DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD?

By Bob Myhan

As has been pointed out, that Jesus of Nazareth actually lived and that was crucified by Pilate at the behest of Jewish leaders, is attested to by secular, as well as religious historians. Thus, whatever else one might believe, it is not rational to claim that He was a fictional person. But what is one to make of His alleged resurrection from the dead? Is it also attested to by secular historians? It does not seem to be. But does this mean we are without reliable evidence of this ad­mittedly extraordinary event? It does not.

It is often argued by skeptics that there is no reliable evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead simply because all the testimony is from those who were al­ready His disciples. Being inclined to accept the resurrection, their testimony is biased and should be rejected. “Extraordinary claims demand extraordi­nary proof,” we are told.

There are good and sufficient reasons, however, for accepting the testimony of the disciples.

In the first place, there is no evidence, at all, that they were inclined to accept the resurrection. By their own testimony, they neither expected it nor accepted one an­other’s testimony that it had occurred. As a matter of fact, they did not even expect His death though He had told them plainly He would both die and be raised again.

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are writ­ten by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again."

But they understood none of these things; this say­ing was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spo­ken. (Luke 18:31-34)

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. (Mark 16:9-14)

In the second place, it is simply not the case that all those of who saw Jesus after the resurrection were already His disciples.

After these things Jesus walked in Gali­lee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." For even His brothers did not be­lieve in Him. (John 7:1-5)

But after the resurrection, His brothers are named among the disciples.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Je­rusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one ac­cord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. (Acts 1:12-14)

What extraordinary evidence caused His brothers to believe in Him? At least one of them saw Him after the resurrection!

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part re­main to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. (1 Cor. 15:3-7)

Neither was Saul of Tarsus a friendly wit­ness. He was the fiercest persecutor of the early Christians.

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and drag­ging off men and women, committing them to prison. (Acts 8:3)

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damas­cus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." (Acts 9:1-6)

Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, be­cause I persecuted the church of God. (1 Cor. 15:8-9)

That the apostles and other early disci­ples not only claimed to have seen the risen Lord but believed they had seen Him is evident from the fact that they were will­ing to suffer for the claim. The following is a citation from Cornelius Tacitus concern­ing Nero’s efforts to quell the rumor that he had started a fire that destroyed much of Rome in AD 64.

“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.” - Annals 15.44

When Pliny the Younger (AD 61-112), governor of Bithynia, wrote to Emperor Trajan concerning the treatment of Christians in his province, he received the following from the emperor.

“The method you have used, my dear Pliny, in investigating the cases of those who are accused of being Christians is ex­tremely proper. No search should be made for these people; when they are accused and found to be guilty they must be pun­ished; with the restriction, however, that when the individual denies he is a Chris­tian, and gives proof that he is not (that is, by adoring our gods) he shall be par­doned on the ground of repentance, even though he may have formerly incurred suspicion. Documents without the ac­cuser's signature must not be admitted in evidence against anyone, since this intro­duces a very dangerous precedent, and is by no means consistent with the spirit of the age.” - Pliny letters X, 97

Thus, they could escape torture merely by denying their allegiance to Christ.

[To be continued]