Would you donate to us today?

×

Note from the editor: Dr. Haykin now finishes his series on the history and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this post, he showcases the Biblical evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, which is part of the grand climax of the Christian faith. WG

 

Supporting the early Christian assertion in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus had been raised from the dead is a list of witnesses who saw him:

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 (15:5–8).

If we go through the Gospels we find the various details of these appearances.[1] Some have argued that what we have here is simply hallucination. The Apostles and the disciples thought they saw Jesus, but it was all in their minds. But how can one explain the appearance of Jesus to “more than five hundred” on one occasion? Hallucinations simply do not happen en masse. In fact, the mention of the fact that “most of [these brethren] are still alive” needs to be seen as an indication that these witnesses could be found and questioned about what they saw.[2] Nor do the appearances of Jesus that are recorded for us in the Gospels look like hallucinations. The appearances of Jesus are too “solid,” too “physical” to be regarded as visions (consider in this regard the accounts of the resurrection in Luke 24:36–43; John 20:26–29; 21:1–14).[3]

Among the witnesses listed by Paul two are especially noteworthy. First, there is James, Jesus’ half-brother. During Jesus’ lifetime, James had refused to believe in Jesus and actually thought him mad (John 7:1–5; Mark 3:21). In Acts 1:14, though, we find that Jesus’ “brothers,” including presumably James, were among the 120 meeting for prayer in Jerusalem before the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. And when Paul visited Jerusalem three years after his conversion, James “the Lord’s brother” was now numbered among the Apostles and one of the Jerusalem Church leaders (Galatians 1:19). Surely, the best explanation of this one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turnabout is to be found in those words of 1 Corinthians 15:7, the Risen Jesus “appeared to James.”[4]

The second noteworthy witness is Paul himself. Paul had not known Jesus during the latter’s earthly ministry. But soon after Jesus’ resurrection and the beginning of the Christian movement Paul ranked himself among its fiercest opponents. As time went on, there is every indication that he considered his violent opposition to Christianity to be a mark of piety (Philippians 3:6). And along with his persecution of the church, he also believed that he was keeping the law (Philippians 3:6).

But then suddenly and unexpectedly Paul’s life was turned upside down. What could make a man go from being a violent persecutor of the Christian faith to being one of its firmest and most ardent advocates? Well, Paul tells us that Jesus appeared also to him and he had seen Jesus in the same way that the others had seen the Risen Lord: with their physical eyes.

One final piece of historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is the Church’s practice of gathering for worship not on the traditional Jewish day of worship, the Sabbath or Saturday, but on the day after, the day we call Sunday (1 Corinthians 16: 2; Acts 20:7; cp. Revelation 1:10). The change of days for worship is very early, very early indeed in the history of the Church. It was a universal custom for there is no hint of a controversy about the day in the early Christian records.

What can account for such a change? Simply the fact that the Lord rose on the first day of the week, and that it was now only appropriate to worship him on that day in commemoration of what is the defining event of the Christian faith.[5]

 

 

[1] See William Lane Craig, The Son Rises: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus (1981 ed.; repr. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000), 91–126 for a discussion of these appearances.

[2] Lee Strobel, The Case for Easter. A Journalist Investigates the Evidence of the Resurrection (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), 68–71.

[3] Craig, The Son Rises, 114–118.

[4] Craig, The Son Rises, 95–97.

[5] Richard Swinburne, Was Jesus God? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 119–120.

LOAD MORE
Loading