# Why did it take Jesus 3 days to rise from the dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 28, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959 "2008-12-28T14:56:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/41 "2008-12-29T02:02:58Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > No, he was really dead. > > Really most sincerely dead. actually the tradition goes, he rose and was seen outside the cave. If he sees his shadow we have six more weeks of winter. or something like that ---
**Author:** ![Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hap_Shaughnessy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/42 "2008-12-29T07:06:46Z")
Zombies do require at least the beginnings of decomposition to set in… it’s vampires that can reanimate in less than a day. Edit: On second thought, Jesus may qualify as some sort of reverse-vampire – he requires his followers to drink his blood. I’m not sure how this impacts his undead status though. Further research is needed… ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/43 "2008-12-29T07:15:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What is the significance of the number “3” in the resurrection story? Is there a reason why it took so long for an omnipotent being to bring his only son back to life, and does it tie into the other 3’s in the Bible, such as the cock crowing 3 times, the Holy trinity, etc.? He didn’t actually die. He had a healing factor like Wolverine and that’s how long it took for him to heal and claw his way to the top of the bodies, take a bath and acquire new clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/44 "2008-12-29T08:34:56Z")
> [@Hap\_Shaughnessy](#): > > Zombies do require at least the beginnings of decomposition to set in… it’s vampires that can reanimate in less than a day. > > Edit: > > On second thought, Jesus may qualify as some sort of reverse-vampire – he requires his followers to drink his blood. I think that transubstantiation thing is an example of Jesus’s power of prophecy. When the zombie apocalypse comes, the Catholics will be able to pacify the zombies by transubstantiating those crackers of theirs into Jesus brains. Of course, this will result in the Catholic congregation growing much larger, if somewhat smellier. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/45 "2008-12-29T08:48:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why did it take Jesus 3 days to rise from the dead? Well, he didn’t want to show off. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/46 "2008-12-29T12:17:26Z")
He was looking for some plasters to put on those holes in his hands and feet. Plus he had a headache ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/47 "2008-12-29T12:35:22Z")
Groupings of three are asthetically pleasing. Any home decorating show will group accessories in threes. Call it “decoration of the soul.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/48 "2008-12-29T13:11:01Z")
God seems to use certain numbers, though I don’t know the reason why, it acts as confirmation. Three days seems to be a common time for the dead to rise (Lazarus, Jonah) but not exclusively (Acts 20: Eutychus) as some people are raised pretty quick. > [@Aswan](#): > > Let’s remember Lazarus: it had been three days and Jesus was warned not to enter the tomb because “he stinketh.” To be truly palpable, Jesus had to stink for a while. It never said that Lazarus stinketh, just that the people didn’t want to open the tomb because of fear of the stink. Also as written about Jesus: [QUOTE=Acts 2:31] Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. [/QUOTE] I would say no to ‘stinketh’ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/49 "2008-12-29T13:42:33Z")
If Jesus were God, he would know he was going to rise from the dead. Some sacrifice. “Jesus gave up a weekend for your sins” isn’t that great a catch phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/50 "2008-12-29T14:09:42Z")
The significance of three days is that, according to Jewish burial customs traced back to BCE times, the body began to rot on the 4th day. By saying Jesus rised up on the third day, it conveys that his body never went into decay (unlike Lazarus). In Mark’s Gospel, there isn’t even a resurrection scene to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/51 "2008-12-29T14:22:51Z")
> [@the raindog](#): > > Uh, the Holy trinity is **not** in the bible. Cite this comprehensively and authoritatively please. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/52 "2008-12-29T17:02:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Thank you for the correction. I had assumed it was a Christian concept-my bad. It is, and it’s held by the overwhelming majority of Christians as an article of faith. Without disparaging **the raindog** , he belongs to a splinter group that does not. Nowhere in the Bible is the Trinity specifically discussed, but there are a few places that allude to it: Matthew 28:19, I John 5:7, and the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel, where Jesus mentions asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit in his place, come to mind. (And I refuse to get into a critical discussion of those passages; I’m just noting they are suggestive of trinitarian belief.) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/53 "2008-12-29T17:45:18Z")
All right, point A. It was evident to anyone with half a brain that what was claimed for Jesus, at a specific time and place, was strongly suggestive of the Dying God meme of agricultural mystery religions popular in that whole area. More than a little symbolism was borrowed from them. (Lewis, following others, argues mor convincingly than I can for the typological significance of those “corn king” religions – an omnipotent God foreshadowing what he has planned in order to evoke the right atmosphere of belief, and all that.) But the key points are these: 1. Jesus, the “spotless lamb of God,” was executed at the time the Passover lamb was traditionally slain and offered as a sacrifice for sin. That’s a key point – he had done nothing to die for; his willing self-sacrifice came to be seen as atoning for all sin in the manner that the Passover lamb was in Temple times a Jewish sin sacrifice. 2. He descended to Sheol to save the righteous /faithful dead from shadow existence. Meanwhile on Earth it’s the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day, the day of rest. 3. He rises on the third day, the First Day – as the firstborn of the New Creation, the harbinger of what is to . This is important and underemphasized. People did not rise from the dead in the First Century any more than thy do in the 21st. It was something strange, something different. And whatever the deal behind the Resurrection is, it’s described by all four evangelists as being something new and different. The Jesus that’s walked Palestine teaching, eating and drinking with people, is all of a sudden able to do spiffy Star Trek-transporter appearances and disappearances – and yet can eat and drink with them just like before. He has overcome death and human limitations. Catch the freeing significance of that from a mythical point of view even if you cannot subscribe to it as article of belief. Note: the three days and three nights thing comes from Matthew pointing out the parallel to how long Jonah made his home in that fish’s abdomen – and Matthew was looking for anything that could be seen as fulfillment of prophecy Jesus himself always said “on the third day.” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/54 "2008-12-29T17:51:27Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > It is, and it’s held by the overwhelming majority of Christians as an article of faith. Without disparaging **the raindog** , he belongs to a splinter group that does not. > > Nowhere in the Bible is the Trinity specifically discussed, but there are a few places that allude to it: Matthew 28:19, I John 5:7, and the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel, where Jesus mentions asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit in his place, come to mind. (And I refuse to get into a critical discussion of those passages; I’m just noting they are suggestive of trinitarian belief.) I’m as much a Trinitarian as anyone here AND a fan of the Textus Receptus Greek NT, but I wouldn’t be using I John 5:7 as a proof-text in a debate on the subject. BUT there are plenty of Father, Son, Spirit passages which, while not necessarily promoting the “One God in Three Persons” idea, are at least Triadic is not Trinitarian. To the OP, there is a few “three day” references in the OT which Jesus may have referenced. Jonah in the Whale is one. Another is “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” (Hosea 6:2) Here’s a list from a ToC of a book about Biblical “third day” references- [http://www.armageddonbooks.com/408thirdday.html](http://www.armageddonbooks.com/408thirdday.html) … Raised “Early” the Third Day The Sign of Jonah the Prophet “Christ Our Passover” and “First Fruits” Decay on the Third Day Hosea and the Third Day Motif Abraham’s Offering of Isaac on the Third Day Joseph Imprisons His Brothers for Three Days Meeting God at Mount Sinai on the Third Day Preparing to Take the Promised Land on the Third Day Elijah and a Three-Year Motif King Hezekiah Healed on the Third Day Queen Esther Saves the Jews on the Third Day Finishing the Church’s Mission on the Third Day Finding the Boy Jesus on the Third Day ---
**Author:** ![bink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@bink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bink)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/55 "2008-12-29T17:53:31Z")
I think it was just to build up suspense, like Harry Houdini sitting and reading backstage when he’d already escaped. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/56 "2008-12-29T18:04:14Z")
Because David Blaine had done it in four. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/57 "2008-12-29T18:06:13Z")
On the “three days and three nights” thing, some Christian groups- often Armstrongist but also more orthodox independent fundamentalist groups- teach that the Crucifixion was actually Wed or Thurs & the next “Sabbath” day was a special festival Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath. The chronology usually goes like this- Wed 3pm- Jesus dead, hastily wrapped & buried before 6pm/sundown Thurs- special Festival Sabbath Friday- Jewish leaders request guard from Pilate for tomb, Women buy & prepare burial spices, everyone retires at sundown for weekly Sabbath Sat- weekly Sabbath until sundown, then Jesus rises sometime between then and Sun sunrise- women come to tomb, find it empty, Jesus appears to them. So Wed night, Thurs day & night, Friday day & night, Sat day= 3 days & 3 nights OR Thurs 3pm- Jesus dead, hastily wrapped & buried, Jewish leaders request guard from Pilate for tomb, women buy & prepare burial spices, everyone retires at 6 pm/sundown for Friday- special Festival Sabbath Sat- weekly Sabbath Sun sunrise- Jesus rises soon before dawn, women come to tomb, find it empty, Jesus appears to them. Thurs day (3-6pm) & night, Fri day & night, Sat day & night= 3 days & 3 nights However, the earliest mentions in Church writings seem to support Fri death & Sun morn Res, with the partial day=whole day explanation, and no one seemed to make a fuss out of that until recently. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/58 "2008-12-29T18:07:25Z")
[More than anyone wants to know on I John 5:7](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_Johanneum). My point was simply that, even if the Johannine comma was a later intrusion, it was suggestive of Trinitarian belief. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/59 "2008-12-29T18:13:06Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Cite this comprehensively and authoritatively please. How are you supposed to cite an absence? I mean, it would make sense if, for example, you had provided some cites you think show **the raindog** to be wrong, as others have. But you can’t really ask for a cite of text that doesn’t exist; what are you expecting **the raindog** to provide in response to your request? ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959/60 "2008-12-29T18:29:22Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > How are you supposed to cite an absence? > > I mean, it would make sense if, for example, you had provided some cites you think show **the raindog** to be wrong, as others have. But you can’t really ask for a cite of text that doesn’t exist; what are you expecting **the raindog** to provide in response to your request? I’m sure it has been debated as to whether or not mention of the “Trinity” is referenced in the Bible. I’m asking for the cite on which his claim is based. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-take-jesus-3-days-to-rise-from-the-dead/478959.md?page=4)