Apologetics Bible History Jesus Resurrection

Did Jesus physically reappear?

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  • hallucinations
  • death grief
  • metaphor / symbolic
  • resuscitation
  • Paul’s experience is different
  • Mark lacks a physical appearance
  • Jesus’ different appearance
  • flesh & blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God
  • anti-docetism
  • six early independent sources
  • Paul & the Gospels described Jesus as physically alive
  • Paul’s description of bodily transformation
  • Paul oppose the idea of a spiritual resurrection
  • Christian theology is about physical resurrection
  • original Greek words
  • difficulty to convince Jews and Greeks
  • empty tomb

Sources

Five ‘appearances’ after death existed in the ancient time: Romulus, Aristeas, Alcestis, the prophet Samuel, and Apollonius of Tyana1. But their accounts are written late.

There are six early independent sources for the list of Jesus’ apparitions:

  • Matthew
  • Mark
  • Luke
  • John
  • Acts
  • 1 Corinthians

Phlegon (80 – 140 CE) is our only non-Christian source for the bodily appearance of Jesus (very ambigious).

“Jesus, while alive, was of no assistance to himself, but that he arose after death, and exhibited the marks of his punishment, and showed how his hands had been pierced by nails.” 2
Phlegon

List of appearance

Statistically, it is reported that Jesus would appear 12 times, at different locations, to multiple group of people, and stayed from a few moments up to 40 days (Acts 1:3).

OrderPeopleLocationDurationSource
1Mary MagdaleneJesus’ tombFew minutes (same-day)Jn 20:11-18
2Mary Magdalene & other MaryJesus’ tombFew minutes (same-day)Mt 28:1-10
3Peter & JohnJesus’ tombFew minutes (same-day)1 Cor 15:5, Lk 24:34, Jn 20:1-10
42 disciplesOn the road to EmmausAlmost 1 day (same-day)Lk 24:13-35
510 ApostlesA house in Jerusalem1 evening (same-day)Lk 24:36-49, Jn 20:19-23
611 ApostlesA house in JerusalemFew minutes (1 week later)Jn 20:24-31
77 ApostlesSea of Tiberias1 morningJn 21
8All the ApostlesGalileeLess than a dayMt 28:16-20
9500 brothersGalilee (probably)3?1 Cor 15:6
10James (relative of Jesus)Jerusalem (probably)?1 Cor 15:7
11All the ApostlesJerusalem / Bethany40 days1 Cor 15:7, Lk 24:50, Acts 1:3-9
12PaulOn the road to DamascusFew minutes (1 year later)Acts 9:1-9, 1 Cor 15:8

The ending of Mark

The ending of Mark’s Gospel (16:9-20) is considered as a later forgery and wasn’t part of the original writing of Mark4. He only end with an empty tomb. If Mark is the 1st Gospel, rest assure, the resurrection appearances don’t depend on that passage.

  • earlier sources for the bodily appearances pre-date Mark’s Gospel
    • creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
    • speeches of Acts 10:40-41, 13:31
    • tradition of Luke 24:345
  • Mark 14:28 & 16:7 precludes a resurrected Jesus who awaited his disciples in Galilee6, after the raising of the body and the empty tomb (Mk 16:6-7)
  • a few scholars still believe that Matthew wrote first (he has physical appearances)

Was it physical or spiritual?

Paul, the Gospels & Acts

Alexander Ivanov Christ's Appearance To Mary Magdalene After The Resurrection Google Art Project

The disciples didn’t heard the story from others, but they personally saw Jesus in person (Acts 2:32, 3:15).

Paul

  1. Paul witness himself the risen Jesus (Acts 9, 1 Cor 9:1, 15:8, Gal 1:16)
  2. Paul was a Pharisees7(contrary to the Sadducee, the Pharisees believed in bodily resurrection8)
  3. Paul wrote/preach about a bodily transformation
    • Philippians 3:21
    • Romans 8:11
    • 1 Corinthians 15:42-44
    • Colossians 2:9
    • Acts 13:34-37 (Jesus’ body will not return to corruption)
  4. Paul oppose the idea of a spiritual resurrection910

Gospels & Acts

  • Jesus didn’t saw as a ghost (Mk 6:49, Mt 14:26)
  • Jesus said that He wasn’t a ghost (Lk 24:39)
  • Jesus eat fishes (Lk 24:43, Jn 21:13)
  • Jesus show his marks (Lk 24:40, Jn 20:20)
  • Thomas touch Jesus and changed his mind (Jn 20:27-28)
  • Jesus took bread & bless it (Lk 24:30, Jn 21:13)
  • Jesus walks with the 2 disciples (Lk 24:15)
  • Jesus’s feet was embarrassed (Mt 28:9)
  • Jesus went fishing (Jn 21)
  • Jesus speaks to people (Mt 28:9-10; 18-20, Lk 24:17-27; 36-49, Jn 20:15-17; 19-23; 26-29, 21:21:5; 10, 12; 15-19)
  • Jesus’ tomb is empty (Mt 28:1-10, Mk 16:1-8, Lk 24:1-12, Jn 20:1-8, Acts 2:29-32, 1 Cor 15:4)
  • Jesus predicted His bodily resurrection (Jn 2:18-22)
  • Jesus eats & drink with the Apostles after he rose from the dead (Acts 10:41)

Acts of the Apostles

  • Paul can’t convince his audience of the bodily resurrection in Athens (Acts 17:32)
  • Peter preach a risen Christ which he was an eyewitness (Acts 2:32, 3:15, 10:40-41)

History & archeology

  • The fact of the empty tomb require a physical body to be missing
  • The high eschatological expectation of the early Church requires a belief that they saw a physical risen Jesus

The Apostles really insist and struggle to convince their Jewish and Greek audience who refuse to believe. Yet, they never changed their message to gain more converts.

Greeks

For the Platonic Greeks, their ideal is to escape from this material world and bring their soul to the spiritual realm. There is no question about going back into this corrupted mortal body.

  • Paul was rebuked at Athens
  • Paul corrected the Corinthian’s belief about the bodily resurrection11 (1 Cor 15:12-14)
  • Paul criticized Hymenaeus & Philetus for teaching about the spiritual resurrection (2 Tim 2:17-18)

Jews

For the Jews, the bodily resurrection was supposed to only happen at the end of time12, not in the middle of history.

  • Jews don’t expect a dying-rising Messiah
  • The Apostle didn’t understand the connections with Scriptures13
  • The Jewish priests were disturbed to hear that Jesus was resurrected (Acts 4:2)
  • Jesus promised that Lazarus would rise immediately while Martha only expected it to happen on the last day (Jn 11:23-24)

When the disciples saw the risen Jesus, they didn’t understand how it was connected to Scriptures.

  • Paul was fearless of death (even mocking it) (1 Cor 15:55)
  • use the word ‘ἀνάστασις’ (anastasis) 3 times in 1 Cor 1514
  • Paul’s wording for ‘appearance’ is the same used by the Gospels to describe the physical appearance of Jesus

Grief hallucinations

Skeptics argues that the disciples who saw Jesus risen was only a grief. They wish to see Him alive so much that they hallucinate him.

However:

  • vision of a deceased one was evidence that he is dead, not alive15
  • if the disciples hallucinated, they would imagine Jesus in heaven (awaiting for the final resurrection), not on earth
  • the body is missing from the tomb
  • Paul & James had a conversion and had no prior sympathy for Jesus, they end up dying for what they experienced

James

CC BY 2.5 / Photo by Angelo de Rossi (Wikipedia) / Image was edited

James (‘brother’ of Jesus) was a strict Jew16 who never believed that Jesus was the Messiah or anyone special17.

“When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
Mark 3:21

It would be humiliating for Jesus (a rabbi) to not have his family member to follow him, right? But then, within one month after the crucifixion18, James was converted and became the leader of the Jerusalem church19.
He later died as a martyr for his belief, stoned to death in 62 CE.

And since he didn’t follow Jesus’ ministry, it makes it less likely to be a personal invention.

Sources: Josephus, Hegesippus, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria

Paul

Paul was a strict Pharisee, a fearsome persecutor of Christians, where he admitted it on 3 of his letters20. Christians were so scared of him. And suddenly, he became one of its most fervent defenders. He genuinely preaches about Jesus’ resurrection for nearly 35+ years under brutal conditions, even to die as a martyr. What could have convinced Paul to have such a radical conversion?

Sources: Beside of his letters, there are six ancient sources to confirm this fact: Luke, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Tertullian, Dionysus of Corinth & Origen, who reported that he was willing to suffer continuously and even die for his beliefs. 21

Hallucinations

Psychology

Hallucinations are like dreams: you can’t have 2 persons having the same vision at the same time. Jesus re-appearance happens to many people, at different location, at different time, with a length from a few moment up to 40 days. Psychologically that would be highly improbable. Mass hallucination is an extremely rare case.

Even if it’s true, the body of Jesus in the tomb is still missing.

Hallucination Appearance of Jesus
# of affected people 1 2 to 500+ at the same time
# of time it happen 1 12 times
time length few seconds / minutes up to 40 days

In the Catholic Church, it is believed that more than 70,000+ people saw the miracle of the sun at the same time, in Fatima. Was that the world’s biggest mass hallucination in history ever? Or simply a delusion?

In the Middle East, one of the major reason why a Muslim would convert to Christianity is because they dream about Jesus every single night for many years, against their own will. Every night.
Is that a coincidence?

Peter

Since Peter is mentioned so many times in multiple sources, how come he doesn’t mention the appearances it on his Epistles? The fact is, he doesn’t need to. Julius Cesar crossed the Rubicon (multiply attested), but he doesn’t write anything about it on his letters. Plus, at the time he wrote, Christianity was already spreading with the belief in Jesus resurrected as granted.

500 people

Skeptics raised the objection that we don’t have external evidence for the 500 who saw Jesus.

Since the appearances of Jesus was about commissioning the disciples to preach (Mt 28:16-20), this could have happened in a Galilean countryside2223:

  • Jesus’ ministry in Galilee attracted thousands of followers
  • some of the oral traditions behind the Gospels came from Galilee (Q)
    • a resurrection appearance would
      • convince the Galilean people that Jesus is the Messiah
      • launch the preaching of a risen Jesus in Galilee
      • signal them to preserve the teachings of Jesus
  • Jesus’ appearances happen in Jerusalem, then Galilee, then back to Jerusalem
    • back in the region of Galilee and Damascus for Paul
  • a small house can’t contain 500 people at the same time
  • the Apostles got that information from people when they all saw Jesus in Galilee and come back to Jerusalem to formulate the creed in 1 Corinthians 15
  • Paul received that creed in Jerusalem when he meets Peter and James
  • some disciples doubt: doesn’t make sense that it would be the 11 Apostles who already saw Jesus alive in Jerusalem (six first appearances)
  • Galilee was up north, closed to Damascus
    • perhaps some of the Galilean formed a community in that area when Paul came
    • Paul’s experience was closed to Damascus (Acts 9:3)
    • Christians scattered through Judea & Samaria (Acts 8:1)
  • if it happened in Jerusalem
    • we would expect more than just 120 Christians who gather together before Pentecost (Acts 1:15)
    • Jesus only stayed there 1 week (Holy Week) and caused many controversies
  • In Acts 1:21-22, among 120 people, Judas Iscariot’s replacement must be an eyewitness of Jesus’ appearance
  • one source is still valid historically
  • Paul was closed to those people
  • Paul was confident enough to include them (if anybody doubt, they can ask them personally)24
  • most eyewitnesses are still alive, some already died in AD 55
    • the same way, 20 years later, Josephus said the same (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.266)
  • Jesus appears to Peter & the disciples, then to the 500, then to James

Did Paul saw Jesus alive?

Paul didn’t saw a physical body of Jesus like the Apostles. He only experienced a light and a voice. Moreover, he had ‘visions’ of Jesus revealing him the Gospel.

Vision or appearance?

Vision Of Paul Explanations

Post-Ascension

Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus differ from the disciples because it happened after the Ascension (Lk 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-12): Jesus’ body was no longer visible, but was already transformed into a heavenly body glorified in Heaven (Lk 24:51, Acts 1:9). That explains why he only saw the light with a voice (Acts 9, 1 Cor 9:1, 15:8, Gal 1:16), and not a human body like the Apostles.

Luke wrote his Gospel and Acts25. In Luke 24 (pre-date Acts), he already speak of a bodily resurrection.

  • Paul wasn’t alone26 (experience outside of his mind)
  • Paul make a distinction between his visions27 (uncertain) and appearance experience (certain)
  • Paul don’t suffer from medical conversion disorder28
Pietro Da Cortona Il Martirio Di Santo Stefano

Contrast that with what Stephen saw (Acts 7:54-60): it was a vision. He was the only one who saw Jesus in the sky, but no one else noticed anything. It was a subjective experience29. The New Testament makes a clear distinction when between a vision and an appearance.

  • Peter’s vision of a sheet with animals (Acts 10:9-17)
  • Paul’s ecstasy (2 Cor 12:1-7)
  • Stephan’s vision of the Son of Man (Acts 7:54-60)
  • John’s vision of Heaven & end time (Rev 1:10-11)

How could he know?

In Acts 8, the Church was persecuted, and many Christians from Jerusalem scattered. It’s not surprising to find some of them taking refuge in Damascus. Ananias would have known about the bodily resurrection preached by Peter when he was in Jerusalem (Acts 2:29-33).

Moreover, Paul received the creed of 1 Corinthians 15 in either Damascus or 3 years later, in Jerusalem.

Figurative or metaphor?

‘ōphthē’

The Greek word “ὤφθη” (ōphthē) which Paul used in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 is the same word used in Luke 24:34, where Jesus had physically appeared to Simon Peter (just a few verses later, the bodily appearance is made explicit in Luke 24:39).

The word ‘ōphthē’ is passive, also used 85 times30 in the Bible. Half of them is when God manifest Himself to people31. The 39 others, are when people present themselves before God in the Temple32, objects seen by people33, or people show up in front of another one34.

Skeptics also forget the rest of Paul’s letter, where he speaks about the bodily transformation (1 Cor 15:42-44), like the switch from a ‘natural body‘ into as a ‘spiritual body‘.

Spiritual body

The Greek word ‘σῶμα πνευματικόν’ (sōma pneumatikos) means ‘spiritual body‘. A spiritual body isn’t a ghost (Lk 24:39). For example, the Bible is a spiritual book, but it’s not invisible.

The word ‘spiritual body’ is confusing. To make it clear, it’s more like a ‘super-natural body’.

We will switch from a natural body (mortal) into a supernatural body (immortal) (1 Cor 15:42-44).

Natural bodySpiritual body
corruptibleincorruptible
dishonorableglorious
weakpowerful
naturalspiritual

The ‘flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God’ (1 Cor 15:50) passage only speak about our state of weakness and mortality35.

Anastasis

The Greek word ‘ἀνάστασις’ (anastasis) refers to resurrection of the body, a word Paul used three times in his letter to the Corinthians.

Paul’s hope

Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?
Hosea 13:14

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
1 Corinthians 15:55

Only a few witnesses

Why would God only select a few to be witness of his resurrection?

  1. the eyewitness was ready to spread a message because they followed his teachings
  2. his appearance was to commission them to proclaim the Gospel
  3. Paul: he master the Old Testament, had the intellectual ability to preach to the Gentiles

Skeptics raised the issue that if God is so loving and really want everyone to be persuade, why didn’t He made Jesus to appears to more people? Especially people of power like Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, Cesar, etc.

Against docetism

Docetism is an early heresy which appears at the end of the first century CE. Craig argue against the ‘anti-docetism’ theory which state that the early Church made up the bodily appearance of Jesus to combat that heresy36:

  • the docetists de-materialized Jesus, not the other way around37
  • docetism only deny the Incarnation38, not the resurrection
    • some even belief that Jesus was raised physically39
  • the Gospels’ sources existed before the rise of docetism
  • the appearance stories show no sign of rigorous defense against docetism
  • …

“It may be taken as historically certain, that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appears to them as the risen Christ.” 40
Gerd Lüdemann

  1. Justin W. Bass, “The Bedrock of Christianity: The Unalterable Facts of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection”, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 134-138
  2. His works are lost, but he is mentioned by Origen (185-253 AD) in his work “Contra Celsum”, 2.59
  3. William Lane Craig, "On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision", (David C Cook, 2010), 232
  4. Commentary on “Mark 16:9-20” on the New American Bible Revised Edition (edition 2011)
  5. William Lane Craig, “On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision”, (David C. Cook, 2010), 231
  6. Also included in Matthew 28:7-10
  7. Phil 3:5
  8. Mk 12:18, Acts 23:8
  9. 1 Cor 15:12-14, 2 Tim 2:17-18
  10. Bart D. Ehrman, “How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation Of A Jewish Preacher From Galilee”, (New York:HarperOne, 2014), 175
  11. Bart D. Ehrman, “How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation Of A Jewish Preacher From Galilee”, (New York: Harper One, 2014), 175
  12. Dan 12:2, Isa 26:19
  13. Mt 28:17, Lk 24:11-32, Jn 20:9
  14. 1 Cor 15:12; 13; 21
  15. William Lane Craig, “On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision”, (David C. Cook, 2010), 255
  16. Hegesippus, “Memoirs”, book 5 (lost work, preserved by Eusebius on his book “History of the Church”, 2:23)
  17. Mk 3:21, 31-35; Jn 7:5
  18. If Jesus appears for 40 days to all the Apostles, and James’ turn was before then, it make sense that Jesus appears to James before the 40th day after his crucifixion.
  19. Gal 1:19, Acts 12:17, 15:12-21
  20. 1 Cor 15:9-10, Gal 1:12-16, 22-23, Phil 3:6-7
  21. Strobel, Lee. Finding the Real Jesus (p. 62). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
  22. Lee Strobel, “The Case for Christ: a journalist’s personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus”, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 231
  23. William Lane Craig, “On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision”, (David C. Cook, 2010), 226
  24. C.H. Dodd, “The appearances of the Risen Christ: a study in the form criticism of the Gospels”, in More New Testament Studies (Manchester: University of Manchester, 1968), 128
  25. Lk 1:1-4, Acts 1:1-5
  26. Acts 9:7, 22:9, 26:13-18
  27. 2 Cor 12:1-7
  28. Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona. “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus”, (Kregel Publications, 2004), 114
  29. William Lane Craig, “On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision”, (David C Cook, 2010), 238
  30. N.T. Wright, “The Resurrection of the Son of God”, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 323
  31. Gen 12:7; 17:1; 18:1, Ex 3:2; 6:3; 16:1, Ps 83, Isa 40:5; 60:2
  32. Ex 24:11, Deut 16:16; 31:11, 1 Kgds 1:22, Ps 41:2; 62:2, Sir 32:4, Isa 1:12
  33. Gen 1:9, Lev 13:14, 51, Deut 16:4, Jdg 5:8, 2 Kgds 22:16; 1 Kgds 10:12, 2 Kgds 22:20, 2 Chron 9:11, Ps 16:15, Song 2:12, Jer 13:26
  34. Gen 46:29, Ex 10:28, 2 Kgds 17:17, 1 Kgds 3:16; 18:1; 18:2; 15, 2 Kgds 14:8, 11, Sir 39:4, Dan 1:13, 1 Macc 4:6; 19; 6:43; 9:27
  35. Gen 6:3, Ps 56:5, Isa 40:6
  36. William Lane Craig, “The Son Rises: the historical evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus”, (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1981), 114-116
  37. E.E. Ellis, ed, “The Gospel of Luke”, New Century Bible (London: Nelson, 1966), 275
  38. Jn 1:14, 1 Jn 4:3, 2 Jn 1:7
  39. Irenaeus, “Againt Heresies”, 1.26.1
  40. Gerd Lüdemann, “What Really Happened To Jesus”, (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 80