Is the Resurrection of Christ True or False?

By Simon Yuan

For Christians, there is little doubt about the authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But if I were not a Christian, I would say that I don't need you to tell me that Jesus was resurrected, but please give historical evidence of Jesus' resurrection because I doubt that Jesus was really resurrected. Furthermore, if an unbeliever intend to deny the Christian belief, denying the authenticity of Christ's resurrection is the best entry point. 

The British Gilbert West and George Lyttelton once tried to deny the entire Christian belief by demonstrating the unreality of Christ's resurrection. Gilbert West and George Lyttelton lived in the 18th century, both graduates of Oxford University. 

Born in 1709, Gilbert West was a poet of minor renown and a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford. George Lyttelton is a close friend of George Lyttelton and an alumnus of Christ's College, Oxford University. Lyttelton is more famous than West, and Lyttelton is a member of the British Parliament. In addition, both of them have the professional qualities of lawyers. In terms of religious belief, West and Lyttelton were deists at that time, that is to say, they did not believe in Christ. In Europe in the 18th century, due to the development of the Enlightenment, deism became a fashionable belief among intellectuals for a while. According to Deist's understanding, after God created everything in the universe, he no longer interferes with the world and human affairs, and the universe operates according to the laws of nature. Therefore, deists are unwilling to accept Christianity, because the core of Christianity is that God came to the world, complete the redemption of man. 

In the 1740s, Lyttelton and West had a famous meeting at Oxford University, and the two reached a very peculiar agreement. In order to destroy the Christian faith and strengthen their belief in Deist, Lyttelton and West decided to study the two most important factors of the Christian faith, one is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; the other is St. Paul's transformation from persecuting Christians to the greatest missionary . They decided to study separately for a year to prove the untruth of two important elements of the Christian faith, namely, that Jesus Christ never rose from the dead, and that St. Paul did not convert to Christ. Lyttelton and West believe that if they can prove the absence of these two factors, the Christian faith will be defeated, and their disbelief in the Christian faith will be more evidenced. 

Why are Lyttelton and West so sure that if the fact of Christ's resurrection and Paul's conversion were overturned, Christianity would be destroyed? Lyttelton and West lived in the era when Christianity was prevalent in Britain, and they both attended church schools, so they are naturally familiar with this passage in the New Testament of the Bible: "If Christ has not been resurrected, our preaching is in vain, and so is your faith!" This passage makes it very clear that whether the resurrection of Christ is true or not is related to whether the Christian faith can stand. 

Interestingly, when Lyttelton and West met again, the results of their research turned out to be counterproductive. The authenticity of Christ’s resurrection and its history, and Paul’s conversion to Christ were undeniable. Under such facts, they bowed down to Christ to become a disciple of Jesus. Going a step further, West published a book on the historical authenticity of Jesus Christ titled Observations on the history and evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of this book, Oxford University awarded West a Doctor of Laws and Letters. 

That's right, Lyttelton and West came to their life-changing conclusion after their investigation, that Jesus Christ was risen, and that the enemies of Jesus Christ, after seeing the risen Jesus, transformed into the greatest preachers and showed great promise for spreading the gospel of Christ. took his own life (Paul was beheaded by the Roman government). But we can say that that is just the words of their family, and it was also an investigation hundreds of years ago. Now, newer, more evidence should emerge. Also, do other historians, biblical and New Testament scholars agree with the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? 

In fact, more than 300 years after Lyttelton and West rested in the Lord's arms, the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been increasing. In the academic circles of history and New Testament, historians and scholars have reached a consensus. That is Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again. What needs to be pointed out is that many historians and scholars are not Christians. They agree with the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but they do not accept the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Dr. William Lang Craig, a well-known scholar who studies the resurrection of Jesus, mentioned in his book "Did Jesus Rise From Dead?" that there are two steps to investigate the resurrection of Jesus Christ: one is to have the facts to explain; and the second is to determine that these facts best explain the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Basically, there are three main facts: 

1. On the third morning after Jesus was crucified, several female disciples of Jesus found that the tomb of Jesus was empty. 

 

2. After Jesus died, many individuals and groups saw the living Jesus 

3. The origin of the belief that the early disciples of Jesus believed that Jesus rose from the dead 

If these three facts have their historical truth, the postulate of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is best explained. 

Most historians admit that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Roman government in Jerusalem on the Jewish Passover, which cannot be disputed. Then, the next step is to ask, what happened after Jesus was crucified? 

First, let's look at the empty tomb. 

At least five independent lines of evidence support the fact that the tomb is empty, meaning that Jesus, who died on the cross, was buried in the tomb on Friday night, and that the tomb was found empty by several of Jesus' female disciples on Sunday morning up. The historical reliability of the burial of Jesus supports the historical authenticity of the empty tomb. 

If the body of Jesus was still in the tomb, the disciples of Jesus Jesus could not have gone around preaching the resurrection of Jesus, and the listeners would not have believed it, and many, many people became disciples of Jesus at that time. Even though many people believed in the resurrection of Jesus, the rulers of Judaism at that time could take out the dead body of Jesus, and the claim of Jesus’ resurrection would be self-defeating. The upper class of Judaism at that time hated Jesus the most. They claimed that Jesus was God and crucified him. up the cross. Of course, they are even more unwilling to separate a new religion because of Jesus. Many of Jesus' disciples were Jewish. 

From the very beginning, the rulers of Judaism persecuted the disciples of Jesus. Paul was just such a murderer who persecuted the disciples of Jesus. He put many disciples of Jesus in prison, and some disciples of Jesus died under the persecution. Not only was Christianity not destroyed in the persecution, but it continued to develop rapidly. The core of the Gospel preached by the disciples of Jesus was the resurrection of Jesus. The records of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection date back to 33 AD.

Most biblical New Testament scholars agree that Jesus was buried in the tomb of a wealthy Jewish man named Joseph. Cambridge University scholar John A. T. Robinson points out that Jesus' burial is the earliest and most verifiable fact about Jesus. If Jesus was buried in Joseph's new tomb, it would be difficult to deny the authenticity of the empty tomb from the facts listed above.

We can also look at the historical authenticity of the empty tomb from another perspective, and that is women as witnesses of the fact. In those days, women were not reliable witnesses. It is obvious that the female disciples of Jesus were the first to see the risen Jesus, and it is impossible to use women as witnesses to falsify. Also, in that Jewish society, women had a lower status than men. Why are the female disciples the earliest witnesses to the resurrected Jesus in the early records? Because that is fact, not fiction. Men are more likely to be mentioned as witnesses if they are to be falsified.

Second, after Jesus died, did so many people really see the resurrected Jesus?

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul listed a series of sightings of the resurrected Jesus. In this letter of Paul, written in AD 53, Paul cites earlier material. Paul wrote that the original gospel preached was that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose from the dead on the third day, appeared to Peter, the twelve disciples, and appeared again to more than 500 people. Paul said that when he wrote to the church in Dorindo, some of the people who had seen the risen Jesus were still alive. Paul also had his own personal experience of seeing the resurrected Jesus. On his way to Damascus, he was going to continue to persecute Jesus’ disciples, but the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul. Under such a wonderful experience, Paul went from being persecuted to People who are disciples of Jesus turn into apostles of Jesus, become the greatest evangelists of the Christian faith, and finally give their lives for the Christian faith.

Another important person who saw the risen Jesus was Jesus' brother James. Before Jesus was crucified, James did not believe that he was the Messiah or a prophet, but after Jesus' resurrection, James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. We know from the Jewish Historia recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus that Jacob was eventually stoned to death for his Christian faith. How to explain the fact that during the life of Jesus, his younger brother did not believe in the preaching of Jesus, and the death of Jesus on the cross did not bring about a change in Jacob's life, because at the time of Jesus' death, Jacob Gon was not there, and it is entirely possible that he thought his brother Jesus' messianic proclamation was an illusion. So why, shortly after the death of Jesus, James volunteered to join the ranks of the faith proclaiming the resurrection of Christ, became the leader, and died to spread the Christian faith. Even Han Grass, a New Testament skeptic, admits that James' conversion is the best proof of Jesus' resurrection.

The conversion of the lives of the other apostles of Jesus is also an excellent proof. When Jesus was crucified, they all ran away. Soon after Jesus died, they all proclaimed that Christ was resurrected. Out of the twelve apostles, eleven were Christ Martyrdom of faith. At first, they followed Jesus because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah who could help the Israelites escape from Roman rule, and they followed Jesus for that belief. When Jesus himself was going to die, they were all shaken. When Jesus was on the cross, they all fled. Even the most faithful Peter refused to admit that he was a disciple of Jesus several times. And after Jesus died on the cross, they followed Jesus again and spread the Christian faith. It was because they saw the resurrected Jesus, and they saw that Jesus used his behavior to confirm his declaration. The martyrdom of the apostles was no longer just for faith, but for a fact they had seen, namely, the resurrection of Christ.

Shortly after the death of Jesus, the Christian faith began to spread and developed rapidly. Third, we look at the origin of the Christian faith.

It is an undeniable historical fact that Christianity originated in the first century AD, that is, after the crucifixion of Jesus, and developed rapidly in the early days. The question, then, is why did Christianity arise, what was the cause of this movement? Even some scholars who have doubts about some content of the New Testament of the Bible have to admit that the origin of Christian belief is that the early disciples saw the resurrected Christ and passed on that vision to other disciples, and the Christ preached by the disciples of Jesus At the heart of faith is the resurrection of Christ.

It is well known that Jesus was Jewish, and the vast majority of the early disciples were Jewish. If Christianity is to be listed as a religion, Christianity is a religion separated from Judaism. According to the Jewish understanding of Messiah, the Messiah is a leader who can lead the Jews to defeat their enemies and restore the throne of David in Jerusalem, not a criminal who was crucified on the cross. Totally the greatest shame, how could it be their Messiah, which is why those Jewish disciples who followed Jesus at first abandoned Jesus before Jesus was crucified.

Many Jewish Christians were not only persecuted by the Roman government, but also kicked out of the church where their ancestors worshiped. They gave up their thousand-year-old traditions and their Jewish beliefs. Many even gave their lives for their new Christian faith. In fact, the resurrected Christ made these Jewish Christians see the Messiah promised to them by God. In the early church, the resurrection was at the heart of the Christian faith. Paul summed up what is Christianity and what is the gospel of Christ in 1 Corinthians, that is, Christ died on the cross, was buried, was resurrected, and appeared to the disciples. In fact, this is not Paul's conclusion, but the original message of Christianity. Today, more than 2,000 years later, the resurrection is still at the core of the Christian faith, which is why on Easter Day, billions of people worship the risen Christ in Christian churches around the world.

Taken together, these three are the best explanations for the resurrection of Christ.

        1. There is sufficient historical evidence to prove that the tomb where Jesus was buried was empty.

        2. There is enough historical evidence to prove that many people saw the resurrected Jesus.

        3. The origin and development of Christianity confirms the resurrection of Christ.

Therefore, people have different choices when facing the resurrection of Christ, but the resurrection of Christ is an undeniable historical fact.

(This article was written with refence to Dr. Craig's book "Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?". You can also watch Dr. Craig's lecture on the resurrection of Christ:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8lkuuhVkOI