The resurrection of Jesus is one of the 5 strongest arguments for God’s existence. And proof of the divinity of Jesus (that Jesus is truly God).
If we wants to prove that the resurrection is true, we need theses 3 steps to be valid:
Conclusion: Jesus has resurrected from the dead
1. Jesus died on the cross
Did Jesus truly died on the cross? Jesus is claimed to be crucify on the cross around the year 30-33 AD by several historical sources.
Let’s see the facts.
Historical possibilities
It’s nothing supernatural to a crucifixion; it can happen to anybody at that period of time in a Roman regime.
Usually Romans crucify people who committed a crime against Rome and thus, serve as example for people who refuse to obey. Jesus was crucified by the demands of the population for claiming that He was God.
Written in the Bible
All 4 Gospels talks about Jesus’ crucifixion.
(if you wanna learn more about the reliability of the Gospels, read this)
Matthew 27:35 Mark 15:24 Luke 23:33 John 19:18
MATTHEW 27:35MARK 15:24LUKE 23:33JOHN 19:18
Including St Paul’s Epistles
1 Corinthians 1:23
Could Jesus have survived the persecution & crucifixion?
Persecution before crucifixion
Jesus was deeply wounded before his crucifixion. (John 19:1-3)
- Whip (Jesus was whipped with a metal hook that snatch the flesh away)
Matthew 27:28, Luke 23:16, John 19:1 - Crown of thorns (reach the skull, the head was bleeding)
Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17, John 19:2 - Emotional & psychological draining (being rejected, mocked, alone)
Matthew 27:30-31, Mark 15:19-20, John 19:3
Carrying of the cross
Jesus had to carry his cross from the point of persecution to the Mount Golgotha where He will be crucify. (John 19:17)
- Cross is really heavy
- He had to walk a long distance with a wounded body; couldn’t handle anymore, fall 3 times (according to Church traditions), Simon of Cyrenian had to carry his cross instead (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26)
Death on the cross
Jesus was pierced on the side (John 19:34)
– The spear reach the human heart, blood and water came out; you would die already
Jesus didn’t have his legs broken (John 19:33)
– Romans break legs to accelerate death, but Jesus was dead already, they didn’t need
- Refers to the prophecy of Psalm 34:21
- The 2 other thieves on his side got their broken to accelerate their death
- Since Jesus is the Lamb of God, for the rite of Passover to work, none of his bone must be broken to spare the life of people (look at Exodus 12:46); the prophecy is accomplished
- On Roman’s tradition, if the crucified people weren’t dead yet, they will break the bones of their legs to accelerate the death, but didn’t to Jesus because he was already dead
- Jesus was betrayed, tortured, mocked, beaten, with thorns that goes inside the skull, have to walk long distance from Jerusalem to the mount Golgotha with a 20kg cross to transport, no wonder he suffer much and would die the same day; it’s demanding both physically and emotionally
Pontius Pilatus didn’t existed?
- Archaeologist found a rock tablet with his name on it
- It is recorded in the 4 Gospels
- Josephus & Tacitus (non-biblical sources) recorded his existence
Conclusion: Jesus died on the cross from a biblical perspective
Please, do not tell me, reasonably, that Jesus would have survive after experiencing all of theses. In the most extreme case, let’s pretend that He could survive the cross. Well, just being sealed in the tomb would kill him already: he would be suffocating by lack of oxygen during 3 days.
3 atheists scholars approves the crucifixion
“Jesus’ death as consequence of crucifixion is indisputable.”
– Gerd Lüdemann
The Resurrection of Christ : a historical inquiry (page 17)
—
“Jesus’ death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate is as sure as anything historical can ever be. For if no follower of Jesus had written anything for one hundred years after his crucifixion, we would still know about him from two authors not among his supporters. Their names are Flavius Josephus and Cornelius Tacitus.”
– John Dominic Crossan
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (page 145)
—
“Jesus was a Jewish man, known to be a preacher and teacher, who was crucified (a Roman form of execution) in Jerusalem…”
– Bart Ehrman
Did Jesus existed? A historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth (page 12)
“Jesus’ death as consequence of crucifixion is indisputable.”
Gerd Lüdemann
The Resurrection of Christ : a historical inquiry (page 17)
“Jesus’ death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate is as sure as anything historical can ever be. For if no follower of Jesus had written anything for one hundred years after his crucifixion, we would still know about him from two authors not among his supporters. Their names are Flavius Josephus and Cornelius Tacitus.”
– John Dominic Crossan
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (page 145)
“Jesus was a Jewish man, known to be a preacher and teacher, who was crucified (a Roman form of execution) in Jerusalem…”
– Bart Ehrman
Did Jesus existed? A historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth (page 12)
Conclusion: Jesus died on the cross from a non-believer & scholarly perspective
External sources
“At this time, there was a wise man who was called Jesus […] Pilate condemn him to be crucified and to die.”
– Flavius Josephus (Jewish historian 37 A.D. – 100 A.D.)
Antiquities of the Jews (93 A.D.) – book 13, chapter 3
—
“Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus”
– Cornelius Tacitus (Roman historian 56 A.D. – 120 A.D.)
The Annals of Imperial Rome (115 A.D.)
—
“On the eve of the Passover Yeshu* was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald . . . cried, “He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery* and enticed Israel to apostasy.”
– Babylonian Talmud (70 A.D. – 200 A.D.)
*sorcery refers to his exorcisms
*Yeshu is the Hebrew term for Jesus
Conclusion: Jesus died on the cross from a historical perspective
No competitive story
Outside of the sources that we have to prove Jesus’ crucifixion, there’s no alternatives that can be more reliable that what we have from the Early Church period.
Jews & Romans
Jews & Romans
Jews & Romans were strong enough to create an alternative story instead. But we didn’t found any of them. Instead, we have accounts from Tacitus & Josephus supporting the crucifixion.
Holy Qu’ran
The only strong source against the fact of Jesus’ death by crucifixion would be the Holy Qu’ran. With all the respect for that sacred book, there’s a major problem about the death of Jesus that contradict historical facts. The Holy Qumran quoted that Jesus didn’t die on the cross, instead, He died naturally:
That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-
– Qu’ran, sura 4 (An-Nisa) ayat 157-158
But here’s the problem:
- Both claims (Bible + outside sources / Qu’ran) can’t both be true on Jesus’ death, one has to tell the truth, or both got it wrong (law of non-contradiction)
- We have very strong evidences to prove Jesus’ crucifixion by history & science
- The Holy Qu’ran was written between 609 AD and 636 AD (that’s pretty late!)
- No living eye-witness to tell the fact or support their claim
Comparing Jesus’ early testimony with ancient biographies
Julius Caesar: 10 copies, written 500 years after his death
Alexander the Great: 7 copies, written 400 years after his death
Jesus: 5,843 copies of the New Testament (plus 25K+ fragments), written 15-40 years after his death
Apocryphal Gospels
An apocryphal text is a document from the Early Church period that wasn’t approved by the Church to be in the canon of the Holy Bible for numerous reasons:
- we don’t know the authors (we don’t know the authors of the Gospels as well, but ALL Church Fathers unanimously attributed it to Matthew, Mark, Luke & John)
- written too late in history
- contradict or not in line with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles (sometimes promote Gnosticism)
- no quotation from Early Church Fathers
- Early Church Fathers like Eusebius wrote on his texts that they were fake
Even the apocryphal text of the (fake) Gospel of Peter tells about a resurrection.
Conclusion: No competitive story is strong enough to refute a 1st century claim of Jesus’ crucifixion
Relics / artifacts
Outside of the textual evidences, we also have physical proofs.
Historically, theses relics were in the Holy Land, but due to a high risk of being lost or destroy, Crusaders brought them to Europe in order to protect theses sacred objects.
- Shroud of Turin (Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria)
- Fragment of the true cross (Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria)
- Holy Nails (Bamberg Cathedral in Bamberg, Germany)
- Seamless robe (Cathedral of Trier in Trier, Germany)
- Holy Lance (Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria)
- Crown of thorns (Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France)
- Pillar of the flogging (Basilica of Saint Praxedes in Rome, Italy)
- Vial of the Holy Blood of Jesus (Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Belgium)
- Titulus Crucis (Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem in Rome, Italy)
2. Empty tomb
Was the tomb empty? As we read on the reports of the Gospels, Jesus was put into a tomb that belongs to Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish council that condemn Jesus.
We do not have any evidence of his body on earth now & during the events of the resurrection. In fact if it would happen, Christian would build the biggest cathedral of the world on it.
Roman soldiers let him go away?
- chief priests & Pharisees were afraid that the predictions about Jesus’ resurrection will truly happen (Matthew 27:62-66), so they really make sure that the tomb would be keep safely
- death penalty to Roman soldiers if Jesus’ body is missing
- Roman guards were still there until Sunday (Matthew 28:1-4)
(not possible for the disciples to steal the body, worst if it was from old women)
Conclusion: The Romans would never let the body to go away
Disciples stole the body?
What would they do with it?
- Jewish law forbid touch dead body
- they would mourn his death, no courage to go spread the any *good* news
- they would play “hide & seek” all day-long & get killed
- spread rumors with enthusiasm to get killed? that’s non sense
- none of them claim to have stolen the body
- still don’t explain how Paul & 500 others saw Jesus alive
Conclusion: There’s no reason for the disciple to steal the body
Jesus wasn’t dead yet – escape
- even if Jesus *could* be alive, he couldn’t move a rock of 2 tons by himself (Matthew 27:60)
- suffocation for 3 days would kill him
- kept by Romans until Sunday (Matthew 28:1-4)
- no evidence of digging holes on rock, the guards would be alerted already
- still don’t explain his re-appearances
- no evidence of his physical body
- evidence of the Shroud of Turin (Matthew 27:59, Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53, John 19:40)
– evidences of crown of thorns, nail piercing, side piercing
– light energy that was needed to print the image of Jesus is so strong that modern technology can’t even reproduce it even now
– same blood-type as Eucharistic miracles & bleeding tears of statues of Mary
Conclusion: Jesus was still dead in the tomb
Wrong tomb?
- the tomb was sealed & have guards before it (Matthew 27:66), you can’t miss it!
- the tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:50, John 19:38), a disciple of Jesus & member of the council (Matthew 27:57, Mark 15:43, Matthew 23:50, John 19:38), so we are pretty sure where his personal tomb is
- the guards where still there until Sunday (Matthew 28:1-4)
- presence of a garden, a place where no one was buried (John 19:41)
- Mary Magdalene & Mary the mother of Joses knew where it was (Mark 15:47)
- the place of crucifixion & the tomb is very near (Holy Sepulcher)
Conclusion: People couldn’t have miss the real tomb of Jesus
Alien stole the body?
- no evidence of it
- even if Jesus would have being stolen by aliens, it would still not explain why he re-appears to the people (in both ways, it would still prove a resurrection)
Conclusion: the tomb was empty
3. Jesus re-appears
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.
– Gerd Lüdemann (atheist New Testament scholar)
“What Really Happened To Jesus”, page 80
Written in the Bible
All 4 Gospels tells about Jesus being resurrected.
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
External source
“But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them 3 days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”
– Flavius Josephus (Jewish historian 37 A.D. – 100 A.D.)
Antiquities of the Jews (93 A.D.) – book 13, chapter 3
Hallucinations?
- It happen only 1 time
- It’s a private matter: no one can have the same hallucination as another person (we can’t see the same thing at the same time); Jesus appears many time:
- 12 Apostles (John 20:19)
- 7 disciples (John 21)
- 11 disciples (Matthew 28:17)
- 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:6)
- 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:15) –> their hearts were in fire
- St Paul (Acts 9:5) –> his companion heard Jesus but don’t see
- It only happen very quick; rarely days
- People can’t touch hallucination: Thomas was able to touch Jesus’ hand and ribs (John 20:27); Jesus eat, broke the bread, show his wounds to Thomas
- Happen sometimes when people are unconscious (they were fully conscious)
- They weren’t drunk : people can’t remember what they saw when they are in state of drunkenness; and they were so sure of their claim they were willing to be persecuted, martyred and die for that fact (if you’re not sure, you don’t take that risk)
Appears to the women
In a 1st century Jewish culture, the testimony of women aren’t consider reliable, according to Josephus.
But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex…since it is probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or fear of punishment
– Flavius Josephus, Antiquities 4.8.15
If the Apostles would make their case “looks” good, they wouldn’t tell that it would be women who discovered the tomb, because it will just simply hurt their case.
Appears to the 12 disciples
Appears to St Paul
Appears to James the brother of Jesus (skeptic)
Appears to 500 who are still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6)
St Paul recall that they were 500 who saw the risen Jesus on his letter to the Corinthians.
Conclusion: People couldn’t have miss the real tomb of Jesus
Conspiration theory?
- They all got tortured. None of them said the opposite.
No communication between the Apostles when they travel.
It’s better to be less people, they were just too numerous, none of them said the oppsite.
Conclusion: It couldn’t be a conspiration theory.
Jesus got an identical twin brother?
- No evidence of it
- Even true, he couldn’t stole the body because of the Roman guard
- He would need to prove the wounded in the hand and ribs to convince Thomas
- He would need to appears and disappears
Conclusion: Jesus didn’t have any identical twin brother.
2) Drink too much alcohol?
…
“That is why, as an historian, I cannot explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again leaving and empty tomb behind him.”
– Dr. N.T. Wright, “The New Unimproved Jesus,” Christianity Today (Sept. 13, 1993), p. 26
Modern manifestations of Jesus
Argument from authority
If an Italian tells me they arrest me in the name of Julius Caesar, I would laugh because his authority is no longer valid today. But, if the Italian police arrest me, I would need to obey them. In the case of exorcism still happening today, if Jesus isn’t still alive, there’s no way priests could have call under his own authority to take the evil spirit away.
Conversion of Muslims
Following experts, they’ve notice that when a devoted Muslim do seriously convert to Christianity at the price of their life, it’s either one of the 2 main reasons:
- They witness the life of a Christian friends / family / missionary
- They have sudden visions of Jesus Christ (sometimes daily visions for years)
Eucharistic miracles
…
Marian apparitions
Some Marian apparitions has being approved (Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima), if Mary has the ability to appears to people, why not Jesus who is even more powerful & greater than her
Hallucination theory
As Jesus truly died on the cross and put on the tomb, it was found empty 3 days later. Claims tell that Jesus re-appeared as a proof that he did in fact resurrected, with a healthy body who can fully walk, properly talk, and still have the would on him. This couldn’t happen if Jesus’ body is still on the tomb. Another theory people could have come up was that the disciples were hallucinating Jesus coming to them. But Lee Strobel did the investigation, and here’s the results:
Historical facts vs. conspiracy
- Not a conspiracy : the disciples were tortured and kill for a truth claim (no one wants to die for a lie)
- Selfish advantages : they don’t gain anything; they even die for it
- In conspiracy you have things to hide, the disciples reveal everything and didn’t have anything to hide, they were willing to die for the truth
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Jesus has risen from the dead!
Sources & credits
Empty tomb picture
Credits to James Emery (taken from Flickr), “Opening of roadside tomb_0654“, modified