JAMAICA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

PERSONAL APOLOGIA ON THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO MR. BARRY HALL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS

DEPARTMENT OF BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

BY MARK SMITH

KINGSTON, JAMAICA MARCH 14, 2011

INTRODUCTION In the past centuries, various religious and spiritual beliefs have come under intense attack at the hands of radical philosophers and critics. Of this assault, the Christian faith has received the major portion of those attacks. Christians were thus called upon to refute objections and false charges against the Christian faith, while presenting positive reasons for believing in Christianity. Theologians referred to this as apologetics. According to the Baker Encyclopaedia of Christian Apologetics, Apologetics is the discipline that deals with a rational defense of the Christian faith. It comes from the Greek word apologia which means to give a reason or defense1. Peter encouraged Christians to always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (NASB, 1 Pet. 3:15). The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. As the Apostle Paul, the most fruitful Christian missionary and New Testament writer recognized, if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.......If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable (1 Cor. 15:17-19). Thus the entire Christian faith pivots on the question of Jesus resurrection. The resurrection puts not only a burden of proof on its believers but on the critics as well. According to Dr. Timothy Keller, it is not enough to simply believe that Jesus did not rise from the dead. You must come up with a historically feasible alternate explanation for the birth of the church. You have to provide some other plausible account for how things began.2 Taking this into account, the writers contention will be to prove, through substantial evidence, the

Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapid: Baker Book House, 1999), 68. 2 Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Penguin Group, 2008), 202.

authenticity of the resurrection, and expose the inconceivability of the alternative explanations subscribed to by a number of critics. HISTORY OF APOLOGETICS During the Old Testament era men of God were called upon numerous times in defense of their belief in the true and living God. Men such as Moses, Elijah, Elisha, minor and Major Prophets, just to name a few, all called upon God to prove his existence to critics and He answered in defense of himself. However, along with the establishment of the New Testament Church came a new breed of heretics and critics, whose sole purpose was the destruction of the established church. According to Dulles, most of the New Testament reflects the Church's efforts to exhibit the credibility of its message and to answer the obvious objections that would have arisen in the minds of adversaries, prospective converts, and candid believers.3 Scripture passages such as Acts 22:1, 25:16; 2 Tim. 4:16; 1 Cor. 9:3 and 2 Cor. 7:11; Phil. 1:7, 17 and 1 Pet. 3:15 all reflect the apologia of the brethren in defence of their faith. Just as Peter and Paul defended the gospel against accusations from enemies, so did other church leaders who, over the next few centuries of persecution, also argued for civil tolerance for Christians.4 However, after the second-century, apologists started to focus on presenting the positive grounds for the Christian faith.5 Augustine was the one who permanently placed apologetics in the new direction of positive affirmation rather than critical reply6 at the beginning of the fifth century. Early church Apologists such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian and

3 4

Avery Cardinal Dulles, A History of Apologetics (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 24. Ibid, 28 5 William Menzies, Apologetics: A Study Guide (Springfield: ICI University, 1999), 20-21. 6 Bernard L. Ramm, A Christian Appeal to Reason (Springfield: International Correspondence Institute, 1972), 14.

Origen raised the status of apologetics to a distinct genre of theological literature.7 In the first few centuries, debate focused on paganism and Judaism; in the medieval period the focus was on Judaism and Islam, both of which appealed to historical revelation as did Christianity; But after the Renaissance, apologetics had to address thinkers who rejected revelation entirely and who in some cases denied the existence or knowability of God.8 Thus, as the early patriarchs were called upon numerous times in defense of the Christian faith, so Christians today are called upon at times to defend this same faith. THE DEFENSE OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST Importantly, Christianity is the only religion that claims its leader rose from the dead. For the Christian, trusting God's provision of Jesus Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection puts one in a right relationship with God. The historical accounts of the New Testament writers are in agreement with this. Critics, however, disagree with the historical account of Jesus death and resurrection, seeking rational arguments in defense of the faith. Therefore, there is a demand for apologetic responses with reasonable proofs that counter these objections. Jesus Death: True or False The first burden of proof lies in proving that Jesus actually died on the cross and did not fainted on the cross, only to be revived by the cold air of the tomb9 according to German theologians Karl Bahrdt and Karl Venturini, proponents of the swoon theory. This view is flawed as it is unreasonable to assume that Jesus was still alive when he was taken off the cross. Without a doubt, Jesus was already in serious to critical condition before he was nailed to the cross, caused by the painful Roman flogging, so during the crucifixion itself he was too weak to

Colin Brown ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 51. 8 Avery Cardinal Dulles, A History of Apologetics (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 206. 9 William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, (Westchester: Crossway Publishers, 1994), 243.

have pretended incapability of breathing, and the spear through the heart would have left no doubt as to his energy. According to Hengel, Roman executioners were expert killers. If a victim somehow escaped, the soldiers themselves would be put to death, thus giving them great incentive to make sure their victim was positively dead when removed from the cross.10 On the other hand, even if Jesus somehow survived the cross and was able to roll the huge stone away from his tomb, he would have been in a deplorable condition. German theologian David Strauss (1835) argued that, it is preposterous to think that Jesus disciples, seeing him in such a condition, would declare him a victorious conqueror over death and start a worldwide movement on the hope that someday they might have a resurrection body like his.11 Dr. William Edwards conclusion in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is an adequate response to such faulty reasoning; clearly, the weight of the historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge.12 Therefore, the swoon theory is not an acceptable alternative to the reality of the resurrection. Jesus Empty Tomb Now that it is established that Jesus actually died on the cross, the next question surrounds the empty tomb. Initially, if the grave had not been empty, it would have been impossible for a sect based on the Resurrection to have come into existence. Skeptics could have easily suppressed them by producing Jesus rotted corpse. Yet, according to Dr. William Craig, resurrection scholar, even the earliest Jewish argument against Jesus presupposes that the tomb

10 11

Martin Hengel, Crucifixion in the Ancient World (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977), 34. Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 202. 12 William D. Edwards et al., On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ, Journal of the American Medical Association (March 21, 1986), 1455-63.

was indeed empty. No one claimed that the tomb contained Jesus body13. The focus was instead on what happened to the body. The Jews proposed that the Roman guards appointed to guard the tomb had fallen asleep and that Jesus disciples had stolen the body. However, according to Strobel, the idea that the empty tomb is the result of some hoax, conspiracy, or theft is simply dismissed.14 Jesus disciples had no motive to steal his body and then later suffer persecution and die for a lie. These days, skeptics are declaring the empty tomb a legend developed in the writings of the Gospels, unable to be disproved, as the location of the tomb had been forgotten by the time of the writings. This view has no foundation, however, as the empty tomb is verified long before the gospels were written, in early Christian tradition passed on by Paul, for example (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), which many scholars consider to be a creed dating to within two years of the death of Jesus. Moreover, the concept of the empty tomb is at the centre of the early preaching of Jesus disciples, only weeks after his alleged resurrection (Acts 2:24, 29-32). Strobel cited the Greco-Roman classical historian, Sherwin-White, as saying it would have been without precedent anywhere in history for legendary distortion to emerge that quickly15 According to the four gospel writers, the fist witnesses of the empty tomb were women. In the first century, the testimony of women was considered invalid, so the authors would not have included this point if they were simply trying to invent myth. As Dr. Wright states, there must have been enormous pressure on the early church to remove the women from the accounts.16 It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the women were indeed the first witnesses of the empty tomb. Accordingly, after spending a lifetime scrutinizing the evidence, Sir Norman
13

William Lane Craig, The Empty Tomb of Jesus, in In Defense of Miracles, ed. R. Douglas Geivett and Gary R. Habermas (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press), 258. 14 Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 212. 15 Ibid, 220. 16 N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, (Philadelphia: Fortress Publishing, 2003), 608.

Anderson, one of the greatest legal minds of all time, concluded, the empty tomb, then, forms a veritable rock on which all rationalistic theories of the resurrection dash themselves in vain.17 The Resurrected Jesus Sightings Since an empty tomb is not proof enough of a resurrection, then further proof must be given for the claim of a resurrected Jesus. There must have been eyewitnesses who can testify of seeing him after he was resurrected. First, there are multiple confirmations to the resurrection, with one of the most important given by the Apostle Paul. Multiple confirmations help to show why the individuals who saw Jesus were not hallucinating or seeing a vision, as some scholars have sought to discount these appearances as legendary or hallucinations. According to Strobel, quoting Gary Collins, hallucinations are always individual, not group experiences18. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, states that Jesus appeared to over 500 individuals at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). This letter to the Corinthians was written when the people of Paul's day could easily have refuted his argument, but this was not done. Also of note is the almost universal agreement of scholars that 1 Corinthians 15, specifically the first 8 verses, is a creedal passage concerning the resurrection that goes back to the resurrection itself. Jack Kent, a skeptic of bodily resurrection said the I Corinthian 15 passage could be dated very close to the actual resurrection.19 In other words, the accounts of the resurrection were not invented. Another piece of evidence centres on the disciples themselves. They believed they had physically encountered the resurrected Jesus (Luke 24:36-43, Galatians 1:11-12). They changed from scared men to individuals who were willing to die for their encounter (John 20:19). No other

17 18

J.N.D. Anderson, The Evidence for the Resurrection (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1966), 20. Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 238 19 Jack Kent, The Psychological Origins of the Resurrection Myth, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2003), 16-17.

stories existed to explain away the appearance of Jesus as the resurrected Messiah during the first century. Finally, in the first-century Jewish world there were many people who claimed to be the Messiah, started a movement and were executed thereafter. However, as Wright points out: In not one single case do we hear the slightest mention of the disappointed followers claiming that their hero had been raised from the dead. They knew better. Resurrection was not a private event. Jewish revolutionaries whose leader had been executed by the authorities, and who managed to escape arrest themselves, had two options: give up the revolution or find another leader. Claiming that the original leader was alive again was simply not an option. Unless of course he was.20 Though Jesus life and career met the same brutal end as the lives and careers of many others who claimed to be the Messiah, his disciples did not view his crucifixion as a defeat but rather as a victory. The only possible justification they could have for this conclusion is the fact that they had seen Jesus after he rose from the dead. Other Supporting Evidences for the Resurrection Undoubtedly, , the evidence already given for the resurrection of Jesus, including the certainty of his death, the empty tomb and numerous eyewitness encounters, strongly suggest that Jesus was raised from the dead. However, if something as extraordinary as the resurrection of Jesus actually took place, then it would be reasonable to assume that the historical record would also be full of undisputed evidences supporting the reality of the event; evidence such as: 1) First, after the death of Jesus there was a sudden emergence of a worldview cantered around the resurrection of the body, first Jesus and later the resurrection of those who believed in him.21 2) Second, not only were over ten thousand Jews following the allegedly resurrected Jesus within five weeks of his crucifixion, but they were also worshipping him as God22
20 21

N.T. Wright, Who Was Jesus? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishers, 1993), 63 Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Penguin Group, 2008), 209

3) Third, there were hardened skeptics who did not believe in Jesus prior to his crucifixion but thereafter turned around completely and believed in the Christian faith after Jesus death (Acts 9-19)23. 4) Fourth and finally, the rapid emergence of the Church and the cultural shift that it brought about requires an explanatory event. CONCLUSION In conclusion, Jesus actually died and was buried, but his body was missing from the known burial tomb. The Jews claimed the body was stolen, only confirming that the body was gone. Women and a multitude of others saw Jesus alive. The Christian community was birthed in the most hostile environment imaginable, but this did not slow down the followers who had seen the resurrected Jesus. The resurrection story is early and the scale of evidence tips toward the truthfulness of Christianity. Granted, accepting the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an insignificant step for the modern skeptical mind to take. According to Wright, it was not an easy step for the people of the first century either. To them, it was just as unfathomable. They only came to accept it as they allowed the evidence to confront and reshape their understanding of the world, their conception of what was possible. So, a believer in Jesus Christ today can have the complete confidence, as did those first Christians, that his faith is based not on myth or legend but on the solid historical fact of the empty tomb and the risen Christ.

22 23

Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 250-1 Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.9, in The Complete Works of Flavius Josehpus, Trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1981), 423

BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, J.N.D., The Evidence for the Resurrection Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1966. Brown, Colin ed. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986. Cardinal, Dulles Avery. A History of Apologetics, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005. Craig William Lane, The Empty Tomb of Jesus, in In Defense of Miracles, ed. R. Douglas Geivett and Gary R. Habermas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press 258. Edwards, William D. et al., On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ, Journal of the American Medical Association March 21, 1986. Geisler, Norman L. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Grand Rapid: Baker Book House, 1999. Hengel, Martin Crucifixion in the Ancient World Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977. Josephus, Flavius Antiquities of the Jews, 20.9, in The Complete Works of Flavius Josehpus, Trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1981. Keller, Timothy The Reason for God. New York: Penguin Group, 2008. Kent, Jack The Psychological Origins of the Resurrection Myth, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2003. Menzies, William. Apologetics: A Study Guide, Springfield: ICI University, 1999. Ramm Bernard L., A Christian Appeal to Reason, Springfield: International Correspondence Institute, 1972. Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998. Wright, N.T. Who Was Jesus? Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishers, 1993.