1 Corinthians 15:4
“that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
What does 1 Corinthians 15:4 mean?
Paul is outlining the core historical claims of Christian faith here: that Jesus died, was physically buried, and then rose from the dead three days later. By saying this happened "according to the Scriptures," he's pointing out that Jewish believers at the time would have recognized echoes of Old Testament passages they already knew, which made the resurrection claim feel like the fulfillment of God's long-standing plan rather than a shocking invention. The straightforward way Paul lists these facts (died, buried, raised) emphasizes that early Christians understood the resurrection as a real, bodily event, not just a spiritual or symbolic one. If you're wrestling with what the resurrection actually means or whether it's believable, this verse reminds us that the first Christians staked everything on the claim that something genuinely happened to Jesus' body on the third day, not merely that his followers had a nice feeling about him afterward.