The Resurrection of Jesus
4 MAIN QUESTIONS
Here are four fundamental questions to ask when considering whether or not Christianity is true.
1. Does truth exist?
• When someone asserts that truth does not exist, we can ask them if that statement is true. Saying there is no truth is a self-defeating claim.
2. Does God exist?
• From the Cosmological & Moral Arguments, we can make a case for the existence of a specific type of being.
o Everything that comes into being needs a cause. If the universe is not eternal, and came into being, then it needs a cause. Big Bang cosmology concludes that all space, time, and matter came into being at the start of the universe. So, the cause of the universe needs to be uncaused, spaceless, timeless, immaterial, powerful to create everything out of nothing, and intelligent and personal in order to have made a choice to create. (See blog post on Cosmological Argument for more depth)
o The problem of evil presented us with a ground for “goodness.” How can things go wrong without some sort of standard of how things were supposed to be in the first place? God’s nature grounds this standard of “goodness” that humans seem to sense intuitively. (See blog post on Problem of Evil for more depth)
3. Are miracles possible?
• Greatest miracle in the Bible: Genesis 1
o If God exists, miracles are certainly possible.
• We believe in a lot of things we haven’t seen.
• Miracles, by definition would need to be rare, or unnatural, or else they wouldn’t catch our attention.
4. Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
• To answer this question, we need to analyze the facts of history that require an explanation.
• We will analyze the facts of history with the assumption that the New Testament of the Bible is at least historically reliable.
• If Jesus really rose from the dead, then what He taught and who He claimed to be needs to be taken seriously.
What are the facts that require an explanation?
Which explanation best accounts for these facts?
MINIMAL FACTS APPROACH
1. Jesus’ Death By Crucifixion
• All four gospels of the New Testament report that Jesus was executed by crucifixion.
• Based on the assumption that the New Testament is at least historically accurate
o Gerd Ludemann (atheistic New Testament critic) and Bart Ehrman (agnostic New Testament scholar) call the crucifixion an indisputable fact.
• There are also various non-Christian sources that corroborate the crucifixion:
o Tacitus said that Jesus “suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius.”
o Jewish historian, Josephus reports that Pilate “condemned him to be crucified.”
o Lucian of Somosata, a Greek satirist, mentions the crucifixion.
o Mara Bar-Serapion, a pagan, confirms Jesus was executed.
2. Discovery of Jesus’ Empty Tomb
• 6 independent sources: Luke 24, John 20, 1 Corinthians 15, Mark 16, Matthew 28, Acts 2
o Some of the earliest accounts
• Women first discovered Jesus’ body was missing
o Women’s testimony was worthless in this time (if fabricated, they would have said men).
• Jewish authorities blamed disciples for stealing Jesus’ body, thereby admitting that the tomb was empty.
3. Appearances of Jesus Alive After His death
• After Jesus’ death, He appeared to Peter, then to the 12, then to 500 brethren, then to James, then to apostles, then to Paul.
• Resurrection appearances of Jesus are independently confirmed by the gospel accounts
• “It May be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.” — Gerd Luemann (New Testament Scholar)
4. The Disciples’ Belief That Jesus Rose From The Dead
• Followers were devastated and hiding in fear for their lives.
• As Jews, they had no concept of a messiah that would be executed by his enemies, much less come back to life.
• The resurrection they were aware of was the final resurrection.
• After all this, they suddenly and sincerely came to believe God raised Jesus from the dead.
o They were so convinced, that when threatened with death, none of them recanted.
o Conversion of Paul & James
o “Some sort of powerful transformative experience is required to generate the sort of movement earliest Christianity was.” — Luke Timothy Johnson (New Testament Scholar)
o “That is why, as a historian, I cannot explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an empty tomb behind him.” — N.T. Wright (New Testament Scholar)
NATURALISTIC EXPLANATIONS
CONSPIRACY THEORY
Disciples stole Jesus’ body from the tomb, and then lied about seeing Jesus alive, perpetrating the biggest hoax of all time.
Response: Jews had no concept of a messiah who would be defeated and executed by enemies. Again, the Resurrection they knew of was supposed to be the final resurrection. These people were threatened with persecution and even death.
• Recanting their faith would have relieved them of this persecution. But none of them recanted, because they really believed. Almost all of the 12 disciples were martyred for their faith.
• Of course, being martyred for your faith does not prove that your faith is true. There are plenty of people who die for a lie. For example, there are plenty of Muslims who die for their faith, which doesn’t make it true.
• But the point here is, people don’t willingly die for something they know is a lie.
LEGEND
The story of Jesus is just legend. It’s in the same category as Robin Hood, or King Arthur, etc.
Response:
• None of the most reputable first century historians, or other first century contemporaries of Christ ever disputed the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ supernatural claim and works. Some even referred to Jesus as a ‘magician’ because they couldn’t explain what He was doing otherwise.
• Legends require a significant amount of time in order to develop. Within 20 years of Jesus’ death came Christian doctrine, churches, creeds, martyrs, and sermons.
• Again, why would Jesus’ followers willingly be martyred for something they knew was a lie?
APPARENT DEATH
Jesus didn’t really die. He revived in the tomb, somehow escaped, and managed to convince his disciples he was risen from the dead.
Response: This is medically impossible. Roman executioners were professionals. Jesus was tortured so extensively, even if he was taken down alive, he would have died in the sealed tomb.
• Extreme brutality of Roman scourging and crucifixion:
o “Witnesses in the ancient world reported victims being whipped so severely that their intestines and veins were laid bare.” — Michael Lucona
o Those who were flogged would usually go into hypovolemic shock, which is low blood volume. Essentially, the person goes into shock because of the loss of blood. When this happens, the heart races to pump blood that is not there, the victim might collapse or faint, the kidneys would shut down to preserve body fluids, and the person would experience extreme thirst.
o Death by crucifixion was a slow and agonizing death by asphyxiation because of the person’s position on the cross.
o They didn’t break his legs because he was already dead, so they pierced his side. (John 19:31-34) (Psalm 34)
• Wildly implausible: seeing a half-dead man who crawled out of the tomb desperately in need of medical attention would hardly have convinced the disciples he was gloriously risen from the dead
DISPLACED BODY THEORY
Joseph of Arimathea places Jesus' body in the tomb temporarily for convenience, but later he moved the corpse to a criminals’ common graveyard. So, when disciples visited the tomb, they saw it empty and concluded that Jesus must have risen from the dead.
Response:
• This doesn’t make sense of the fact that there were appearances of Jesus.
• Jewish laws prohibited moving a corpse after it was interred (except to family tomb).
• Criminals graveyard was close to the execution, so burial there wouldn’t have been a problem.
• Once disciples began to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection, Joseph would have corrected their mistake.
HALLUCINATION THEORY
The disciples didn’t really see Jesus, but just imagined that he appeared to them. They were just hallucinating.
Response:
• First, Jesus didn’t just appear one time, but many times; not just in one place, but in different places; not just to one person, but to different persons; not just to individuals, but to groups of people; not just to believers, but to unbelievers as well.
• Nothing in psychological case books on hallucinations are comparable to these resurrection appearances.
• Second, hallucinations of Jesus would have led disciples to believe, at most, that Jesus was in heaven, not risen from the dead.
o Visions of the deceased were not evidence that the person was alive, but confirmation he was dead.
• This theory doesn’t even attempt to explain the empty tomb.
ONLY REASONABLE EXPLANATION
There are also other naturalistic theories that people have come up with to explain the evidence we have. These are just a few of the most popular ones. But from looking at these theories, it seems like the only reasonable explanation is that Jesus of Nazareth really died, and then really rose from the dead. It is the most plausible explanation. This makes the most sense from the 4 historical facts:
1. Jesus’ Death by Crucifixion
2. Empty Tomb
3. Appearances
4. Disciples Belief
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
If the resurrection never happened, then Christianity is a lost cause. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul unpacks this idea. He says, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” He even asserts that we misrepresent God Himself by testifying that He rose Jesus from the dead. He goes on to say that we are a people most to be pitied if our hope is not in a risen Christ. There is no Christianity apart from the resurrection of Jesus.
If God exists, then miracles are possible. If the New Testament is at least historically reliable, then we can conclude that these 4 historical facts happened. The most reasonable explanation of these indisputable facts is that Jesus rose from the dead. This changes everything. This vindicates all the claims Jesus made in the New Testament — one of the most important of these is His claim to divinity, which is what got Him killed. He claimed to be God. Not only that, but He claimed to be the “Only Way” to the Father. This claim to exclusivity not only rules out religious pluralism, but puts us face to face with a relatable, loving, just, and true God.
From the Cosmological and Moral Argument, we get a being that is uncaused, spaceless, timeless, immaterial, powerful, intelligent, and moral. Jesus claimed to be one with this Being. If Jesus really rose from the dead, then He is who he claimed to be. If this is true, then we have a remarkable Living Hope for redemption, forgiveness, and eternal life with Him.
Resources
Short Videos
Reasonable Faith: Dr. Craig — Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? - Part One: The Facts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qhQRMhUK1o
Reasonable Faith: Dr. Craig — Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? - Part Two: The Explanation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SbJ4p6WiZE
Reading
Reasonable Faith: Dr. Craig — The Resurrection of Jesus https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/jesus-of-nazareth/the-resurrection-of-jesus/
Christian Fermin - Youth Worship Director
