Why Does it Say Jesus Rose “Again”?

A brief clarification for those who have wondered about the Creed’s phrasing

A SURPRISINGLY STEADY number of listeners over the years have raised the same question whenever the Creed comes up on my daily radio show: What exactly does the phrase “He rose again from the dead” mean?

To my ear (and very likely yours as well), the meaning has always seemed plainly obvious. Jesus died once and rose once. Simple. There is no suggestion of a hidden second resurrection tucked away in the Church’s creeds. Yet the wording still slows some people down. “Why say rose again?” they ask. “Does that imply He rose once before and then rose a second time?”

Short answer: No. It doesn’t mean that.

The fuller answer has everything to do with English usage, with a bit of Latin and Greek behind it, and nothing to do with the Lord rising a second time.

First, the English adverb “again” historically meant “back” or “once more to the former state.” It marks the return to a prior condition, not the repetition of an event. When you say, “Bill fell down and got up again,” no one imagines he had previously risen from the floor earlier that morning. It simply means Bill was upright, fell, and returned to an upright position. The English version of the Creeds use the term “again” in the same way.

Second, the original languages of the Creed make the meaning unmistakable. The exact Greek of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (the full name of what we usually call the Nicene Creed) is:

Καὶ ἀναστὰς τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς
And He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures.

The Latin version is the same:

Et resurrexit tertia die secundum Scripturas
And He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures.

Neither the original Greek nor the Latin contains any word meaning “again.” The Greek has nothing corresponding to it, and the Latin likewise uses no term that implies repetition (such as iterum, rursus, or denuo).

The Creeds’ official wording simply declares that Jesus rose on the third day. The Latin is resurrexit — the “re-” prefix means “back.” The English phrase “rose again” accurately captures the underlying Latin and Greek and reflects an older English usage, but doesn’t in any way suggest that the Lord rose twice. Modern English versions simply say “He rose,” which is perfectly correct too.” This is exactly how the Church has always understood this theological truth.

Saint Augustine (354-430), reflecting on the event in Sermon 229N, speaks only of Christ’s single rising, explaining that Christ “rose from the dead on the third day, never to die again.” His focus is the one, definitive passage from death to life. Any interpretation that imagines multiple risings, Augustine would say, misses the point entirely.

In A.D. 350, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, instructing baptismal candidates on the teachings contained in the Creed, explains ἀναστάντα as simply “he stood up from the dead” (Catechetical Lectures 14: 9–10).

Saint Thomas Aquinas addresses this as well. When explaining why the Creed says Christ “rose again,” he clarifies that it refers to His return to the life He possessed before death.

“Christ rose again, because by His Resurrection He returned to the life which He had before.”
Summa Theologiae III, q. 53, a. 1, corp. (see also Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, art. 5)

“Christ’s resurrection was a second attainment of life inasmuch as he returned from death to life.”
— Summa Theologiae III, q. 56, a. 1, ad 4

In light of St. Thomas (who wrote and spoke Latin), the English “again” simply means restoration, not repetition. The Lord truly died and truly returned to life. One death, one Resurrection. This echoes St. Paul:

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

A Look at the Apostles Creed Versions

The Latin text of the Creed reads:

Tertia die resurrexit a mortuis
On the third day He rose from the dead.

As with the Nicene Creed, the Latin includes no term for “again.” The English “rose again” appeared for the same reason mentioned earlier. Older English speakers used “again” to indicate a return to a previous condition. Modern phrasing sometimes removes it, though many Christian communities still retain it out of familiarity and rhythm. Either way, the meaning is the same. Both the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed proclaim a single, historical, bodily Resurrection.

Taken together, the underlying Greek and Latin, as well as how we say it in English (or any other modern language) point to the same truth: Christ rose once, on the third day, by His own divine power for the redemption of the world and the salvation of many. “So “He rose” or “He rose again” — we’re all proclaiming the Lord’s once-for-all Resurrection.

Copyright © 2025 Patrick Madrid. All rights reserved. All text, images, and other original content are the property of the author.

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