Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?

“Jesus was not resuscitated, reanimated, re-birthed, or revived; we as believers of Jesus describe a physical body that returns back to life, never to die again.” -Jeremiah Johnston

Does it Matter that Jesus Rose?

1 Corinthians 15:14

"And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty."

-Your faith means nothing if the resurrection didn't happen.

-Every sermon in Acts discusses the resurrection as critical

John 14:19

"In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too."

-Before he went to the cross, he made this promise. And by default, if he cannot overcome death, then neither can we.

The Arguments Against the Resurrection

Almost all secular, non-Christian professors and scholars would say Jesus existed as a historical figure from the first century.

Leading NT scholars (Athiest and Christian) acknowledge that the disciples had some form of post-death encounter with Jesus.

1. The disciples and hundreds of other people hallucinate the same thing at different times.

Impossible and fanatical.

2. The Women went to the wrong tomb.

This is highly unlikely. The Jewish people hold in high regard the people they bury and their tombs. They religiously return to visit their deceased relatives. They practice a second burial a year later.

3. Some of the stories don’t match.

In car accidents, people aren’t expected to have the same story. People had different details from different perspectives, but they are all saying a car accident happened.

The same applies to biblical authors. They may have varying details from different perspectives, but they all claim the one main thing: JESUS IS ALIVE

4. Stray dogs ate Jesus, or he was buried in a mass tomb

Even if he was a criminal, his brother, friends, and family would have buried him.

5. Conspiracy Theories

"Okay, guys, here’s my idea: we get the body out of the tomb, knock the Roman soldiers out, begin the story with women who are not trusted to be reliable sources of truth at our time, and most likely have to die because of our faith in this lie. Who’s in?”

6. Jesus didn’t actually die

-To think anyone could suffer the horrific tortures of the Crucifixion and then be buried in a tomb is silly. Romans were masters of killing; they ensured his death with a spear to the side, and blood was streaming out of his side. No one is surviving a spear to the side for three days.

-The most straightforward and most logical explanation is that Jesus rose from the dead.

-Even Atheist scholars admit that somehow, the disciples saw something.

The Argument for the Resurrection

1. The Empty Tomb

-The disciples believed because they saw an empty tomb

-People listening to the disciples is evidence that the tomb was empty

-Jewish or Roman authorities could have exposed the lie by pointing to the tomb.

2. If the Resurrection narrative was forged, it is a horrible narrative for proof.

-Women, perceived to be an unreliable source of truth in the first century, are the first eyewitnesses

“Better to burn the Torah than to teach it to a woman.”

-Less educated fishermen are the second eyewitnesses

-The pagan dictator, the Romans, killed the Messiah.

Inconsistent stories

3. No reason for the Jewish religion to invent a resurrected Messiah

Jews already believed in life after death

4. Society has been improved for the better because of Christianity and the Resurrection

-Hospitals

-Healthcare

-Family Planning

-Infanticide

-Care for the Elderly

-Protection and Promotion of Women

Paul says “Man and Woman are now equal in Christ.”

-Care for Children

5. #Onthethirdday

Mark 8:31

"Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

Mark 9:31

"for he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”"

Mark 10:33–34

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him severely, and kill him. Yet after three days, he will rise again.”

Hosea 6:2–3

"He will revive us after two days, and on the third day he will raise us up so we can live in his presence. Let’s strive to know the Lord. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land."

1 Corinthians 15:3–7

"For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles."

6. Jesus Performed Resurrections

“Not only am I predicting my Resurrection, but I’m going to show you that I already got power over death!”

a. Lazarus (John 11), buried in Bethany and Cyprus

b. Jirus’s Daughter (Mark 5)

c. Widow of Nain’s Son (Luke 7)

7. Archaeological evidence supports the narrative of the Resurrection.

Jodi Magness, an atheist archaeologist, argues that the Gospels get it right.

We have more evidence for Jesus than many Roman Emperors.

“It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus died in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ” -Gerd Ludemann

Indisputable.

The grounds on which to fight against the bodily resurrection of Jesus must be done in philosophy, not history, because history is too strong.

8. Jesus appeared to those who believed in him, those who didn’t believe in him, and those who doubted him.

-Think about James. He did not believe his brother was the messiah until the resurrection. The non-Christian historian Josephus records that Jesus died, being stoned to death, while he proclaimed the risen Messiah.

1 Corinthians 9:5

"Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?"

-Those who were hostile toward Jesus and those who opposed came to Christ.

9. The disciples and many others are willing to die horrible deaths, refusing to renounce their faith in the resurrected Jesus.

Paul was beheaded; Peter was crucified upside down; Andrew was crucified and pierced with the spears of four soldiers; Philip was cruelly put to death; Matthew was stabbed in Ethiopia; Bartholomew has various accounts of martyrdom; James was stoned and clubbed to death; Simon the Zealot was killed in Persia; Matthias died in India by burning; and John was not killed but was put into a pot of boiling oil.

—Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

10. Christianity Grew Rapidly.

a. If the resurrection were untrue, many could have refuted it, and the myth would have died.

b. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells his audience that hundreds of people saw Jesus alive, and many of those witnesses are still living. He invites the Corinthians to fact-check him.

c. The Gospel writers claim to be eyewitnesses or to have spoken with eyewitnesses.

11. Jesus’s Resurrection is the only thing that makes sense of our suffering in this life.

Romans 8:18

"For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the coming glory that will be revealed to us."

1 Peter 1:3

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,"

Jesus is the hope for the ones we have lost.

1 Corinthians 15:56–58

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Ask people if they believe in the resurrection. You hold THE hope. The world, your friends, classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and teammates all lack the hope of eternal life without Jesus. Will you share this hope with them?

*I fully realize that most of these claims are not original to me; I am standing on the shoulders of giants who have done more significant work on the subject of the resurrection. This is simply a compiled list with some of my comments.