Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead

Background

My article, The Case for Christ, was condensed from my original research for readability, but the additional information is important. Therefore, I created several pieces so that I could share the extra content with readers. This is one of those articles. Click the link above to see the original post on The Case for Christ.

Note: The following information fills out the content from the various sections in the original paper to give a more complete case. I have not repeated the content, except in limited amounts, unless it was necessary for understanding.

Introduction

Looking at the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, we must first establish that Jesus actually died on the cross. Second, we need to determine if He appeared to people afterword. If these two things can be shown, then we have strong historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

Crucifixion

First, Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers who were experts in killing people. If they failed they could lose their own life, so they had plenty of motivation to make sure their victims died.

Medical doctor William Edwards examined the evidence concerning Jesus’ death by crucifixion. In an article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. William Edwards concludes:

“Clearly the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to His side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between His right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung but also the pericardium1 and heart and thereby ensured His death. Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge.”2

The historical and medical evidence shows that Jesus did not survive crucifixion. (See the footnote for a link to an excerpt from The Case for Easter. Lee Strobel interviews Dr. Alexander Metherell, M.D., PH.D for a medical doctor’s description of Jesus’ crucifixion.3)

Appearances

Second, we will see that Jesus appeared to people in different settings.

Since “it is the virtually unanimous conclusion of contemporary scholars that Jesus’ early followers at least thought that they had seen appearances of the risen Jesus after His death,”4 how can we show that they really did see Jesus?

Real or just a Vision?

The vast majority of scholars agree that the early disciples had real experiences of seeing the risen Jesus. The scholars agree for several very strong reasons. My article on The Case for Christ mentioned four, here are four more reasons:5

  1. The apostle Paul was very concerned that he was preaching the correct gospel message which was centered on the resurrection. He made several special trips to Jerusalem to consult with the leading apostles Peter, James, and John. These three men had also witnessed the risen Christ and they confirmed that Paul’s message of Jesus’ resurrection appearances agreed with their experiences. Therefore Paul received confirmation that his gospel message was correct.
  2. The book of Acts records snippets of other early creeds in the preaching recorded there which is recognized by scholars as some of the earliest gospel preaching. “Like other early traditions, they are identified by their brevity, lack of theological complexity, and because the structure, style, and/or diction, reflect language patterns other than the author’s. Crucially for our purposes, the risen Jesus is the center of each of these traditions.”
  3. Another apostle apparently converted upon witnessing Jesus’ resurrection is James. He was an unbeliever and probably a skeptic during Jesus’ public ministry. “The majority of scholars, including many skeptics, agree that James was converted by Jesus’ appearance to him.”
  4. An empty tomb does not prove a resurrection, but it does add some credibility to the disciples’ claim that Jesus had risen. It also complicates a naturalistic explanation, and indicates that whatever happened most likely involved Jesus’ body.

There are more than a dozen reasons supporting an empty tomb, I will only mention a few:

  • “The gospels are in complete agreement that women were the earliest witnesses to the empty tomb, a simply remarkable report since female testimony was generally disallowed in a law court for declarations on crucial topics. Thus, to fabricate this story with women as the central witnesses most likely would serve only to have the case dismissed without a hearing. This report only makes sense if it reflected what actually happened.”
  • The early creeds, along with the earliest gospel preaching already mentioned, either imply or specifically state that Jesus was buried in a tomb, was raised, and appeared, thus producing an empty tomb.
  • “Not only did the Jewish leaders not dispute the empty tomb, but their reported response even conceded it (Mt 28:11-15). So enemy attestation also supports the empty tomb.”
  • Multiple sources attest to an empty tomb, and ancient historian Paul Maier remarks, “Many facts from antiquity rest on just one ancient source, while two or three sources in agreement generally render the fact unimpeachable.”
  • Habermas states that “my study of hundreds of scholarly sources on the resurrection notes almost two dozen arguments for the empty tomb. About 75 percent of the surveyed scholars embrace one or more of the supporting arguments.”

These very strong reasons make it clear that the disciples were utterly convinced that they saw the risen Jesus. Those choosing to not believe the disciples’ witness may argue along several lines:

Arguments Against the Resurrection

No Miracles

Some may say that Jesus was not raised from the dead because things like this don’t happen, believing instead that miraculous events don’t occur in our world. This sort of philosophical argument is not really dealing with the evidence presented. Instead, the conversation has changed to one about the nature of our existence; ie, were we created by a God who performs miracles, or did we evolve and are nothing more than the result of natural processes where only matter exists and the spiritual does not exist?

Alternative Theories

This is an attempt to allow for the facts presented by the witnesses, but proposes any alternate conclusion so long as it is not that Jesus really did rise from the dead. This may be along the line of “Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, what really happened was (fill in the blank).”6 Habermas points out that however you fill in the blank, this is a really tough road to travel. When tried, the “weight of the known historical facts comes crashing down against their proposal. Even among scholars, it is generally conceded that none of these options work.”7 One of the most popular theories is that the disciples saw hallucinations.8 Here are some problems with this theory:

  • Hallucinations are private experiences, but Jesus was seen by groups of people.
  • The disciples were not in the proper frame of mind due to their despair.
  • There were far too many different times, places, and personalities involved in the appearances. To believe that with each of these varying persons and circumstances a separate hallucination occurred borders on credulity.
  • The empty tomb is not accounted for with this theory.
  • Hallucinations vary rarely transform lives the way Jesus’ followers were transformed.
  • Neither Paul or James had a desire to see Jesus.

Habermas concludes that “all other proposed [alternative] hypotheses have similarly been disproven.”

Conclusion

First, we established that Jesus actually died on the cross, and second, we saw that He appeared to people afterword. These two points were so important that they became the central part of the gospel message.

Then, I briefly explained four strong reasons showing that the disciples had real experiences of seeing the risen Jesus -reasons that scholars, and in some cases even skeptics, agree on -including support for an empty tomb. We also looked at arguments raised by non-believers against the testimony of the early disciples. The very strong eyewitness accounts of the risen Jesus, plus the failure of viable alternative theories, leads to the conclusion that “by far the most likely scenario is that the disciples actually saw the risen Jesus.”9

1 Defined as: “The conical sac of serous membrane that encloses the heart and the roots of the great blood vessels of vertebrates” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pericardium 1/31/21

2 William D. Edwards, M.D., et al. “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 255:11, 3/21/1986, 1463

3 https://www.outreach.com/media/print/product/pdf/case4easter.pdf 9/2/22

4 Gary R. Habermas, “The Case for Christ’s Resurrection,” in To everyone an answer, eds. Beckwith, Craig, Moreland, 180. Italics in the original.

5 Habermas, Summarized and quoted from pgs 182-189

6 Habermas, 193

7 Habermas, 193

8 Habermas, Summarized and quoted from pgs 194-195

9 Habermas, 195. Italics in the original.