ, which, as to its nature, was of the Spirit, and anointed with the Spirit, every part being characterised by the outpoured Spirit, and by which all the incense of His perfections was offered up to God as a sweet-smelling savour! So He had to be tried by fire, in death, to shew that all was a sweet savour, and nothing else. Finally, the power of the Holy Spirit was shewn in the greatest and most perfect way in the Lord's resurrection. Being put to death in the flesh, He was quickened by the Spirit. The Spirit, who in divine power had been energetic in His birth, and in His whole life, and by whom He at length offered Himself to God, manifested all His power in quickening Jesus from death. It is true indeed that He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father; also that He Himself raised up His body, the temple of God (John 2:19); but the Holy Spirit was the immediate agent in His resurrection (1 Peter 3:18); the body also of the risen One is a spiritual body.

Third, desire of Paul's prayer is that we might know the exceeding greatness of God's power toward us who believe (v.19). Here is power far exceeding all seen in the natural realm, and it is on behalf of believers. It is power already displayed in the resurrection of Christ, proving God's infinite capability to fulfill all His wonderful counsels in Christ. It is resurrection power accomplished in Christ -- God's own great work of power in raising Him from among the dead and seating Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies. It may be remarked here that the Lord Jesus personally said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," speaking of the temple of His body (Jn.2:19-21). He raised His own body, for He is God. 1 Peter 3:18 speaks of His being "made alive by the Spirit," for the Spirit is God. Romans 6:4 tells us He "was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father," for the Father is God. Therefore, the Trinity was engaged in this mighty work of Christ's resurrection.

In Ephesians 1:19-20, the Apostle desires us to know "What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Resurrection displays the mighty power of God, as also the power of the Son of God. Then Romans 6:4 teaches that "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father;" while 1 Peter 3:18 attributes the resurrection of Christ to the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Godhead are concerned with the resurrection of Christ. We have seen how God the Father intervenes, and how the Holy Spirit acted; but in John 2 the Lord said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up … but He spake of the temple of His body" (vv. 19, 21). Again, in John 10, the Lord says, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father" (vv. 17, 18). Do not these verses in John bring to our notice that, in His own resurrection, the Lord Jesus is demonstrated to be "The Son of God with power?"

It is just another aspect of the great truth of His resurrection. Where you quote, it is the Father Who raised Him. In John 2:19 the Lord said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up". Yet again Peter writes, "For Christ … being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). Each Divine Person was concerned in Christ's resurrection, and it depends on the objective in view as to which Divine Person is said to be active. The Lord Himself said of His life, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18).

The chief question is: Did our Lord go to Hades in a disembodied state? In fact, all depends on the question of what is the true meaning of the sentence, "quickened by the Spirit." Now, according to the interpretations of the men who teach that the Lord visited Hades, the spirits in prison, during the interval between His death and the morning of the third day, He descended into these regions while His dead body was still in the grave. Therefore, these teachers claim that His human spirit was quickened, which necessitates that the spirit which the dying Christ commended into the Father's hands had also died. This is not only incorrect doctrine, but it is an unsound and evil doctrine. Was the holy humanity of our Lord, body, soul and spirit dead? A thousands times No! Only His body died; that is the only part of Him which could die. The text makes this clear: "He was put to death in flesh," that is, His body. There could be no quickening of His spirit, for His spirit was alive. Furthermore, the word quickening, as we learn from Ephesians 1:20 and 2:5-6, by comparing the two passages, applies to His physical resurrection, it is the quickening of His body. To teach that the Lord Jesus was made alive before His resurrection is unscriptural. The "quickened by the Spirit" means the raising up of His body. His human spirit needed no quickening; it was His body and only His body. And the Spirit who did the quickening is not His own spirit, that is, His human spirit, but the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:11 speaks of the Spirit as raising Jesus from among the dead.

That is to say, that the Holy Spirit is the power that raised our Lord from the dead: and that same Spirit, indwelling the mortal bodies of the saints, is the pledge that their bodies shall be quickened by the same Power at the coming of the Lord (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Then He spoke of His coming death and resurrection in a veiled form. The Jews and His disciples did not understand what temple He meant. He spoke of His own body. "In three days I will raise it up." His resurrection was both through the power of God and by Himself. God raised Him up and He raised Himself up. This statement properly belongs to this Gospel in which we behold Him as the Son of God. The same statement we find in chapter 10:18--"I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again."

Notice, also, the expression — blessed one it is — that He is seated on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. That word "seated" suggests a voluntary act. He has taken His seat as one who had the right to do it. It would suggest what you have in John's Gospel as to our Lord's resurrection, where He says as to His human life, "No man taketh it from Me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." While His resurrection is in one connection spoken of as "by the glory of the Father," (that is, God's glory was active in raising Him from the dead) in others it is spoken of as His own voluntary act. He was not merely raised from the dead as though by a power external to Himself, but He rose as one who had right and power to do so, and over whom death had no authority, and who could not be held under its power. Having, therefore, accomplished His work, having glorified God, there is nothing to hinder His taking His seat. Yea, God Himself — His very glory, His character, demand that the One who fully magnified His righteousness on Calvary should have His place in the highest heavens. How perfectly satisfied, yea, glorified, is God that He has placed the very person — from whom He turned, forsaking Him in righteous judgment when He hung, as our Substitute, upon the cross — placed Him now at His own right hand in the heavens.

But in His own case there was no visible agent. No eye saw Him rise. GOD raised Him from the dead, is reiterated again and again in the Acts of the Apostles.