The case of the resurrection of Jesus

¿Who is Jesus?

The first question that any atheist, Muslim, agnostic, or denialist asks is: Who is Jesus? They ask this question because they believe that there is no reliable evidence in the accounts of the Bible. Some claim that there is not enough evidence for a historical Jesus, nor for his resurrection, while others have an incorrect idea about the person of Jesus. Some Christians will have a hard time defending their faith in Jesus because of a lack of knowledge and facts about Jesus of Nazareth.

Is there any real evidence that can explain the existence of Jesus, or better yet, his resurrection?

Evidence of the historical Jesus

First, we need to understand that the historical Jesus and his resurrection can be categorized as either a myth or a fact. For it to become a fact, we need at least one of the following cases to be settled

  1. Can archaeology and history help to defend this case?
  2. Is there any evidence for a historical Jesus other than the 4 gospels?
  3. Is there any evidence about his resurrection?

We will begin this apologetics by focusing on examining the sources available to judge the death and resurrection of Jesus from a historical and archaeological point of view. To defend this case, we need to prove whether crucifixion existed and whether it was a form of punishment under Roman occupation in Palestine. There are two ways to judge an event, one will classify any event as historical and the other as myth.

To qualify an event as historical, we need at least one of the following criteria to be true.

  1. Third-party testimony
    • Direct
    • Indirect
    • Neutral
  2. Archaeological evidence
  3. Eyewitness accounts

If a fact is qualified as a Myth, then we know that it is unfounded, of unverifiable existence, or that it is only part of an imaginary existence. So, let’s start judging the crucifixion: What facts do we have about the crucifixion?

  1. Ancient manuscripts and archaeological evidence.
  2. We know it was a Roman form of execution.
  3. Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, wrote about it.
  4. Tacitus, a Roman historian and politician, wrote about crucifixion.
  5. Lucian of Samosata, a Greek satirist, included crucifixion in one of his works.
  6. The Talmud, one of the most important writings of Judaism, described it

Fragment of Josephus – The Jewish Wars, Chapter 11

So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.

Tacitus Fragment – ​​The Annals, Book 14

Soon afterwards one of his own slaves murdered the city-prefect, Pedanius Secundus, either because he had been refused his freedom, for which he had made a bargain, or in the jealousy of a love in which he could not brook his master’s rivalry. Ancient custom required that the whole slave-establishment which had dwelt under the same roof should be dragged to execution.

Archaeological find: 1900-year-old skeleton with a nail through the heel bone

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/dec/08/best-physical-evidence-of-roman-crucifixion-found-in-cambridgeshire

With the historical accounts and archaeological evidence listed above, it is a fact that crucifixion existed and was a form of execution under the Roman Empire.

Can we make the same judgment about the death of Jesus? What data do we have about the existence of Jesus of Nazareth and his crucifixion?

  1. Christian and atheist scholars claim that Jesus was crucified ca. 30-33 AD.
  2. Josephus wrote about Jesus and how he was killed.
  3. Tacitus wrote about him, the crucified Christians, and tortured Christians.
  4. Lucian of Samosata wrote about the Christians.
  5. The Talmud gave a brief description of what happened to Yeshu (the Aramaic for the name Yeshua which in English is Jesus)

Josephus Fragment – ​​Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease.

Tacitus Fragment – ​​The Annals, 15.44

… 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.

Fragment of Lucian of Samosata – The Passing Peregrinus

“It was then that he learned the wondrous lore of the Christians, by associating with their priests and scribes in Palestine.   And—how else could it be?—in a trice he made them all look like children, for he was prophet, cult-leader, head of the synagogue, and everything, all by himself. He interpreted and explained some of their books and even composed many, and they revered him as a god, made use of him as a lawgiver, and set him down as a protector, next after that other, to be sure, whom they still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world.

Talmud Fragment – ​​Sanhedrin 43a

Jesus the Nazarene is going out to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited people to idol worship, and led the Jewish people astray. Anyone who knows of a reason to acquit him should come forward and teach it on his behalf. And the court did not find a reason to acquit him, and so hung him on Passover eve.

The word “hanged” in Hebrew literature also refers to crucifixion.

With all the above accounts of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth and his execution by crucifixion, we can conclude that we have enough evidence about him historically without needing to use the gospels. He is described as a miracle worker (according to Josephus and the Talmud) and was killed by the method of crucifixion.

What about his resurrection?

There were over 500 eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

We know from some historians that the disciples believed they saw the resurrected Jesus, which is why there is a high consensus among scholars (including atheists) that after Jesus was crucified, his disciples claimed that Jesus appeared to them, and we can trace those claims back to the very years after Jesus was crucified. They preached about a resurrected Jesus by risking their lives and dying as martyrs.

An enemy had an experience with the resurrected Jesus

Let’s talk about the conversion of a high-level scholar of Judaism, he was an enemy of Christians and a murderer. His name was Saul of Tarsus, he was a Pharisee. After Jesus’ death, he began to persecute Christians for believing in Jesus. He was considered a skeptic and in fact believed that God was calling him to torture and kill Christians; he was the one who gave the order to kill Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Between 2 or 3 years after Jesus’ death, Saul wrote that he was on his way to Damascus when he had his own experience with the resurrected Jesus. As a result of this he became temporarily blind.

Saul is an independent source and a very reliable source due to his title of scholar of Judaism.

He changed his name to Paul and after regaining his sight, he began to preach the resurrected Jesus, ending his days as a persecutor of Christians and becoming one of them. He also wrote in his letters that he met and had at least two meetings with some of Jesus’ disciples: Peter, John, and James (Jesus’ brother). The first meeting took place approximately five years after Jesus’ death.

The eyewitness testimony of the skeptical brother of Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus had many relatives, some of their names are James, Joseph, Jude, Simon, and some sisters whose names we do not know. All of Jesus’ brothers and sisters did not believe in him before his death.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that James believed in Jesus after his death: “then he appeared to James.” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-7. The book of Acts and Paul’s letter to the Galatians both refer to James as a leader of the church in Jerusalem.

The historian Josephus in his work Antiquities of the Jews, 18.3.3 wrote:

… those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

James died preaching the resurrected Jesus, his martyrdom is recorded in Josephus, Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius.

Fragment of Josephus – Jewish Antiquities, 20.9.200

Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned;

In addition to historical writings, we have archaeological evidence about Jesus’ brother James or Jacob (depending on the translation). In 2002, there was an archaeological discovery.

A 1st century ossuary that had the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/25/burial-box-earliest-reference-jesus

As further archaeological evidence about Jesus we have the following mosaic which is dated to approximately 1800 years old.

The Megiddo Mosaic

Oldest inscription declaring ‘Jesus is God’ discovered in Israel: ‘The greatest find since the Dead Sea Scrolls’: The oldest inscription of “Jesus is God” has been discovered under the floor of a prison in Israel. The engraving is said to be 1,800 years old…

https://www.gbnews.com/science/inscription-jesus-god-discovered-israel-megiddo-prison

An empty tomb

The last and main fact of Jesus’ resurrection is the empty tomb. Jesus’ body will never be found because of the fact of the resurrection: about 70% of scholars (including atheists) agree that the empty tomb is a historical fact. For this reason, it was written that after 50 days of Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples began to preach the resurrected Jesus everywhere and almost all of them suffered martyrdom.

Where else can you find historical sources on the resurrection of Jesus?

The apostles

  1. The letters of Paul
  2. Oral tradition
    • Creeds (1 Corinthians 15:3-7) – Dated between 30 and 33 A.D.
    • Sermons (The book of Acts 2)
  3. Written tradition
    • The Gospels
    • The Apostolic Church Fathers
      • St. Clement of Rome
      • St. Polycarp

Stories of those who suffered martyrdom while teaching a resurrected Jesus

  1. Acts of the Apostles
  2. Clement of Rome (disciple of St. Peter)
  3. Polycarp (martyr of Smyrna and disciple of the apostle John)
  4. Ignatius of Antioch (disciple of the apostle John)
  5. Dionysius of Corinth (account of Eusebius)
  6. Irenaeus of Lyon (disciple of Polycarp)
  7. Hippolytus of Rome (disciple of Irenaeus)
  8. Origen

All of this is considered solid evidence to this day which corroborates the existence of a Jesus historically speaking and how his resurrection can be verified even by historical writings outside the Christian Bible.

Scholars of the XXI century who wrote or spoke about the Resurrection of Jesus.

Additionally I am listing below three Scholars that you can read or listen with respect to the resurrection of Jesus.

  1. Gary Robert Habermas
  2. Scott Walker Hahn
  3. Michael Heiser

Other type of evidence that points to the resurrection of Jesus according to my opinion

I consider that the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially those of Fatima in Portugal, Zeitoun in Cairo and the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico are a strong argument for the resurrection of Jesus, let me explain why: If we take as a base the event of the transfiguration when Jesus, before his passion, was speaking with Moses and Elijah in front of Peter, John and James. This event happened after God the Father had revealed the divinity of His Son through Peter.

Matthew 17:1–3 (LEB)

17 And after six days Jesus took along Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became bright as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

So, the transfiguration’s event confirms the deity of Jesus, his power to defeat the powers of darkness and his true words about the most important event of the Gospel, the resurrection. Let’s remember that Jesus said:  “God is not God of the dead, but of the living”, reason why we see Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus, the two were very important figures in the Jewish tradition, Moses and Elijah represented the law and the prophets of the Old Testament, thus, both were allowed by God to appear and speak to Jesus in front of three disciples, which tells us that they bear a huge testimony of God and the Old Covenant with the Jewish people. This event also shows us that God allows events like this one in his sovereignty to point men to our Savior, let’s remember that a voice came out of the cloud saying to the three apostles “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!”, and because of what I previously described, I consider that this type of events where important figures appear for specific group of people can happen again not only to the believers in Jesus among the Jewish people like Peter, John and James, but also to non-believers and those Christians among the Gentiles to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary is better known as the cause of salvation, as it is described by Irenaeus when he said: Mary as the new Eve… “Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race”, therefore, I am sure that the apparitions of this kind must point to Jesus as the first fruit of the resurrection since without the resurrection of Jesus there would be no Marian apparitions, thus, the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be considered as evidence of the resurrection of her Son, because in the same way as Moses and Elijah were important figures for Judaism, how much more will be for Christians the mother of our God and Savior.

Leo Ramírez – BTh