Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? (4 page)

Given their lower social status and lack of credibility as witnesses, it is quite amazing that it is
women
who are the discoverers of and principal witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb! If the empty tomb story were a legend, then male disciples would have been made to be the ones who discover the empty tomb. The fact that women—whose testimonies were deemed worthless—
were
the chief witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb can only be plausibly explained if, like it or not, they actually were the discoverers of the empty tomb, and the Gospel writers faithfully record what (for them) was an awkward and embarrassing fact.

THE JEWISH POLEMIC

If you think about it, the earliest Jewish polemic presupposes the fact of the empty tomb. As an example, see Matthew’s attempt to refute the earliest Jewish response to the Christian proclamation of the resurrection:

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
—Matthew 28:11—15

Now our interest is not in the historicity of Matthew’s story of the guard at the tomb but rather in his incidental remark at the story’ s close: “This story has been spread among the Jews to this day.” This remark reveals that Matthew was concerned about refuting a widespread Jewish explanation of the resurrection.

So what were unbelieving Jews saying in response to the disciples’ proclamation “He is risen from the dead”? That these men were full of new wine? That Jesus’ corpse still lay in the tomb? No. They were saying, “His disciples came by night and stole him away.”

Think about that: “His disciples came by night and stole him away.” The Jewish authorities did not deny the fact that Jesus’ tomb was empty; instead they entangled themselves in a hopeless series

of absurdities, trying to explain it away. In other words, the Jewish claim that the disciples stole the body presupposes that the body was, in fact, missing. Therefore, we have evidence from the very adversaries of the early Christian movement for the fact of the empty tomb.

These five lines of evidence, taken together, give sufficient grounds for thinking that Jesus’ tomb was, in fact, found empty on the first day of the week by a group of his female followers. Most scholars, therefore, regard the fact of Jesus’ empty tomb to be well-established. According to Jacob Kremer, a New Testament critic who has specialized in the study of the resurrection: “By far most exegetes hold firmly to the reliability of the biblical statements about the empty tomb.”
⁸
In fact, in a survey of over two thousand publications on the resurrection in English, French, and German since 1975, Gary Habermas found that seventy-five percent of scholars who have written on the subject accept the historicity of the women’s discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb.
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The evidence has convinced even a number of Jewish scholars, such as Pinchas Lapide and Geza Vermes, that Jesus’ tomb was found empty. Therefore, we can regard the first of the three facts to be explained as, if not beyond dispute, historically well-established.

Part II:

POST-MORTEM
APPEARANCES

Did people really see Jesus alive after his death? We will begin our inquiry by first considering the evidence for the resurrection appearances of Jesus: there are three main lines of evidence that bear examination.

Paul’s list of eyewitnesses, cited in 1 Corinthians 15:3—8, to Jesus’ resurrection appearances substantiates the occurrence of such appearances. Let’s look briefly at each appearance in Paul’s list to see whether it’s plausible that such an event actually occurred.

PETER, THE DISCIPLES,
AND THE FIVE HUNDRED

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
—1 Corinthians 15:3—8

The Gospels do not contain the story of Christ appearing to Peter (or “Cephas,” as Paul writes in the Aramaic). But it was included in the old Christian tradition passed on by Paul, which came out of the Jerusalem church. Moreover, Paul himself vouches for it. We know from Paul’s letter to the Galatians 1:18 that three years after his conversion on the Damascus Road, Paul spent about two weeks with Peter in Jerusalem. So Paul knew whether or not Peter claimed to have had such an experience. Moreover, the appearance to Peter is independently mentioned in another old Christian tradition found in Luke 24:34: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” That Luke is passing on a prior tradition and not just composing freehand here is evident from the awkward way in which this saying is inserted into his story of the appearance to the Emmaus disciples. So we have multiple, independent, and extremely early sources for the fact of this appearance to Peter. Therefore, virtually all New Testament scholars agree that, however you might care to explain it, Peter did see a post-mortem appearance of Jesus.

The Disciples

The next appearance mentioned was to “the twelve,” undoubtedly the original group of twelve disciples who had been chosen by Jesus during his ministry—minus, of course, Judas, whose absence didn’t affect the formal title of the group. This is the best-attested resurrection appearance of Jesus. It is also a part of that very early tradition that Paul hands on. Moreover, Paul himself had personal contact with members of The Twelve. In addition we actually have two independent accounts of this appearance in Luke 24:36—42 and John 20:19—20. There can be little doubt that such an appearance occurred, for it is attested in the old Christian tradition, vouched for by Paul, and independently described by both Luke and John.

The Five Hundred

For whatever reason, the five hundred witnesses (and others he mentions beyond that) were not, apparently, part of the traditional formula he was using, but who were known to him nonetheless.

The number of people involved—five hundred, simultaneously—is noteworthy, and yet there is no mention whatsoever of this appearance anywhere else in the New Testament. One may be pardoned for being somewhat skeptical that so extraordinary an event, should it have occurred, could have gone unnoticed by the biblical authors, but Paul himself seems to have had personal contact with these individuals, since he knew that some had died in the meantime.

He notes this in his passing comment, “most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” Why does Paul add this remark? The great New Testament scholar of Cambridge University, C. H. Dodd, replies, “There can hardly be any purpose in mentioning the fact that the most of the 500 are still alive, unless Paul is saying, in effect, ‘The witnesses are there to be questioned.’“
¹⁰
Paul would not have said this if the event had not occurred. He wouldn’t have challenged people to talk to the eyewitnesses if the event had never taken place and there were no eyewitnesses. But evidently there were witnesses to this event, and Paul knew that some of them had died in the interim. Therefore, the event must have taken place.