Why was Jesus of Nazareth crucified? Because he made outrageous claims about
himself. He claimed to be the one and only Son of God.
Why would anyone take his claim seriously? Well, that all depends. If Jesus
actually rose from the dead, then his claim to be God's unique son carries
considerable weight. On the other hand, if the resurrection never actually happened,
then Jesus may be safely dismissed as just another interesting, but
tragic historical figure. Did Jesus rise from the dead? As we explore this
question, we need to address two further questions. What are the facts that
require explanation, and which explanation best accounts for these
facts? There are three main facts that need to be explained: the discovery of
Jesus' empty tomb, the appearances of Jesus alive after his death, and the
disciples belief that Jesus rose from the dead. Let's examine each of these. Fact number
one: the discovery that Jesus's tomb was empty is reported in no less than six
independent sources, and some of these are among the earliest materials to be
found in the New Testament. This is important because when an event is
recorded by two or more unconnected sources, historians' confidence that the
event actually happened increases, and the earlier these sources are dated, the
higher their confidence. Moreover, the Gospels indicate that it
was women who first discovered that Jesus' body was missing. This is likely
historical, because in that culture, a woman's testimony was considered next to
worthless. A later legend or fabrication would have had men make this discovery.
Our confidence in the empty tomb is further increased by the response of the
Jewish authorities. When they heard the report that the tomb was found empty,
they said that Jesus' followers had stolen his body, thereby admitting that
Jesus's tomb was in fact empty. Most scholars by far hold firmly to the
reliability of the biblical statements about the empty tomb. Fact number two: the
appearances of Jesus alive after his death. In one of the earliest letters in
the New Testament, Paul provides a list of witnesses to Jesus' resurrection
appearances. He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than
500 brothers at one time, then he appeared to James, then to all the
apostles. Finally, he appeared also to me. Furthermore, various resurrection
appearances of Jesus are independently confirmed by the Gospel accounts. On the
basis of Paul's testimony alone, virtually all historical scholars agree
that various individuals and groups experienced appearances of Jesus alive
after his death. It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the
disciples had experiences after Jesus' death in which Jesus appeared to them as
the risen Christ. Fact number three: the disciples belief in the resurrection.
After Jesus' crucifixion, his followers were devastated, demoralized, and hiding
in fear for their lives. As Jews, they had no concept of a messiah who would be
executed by his enemies, much less come back to life. The only resurrection Jews
believed in was a universal event on judgement day after the end of the world,
not an individual event within history. Moreover, in Jewish law, Jesus'
crucifixion as a criminal meant that he was literally under God's curse. Yet
somehow despite all of this the disciples suddenly an sincerely came to
believe that God had raised Jesus from the dead. They were so completely
convinced, that when threatened with death, not one of them recanted. Even the
Pharisee, Paul, who persecuted Christians, suddenly became a Christian himself, as
did Jesus' skeptical younger brother James. Some sort of powerful,
transformative experience is required to generate the sort of movement earliest
Christianity was. That is why as an historian I cannot explain the rise of
early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an empty tomb behind him."
These three firmly established facts cry out for an adequate explanation. How do
you make sense of them? Down through history, various naturalistic
explanations have been offered to explain away these facts: the conspiracy
hypothesis, the apparent death hypothesis, the hallucination hypothesis, and so on.
All of these have been nearly universally rejected by contemporary
scholarship. The simple fact is that there is just no plausible naturalistic
explanation of these three facts. The explanation given by the original
eyewitnesses is that God raised Jesus from the dead. If it's even possible that
God exists, then that explanation cannot be ruled out.
For a God who is able to create the entire universe, the odd resurrection
would be child's play. An empty tomb, Jesus' appearances alive after his death, and a
group of dejected followers suddenly transformed by a radical new belief in a
risen messiah: these are independently established
historical facts. How do you explain them?