Did God Raise Jesus From the Dead?

One of the arguments for God's existence is based on the events surrounding the purported resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus came into the world with audacious claims: to be the Messiah and the Son of God.  Hauled before the Jews and then the Romans, he was summarily flogged and crucified.  However, his earliest followers almost immediately began preaching his resurrection.  This would seem to suggest that God vindicated Christ's claims by raising him from the dead, thus indirectly proving his existence.

However, is the resurrection a historically verifiable event?  Critics have tried for centuries to debunk the Gospel narrative of the Resurrection.  In fact, the first attempts were perpetrated by the Jewish elite on Easter Sunday (see Matthew 28:11-15).  What facts can we provide for evidence in the historical accuracy of the Scriptural resurrection narratives?  What does the resurrection prove about Jesus?

Dr. William Lane Craig provides four main facts which are generally undisputed:

A)   After his crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.

B)   On the Sunday following the crucifixion, Jesus' tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers.

C)   On multiple occasions and under various circumstances, different individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.

D)   The original disciples believed that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary. (1)

 After his crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.

Is there any extra-biblical evidence for the existence of Joseph and his tomb?  Not really.  "To expect that this very minor detail would have been recorded by a non-Christian writer is to expect something quite unreasonable." (2) However, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, we read: "For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: And that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven."

Thus, while not confirming that Jesus was buried in Joseph's tomb, Paul does definitively state that he was buried.  "This fact is highly significant because it means…that the location of Jesus' burial site was known to Jew and Christian alike." (3) Also, Paul's unusual grammar style here leads the scholar to think that he is quoting from an older source, either written or the information he received from Peter/Cephas that he recounts in Galatians 1:18.  Whichever it is, this source "dates to within five years" of the passion and resurrection. (4)  That is very close to the original events, making the likelihood of the veracity of the source very high.

One thing we can come to deductively is that Joseph of Arimathea is not a Christian invention, as the early Christians saw the Jews as responsible for Jesus' death, thus making it unlikely that a member of the Sanhedrin would be made out to be the good guy. (5)

One important point to recognize is that "the resurrection was preached in the same city where Jesus had been buried shortly before". (6) If the resurrection did not happen, it was a bad idea to preach in the same city that contained the occupied tomb of the man who was supposedly raised from the dead.  As I mentioned once already, the Jewish authorities were scrambling to find an explanation for an empty tomb.  To refute the apostles' claims, they did not point to an occupied tomb; rather, they tried to explain away an empty tomb: "…His disciples came by night, and stole Him away…" (Matthew 28:13)  "The Toledoth Jesu, a compilation of early Jewish writings, is another source acknowledging…that the tomb was empty and attempts to explain it away." (7)

Thus, we know from history that the tomb was empty; now, we need to examine the other facts to determine whether the hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" is valid.

On the Sunday following the crucifixion, Jesus' tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers.

Women were the first to discover Jesus' empty tomb.  The fact that women found it is in itself a refutation of the argument that the resurrection narratives are legend.  "In the first century, women were not even eligible to testify in a Jewish court of law." (8)  If the resurrection narratives were false or mythological, the writers, who were familiar with Jewish culture (three were Jews), would never have named women as witnesses to such an important event.  That would damage the case, rather than help it.

Indeed, "The fact that it is women, rather than men, who are the discoverers of the empty tomb is best explained by the fact that they were the chief witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb, and the Gospel writers faithfully record what, for them, was an awkward and embarrassing fact." (9)  Later legends have the resurrection witnessed by both the Jewish elders and the tomb guards, a loud voice from heaven, two men whose heads reach the clouds supporting a third (supposedly Jesus), a talking and walking cross, and all other aspects of a legend one would normally expect. (10)  Peter even indirectly references the resurrection when he says: "For we have not by following artificial fables, made known to you the power, and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were the eyewitnesses of his greatness."  (2 Peter 1:16)

Thus, the discovery of the empty tomb by women actually fortifies the case; after all, those who purport to refute an ancient miracle must be aware of the religio-historical contexts in which it happened.  The pervasive distrust of women at this time only makes their discovery of the tomb more singular.

On multiple occasions and under various circumstances, different individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.

Continuing with Paul's above-quoted verse from 1 Corinthians, "Then he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep.  After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles.  And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time."  (1 Corinthians 15:6-8)  Paul received his information from the very highest echelon of the early Church (see again Galatians 1) and from sources which pre-existed his writing.  Thus, Paul's writings cannot be dismissed as exaggeration or otherwise.  Consider the circumstances of Paul's first encounter with the risen Christ.

Paul was, at that time, a faithfully practicing Jew who was convinced that the followers of the Way (an early name for the Christians).  En route to Damascus, he was quite literally knocked off of his horse and struck blind.  While laying there he heard a voice say: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:4)  The voice revealed itself to be none other than Jesus, who commanded Paul to go into the city and begin the conversion process.  Saul/Paul was by no means one thought to be open to a message from the man whose followers he sought to kill.  Yet, after this experience, he became one of the foremost preachers of the early church, even preaching on the resurrection to the Athenians and being rejected for it (see Acts 17:32-33) 

"[T]he appearance to Peter is attested by Luke and Paul; the appearance to the Twelve is attested by Luke, John, and Paul; and the appearance to the women is attested by Matthew and John.  The appearance narratives span such a breadth of independent sources that it cannot be reasonably denied that the earliest disciples did have such experiences." (11)

So, we have verifiable proof that Jesus was seen bodily after his death.  This was not an apparition, as we can see Jesus eating during one of his post-mortem experiences in Luke 24:42-43, 46.

The original disciples believed that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary.

Despite the Suffering Servant prophecies of Isaiah, many Jews "had no idea of a Messiah who, instead of triumphing over Israel's enemies, would be shamefully executed by them as a criminal". (12)  So, the apostles and other early disciples, most of whom were Jewish, despite Jesus' references to his death and resurrection, were largely unbelieving, as can be seen in Mark 16:11, Luke 24:38, and John 20:25.  However, his post-mortem appearances and miracles enkindled in them a faith so strong that many of them were martyred. 

Also, Jews were divided on those who believed in the general resurrection and those who didn't.  However, even those who did were precluded from believing in "anyone's rising from the dead to glory and immortality before the general resurrection of the dead at the end of the world." (13)  Again, they were driven to this belief by the unmistakable presence of the resurrected Christ among them (see Acts 1:3).

Conclusion

While this is not an exhaustive study, I have presented here, with proof, the four main recognized facts about the Resurrection of Jesus.  These facts are hardly contested, even by atheist philosophers and New Testament scholars.  The only question that remains is: Was Jesus raised from the dead by natural forces, or by supernatural?

God spoke at a number of events during the time of Christ, most notably at his Baptism and at his Transfiguration.  In each case, God the Father referred to Jesus as his son, in whom he was well pleased.  In atonement for our sins, Jesus died on the cross; three days later (by Jewish reckoning) the tomb was verifiably empty, guarded by two angels who said: "Why seek you the living with the dead?"  (Luke 24:5)  The raising of Jesus represents divine approval and vindication of his claims.  Therefore, the God who raised Jesus from the dead must exist.  Therefore, the Christian God exists.

God love you!

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(1) William Lane Craig, "The Resurrection of Jesus", at Reasonable Faith, at reasonablefaith.org.

(2) John Oakes, "Is there historical evidence outside the Bible that Jesus was put in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb or that Pilate placed guards at the tomb?", at Evidence for Christianity (5 November 2014), at evidenceforchristianity.org.

(3) Craig, "The Resurrection of Jesus", at reasonablefaith.org.

(4) Craig, "The Resurrection of Jesus", at reasonablefaith.org.

(5) Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2 vols., (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1994), 2: 1240-1. 

(6)Matt Perman, "Historical Evidence for the Resurrection", at Desiring God (12 September 2007), at desiringgod.org.

(7) Perman, "Historical Evidence", at desiringgod.org.

(8) Justin Taylor, "Why it matters theologically and historically that women were the first to discover the empty tomb", at The Gospel Coalition (15 April 2014), at thegospelcoalition.org.

(9) William Lane Craig and Bart D. Ehrman, "Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?  A Debate Between William Lane Craig and Bart D. Ehrman", at College of the Holy Cross (28 March 2006), at holycross.edu.

(10) See the apocryphal Gospel of Peter 8:32-10:42.

(11) Craig and Ehrman, "Is There Historical Evidence", at holycross.edu.

(12) Craig and Ehrman, "Is There Historical Evidence", at holycross.edu.

(13) Craig and Ehrman, "Is There Historical Evidence", at holycross.edu.