Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?

By Rich Richardson

You know the story. Jesus died a grizzly death on a cross. He was placed in a tomb sealed by a massive boulder. Then, early on Sunday morning, disciples found the stone rolled away and Jesus nowhere to be found. The Bible says that Jesus rose from the dead in all four gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Historically, Christians marked this event, calling it Easter, and have celebrated it annually for centuries. Christians believe that Jesus died on a cross like a thief, was entombed, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. The whole of Christianity is tied up with the events of Easter weekend. If Jesus did not die and rise again, there is nothing for anyone to trust in. When Christians talk of “trusting in Jesus” they mean believing that Jesus died as a substitute for their sins while they receive the righteousness for his perfect life. All of this hinges on Jesus’ resurrection. If Jesus was not raised, there is no eternal life and Christianity is entirely bankrupt. Paul makes this point in 1 Corinthians 15:14–17 when he points out,

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

In other words, if Christ is not alive, then there is no way for faith of any kind to be alive. Did Jesus really rise? Over the centuries, many voices have tried to cast a pall of doubt on the resurrection by bringing up a number of objections. What about it, does the resurrection stand up to the scrutiny of hard questions? Here are some of the more popular theories:

1. Twin theory

Some have said that someone who looked like Jesus could have died and then later the twin showed up and pretended to have risen from the dead. This theory does not pass the common sense test. There was never any report of Jesus being a twin. Furthermore, all the authorities had to do to prove that Jesus was still dead would be to produce his corpse and parade it in the streets. This never happened.

2. Swoon theory

Other voices contend that Jesus did not really die, but swooned, only appearing to die. They assert that Jesus went unconscious in the agony on the cross, but in the coolness of the tomb, he was revived. There are many problems with this theory. First, the centurions who crucified Jesus were experts at their craft. Their stock and trade was death. They were assigned to crucifixion duty, and their victims always died. There are no reports of any exceptions. To say that a victim only appeared to die, and deceive the death experts does not square with the facts. These Roman guards oversaw hundreds of crucifixions a month and knew when someone was dead. It is extremely unlikely that these merchants of death would assume that Jesus died when he was only passed out. Furthermore, using the accounts of the crucifixion, medical professionals have weighed in as well. Nearly universally, scientifically trained medical professionals—with no connection to Christianity—agree that Jesus really died. For example, a publication as prestigious as The Journal of the American Medical Society reports the following:

Interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge.

Additionally, if Jesus did not die, it is preposterous to think that an injured, beaten Jesus would have inspired such fervent, life-sacrificing devotion by his disciples. Dr. Alexander Metherell Ph.D. said,

…after suffering that horrible abuse, with all the catastrophic blood loss and trauma, he would have looked so pitiful that his disciples would never have hailed him as a victorious conqueror of death; they would have felt sorry for him and tried to nurse him back to health.

We can see, then, that the swoon theory has no basis in reality.

3. Body stolen

Still another group asserts that the disciples stole the body of Jesus and faked the whole resurrection. The challenge with this theory is the gospels make clear that Jesus’ followers had no expectation of the resurrection in the first place. When Jesus died, they responded with utter despondency and complete dejection. One of his disciples even refused to believe that Jesus rose from the dead even after his companions said they saw him. More than that, these men were scared to death of the Roman authorities, and they would never try and overpower the guards at the tomb, roll away the two-ton stone, and pretend that Jesus lived. If this story were true, the question would not be what happened to Jesus’ body, but what happened to the brains of the disciples? This story cracks under cross-examination as well.

4. Hallucination

Others allege that those who claimed to have seen Jesus merely hallucinated. The problem with that view is that people do not hallucinate in groups, all seeing the same thing. Jesus appeared to so many different people (to 500 at one time once) in so many different places that to believe everyone hallucinated pushes logic past the breaking point.

What is the alternative?

The only alternative is that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead. Just producing the body could have quashed any one of these theories, but no one could. There was no body to produce, because Jesus rose from the realm of the dead. History agrees. Eyewitness accounts agree. Do you?