How can this be so? We shall approach the text indirectly by considering the wider New Testament context of teaching about the resurrection. The place of the resurrection in the gospel At the outset, we need to recognize that two aspects of what happened to Christ after his death need to be distinguished carefully for the sake of theological analysis. One is the resurrection of Christ, namely, his being brought back to life after being put to death, and the other is his ascension and subsequent exaltation