In order for there to be a resurrection, something has to die and then come back to life again.

Jehovah’s Witnesses should agree with that statement.

After all, it’s almost the definition of the word “resurrection.”

In fact, the Watchtower states that “the Greek word translated ‘resurrection’ literally means ‘a standing up again’ and it refers to a rising up from death.” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 333)

Having established that point with Jehovah’s Witnesses, you can follow up by asking, “Regarding Jesus himself, what exactly was it that died and then came to life again?”

If necessary you can go through the options with them.

Option: Jesus’ physical body

No, according to the Watchtower, it wasn’t Jesus’ physical body.

The Watchtower has stated:

“If a man pays a debt for a friend but then promptly takes back the payment, obviously the debt continues. Likewise, if, when he was resurrected, Jesus had taken back his human body of flesh and blood, which had been given in sacrifice to pay the ransom price, what effect would that have had on the provision he was making to relieve faithful persons of the debt of sin?” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 217)

Option: Jesus’ spirit

No, according to the Watchtower, it wasn’t Jesus’ spirit.

It teaches that a person’s spirit isn’t the person himself or his personality. Rather, it is “the impersonal life-force… which animates the living soul, and which empowers the soul to think, move, and live.” At death, the life-force separates from the body, causing the soul to die. (Victory Over Death—Is It Possible For You?, 1986 booklet, pp. 12-13)

Option: Jesus’ soul

No, according to the Watchtower, it wasn’t Jesus’ soul.

The Watchtower says: “Is the resurrection a reuniting of an immaterial soul with the physical body? For this to be possible, of course, humans would have to have an immaterial soul that could separate from the physical body. The Bible does not teach such a thing.” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 333)

According to the Watchtower, “When the life-force… is extinguished within the living soul, the effect is similar to what happens when electricity is withdrawn from a light bulb. The light is extinguished. Where does the light go? It simply becomes nonexistent.” (Victory Over Death—Is It Possible for You?, p. 13)

That is, “When the body dies, the soul is dead, it ceases to exist.” (Ibid. p. 28)

Although the Watchtower speaks of “the return to life of dead human souls,” (Ibid.) you can legitimately ask:

“How can even God raise from the dead something that no longer exists?”

Re-creation, not resurrection

What the Watchtower teaches is not resurrection of something that died but rather re-creation:

“The Creator will simply re-create new human fleshly organisms from the earth’s dust and from his perfect memory will recall former life patterns, superimposing them upon the new brain circuits, and will infuse each organism with the life-force…” (Ibid.)

With regard to those who are resurrected to heavenly life—including Jesus—Jehovah does this with spirit bodies rather than with organisms created from earth’s dust.

Resurrection involves a reactivating of the life pattern of the individual, which life pattern God has retained in his memory. According to God’s will for the individual, the person is restored in either a human or a spirit body and yet retains his personal identity, having the same personality and memories as when he died. (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 333)

If Jehovah’s Witnesses give you this convoluted explanation, point out that “life pattern” isn’t a biblical term.

Moreover, according to the Watchtower’s description, this “life pattern” isn’t some part of the individual that dies and then comes back to life again.

Rather, it’s God’s recollection of the person’s personality and memories.

In Watchtower teaching, using his own perfect memory, God re-created Jesus’ personality and memories and placed them into a spirit body that had no connection at all with his physical body that died.

Summary

In summary, according to the Watchtower, what was the part of Jesus that died and came back to life again?

If Jehovah’s Witnesses are being honest, they would have to answer, “Nothing.”