Isn't Lazarus the first one to resurrect?

[Wretched_one]

Good evening to all of you my friends!
Isn’t Lazarus the fiist one to resurrect? How does that change anything?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Gorgias]

The resurrection of Lazarus was only a physical resurrection – that is, only his body was resuscitated. In other words, Lazarus was still guaranteed to “die” in his human body.

I think the question you’re asking is whether this has any effect on Christian belief, vis-a-vis Jesus’ resurrection. The two (Lazarus’ and Jesus’) are different in their nature, though… so there’s no effect on Christian belief.

Hope this helps…!

 

[DCNBILL]

Good evening to all of you my friends!
Isn’t Lazarus the fiist one to resurrect? How does that change anything?
Thanks in advance.

There is a difference between resurrection and the “rising from the dead” that Lazarus experienced. In The Resurrection we will have glorified bodies that will live forever as Jesus did after His resurrection. Lazarus was raised back to his original life after he died and he died a second time in his natural life.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Good evening to all of you my friends!
Isn’t Lazarus the fiist one to resurrect? How does that change anything?
Thanks in advance.

As other posters have said, Lazarus was raised from the dead, and this is not the same thing as Resurrection.

In fact, Lazarus was almost certainly not the first person to be brought back from the dead. Christ raised others as well.

But the Lord Jesus Christ is the first man to have undergone Resurrection, in which one is restored to bodily life in an immortal, glorified body. That is what Jesus got to do first.

 

[midori]

The same argument could be made for several people:

The widow’s son (Luke 7)

11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

The daughter of Jairus in Luke 8

51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Even Paul did it in Acts 20:

7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

and Peter in Acts 9:

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

and even Elijah in the OT (1 Kings 17):

17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

and Elisha in 2 Kings 4:

32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

and even 2 Kings 13 claims that even Elisha’s bones had a miracle attached to them

20 Elisha died and was buried.

Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

But all of those people died again.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Jesus is the first to rise from the dead in a glorified body. That is the difference compared to any other resurrection.

 

[GEddie]

As others have stated, there were other reanimations of dead people prior to Lazarus, including in the OT, and this was just a return to their human bodies; they would later face death again.

Our LORD did not simply return to His natural human body: He became a glorified body (what S. Paul calls pneumatikon soma) and “is never to die again; death no longer has power over Him.”

NoBODY else in human life has expressed such a resurrection as our LORD’s.

ICXC NIKA

 

[cargau]

As other posters have said, Lazarus was raised from the dead, and this is not the same thing as Resurrection.

In fact, Lazarus was almost certainly not the first person to be brought back from the dead. Christ raised others as well.

But the Lord Jesus Christ is the first man to have undergone Resurrection, in which one is restored to bodily life in an immortal, glorified body. That is what Jesus got to do first.

In 2Kings:13:21 a man came back to life after coming in contact with the bones of Elisha. Also there is the story of Elijah being taken on a fiery chariot to heaven. The first case was not resurrection and the second may be depending if Elijah actually died before being taken to heaven.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Lazarus, et al, was resuscitated, not resurrected. They later died.

 

[patrick457]

Jesus is the first to rise from the dead in a glorified body. That is the difference compared to any other resurrection.

I should point out that this is what exactly made Christianity (as it would later be known) rather a difficult faith to follow for Jews at the time: it preaches that a single Man was raised from the dead, when just about most Jews thought that resurrection was an event that would take place in the end of days - and which would involve each and every dead person, not just one.