“…But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Who were the witnesses of the Resurrection?
The apostles and their companions
The witnesses who testified to and recorded the resurrection of Christ from death were “….the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:2-3). These apostles were chosen by Christ at the beginning of his ministry; and in Luke 6:12-16 they are named.
The apostle Paul writes that the resurrected Jesus “was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Paul here includes the unnamed apostles i.e. Matthew, John, and Jude, as well as Peter and James, and himself. All these wrote the New Testament gospels and epistles between them. There was also a large number of other people who saw the resurrected Jesus, but none of them wrote any scripture.
The apostle John writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)” (1 John 1:1-2). He wrote this towards the end of the first century and therefore after the ascension of Jesus to heaven, so he wasn’t just writing about the incarnation of Jesus but his death, resurrection and ascension. He is also very specific and detailed in this testimony because by this time the heretical group known as the Docetists were around, and they claimed that Jesus was not a real body, merely a phantom in human form. There were also other heretical groups, mainly Gnostic, such as the Ebionites, Nazarenes, and several Adoptionist groups, who believed that Jesus was just a man and that at his baptism the Christ came on him. And because God cannot die, when Jesus was being crucified, the Christ ascended and left him to die. John thus says that he and others had heard him speak and touched him with their hands. And he warns, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 Jn 4:2-3).
The women
All four gospels tell us that certain of the women of his circle of family, friends, and followers were the first to see the resurrected Jesus. For example the first gospel says “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it….And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified….He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him” (Matt 28:1-2, 5-9).
Implications of Jesus’ Resurrection
Proves deity of Jesus Christ
The New Testament is the written testimonies of those who saw the risen Jesus Christ. They had been with Jesus every day for three years. They had witnessed his miracles, heard his teaching, heard his astonishing claims of deity by calling himself the Son of Man and the Son of God; and they had watched him die a brutal death, seen his burial, and for forty days had seen and spoken and eaten with him after he rose from death. And then they saw him miraculously ascend into heaven, followed by the statement of two angels that he would be returning to earth at a future date. If this is not worthy of being recorded, what is? If ever anything written needed to be taken seriously and investigated, the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is that thing.
So Paul tells us that Christ, by his resurrection, has proved his claim to be God; and consequently he, Paul, was sent by God to bring all people to faith and obedience to God. Jesus didn’t just die and rise from death to show us the biggest party trick of all time; he came to bring us to right and loving relationship with God from whom we are all estranged and with whom we are all at enmity. Jesus’ death was for us, and in our place.
In his letter to the Roman church, he wrote “Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name” (Rom 1:3-5).
Heralds the coming Judgment
“the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
Fulfils prophecy
The prophet Isaiah foretold the death, burial and resurrection of Christ in his great prophecy of the coming of Jesus to fulfil the Father’s plan to save his people. Part of the prophecy says “…He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53:11-12).
So Jesus’ dying and rising from death demonstrates that Jesus is who he claimed to be; therefore he has both power and authority as God to forgive us our sins against him; and to make the way clear to God by taking away the sin that separates us from him and prevents us from approaching him. In this sense therefore is the bible a religious text; it makes a stupendous claim, gives overwhelming evidence for it, and as a result, makes a demand on us to serve God from whom we have been separated.
A Religious Text – Reconciles sinners to God
When atheists and skeptics call the bible a religious text, in their minds that reduces it to nothing more than a sentimental book for weak-minded people; sometimes they condescendingly say it does have some wonderful principles, and the world does need more love and happiness, and that Jesus was a good man, but really, you can’t take it seriously; that would be intellectual suicide.
But in a proper sense, the bible is a religious text in that it tells us about God and how we are to relate to him; it consists of two sections, neither of which are mythological; the Old Testament, or Old Covenant, which is largely historical narrative, with events and places that can be proved by archaeology and records from the contemporary nations; and largely prophecy concerning the nations around Israel and about the coming of God’s Messiah to save his people. And the New Testament was written to show how Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of the Old Testament law, sacrifices, and prophecies. The New Testament is an historical document i.e. it describes real events, people, and places in history, and gives evidence for its claims about Jesus. It does not ask us to have blind faith; it isn’t a crutch to support weak character; rather, it gives us evidence which in turn gives us confidence to believe its claims.
In the bible God makes demands of every person who has ever lived or who will ever live. Having provided witnesses to the stupendous events surrounding Jesus Christ, God expects a response from us. Paul tells us, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new….Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:17-21).
And the apostle John urges, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (Jn 20:30-31).
And Jesus’ final instruction to his Church just before he ascended was: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16); and “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt 28:20).
What’s the Difference?
So why is it that people accept the written accounts of secular historians such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Pliny the Younger, Livy, Julius Caesar etc.; but when it comes to the writers of the Christian gospels, they dismiss them and call them “religious texts” rather than dignifying them by regarding them as historical records, as if that means they’re inferior and not to be trusted as reliable witnesses?; as if, being Christian documents, they are dishonest, incapable, or simple. As I’ve shown above, the gospel writers wrote what they saw; they gathered eye-witness accounts of others who had seen; they directed attention to hundreds of other witnesses still living who had seen the resurrected Jesus and who could therefore be questioned.
Papyrus 75 is one of the Bodmer Papyri (c200 C.E.). It contains most of the gospels of Luke and John, and is the earliest surviving manuscript of these gospels. Academic consensus among evangelical scholars is that Luke wrote his gospel between 60 and 80 C.E. Therefore Papyrus 75 is within 30-50 years of the original gospel. There is no secular history which has a witness anywhere near as close to the original as this. And Luke tells us how he came to write his gospel. In his dedication of it he writes: “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed” (Luke 1:1-4). So Luke tells Theophilus, to whom he dedicated his gospel, and we, the readers, how he got his information and what his purpose was in writing. His use of previously written accounts, interviewing of eye-witnesses, and his own careful research, have given posterity a trustworthy and carefully researched account of the resurrection of Jesus. But modern man, in his wisdom has decided that the gospels are religious and are therefore not to be taken seriously.
Compare this with the secular Roman historian Livy. His stated purpose for writing his multi-volume history of Rome was to restore Roman citizens to their original moral values and religion. This was because the eastern religions which were gaining huge popularity in Rome were corrupting its citizens, as were the enormous wealth and power of the State, thereby weakening Rome and the empire. He saw that a return to the original values of Rome was the only way to restore Roman strength. He also tells us that he made use of the written histories at his disposal for the writing of his own. Thus his purpose was also religious; yet today his history is regarded as trustworthy and accurate – as it should be.
So why is Livy acceptable, and Luke and the other gospel writers unacceptable? Why are Livy’s books regarded as history while the New Testament documents are regarded as religious texts and therefore lack credibility? What is the difference? It is one of bigotry – people don’t want the New Testament to be true because, first of all, they have already made up their minds that it isn’t; they have already decided that Jesus isn’t who he claimed to be. And secondly, if Jesus is true, if he is who he claimed to be, i.e. God, then they are obligated to bow down and worship and obey him – and that would never do.
Conclusion
The statements in the New Testament by witnesses who knew Jesus Christ for the three years leading up to his death, burial, resurrection and ascension, were telling the truth: that Jesus did rise from the grave and, after forty days with them, ascended to heaven. They saw him after he rose, they talked with him, ate with him. They knew he had been killed and that he had been buried; and they wrote down what they saw. These written accounts form the foundation of the New Testament. The Bible is its own proof.
All scripture references are from the Authorised King James Version of the Bible.