Was Jesus really resurrected?

One of the most important beliefs that Christians maintain is that Jesus Christ died on a cross and then was resurrected or, came back to life. If the resurrection of Jesus could be proven to be a complete hoax, then without a doubt the truth of Christianity would be called into question. Other religions such as the Jehovah Witnesses are skeptical that Jesus ever rose from the dead. Furthermore, Muslims believe that someone else took Jesus’s place on the cross and Jesus was not crucified at all. If he was not murdered, then this would neatly explain how he was able to appear to 500 people just days after the crucifixion but this would only be a story of a mere man. Just how would a worldwide religion begin without this famous miracle? Here’s why the resurrection event is so important to Christians:

The Apostle Paul stated that…If Christ was not resurrected, we don’t have anything, and our faith is in vain. If Jesus could not have conquered death, then nor would any of his believers. Therefore, it’s important that Christians can answer skeptics with plausible and rational answers as to why we believe that this event happened and explain its significance.

So, what are the arguments against the resurrection of Jesus? Here are just a few.

The Swoon Theory

If Jesus had appeared to people after the crucifixion then perhaps, he could have survived it and this would explain how he was seen alive — no death, no tomb — but no miracle and ultimately no inspiration to believe that He was in any way special. This is commonly known as the Swoon Theory, where it’s believed that Jesus merely fainted on the cross and was took down.

The problem with this theory is, how could professional murderers like the Romans allow for such a merciful way out of death. The crucifixion of Christ is not a pleasant or comfortable thing to imagine. The Romans were barbarous and meticulous in their method of crucifying people to death and the gruesome detail in the Gospels leave us in no doubt that Jesus did die on the Cross.

Another account of Jesus’s death on the cross was independently recorded by Josephus (a first-century Jewish Historian) who wrote his own narrative or an un-bias account that confirms that the Romans put him to death. Therefore, it’s rational and plausible to believe that the murder of Jesus was a success and not something made up my Jesus’s disciples that many skeptics put forward.

Not only do Skeptics question the validity of Jesus’s death on the cross, they also question the validity of his divinity, discrediting the story of the gospels suggesting that he was a mere mortal. Had he not died o thee cross but fainted this would explain why he was able to appear in public again. However, the gospel’s evidence so much information about the crucifixion that most medical experts would be insane to suggest he could survive a severe beating, lashes, being hung on a cross and finally having a sword pierced through his torso that punctured his lungs and heart.

Let’s suppose that the gospels made no mention that Jesus was put to death on His cross and he had instead been taken down from it and buried alive. If this was so, it is difficult to believe that in His condition Jesus could have rolled away a stone, overpowered many Roman soldiers guarding the tomb, appear to his disciples, while being in a dishevelled state and proclaim to them that he was the Lord of life. Would he have inspired them to start a worldwide movement of hope if he had simply been captured, but amazingly escaped? No, he would have had to do something more miraculous than that.

Remember, Jesus’s disciples had walked away from Him after he had been arrested and killed. Peter had denied that he even knew Jesus three times when questioned prior to the Cock crowing; just as Jesus had predicted. Once the events of the crucifixion and a little time had passed (a matter of days) the disciples were already returning to their day jobs as fishermen. The sojourn was over, the man they knew and loved was believed dead, so they began to get back to their normal life’s just as they’d known before they had met Jesus.

Then something happened. Whilst they were on their small fishing boats, Jesus appeared to them. He was alive! God had done something completely unique that instantly restored their faith, and in doing so it gave birth to the rise and rise of Christianity. Through these normal men, the word would be spread to the far corners of the world. However, it wouldn’t end well for many of them, but their newfound courage strongly evidences that Jesus had returned after death.

The Martyr Theory

Unfortunately, but perhaps gloriously, ten out of Jesus’s twelve disciples went on to die for what they experienced. Instead of taking up mundane lives many chose to die for their faith and this example serves to add further weight that Jesus’s resurrection was real. These brave men went on to be martyred in horrific ways. If they had died unwittingly because they had heard about a man called Jesus (having never met him) and believed Him to be the Son of God, that would be a noble thing to do. However, they gave up their lives because they had seen the resurrected Christ, had been a part of the most amazing story in the world; to die knowing he was an utter fraud, would be entirely irrational.

They must have had absolute faith in who Jesus really was. Unless the men were fools it can only lead us to one other conclusion — that is, what they now believed by seeing Jesus after he was resurrected was the inspiration that led to their zeal to spread the good news, even if it would lead to their early demise.

Had the disciples not been inspired to go to their deaths because of who Jesus was this would inevitably have meant that Christianity would have stalled before it had begun and would have been demoted to just a cult, made up of people who were as much about myth and legend than an inspiring worldwide religion that transforms people even today.

The circumstances surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus should be more widely taught among Christians. On this single event hinges our entire faith that Jesus was unique, that he was more than a man, that he was God’s chosen one — the Son of God.