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Anastasis.
"I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead
(anastasis nekron) I am called in question" (Acts 23: 6).
Here the simple term anastasis nekron expressed the hope of the Pharisee, which was
confined to "a resurrection of dead ones". This was the hope of Martha, "Thy brother
shall rise again . . . . . I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day". It
was this doctrine that the Hebrews were urged to "leave" because a "better resurrection"
was in view:--
"Wherefore leaving . . . . . let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation
of . . . . . resurrection of the dead" (anastasis nekron) (Heb. 6: 1, 2).
We now take a step forward, and consider the first introduction of the new term, ek,
"out of".
There is no need for us to attempt to prove that the disciples of the Lord believed
at least as much as the Pharisees and Martha did concerning the resurrection, yet, upon
the Lord bidding them to tell no man what they had seen, till the Son of man be risen
from the dead, they manifest a sudden perplexity. The result of the Lord's remark is that
they question one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. The cause of
this questioning is apparent when we consult the original. Into the accepted formula,
anastasis nekron, the Lord introduced the preposition ek (Mark 9: 9, 10). We record the
words of this passage, therefore, as marking a step in advance of the primitive doctrine.
Ek nekron anaste, "The rising out from the dead".--This referred to the Lord's
personal resurrection, and it is essential that we should see that the introduction of the
word ek, while it speaks of the Lord's resurrection as a firstfruits, does not alter in any
way the simple, glorious literality of that resurrection from the grave.
It may be well to include another passage from the Gospels, viz., Luke 16: 31:--
"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one
should rise out from dead ones" (ek nekron anaste).
A reasonable objection here would be that this but touches one half of the subject, the
more important half, namely, the junction of ek with anastasis, still remaining true only
of Phil. 3: 11. It may come as a surprise to some to find that this is not altogether the
fact:--
"Saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should
come: that Christ should suffer and that He should be the first that should rise from the
dead" (Acts 26: 22, 23).
Here we have the expression ex anastaseos nekron, which approaches nearer than
before to Phil. 3: 11. It is also of supreme importance to observe that this peculiar