From the resurrection itself, there were alternate theories put forth attempting to deny this historical event. First, the Jews put forth the theory that Jesus’ disciples came at night and stole the body (Matthew 28:11-15). Obviously if the guard was asleep, they would have not known who ‘stole the body’.
Over the centuries other theories have been put forth to explain the empty tomb. There are specific criteria that historians use in evaluating and assessing competing hypotheses of things that occurred in the past. They are:
- Explanatory scope
It (the hypothesis) will explain more of the evidence. - Explanatory power
It will make the evidence more probable. - Plausibility
It will fit better with true background beliefs - Less ad hoc
It will be less contrived, it will require fewer new beliefs - Compatibility with accepted beliefs
It will be disconfirmed by fewer accepted beliefs. - Outstrips rival hypothesis
The best explanation will meet conditions 1-5 so much better than the others that there is little chance one of the competing hypotheses being true.
Once you have the list of facts, you need to explain why the hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead is the best explanation for the facts. This is done by showing that the hypothesis is consistent with all of the available data.
An atheist is likely to jump in at this point with an alternative explanation of the facts. Their explanations will not involve any miracles – instead, they try to account for the facts by proposing a naturalistic hypothesis. Here is a list of a few together with my defense against them.
- Jesus wasn’t really dead
– crucifixion is lethal and you can’t fake being dead
– this doesn’t explain the early belief in the resurrection, since
a half-dead Jesus would not inspire a belief in the resurrection - Jesus’ disciples moved the body and lied about it
– it doesn’t explain the appearance to Paul, etc.
– it doesn’t explain why the early church was willing to be persecuted - The Jews moved the body and lied about it
– they had no interest in helping a rival sect
– it doesn’t explain the appearance to Paul, etc. - The Romans moved the body and lied about it
– they had no interest in helping a trouble-making sect
– it doesn’t explain the appearance to Paul, etc. - Somebody else moved the body
– it doesn’t explain the appearance to Paul, etc.
– there is no evidence to support the claim - The early church hallucinated the appearances
– group hallucinations are impossible
– it doesn’t explain the empty tomb
– it doesn’t explain the theological mutations about “resurrection”, since seeing a ghost does not imply a bodily resurrection.
Note that the above is just a superficial treatment of the problems with alternative explanations; there is considerable more detail available.
There is one more area we should explore. Dr. Gary Habermas (Liberty University) is generally regarded to be the world’s foremost authority on the resurrection. He makes his arguments from just 5 or the twelve generally believed facts accepted by most scholars. Here are those items:
- Jesus died by crucifixion.
- He was buried.
- His death caused the disciples to despair and lose hope.
- The tomb of Jesus was empty.
- The disciples had experiences that they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus.
- The disciples were transformed from doubters to bold proclaimers.
- The resurrection was the central message.
- They preached the message of Jesus’ resurrection in Jerusalem.
- The Church was born and grew.
- Orthodox Jews who believed in Christ made Sunday their primary day of worship.
- James was converted to the faith when he saw the resurrected Jesus.
- Paul was converted to the faith.
The ‘minimal facts’ approach considers only data that meet tow criteria:
The data are strongly evidenced.
- The data are granted by virtually all scholars on the subject, even including the skeptical ones.
Dr. Habermas offers a quintet of facts (4+1) and here they are:
- Jesus died by crucifixion.
- The disciples had experiences that they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus (the most important proof).
- Paul was suddenly converted to the faith (Paul was an outsider skeptic).
- James was converted to the faith when he saw the resurrected Jesus (James was a family skeptic).
- The tomb of Jesus was empty (the most contested).
This last fact is the +1 and does not rise to the standard of the first four as ‘only’ 75% of the scholars agree to that one. The first four facts are attested to by over 90% of today’s scholars! Dr. Habermas has for years maintained a database of all writing on this subject in the U.S. and Europe so as to make this claim with certainty.
From these few facts the arguments are developed that the only best explanation of events is that of the Gospel accounts. You are strongly encouraged to review this material in the book by Dr. Habermas, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (the book is in your Lending Library.)
More Information:
Books:
The Case of the Resurrection of Jesus by Dr. Gary Habermas and Dr. Michael Licona
Article:
“Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” by William Lane Craig
http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth22.html
Audio Presentation by Dr. Habermas:
The Minimal Facts Approach to the Resurrection of Jesus: Gary Habermas gives an overview of the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
http://garyhabermas.com/audio/audio.htm