Justified True Belief

(P1) Core Fact 1: Jesus’ tomb was discovered empty shortly after His crucifixion. + Multiple early, independent sources report that Jesus’ tomb was found empty. The earliest Christian preaching in Jerusalem presupposes that the body was no longer in the grave. Women are presented as the first discoverers of the empty tomb, which is an unlikely fabrication in a first-century Jewish context where female testimony carried low legal weight. In addition, the earliest Jewish polemic (“the disciples stole the body”) presupposes that the tomb was, in fact, empty, rather than still containing Jesus’ corpse.

(P2) Core Fact 2: Various individuals and groups experienced appearances of Jesus alive after His death. + The early creed cited by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 (usually dated within a few years of the crucifixion) lists appearances to Peter, the Twelve, more than 500 at one time, James, “all the apostles,” and Paul himself. The Gospels independently attest to appearances in different locations and settings (e.g., in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus, by the Sea of Galilee). Critical scholars across the spectrum generally agree that these individuals and groups had real experiences which they took to be encounters with the risen Jesus.

(P3) Core Fact 3: The original disciples came to be firmly and sincerely convinced that God had raised Jesus bodily from the dead. + After Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples were discouraged, fearful, and in hiding. As first-century Jews, they did not expect a crucified Messiah, nor did they expect an isolated resurrection within history. Yet very soon they began boldly proclaiming that God had raised Jesus from the dead and had exalted Him as Lord. Many of them willingly endured persecution, suffering, and for some, martyrdom, without historical evidence of recanting. In addition, skeptics and opponents such as James (Jesus’ brother) and Paul (a persecutor of Christians) were transformed into convinced proclaimers of the risen Christ.

(P4) No naturalistic hypothesis (conspiracy, apparent death, hallucination, displaced body, or legend) adequately explains these three facts taken together. + Through the history of scholarship, a range of naturalistic explanations have been proposed: that the disciples stole the body, that Jesus only appeared to die, that the appearances were hallucinations or visions, that the body was moved or misplaced, or that resurrection stories arose as legend. Each of these theories faces serious difficulties when judged against the empty tomb, the broad pattern of appearances, and the radical, early, resurrection-centered conviction of the disciples. Contemporary specialists rarely defend these hypotheses as fully adequate explanations of the core historical data.

(C) Therefore, the best explanation of the empty tomb, the post-mortem appearances, and the disciples’ sincere, early belief is that God raised Jesus bodily from the dead.