What are the most frequently asked questions about the resurrection of Jesus? - Podcast Episode 197

Said oh, he must be resurrected now. I don't know whether that's Misogynistic because the assumption is that they're too dumb to know

Which tomb is which or if it's just an insult in general because the idea is that the males that they told about that not

Only believed it but nobody ever went back there ever again to see what was really going on.

Welcome to the got questions podcast this is the Easter season or as we got questions prefer to call it a resurrection

Sunday, and it's the perhaps the one time a year where people are most interested in attending church, and this is a great time because Easter ultimately is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So today we're gonna do an episode on just some of the most Frequently asked questions we receive about the resurrection

Resurrection Join me today is Jeff the managing editor of BibleRef .com

and Kevin the managing editor of GotQuestions .org. So John, I'll start off just with a kind of a brief intro question.

It's basically Why is the resurrection necessary? And if I turn to 1st

Corinthians chapter 15 Where Paul is basically in verses 1 to 4 giving here is the gospel

We read that to you from the ESV's Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you which you've received in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word

I preached to you unless you believed in vain For I delivered to you as a first importance what

I also received That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture that he was buried

That he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures So ultimately, why is the resurrection necessary?

It's part of the gospel. I've heard many people share the gospel and Never even mentioned the resurrection at all or only mentioned in a passing says

Jesus died for your sins Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins believe in him and you are saved

Those are essential aspects of the gospel that's not all of the gospel and of Kevin touched on this a little bit more here in a second, but the resurrection is vital because It's evidence that Jesus death on the cross was sufficient to pay for our sins that death could not hold him

That death does not have the victory over Christ that Christ Death for us payment for our sins actually will result in us also being resurrected

They're not just gonna be we're forgiven, but we're gonna stay dead. What sort of salvation does that know the resurrection is?

Vital is necessary important because it is what provides our eternal life It's what proves the

Jesus death was sufficient to pay for our sins So so Kevin may dive into first Corinthians 15 a little bit more of the whole passages on the resurrection why is the resurrection such a vital part of the gospel message

Yes, like you say Shay the resurrection is part of the gospel it's as part of the whole gospel

Jesus died and he rose again and and that's the message that we have for the world and first Corinthians 15 is the

Probably the the number one passage and dealing with the resurrection Not only

Jesus resurrection, but also just the whole idea the theme of resurrection in Scripture Really goes to first Corinthians 15 as as kind of the touchstone for this well, the resurrection is important for us as believers because first of all truth matters just as a general principle truth matters and the truth is that Jesus rose from the dead and we have evidence in the inspired scriptures the

Passage that you Shay just read twice in that in those verses.

It's Paul says that these things were done according to the scriptures and so there's evidence of inspired scripture that This these things were predicted to happen that Jesus would die and Jesus would rise again

Also Paul goes on in verses 5 through 7 to talk about the evidence from eyewitnesses

Again establishing the truth of the matter. So he mentions Peter and James and he mentions over 500

Brethren who saw Jesus after his resurrection alive and well, and they were all people that Anybody who doubted could go talk to go do an interview and hear firsthand about Jesus being resurrected and then

Paul also mentions the evidence of a transformed life Particularly his own life in verses 8 through 11 as he he says, you know

I'm an apostle don't even really belong in this group because I was a persecutor of the Church of God and yet here

I am Serving the Lord. How did this happen? There's only one answer to that and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ it is and it is a fact a historical fact and it changes lives and so that's one reason why the resurrection is important because it is the truth and the truth matters another reason why the

Resurrection is important to us as believers. Is that our salvation depends on it?

Going continuing on in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 without the resurrection Paul says

Preaching is useless in verse 14. In fact our faith

What we believe is is useless it is Empty verses 14 and 17.

The Apostles would all be liars verse 15 And why wouldn't why in the world would they be dying?

Why would why would they be persecuted and hounded and eventually give their lives for a lie? if if the resurrection were not true, that would be the case and If the resurrection of Christ did not happen.

We are still in our sins. We are Unforgiven without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin verse 17

Paul makes this point that we're still in our sins if Christ did not rise from the dead Also those who have died in Christ before us.

Well, they're they're all dead and gone. We'll never see them again Just to say goodbye because that's the end of their that is the end of them end of their existence in verse 18 if if Christ did not rise again

Then there's no hope of resurrection for them either and then basically life is hopeless in verse 19

There's there's no point to it Our Christian service is of no value

It's a waste of time if if Jesus did not rise from the dead then that we might as well pack it up and go

Home end of podcast end of got questions ministries end of all Christian ministries everywhere whatever is being done in the name of Christ today is in vain if Jesus is not alive and Then also the resurrection of Christ is important to us as believers because it gives us the promise of our own

Resurrection some day verse 20 Paul calls Christ the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep and of course the that phrase fallen asleep is used as a euphemism euphemism for for death because a body that's dead looks like it's asleep, but it's also really fits in with Christian theology too because we know that one of those days one of these days the the dead body is going

To wake up as it were it's going to be resurrected going to be reunited with the spirit of that believer and be living forever

So Christ is the first fruits. He's the one who led the way He's the first one to ever rise from the dead never to die again.

He is the first true resurrection and then verse 21 Paul makes the point that death entered the world through one man and so the resurrection from the dead also enters the world through one man, so he sets up this contrast between Adam and Christ and then in verse 22, he says in Adam we die

But in Christ we are made alive. You can't get a bigger contrast than that We are all born in Adam and we share his nature and we share

His penalty for sin we die, but in Christ He reverses the curse in Christ he gives us life we have life

Abundantly, we have life eternally in Christ. And that is something that Adam could never give us and then just to to wrap it up I'll leave first Corinthians 15 and go to a passage that I really like in John chapter 14 the night of his arrest

Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he says in John 14 verse 19 because I live you also

Will live see our lives are wrapped up in the life of Christ as He is alive

Then so we will have that promise of eternal life well said

Kevin the first Corinthians 15 is so Vital to our understanding of both the the meaning and the importance of the resurrection

There's so much more we could cover in that section But just the the different contrasts in that passage of dead versus alive

Useless versus fruitful and so forth. It is a truly powerful example description of how important the resurrection is so another common question we get about the resurrection is stuff related to the maybe a little bit more of an apologetics bent of stuff other alternate explanations for what happened so there

Jeff What is the the swoon theory? What's the hallucination theory? What are some of the other theories that even the

Bible even mentions maybe the disciples stole the body theory? But what are some of the other theories? for what happened to Jesus and Why do each of them fall short?

There are quite a few one of the things we do when we hear something We don't like is we try to come up with a different explanation for it and People have done a lot of that with the resurrection and you can you can break them down into a couple different categories

Some of them make sort of sense Some other just ridiculous, but it helps to know what things are not really

Disputed in other words the things that are so historical so obvious that they're they're part of why an explanation is needed

One of them that some people don't seem to realize is that ancient people were not stupid people They're it's it's simply not the case that if you go back far enough in time

Everybody was just a gullible fool who didn't know that dead people don't come back to life and didn't know that all this other stuff

People back then were probably more in tune with Cause and effect in reality than a lot of the people who are getting their information through Facebook today, so they were not stupid people

There was a guarded tomb not one that you could just easily open Jesus was known intimately to the people who claimed to be the ones who saw him

Resurrected nobody was produced and as far as we know, there's only one Contemporary argument against it and that was the one that the disciples saw the body which we'll get to The other thing it's indisputable.

Is that people in that time immediately after his crucifixion were convinced that they had seen Jesus alive

So the people who knew him best who had been around him the most were so convinced that they were willing to suffer and die for that belief

Now martyrdom in and of itself does not prove truth. You can believe something and be totally wrong but martyrdom is a test of sincerity and That's where the challenge comes in If the very people who were in the best place at the best time to know it wasn't true

We're so convinced that Jesus was risen that they were willing to suffer and die for that belief now you have the explanation begged which is

So, how do we explain that? How do we get people to be in that way? So a couple alternatives that people have some of them are just non -starters they exist

But nobody takes them seriously one is actually the alien Jesus and that was that Jesus was a extraterrestrial who came down to earth and Did his stuff and then went back home

It's not only weird. It's unfalsifiable. So ET Jesus is not really viable.

There's another one that's called mythicism And that's the idea that Jesus never existed not even as a historical person

This one has sort of a pseudo intellectual Aspect to you'll hear it mentioned from time to time but even hardcore atheists generally don't take that seriously

That's on the level of flat -earth conspiracies As we sort of move down the range of things that are a little more reasonable one of them is the idea that the disciples actually were giving a parable and this is the idea of a spiritual resurrection not a physical

Resurrection the suggestion is that after a while they realized hey, you know what we we need to continue

Jesus's message But people are just too dumb Here's the dumb ancient people thing people are too stupid to understand that Jesus continues to live in his teachings so we're going to say that he resurrected as a parable and Use that as a way to say see

Jesus really is still alive. And that's why we're doing what we're doing there That one's too public too easy to debunk

I mean if people are too stupid to know what an analogy is or what a parable is then they're going to challenge you On that and as we said that would fall into the category of a lie

Which is a common theme in a lot of these theories sooner or later A lot of these theories just boil down to those people who said that they believed it were lying

Which doesn't make any sense In general, that's because why would you die for something that you know is a lie?

So just off the bat if they just said nope, he was resurrected through whatever means they stole the body something like that Why would people?

Deliberately do that. There's clear records that the people who knew Jesus best were the ones who were suffering for it

So that doesn't make any sense that even applies to that spiritual thing. I think Kevin's got something later He'll talk about with the the idea of the empty tomb

But it's worth saying that there's a reason why the stone was left open and people saw Jesus's body physically

One of the challenges is the idea that the body was moved. This would be like by the authorities So that the

Romans and the Pharisees went in there very soon after everything and took the body away There again, why not produce it?

Why not? Just say nope. He's he's dead here He is in fact, we hung him up on the wall. So everybody can see that he's still dead

There's the idea that the disciples stole the body same thing. Why would you martyr yourself for nothing?

That would probably be pretty easy to catch The Romans were guarding the tomb So that's a hard one

Then we have the suggestion that the women who were reported to have seen the empty tomb went to the wrong tomb

So they went to the wrong tomb and that tomb was open and Jesus wasn't in there. So they said oh he must be resurrected

Now, I don't know whether that's Misogynistic because the assumption is that they're too dumb to know Which tomb is which or if it's just an insult in general because the idea is that the males that they told about that not

Believed it, but nobody ever went back there ever again to see what was really going on Getting more popular.

We have the imposter theory Or the twin theory. This is the idea that somebody impersonated

Jesus after his crucifixion and burial Some people say that it was just a very good imitator

Some people say was actually a twin like a an actual biological twin of Jesus That's pretty hard to swallow you would have to be very convincing and taking it seriously in a sense

You would have to be able to convince people who were with the real Jesus all day every day for years

You would have to be able to convince them with mannerisms and inside knowledge and so on and so forth and you see how that starts

To boil back down to the lie Aspect why would somebody believe that if they didn't have a good reason to so that one's not

Really a good sell then there's the swoon theory the swoon theory is the idea that Jesus didn't actually die that he was put up on the cross and that he survived and that being in the

Cold dark wet damp bug infested tomb with his shredded injuries

Slowly going infected. He recovered enough to roll the stone away by himself and crawl out and then convince people

That he was the resurrected Messiah Sure That's sort of an option that you could say.

Well, maybe he did survive but there again, nobody's going to believe that he's Resurrected and again ancient people aren't stupid.

They know the difference between recovered and Resurrected and then my favorite one and it's my favorite because it is frankly the stupidest one of them all and yes in context

I feel very comfortable saying it's the stupidest one of them. All is the hallucination theory

This is also called the tell me that you learned everything, you know about medicine from watching cartoons without telling me that This is the idea that the disciples never saw

Jesus But because they were in some stage of grief or they were using psychotropics that they all hallucinated

Jesus and all of them had basically the same Hallucination and then the people who saw

Jesus afterwards also had the same hallucination Anybody with even a little bit of knowledge about Psychology or brain chemistry tells you that is not how hallucinations work.

It is not like watching a movie play It's not a 3d projection. It's not a hologram people don't have mass

Hallucinations. So what you see is all these different ideas kind of have a theme which is either they're so ridiculous that you can't believe them or you just boil down to the argument of the people who said it lied and Common sense says that at the very least that's really really hard to believe because of what they were willing to endure

For the thing that they claimed was true Jeff you vote for the hallucination theory as your favorite.

I think I'm gonna go with the alien theory ET Jesus just that sounds really good to me.

That's right Jesus was phoning home in the garden and then he went apparently

Wow, I mean I I think to varying degrees I've I've heard of each of these Even I think the

ET Jesus, but just hearing them outlined again and again. It's like these are far worse explanations than actually what actually happened that Jesus was resurrected is

I would take more of a miracle to to do the things that you're describing in the hallucination theories assume theory and those sorts of things than it would just to believe that God performed a miracle and bringing

Jesus back from the grave So, I mean, I understand that some of them have a level of logic, you know

It's not that every single one of them is completely ridiculous. It's just that all them ultimately boil down to some really sticky

Arguments the chief one just being why would people lie for something or die for something that they know is a lie Of which there was no benefit for them

Continuing that lie. So yeah, so next question on here Can the various resurrection accounts be harmonized and just looking this up kind of in study for this episode?

There's approximately 23 different resurrection appearances reported There's some of those are the same account being reported in multiple

Gospels, but approximately 23 resurrection appearances and some of them seem to Contradict each other.

For example Who is the first woman to see Jesus after resurrection or who which women went to the tomb at what time?

What happened with Jesus appearing to this person first before this person or Even how many angels did they see in the tomb when they arrived the tomb and Peter and John look in and one passage says they

Saw two angels and other passages. They saw one is these sorts of things that I Think it was

I've had him on the podcast before but Jay Warner Wallace talks about Police investigators

He's interrogated multiple eyewitnesses and He's like this is exactly what you would suspect if everyone is having the exact same story

You think they colluded with one another to make sure okay Let's get our story straight to make this believable the fact that people were reporting things from different perspectives different angles

That makes sense that described people who are actually telling the truth them so that we have an article on got questions

Can the various resurrection appearances from the four Gospels be harmonized? I encourage you to read that article for our kind of breakdown of it, but just to give you one example

John looks in the tomb sees one angel, but it does not say there was only one angel just said he saw one angel

The past said there were two so maybe John didn't see both of them That's a possible explanation for that for the different women who went to the could be describing two different accounts

I'm perhaps Mary Magdalene went on her own first and the other women went later it The passage don't contradict.

They just don't include all of the same details An example that similar to this is in at the crucifixion some people say that one pet one gospel says

Jesus is wearing a Scarlet rope and the other one saying he's wearing a red robe.

Well, which was it with a scarlet role there? Scarlet is a variation of red

So don't look for a contradiction when there is none this could just be men really aren't that good at describing different colors

So and I'm not saying that the resurrection of parents is free from difficulties, yeah, there are some difficulties in trying to know

Exactly how they all harmonized but that doesn't mean that there's not a way to harmonize them I think the the four gospels put together tell the same story about that.

Jesus was resurrected He was his the empty tomb was witnessed by multiple people He appeared to multiple people in multiple different times

The exact details may have looked different to different eyewitnesses, but they do not actually

Contradict one other but again, I invite you to read our article and there's many other good articles from other Christian websites on this issue

As well. So Kevin, why don't you jump in part two get very similar and built on why is the bodily?

Resurrection important and this is different just why is the resurrection important? This is more focused on why did

Jesus's body? Actually have to be resurrected. Why is it important as Jeff said that the tomb was empty?

Yes, this is an important detail that scripture is plain about that. Jesus was resurrected

Bodily, and I think we can start with just the word resurrection itself that the word implies physicality

What what is a spiritual resurrection? Anyway, I mean, what what would that look like?

What does that what does that even mean? If the word resurrection means anything, I think it has to include a physical aspect

The spirit does not die. And so how can the spirit actually be?

Resurrected we're you know, we're talking about the body. The body is resurrected and Reunited with the spirit.

That's what a resurrection is also the bodily resurrection of Christ is important because of the

Prophecies that had to be fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies predicted a bodily resurrection

One comes to mind very readily in Psalm 16 It says that God will not allow his

Holy One to see corruption And so the Messiah the Holy One would not see corruption.

He would not see decay in his physical body and that particular

Prophecy in order to be fulfilled. Well that requires a physical resurrection

Also the integrity of Christ himself is at stake Can in this whole area of the bodily resurrection because he promised during his earthly ministry that he would rise from the dead bodily and John 2 in verse 19

He says to some of his have some of his detractors Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days and the the temple that he speaks of is

Specified as his body in verse 21 just two verses later And so Jesus says, you know destroy this body that that you see before you but I'm gonna raise it back up in Three days and so there was a promise of a physical

Resurrection and then after the resurrection Jesus told his disciples that it was indeed a body that had resurrected

He says in Luke 24 to them a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have then he shows him his hands and his feet in the next verse

They're all still amazed in verse 41. And so verses 42 and 43 he asks for some food

They give him a piece of broiled fish and he eats it in front of them These are not the actions of a spirit spirit doesn't eat spirit doesn't have flesh and bones

Spirit is not sitting there saying here. You can handle me. You can touch me and He Jesus wanted them to know it's really me and I am standing before you in the flesh resurrected

There's also the whole whole thing of the of the empty tomb, which was a very important point that In the in the resurrection narratives if it was just a spiritual resurrection and Jesus body was not resurrected

There's no need to open up that tomb. In fact, you wouldn't even want it opened up You know, you just leave it closed and you know, let that body deteriorate and because Jesus is

Resurrected spiritually. Well, no God said I want this opened up for the world to see open it up Tomb is empty body is gone

Because that body that used to be there what it is out conversing with the disciples and teaching them and being seen by over 500 brethren at once and It was a bodily resurrection and God wanted the world to see that the body the the tomb was empty

The stone was rolled away. And then we also have I think the nature of the incarnation really

Forces a bodily resurrection and in John 1 verse 14 We read that the

Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the eternal Word of God God the

Son took on human flesh and this was part of his becoming human God Incarnate took on human flesh because as humans we we have

We have a spirit and we have a we have flesh We have a body and that's part of both of those things together is what makes us human

So when the Word became flesh he joined Humanity and after the resurrection, he did not cease to be human after the resurrection

He still had a physical body. So he was still one of us he is still the

God man and therefore the the only intercessor between God and man and Romans 4 and verse 25 we we read this he was delivered over to death for our sins was raised to life for our justification

Justification that speaks of our very salvation right there. He was raised to life for our salvation our very salvation depends on Jesus life and Jesus being raised physically from the dead

Well said The spiritual resurrection concept I mean, no one would think of resurrections as being spiritual because like as you said

The spirit doesn't die to begin with and all of the resurrections in the Old Testament Were the body was actually raised the person came back to life in their body.

So in no sense would anyone view a His spirit is alive as being a resurrection.

They'd say that's what happens anyway, so the bodily resurrection

Is an important truth times scripture, but also again it goes back to the promise that our bodies will also

Be resurrected because of Jesus bodily resurrection and that's vitally important So Jeff, I know you're you're itching for this next one

And obviously we could do a whole episode on this But I don't think we can do any episode on the resurrection without actually covering the evidence so forth

But instead of going into all the different evidences, but for you What do you think?

What is the best evidence for Jesus resurrection or if someone were to ask you Jeff? Why should

I believe in Christ's resurrection? How would you answer that? I would point to the idea that we are seeing many multiple different lines of Evidence.

In other words, we are not just seeing Eyewitness testimony, we are not just seeing this or that there's there's things from all sorts of different Areas that point to this and that even starts from the very basics the idea like how do we know what?

Whether or not things are true or not Can we know what truth is and you? Work your way up from that to the idea of there being a

God who exists who can communicate with us the reliability of Scripture then you start hitting the idea of trusting what the

New Testament says Jesus says about himself that leads you into things like prophecy things that were predicted the things that actually happened

Then you have what history tells us about the explosion of Christianity people who were so convinced that they saw this

These are monotheistic Jews who turned their traditional interpretation of Messiah upside down and were willing to die for it

In an instant and that that chain of many many things pointing in the same direction even continues

Into the present day where you look and you say, you know The message that Jesus taught the

Judeo -christian ethic has become the world standard even in countries that are not natively

Judeo -christian or which don't have a significantly Judeo -christian experience in other words, it's something that resonates with truth and all truth is

God's truth So I think for me the most powerful evidence really is just that there is this collection of different things there are so many threads from so many different places that point in that direction that I think it's at least good for a

Person who's inherently skeptical or not sure to look at that and say look This is not just some fantasy or some fairy tale or something random.

There really are Reasons why this is something worth taking seriously something happened

Something happened that transformed the disciples from From essentially for cowards who were abandoning

Christ to those Apostles who are willing to die for the message He said like people are willing to Believe to die for something they believe in but no one is willing to die for what they know to be a lie

And if anyone would have known if Jesus wasn't resurrected would have been the disciples and that they were all willing to To die many of them horrible deaths maintaining their faith in the resurrection and so as we talked about the empty tomb the

Ridiculousness of almost all of the other possible explanations all these things combined as you said point to the reality that Jesus was resurrected

And that is literally turned the world upside down So in Conclusion I'd like each of us to kind of a little more personal practical point of Why is it resurrection important to you and now

I'll start the resurrection is important to me because Studying first Corinthians 15.

I know that no matter what happens to me in this world that I Have a home in heaven that I because of my faith in Christ my trust in him

By grace alone through faith alone knowing that Jesus death on the cross pay the penalty for my sins his resurrection

Demonstrates that his death was sufficient and I too will be resurrected that I know No matter what

I'm facing this world no matter how difficult how painful it can be Ultimately my home will be in heaven where I will experience eternity with God Because of Jesus resurrection and so that's that's my personal takeaway is that because the resurrection

I can have hope because the resurrection I can Look forward to the life to come for and because the resurrection

I can keep things that happen to me in this life in the proper perspective So Kevin, how about you?

I would say Hope and joy and optimism is what the resurrection of Christ gives me.

I am by nature a Melancholy type of person. I don't normally find the optimistic angle to things naturally,

I I'm just the opposite But the resurrection of Christ gives me a totally different perspective on The happenings of this world and the things that happen in my life

I know that if you know three days three days in the in the tomb dead and gone all the disciples given up hope but it's no problem for God because here he comes again on the third day alive and well and alive forevermore and Able to give life and salvation to all who would trust in him

So I know whatever circumstance happens in my life and whatever circumstances are brought to me as a pastor

I know that there is a solution to the problem. I know that because Jesus lives

Because he lives there is an answer to life's difficulties that we face right here

I think from my perspective I echo what you guys are saying about hope It provides for me something of a backstop

In other words when we have questions about things that we don't fully understand about what happened in the

Old Testament or the nature of Anything in that realm where we say boy, this is a hard one to figure out.

How do we do this? We always find ourselves driving back to the most important things At least that's what I do I try to say we got to start from cornerstones from foundations and that's where you get to the resurrection in other words

Some of the things that I think I know and I think I understand about the Bible and about God and about faith

Could be wrong. They could be mistaken and Ultimately if Christ is resurrected, those are all secondary

I Can use that as the backstop? for faith And that's the whole reason why the stone was rolled and the body was not there was because God is giving us that he's gifting

Us with something that says I'm giving you a way to know that this is true

It's it's sort of a synecdoche for faith I'm sure Kevin will correct my pronunciation but that's basically when you use one thing a part of something as a reflection of the whole that Resurrection is basically representative of the truth of everything.

God has said and everything that Jesus taught So when I have questions concerns doubts worries,

I don't have to look back any further than the cross In order for me to say, okay. I've at least got my feet under me.

Where can I go from here? Amen to both of you. I love the

Easter season Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, so I'm truly is my favorite

Sunday of the year Not just because if you get to see some people you haven't seen in a long time at church But just from how it's a focus.

It's a reminder of what every Sunday is supposed to be ultimately a celebration of Christ's resurrection

And what it means what it means for our forgiveness to our sins and what it means for our eternity So, so I'm so grateful for Jesus resurrection and well, there are not that many

Hills I'm willing to die on the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of those so Jeff Kevin, thanks for joining me today for this conversation this got questions podcast on kind of a miscellaneous question about the resurrection, but ultimately

It all goes back to why is the resurrection important? So got questions the