Orthodox Church in America - The Hub for Youth and Young Adult Ministries

Session 8: The Resurrection: Hoax or History?

Review: Yesterday we considered the possibility that Jesus did not rise from the dead because He did not really die from the Crucifixion. This is actually believed by millions of people in the world who follow the Islamic scripture, the Koran. What are some of the reasons it is unlikely that Christ survived the Crucifixion or that he rose from the dead without Supernatural aid as God?

1st Vatra Court is now in session!

The Resurrection is the center and the foundation of the Christian faith. It is so important that St. Paul said, "If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty." It is not surprising therefore that the main dispute in this court will rest on whether the Resurrection occurred or not.

The prosecution, will hold that if it cannot be shown that Jesus did not survive the Cross, then the reports of His Resurrection must have grown up around legends, hallucinations, and fanatical believers. It is not possible for someone to rise from the dead.

The defense will hold that Christ is risen from the dead, that this is a trustworthy historical fact and the only suitable explanation for all the events described in the gospel and which followed thereafter.

Consider now a very important passage from the 1st letter of Paul to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 15:3-11

3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
5. and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve.
6. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

3: I also received: paul received this from the apostles when he converted, around ad 35. the phrasing "according to the Scriptures" indicates the creedal nature of this tradition.
4. notice the similarity with the creed. This was likely used by early Christians as a statement of the faith.
5. Cephas is the Aramaic for Peter
6. 500 brethren most of whom are still alive, so you can check with them the truth of what Paul is saying!
7. james the brother of the Lord, who may have been skeptical
8. paul saw him after the ascension in the vision on the road to damascus

Possible Explanations for the Appearances of the "Resurrected Christ"

Legendary: These stories emerged as legends about Jesus among followers who wanted to believe He was something more than a simple teacher.

Hallucinations: The appearances were likely hallucinations experienced by emotional distraught followers who could not reconcile their teacher's death with the promises He made about rising from the dead.

Wishful thinking: They talked themselves into believing it was the risen Christ. After Jesus' death they looked back at the difficult days afterwards and convinced themselves that the encounters with the "angels" and the "gardener" and the "traveler" on the road to Emmaus were really Christ Himself.

Something "else": The Disciples saw something and they sincerely believed that what they saw was the risen Christ but it was not. (That's impossible.) It was something else.

Possible reasons why these explanations don’t work:

To become Legend, a story needs time, usually generations. Consider 1 Cor. 15:6. St. Paul is basically inviting his readers to check the facts for themselves with the hundreds of eyewitnesses. Also, this special list, already in the form of a "mini-creed" was received by Paul from the Disciples when he converted-- about 20 years before He wrote this letter. (converted c. 35 AD, wrote letter, c. 55 AD). Again, the Gospels can be trusted.

While a hallucination might explain an individual encounter with the risen Christ, there is no known clinical evidence for a psychologically-induced hallucination that is experienced by many people at once, either twelve or five hundred. Hallucinations are intensely individual events, and not shared. In fact that is how we commonly know whether we are hallucinating-- we ask someone else if they see the same thing we do!

Wishful thinking might explain the initial hopefulness and enthusiasm. However, the disciples were not easily convinced and Christ "upbraided them for their lack of faith." They came into the appearances not wishfully hoping to see Christ but disbelieving those who did. The classic example is St. Thomas who refused to believe on the grounds of wishful thinking but demanded evidence. Secondly, such wishfulness would hardly stand the test of time to the point of the disciples willing to risk and eventually give their lives for something they knew deep down inside to have been made up and not 100% certain.

Something else: I include this explanation because I have actually heard it used by someone who is otherwise normally rational and intelligent. It is an example of a simple rejection of the resurrection on philosophical grounds.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8