Not Just a Story: A Defense of the Resurrection, Part 2
By Mykhailo Abakumov
In part one of this series defending the historicity of the resurrection, I briefly surveyed how historians establish what happened in the past using the historical method and inference to the best explanation. In part two below, I argue several facts surrounding Jesus’ resurrection can be established using the historical method.
Jesus died by Roman crucifixion
This is an undeniable fact in New Testament biblical studies, because all our early sources confirm it. We have four biographies of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John collected in the New Testament, along with various letters of the Apostle Paul. Paul also cites an extremely early source on the death and burial of Christ (an early oral confession of faith found in 1 Cor. 15:3-7), which most scholars date to within 5 years of Jesus’ crucifixion.[1] Independent evidence for the death and burial of Jesus is also found in extra-biblical sources such as the Gospel of Peter (apocryphal text), Josephus (Roman–Jewish historian) and Tacitus (Roman historian and politician). Thus we have a surprising number of independent sources about the death and burial of Jesus.[2]
Even skeptical New Testament scholars agree with the fact that Jesus died by crucifixion. John Dominic Crossan, a noted skeptic and also a member of the Jesus Seminar (a well-known group of skeptical biblical scholars), says that there is not the “slightest doubt about the fact of Jesus’s crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.”[3] Skeptic Robert Miller (another member of the Jesus Seminar) remarks that “Jesus’s death by crucifixion is as certain as anything in history can be”;[4] Atheist Gerd Lüdemann writes, “Jesus’s death as a consequence of crucifixion is indisputable;”[5] and Judaic scholar Pinchas Lapide notes that Jesus’s death by crucifixion is “historically certain.”[6]
The tomb was empty
The second fact, while not universally accepted by all scholars, is acknowledged by the vast majority due to compelling evidence in its favor. It would have been impossible for Christianity to originate in Jerusalem if Jesus’s body had still been in the tomb. His enemies from the Jewish religious leadership or Roman authorities could have simply retrieved the body and displayed it publicly, exposing any deception. Yet, there is not a single mention of this in Jewish, Roman, or any other texts. Moreover, among critics of Christianity, there is no attempt to use such an argument, even though they would have eagerly seized upon such evidence.
Furthermore, when we turn to the account of the empty tomb, women are presented as the primary witnesses. They are not only mentioned first but appear in all four Gospels, whereas men appear later and only in two of them. No one who wanted to be believed would make up a story that involved women as the first witnesses, because in both Jewish and Roman cultures, women were considered second-class citizens, and their testimonies were deemed dubious and less authoritative than those of men.[7] This is not just speculation. Pagan thinkers of the time, like Celsus and Porphyry, tried to discredit the resurrection accounts precisely because the first witnesses were women. They attacked the women as “hysterical” and “of no account,” noting with disdain that one of them was even a prostitute (Mary Magdalene).[8]
Very soon afterwards, a number of people had experiences that they believed were appearances of the risen Jesus
This fact is almost unanimously recognized by scholars for several reasons.
1) The list of witnesses to the appearances of the risen Jesus, which Paul provides in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, confirms that such appearances indeed took place. Since ancient times lacked modern means of recording and transmitting information, and most people were illiterate, people typically relied on oral communication for learning and passing on information to others. New Testament scholars note several instances of this oral tradition in the New Testament, such as confessions of faith, hymns, poetry, and so on. It is important to understand that this oral tradition must have existed before the New Testament texts were written, allowing the New Testament authors to incorporate it. Thus, we have the teachings of the earliest Christians, which predate the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 is one of the earliest and most significant oral confessions used for teaching, memorization, and proclaiming the faith. It is a kind of formula that was easy to remember and pass on to others. It reads: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” The epistle itself was written around 55 AD, and Paul received this formula even earlier, likely from the disciples Peter and James during a visit to Jerusalem three years after his conversion.[9] If so, Paul learned it within five years of Jesus’ crucifixion—and from the disciples themselves. Thus we have a source (1 Corinthians) dated less than two decades after the event of Jesus’ resurrection, originating from the first disciples.[10]
And what does Paul say in verse 6 of the same chapter? He mentions five hundred witnesses who also saw Christ. Historically, it is highly unlikely that Paul simply invented the list of witnesses. Why? First, the readers of the epistle had the opportunity to verify whether these witnesses actually existed.
Second, the Corinthians themselves (the readers of the epistle) knew at least some—if not all—of the other “witnesses” mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Paul states in verse 11: “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed,” referring to the death, burial, resurrection, and appearances of Christ (v. 3-8). In essence, Paul is saying: “I am telling you the same thing that, as you know, others have said: they claimed to have seen the risen Jesus.”[11]
Third, Paul took personal responsibility for the message he transmitted and cared about his reputation among the Corinthians. Any doubts about the truthfulness of his words would have cost him dearly. He would not have invented a list of supposed witnesses or circulated someone else’s list if he were not confident in its authenticity.[12] Given the early date of Paul’s information as well as his personal acquaintance with the people involved, these appearances cannot be dismissed as mere legends.[13]
2) The appearance narratives in the Gospels provide multiple, independent attestation of the appearances. Historians consider sources to be independent if they were written without relying on each other. This can be determined by comparing writing styles or how stories are described in different texts.[14]
This criterion clearly applies to the events of the appearance of Christ. For example, the appearance to Peter is attested by Luke and Paul; the appearance to the Twelve is attested by Luke, John, and Paul; and the appearance to the women is attested by Matthew and John. The appearance narratives span such a breadth of independent sources that it cannot be reasonably denied that the earliest disciples did have such experiences. Thus, even the skeptical New Testament critic Gerd Lüdemann concludes, “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.”[15]
3) Despite all odds, the first disciples were firmly convinced of His resurrection. The original disciples suddenly and sincerely came to believe that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary. Think of the situation the disciples faced following Jesus’ crucifixion:
(1) Their leader was dead. Jewish Messianic expectations were that the Messiah would be a triumphant, victorious figure who would deliver Israel from its enemies, restore the Davidic kingdom, and establish God’s rule on earth. Jesus did not fulfill these expectations, because instead of conquering Israel’s foes and reigning as king, he was arrested, condemned, and executed in a shameful manner that contradicted the image of a victorious Messiah.[16]
(2) Jewish beliefs about the afterlife held that the general resurrection of the dead would occur only at the end of the world. No individual could rise to glory or immortality before that final resurrection. Jesus did not fulfill these beliefs because, according to Christian claims, he rose from the dead prior to the general resurrection, attaining glory and immortality, something that was completely outside the framework of traditional Jewish eschatology.[17]
Nevertheless, the original disciples suddenly came to believe so strongly that God had raised Jesus from the dead that they were willing to die for the truth of that belief. Such conviction demonstrates that they were not merely claiming that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them for some personal gain. Neither Christian nor secular history contains any evidence to suggest the disciples’ testimony about Jesus was motivated by financial gain, sexual relationships, or the pursuit of power. In fact, their situation in these three areas only worsened because of their faith—they were persecuted and rejected, and Jesus’ high ethical standards rule out sexual immorality. So they genuinely believed it. Compare this boldness with their behavior during Jesus’ arrest and execution: they denied Him, abandoned Him, and then hid in fear. Yet later, they willingly put themselves in danger, publicly proclaiming the risen Christ. These facts are supported by numerous testimonies—both from early New Testament sources and from extra-biblical ones—which confirm that the disciples were willing to risk and even sacrifice everything for their faith in Christ.
Speaking of the New Testament, it is filled with such testimonies. In the Book of Acts, we see the martyrdom of Stephen, one of the first deacons of the early church (Acts 7:58–60), and the apostle James (Acts 12:2). Jesus Himself taught His followers that they would face suffering (Matt. 10:16–18). Suffering is a central theme in Paul’s epistles and throughout the rest of the New Testament (e.g., Phil. 1:29–30; Rev. 6:9).
Regarding extra-biblical evidence, Tacitus informs us that during Nero’s time there were state-sponsored persecutions of Christians.[18] While we lack definitive evidence about the fate of every apostle, we do have early testimonies about the deaths of some key early Christian figures (namely, the apostles Peter, Paul, James, and James, the brother of the Lord.[19] Polycarp (Christian bishop of Smyrna, AD 69–155), referencing Paul and other apostles, states that they are “with the Lord, with whom they also suffered in the place which they have deserved.”[20]
But then the obvious question arises: What in the world caused them to believe such an un-Jewish and outlandish thing? Luke Johnson, a New Testament scholar at Emory University, states, “Some sort of powerful, transformative experience is required to generate the sort of movement earliest Christianity was.”[21]
So, we have every reason to accept the sincerity of the faith of Christ’s first disciples. Every historian must explain the unexpected rise of the Christian church, and Christ’s resurrection perfectly explains this fact.
In summary, we have sources that meet historical criteria: they are early (written within the first and second generations after the events), multiply attested, traceable to eyewitnesses, supported by hostile confirmation (Paul and James, the Lord’s brother, because they were initially opposed to the Christian message), and contain embarrassing details that no one would invent (for example, Peter’s denial of Christ, which casts the church’s first leader in a bad light).
And we have three facts established purely on historical grounds: (1) Jesus died by crucifixion; (2) The tomb was empty; (3) Very soon afterwards, a number of people had experiences that they believed were appearances of the risen Jesus.
Since these key historical facts are established through critical historical methods, skeptics cannot simply dismiss them by pointing to “contradictions” in the New Testament texts or its supposed “unreliability,” “legendary nature,” or other similar accusations. This is because the case for the resurrection can be argued historically—even based on a minimal set of accepted facts.
Notes
[1] William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2017), 362.
[2] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2010), 303-318.
[3] John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (San Francisco, CA: Harper SanFrancisco, 1991), 375.
[4] Bernard Brandon Scott, ed. Finding the Historical Jesus: Rules of Evidence (Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge, 2008), 14.
[5] Gerd Lüdemann, The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry (Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2004), 50.
[6] Pinchas Lapide, The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective, trans. Wilhelm Linss (London: SPCK, 1983), 32.
[7] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2004), 69-74.
[8] Porphyry, Against the Christians: Fragments, §64, and Macarius, Apocriticus II: 14, quoted in Nancy R. Pearcey, The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Can Save Men from Themselves (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2023), chap. 7.
[9] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2010), 227.
[10] Gary R. Habermas, Historical Jesus (Joplin, MO.: College Press, 1996), 152-157.
[11] Andrew Loke, Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: A New Transdisciplinary Approach (London: Routledge, 2020), 46-65.
[12] Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2003), 74.
[13] William Lane Craig, “Visions of Jesus: A Critical Assessment of Gerd Lüdemann’s Hallucination Hypothesis,” Reasonable Faith, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/scholarly-writings/historical-jesus/visions-of-jesus-a-critical-assessment-of-gerd-ludemanns-hallucination-hypo.
[14] Bart D. Ehrman and Hugo Méndez, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 8th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2024), 250.
[15] Gerd Lüdemann, What Really Happened to Jesus?, trans. John Bowden (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), 80.
[16] James D. G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit (London: SCM, 1975), 132.
[17] William Lane Craig, “Visions of Jesus: A Critical Assessment of Gerd Lüdemann’s Hallucination Hypothesis,” Reasonable Faith, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/scholarly-writings/historical-jesus/visions-of-jesus-a-critical-assessment-of-gerd-ludemanns-hallucination-hypo.
[18] See Herbert W. Benario, “The Annals,” in A Companion to Tacitus, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World, ed. Victoria Emma Pagán (Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 114–15.
[19] See Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2024).
[20] Saint Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians 9:1–2, see Apostolic Fathers, The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Francis X. Glimm, Joseph M.-F. Marique, and Gerald G. Walsh. Vol. 1 of The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1969), 140.
[21] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Real Jesus (San Francisco, CA: Harper SanFrancisco, 1996), 136.
— Mykhailo Abakumov is a lecturer in Systematic Apologetics and Christian Ethics at Tavriski Christian Institute. He is a graduate of the St. Thomas Aquinas Institute of Religious Studies in Kyiv and a graduate student in Christian Apologetics at Houston Christian University. He serves as the Director of the Reasonable Faith Chapter in Ukraine and is an international speaker defending the Christian faith across Eastern Europe.
If you’ve found The Worldview Bulletin helpful, please consider donating a single dollar per month. If every reader contributed this amount, The Worldview Bulletin could equip and encourage thousands more believers and recruit the best scholars to address the most compelling topics of our day. There comes a point where a ministry outstrips a single person’s resources to be a good steward of the opportunity. After 7 years, I believe that time has come for The Worldview Bulletin. I’m deeply grateful for everyone who subscribes, donates, likes, and shares our material, and for everyone who prays. Thank you!
[in partnership with]
The Final Triumph of God: Jesus, the Eyewitnesses, and the Resurrection of the Body in 1 Corinthians 15
Making a compelling case based on new evidence and fresh exposition, James Ware affirms the church’s historic reading of 1 Corinthians 15. He shows that the apostolic formula in 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 proclaims, in continuity with the Gospels, the resurrection of Jesus’s crucified body from the tomb, and that the hope of the resurrection described in 1 Corinthians 15:12–58 involves the miraculous revivification of our present bodies of flesh and bones and their transformation to imperishability.
Ware’s monumental study is unmatched for its comprehensive examination of the historical setting, literary structure, syntax, and vocabulary of 1 Corinthians 15. This in-depth verse-by-verse commentary provides new insights into the text, original solutions to hitherto seemingly irresolvable difficulties, and a convincing reading of the chapter unfolding its rich theology of the resurrection as the consummation of union with Christ.
“James Ware’s exposition of 1 Corinthians 15 is a masterpiece of careful exegesis combined with theological insight. On the one hand, Ware defends a traditional and historically rooted conception of the resurrection. On the other hand, there are numerous fresh exegetical insights that characterize his exposition. No other study on 1 Corinthians 15 surpasses Ware’s work.”
— Thomas R. Schreiner, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
See our excerpt from The Final Triumph of God here.
Find The Final Triumph of God at Eerdmans, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbook.com, Walmart, and Books-a-Million.
AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep: Leading and Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Since ChatGPT burst into the public consciousness in 2022, AI has thoroughly infiltrated everyday life. Machines can now take on work once thought to be solely the domain of human beings—from writing college essays to composing worship music. How should Christians respond to this brave new technology?
In this accessible introduction to AI, Sean O'Callaghan and Paul Hoffman explore its social and ethical impacts for ministry and teaching. The authors shed light on the biblical vision for human flourishing—and on how AI can help or hinder that flourishing. Avoiding both alarmism and uncritical acceptance, O'Callaghan and Hoffman offer resources and practical tools for using AI in our classrooms and congregations.
AI can write a generic three-point sermon, but it cannot replace an authentic encounter between humans and the divine. In a time of cultural confusion, O'Callaghan and Hoffman encourage readers to embrace the clarity found in the gospel.
“In this significant work O’Callaghan and Hoffman guide Christian leaders biblically, theologically, and practically on this life-altering development called AI. While we do not know what the future holds in this digital world, we do know the One who holds the future. A well-researched and pioneering book that gives us a clear road map to begin understanding and navigating this ever-changing technological age.”
— Matthew D. Kim, Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University; author of Preaching with Cultural Intelligence
See our excerpt from AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep here.
Find AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep at Baker, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbook.com, Books-A-Million, and Walmart.