Who Raised Yeshua?

Based upon the text in John 2:19 I have been told many times that Yeshua raised himself from the dead. I take issue with such an interpretation of John 2:19 in light of the overwhelming evidence in the New Testament which teaches that "God" (YHWH) raised Yeshua from the dead.

• Acts 2:23-24 - “…ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up…”
  


• Acts 2:32 - “This Yeshua hath God raised up…”
  


• Acts 3:15 - “And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead…”
  


• Acts 3:26 - “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Yeshua…”
  


• Acts 4:10 - “…whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead…”
  


• Acts 5:30 - “The God of our fathers raised up Yeshua…”
  


• Acts 10:40 - “Him God raised up the third day…”
  


• Acts 13:30, 37 - “But God raised him from the dead … But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.”
  


• Romans 4:25 - “…if we believe on him that raised up Yeshua our Lord from the dead…”
  


• Romans 6:4 - “…as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father…”
  


• Romans 8:11 - “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Yeshua from the dead…”
  


• Romans 10:9 - “…and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead…”
  


• 1 Corinthians 6:14 - “And God hath both raised up the Master, and will also raise up us by his own power.”
  


• 1 Corinthians 15:15 - “…we have testified of God that he raised up (the) Christ…”
  


• Galatians 1:1 - “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Yeshua (the) Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead).”
  


• Ephesians 1:17, 20 - “That the God of our Lord Yeshua (the) Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him … Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead…”
  


• Colossians 2:12 - “…God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
  


• 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10 - “…to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Yeshua…”
  


• 1 Peter 1:21 - “Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead…”
  

In light of all of these passages, consider these points about John 2:19 and the phrase “I will raise it up.”

1. The Greek text does not literally say “I will” but simply uses the Greek word egiro, meaning basically “to raise up." The text could just as easily be translated, "Destroy this temple, and in three days it will be raised."

2. Another understanding (taking the traditional KJV rendering) is that Yeshua had a vital part in his resurrection, seeing he lived perfectly before the Father.  Yeshua could guarantee his resurrection by living a sinless life.  Thus he says, “I will raise it up."  (Compare this to where Peter told Jews “Ye have crucified him” in Acts 5:30. The Romans were actually the ones who crucified Yeshua, but the Jews were the ones who called for or demanded his crucifixion.)

3. Yeshua died. (Mt. 27:50; Lk. 23:46).  He could not literally raise himself. In Scripture, death means death; unconsciousness (Ecclesiastes 9:2-6; Psalm 6:4-5; 30:9; 88:10; Isaiah 38:18).