Is there evidence for the resurrection? How do we know if Jesus rose from the dead? How does it stack up to other historical events?
Evidence For The Resurrection
Christianity is not a blind faith. Rather, it is an evidential and reasonable one. Additionally, all of Christianity hangs on the resurrection of Jesus, in every way, the resurrection is so vital. The apostle Paul said that if the resurrection were untrue, we are to be pitied above all others. How do we know if it is true? If our faith is not blind, we must be able to demonstrate the logic behind faith in the resurrection.
In this article, we’ll go through 5 pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, and in our next article, we will face some alternative theories of the resurrection and why they aren’t the most reasonable conclusion after examining all available evidence.
Before we dive in, we are making a few assumptions that we won’t go in too much depth to evaluate here. These are that 1) Jesus was a historical figure and 2) He was crucified. These are not controversial claims, and are commonly accepted in academia today, by Christians and Atheists alike; their wide acceptances means we don’t need to explore them here.
The Empty Tomb
The empty tomb! One of the most compelling pieces of evidence, because it would be the easiest way to destroy this newfound faith. Had there been a body, this would have been more than sufficient to show everyone, even the disciples, that Jesus was merely man. Matthew 28:13-15 shows us that instead of being able to tote Jesus’s body through the streets, the Jews spread the story that the disciples stole the body. The fact that they came up with this theory, without being able to demonstrate it, lends itself to the gospel accounts.
Post Resurrection Appearances
After his resurrection, Jesus made appearances to countless people. In his book “Evidence For Christianity”, Josh McDowell notes 15 specific examples of Jesus appearing to people after his death. What is fascinating is that you can’t classify these appearances as hallucinations borne out of confirmation bias, or even grief. Jesus appeared to his half-brother James, who didn’t believe he actually was God at this point, and therefore didn’t expect to see Jesus again after his death. The risen Jesus also appeared to Saul (later Paul). Saul suffered from neither grief nor confirmation bias, as he was certain Jesus was not God, and would also not have been grieved by the death of Jesus, having not been one of his close friends or disciples. (McDowell, 2006, pg. 305-306).
Empty Tomb Discovered By Women
As we can see in the gospels, the empty tomb is discovered by women. In Jewish culture at this time, a woman’s word was considered unreliable. In fact, in a court of law, a woman’s word wasn’t even admissible as evidence. If you were trying to construct a narrative at this time, starting with a woman is a bad start. Due to these facts, it seems that it is unlikely the gospel writers would include embarrassing and possibly counterproductive details such as women testimony unless they were telling events as they unfolded.
The Disciples Believed Jesus Rose From The Dead
Whether you think they are sane or crazy, you cannot get around the fact that the disciples believed that Jesus rose from the dead. In his article “The Resurrection Of Jesus”, William Lane Craig says that in spite of all the prior evidence and reason to the contrary, “the original disciples believed in and were willing to go to their deaths for the fact of Jesus’ resurrection” (Craig, n.d.). Their extensive and firm Jewish background was telling them that the messiah would not be resurrected from the dead, let alone die in the first place. And the manner in which he died is said to befit criminals and those condemned by God. Rather than fulfilling expectations, their belief in the resurrection seems to fly in the face of all preconceived notions.
Independent Attestation
Absolute history gold mine! Any historian would be thrilled to find a historical event attested by multiple sources. This is something historians used to verify the veracity and historicity of a historical event. The resurrection of Jesus is attested to by at least 4 gospels, as well as multiple references scattered throughout the Epistles. If any other event in history had this level of attestation, it would be considered at least highly probable, therefore it is reasonable to conclude the resurrection of Jesus highly probable.
In addition to all of this, there is plenty of other evidence that we will examine here at Equipping Apologetics. We will talk about each individual argument in greater detail, as well as examining the counter arguments, and seeing how those stack up. As these new and related articles are uploaded, we’ll add links to all of them in this article.
Reference List
https://www.josh.org/evidence/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/evidence-for-christianity-josh-mcdowell/1101999770