The Resurrection Jesus

Tanner Blankenship

December 9, 2009

If Jesus Christ truly rose from the dead he first would have lived... The argument of Jesus historically, is one that is very rarely objected to. This means that nearly all scholars agree that the Jesus of Christianity really did live around the time of the 1^st millennium and the best most thorough source for information regarding Jesus’ life is in fact the New Testament of the Bible (or more precisely the Gospels within the NT of the Bible-- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Though many skeptics see the Bible essentially as one book, it is important to keep in mind that the Bible is actually a resource from many different writers, many of whom witnessed the historical Jesus. There are also other resources separate from the Bible that mention Jesus as historically real whether they held to his divinity or not. Josephus, a Jewish historian who was not a follower of Jesus recorded these words: “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man... For he was one who wrought surprising feats.” The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious Christians who suffered under Pilate and who followed a man named Chrestus or, “Christ.” Pliny the Younger wrote of Christians who were very ethical and refers to the Lord’s Supper. Mara Bar-Serapion stated that Jesus was a wise man and was thought to be king of Israel but was put to death by Jews. Even the early Gnostic writings which are not accepted by most modern Christians speak of Jesus and his life. All of this is exceptional evidence even to a skeptic and this is why even historical evidence apart from the Bible almost certainly points to Jesus as having lived and to having been put to death by the Jews. What happened next is where the heart of the debate begins. The Bible claims that Jesus only remained dead for 3 days before he rose to life again and this is where it gets somewhat intense. Christianity as a whole relies on the resurrection of Jesus. The Apostle Paul said, “And if Jesus has not been raised from the dead our faith is useless…” (I Cor. 15:14). So here we see everything weighing in the balance of the resurrection of Christ. Because we have such great sources about Jesus we know a few things historically. Jesus said he was God (John 8:58) and this is probably the most important. Also the New Testament records many times where Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins (Luke 7:48), he allowed people to worship him (John 12:7, 8) and he said he was the only way to God (John 14:6). So Jesus lived on the earth, he claimed Deity, and he predicted his death and resurrection (John 2:19-22). This is why everything weighs in the balance of the resurrection and therefore the very event, if true, confirms Jesus and the Bible. So how do we know Jesus rose from the dead? First and foremost we know the Bible is clear that Jesus was resurrected in his own power. We also know that the Bible is the most preserved work of all time (meaning the translations we have today are nearly identical to the earliest manuscripts of the Bible from the around the second century). But for those who still consider themselves skeptics, we have other, non-Biblical sources that seem to verify Jesus Christ rose from the dead. After Jesus’ death, the disciples and others who followed Him were greatly discouraged. We know this because these men had been following Jesus for sometime, dedicating themselves to him. The miraculous part is that after Jesus’ death we see a great change in their attitudes. First of all, James, Jesus’ brother, who was a skeptic before Jesus’ death, now became a leader in the early church, carrying on his brother’s work. Next, Paul, who was a persecutor of early Christians (and who even took part if martyring Stephen), had a miraculous change of heart and even went on to write most of the New Testament calling himself a “slave” to Christ because he had encountered the risen Jesus. Ironically, the first Christians were scared of Paul because they knew he had killed Christians. (Even most atheistic scholars agree Paul was converted after Jesus’ death). Eventually Paul would meet with early church leaders and work hand in hand with men like Peter and the other disciples. Maybe more astonishing than these things however, are the records of Jesus’ empty tomb. The gospels records unanimously that women were the first to see Jesus’ empty tomb. The only way the writers would have admitted this is if it was really true. This is because the testimony of women wasn’t even accepted at this time in history. If the writers of the gospels were lying about the empty tomb, they definitely wouldn’t have used women as the first witness. And why didn’t the Romans drag Jesus’ body into the street if he didn’t rise? The Roman authorities had already sent guards to his tomb but within days, people were proclaiming that Jesus had risen and the tomb was empty. Dragging his body out of the tomb would have effectively ended the argument during the first week. I could go on as there is actually enough evidence that N.T. Wright authored a 750 page book titles The Resurrection of the Son of God. We know Jesus was killed and then within weeks there is a massive uproar and from that, Christianity spreads all over the word (even to the Middle Eastern countries that were once dominated by Christianity). It is not logical that countless men and women were ready to die for a man who had said he would rise and then failed follow through with his promise. However we see the first Christians died by the thousands and their religion spread to be the biggest religion in the history of the world. Something big happened at the turn of the century and a large number of ancient and reliable sources say it was Jesus’ resurrection… Christ lived, He died and then He rose – even without the Bible the evidence is astonishing.