Christian Basics Course Session 5: The Christ Rises from the Dead
So where was it? Did the disciples have it? If they did, how did they get it? They must have snuck past the Roman guards to get the body, as some say. But why would they try? Robbing graves held a death sentence. So that’s hard to believe. But assuming they did try, how did they succeed? It is not credible that the guards fell asleep, long enough for the huge stone to be rolled away, and for Jesus to be carried off. The guards faced severe penalties for falling asleep. So the best historical option is this: Luke is telling the truth. Jesus really rose from the dead.
Here's a
quote from Tacitus (which is not in the bible):
But all human efforts, all the
lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish
the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order.
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero
fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated
for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from
whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most
mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only
in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become
popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense
multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of
hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were
torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the
flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.
Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the
circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood
aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary
punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed,
for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being
destroyed. (Annals 15:44)
That is, Christianity was large in
following around 30 years after Christ's death (Christ died either in 33 A.D.,
or perhaps 30 A.D.). It was large enough that Nero could blame Christians
for the Great Fire of Rome.
What's more, Christianity was persuasive enough that these Christians would
continue to assert that they were Christian, even when they could have denied
it (they 'pleaded guilty').
Yet it was in the mid 50s A.D. that
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. That's not long before the great fire. In
1 Corinthians, Paul claimed that there were 500 witnesses to Jesus'
resurrection, most of whom were still alive. I don't think these
witnesses would have been hard to find. Just track down one of the major
churches (the church in
The point is that the martyrs of 64 A.D. could have checked out whether Christianity were true before they went to their deaths. Now if I knew I was a going to my death for my faith, and the faith was checkable, I would definitely do the check.
The most reasonable conclusion is
that many of these Christians had done the check. The eyewitnesses
confirmed that they had seen the risen Jesus. And so that's why Nero
could find lots of Christians to execute.
Thus the most reasonable
inference from the swift growth of Christianity, is that Jesus really
rose from the dead.
i. Hoax by apostles (But the early leaders were often odds, see further arguments above)
ii. Mistaken identity - this is from the Koran. (But the High Priest would not have allowed the Romans to crucify the wrong man)
iii. ‘Swoon’ theory – Jesus didn’t die, but recovered in the tomb (Crucified people don’t walk anywhere again, including to Emmaus.)
iv.
Stolen body (Variation
of a hoax theory, conceived at the outset and sustained?)
v.
Wrong tomb (The
women were nearby at the entombment)
vi. Hallucinatory or visionary (But this would scarcely overcome their sense of shame at the ‘accursed’)
Christian Basics Course Session 6: Forgiveness of sins for all nations