Evidence For The Resurrection: The Disciples Truly Believed That Jesus Rose From The Dead And That They Saw Him

We are compiling some evidence, in much the same way one would do a court case, to examine the historicity of the Resurrection of Christ. Last week we looked at the uncontested fact that Jesus died on the cross in history. If you would like to examine that claim you can click on this link and take a look at it.

So far we only have one fact, but it is an uncontested one and it is that Jesus died on the cross in history. Today we are moving to fact #2 and then to #3.

Again we are using what is called the Minimal Facts Approach to discussing the historicity of the Resurrection. You can read about it in more detail in a book co authored by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona called “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus”. 

Fact #2: The Disciples Sincerely Believed That Jesus Rose From The Dead And Appeared To Them.

The second fact, like the first, is an uncontested one. Virtually every historical scholar believes that this is the case. And this is important. It may seem unimportant because a lot of people believe a lot of different things and it doesn’t change reality. But the fact is that these guys claimed to have seen the risen Jesus, they were completely changed by what they believed, and they believed and professed it even unto death. People don’t die for things that they believe is a lie.

On 9/11 men flew their planes into the World Trade Center and because of their actions we know that they truly believed what they professed. We have no doubt that they believed what they professed because of their willingness to die for it. They believed that they would be vindicated in the afterlife because of their beliefs. And we have no doubt as to whether or not they believed it because of their actions. Now, there are many good and logical reasons to doubt whether or not what they professed was true. But it is easy to see that they sincerely believed it. But the situation is different with the disciples.

The disciples were proclaiming something that they were eyewitnesses to. They were not professing a faith that had been handed down to them generation after generation. They were professing that Christ had died on a cross and had risen from the dead three days later. And that they had seen Him risen. And from this point forward were completely changed. And, not to mention that , people don’t lie about things to their death, especially about things that they know to be a lie. It’s not as if they are professing something that they believe to be untrue…they very much believe that this is true. We know this because of their willingness to die for it.

What Do Historians Say?

A vast majority of scholars believe that the disciples truly believed that Jesus rose from the dead. Again, that is not that they are saying that Jesus rose from the dead. It is simply a statement saying that we are assured of what the disciples themselves believed.

Why Are Historians So Assured That This Is True?

The two reasons are that the disciples claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them. The second is that they were transformed from cowering individuals into courageous proclaimers of the Risen Christ in the face of persecution and execution.

The Disciples Claim

Let us look at a few passages of Scripture so that we can see what the claim of the Disciples actually was. We will first look at the Apostle Paul.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
-1 Corinthians 15:3-11 ESV –

First, we know that this was first given as a message orally. Paul actually delivered it to them by mouth before he wrote this. We know this because it says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received”. Now, what was it that was delivered. Paul says that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas [this is Peter], then to the twelve.” The message that Paul delivered and the message that is of first importance is the Good News of the Gospel. Christ died for our sins just as the Scriptures taught, He was buried, and He was raised from the dead just as the Scriptures had stated. Then Jesus appeared to Peter and the other Disciples. Then Paul goes further to claim that Jesus appeared to 500 other people, most of which are still alive. This means that the claim was at that time verifiable and Paul intended for it to be so. And then lastly, Jesus appeared to Paul, who was then named Saul.

Paul does not go into any detail on this account but it can be found in Acts 9 as Saul, who would here be renamed Paul, met Jesus on the road to Damascus. As will be restated later in Evidence #3, Paul’s life was radically changed by this event. Saul was leading people in the persecution of Christians in Acts 8. Verse 3 actually states that Saul was “ravaging” the people of God. Apparently he was overseeing the execution of Stephen in Acts 7. Then something happened.

Saul claims to have seen the risen Christ and then he goes from leading an intense persecution of Christians to being one himself. And not only did he become one himself but he also willingly took persecution for being a Christian himself. As this will be part of evidence 3, we will look at this further at that time.

So, not only do we see that Jesus appeared the Disciples in the writings of Paul but also in the Gospels and in the Apostolic Fathers.

The Gospels

All four Gospels testify to the Resurrection. As we have seen in messages past, these manuscripts are very reliable. You can see part of that here and the rest here. Two of these accounts were written directly by Disciples, who were eyewitnesses (Matthew and John), a third was written by a very close friend of a Disciple of Jesus (Mark was closely tied to Peter, it is said that Mark followed Peter everywhere listening to him teach about Jesus), The fourth, the Book of Luke, was also written by a very close friend of an eyewitness of Jesus. Luke was a close associate of Paul, who had been converted at the Damascus Road. The difference in Luke’s account is that he went after the account much like a reporter. He was investigating and asking the eyewitnesses what had happened.

So, what you have with the four Gospels is the accounts of eyewitnesses even if the account was not directly written by an eyewitness. Peter informed Mark and Luke was informed in his investigation.

The Apostolic Fathers

The Apostawho? You might be saying. These people are important to us as we examine Christianity, even if you don’t exactly know who they are. Some of these men are the Disciples of the Apostles. They are the people left in charge of the Church as the Disciples passed away. The Apostles, the Disciples + Paul, were leading the Early Church. There were other pastors who were in charge of local churches, but these men led the way. And we are talking about the church leaders that the Apostles handed the baton off to as they were passing away.

Now, they have some interesting stuff to say about what the Disciples believed. This is also important for us to note because these folks learned, sometimes directly, from Jesus’s Disciples.

One of these Apostolic Fathers is Clement, Bishop of Rome. He was born somewhere around 30 AD and died around 100 AD. He had this to say,

“Therefore having received orders and complete certainty caused by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and believing in the Word of God, they went with the Holy Spirit’s certainty, preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God about to come.” – 1 Clement 42:3

Another important Apostolic Father was Polycarp. He was born around 69 AD and died somewhere around 155 AD. In fact, the account of his death is quite moving and is still quoted by people today. He was a direct disciple of John, the Disciple of Christ who wrote the Book of John and 1,2, and 3 John as well as the Book of Revelation.

He gives a description of the lives of the Disciples when he says,

“For they did not love the present age, but Him who died for our benefit and for our sake was raised by God.” – To the Philippians 4:3

This last statement is especially important because it does two things for us here. 1) We see what it is that they proclaimed: Jesus died for our benefit and was raised by God. 2) It shows the change that they had in this life, for they in no way behaved this way before Christ died and rose from the dead.

The Disciples Were Transformed From Cowering Individuals To Courageous Proclaimers Of The Risen Christ In The Face Of Persecution And Execution

Here is a question that you should ask yourself. How did the disciples respond to the arrest of Jesus? The answer, as you likely know, is that they fled. They ran away in fear. One disciple is there when Jesus is being crucified and it’s John. One disciples is questioned as to whether or not he knows Jesus and denies it three times. That Disciple is Peter.

Now, how did they respond to adversity after Jesus’s Resurrection? The Book of Acts testifies to their repeated confrontations with authorities and their imprisonments.

The Book of Acts testifies to their repeated confrontations with authorities and imprisonments (Acts 4,5, and 12 are examples). This coincides with what we read from the Apostolic Fathers and Church History.

Here are some of the accounts of the Early Church Fathers concerning the changed lives of their teachers, the Disciples.

Clement of Rome, who we heard from earlier, had this to say,

“Because of envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars have been persecuted and contended unto death. Let us set the good apostles before our eyes. Peter, who because of unrighteous envy endured, not one or two, but many afflictions, and having borne witness went to the due glorious place. Because of envy and rivalries, steadfast Paul pointed to the prize. Seven times chained, exiled, stoned, having become a preacher both in the East and in the West, he received honor fitting of his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, unto the boundary on which the sun sets; having testified in the presence of the leaders. Thus he was freed from the world and went to the holy place. He became a great example of steadfastness.” – 1 Clement 5:2-7

Then there is Ignatius. Ignatius, like Polycarp, was a disciple of John. He said,

“And when Jesus came to those with Peter, He said to them: ‘Take, handle me and see that I am not a bodiless demon.’ And immediately they handled Him and believed, having known His flesh and blood. Because of this they also despised death; but beyond death they were found.” – To The Smyrneans 3:2

Tertullian, who was an Early Church leader who lived around the year 200, had this to say:

“That Paul is beheaded has been written in their own blood. And if a heretic whishes his confidence to rest upon a public record, the archives of the empire will speak, as would the stones of Jerusalem. We read the lives of the Caesars: At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising faith. Then is Peter girt by another, when he is made fast to the cross. Then does Paul obtain a birth suited to Roman citizenship, when in Rome he springs to life again ennobled by martyrdom.” – Scorpiace, 15, in Roberts, Donaldson, and Cosxe, eds. And trans., The Anti-Nicene Fathers

Origen, who lived around 185 AD to 254 AD also testified concerning the changed lives of the Disciples. He said,

“Jesus, who has both once risen Himself, and led His disciples to believe in His resurrection, and so thoroughly persuaded them of its truth, that they show to all men by their sufferings how they are able to laugh at all the troubles of life, beholding the life eternal and the resurrection clearly demonstrated to them both in word and deed.” – Origen, Contra Celsum, 2.56

So, what’s the point? Why do we go this far and discuss these things?

All of this points to one outcome. The Disciples really and truly believed that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them. The testimony of Paul, Oral Tradition, and Written Testimony (The Gospels and Early Church Fathers) bear this out. But we also see how much they believed it by seeing their willingness to even die for what they were professing.

Now, in light of terrorists attacks around the globe, you may be asking yourself whether or not a willingness to die speaks to its truthfulness. To that Gary Habermas and Mike Licona have an excellent reply.

“No one questions the sincerity of the Muslim terrorist who blows himself up in a public place or the Buddhist monk who burns himself alive as a political protest. Extreme acts do not validate the truth of their beliefs, but willingness to die indicates that they regarded their beliefs as true. Moreover, there is an important difference between the apostle martyrs and those who die for their beliefs today. Modern martyrs act solely out of their trust in beliefs that others have taught them. The apostles died for holding to their own testimony that they had personally seen the risen Jesus. Contemporary martyrs die for what they believe to be true. The disciples of Jesus died for what they knew to be either true or false.” – Gary Habermas & Mike Licona, The Case For The Resurrection of Jesus p. 59

The Apostles, eyewitnesses to the Resurrection account, were willing to suffer and die for what they believed to be true. These eye witnesses were willing to die for what they knew to “either be true or false”.

What Is Said About The Evidence?

Rudolph Bultmann, a theological professor who called the historical value of the New Testament into question, said that there was no doubt that “the first disciples came to believe in the Resurrection.”

Gerd Ludemann, an Atheist New Testament Professor has this to say about the belief of the Disciples.

“It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the Disciples had experiences after Jesus’s death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.”

Paula Fredriksen, a skeptic historian and scholar of religious studies, stated,

“I know in their own terms what they saw was the raised Jesus. That’s what they say and then all the historic evidence we have afterwards attest to their conviction that that’s what they saw. I’m not saying that they really did see the raised Jesus. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what they saw. But I do know as a historian that they must have seen something.”

What Does This Mean For Us?

This means that we now have two uncontested facts that begin to make quite a case for the historic resurrection of Christ.

• Jesus Died By Crucifixion
• The Apostles Believed Jesus Rose From The Dead.

It’s all getting quite interesting. Begin to consider in your own mind how these 11 Disciples, because Judas is now gone, would all believe that they had seen the same thing yet it not happen. The evidence for the Resurrection is beginning to stack up pretty heavy and we’re only in week 2.

R.Dwain Minor