Journal of Biblical Ministry
Spring 2010
the imperative mood “get up!, come!” (Mt 9:5f; Mk 2:9, 11; 3:3; 10:49; Lk 5:23f; 6:8; Jn 5:8; Rv 11:1).7 The second use is that with the passive voice in which egeirō is translated “wake up, awaken fr[om] sleep.”8 Within specific occurrences of egeirō in the first classification a variety of uses may be found: "awaken fr[om] sleep (that is, thoughtless indolence) Rom 13:11 (compare with Epictetus 2. 20.15, . . . fr[om] the sleep of carelessness);” “rise, get up of those who have awakened” (Mt 2:13f, 20f; 8:26; Lk 11:8); “who were sitting down” (Mt 9:19; Lk 13:25; Jn 11:29;” “of the sick” (Mt 8:15; 9:7); "of those called back to life" (2 Kgs 4:31) Mt 9:25; Lk 7:14; Jn 13:4); “of one who has fallen” (Acts 9:8); “be raised, rise” (Is 26:19; compare 2 Kgs 4:31), examples “of one who has died" (Lk 16:30, “but esp[ecially] of Christ “being raised from the dead]” (Mk 6:14; Lk 9:7; Jn 2:22; 21:14; Rom 6:4, 9; 8:34; 1 Cor 15:12, 20; 2 Tm 2:8); “of nations rising in arms” (Jer 6:22); and “rising or appearance of prophets” (Mt 1:11; Lk16; Jn 7:52); “appearance or rising of false prophets” (Mt 24:11, 24; Mk 13:22); “appearance or rising of accusers in court" (Mt 12:42; Lk 11:31); or “get up! let us be going” (Mt 26:46; Mk 14:42; Jn 14:31).9 The Resurrection in the Primitive Kerygma MacArthur recognized the centrality of the resurrection of Christ in His teachings: He [Jesus] taught His disciples that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mk 8:31; cf. 9:9, 31). He said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies” (Jn 11:25).10 The focus on the resurrection of Christ continued in the apostolic preaching and teachings. The book of Acts records four sermons which contain the same basic kerygmatic outline. The death and resurrection of Christ are the centerpieces of this great message. Birger Gerhardsson noted, “Crucifixion was the same as annihilation: the criminal was not only tortured and liquidated, he was also crushed socially, in maximum disgrace.”11 7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
MacArthur, 398.
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