What makes Christianity different from other religions? Part 2 Jesus’ Resurrection – The Minimal Facts Approach
In Part 1, I explained that the central claim of Christianity has strong historical support through something called the minimal facts approach. If you have not yet read that, you can click here to read it. These five facts are sufficient to make a case that the best explanation of the events surrounding Jesus’ death was that He was physically resurrected. In addition, these facts are sufficient to refute the opposing theories that have been proposed to avoid the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection. So, whatever your view of what happened around the time of Jesus’ death, your view needs to account for these facts.
Jesus Died by Crucifixion
Speaking of Jesus’ resurrection presupposes that He was in fact dead, so establishing this is an important starting point. Crucifixion was a shameful form of execution in the Roman Empire, reserved for people like rebels and slaves. It is therefore highly unlikely that Jesus’ disciples would invent a story of their glorious King and Messiah as having been crucified if that was not what happened, but that is how He is clearly presented in their writings (Matthew 27:35-37; John 19:18-19; 1 Peter 2:21-24). In addition, we have confirmation of Jesus’ crucifixion in several historical accounts outside the Bible, some of which were indifferent to Christianity, while others were hostile. Furthermore, crucifixion allowed the executioners ways of determining the death of the victim, such as stabbing with a spear (John 19:34), so it was not just that Jesus was crucified and somehow survived, but that He died by crucifixion.
The Tomb of Jesus Was Empty
After Jesus’ crucifixion, we could look at where, who, and why in regard to the empty tomb. In thinking about where, after Jesus was publicly executed in Jerusalem, He was buried close-by. However, this is also where the first preaching occurred according to the New Testament and secular history as well. So, if anyone wanted to verify the disciples’ story, they could take a relatively short walk and see if Jesus’ body was still there or not. In thinking about who, the Jewish leaders who condemned Jesus actually confirmed that His tomb was empty, albeit indirectly. The testimony of 3 ancient sources reports that the Jewish response was to say that the disciples stole Jesus’ body. This is an attempt to explain away the empty tomb, but if the body was still in the tomb, the Jewish leaders could have easily stopped the disciples’ preaching by revealing it. In thinking about why, all 4 Gospel writers say that women were the first to witness the empty tomb. This may not seem like a big deal today, where equality between men and women is emphasized, but in the ancient world, the testimony of women was considered questionable and certainly not as good as that of a man. So, if you were going to make up a story in the first century, you would most likely use men as your primary witnesses. The evidence points to the empty tomb.
Jesus’ Disciples Believed that He Rose from the Dead and Appeared to Them
As interesting as the empty tomb is, that is not the major reason Jesus’ disciples believed in His resurrection. The testimony of the disciples, confirmed by 9 ancient sources in the first 100 years after the events, was that they believed in Jesus’ resurrection because He physically appeared to them. You may think that 100 years sounds like a long time, perhaps long enough for exaggeration or even legend to develop, but if we look at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15 which I quoted in Part 1, we see that the preaching of Jesus’ disciples was consistent from the very beginning. While conservative scholars consider the death of Jesus and the preaching of His resurrection to be almost simultaneous, even skeptical scholars date this preaching to within 2 years of Jesus’ death. These skeptical scholars may not believe that Jesus was resurrected, but they are convinced that the disciples believed it. A big reason why is that 7 ancient sources confirm the disciples’ willingness to suffer and even die for belief in Jesus’ resurrection. The strength of their conviction does not prove the truth of the belief, but it shows that they truly believed it. The disciples were in the unique position to know whether Jesus had appeared to them or not, so their unwavering belief is significant.
The Skeptic James and the Church Persecutor Paul were Suddenly Changed
If it was a significant thing for Jesus’ followers to proclaim His resurrection, it was even more significant for those who were previously unconvinced to do so. James was the brother of Jesus, but interestingly enough, James and Jesus’ other brothers were not believers prior to Jesus’ death (Mark 3:21; John 7:5). What is even more interesting is that this previously unbelieving brother became an important leader in the early church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17, 15:13-21). 1 Corinthians 15 again proves useful, explaining the dramatic turnaround, as verse 7 tells us that the risen Jesus appeared to James. In addition, verses 8-9 tell of an even more dramatic turnaround, which is that of the church persecutor, Paul. He had heard the preaching of the Christians and remained unconvinced. What turned him around? Well, as it says 3 times in Acts and several more times in Paul’s letters, the risen Jesus revealed Himself to Paul and changed one of the most hostile opponents into one of the most dedicated servants.
These facts cry out for explanation, and as I have said, the best explanation by far is the one given in the New Testament, that Jesus was physically raised from the dead. What I haven’t yet said is what some of the other explanations are, so that will be the subject of Part 3 (available on April 4th, 2024).