“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
1 Corinthians 15:17-19
Historically speaking, the single event in history that has most impacted the trajectory of civilization is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even those who choose not to believe in a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ must admit that at the very least, the claim of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has fundamentally altered the entire trajectory of civilization. Across the major religions and worldviews there exist fundamental difference in opinion on this issue. The Christian believes that the resurrection is a fundamental fact of world history and is to be believed literally. As the Apostle clearly states in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19, the entirety of Christianity rests on this claim of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. In other words, if the resurrection of Jesus is just a myth or fabricated story, then all of Christianity falls apart. Other worldviews take a different approach. Islam denies that Jesus was actually killed on the cross and therefore denies his physical resurrection. Atheists reject the claim of Jesus’ resurrection on grounds that a physical resurrection belies the reality they claim they understand. Meanwhile the postmodernist tends to hold that whether or not a man named Jesus died and came back to life 2,000 years ago is meaningless and unimportant for our lives in the 21st century. Clearly, all these major worldviews differ on their interpretation of reality. Not only can all of these ideas not be true simultaneously, for each fundamentally contradicts the other, but depending on which one actually is true will profoundly impact one’s life.
As a Christian we must make sure we have a proper mindset when engaging evidences like what I lay out in this article. The Christian rests confidently and courageously on the historical fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus based on the account of the Word of God alone. If no other evidence existed supporting the claims of Christ’s resurrection, the Christian would have no need for doubt or uncertainty of these events. The Word of God is clear and reliable. As is the case with all areas of the Christian faith however, there is ample physical evidence in history that not only supports belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but makes any contradictory belief an incredibly far stretch of the imagination against the evidence available.
The Christian rests confidently and courageously on the historical fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus based on the account of the Word of God alone.
The second half of the 20th century saw a drastic change in the historical understanding of the facts surrounding the resurrection. Up through the early 1950’s many non-believing scholars of the New Testament believed that the Bible’s depiction of the resurrection was either fabricated story telling on the one hand, or perhaps a case of historical mass hallucination on the other hand. As deeper study of the facts ensued these false explanations of the resurrection began to be agreed upon by scholars as unlikely or even impossible explanations for the resurrection account. Today among historical scholars of all stripes and creeds there are three particular agreed upon historical facts that are virtually undeniable (there are many more compelling evidential cases for the resurrection than just these three, but these three rise to the top as both deeply significant and impossible to reject). Taken individually, none of these three facts amount to a cold evidential case for the resurrection of Christ. But taken together they paint a powerful and compelling historical reason to believe that Jesus resurrected from the dead. [1]
The following three evidences are extensively dealt with by Gary Habermas in his book The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. For an additional helpful summary of Habermas’ conclusions from which my own summary below is organized similarly, see Desiring God’s Historical Evidence for the Resurrection.
The Empty Tomb
All historians agree that the tomb where Jesus was buried after his crucifixion, was empty on the morning of the third day. Again, this fact of history alone does not prove he rose from the grave. Nevertheless it is a fact of history, a very inconvenient fact of history for the Christian skeptic. The reason virtually all scholars, both believers and non-believers, agree to this fact of history is based on a handful of evidences that are very difficult to refute.
First, the resurrection of Jesus was first preached in the city of Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb. Had the story of the empty tomb been false, all one would need to have done to disprove the resurrection was walk down the street to the tomb’s location and point to the body. This never happened. Rather, the message of the resurrection of Jesus began to circulate in the very city where his body had been laid.
Second, the earliest Jewish claims about Jesus never rejected that the tomb was empty. Matthew 28:11-15 records that the Jewish leaders claimed the body had been stolen, but it does not say they rejected the notion that the tomb was empty. Additional points of contact with early Jews of this time period affirm the local Jewish did indeed acknowledge the empty tomb, even though they attempted to offer alternate explanations. This provides critical evidence because the elite Jews of Jesus’ day were the religious group in Jerusalem most hostile to the story of the resurrection and would have been the most likely to reject the story of the empty tomb.
Third, New Testament studies have revealed that the Gospel of Mark, in the New Testament, utilizes another non-biblical source, now lost to history, that can be dated to within seven years of the resurrection of Christ. This provides early eye witness written record of the empty tomb. In terms of eye witness evidence, these early dates of the eye witness recordings of the events and the even earlier dates of the initial writings are powerful bits of evidence.
Fourth, the resurrection of Jesus is supported by the New Testament account of the burial of Jesus which mentions Joseph of Arimathea, who was a well known leader of the Jewish Sanhedrin at the time, as the one who buried Christ. It is highly unlikely that the burial story of Jesus, which includes such an elite figure in Jewish society in Jerusalem, would begin to circulate in the first century if the story was false. In the New Testament the burial and the resurrection of Jesus are one complete passage. In other words, for the burial account of Christ involving Joseph of Arimathea to be so obviously true, it would be extremely difficult for the very next passage to be so obviously false.
Fifth, the tomb of Jesus was never enshrined as is so often the case in the history of religion. Typically the bodies of dead saints become points of pilgrimage. This is powerful evidence that for a religious leader who became as famous as Jesus had become, that his body did not stay in the tomb.
Sixth, the earliest New Testament account of the resurrection is in Mark’s gospel and shows none of the embellishments that would populate much later mythological non-Biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, such as the Gospel of Peter or the Gospel of Thomas, false works that have been dated to far later dates than the early eye witness accounts and which include absurd statements such as men walking with their heads touching the clouds. The earliest accounts, provided in the New Testament, read as honest accounts of a powerful moment in history.
Lastly, the empty tomb is documented in the New Testament as being first discovered by women. In the first century, a woman’s voice often had little to no respect in providing testimony. Their voice was considered circumspect at best, and unreliable in any official setting. Considering this reality, it is bizarre that the new testament clearly presents women as the first to see the empty tomb. The only explanation for telling the story in this way, is if the New Testament writers were simply telling the truth of what happened, and not attempting to sugarcoat the reality to make their case more believable.
The Resurrection Appearances
The second primary evidence that the resurrection took place as a historical event is that the disciples of Jesus truly believed they had seen Jesus resurrected. The New Testament documents, many of which were written by the closest disciples of Jesus, attest to the first hand accounts of witnessing the resurrected Christ. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” Luke begins his gospel account of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ with, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” Note here that the historian Luke took pains to note that he interviewed the eye witnesses of the event. Similarly Matthew, Peter, and Paul all give first hand witness to the resurrection.
Additionally, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 records what was at the time of the writing of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians a well documented and reported creed. This creed reads, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” This is one of the earliest creeds of Christendom dating to within five years of the resurrection and clearly demonstrates the Disciples truly believed they had witnessed a resurrection.
But the story gets even more intriguing. It is clear that the disciples of Jesus taught in the early years after Jesus’ death that they had seen Jesus resurrected. Some through history have accused the Disciples of concocting a plan to fabricate the story of the resurrection in order to develop a new religion. There are two powerful rebuttals to such an idea. The first rebuttal is that ten of Jesus’ twelve disciples all died excruciatingly painful deaths for their belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Throughout history, many men and women have died for religious beliefs. There is nothing particularly peculiar about someone willing to die for their beliefs, even cult followers have demonstrated a willingness to do that. But in the case of these Disciples, the situation is entirely different. These disciples did not die for a set of religiously held beliefs. They died for what they claimed to have seen with their own eyes, the resurrected Jesus. Many men will die for their faith. It is remarkably improbable however, that a group of men would all choose to die for something they knew they had fabricated. Yet history attests, they all died.
This is incredibly strong evidence that the disciples of Jesus, as well as the many early witnesses of the resurrection recorded in scripture, truly did see Jesus resurrected from the grave. Gerd Ludemann, an Atheistic New Testament scholar summarizes:
“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 Ludeman. Quotes from The Case For the Resurrection of Jesus. [2]
The Origin of the Christian Faith
The third agreed upon fact of history is the origin of the Christian faith. Christianity began after the death of Jesus Christ. Something occurred that mobilized a group of fairly scared individuals to step into bold public proclamation of a religious message that would eventually get them each killed. Acts 4 records the Apostle Peter’s first sermon. This is the same individual who only days earlier had rejected even knowing Jesus during Jesus’ trial, for fear that he too would be tried and crucified. Yet, in Acts 4 Peter begins to preach courageously about the resurrection and Lordship of Jesus. In that sermon Peter goes so far as to directly challenge the political powers that be by saying, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).” This statement was a direct assault on the the household of Caesar. Augustus Caesar was referred to as the Son of God as well as the Savior. He was believed to be a god-like human mediator between the heavenly and earthly realms. He would offer sacrifices to the gods and was considered a type of messianic figure. Ethelbert Stauffer has recorded that it was commonly said in the days of Augustus Caesar, “salvation is to be found in none other save Augustus, and there is no other name given to men in which they can be saved“[3] Against this cultural background Peter and the early Apostles began to preach a message that Jesus alone was Lord and Savior.
Even James, the biological half-brother of Jesus, who originally doubted Jesus’ claims of divinity (John 7:5), upon witnessing the resurrected Jesus, believed and became a significant leader in the early Christian movement (Acts 12:17).
There must be some explanation for the sudden outburst of Christianity into the cultural backdrop of 1st century Israel, a movement that would endure waves of persecution in its first century. Historians agree the only incident that is both unifying and powerful enough to begin a movement with such powerful roots is the physical resurrection of Jesus as recorded by the eye witnesses. Other significant leaders and movements rose and faded during the same time. They lacked the sticking power of Christianity which was rooted not just in a faith in the unseen, but also in the witness of the resurrected Christ.
There is a virtual consensus among scholars who study Jesus’ resurrection that, subsequent to Jesus’ death by crucifixion, his disciples really believed that he appeared to them risen from the dead. This conclusion has been reached by data that suggest that (1) the disciples themselves claimed that the risen Jesus had appeared to them, and (2) subsequent to Jesus’ death by crucifixion, his disciples were radically transformed from fearful, cowering individuals who denied and abandoned him at his arrest and execution into bold proclaimers of the gospel of the risen Lord. They remained steadfast in the face of imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom. It is very clear that they sincerely believed that Jesus rose from the dead.
Gary Habermas. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
Putting These Facts Together
These three facts are virtually undisputed facts of history: the empty tomb, the honest belief of the disciples, & the origin of the Church. There are many more well document facts that support the resurrection, but these three stand alone in a place of historic undeniability by both Christian and non-Christian alike. When taken together they form a powerful set of evidence supporting the Biblical tradition that Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead and appeared to his disciples. Once again, as Christians, evidences like these are helpful but not necessary. Our faith is built upon God’s self-referencing authority over all reality. His Word has testified and therefore it is true. But evidences like these are helpful in developing the resolve of Christians, as they cut through the false narratives of culture that have duped so many into believing that the Bible contradicts scientific evidences.
It is other non-Christian worldviews that must provide some kind of explanation to account for these facts. Over the last hundred years of scholarship many atheists have attempted to provide an alternate explanation to satisfy these facts, but every such attack has faded over time as either inconsistent or impossible. From a strictly evidential perspective, the most probable solution to explain the evidence of history is that the eye witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead are accurate.
It is other non-Christian worldviews that must provide some kind of explanation to account for these facts.
Tomorrow morning we celebrate Easter Sunday, and the reality that Jesus Christ who was God in the flesh, has risen from the grave. He has triumphed over evil and the consequences of sin. He is the victor, the King, our champion. His resurrection has sealed our own resurrection that will one day become our reality. May your faith in Christ rest confidently in the work He accomplished when he defeated death once and for all!
[1] For a full treatment, see Gary Habermas, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.
[2] (Habermas n.d.)
[3] (Stauffer 1955, 88)
*DesiringGod has a similar article summarizing Habermas’s book here: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection
“Historically speaking, the single event in history that has most impacted the trajectory of civilization is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Wrong! The most impactful event for all of humanity was the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Without that Christianity would most certainly have not gained the power to continue. GROG
I respectfully disagree. Christianity had already largely dominated Roman culture by the time it was made the official religion. That is part of (not entirely) the reason it became the official religion. Larry Hurtado, a wonderful historian says it this way in his book Destroyer of the Gods (highly recommended for lovers of Roman history), “But Christianity did not become successful through Constantine giving it imperial approval. Instead, Constantine adopted Christianity likely because it had already become so successful despite earlier efforts to destroy the movement.” In other words, Christianity experienced an explosive growth immediately after the resurrection of Christ not only throughout Israel, but throughout all the Mediterranean.
Raef, I won’t argue about the early history. Things were a bit of a mess at the time. Acceptance of Christianity was to calm things down by controlling people. The Romans were fighting the Jews and in an ironic they got the Christians to do their work for them. I don’t argue religions anymore, I just ask a question of the faithful” “Where do you imagine heaven to be?” Think about it. GROG
You said, “Acceptance of Christianity was to calm things down by controlling people.” If that comment was a reference to Constantine’s decision to make Christianity the “official state religion” in 313AD, then it is missing some unbelievable important pieces of history. First, Christianity flourished throughout the Roman empire for nearly 300 years before the Edict of Milan despite massive persecution. There were at least ten major waves of persecution by the Roman government towards Christians under ten separate rulers in Rome (If I am off on this, please correct me): Nero (64-68), Domitian (90-96), Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Septimius Severus (202-211), Maximinus (235-236), Decius (249-251), Valerian (259-260), and Diocletian (303-311). The Romans thought Christians were insane. They called them “atheists” for not worshipping the Roman Gods and insisting that there was only one God, and “cannibals” for practicing the Lord’s Supper. Christians were hunted, crucified, tortured, flogged, fed to the lions, thrown in the gladiator games, drowned, and worse. Yet… their faith in Christ flourished and spread.
By the time Constantine came along, Christianity had essentially already naturally become the religion of the people, despite the persecution. You said, “Things were a bit of a mess at the time,” but that is just not acknowledging what we know of history. Yes it was messy, just like today is messy, but thanks to great historical scholarship, we have pretty good records of what took place.
What is equally a part of making Christianity the state religion was the societal blessing that came from the presence of Christians. By and large, Christians were known as peaceful people, good citizens who obeyed the law, people who had a strong sexual ethic and hated the pedophilia and prostitution of the Roman culture, people who adopted children and literally made the global practice of ‘Infant Exposure’ unnecessary because of the high rates they adopted. As it turns out, pretty much everywhere Christianity went, society flourished.
In no way am I saying Constantine motive’s were pure, that’s a mixed bag of history. But, I don’t think it is fair to rewrite history by saying ‘Christianity was accepted to control people.’ That simply is not historically accurate.
Your question in reference to heaven, I’d love to respond to in full, Biblically. But I’m not sure what direction you are going with the question… Can you share a bit more of the angle you are coming from with that?
A Biblical response? What I asked was, where do you imagine heaven to be? Or, what is heaven like and where is it? Where does the heavenly light come from or does everything self illuminate? Can the resurrected converse? Can they speak and hear without a transmission medium? Heaven doesn’t make any sense. It is just the place where Santa Clause was born and expanded into the divine. My take: Heaven exists only between the ears of human beings. I can imagine heaven and I can also imagine there is no heaven. I’m from Mormon country so I am familiar with the fantastical delusions. What do you think? GROG
Two parts in this response. Part 1 – Permit me a bit of philosophical/theological pushback. I agree with you that the Mormon religion contains “fantastical delusions.” The reason I know that is because I have a standard of truth (The Word of God) by which to measure all claims of truth. Your position is on very shaky ground, because on the one hand you claim that Mormons are “delusional,” yet you have no standard that you can use to measure your own beliefs to know if you are delusional as well. In other words, the claim you made that, “heaven exists only between the ears of human beings” is a faith based belief system. Epistemologically, there is no real evidence to support that claim other than your faith that it seems right to you, which ultimately means that it is impossible to know whether you are more or less “true” or “right” than the delusional guy next door. It is simply one faith claim pitted against another with no legitimate mechanism for determining between the two. [Please don’t take this in an argumentative, genuinely a kind discussion tone is intended]
Second – Based on what I just above, I hold to the Biblical view of heaven. There is a very clear resurrection from the dead that takes place after our death. Jesus taught this repeatedly. That resurrection is physical, meaning we will get a new glorified body. I believe Heaven will be full of life and discussion and laughter and singing and learning more and more of God’s goodness. It is what we all long for. A world without sin, without brokenness, without pain. A world where God’s laws are joyfully followed. Jesus will rule as King eternally. And we will enjoy the fruit of His global Kingdom.
That future heaven is tasted in part in the here and now, in this life. When a person believes in Jesus, they are filled by the Holy Spirit, in such a way that they begin to long for and experience God’s goodness and provision in ways they could never have understood before. These are like appetizers of the main meal that is still to come. But Oh! How delicious are those appetizers.
Permit me to ask you a question. What has convinced you so strongly that Jesus is not who claimed to be? I genuinely am curious. Every rock I uncover in my pursuit of God I am overwhelmingly awestruck by the cogency of the claims of Christ. I am curious as to your path.
Christ is irrelavent from my position because I think the supernatural, heaven if you will, doesn’t exist outside of human imagination. For me, it is as simple as that. You, the faithful, believe you are of a special kind, not evolved, but created and that you have a personal savior in Jesus. Where did you come from and where do you believe you are going? Sorry to go on… Where is heaven? GROG
Eventually, when this Earth is done, God will bring Heaven to this Earth. So… quite literally you and I are walking right now in the physical place where heaven will eventually be. That is not today though. The Bible teaches that a very real heaven (though not the final heaven) does exist right now. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Where that place is right now, the Bible does not give an answer. It seems like it is likely in another realm of sorts.
I hope that addresses your question.
Raef, it’s been interesting, but all I hear are stories. Do you remember when you first started to believe in heaven? Did your parents teach you about your father in heaven? That is usually when it begins, parents passing on the stories of being a child of god. Good luck. GROG
Actually, I did not come to know Christ until I was 18, and frankly did not develop a well thought out theology of heaven until I was later in my 20’s. It was the overwhelming evidence of Christianity matched by an inward sense that Christ was truly King (What John Calvin called the sensus divinitatis). It changed my life quite drastically.
I know we are on different pages. I do appreciate the banter.
Your story is quite common. It takes a while to get through the vagaries of growing up, but if a person has support and encouragement they can become convinced that they are special. Being special and the dream of resurrection is the hook for the religion scam. Do you know of Bart Ehrman, a Biblical scholar or Christopher Hitchens? When you say “well thought out” , but it is the story that matched your inner sense about Christ..It all boils down to feelings doesn’t it? It wasn’t until I was in my late sixties or early seventies that I got serious about my non-belief in the supernatural. Good luck on your journey. GROG
Here is a fellow blogger, a former priest,who has some interesting comments on the faith. https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/13040502