Common Objections to the Resurrection

"That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the Scriptures, and that he appeared..." (I Corinthians 15:3-5). In the beginning of the passage Paul states that "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received...". Paul is stating an early Christian tradition that N.T. Wright states was most likely formulated 2-3 years after the cross. Paul is passing on a very early Christian creed about Jesus' death and resurrection. [1]. What is this early Christian creed stating. It is stating that Jesus: died, was buried, rose again, and appeared to the disciples. In this post we will briefly review common objections to these specific statements about Jesus death and resurrection.

Apparent Death

"That Christ died..."

The first objection to the resurrection of Jesus is the "Apparent Death" theory. The basic idea of this theory is that Jesus did not in fact die on the cross but only appeared to be dead. He was then taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb, believed to be dead, but only unconscious. After being in the tomb a little while he revived, got up opened the tomb and came to the disciples. They then declared him the risen Savior. So we must ask, did Jesus actually die on the cross? [2]

Let us review some details that lead up to Jesus' death: 1) Jesus was beat with a whip 2) Crown of thorns, 3) lacked sleep 4) forced to carry his cross 5) Beat by Roman guards 3) Nail pierced through hands and feet, 4) The Romans were expert executioners, 5) Pilate order the soldiers to confirm his death, 5) pierced through the side where blood and water came out. A sign of death. 6) Taken down from the cross and wrapped in approximately 100lbs of linen (Jewish custom). 7) Sealed in a tomb that was guard by Roman soldiers [2]. In an article put out by the Journal of the American Medical Association, it reviewed the medical chance of Jesus surviving a crucifixion. After reviewing in detail all that happens during a crucifixion the authors conclude:

The weight of historical and medical evidence indicate that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted...interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern knowledge [3]

If Jesus had survived the cross (which the weight of medical and historical evidence is against that) then one needs to explain: 1) how did he get out of the grave linen (it would have been wrapped tightly. 2) how would he have rolled the stone away, which was impossible from inside the tomb, for one person and in his condition. 3) if he did roll the stone away how did he get past the guards. All of these show how improbable it is that Jesus would have survived the cross. Lastly, if Jesus did succeed in all of these (which is very improbably) and he made it to his disciple in what condition would he have shown up in? German Theologian David Strauss states:

It is impossible that a being who had stolen half-dead out of the tomb, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indulgence...could have given to the disciples the impression that the was conqueror over death and the grave...[4]

Jesus' death is also confirmed by non-Christian Historians such as Josephus and Tacitus [2]. For example Tacitus reports:

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, Ponticus Pilate...[5]

Body Stolen

"That he raised on the third day..."

A second objection to the resurrection of Jesus is that the body of Jesus was stolen from the grave. After it was stolen the disciple declared Jesus the risen Savior. We see this objection in the Gospel of Matthew 28:11-15:

Say this, His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping

There are many issues with the objection that those proposing it have a difficultly answering. 1) After Jesus was crucified the disciples were seen hiding in a locked room out of fear of the authorities (John 20:19). What would cause the disciples, who left Jesus when he got arrested and crucified to now get past Roman guards to steal the dead body of Jesus? The answer is they wouldn't have. It is highly unlikely that the disciples would even have had the courage to do that let alone to even think of doing that. 2) If Jesus wasn't really alive but just stolen from the grave by them, why would they suffer and die for what they knew was a lie? Sean McDowell states,

Their willingness to face persecution and martyrdom indicates more than any other conceivable course their sincere conviction that, after rising from the dead, Jesus indeed appeared to them.[6]

They would not have gone through and got martyred for the "risen Jesus" if they had in fact just stolen the body from the tomb. 3) Lastly, the stolen body does not explain the conversion of Paul (as we looked at in the last post). What changed Paul was meeting the resurrected Jesus, not the disciples stealing the body.

Hallucination

"That he appeared..."

The final objection to the resurrection often proposed is the hallucination or vision theory. This theory (as we mentioned with Pauls conversion) is the belief that the disciple hallucinated or saw a vision of Jesus. They did not see an actual risen Jesus but rather just a vision or hallucination. Many skeptics and opponents of Christianity have and do propose this theory but is it plausible, did the disciple just hallucinate seeing Jesus? First, does what happened to the disciples line up with the claim of a hallucination.

Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli state many reason why the disciples did not hallucinate. 1) Hallucination are always private and individual but the appearance of Jesus to the disciple had many witnesses . 2) Over 500 saw the risen Jesus, 3) Jesus was with them for a long time, 40 days. Hallucinations do not last long at all. 4) Jesus appeared more than once. Hallucinations usually only happen once. 5) Jesus ate with them. Hallucinations don't eat. 6) Jesus was able to be touched. [7]

N.T Wright goes on to explain also that in no way were the disciples expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. He goes on to state that there were many people that claimed to be Messiahs that died but never was one claimed to have risen from the died.[8] Why? Because no one expected it. In fact, if the disciples had a vision it would not have confirmed Jesus risen from the dead but rather the fact that he was indeed dead.

Visions meant precisely, as people in the ancient and modern world have discovered, that the person was dead, not that they were alive. [8]

The disciples did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead three days later, therefore they would not have made up the story that Jesus rose from the dead if he had not. N.T. Wright states:

No matter how many 'visions' they had had, the disciples would not have concluded that he had been raised from the dead [8]

Conclusion

As we have seen three common objections to the resurrection of Jesus: apparent death, stolen body, an hallucination fail as theories as the evidence contradicts their explanation. The best explanation is that Jesus did in fact die, was buried and three days later bodily rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples.

[1] N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2003), 319.

[2] Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life Changing Truth For a Skeptical World (HarperCollins, 2017), 275-279.

[3] William Edwards, Wesley Gabel, and Floyd E. Hosmer. "On the Physical Resurrection of Jesus." The Journal of the American Medical Association 255, no. 11 (March ,1986)1463 as quoted by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life Changing Truth For a Skeptical World (HarperCollins, 2017), 277

[4] David Strauss, A New Life of Jesus: Volume 1 and 2. 2nd Edition (Charleston, Forgotten Books, 2012) as quoted by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life Changing Truth For a Skeptical World (HarperCollins, 2017), 279.

[5]Tacitus, Annals, Book XV, The Internet Classics Archives, Translated by John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. Accessed October 2019. http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.11.xv.html

[6]Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom of the Closest Followers of Jesus (London, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2018), 2.

[7]Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli. Handbook of Christian Apologetics: Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions (Downers Grove, InterVarsity, 1994), 291

[8]N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2003),695, 690-691, 710.