The resurrection of Jesus: 4 classic reasons to believe it
As unlikely as it may seem, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead seems to be the most compelling explanation of minimal historical facts:
- Jesus died on the cross and was buried. Some people dispute that Jesus died on the cross and was buried, and yet his death is one of the established facts of first-century history. Some people believe that Jesus merely swooned on the cross and later revived. However, Jesus's injuries were so traumatic as to preclude revival in a cool, damp tomb.
- Jesus's tomb was empty and no one produced the body. From earliest times, the tomb was recorded as being empty. The early rumor was that the disciples had stolen the body. However, the earliest and most central message proclaimed boldly by Jesus's followers by the mid-first century was that Jesus had risen from the dead. The proclamation was unpopular in the extreme with the authorities, to the point of persecution and death. It could have been quashed immediately if the tomb were not empty and if an opponent had produced the body.
- Jesus’s disciples believed that they saw him resurrected from the dead. Literally hundreds of eyewitnesses are recorded to have seen him after his death (1 Corinthians 15:6).
- The transformation of these disciples from cowering, fearful, and confused to bold, fearless announcers of the resurrection is truly remarkable and hard to explain (Acts 4:13). The notion that all of these Jesus followers hallucinated seems incredible in the extreme. How were they able to touch him and eat with him, if it were merely a hallucination?
These four facts clearly point to the resurrection of Jesus: he died and was buried; the tomb is empty; hundreds of eye-witnesses saw him after his death; the fearful closest followers suddenly transformed to bold announcers.
This article was based in part on my book: Five Languages of Evidence: How to Speak about Reasons for Christianity in a Post-truth World. Currently unpublished; available upon request.
Note: This is the second post in a blog series I’m calling “Faith Matters.” I intend to look at topics related to Christian evidences, book reviews, and aesthetic evidences that Jesus is real and the Bible is true.
Next post: two subtler--and in my opinion more powerful--arguments for the resurrection of Christ.
