Jesus' Resurrection - Beyond Reasonable Doubt


by Rob VandeWeghe - Date: 2007-09-21 - Word Count: 4617 Share This!

On April 19, 1995, around 9.03 AM - just after parents dropped their children off at day care at the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City , the unthinkable happened. A massive bomb inside a rental truck exploded, blowing half of the nine-story building into oblivion A stunned nation watched as the bodies of men, women, and children were pulled from the rubble for nearly two weeks. When the smoke cleared and the exhausted rescue workers packed up and left, 168 people - including 19 children- were dead in the worst terrorist attack that the US had ever experienced till that moment.

Just 90 minutes after the explosion, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer pulled over 27-year-old Timothy McVeigh for driving without a license plate. Shortly before he was to be released, McVeigh was recognized as a bombing suspect and was charged with the bombing.
During the trial, 2 years later, in June 1997, it did not take the jury very long to find McVeigh ‘guilty beyond reasonable doubt' and he was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

Most if not all evidence against Timothy McVeigh was circumstantial. Nobody saw actually McVeigh place the bomb in the building, nor did anybody watch him ‘push the button'. The ‘physical' evidence presented only consisted of :

- a fingerprint on a receipt for 2000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient used in the bomb
- some explosive residue detected on his clothing when he was pulled over by the highway patrol

Dramatic testimony against McVeigh was provided by friends and family members who told jurors about his rage against the government for the 1993 siege near Waco, Texas and his vows to avenge the deaths of 80 or so Branch Davidian members who were trapped and killed when fire consumed their compound.

Additionally former army buddy's described McVeigh's skills and knowledge about how to assemble a bomb. But again - NOBODY - saw him place the bomb nor pull the trigger. And still, EVERYBODY believed and still believes Timothy McVeigh to be the main bomber and be rightfully put to death in June 2001 by our Federal Government.
Why is it that we have so little if any problem at all to sentence and put a man to death for a crime based on only indirect, mostly circumstantial evidence but ignore multiple, credible eyewitness testimonies to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

The first 4 books of the New Testament - the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all provide eyewitness testimony to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In a trial court eyewitness evidence is tested to meet a set of objective requirements to determine whether the witness is trustworthy.

If we apply these kind of tests to our 4 Gospels, they all 4 seem to pass these tests without much trouble: the Gospel writers clearly show the intent and ability to describe what actually happened. The Gospel writers display serious honesty by again and again describing the disciples and themselves as well-intended and seriously trying but often stumbling and failing followers of Jesus. The 4 Gospels are consistent in all the main events but are different enough in the details to show personal recollection and descriptions. And as modern science teaches us more about the time of Jesus through archeology and history, more and more sources outside the Bible corroborate locations of city, roads, ports, rulers and customs as described in the Gospels. Even some non-biblical and non-Christian writers from the first century mention Jesus and his followers by name and corroborate events described in the Bible. All in all by modern court standards the Gospels would be almost perfect witnesses and if this would be a court case it would not take any jury any time at all to conclude that Jesus indeed ‘beyond any reasonable doubt' miraculously resurrected and is indeed the Son of God.

So what are then actually the reasons for so many people to not accept the Gospels as truth beyond reasonable doubt ?

Well, first of all we have to realize that no historical document ever has been and will be scrutinized by so called critical scholars as the Bible is and has been. Literally thousands of people have spent millions of hours trying to find even the smallest mistakes to prove the Bible not to be truthful and hence not be the Word of God. And especially the 4 Gospels have been in the crosshairs of many, many attacks where even minor differences and potential contradictions between the New Testament books have been the cause of lengthy arguments and wild theories.

It sometimes seems that anything goes as long as it can prove the claims of Jesus and especially the most wildest claim of all - His resurrection - to be a fairy tale. Books have been written about alternative explanations, for instance claiming that Jesus never died on the cross but just passed out. He then subsequently woke up in the grave and walked out. Quite a wild idea to even consider if you take the time to realize that just the flogging by itself was in many cases already lethal and that Romans were experts in execution by crucifixion. The team that executed Jesus did this kind of work for a living. They would know when their victim was dead. And as an extra incentive: Roman discipline was very simple but strict - if you would allow one of your crucifixion victims to escape alive the punishment for yourself was death by crucifixion. These Roman soldiers had some serious incentives to do the job right.

This theory even has a scientific name - it is called the swoon theory and its creativity knows of no limits: just recently I heard one of the latest variations, claiming that Jesus actually had a conspiracy going with Pilate to have the Roman soldiers give him some drug while he was on the cross that allowed him to pass out and appear to have died. They even claim biblical evidence for this trick to be in Matthew 27:48 that reads: ‘One of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick and offered it to Jesus to drink'

What you might not know is that even the Koran - the holy book of Islam - recognizes Jesus as a major prophet of the same caliber as Moses was, but obviously less important that Mohammed. The Koran also recognizes the virgin birth and most of Jesus miracles. However it claims that Jesus actually fled to India and that to this day there's a shrine that supposedly marks his real burial place in Kashmir , India.

Most, if not all of the more credible attacks on the truthfulness of the Gospels focus on Who actually wrote the Gospels and When they were written.

History has never seriously challenged the authorship of the gospels by providing alternative writers. Let's refresh our memories about who are claimed as the 4 gospels writers:

- John Mark the travel companion of Peter and Paul, was the writer of the first Gospel written, the Gospel of Mark
- Matthew, also called Levi, the tax collector, one of the 12 disciples is the writer of the Gospel of Matthew
- Luke - the Greek physician, loyal travel companion to Paul who also wrote the book of Acts was the writer of the book of Luke
- and finally John the apostle and one of Jesus ‘inner circle', is considered the writer of the last written Gospel, the Gospel of John.

Technically however, all Gospels are anonymous. None of the Gospels claim an author and the names of the writers are only linked by tradition, references in early church correspondence and history. So, technically we do not know WHO wrote the gospels !

As for dating these documents, we have a similar and perhaps even a more serious issue: none of the Gospels claim a date or year of when the document was written. Although we have little doubt about the order in which the Gospels were written, we do not know any exact dates. Obviously the original manuscripts are lost over time. We currently only possess copies of copies. The oldest piece of original manuscript still around is a verse from the Gospel of John dated around the year 130 AD. Thanks to this and many, many quotations we find from the Gospels in early second century letters circulated in the young Christian church nobody doubts that the Gospels must have been written around or before the year 130.

However that gives aggressive critics (and believe me, there are armies of these kind of critics out there) quite some ammunition to claim that the Gospels might have well been composed at the end of that period, so about 80-100 years after the resurrection. That would date these documents well outside what is called the ‘Eyewitness period'

What is this Eyewitness period ? That is generally considered an extremely crucial period of about 30 years after the resurrection, so approximately the period from the year 30 AD, the estimated year of the crucifixion till about the 60 AD. Any document that can be dated - without any doubt - in that period is considered potential eyewitness testimony and likely to describe the actual events that happened during Jesus ministry and death. This is because many, if not most of the actual eyewitnesses to the events would still be alive to provide input to the document as well as verify its factual contents. And, any material written in this period would be documented too so close to the events that there would not have been enough time to allow for myth forming.

Although we have very solid reasons - on CNN we would call this ‘strong, compelling circumstantial evidence - to believe that the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke were written well within this eyewitness period, likely even in the early 50ies, we have no rock solid proof. And as long as this proof is not absolutely 100% objectively verifiable, there is and will always be doubt about the exact dating, allowing people looking for a reason to doubt to have doubt.

These doubters simply claim the Gospels to be written well outside the eyewitness period, hence by people who are at least one or even multiple generations away from the eyewitnesses. Therefore - these people claim - the stories about Jesus were probably partly made up and or exaggerated and definitely not 100% true. Although nobody doubts anymore that Jesus was an actual historical person, wanna-be critics are able to seed lots of doubts by dating the writing of the Gospels as far away as possible from the time Jesus spent here on Earth.

So, is this the end of the story ?

No, one of the most amazing things about the Bible is its consistency and ability to reference between the different books. Despite of the fact that the 66 books of the Bible were written over a period of more than 1500 years by 40 different writers, we can still read the Bible as one consistent book. And that means that we are likely to find more testimony about the resurrection in other New Testament books.

The text we are about the study is from the first letter from Paul to the Corinthian church. A little bit of background is needed here. We can determine when Paul planted the church of Corinth from the book of Acts. When we read about Paul's second missionary journey, chapter 18:1-4 it tells us ‘After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth . There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome, Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were there, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks'. In context with the rest of Acts, this shows that Paul visited Corinth for the first time around the year 51, during his second Missionary trip. He stayed according to Acts for about 1.5 years and as Acts 18:8 says: ‘ Many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized'.

While in Ephesus around the year 55 during his third Missionary journey, - so about 3-4 year later - Paul heared of problems in Corinth and even had a delegation of the Corinth church visit with him for advice. At that moment Paul wrote a letter to address these issues. This letter is the new Testament book we now know to be 1 Corinthians.

Before reading this text, there is one more thing we need to know - that is, that it is widely acknowledged that Paul indeed was the author of 1 Corinthians and that the letter is indeed written around the year 55 from Ephesus . So, this is a non-disputed letter, even the most aggressive critics cannot find a reason to doubt that this letter indeed was written by Paul, from Ephesus in the year 55. This makes 1 Corinthians one of the few New Testament books not subject to any criticism with respect to author nor date and places the writing of this book well within the eyewitness period, within 25 years of the crucifixion !

So, lets get our Bible and read a part from Paul's letter to the Corinthian church - 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, starting at verse 1:
‘Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.' - Paul is referring here to the message he preached to the Corinthians during his first visit to them 3-4 years earlier during the second missionary journey.

‘By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of the first importance'. This passage ‘for what I received I passed on to you' is of high relevance to trace the source of Paul's coming testimony. By this he uses a traditional introduction that the following statements are passed along through him as a creed. The word "creed" is derived from the Latin ‘credo', "I believe." The form is active, denoting not just a body of beliefs but confession of faith. A creed is a brief, authorized summary of the Christian doctrine and is believed to have often be recited in the early church as an affirmation of faith. It is similar to for instance ‘the pledge of allegiance' that kids at school say out loud every morning before class starts. In a similar way a creed would be recited by the church community at the beginning or during the regular service.

So Paul wanted to let his readers know that the following verses are like a creed or acclamation of faith. And indeed some of the next verses will probably sound very familiar to you as we find them also in parts back in the so called Apostle's creed - a well known statement of Christian faith even today used often in the Roman Catholic church as well as other Christian churches.

Paul continues in verse 3: ‘that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter (the original text uses Cephas, the Aramaic name for Peter) and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.'

Wow, that is a serious statement. First of all, once again, this was written around 55 AD, well within the eyewitness period and only about 25 years after the resurrection. But remember, Paul is repeating what he told the Corinthians during his first visit to them about 3-4 years earlier, so in the year 51 AD. That dates this statement only about 21 years after the resurrection and therefore older and closer in time to the events on Calvary than any other statement about the resurrection in the New Testament. Even earlier and therefore likely more authentic than the most optimistic dating of the Gospels of Mark. Matthew and Luke !

Paul mentions a total of 6 appearances, some are also described in the Gospels but some are only mentioned here in this letter. Let's have a look:

1)Paul first claims that Jesus appeared to Peter (or Cephas as the original text says). We do not have this appearance to Peter recorded in any of the gospels, however John's gospel mentions a conversation between the resurrected Jesus and Peter. The use of the name Aramaic name for Peter - Cephas here is another indication that Paul - who wrote this letter in Greek is copying a creed that was used in the spoken language of first century Israel , which was Aramaic.

2)The end of verse 5 says ‘and then to the twelve' - The Twelve is a designation of the apostles as a group and is not to be taken numerically since Judas was no longer part of the group of Twelve. This event is also recorded in Luke, Matthew and John.

3)Verse 6 continues: After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.' Although this appearance is not mentioned in any of the gospels, this is probably the most daring evidence presented for the resurrection by Paul. Paul was likely not one of these five hundred but clearly he - and probably also some of the members of the church in Corinth - knew at least some of them as he mentions that ‘most of that are still living' and by this rather bold statement he basically invites any critic to check it out for himself and talk to any of the five hundred to verify the resurrection claim.

4)Verse 7 says: ‘Then he appeared to James'. This James is certainly not one of the apostles, since the Twelve are mentioned before and the whole group of all apostles and followers is mentioned next and that group would include James the son of Zebedee who is also the brother of apostle John as well as the only other apostle James: James the son of Alphaes. Therefore this must be James, the Lord's brother. Also this appearance is not mentioned in any of the gospels, but it makes perfect sense in combination with John 7.5 which says: ‘For even his own brothers did not believe in him' showing that during the life of Jesus, his own brothers - including James - did not believe in Jesus. And subsequently what we see in Acts 15:13 that mentions this same James after the resurrection as the leader of the church in Jerusalem . This James also wrote the New Testament book of James and was later martyred for his faith by stoning. The only event that can explain the dramatic change in James' believes and behavior can be a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus as is mentioned here.

5)Verse 7 continues with ‘ then to all the apostles' - Since Pail already mentioned the Twelve earlier, this must be use more loosely to include others who were part of the total group of Jesus' followers. Again, we find this appearance in some of the gospels as well.

6)Verse 8 then says: ‘and last of all he appeared to me also' - here Paul obviously refers to his personal encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus approximately in the 33 AD, so 3 years after the resurrection as extensively recorded in Acts chapter 9.
Obviously Paul was only an eyewitness himself to the last appearance, so how did Paul get the information on the other appearances? How did Paul get this creed?

By digging some more in the New Testament we find some rather convincing clues.

We need to visit the first letter written by Paul - the book of Galatians. Galatians is probably the oldest book of the New Testament. Again, this is a letter by Paul and like 1 Corinthians, this one is unquestioningly accepted as genuine. Paul not only identifies himself as the author in the beginning of the letter, but also again in the last chapter. With some detective work by analyzing the clues provided in Acts we can identify that this letter was written right after the Jerusalem counsel of around 49 AD, so around 50-51 AD. For our investigation it is interesting to read about Paul credentials - in his own words - in Galatians 1:13 ‘For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man' - Paul obviously describes here his meeting with Jesus. We continue with verse 17 - ‘`I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. Instead I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus . Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles - only James the Lord's brother.' Then we read in chapter 2:1 ‘Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem , this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along as well.'

What does this tell us: If we look at the timeline: Jesus was crucified and resurrected around the year 30 AD. Paul was converted in 33 AD. As we just read he went to Jerusalem the first time 3 years later, so around 36 AD and met with Peter and James. Then he went again to Jerusalem 14 years later for the so called Jerusalem council - a meeting where the church officially agreed to also preach the gospel to the Gentiles, so around 49-50 AD.

If we look back at Paul's testimony in 1 Corinthians 15 notice that Paul claims appearances to Peter and James. When Paul was in Jerusalem 3 years after his conversion he only met with Peter and James, so it is not likely to be a coincidence that he mentions both these men by name in his testimony on the appearances of Jesus. Also, as we just read in Galatians 1:18 Paul makes it clear he went to Jerusalem in 36 AD, 3 years after his conversion, to get acquainted with the disciples. The Greek word used in this verse is ‘historeo' - this word is the basis for our English word ‘history' and means something like ‘factual investigation', ‘inquiry' so Paul went to Jerusalem not just to ‘hang out with the disciples', no he went to get the facts and check for himself! We know from the recording of this same visit in Acts 9:26 that the other disciples were still afraid to meet with Paul as they still did not believe in his conversion. Therefore Paul only met with Peter and James. And - as said - Paul had - just like any new believer - many questions and was searching for more and more facts and evidence. This makes it all very probable that Paul's account of the appearances of the resurrected Jesus as described in 1 Corinthians 15 directly comes from his main sources: Peter the apostle and James the brother of Jesus.

I hope I did not lose you in above detective story, but if I did, let me try to summarize our findings of what likely happened:

- Jesus was crucified and resurrected approximately in the year 30 AD
- Paul was converted to Christianity about 3 years after the resurrection, so around 33 AD
- He went to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples in the year 36 AD but only actually met with Peter and James. They shared with him a creed in the spoken language in Jerusalem - Aramaic - about Jesus death for our sins and resurrection on the 3rd day and told him about the appearances of Jesus to Peter himself, the twelve, the five hundred and James himself
- Paul investigated and accepted this testimony and used it while preaching during his missionary journeys which were roughly in the period 46-57 AD.
- He testified about the creed and the resurrection appearances around the year 51 AD. in Corinth during his second missionary trip when he planted this church
- He confirmed it in writing once again in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 in the year 55 AD.

So, we now know for sure that this testimony originates with 21 years from the crucifixion, but we now also have ‘strong circumstantial evidence' that likely would convince a modern day jury - that Paul received this testimony, also called this early creed from the apostle Peter and James the brother of Jesus around the year 36, only about 6 years after the resurrection. Almost as fresh as breaking news!

In the year 1995 the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City exploded and 168 people were killed. 6 year later - based on only limited circumstantial evidence, without any real eyewitness - we the people of the US found Timothy McVeigh guilty beyond any reasonable doubt to bombing this building and executed him for his crimes.

Around the year 33 AD a man named Jesus Christ was accused of treason against the Roman empire, he was convicted and crucified in Jerusalem . On the 3rd day after his dead his grave was found empty and he appeared at numerous occasions to various individuals and groups of people. During these appearances he allowed people to touch his body and even shared a meal. We have a book, called the Bible, full of evidence, both circumstantial as well as eyewitness accounts prophesizing and testifying about his resurrection from the dead. The circumstantial evidence includes an empty grave, a missing body, hundreds of fulfilled prophecies written down hundreds years before this Jesus Christ was born, dramatically changed behavior from his disciples, unbelievers and skeptics turned into believers, almost all of his initial disciples and many, many more followers that have been martyred for their faith and the birth of a religion that still now, almost 2000 years later is accepted by about 35% of the population of the world. Additionally we have 4 credible eyewitness accounts in what we call the 4 gospels and even a 5th testimony by Paul that we can with objective certainty date within 20 years and probably even in 6 years from the resurrection. And even today followers of Jesus experience miracles in their lives that cannot be explained by logic and science.

So, if you already are a believer, I hope this message will help you grow and strengthen your faith.

But if you are not a believer, I'd like to invite you to be the jury. Study all the evidence for yourself, verify the sources in and also outside the Bible, check the facts, read and study and then.... Make your decision - the most important decision you will ever have to make - whether to accept - yes or no - beyond reasonable doubt - that Jesus Christ is indeed alive and is your Lord for the rest of your life.

About the author:

Rob VandeWeghe is a skeptic turned Christian by studying the evidence for Christianity. More articles like this by Rob are available at www.WindmillMinistries.org
You can also preview Rob's new book on the evidences called Prepared to Answer at http://www.windmillministries.org/I1.htm

Related Tags: christ, jesus, resurrection, messiah, apologetics, resurrection creed, reliability of the gospels, evidence for christianity

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