1 Corinthians 15:17 :
There might not be a more direct statement in all of literary history than the one Paul gave to the people of Corinth. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." This is Paul saying that every Christian is pushing all of his chips to the middle of the table and gambling their eternal soul on one fact; That Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. Without the physical and literal resurrection of Christ we have absolutely nothing that will save us from our sins. Nothing. This is where Christianity takes a left where every other religion on Earth has taken a right. I've said this before and I will say it a thousand more times, our faith is not blind. The resurrection completely takes blind faith off the table and replaces it with historically accurate, objective and verifiable facts. This series might take some time, but I think it's obvious that it's time well spent. All believers in Christ acknowledge that He rose from the dead, but if you want to defend this claim then you need the facts. I will do my best to relay those facts in a way that leaves you with no doubt in your mind that such an event occurred. I really hope to have this finished by Easter, not that anything I write will make Easter any more glorious, but rather that it will add evidence that can only serve to enhance your celebration of our risen Lord.
Historical Records:
It would be simple to fill this series with scripture on the New Testament accounts of the ministry and death of Christ, but it's my blog and I hate simple. We will step outside of the Bible and see what historians of the time said about Jesus. There was a time when non-believers would simply deny the existence of Jesus all together. Then privileged historical information became available to everyone that was literate. The work of non-Christian historians blew this little boat right out of the water forcing those same people to acknowledge that the New Testament was, in fact, an historical account of the events surrounding Jesus and the early church. Now we're at a point where even the most hardened atheist has to admit that scripture is a reliable historical document that accurately describes the execution of Christ and the growth of His church. What's ensued are theories that range from childish to downright idiotic, but I'll debunk those later. For now I just wanted to give you a few of the historical accounts of Jesus taken from outside of scripture. Keep in mind that these men were not followers of Christ, they were simply historians that researched and documented everything that went on during this time period. Their work was not intended to prove or disprove anything related to Jesus and it encapsulated everything from wars to culture to government. These are just sections I pulled out that mentioned Jesus. This is going to go long, so bear with me. I won't begin to touch them all, but I want to drive home the FACT that Jesus existed and was crucified. More importantly, I want to prove that the crucifixion was not just recorded in the Bible.
Flavius Josephus (Jewish historian that lived from 37AD - 101AD): Antiquities, book 18, ch. 3
"Now there was at this time a man named Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principle men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
Tacitus (Roman historian that lived from 55AD - 117AD): Annals 15.44
"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hand of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."
The Talmud (This is a 6,200 page book with contributions from thousands of Jewish rabbis that was started around 70AD. The exact date and authorship of this passage is uncertain)
"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is going to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Anyone who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf. But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!"
Lucian (Greek historian that lived around 120AD-180AD)
"The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account....You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them as merely common property."
There are many, many more, but for the sake of time I pulled a small sample. Now it's clear that none of this proves that Jesus defeated death, but it's now clear that Jesus did live and he did die by crucifixion at the hands of Pilate. That much can never be denied by anyone. These accounts also go on to prove the accuracy of the New Testament as a reliable source of information since it also states that Jesus lived and died in the same manner.
Going Forward:
I apologize for the length, again I wanted to set the table by proving that literally everything happened the way that the New Testament says it did. For the rest of the series I will provide us with some facts that I will then compare to all of the resurrection theories that modern scholarship has gifted us with. With the data in hand, I think anyone would struggle to find a better explanation than resurrection. Not just from the standpoint that we, as believers, need it to be true, but rather that the only logical explanation for the historical events surrounding the death of Jesus and the growth of the early church leaves us with resurrection as the only real option. I will prove this event both historically and, believe it or not, mathematically. If I can help you erase the doubt of a non-believer then this might make their Easter weekend become far more meaningful than hiding eggs. Remember, the world isn't expecting us to come at them with facts. They're prepared to shut down your declaration of the Gospel by dismissing it as blind faith. It's nothing short of fun to blow up someone's stereotype of the Christian faith with well executed apologetics.