Understanding the Meaning of Egersis in Greek

ἔγερσις means “resurrection,” and it appears once in the New Testament, in Matthew’s account of events surrounding Jesus’ death and what followed. In that single setting it functions as a time-marker that anchors subsequent action to a decisive turning point.

Root and Related Words

ἔγερσις is related to the verb egeirō (ἐγείρω), meaning “to arise” (Strong’s G1453). The noun form gathers that verbal idea into an event that can be spoken of as a defined occurrence.

Occurrences

“and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matthew 27:53)

Here ἔγερσις stands in a clause that orders the scene: certain figures are described as “coming out of the tombs,” and this is located “after his resurrection.” The word therefore contributes a chronological hinge. It is not merely an interesting detail about sequence; it is the narrative cue that ties the movement from tombs to city directly to the reality named by ἔγερσις. The actions that follow—entering “into the holy city” and “appeared to many”—are presented as occurring on the far side of that event.

Within the sentence, the noun also clarifies whose resurrection is in view: “his resurrection.” The possessive reference makes ἔγερσις concrete and specific in context, not an abstract topic. The verse frames the resurrection as something that can be spoken of as completed (“after”), and the story then depicts public effects: people are said to “appear to many,” implying visibility and widespread notice. In this single occurrence, ἔγερσις thus operates as both a temporal boundary and the defining condition for the subsequent public manifestation described in the verse.

Sense and Usage

Because ἔγερσις is used only once, its sense is concentrated rather than spread across varied contexts. In Matthew 27:53 the meaning “resurrection” is not explained; it is assumed as intelligible and weighty enough to locate other events around it. The noun is used as a point in time (“after”), suggesting that resurrection can be treated as a datable, narrative event with a before-and-after.

The verse also shows how the term can function without elaboration: ἔγερσις does not carry the details of how resurrection happens, who performs it, or what its mechanism might be. Instead, it names the event succinctly and lets the surrounding verbs supply the narrative consequences. The sequence “coming out … entered … appeared” is anchored by “after his resurrection,” so the word’s role is to establish the decisive transition that makes the rest of the sentence coherent as a single movement from burial places to public life in the city.

In this setting, the noun’s semantic force is intensified by proximity to concrete locations. “Tombs” are explicitly mentioned, and the movement is outward from them. By pairing ἔγερσις with that spatial imagery, the verse presents resurrection as something that stands over against the tomb as a boundary-crossing reality: after the resurrection, the tombs are no longer the final place in the narrative for those described. The term itself still means “resurrection,” but the sentence places that meaning in a world of stone graves, a city called “holy,” and the social sphere of “many” who witness appearances.

Imagery

Matthew 27:53 attaches ἔγερσις to a striking chain of visible movement: out of tombs, into a city, and into the sight of many. The word’s imagery in this verse is therefore not abstract; it is the implied turning of the story from enclosed burial to open appearing. By situating the action “after his resurrection,” the verse lets ἔγερσις cast a long shadow over what follows, as the event after which what was shut is opened and what was hidden becomes seen.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).