Jesus Died Only to Rise Again. Where Did the Concept of the Resurrection

Of all the teachings of Christianity, no doctrine is more fundamental than the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The truth of the resurrection has been attacked from every bending. New books and television media regularly appear questioning the resurrection, re-hashing old theories about what happened to Jesus' body. Since the resurrection is crucial to Christianity, Christians ought to be able to give answers to these inevitable questions with proof and evidence.

Historically Credible Accounts in the Gospels

The first step in defending the resurrection from its detractors is to establish the fact of the historical events that took place as conveyed in the Gospels. As philosopher William Lane Craig notes in his book Reasonable Faith, "The outcome is whether the gospel narratives are historically apparent accounts or unhistorical legends."

The Existence of the Empty Tomb

One of the easiest parts of the resurrection data to establish is the fact that the tomb is empty. Because the location of Jesus' burying was known to those living in Jerusalem, it is unlikely that they would take believed the apostles' claims about the resurrection of Christ if in that location was non an empty tomb. Jesus' burying is widely attested in early, contained testimonies, both biblical and actress-biblical.

The fact that women are primary witnesses of the empty tomb in the Gospel accounts is further evidence of their actuality. This is because, every bit is often noted, women were non considered reliable witnesses in get-go-century Jewish civilisation, so it would have been foolish for the authors to fictionally construct an account involving women in order to gain credibility.

Matthew 28:xi speaks of a myth that was spread amidst the Jews concerning the body of Christ. Plain, the Jews were saying the disciples stole the body of Christ. This is pregnant because the Jews did non deny the tomb was empty, but instead sought an alternative explanation to the resurrection. The emptiness of the tomb is a widely attested historical fact.

However, just because the tomb of Jesus Christ was empty does not necessarily mean the resurrection happened. There are four culling hypotheses to the resurrection that have been advanced over the years:

i. The Conspiracy Hypothesis

The conspiracy hypothesis says that the disciples stole the body of Jesus and continued to lie about his appearances to them. According to this account, the resurrection was a hoax.

This hypothesis is not commonly held in modern scholarship for several reasons:

This hypothesis does not take into account that the disciples believed in the resurrection. It is highly unlikely that numerous disciples would have been willing to give up their lives defending a fabrication.
Information technology is unlikely that the idea of resurrection would have entered the minds of the disciples, equally such an event was not continued to the Jewish idea of a Messiah. The scholar William Lane Craig writes, "If your favorite Messiah got himself crucified, and then you lot either went dwelling house or else you got yourself a new Messiah. But the thought of stealing Jesus' corpse and maxim that God has raised him from the dead is hardly one that would have entered the minds of the disciples."
This hypothesis cannot account for the postal service-resurrection appearances of Christ.

two. The Credible Decease Hypothesis

The second hypothesis attempting to explain away the resurrection is the apparent death hypothesis. This view says Jesus was not completely dead when he was removed from the cantankerous. In one case in the tomb, Jesus was revived and escaped, thus convincing the disciples of his resurrection.

This view is difficult to hold for a few reasons:

It is unlikely that a half-dead human being would have been capable of even getting upward to walk, much less moving the huge stone that sealed the tomb, over-powering Roman guards, and fleeing from sight.
This theory cannot account for the disciples' attribution of resurrection to Christ, for if they had seen him after he was revived, they would have merely idea he had never died.
It is likewise foolish to think the Romans, who had perfected the art of executing people, would take let ane skid by without ensuring he was expressionless.
Finally, given the physical torture described in the Gospel accounts, it is highly unlikely that Jesus could accept survived crucifixion.

3. The Wrong Tomb Hypothesis

The wrong tomb hypothesis suggests that the women had gotten lost on their way to Jesus' tomb and accidentally stumbled upon the caretaker of an empty tomb. When the flagman said, "Jesus is not here," the women were so disoriented they fled, their story after being adult into a resurrection myth.

Like the other theories, almost no reputable scholars concur to this view. There are at least three reasons:

Kickoff, this theory does not explain the post-resurrection appearances, and it is spurious to recall that such a uncomplicated mistake would take led a first-century Jew to remember a resurrection had happened.
In light of the early evidence that is bachelor concerning the location of Jesus' tomb, it is almost impossible that the women would have dislocated its location.
This hypothesis emphasizes that the caretaker of the tomb said that Christ was not there, but it passes over the next phrase: "He is risen!"

iv. The Displaced Torso Hypothesis

The displaced body hypothesis says Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus' body in his own tomb, but later moved it to the criminal'southward graveyard. The disciples were not aware that Jesus' body had been moved and therefore wrongly inferred that he had risen from the expressionless.

Because of the spurious nature of this theory, virtually no modernistic scholars hold to it:

This theory cannot business relationship for the post-resurrection appearances of Christ or the origin of the Christian faith.
It is unclear why Joseph would not have corrected the error of the disciples by simply showing them where he had moved the body of Jesus.
The criminal graveyard, most likely, was quite close to the crucifixion site, so information technology would take made little sense why Joseph would not accept simply buried Jesus there in the first identify. In fact, it was against Jewish law to let a torso to be moved after information technology had already been buried.

The Mail service-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus

In ane Corinthians, an authentic letter composed by a man acquainted with the first disciples, the Campaigner Paul claims that numerous people saw Jesus alive subsequently his death (ane Corinthians 1:1).

Information technology is adequately indisputable that Jesus actually appeared to the people that Paul mentions. Even the notorious New Attestation critic Bart Ehrman admits, "we tin can say with some confidence that some of his disciples claimed to have seen Jesus alive."

The gospels all speak of post-resurrection appearances of Christ. Information technology would be quite ridiculous to suggest that each of these events was a hallucination. Few scholars argue, therefore, that on different occasions different groups of people had experiences of seeing Jesus. They therefore question whether the experiences were actual physical, bodily appearances of Christ. However, Paul leaves no room for a simply psychological experience. His theology of the resurrected body ensures that he meant that Christ actually, physically appeared.

The resurrection is the about plausible caption for the postmortem appearances of Christ. The alternative—the disciples were hallucinating—says nothing to explain the empty tomb. Nor does it explain the disciples' belief in the resurrection. In typical psychological postmortem experiences, the person having the experience rarely would think that a dead person actually returned physically to life. Every bit New Testament scholar N.T. Wright argues, postmortem appearances in the ancient world would be more evidence that the person was dead than that he was alive.

The physical resurrection of Jesus proves to exist the best explanation for the postmortem appearances described in ane Corinthians i:1.

The Existence of Christianity

The fact that Christianity started and grew is too show of the resurrection. For Jews, the Messiah was viewed as a figure that would be triumphant and rule on David's throne, not a figure that would exist crucified and dice.

The resurrection of Jesus undid the catastrophe of the crucifixion. The Messiah, who had died, is risen! The resurrection validated and verified the claims Jesus had made about his own identity. The origin of Christianity rests solely on the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the expressionless.

It stands to reason that Jesus Christ did in fact rise from the dead victoriously on the tertiary twenty-four hour period after his decease. No culling hypothesis tin can adequately explain the empty tomb, the postmortem appearances of Jesus, and the origin of the Christian faith.

What iii Facts Prove the Resurrection of Jesus?

Read a transcription of this video past Gary Habermas about the proof of Christ's resurrection:

Well, I'm the guy that goes through the key sources to see where scholars are today. If I'm going to tell you where scholars are across the board, I kind of have to have an idea where they're hanging out. And in the literature, this is difficult to imagine. In the critical literature, I found over twenty reasons to believe in an empty tomb, over 20. You think actually? I mean, where exercise you get that kind of affair. Merely critics are convinced, at to the lowest degree if you go by the times they mentioned it most, that the best reason to believe in the empty tomb is considering the women are reported as witnesses. At present here's how it works.

If I'one thousand faking a gospel or one-half faking, half telling the truth. And I don't hateful that I'm a liar, that's manner besides elementary. I'k telling a story nearly this not bad man, and I just kind of make full in the blanks with things that I've heard, you know, and I don't know what goes in there. And I'm writing this a few decades after. When I get to the important parts central part virtually empty tomb, where we're getting upward to appearances, I don't choice women as my witnesses. Because it's not true that women couldn't testify in a court of police, they could. But at that place's an inverse relation betwixt how important the subject matter was and whether yous would use women witnesses. Maybe information technology'south all you have. And in this instance, at least the beginning till the disciples get there and who knows who else, that's all we have.

And then why is it that iv gospel writers, now they're non just downward the block from each other, correct? They're in different parts of the Roman empire. As they're telling the story, why do they all commit this sort of faux pas and say, "The women did it?" Why wouldn't you say, "Well, I'thousand pretty gratuitous to tell the story. I think I heard someone say Peter and John went there." Okay, well that'southward afterward in the accounts. But allow's brand them go in that location at the beginning. Are let's just say I misunderstood. I idea Peter and John were with the women and they went early in the morn. I hateful, I'grand looking to get the guys to that story. There's not a single human being in the original trip to the tomb. How come it'southward told that way 4 times different parts of the empire? Considering at that place wasn't a single guy in the group. That's just an oppressive reason. You don't put your worst pes forward unless you're trying to tell the truth.

Another key reason is the story'due south told in Jerusalem. Where does the preaching first? Jerusalem. Where's the empty tomb? Jerusalem. How was the tomb again? Empty. Well, a skeptic sometimes say, "Come on, your book Acts says that they don't start preaching for 50 days. You couldn't tell who the person was afterward 50 days." And I'd respond, "That's not the pedagogy. That'southward not the text. That'south non what it says. You have to do justice to what the text says." And here'due south what the text says. It's empty. Not in that location's a body in the tomb, don't mind him. We don't know who he is, anyway. Nobody's in the tomb. If there's a trunk in the tomb, the preaching is false. The New Attestation is an empty tomb, no tomb. I mean, nobody cached in the tomb. And and so the fact that it was preached in Jerusalem where anybody could get there easily on an afternoon walk and prove it or disprove it, it simply works if in that location's no body in the tomb, ie, empty.

A 3rd expert reason is over again, critics look for unlike sources, different, y'all know, ii heads are meliorate than ane. And they're not agreed. But of the five sources that I outlined for the gospels, they believe that we have three to four are independent, albeit the empty tomb. That's three out of four out of a five max. That's a pretty skillful indication. Those are three.

At that place's a number of other indications. I think they're the all-time ones. The women, the fact that it was preached geographically in the place that it could most readily be refuted, and the fact that we accept several sources, independent sources for the empty tomb.

Jesus Died Only to Rise Again. Where Did the Concept of the Resurrection

Historically Credible Accounts in the Gospels

The Existence of the Empty Tomb

i. The Conspiracy Hypothesis

two. The Credible Decease Hypothesis

3. The Wrong Tomb Hypothesis

iv. The Displaced Torso Hypothesis

The Mail service-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus

The Existence of Christianity

What iii Facts Prove the Resurrection of Jesus?

Further Reading

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