This past Sunday in nearly every country and culture across the globe people celebrated an event that seems impossible. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on a Roman cross on Friday evening and then just a few days later, the tomb that held his body was empty.
For many people this sounds unbelievable. It simply cannot be true. So there must be another explanation. Yet this is what the Bible teaches and is what the Christian Church has believed for 2,000 years. The first resurrection claims written were in the letters of Paul and were written just some 15-20 years after Jesus’ death and even gave names of eye-witnesses who were still alive and could be asked about what they saw and experienced.
Not only does the Bible teach, declare, assume, describe, predict, and explain the resurrection but it even goes so far as to say that Jesus’ resurrection is the foundation of the whole faith.
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. -- 1 Corinthians 15:17 (CSB)
Conventional wisdom, our experiences, and common belief come into conflict with what the Bible teaches. So let’s look at the objections skeptics of the resurrection have had and examine how strong they are.
While many objections have been proposed to Jesus’ resurrection, these four have been the most common. (For additional objections and responses to them, see this Gospel Coalition article). Much more could be said in response to each object and in fact many books have been written on this subject. But for the sake of this blog, I’ll try and keep it short and succinct.
1. The Body was Stolen: Jesus did die and the reason the tomb was empty was because the disciples stole the body and claimed he had raised. This was the explanation given originally by the Jews.
Response: The guards in front of Jesus’ tomb would have all had to fall asleep at the same time or be overthrown by the disciples (and we all know how mighty the twelve were). If this did happen, it would’ve cost the guards their lives. So they were highly motivated to protect the body on the third day, the day Jesus said he would rise from the grave.
Even if the disciples were able to sneak past the soldiers, break the Roman seal on the stone, roll it away, and steal Jesus body, they would also need to somehow make hundreds of people think they seen the triumphant, victorious risen Jesus.
Finally, why would the disciples risk their lives for a lie and get nearly nothing out of it? The disciples didn’t live posh, healthy, comfortable, and wealthy lives. Their claim that Jesus was raised and that he was God cost them everything. They all spent their lives under persecution and serving the poor and marginalized and each one died a martyr’s death (except for John whom they tried to kill by boiling alive in oil).
2. The Swoon Theory: Jesus did not actually die on the cross but rather just swooned. He passed out on the cross, appeared dead, and was later revived by the cool tomb air.
Response: Author and theologian John Stott responds to this theory by asking if we are supposed to believe “that after the rigours and pains of trial, mockery, flogging, and crucifixion he could survive thirty-six hours in a stone sepulcher with neither warmth nor food nor medical care? That he could then rally sufficiently to perform the superhuman feat of shifting the boulder which secured the mouth of the tomb, and this without disturbing the Roman guard? That then, weak and sickly and hungry, he could appear to the disciples in such a way as to give them the impression that he had vanquished death?”
Also we need to remember that these Roman soldiers were professional executioners. They had performed countless crucifixions and were incredibly good at making criminals suffer and die. And if they took a prisoner down from the cross before they were dead, they would be executed. Not only that but it’s recorded that they also pierced Jesus’s side with a spear to confirm his death and water and blood poured out. If he was still alive before this, the pierced heart would have killed him.
3. A Twin (or look-alike) Died in Jesus’ Place: This objection has been suggested by some Muslim scholars (including a teaching in Quran 4:157). The objection proposes that someone who looked like Jesus (maybe a brother or twin) was the one actually crucified. So people really did see Jesus after the cross because Jesus was never crucified. Or a variation of this could be that Jesus did die on the cross but a look-alike was the one seen after the crucifixion, not Jesus.
Response: There isn’t any evidence that Jesus had a twin, a look alike, or a brother who was confused for him. Jesus’ mother was at Jesus’ crucifixion and wouldn’t have been fooled. Relatedly, it is very unlikely that the Jewish rulers who were pushing to have Jesus executed would have mistakenly crucified the wrong person.
We can’t forget that the scars/wounds from Jesus crucifixion were present on the resurrected Jesus. The disciples (many who were skeptical) touched the risen Christ, including his scars. Additionally this view doesn’t address the empty tomb or the burial clothes left behind.
4. Jesus’ Followers Hallucinated: Jesus did die yet his followers projected their desire for him to be raised from the grave and all hallucinated the supposed sightings of the resurrected Christ.
Response: While at face value this might sound like a good alternative to the supernatural resurrection of Jesus, when looked at closely it fails for many reasons. Hallucinations are not seen by groups of people but rather by individuals. The New Testament describes Jesus as talking to groups of people at the same time, including an instance of more than 500 people. Hallucinations are prone to certain types of people yet so many different types of people claimed to see the risen Jesus (and in many different locations) over 40 days and then all the appearances stopped.
Finally, hallucinations come from a preexisting thought or belief. The way Jesus was raised from the dead was a concept both the Jews and the Greeks would have never thought of. The Jews thought only of a resurrection at the end of time when all would be resurrected and death would cease to exist. William Lane Craig describes this for us. “Jewish belief always concerned a resurrection at the end of the world, not a resurrection in the middle of history…This traditional Jewish concept was the presupposition of Jesus’ own disciples (Mark 9:9-13, John 11:24).” The Greeks thought the physical body (and world) was a prison so the idea of being resurrected in a physical body would be undesirable.
While the resurrection might still seem unfathomable, it did happen. It is the best explanation of the evidence: the empty tomb, the accounts of hundreds of people seeing the risen Jesus, the disciples’ changed lives, and the birth of Christianity.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. - 1 Corinthians 15:20-21
SPENCER PETERSON/COMMUNITY LIFE PASTOR