Response paper topic: “The so-called claim that Jesus rose again from the dead is a pure invention

of the early church to glorify their teacher who taught about a kingdom rule and subsequently failed.

Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is not important for Christian faith.” Respond historically,

biblically, logically, and theologically.

Thesis Statement: The resurrection of Christ, has been one of the central points of discussion across

all theology & culture for the last 2000 years, dividing major world religions and philosophical

thought to polar extremes. Yet there has been fascinating rational evidence with historical credibility

both in general history and biblical writings that this seemingly impossible event actually happened,

and has determining, indispensable, practical and theological implications for the Christian faith and

the fate of humankind.

Paper Outline:

1) Introduction:

a. Uniqueness of the event of the Resurrection of Christ

b. Importance to the Christian faith

c. Rational\Logical Challenge to the Resurrection of Christ

2) Criticism of the resurrection of Christ:

a. Criticism by the Pharisees/Jews in the NT/Early church period.

b. Views of Islam & other religions

c. Response of Modernism.

3) Importance of The Resurrection to the Christian Faith:

a. Biblical Response

4) The certainty of the Resurrection event.

a. Biblical Response
 i. Prophecies of the resurrection in the Bible

ii. New Testament writers on the Resurrection

b. Historical Response

i. History of 1st Century A.D.

ii. How the church viewed the resurrection historically

c. Rational Response

d. Theological Response
 1) Introduction:

a. Uniqueness of the event of the resurrection of Christ:

The event of the resurrection itself is one that is unique and unprecedented, even

more so considering there wasn’t human intermediary acting in the resurrection, as in

the case of Elijah and Elisha. The event stands out in history as a miracle unique

across religion and mythology. Paul H.Jones says “Consequently, Jesus of Nazareth is

"unique" since he alone conquered our destiny with death. Jesus the Christ is

unprecedented since his defeat of death not only reversed the human condemnation

the human condemnation of the cross, but it also ratified the divine confirmation of

him as the anticipated Jewish messiah”1. The fact that there are prophecies about the

event itself before it happened marks out the uniqueness & significance of the event.

This therefore brings a lot of criticism, skepticism and scrutiny of the event.

b. Rational\Logical Challenge to the Resurrection of Christ:

Also though Jesus crucifixion was public, his resurrection was not. Hence there are

many theories regarding the association of this to the Jesus movement along with

rationalizations and refutations of the event.2 The concept of resurrection is

unaccepted in science because of sheer lack of any hard evidence regarding the

phenomenon and inability of medical science to explain it, especially, when the

subject has been dead for three days and has passed through various stages of

advanced mortis & decay. Yet there are scientists today who believe that an event like

1
The Theological Necessity of the Bodily Resurrection: From Second Temple Judaism to the Ante-Nicene Orthodox
Formulations By: Jones, Paul H. Source: Encounter, 78 no 1 2018, p 27-73. Publication Type: Article
2
"Cognitive Dissonance and the Resurrection of Jesus" by Kris Komarnitsky, in Fourth R, vol. 27, No. 5 (Sept-Oct 2014)
"Was the Resurrection Christianity's Big Bang?" by Stephen J. Patterson, Parts 1 & 2 in Fourth R, vol. 24, no. 3 (May-
June 2011)
 the resurrection is possible. MIT professor Ian Hutchinson writes “My Christian

colleagues at MIT—and millions of other scientists worldwide—somehow think that a

literal miracle like the resurrection of Jesus is possible. And we are following a long

tradition.” 3

c. Goal of Paper:

The goal of this paper is to first take a look at i. The criticisms of the Resurrection

of Christ. And then in response establish the below points: ii. Importance of the

Resurrection to the Christian faith.

2) Criticisms of the Resurrection:

a. Criticisms of the Pharisees & Jews: The first level of rejection happened from the

people who were in the best position (on account of their expertise in

Mosaic\Talmudic Scriptures) to assess whether a resurrection was prophesied and

whether Jesus was the Messiah who was talked about in the scriptures. They rejected

both these premises. The concept of resurrection existed in the traditional rabbinic

culture of the 2nd temple period and was not something alien to them. 4 Yet the claim

of Christ was equality to God with the promise of his own resurrection. The Pharisees

could never see beyond the conflict of their worldview with the claims of Jesus. They

rejected the resurrection and pinned the theft of the body of Christ on the disciples.5

This painted the resurrection event claimed by the disciples in negative light very

early on, and influenced how mainstream history perceived Christ.

3
Evidence for the Resurrection, Josh McDowell & Sean McDowell. Regal (December 31, 2008)
4
Ultimate victory: Jews and resurrection By: Brueggemann, Walter. Source: The Christian Century, 124 no 3 Feb 06
2007, p 31-33. Publication Type: Article
5
The Case for Christ – Lee Strobel, Zondervan; First edition (1998)
 b. View of Islam: Islam considers Jesus as a prophet. But they reject that his

resurrection ever happened. They say that Christ was never died on the cross itself,

and that his body was later replaced. This is contrary to the Jewish view and general

historical perception of the crucifixion, which clearly states that Christ was crucified. 6

c. Views of modern Scholars\Historians:

There are different modern liberal theologians who have treated the resurrection of

Christ in various ways, some of them even allegorizing it.

David Hume, who considered the resurrection a non-event said that since it was

impossible to believe in miracles and verify them, hence they shouldn’t be accepted

as fact or history.7 Rudolf Bultmann was of the view that the resurrection was a

mental event, assuming miracles are impossible to accept in the scientific age. He

accepted the resurrection as a mythical event.8 Though Karl Barth accepted the

historicity of the resurrection, he considered it more like a faith event. Instead of

focusing on the historicity of the resurrection, he thought the focus should be on the

faith of the disciples in the event.9

3) Importance of The Resurrection to the Christian Faith:

a. Biblical Response

i. The resurrection of Jesus forms the foundation of Christianity and relying on

its certainty as a space-time occurrence in history. Notably, all four Gospels

6
The Islam Debate – Josh McDowell & John Gilchrist vs Ahmed Deedat – Here’s life Publishers Inc 1983 Campus
Crusade for Christ Inc.
7
Hume's Argument against Miracles by Daniel Von Wachter - International Academy of Philosophy In The Principality
of Liechtenstein.
8
“New Testament and Mythology,” in Basic Questions in Theology by Rudolf Bultman, vol. 1, George Kehm, trans
(London: SCM Press, 1970)
9
The Resurrection in Karl Barth - R. Dale Dawson, (Barth Studies Series; Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 246 pp.
 highlight it (Matthew 28, Mark 16,Luke 24, John 20), focusing on the empty

tomb and resurrection appearances, and Acts insists on it (Acts 1:3; 2:24-35;

3:15; 4:10; 5:30-32; 13:33-37). 10 If the resurrection had not happened and

Jesus had stayed dead, the bottom would drop out of Christianity 11 (1

Corinthians 15:17) as Paul writes to the Corinthians asserting this fact.

ii. Jesus himself prophesized his resurrection in three times as mentioned in the

synoptic gospels. The first warning occurs in the following passages: (Mark

8:31–8:33, Matthew 16:21–28, Luke 9:22–27). The second warning occurs in

the following passages: (Mark 9:30–32, Matthew 17:22–23). The third

prediction occurs in Matthew 20:17–19. The fourth prediction occurs in

Matthew 26:1-2. Finally after the resurrection, in Luke 24:46 Jesus states the

fact of his resurrection again.

iii. The Bible is very clear about the resurrection as a truth event that happened

with witnesses to corroborate it. Historians accept that the witnesses truly

believed in these events that they wrote about. The doubt is not if the Bible

carries this message, but critics question if the message is true itself.

b. Historical Response

i. The Early Church fathers reasserted their belief in the resurrection of Christ

and its importance of it to the faith. Justyn Martyr said ‘.. and after his

crucifixion, death and resurrection, he went up to heaven.’12

10
Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs by J.I.Packer, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
11
Growing in Christ by J.I.Packer, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
12
First Apology of Justin Martyr 20:4-21
 ii. The early church councils also asserted their belief in the authenticity and the

importance of the resurrection by the inclusion of resurrection in part of most

of the Creeds. The Apostles Creed says “the third day he rose again from the

dead”. The Athanasian Creed says “Who suffered for our salvation; descended

into hell; rose again the third day from the dead.” The Nicene creed says “He

suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;” The only

place where the resurrection is not mentioned is the Chalcedon Creed which

was specifically codified to clarify the incarnation of Christ in response to the

heresies that pertained to the nature of Christ. 13

iii. Don Stewart says “In addition, the bodily resurrection of Jesus can be tested

by the most rigorous historical methods. While many other religious traditions

have an idea of spirit resurrections (an untestable hypothesis), only the New

Testament proclaims a bodily resurrection.”14

iv. Wolfhart Pannenberg wrote "History is the most comprehensive horizon of

Christian theology. All theological questions and answers have meaning only

within the framework of the history which god has with humanity, and

through humanity with the whole creation, directed towards a future which is

hidden to the world, but which has already been revealed in Jesus Christ.”15

He had a clear belief that the Resurrection was a historical event.

c. Logical Response:

13
The oecumenical documents of the faith [microform]. The creed of Nicaea. Three epistles of Cyril. The tome of Leo.
The Chalcedonian definition by Bindley, T. Herbert (Thomas Herbert), 1861-1931
14
The Case for Christianity – Don Stewart, AusAmerica Publishers, 1998.
15
Wolfhart Pannenberg, “Redemptive Event and History,” in Basic Questions of Theology, vol. 1, George Kehm
(London: SCM Press, 1970), 15.
i. Prophecy of resurrection: Jesus prophesized multiple times about his own

resurrection. Also the time period that Jesus gave for this to happen was 3

days, which seems long from a resurrection point of view and short from a

sign-after-death point of view. It was very definitive in nature. If it wouldn’t

come true, Jesus would be considered a false prophet on account of failure of

his prophecy to come true. Later on, most of the disciples were martyred for

the name of Jesus, and it is unlikely that they would die for someone who they

didn’t believe in or knew was a false prophet.

ii. Stealing of the body: It is highly unlikely that the body of Christ could have

been stolen by the disciples who themselves abandoned Jesus when he was

arrested. They were a demotivated bunch and in all probability they would

find it extremely difficult as a group of fishermen and tax collectors to disarm

a group of trained and equipped Roman soldiers, who were guarding the body,

in all probability alerted by the Jews that the disciples might try to steal the

body, since Jesus had already made prophecies of his own resurrection. There

is a theory that says the soldiers claim that they were sleeping when the body

was stolen. But it is hard to not be awoken when a group of men are trying to

roll away a big boulder blocking the entrance. It is also unlikely that all the

guards slept at the same time, since trained guards will usually take turns to

sleep. We are talking about the roman army, the most disciplined army of the

time. In case the body was genuinely stolen, there would be a persecution and

arrest of the disciples. They had nowhere to hide living in the large Roman
 Empire. But we do not see any form of persecution or arrests of the disciples

happening at that time. 16

iii. Just observing the events as they are generally narrated to us by both sides,

makes it very difficult for us to believe all the alternate theories that explain

why Christ must not have resurrected, and easier to believe the claim of the

disciples and Christ himself that a resurrection did happen.

d. Theological response:

i. 1st Corinthians 5:17 summarizes the theological importance of the

resurrection. Paul says “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile;

you are still in your sins.” The second part clearly says if the resurrection had

not happened, then our faith in Christ is futile and our sins have not been

atoned for. There is a directly implication that the salvific work on the cross is

seen completed in the resurrection of Christ. Karl Barth has said “Cross and

resurrection form a single, indivisible cosmic event which brings judgment to

the world and opens us for men the possibility of authentic life”.17 Barth along

with many have held resurrection in utmost importance.

4) Conclusion:

Therefore we can conclude that the resurrection in itself has enough historical and rational

evidence for being true. Theologically & Biblically the event is crucial to the faith itself, has

stood the test of criticism and stayed as part of the core tenets of the Christian faith.

16
The Case for Christ – Lee Strobel, Zondervan; First edition (1998)
17
Karl Barth on Christ's Resurrection by S. J. Gerald O'Collins, Scottish Journal of Theology, Volume 26, Issue 1 February
1973