THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

OT ROOTS 1. Wisdom 3:1-4 “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; …. For if to others, indeed, they seem punished, yet is their hope full of immortality.” 2. Daniel 12:1-3, says those with names that shall be found in the book shall be saved. There shall be everlasting life for the righteous, and punishment for the evil doers. 3. Daniel 7: 13. Daniel saw one like the son of man establishing his everlasting dominion. 4. 2 Maccabees 7. The mother of seven who perished because of refusal to eat pork was promised heaven. 5. 1 Enock, says God would judge people.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-8 MARK 16:1-20 MATTHEW 28:1-20 LUKE 24:1-49 JOHN 20:1-21:24 1. Jesus died on the cross. 2. He was buried. 3. He was raised on the third day. 4. He appeared to Cephas. 5. He appeared to the twelve. 6. He appeared to more than 500 disciples. 7. He appeared to James. 8. He appeared to all the apostles. 9. He appeared to Paul.   4. Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb. 5. They saw a man in white robes. 6. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene 7. He appeared to two disciples who were walking. 8. He appeared to the eleven. 4. The guards witnessed his resurrection. 5. He appeared to Mary Magdalene. 6, He appeared to the eleven. 4. Mary Magdalene, Joana, Mary, mother of James, and others went to the tomb. 5. They saw two men in white robes. 6. Jesus appeared to Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus. 7. He appeared to Simon. 8. He appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem. 4. Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the beloved disciple went to the tomb. 5. Mary saw two angels. 6. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. 7. He appeared to the disciples. 8. He appeared to Thomas and his disciples. 9. He appeared to seven disciples.

SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES 1. Jesus was crucified. 2. Jesus was buried. 3. He was raised on the third day. 4. He appeared to Peter. 5. He appeared to his disciples. Paul excludes the appearances to Mary Magdalene. 2. Paul does not mention the appearance to Cleopas and the other disciple. 3. The Gospels do not mention the appearance to more than 500 disciples. 4. Gospels do not mention the appearance to James. 5. Paul mentions the appearance to the 12, yet Judas Iscariot was dead. 6. The Gospels mention the appearance to the eleven and seven disciples. 7. Paul does not mention Thomas. 8. Paul includes Jesus’ appearance to him.

1. Jesus actually resurrected. OBSERVATIONS 1. Jesus actually resurrected. 2. He appeared to his disciples after resurrection. 3. He had a glorified and transformed body which was not limited by space and time. 4. The risen Christ did not appear to the world or his enemies. 5. He ascended to heaven.

PROBLEMS WITH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS 1. Nobody saw Jesus being raised. 2. Jesus never showed himself to the world, but to his inner circle. 3. Resurrection cannot be verified historically. 4. We can argue that Jesus resurrected if we can prove that he died in the first place. Otherwise his resurrection can be explained as resuscitation. 5. The risen Lord seemed to have supernatural features and at times his followers could not recognize him, which means he might not have been Jesus.

Because of the above problems some scholars rejected Jesus’ resurrection. Their major assumption is that the resurrection should be proved historically. 1. Reimerus said that the disciples falsely preached the resurrection of Jesus. 2. Paulus argued that Jesus did not die, but fainted, so his resurrection cannot have happened. 3. Schweitzer argued that the death of Jesus was the end.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION  According to Bultmann the resurrection of Jesus lies in those aspects of history that cannot be proved scientifically. The resurrection of Jesus was recreation by God, not resuscitation. In resuscitation a person with normal organs is revived and goes back to the usual routine of life, but in resurrection there is transformation. Jesus was no longer bound by space and time.

He became omnipresent. It is a powerful work of God, a miracle. Jesus had a glorified body. The appearances are christophanies, Jesus revealing himself. The appearances only occurred in the context of faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul lists the number of witnesses who saw the risen Jesus. The seeing was tinged with faith. The people who saw Jesus were people of faith. There is no need to try to verify the resurrection historically because it was a faith issue. It can only be understood through the eyes of faith.