There is an incredible amount of historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. In fact, one of the world’s leading scholars on the resurrection, Gary Habermas, has put together five facts about the resurrection; and the first four are nearly universally accepted as true by historians/scholars, including atheist, agnostic and non-Christians![1]
The fifth fact is accepted by the majority of critical scholars as well.[2] These facts are the following: (1) Jesus died by crucifixion. (2) Jesus’ disciples believed that He rose and appeared to them. (3) The church persecutor Paul was suddenly changed. (4) The skeptic James, brother of Jesus, was suddenly changed. (5) The tomb was empty.[3] Let’s talk about some of these facts.
(1) Jesus Was A Real Person
We know that Jesus was a real historical person who was crucified and died under the governor Pontius Pilate during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius around A.D. 30/33. It would literally be impossible for Jesus to survive his beatings, crucifixion and His side pierced by a Roman spear.
(2) Disciples Believed Jesus was Risen
Jesus’ disciples truly and sincerely believed they had seen the risen Jesus. Of course, they did! They interacted with Him multiple times before He left for heaven, and even ate with Him (John 21:13-14). The world-renowned and atheistic New Testament scholar, Gerd Lüdemann says,
“It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.”[4]
The disciples would go on to die horrible deaths for their faith in Jesus. Remember, these are the same disciples who cowardly abandoned and denied Jesus when Jesus was arrested and murdered.
What made them change from being cowards before Jesus’ death, to being brave men who suffered and died after Jesus’ death? They had personally experienced the Risen Lord, Jesus! They were willing to give up all of their possessions, their families, and even their lives for the cause of Christ. The only way to explain such a drastic transformation, is that they really did encounter the risen Jesus. The risen Jesus also appeared to five hundred people. There were hundreds of early eyewitnesses concerning this event.
Cambridge historian Richard Bauckham reminds us that Paul emphasized part of the creed he received from the first church in Jerusalem concerning the eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus. As Paul writes to the church at Corinth, he references that many of the eyewitnesses are still alive, which means that if anyone doubts what he is saying, they can go and speak to the eyewitnesses themselves.[5] However, let’s not forget that Paul was also an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus.
(3) Persecutor Paul’s Conversion
Saul of Tarsus was a well-respected and powerful Jew who hated Christians. In fact, while he was on his way to persecute and kill more Christians, Saul encountered the risen Jesus and converted on the spot (Acts 9:1-19)! His name then changed to Paul.
Don’t overlook this incredible historical fact, for this would probably be the least likely individual that would ever convert to Christianity. In fact, you might compare it to someone like the Nazi leader converting to become a Jew.
What would cause a man like Paul, who hated and killed Christians, to give up everything in his respectable life in order to become a Christian, and then suffer and die because of it? The only way to explain such an unbelievable conversion, is if Paul really did encounter the physically Risen Lord, Jesus.
(4) Skeptic James’ Conversion
James was the half-brother of Jesus who was skeptical of Jesus’ claims. I mean, if you’re brother claimed to be God, would you believe him? I know I wouldn’t! However, something major happened in James’ life. James went from being a Jew who didn’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah or God, to now leading the first church in Jerusalem; that is extraordinary.
By the way, James was also murdered for his faith in Jesus. This has been recorded in an external historical document written by Josephus, a Jewish (non-believer) Roman historian, which provides even more authenticity to the historical reliability of the event.[6]
(5) Empty Tomb
If there is a resurrection, then there must be an empty tomb that Jesus left behind. If you have Jesus’ dead body, then you don’t have a physically risen Jesus. Let’s think about this: Jerusalem would be the last place in the world where Christianity could begin as a new religious movement.
This place was the center for Jewish culture, teaching and religious ceremonies. This is why the Jewish leaders lied and told the guards to say that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples–the enemy is admitting the evidence–the tomb was empty! We know the disciples could never pull off such an amazing trick.
Not only was the tomb sealed and guarded, which made it impossible for the cowardly disciples to steal the body, but it also wouldn’t explain why the disciples would transform into brave men who would be willing to suffer and die. Nor does it explain why Paul and James would convert and also be willing to suffer and die.
Another powerful part of the empty tomb account is the discovery of the empty tomb by women. Why is this a big deal? Because in first-century Jewish and Roman culture, women were not considered to be very reliable sources of information and were often denied the right to testify in a court of law.[7]
In that culture, it would have been extremely embarrassing for Jewish men to not be the ones to discover the empty tomb. So, if you were to make up a story, you would want it sound true and believable. By having women, instead of men, as the first and primary witnesses of the empty tomb and seeing the risen Jesus, you have already lost a vast majority of your listeners. Historians find more credibility in this story because of that fact.
Origin and Proliferation of the Church
The origin of the Christian belief and rapid growth of the early church is another strong piece of historical evidence. What would cause Jews to start worshipping a “man,” abandon features of their sacrificial system that they held to for centuries, and move their time of worship from Saturday to Sunday?
Renowned historian N. T. Wright explains that it would take “serious and sustained efforts to change a major tradition, one of three, that distinguished the Jews from their pagan neighbors.”[8] This was an incredibly serious and unthinkable religious modification that occurred. Imagine Christians, after 2,000 years, suddenly moving their day of church gatherings from Sundays to Mondays; this would demand a major and forceful explanation.
Lastly, never in a million years would the Jews expect that their mighty military hero, the Messiah, would be killed by the Romans; rather, the Messiah was supposed to conquer the Romans, establish a righteous kingdom and liberate the Jews. Craig rightly reminds us that the Jews also believed the resurrection was going to happen at the end of the world; it was never thought to be an isolated incident before then, especially with their Messiah.[9]
No critic can claim that the disciples were anticipating Jesus’ resurrection and hoped for it, because the disciples never believed it was something that was going to occur. They saw their hero murdered, so they went back to their former occupations. It is because of these and so many other reasons, why it is so fascinating that Jews would convert to this new faith and be willing to suffer and die for it with no earthly benefits received.
Obstacles to Conversion
There are many more historical facts that prove the resurrection happened, but these are the ones that nearly every scholar accepts as historical. You may ask, “then why don’t we see more historians become Christians?” That’s a good question.
There have been hundreds of atheists and skeptics who have accepted Christ as their Savior and became Christians after investigating the historical evidence for the resurrection. However, I would say it is primarily for two reasons that we do not see more people coming to know Christ as their Savior regarding the historical evidence for the resurrection.
First, Paul tells us that it is not a lack of evidence that people do not become Christians, but rather the suppression of it within their unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). Many people are not searching for Truth in our modern culture; rather, they are searching for comfort and happiness. They would rather be the god of their own life than submit to an ultimate God, even though that God knows what is best for them.
Second, professional historians employ a certain naturalistic method of research which denies any kind of supernatural or miraculous possibilities. When you take God out of this event, then of course it would be impossible for Jesus to rise from the dead! Dead people stay dead; they do not come back to life.
The only way for Jesus to rise from the dead is if God exists. However, we have very strong evidence that God does exist which makes the resurrection possible. Still, many people who did not believe in God, have come to believe in God because of the evidence for the resurrection.
Blessings,
Andrew Drinkard
[1] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2004), 48.
[2] Habermas and Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 70.
[3] Habermas and Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 48.
[4] Gerd Ludemann quoted in Habermas and Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2004), 60.
[5] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2017), 308.
[6] Gary R. Habermas, The Risen Jesus and Future Hope (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003), 28.
[7] Habermas and Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 72-73.
[8] N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Publishers, 2003), 580.
[9] Craig, Reasonable Faith, 394-395.
