Archive: Why I Believe In the Bodily Resurrection

by J. Harold Greenlee

Does it really matter whether Jesus rose from the dead?

Let’s ask a different question: Does it matter whether the American Revolution really happened? The United States has its independence from England—so what if the story of the Revolutionary War is just a myth? Does it matter? Yes, it does; for the fact of American independence requires a historical basis sufficient to account for the change from British colonies to an independent nation.

The same logic applies in considering the resurrection of Jesus. Only the Resurrection can account for the radical change which took place in His disciples.

Yet through the centuries there have been those who deny that Jesus rose from the dead. Some of the Jewish authorities were among the first to deny the Resurrection. On that first Easter Day, after being informed by the Roman guard of what had happened at the tomb, “they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.”’ … and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day” (Matthew 28:12-13, 15).

This theory, first circulated as a cover-up, has arisen again from time to time. But to believe that those frightened and defeated disciples, who had no expectation of a resurrection, would have devised such a plan and succeeded in stealing their Lord’s body from under the noses of an armed Roman guard stretches credibility to the breaking point. That the soldiers, moreover, had all fallen asleep in spite of their orders, yet knew who had come to steal the body—and did nothing to stop them—is an idea too absurd to be seriously considered.

Another theory is that Jesus did not die on the cross; He just passed out and then revived in the cool air of the tomb. This claim was renewed in a recent book.

Such a hypothesis would have us believe that Jesus, after hanging on a cross for several hours with nails through His hands and feet and with a spear-wound in His side, after 36 hours without food or water, somehow survived. Not only did Jesus survive, but He regained sufficient strength to free Himself from the tightly-bound grave-cloths and roll the huge stone away from the tomb entrance, evidently so shocking the Roman soldiers that they made no attempt to impede His escape! This claim is equally absurd.

We should, by the way, point out another issue. Evangelical Christians accept the authenticity of the Gospel records. Of course, if we deny the historicity of the Gospels we can make up any story we choose concerning this event. Years ago one of my university professors said he didn’t think it ever occurred to the disciples to inspect the tomb to see whether the body of Jesus was there!

The problem with denying the Resurrection, of course, is how to account for the disciples’ proclamation that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. From the day of Pentecost, a mere 52 days after the Crucifixion, Jesus’ followers not only began proclaiming that He had risen and was the promised Messiah and Savior, but they began to suffer for this proclamation. A number of them, evidently, were put to death for their beliefs.

Did the disciples, knowing that Jesus had not risen, figure that His teachings were so important that someone must invent the stories of His post-resurrection appearances as a “pious fraud”? And then did these disciples devote their lives to proclaiming this “white lie” in order to promote the fine teachings that Jesus had given? It was not His teachings, but the proclamation of Him as risen Savior and Lord which caused offense. Surely the persecution the disciples endured would have convinced at least some of them to admit the Resurrection was only a figment of their imagination.

It simply will not do to deny the Resurrection. Only the conviction that Jesus did not remain dead can account for their lives being so dramatically changed, for the message they boldly proclaimed, and for the success that message achieved.

But can we not conclude that the Resurrection, though “real,” was a “spiritual” resurrection? We can agree that Jesus’ immortal soul or spirit does live on. But an actual physical resurrection encounters difficulties with modern science. May we not accept the story of the Resurrection as “true” and a necessary part of salvation history, but not an actual physical, observable event?

This theory, or a variation of it, is commonly accepted in some church circles. We must ask, however, does a “spiritual resurrection” mean there were no personal appearances by the risen Jesus to the disciples, but only a conviction by them that Jesus must surely be alive? If so, this is a totally inadequate explanation in view of the disciples’ unpreparedness for the concept of the Resurrection. Such a view would also contradict the clear statements of Scripture that Jesus did appear often and to many.

But suppose a “spiritual resurrection” included the appearances described in the New Testament. There would still remain insurmountable obstacles to accepting such a theory. It would have Jesus as a “spirit” appearing to the disciples, while at the same time His physical body was decaying in His tomb. The disciples would certainly go to inspect the tomb (in spite of my professor’s guess to the contrary).

Then, even if they could have convinced themselves that they were not victims of mass self-hallucination in their visions of Jesus, such a subjective testimony would have appealed to few others. It would have been a feeble instrument indeed for the evangelization of the world. The Jewish authorities, moreover, would most certainly have used the “occupied tomb” to make the disciples a public laughingstock!

A “spiritual resurrection” might seem to be consistent with the manner in which Jesus appeared and disappeared during the following 40 days. But those remarkable appearances can be explained equally well by the view that Jesus, in His risen condition, was free to move outside our three-dimensional world.

At any rate, Jesus not only showed the disciples the wounds in His hands and feet, He invited them to touch Him in order to make sure He was not merely a spirit (Luke 24:39). Later He urged Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side” (John 20:27). On another occasion Jesus ate food in the presence of the disciples, as further proof that He was a living person with a physical body (Luke 24:41-42). These passages show that Jesus Himself felt it was important for the disciples to have full proof that He had risen physically, in the body in which He had died.

No, nothing will do but the plain account of Scripture—that Jesus really died and was buried; that He came forth from the tomb literally, physically, and triumphantly; and that He appeared at various times to many people, as I Corinthians 15:3-7 succinctly puts it.

Let us look at this matter in more detail.

How can we account for the amazing change which took place in the lives of these frightened disciples? Of course, the Holy Spirit came upon them about seven weeks later, empowering them for their long-term ministry. But even this tremendous event was based on their assurance that Jesus had risen .

There can be no doubt that the New Testament writers believed that Jesus rose physically from the dead on Easter morning. The Gospels make that fact unquestionably clear. The differences between their accounts simply demonstrate that the Gospel writers are independent witnesses, but they are in full agreement on the central fact.

The Book of Acts presents the resurrection of Jesus as a fundamental truth in the preaching of the early Church. The statement that God raised Jesus from the dead appears twelve times in Acts, and the Resurrection is mentioned in other ways three additional times.

What is sometimes overlooked is the centrality of the Resurrection in the message of the New Testament epistles. Saint Paul begins his epistle to the Romans with the statement that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (1:4). Romans 4:24-25 relates our salvation to the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Romans 6:4-10 the apostle describes the Christian’s new life as based on the resurrection of Jesus.

In Philippians 3:10 Paul speaks of knowing “the power of His resurrection.” Ephesians 1:20 speaks of the exceeding greatness of God’s power “which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.” I Thessalonians 4:14 refers to the Christian’s confidence that Jesus “died and rose again.” I Peter 1:3 and 3:21 ground our salvation on the resurrection of Jesus. At least 9 additional passages in the epistles refer to God’s raising Jesus from the dead.[1]

The most extensive passage concerning the Resurrection in the epistles is I Corinthians 15. Here Paul declares that Christ did rise from the dead (v. 4) and that He was actually seen by a multitude of people at various times (vv. 5-8). Paul then declares decisively and in detail that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, the entire Christian faith is false and we are left without hope (vv. 21-19). Paul continues by proclaiming again that Christ is indeed risen from the dead (v. 20) as the “first fruits” of resurrection for all Christians (v. 23).

These are only some of the many passages in the epistles in which the resurrection of Jesus is not only set forth but is intimately related to our salvation.

The Gospels frequently quote Jesus as telling His disciples of His coming death and resurrection. The Gospel, however, were written after the event. The Gospel writers understood from experience what Jesus had been saying to them. When He was telling them, and at the time of His arrest and crucifixion, the Resurrection was beyond the grasp of their minds. As Luke states: “The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about” (Luke 18:34, NIV).

The disciples were in no way predisposed to believe that Jesus would rise from death. They had come to believe that He was the promised Messiah, and they had witnessed the miracles which He had performed. But that Jesus would return from the grave to life was still beyond their comprehension.

Their behavior at the time of His death proved that for them the Crucifixion was a final defeat for Jesus and for their hopes. Only the Resurrection and the appearance to them by the risen Jesus could have convinced the disciples that He was physically alive.

Surely few events are dealt with in the New Testament so specifically, so frequently, and with such profound implications for the Christian faith as the resurrection of Jesus. Why do some people still find it hard to accept?

The reason is simple: the resurrection of Jesus is a supernatural event, a miracle in the true sense of that word. People who can accept the authenticity of the Sermon on the Mount—which is recorded in only one Gospel—or even the account of the Crucifixion, which is found in all four Gospels, stumble at the resurrection of Jesus simply because it is a supernatural event, a miracle. The problem needs to be faced for what it is.

Moreover, the Resurrection is not merely a story set down in the New Testament which could be extracted without disturbing the rest of the message. As we have shown, the Resurrection is as inseparable from the whole Christian message as a tomato in vegetable soup. The difficulty is simply the difficulty of supernaturalism.

Let us, then, settle in our minds the basic question. If supernatural events cannot and did not happen, we must give up our belief not only in the resurrection of Jesus but also in His Virgin Birth and the miracles of His ministry. And in so doing, we make a shambles of the New Testament which so clearly testifies to all these supernatural events.

Let us therefore, without apology, recognize that Christianity is a supernatural religion. Let us recognize that God can, and in fact did, intervene in human history; and that He did so, not in violation of natural law but by interposing His higher level of supernatural law. Let us believe and proclaim in full assurance of faith with Saint Paul, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (I Corinthians 15:20, NIV). And because He lives, we too shall live.

Dr. J. Harold Greenlee is a UM minister and Greek scholar with a Ph.D. in Biblical Greek from Harvard. He taught at the seminary level for 20 years and currently serves in international ministry with OMS International and as a translation consul/ant for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Among Dr. Greenlee’s published works is a grammar of the Greek New Testament which has been translated and published in five foreign languages. He is a contributing editor to Good News magazine.

[1] Rom. 4:24, 8: 11 (twice), 10:9; I Cor. 6: 14; II Cor. 4:14; Col. 2:12; I Thess. 1:10; and I Pet. 1:21.