Is it true?
The resurrection: what is the evidence?
History can take you to the empty tomb. Whether He rose is the question it hands to you.
Christianity stands or falls on one claim: Jesus died and rose again. Paul himself says that if it did not happen, faith is useless. So it is fair to look at the evidence.
History has limits here. A historian cannot prove a miracle, and cannot prove that God acted. What history can do is lay out what happened around the claim, and ask which explanation fits best.
The facts are striking. A crucified man's followers, who had scattered in fear, began saying within a very short time that they had seen Him alive. Some of them would not back down even when it cost them their lives. A sceptical brother and a persecutor of the church came to believe too. And very early, Jewish believers who knew that God is one began to worship Jesus.
People have offered other explanations, and they deserve a fair hearing. We set out the main ones below, along with why many scholars find them weak.
In the end, no evidence can make the choice for you. Jesus once turned the question around and asked His friends who they thought He was. That is still the question. If you are unsure, it is fine to say so honestly to God, and to keep looking.
The empty tomb
Scholars are divided on whether the tomb was found empty. Most think Mark and John report it independently, and some argue Paul's early creed assumes it. Others think the story came later.
Sources
The appearances
The early creed in 1 Corinthians 15 lists appearances to Peter, the Twelve, more than 500 people, James and Paul. That the disciples believed they saw the risen Jesus has broad support among scholars.
Sources
James, the brother who changed
The Gospels say Jesus's brothers did not believe in Him during His ministry. Yet Paul lists an appearance to James, met him in Jerusalem, and James went on to lead the church there. Josephus records that he was stoned to death around AD 62.
Sources
Paul, the persecutor
By his own account, Paul persecuted the church. He then says he saw the risen Jesus and spent the rest of his life spreading the message he had tried to stop.
Sources
Worshipped very early
Around AD 110, a Roman governor reported that Christians sang to Christ as to a god. Paul's letters, written in the 50s, already call on Jesus as Lord.
Sources
He didn't really die (swoon theory)
Scholars have largely rejected this since the late 1800s. A 1986 medical review in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that Jesus was dead when taken down from the cross.
Sources
The body was stolen
This claim is old; Matthew's Gospel already mentions it. Critics point out that it does not explain why the disciples suffered for a story they would have known was false, or why James and Paul changed their minds.
Sources
They had visions
Some scholars, such as Gerd Lüdemann and Bart Ehrman, think grief-driven visions started the belief. Others, such as N. T. Wright, argue that a bodily resurrection explains the empty tomb, the meetings and the rise of the church better. Critics of the vision view point to appearances to groups and to a former enemy.
Sources
It was a legend borrowed from myths
Some read the stories as borrowed from Greek myths of dying and rising gods. There is no evidence that the Gospel accounts were significantly shaped by pagan mythology. Many also argue that the creed is too early for a legend to have grown.
Sources
My verses
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb. They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large. When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone.
Now Thomas called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, His disciples were once again inside with the doors locked, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.
For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood.
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the guards took the money and did as they were instructed. And this account has been circulated among the Jews to this very day.
“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Further reading
Links open independent sources, not church websites.