More Evidence for the Divinity and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth

The question of the Resurrection of Christ has been on skeptic minds for at least 200 years…It is part and parcel of what is known to scholars since the 18th century as “The Quest for the historical Jesus.” The traditional Christian understanding of the life of Jesus Christ has been challenged or rethought by thinkers such as Ernst Renan in the 19th century, Albert Schweitzer at the beginning of the 20th century, Adolf von Harnack and Rudolf Bultmann in the 20th century, and later the “Jesus Seminar” which continues to publish its Arian-heretic views in a liberal world (Only see writings of John Dominic Crossan). However, these challenges have not remained without adequate response by historians, anthropologists, and other scholars of ancient cultures. Christian scholars have responded with the foremost studies carried out by members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and others such as Garrigou-Lagrange, Rudolf Schnackenburg, Joseph Fitzmyer, Raymond Brown, Gerald O’Collins, Joseph Ratzinger and John Meier whose study of Jesus has been incorporated in the renowned New Jerome Biblical Commentary.

Today, virtually all scholars agree that Jesus existed as a Galilean Jew who was born between 7 and 2 BC and was executed around 30-33 AD. These findings are not merely based on the New Testament, but more so based on non-Christian sources examined scientifically as independent of each other. The earliest known writings include those of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian (lived from 37- ca 101 AD) who was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. In his Testimonium Flavianum he wrote about the execution of Jesus Christ on orders of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Referring to Nero’s torture of Christians as scapegoats of his crimes, the historian and Roman senator Tacitus, wrote in his Annals ca 116 AD about Christus (Annals, 15, 44). Mara bar Sarapion, a Pagan Stoic philosopher from Syria wrote around 73 AD about the crucifixion of Jesus “king of the Jews” since he considered Jesus one of three wise men who were unfairly executed: Socrates, Pythagoras, and Jesus of Nazareth (Cf. Jesus outside the New Testament, An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence by Robert E. van Voorst, 2000). Another Roman historian, Gaius Suetonius, (born c. 69 AD, died c. 122 AD) commenting on Claudius persecution of Christians and Jews in Rome wrote: From Rome he (Claudius) expelled the perpetually tumultuating Jews prompted by Chrestus." (Cf. J. Boman, Inpulsore Cherestro? Suetonius Divus Claudius 25.4 in Sources and Manuscripts, 2012, P. 356). As evident, “Chrestus” is a reference to Christ. We could go on and cite works from Lucian of Samosata, a Greek satirist, who mocked Christians in the early second century, but we will mention Pliny the Younger, a provincial governor who wrote to emperor Trajan c. 112 AD about Christians who “were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a God”( Pliny, Letters, pp. 10.96). In Pliny the Younger, we find a confession of a Pagan governor around the early second century that Christians adored Christ as a "God" with hymns. 

Modern historical scholarship shows that by the year 50 AD there were already hymns and confessions of faith in the Church praising Christ as the risen Son of God and quoted in the early Pauline Letters which talk about Jesus being “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1, 15-20) and in the very nature of God “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness” (Ph 2:6-7). (Cf. Craig Blomberg interviewed by Lee Strobel in The Case for Christ, 1998). As early as 53 AD, the authenticated first Pauline Letter to Corinthians mentions that “[Christ] appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive”(1 Cor. 15, 6). It may be possible for one, two, or three persons to imagine Christ appeared to each of them at the same time, but it is psychologically impossible for 500 people to imagine Christ (a mere subjective experience of Christ). The idea that Christ did not really die but only swooned does not make sense since a weak man after so much exhaustion and loss of blood on the cross could not possibly escape or have someone else take his place. The idea (advanced recently by Pullman) that Jesus had a twin who appeared to the Apostles or, with them, fabricated the Resurrection to create a plausible story is not supported by historical research nor by logical deduction in view of their suffering and death for their new faith (Cf. Gerald O'Collins, S.J., Believing in the Resurrection: The Meaning and Promise of the Risen Jesus, 2012). In his 700+ pages book "The Resurrection of the Son of God" (2003), N.T. Wright retrieves much material from Pagan myths, 2nd Temple and 1st century Judaism showing the absence of any real resurrection in either Pagan or Jewish Traditions prior to the claim of the early Christians this demonstrating the impossibility that Christians borrowed it from Pagan or Jewish Traditions. 

On the divinity of Christ, and in addition to the above, current exegesis has also established that Jesus called God his Father “Abba” in a unique way unknown in Jewish tradition. While Jewish tradition avoided calling God by his personal name, Jesus refers to God by that intimate relationship thus changing the terms of relating to God in a significant way (Cf. J. Jeremias, Abba, 1966; J. Meier, Jesus, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990). 

Archaeological discoveries in the Holy Land confirmed that tombs made in Palestine’s first century AD matched the same structure with a huge rock as that reported in the Gospels about the tomb where the corpse of Jesus was buried. How was it possible for anyone of the apostles to mover the huge rock in front of the tomb? Mary Magdalene certainly was not able nor any of the wary disciples. By only evaluating this archaeological finding, it becomes logically untenable that Christ’s wary disciples stole his body from the tomb. 
Another finding from anthropological studies of ancient cultures supports the Gospel’s story that Mary Magdalene and other women found the tomb of Jesus empty and reported it to the Apostles. When the Gospels were written in the 1st century AD, women’s opinion in society did not matter. Yet as embarrassing as their testimony is at the time, it is recorded in the Gospel as true and Mary Magdalene was therefore called “Apostle to the Apostles” by some of the early Church Fathers. 

The documented testimonies of some early martyrs show their belief in the divinity of Christ and his Resurrection – Polycarp (AD 69-155), a disciple of John, was bishop of Smyrna. In an attested document - his epistle to the Church at Philippi - he speaks of “those who have forsaken the vain and believed in him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead”. The early Church Fathers, well before the time of Constantine in the early 300s, are quoted decisively in support of the divinity of Christ and his Resurrection: Ignatius of Antioch (1st century-107 AD), Clement of Alexandria (105-211 AD), Irenaeus of Lyons (c.140- c. 200 AD), Justin Martyr (c.100-165), Origen (185-252 AD). 

Let us now examine the reality of the Resurrection of Christ in view of the above research. If Christians have always believed in the Resurrection of Christ, there must be a reason. We cannot believe that the Apostles who were hiding after the crucifixion of their master lest they also face his fate or get stoned by the crowds could have the courage suddenly to proclaim their faith in the risen Christ in Jerusalem without fear. Some powerful event changed their perspectives that they were able to go and preach in the Temple. If it is true that the very early Christians worshiped Christ as the risen Son of God as early as 1 to 2 decades after the death of the Master (i.e. less than 2 generations required for a myth to develop) then they either were a bunch of crazy fishermen or they were deceived, but for them to collectively stand firm against the authorities means they experienced some power unknown before to them. Why would they lie if they faced death for their witness? What is significant is that they did not fear being thrown to the wild animals or crucified i.e. death itself. Without a single sword they traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, Asia Minor, and eastbound to India where Thomas preached the Resurrection of Christ and was martyred. They addressed the average people like you and me mostly peasants and workers. For nearly 300 years they were “underground” due to persecution yet the Christian Church expanded all over the known world.

In Rome alone, I saw in 2006 thousands of bones in the catacombs 30 feet under the earth because the early Christians had to gather and say the Mass and bury their martyrs in the hidden places due to persecution. The early Christians in the Roman empire had to accept to worship the emperor in severe persecutions such as the ones under Nero, Diocletian. Yet, Christians believed in the Resurrection because they were instructed by their bishops in succeeding the Apostles that Christ is God who came in the flesh died for men and rose to eternal life. 

Could all those scholars, scientists, and those who witness to the truth have been deceived, liars or crazy? If not, then the only plausible answer is that Jesus our God has risen!