The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead

Recently there have been new radical attacks on the resurrection. We need to rethink our position of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus to see if any of these new attacks weaken our position.   The following is a partial listing of these attacks.

Misquoting Jesus and other books, by Bart Erhman has come out recently. Erhman says that historians can’t even really investigate and event like the resurrection. He no longer believes what he formerly believed about the resurrection.

The Family Tomb of Jesus: Supposedly the bone box or the ossuary containing the bones of the body of Jesus has been discovered. Well, if His bones were in there then He has not been resurrected.

Ayman al-Zawahri: “Islam correctly believes that Jesus was never put to death, never rose from the dead, and was not divine.”

A prominent Hindu leader says Jesus only was injured when executed and got off the execution tree and went back to India.

The Jesus Papers by Michael Baigent: Pilot didn’t really want to kill Jesus because Jesus was telling people to pay their taxes so they all conspired to make it look like Jesus died by execution when he did not really.

Everything hangs on the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus from the dead.

To counter the above I will list the 5 minimal facts case.

They strip down the case for the resurrection that a vast majority of historians will concede are true whether follower of Jesus or atheist. They may not like the implications but when the evidence is thoroughly investigated, they can’t deny it.

Gary Habermas has done a study of 30 years of literature on referencing the resurrection in three languages: English, French and German. He analyzed these historian’s positions. The minimal facts case for the resurrection is conceded by virtually all skeptics and Christian scholars and historians writing over the last 30 years and in three languages.

Here are Gary Habermas lectures on his findings on the 30 years of literature: http://howtoknowgod.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/jesus-and-the-eye-witnesses/

Details of the 5 Minimal facts case:

Jesus’ death by crucifixion.

1. This is bedrock believe among historians. Gurd Ludderman of Vanderbilt University said that the facts demonstrate that Jesus was crucified. John Dominic Crossan, extreme liberal, and James Taber, atheist professor, concedes that the death by crucifixion took place historically.
   1. Five sources outside the bible help to confirm the crucifixion and that Jesus was dead when He was taken down from the execution tree.
   2. Conclusion: historically speaking there is no question about this event. One would have to be on the radical lunatic fringe of those who say that Jesus never existed, to find people who attempt to dispute these facts.
   3. What kind of condition would Jesus have been in if He somehow survived the crucifixion and burial? If after being crucified he just survived the beatings and hanging, how would that have convinced His followers of this great new life, this eternal life: “Hey, I want a great new resurrection body like Jesus has!!!!” No, if Jesus were not resurrected and they had not seen him after death, then they would not have gone around saying that they were going to have a resurrected body after death and would not have been trying to convince others that they too could have eternal life and a resurrection body that will live forever. They built a worldwide movement on this glorious hope!!!
   4. Jesus was in hypovolemic shock after the beating and even before he was executed based on the conclusions of the best medical experts who have researched the details of what happened to him leading up to the crucifixion. Even if he had not had the beating prior to the crucifixion, he would have suffered instant death with the Roman soldier pushed a spear through his lung and heart!!!
   5. The Journal of the American Medical Association did a study of the historical record and of the events leading up to the execution and the execution process. Their conclusion was that any interpretation of the fact concluding that Jesus did not die during execution is at odds with modern medical understanding of historical evidence.
   6. Did the Roman soldiers understand death to know that a person had died? This was their job. This is what they did for a living. When Jesus was declared dead by multiple experts, they knew that he was no longer among the living.
   7. How does death occur on an execution tree? Hanging on the execution tree puts such severe stress on the muscles surrounding and supporting the lungs that one cannot take in air unless they push up with their feet. So, if one is not pushing up every few minutes, then suffocation will occur from lack of oxygen and the heart will stop beating due also to the lack of oxygen to support its muscles. So, if a Roman soldier is looking on and the person on the tree has not moved for 30 minutes, they can conclusively assume that the person is dead. The soldiers guarding Jesus pierced his lung and heart to confirm that he was, in fact, dead.
2. Belief that the disciples encountered the resurrected Jesus
   1. This is based on the recordings of the Apostle Paul. Paul was friends with James, Peter and John, disciples of Jesus. He says in I Corinthians 15:11 Whether it was I (Paul) or they (the disciples of Jesus), so preach and so believe. He is saying that He and the disciples of Jesus are saying the same thing. We have all these people declaring that Jesus returned from the dead.
   2. Oral tradition: early beliefs of early Christians are codified in early creeds, hymns and other oral sayings. These creeds and hymns are so early after the resurrection of Jesus (within a couple of years) that they cannot be the product of legend.

Some of these creeds and hymns became apart of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul wrote I Corinthians in 55 AD, twenty five years after the resurrection. Here is what he stated. I Corinthians 15:3, “for what I received I passed on to you as of first importance…” Meaning I had passed these truths on to you in person and now I am writing them. I received this information from, according to historians, Peter and James shortly after the resurrection. He goes on to write: “that Christ died for our sins according to the (Hebrew) Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, after that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at the same time, most of whom are still living. I Cor. 15; 3-6. He is giving his audience an out if they don’t believe him because they can ask those who are still living and witnessed first hand the appearances of Jesus. “then he appears to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all… he appeared to me also.” I Cor 15: 7-8.

Joachim Jeremias, the Jewish scholar, says that these words in Corinthians are words that Paul got from direct sources. This confirms that it cannot be the product of legend.

What is the history on Paul’s education as a new Christian? The crucifixion occurred in 30 AD. From Galatians 1 and 2 we learn that He was converted in 32 AD. In 35 AD he goes back to Jerusalem and compares notes with Peter and James to confirm that he is believing and teaching the same facts that they know to be true. He uses the Greek word, “historeo,” meaning to investigate data or to become acquainted with in Galatians 1:18. He cross examined Peter, James and John to make sure that he was on the same page in beliefs and what he was proclaiming as the evidence and truth. Some scholars believe that he was given this creed, immediately on his conversation. This creed was formed from the facts that go back even earlier, even to the crucifixion and to the resurrection and ascension. This is so rare to have sources that are so close to and involved in the events—it is powerful attestation.

Pinchas Lapide, the Jewish New Testament scholar, this statement by Paul has such incredible historical validity that the statement can be taken as if from eye witnesses.

The written works of the early church. These include the 4 gospels:Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the writings of the early church fathers.We can look at the 4 gospels as simply ancient historical documents and apply to them the tests we would apply to any other historical writings and investigate their contents as they were written.

Richard Bauckham, in his book, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, reaffirms the eyewitness nature of the Gospels.

Early church fathers, Polycarp, disciple of John, stated that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

Clemente of Alexandria, disciple of Peter, stated that Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection from the dead was confirmed by the early church fathers. This demonstrates that the disciples and early believers believed in the resurrection. Honest skeptic researchers will admit that. Gurd Lutterman of Vanderbilt University indicates that it is confirmed historical fact that the disciples believed in the resurrection.

The conversion of the Apostle Paul: Paul as a Pharisee, was a persecutor of the church. He hated Christian and killed them throughout Palestine. He had an encounter with Jesus and was converted and immediately began proclaiming the message he had been persecuting followers of Jesus for proclaiming. He ultimately became the greatest missionary of all times and continued to suffer deprivation, beatings and death because of the message he was preaching.

The conversion of the skeptic James, the half-brother of Jesus. James, the brother of Jesus did not believe in Jesus during His ministry on earth. We know this based on the historical record and the criterion of embarrassment. What is that? The criterion of embarrassment is taken by historian to mean that a story is true due to the fact that it is embarrassing to the authors. What do we mean by that?  For Jesus to have a member of his family, a brother, who was not a follower was a big embarrassment. We know James was not a believer until after Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection. Josephus records that James was put to death for his faith in Jesus, his earthly brother, as a leader of the Jerusalem church. I Cor. 15 tells us what happened to him to cause his transformation. The resurrected Jesus appears to his brother James.

The Empty Tomb: The Empty Tomb is conceded by about 75 % of scholars/historians who have thoroughly studied it.

The Jerusalem Factor: In this city where Jesus was put to death the disciples claimed that he had been resurrected and many began following Jesus as a result. In fact, this is where the church was birthed. Many people saw the crucifixion. Any number of the people who heard the disciples preach after Jesus was put to death, buried and resurrected, had the opportunity go up against the disciples and Jesus’ early followers with evidence to the contrary. This is no historical record that anyone did.

Enemy Attestation: The enemies of Jesus admitted the tomb was empty. They floated a theory that the disciples had stolen the body. If they needed a theory as to why the tomb was empty, the tomb was empty!!

The Testimony of Women: The two women discovered the tomb empty. The witness of women in that culture and age was not admitted in a court of law. So, again the criterion of embarrassment comes into play.

If this was a made up story about his reappearance after execution, someone would have chosen men to discover the empty tomb. Women discovering the tomb is actually a negative in that culture. But the eye witnesses chose to tell the truth and stated exactly what happened.

A summary of the evidence on the resurrection. There is so much more that could be presented here. From this 5 facts case though, we have compelling testimony from the friends of Jesus, enemies, and a skeptic, James, the brother of Jesus. There is much historical evidence that the tomb was empty—even the enemies of the faith agreed to that fact. We must answer where did the body go? But we have the disciples, women, James, Paul and 500 people at one time who saw the risen Jesus after his death.

Adapted from an interview with Lee Strobel by John Ankerburg

See Reliability of Christ’s Resurrection – Lee Strobel

Read more:

Five urgent apologetic issues

The Parables of Jesus, Joachim Jeremias