In Defense of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Twenty-first century unbelief regards the fact of the resurrection as of no importance, insisting that it is the spirit or image of Jesus continuing to work in the world that we need to be concerned with. But Apostle Paul represents the resurrection of Jesus as a fact of fundamental importance to Christianity. "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." 1 Corinthians 15:14.

Whatever diversity of opinion may prevail as to the importance of the historic fact, there is full agreement as to the vital significance of the belief in the fact entertained by the apostles and the Church founded by them. All admit both the existence of the belief and the essential service it rendered in establishing and advancing the Christian faith. And most admit that without this belief, Christianity could not have started its marvelous world conquering career.

That being true, it is obviously incumbent on all who agree to give a purely naturalistic and rationalistic account of the origin of Christianity, to explain the origin of the belief in the resurrection. This, however, they find difficulty in doing.

Some of the theories that are floating around to discredit the actual resurrection of Jesus includes: hypnosis theory, spiritual resurrection theory (modern and gaining in popularity), twin theory, drugged body theory, swoon theory, vision theory, telegram theory, legend theory, missing body and stolen body theories. For purposes of this hub, these theories are reduced to the three considered by many to be the most plausible and boast the most followers.

Swoon theory – alleges that after a temporary lapse of consciousness Jesus was revived, and was actually seen several times by some of His disciples; that He lived long enough to be seen by Paul, then finally died in some secret location. Those that espouse this hypothesis reason, that crucifixions, even when both feet and hands are pierced, cause little loss of blood, and kills slowly by convulsions or starvation. If then Jesus, believed to be dead, was taken down from the cross after some six hours, the supposed death may very well have been only a swoon (losing consciousness), from which, after lying in the cool cavern covered with healing ointments and strongly scented spices, He might recover.

Even if we were to admit to a minuscule possibility of a recovery from swoon caused by pain and exhaustion, there remain against this theory the clear unanimous testimony of the evangelists that Jesus was actually dead, not to speak of the statement in John's gospel that His side was pierced by the unerring spear of a Roman soldier.

Another consideration fatal to this proposal is that a Jesus who had never been dead coming from His tomb wearing an exhausted, ghastly look could NEVER have revived the hearts of the disciples. It is unfathomable that a Jesus who weakly crept out of the sepulcher, ill and needing medical treatment, could have given to the disciples the impression that He was a conqueror over death. Such resuscitation would only have diminished the impression He had made on His disciples in life and in death. It could not have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm or elevated their reverence into worship. It just could not have happened.

Vision theory – alleges that the earliest belief in the resurrection was based on illusory visions of ghostlike apparitions of Jesus. Resolved that Jesus should not remain among the dead, the believing community were in a prime state of mind for seeing Jesus alive again and that the empty tomb helped to make them more susceptible to hallucinations. Mary Magdalene was the first to have the vision.

According to this hypothesis, she stood by the sepulcher weeping and heard a soft sound behind her. She turned and saw a man standing whom she asked where the body was. She received for her reply her own name. It was the voice that so often made her tremble. It was the scent of Jesus. The miracle of love is accomplished. Mary has seen and heard Him. After one has seen Him, there will be no difficulty in others seeing Him; having visions will become infectious till it passes through the whole company of disciples. Thus, the appearances of Jesus are the creation of excited nerves and ardent expectations.

Another way in which the vision theory is argued is on the basis that Paul relates his experience of Jesus with the earlier appearances of Jesus to the disciples, and therefore it is reasoned that the visions recorded in the Gospels were the same in nature as that with which Paul was privileged. But Paul's vision was beyond question subjective, and Paul was a man predisposed to have such visions. He himself tells us that he frequently experienced such ecstatic conditions, "I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord." 2 Corinthians 12:1.

There are many weak points with this theory including the fact that at the time the resurrection is reported to have taken place and Jesus to have shown Himself alive after His passion, the disciples were is such depressed a states of mind that subjective visions were the last thing in the world they were likely to experience. All four of the canonical Gospels described the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and all four testify to the depressed, unexpectant mood of the disciples at this period. Matthew states that on the occasion of Christ's meeting with His followers in Galilee "some doubted." (28:17). Mark relates that when the disciples heard from Mary Magdalene that Jesus was alive, and she had seen Him, "they did not believe it." (16:11). Luke tells that the reports of the women seemed to the disciples as "nonsense." (24:11). In place of general statements, John gives an example of the incredulity of the disciples in the case of Thomas,

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"

But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (20:24-29).

Perhaps the strongest argument against the vision theory is the entire change in the mood of the disciples within a short period of time; from depression and sorrow to a clear knowledge of Christ's Messianic dignity and energetic resolves to bear witness to the world for their risen and exalted Lord.

Telegram theory – describes the predicament of the disciples. It claims that without the living Jesus the Messianic faith would have been destroyed by the crucifixion, and in the return of the apostles to the synagogue and to Judaism even the gold of Christ’s teaching would have been buried in the dust of oblivion. The greatest of men, Jesus, had passed away leaving no trace of Himself.

Thus, after the crushing overthrow of the crucifixion, especially in the childhood of humanity, the disciples needed a sign of life from Jesus, a telegram from heaven was necessary. Even the Christianity of the present day owes its existence to this telegram from heaven. The hope of immortality, otherwise a mere perhaps, has become through Christ’s word in the telegram, a bright light and clear truth.

The problem with this theory is that it dares to tamper with the Gospel narratives. It also leaves itself open to the charge that it makes the faith of the disciples, like the vision theory, rest on a hallucination. Christ allegedly sends a series of telegrams from heaven to let His disciples know that all is well. But what do the telegrams say in each case? My Spirit lives with God and cares for you and my body is raised from the grave? If the resurrection is unreality, if the body that was nailed to the tree never came forth from the tomb, why send messages that were certain to produce an opposite impression? Certainly, this is a poor foundation to build Christendom upon.

All the above mentioned hypotheses proceed on the assumption that there was a real experience of the disciples demanding explanation. They saw the real body of Jesus who had not been actually dead, or they thought they saw the risen body of the dead Jesus and were mistaken or they saw the real image of the body and were not mistaken and so on.

According to a more recent theory, there was no experience to explain. The Christophanies had no existence for the first disciples, but found a place only in the later traditions reported in the Gospels, so that what needs to be explained is simply the rise of the legend of the resurrection.

All naturalistic and rationalistic attempts to explain away the resurrection, to this date, have been utter failures. The physical resurrection remains. In the resurrection of Jesus, two processes seem to have been combined into one: the revival of the crucified body, and its transformation into a spiritual body endowed with an eternal form of existence.

Christianity accepts the Biblical witness to the resurrection, not because of logical proof; not because of historical reasoning but because of an inner testimony of the gospel. Our faith is not in history – but in God who acts in history. The Christian faith is resurrection faith.

Christians accepts the biblical multiple eye witness testimonies to the resurrection as the truth. We reject the notion that the followers of Christ would sacrifice their lives for a known lie. The faithful died for Christ and His promises, these were followers of Jesus Christ dying for a historical event – His resurrection that established Him as the Son of God, Son of Man.