In discussing the resurrection of Jesus, there are several facts that must be adequately accounted for in any historical hypothesis: 1) Jesus' burial in a tomb, 2) the discovery of the empty tomb on Easter morning, 3) the postmortem appearances of Jesus to His disciples, and 4) the origin of the early Christian belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus. In this outline I will briefly go over the four facts (with one or two sentences), give a few proofs for each of them, and refute two alternative theories to the resurrection.
I. Jesus' Burial In A Tomb
This point is significant because Jesus' tomb was known by his apostles and the Jewish authorities, so all the opponents of Christianity could've easily produced Jesus' body if He didn't really resurrect.
� The Gospels say that Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea, and it would be unlikely that the evangelists would invent a Jewish figure, especially a member of the Sanhedrin, to bury Jesus.
� Jesus' burial is attested to in 1 Corinthians 15:4, which is part of what is generally recognized as a very early creed (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
� The burial story in Mark is simple and lacks signs of any legendary development.
II. The Discovery Of The Empty Tomb
The discovery of Jesus' empty tomb on Easter morning is critical because if it wasn't empty, then Christianity falls, and if it was empty, then it provides strong support for Christianity.
� The Gospel accounts say that the empty tomb was first discovered by women, whose testimony was considered worthless in Jewish culture. If the empty tomb story had been fabricated, it almost certainly would not have been discovered by women.
� The first Jewish responses to the resurrection were that the apostles stole the body (Matthew 28:13), which means that the tomb was probably empty. Also, this shows that the Jews could not produce Jesus' body, so this provides even further support for the empty tomb.
� The ancient Jews used to keep note of and venerate the burial sites of holy men, yet no place is or ever was venerated as Jesus' tomb with His body in it. The place that Christians today venerate as His tomb is empty.
III. The Postmortem Appearances of Jesus
Surprisingly enough, Jesus' postmortem experiences are NOT widely contested, but their nature is. Some say that Jesus really did rise physically, some say that Jesus survived the crucifixion (although this theory is practically dead today), and some say that the disciples were hallucinating.
� In 1 Corinthians 15:6-8, Paul lists the appearances of the risen Jesus, including to 500 people at once!
�The Gospels provide multiple attestation of the resurrection appearances.
IV. The Origin Of The Early Christian Belief In The Resurrection
This is the most hotly contested event out of the four I have listed, and this is the most crucial (although they are all important). First I will defend the traditional Christian belief, and then I will critique some alternative explanations.
� The apostles all were martyred and died for their faith; they had nothing to gain by making up the resurrection. While other faiths have martyrs, they genuinely believed, but did not actually witness anything that could prove or disprove their religion like Jesus' resurrection. The apostles KNEW whether or not Jesus had resurrected from the dead, and they KNEW whether or not they were making it all up.
� The apostles had no reason to continue to believe in Jesus because the Jews had no belief in a dying, much less rising Messiah. Additionally, Jewish law said that to be crucified was to be cursed by God.
� The Jews did not believe that anybody would be resurrected before the general resurrection at the end of the world, so they would have no reason to make up Jesus' resurrection. They probably would not have even thought of it had it not really happened.
� Even Paul, the super persecuter of Christians, was converted. There is no plausible explanation for this aside from the resurrection.
The Swoon Theory
The swoon theory states that Jesus survived the resurrection and faked His death by drinking some sort of drug (when He drank the wine) and that His "resurrection" was just Him regaining consciousness.
� The first problem with this is that even IF Jesus did survive the resurrection, He would have been in such bad condition that he would hardly have inspired His followers to proclaim Him the glorious Lord who had conquered death.
� Secondly, when the centurion pierced Jesus' side, blood and water came out, which shows that His lungs heart were pierced. Given this wound, Jesus probably could not have survived in the tomb until His resurrection.
� Thirdly, crucifixion was a death by asphyxiation; victims had to use their feet to push themselves up to breathe. Eventually they would get tired or have their legs broken and would no longer be able to push themselves up and would die. If Jesus passed out, He would have leaned back into a position where it was unable for Him to breathe, and He would've died.
The Hallucination Theory
The Hallucination theory states that after Jesus dies, the apostles (and other disciples) all had hallucinations (mostly due to their guilt of abandoning Jesus) of the risen Jesus and thought that they physically saw Him.
� First, we are in no position to do psychoanalysis on people who lived 2,000 years ago. It's just not possible
� Secondly, Jewish law states than anybody who was crucified was condemned by God, so the apostles would've felt that Jesus had failed them, not that they failed Him.
� Thirdly, there ware so many resurrection appearances to so many different people at many different places and times, that such a mass hallucination is impossible.
� Fourth, hallucination can't explain the conversion of skeptics such as James and Paul (especially Paul, because he was a great persecutor of Christians)
� Fifth, the Jews of the time had no concept of anybody (much less the Messiah) experiencing the resurrection of the dead before the end of time. Hallucinations project what is already in the mind; they don't produce new ideas. If the apostles did hallucinate, they would've envisioned Jesus as in heaven, not physically resurrected.
