Evidence Supporting the Resurrection
by Dave Brown
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Preface: The evidence presented here is simply that the early disciples truly believed that they saw Jesus alive after he was proclaimed to be dead by the soldiers during his crucifixion. This coupled with the obvious character of these disciples, being totally honest and competent witnesses, produces a most compelling evidence for the resurrection, including a totally Bible-based religion.
This article is an abstract of a very detailed and scholarly review of the subject by Gary R. Habermas entitled “Experiences of the Risen Jesus: The Foundational Historical Issue in the Early Proclamation of the Resurrection” that was originally published in Dialog: A Journal of Theology, Vol. 45; No. 3 (Fall, 2006), pp. 288-297; published by Blackwell Publishing, UK. It can now be found at the following link:
http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/dialog_rexperience/dialog_rexperiences.htm#disciples
This summary of Habermas’ article will highlight the facts he presented, but we urge readers to explore the source evidence, which is in his extensive Endnotes that includes 48 scholarly articles. All unreferenced quotations given below come from Habermas’ publication and can be found at the URL given above.
The major proposition that is supported by Habermas’ article is that: “The substantially unanimous verdict of contemporary critical scholars is that Jesus' disciples at least believed that Jesus was alive, resurrected from the dead.” The generally accepted conclusion is that they believed this. It was not something that they made up for some monetary or political gain, or for any other unknown reasons. While quite often people believe things that are not true, we must weigh the characters of the early believers by their characters by a study of their writings. From these writings we can clearly tell that these were not evil men trying to propagate a lie for their own ambitions, nor were they of unsound mind. Thus, if they are reliable witnesses, then their testimony is extremely positive evidence that Jesus was, in fact, resurrected from the dead.
We will present the summary in terms of the eight points that Habermas presents in his article in the section called “The Disciples' Experiences of the Risen Jesus.”
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This article is an abstract of a very detailed and scholarly review of the subject by Gary R. Habermas entitled “Experiences of the Risen Jesus: The Foundational Historical Issue in the Early Proclamation of the Resurrection” that was originally published in Dialog: A Journal of Theology, Vol. 45; No. 3 (Fall, 2006), pp. 288-297; published by Blackwell Publishing, UK. It can now be found at the following link:
http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/dialog_rexperience/dialog_rexperiences.htm#disciples
This summary of Habermas’ article will highlight the facts he presented, but we urge readers to explore the source evidence, which is in his extensive Endnotes that includes 48 scholarly articles. All unreferenced quotations given below come from Habermas’ publication and can be found at the URL given above.
The major proposition that is supported by Habermas’ article is that: “The substantially unanimous verdict of contemporary critical scholars is that Jesus' disciples at least believed that Jesus was alive, resurrected from the dead.” The generally accepted conclusion is that they believed this. It was not something that they made up for some monetary or political gain, or for any other unknown reasons. While quite often people believe things that are not true, we must weigh the characters of the early believers by their characters by a study of their writings. From these writings we can clearly tell that these were not evil men trying to propagate a lie for their own ambitions, nor were they of unsound mind. Thus, if they are reliable witnesses, then their testimony is extremely positive evidence that Jesus was, in fact, resurrected from the dead.
We will present the summary in terms of the eight points that Habermas presents in his article in the section called “The Disciples' Experiences of the Risen Jesus.”
- “Contemporary critical scholars agree that the apostle Paul is the primary witness to the early resurrection experiences.” It was never disputed that Paul persecuted the church prior to his conversion (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:4-7). It would take convincing evidence for such a person to change his entire cultural background and claim something that, on its surface, would seem to be absurd. But clearly Paul stated that Jesus appeared to him (1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8; Galatians 1:16). It would seem that the selection of Paul to take the gospel to the Gentiles was specifically calculated to take advantage of these facts.
- Paul cites others who he had learned about who had also witnessed the risen Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: “3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; 6 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; 7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to the (child) untimely born, he appeared to me also.” The phrase “that which also I received” indicates that this is the product of one or more oral traditions and/or writings that were presented to Paul well before 1st Corinthians was written. The fact that the very people cited believed this cannot be disputed. It is so unlikely that Paul would have made something up that could so easily be checked and place his entire reputation as well as that of the gospel in jeopardy. There is no doubt at all that Paul was generally hated by his countrymen (Christians excepted), and that they would do all in their power to discredit him.
- The validity of Paul’s report is not just a matter of his personal revelation, but it is verified by the interactions that he had with James and the other apostles (Galatians 1:18-2:10). The apostles Peter and John along with James, the prominent leader of the church at Jerusalem, were the chief authorities in the early church, and they are listed in 1 Corinthians 15 (see above). “So their confirmation of Paul's Gospel preaching (Galatians 2:9), especially given the apostolic concern to insure doctrinal truth in the early church, is certainly significant. … On Paul's word, we are again just a short distance from a firsthand report.”
- Paul states that the testimony of the resurrection was not just his own, but was confirmed by the original apostles’ doctrine (the original bring the 11 with Mathias). “After listing Jesus' resurrection appearances, Paul tells us he also knew what the other apostles were preaching regarding Jesus' appearances, and it was the same as his own teaching on this subject (1 Cor. 15:11). As one, they proclaimed that Jesus was raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:12, 15). So Paul narrates both the more indirect confirmation of his Gospel message by the apostolic leaders, plus his firsthand, direct approval of their resurrection message.”
- The conversion of James. “Critical scholars usually recognize that James, the brother of Jesus, was a rather skeptical unbeliever prior to Jesus' crucifixion (Mk. 3:21-35; Jn. 7:5). Not long afterwards, James is a leader of the Jerusalem church, where Paul finds him during his two visits (Galatians 1:18-19; 2:1-10; Acts 15:13-21). In-between, the pre-Pauline statement in 1 Corinthians 15:7 states that the risen Jesus appeared to James.” Like Paul, James had a major turnaround in his orientation toward Jesus. While he was not an overt persecutor like Paul, he would be expected to be much like his brothers in the flesh.
- That the resurrection was a major doctrine in the early church is obvious from a review of the book of Acts, for which the source material appears to go back to the time shortly after the crucifixion. Recall that Luke (the writer of Acts – see Acts 1:1) did not claim to be an eye witness (Luke 1:1-3). He too was drawing on a combination of oral and written traditions. But he makes it clear both in his gospel and in the book of Acts that there were eye-witnesses of the living Jesus after he was confirmed to be dead. A sampling of the examples in the book of Acts include: Acts 1:3; 2:24; 30-31; 3:7; 3:15; 3:26; 4:10; 10:40; 13:30-37; 17:31. “Many scholars think that the Book of Acts incorporates some of these early traditions, located in the sermons contained there. They are generally identified by factors such as their compactness, theological simplicity, and because the structure, style, and/or diction reflect word patterns other than the author's.
- “Virtually no critical scholar questions that the disciples’ convictions regarding the risen Jesus caused their radical transformation, even being willing to die for their beliefs. Their change does not evidence the resurrection appearances per se, but it is a clear indication that the disciples at least thought that they had experienced the risen Jesus. Alternatives must account for this belief.”
- The empty tomb. There are “almost two dozen reasons supporting Jesus’ empty tomb. These include the potentially embarrassing but unanimous agreement in all four Gospels that women were the earliest witnesses, Jerusalem being the least-likely place for a resurrection proclamation, the attestation by multiple sources, the early pre-Pauline creed (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) implying an empty tomb (cf. the possible early tradition in Acts 13:29-31, 36-37), along with the later report that the Jewish leaders conceded it (Matthew 28:11-15).”
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