M. Albrecht, Reincarnation.
K. Anderson, Life, Death, and Beyond.
J. Boeth, "In Search of Past Lives.”
W. De Arteaga, Past Life Visions.
L. De Silva, Reincarnation in Buddhist and Christian Thought.
N. L. Geisler and J. Y. Amano, The Reincarnation Sensation.
S. Hackett, Oriental Philosophy.
J. Hick, Death and Eternal Life.
--, untitled review, Religion (Autumn 1975).
Q. Howe, Reincarnation for the Christian.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
W. Martin, The Riddle of Reincarnation.
V. S. Naipaul,Tn Area of Darkness.
J. B. Noss. Man's Religions.
S. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life.
J. Snyder, Reincarnation vs. Resurrection.
I. Stevenson, 'The Explanatory Value of the Idea of Reincarnation. ”
S. Travis, Christian Hope and the Future.
A. W. Watts, The Way of Zen.
Relativism. See Morality, Absolute Nature of; Truth, Nature of.
Relativity, Moral See Morality, Absolute Nature of.
Religious Argument for God. See Experiential Apologetics; God, Evidence for; Trueblood, Elton.
Religious Experience. See Experiential Apologetics; God, Evidence for; Trueblood, Elton.
Religious Language. See Analogy, Principle of.
Resurrection, Alternate Theories of. The evidence for the supernatural physical resurrection of Christ is compelling (see Resurrection, Evidence for; Resurrection, Physical Nature of), and the objections can be adequately answered (see Resurrection, Objections to). Alternate explanations to a supernatural physical resurrection have been attempted, but a brief survey will show that they too fail.
Naturalistic Theories. In all naturalistic theories, in which the assumption is that Jesus died and did not return to life, two issues are inevitable problems: First, given the inescapable fact that Jesus actually died on the cross (see Christ, Death of; Swoon Theory), a basic problem with all naturalistic theories is to explain what happened to the dead body. It is necessary to explain why the earliest records speak of an empty tomb or why the dead body was never found. Second, the earliest disciples testified to seeing an empty tomb and being with Jesus in the weeks after his death. If untrue, why did these reports so motivate them to such extraordinary actions?
The Authorities Moved the Body. One hypothesis proposes that the Roman or Jewish authorities took the body from the tomb to another place, leaving the tomb empty. The disciples wrongly presumed Jesus to be raised from the dead.
If the Romans or the Sanhedrin had the body, why did they accuse the disciples of stealing it (Matt. 28:11-15)? Such a charge would have been senseless. And if the opponents of Christianity had the body, why didn’t they produce it to stop the resurrection story? The reaction of the authorities reveals that they did not know where the body was. They continually resisted the apostles’ teaching but never attempted to refute it.
This theory is contrary to the conversion of James and especially Saul. How could such a severe critic as Saul of Tarsus (cf. Acts 8-9) be so duped?
Certainly, this theory does not explain the resurrection appearances. Why did Jesus keep appearing to all these people in the same nail-scarred body in which he was placed in the tomb? It is also contrary to the conversions of people from the oppositionto Jesus’s side. It assumes Paul was duped when he was deep in the Jewish anti-Christian camp yet unaware the body was available. And he was duped into believing in the resurrection.
The stolen body hypothesis is a fallacious argument from innocence. There is not a shred of evidence to support it.
The Tomb Was Never Visited. One theory is that in the two months after Jesus’s death he appeared in some spiritual form to some of the disciples, and they preached the resurrection based on this. But no one ever checked the tomb to see if Jesus’s dead body actually was there. Why should they, if they had already seen him alive?
If we can believe nothing else from the earliest record in the Gospels, we can hardly avoid the point that Jesus’s tomb was a busy place on that early morning. If the issue just never came up, it certainly burned the minds of the writers of the Gospels. A harmonization of the order of events is found in the article Resurrection, Objections to. The women who came to finish burial procedures (Mark 15:1) saw the stone rolled away and the empty tomb. John reached the grave site and saw the burial clothes, followed by Peter, who entered the tomb and saw the grave clothes and a headcloth (a strip wrapped around the head to keep the jaw closed) lying separately (John 20:3-8). While Paul does not mention the empty tomb explicitly, he implies it when speaking of Jesus’s burial as a preconditionofhis resurrection(! Cor. 15:4).
The guards were sure to have made a thorough search of the tomb before they reported to the Jewish leaders that his body had vanished (Matt. 28:11-15). Their lives were forfeited if they had been derelict in their duty. These guards would not have had to agree to the cover story that the disciples had stolen the body if they could have offered some reasonable alternative explanation. But the story of the guards does not explain the resurrection appearances, the transformation of the disciples, or the mass conversions of people only weeks later in the very city where it had happened.
The Women Went to the Wrong Tomb. Some suggest that the women went to the wrong tomb in the darkness, saw it empty, and thought Jesus had risen. This story was then spread by them through the ranks of the disciples and led to their belief in the resurrections of Christ. There are serious problems with such a simplistic story. If it was so dark, why did Mary Magdalene assume the gardener was working (John 20:15)? Why did Peter and John make the same mistake as the women when they arrived later, in daylight (John 20:4-6)? It was light enough to see the grave clothes and the rolled-up headcloth in a dim, cave-like tomb (v. 7).
If the disciples went to the wrong tomb, the authorities had only to go to the right one and show them the body. That would have easily disproved all claims to a resurrection.
And, as with other naturalistic theories (see Naturalism), this offers no explanation for the reports that Jesus appeared.
The Disciples Stole the Body. The guards spread the story that the disciples had stolen the body in the night and taken it to an unknown location. This is still a popular claim, particularly in Jewish circles. It explains the story of an empty tomb and the inability of anyone to disprove the claim that Jesus rose from the dead.
Grave robbery is not in keeping with what we know of the moral character of the disciples. They were honest men. They taught and lived according to the highest moral principles of honesty and integrity. Peter specifically denied that the apostles followed cleverly devised tales (2 Peter 1:16). Furthermore, the disciples do not come off as particularly subtle or clever. Up until this time, they had not understood how the prophecies fit Jesus. They had not even understood that he was going to die, let alone that he was to be raised (John 13:36).
At the grave scene, we find these conspirators confused and bewildered, just as we would suspect if they had not a clue what was happening. They did not know what to think when they first saw the empty tomb (John 20:9). They scattered and hid in fear of being caught (Mark 14:50).
Perhaps the most serious objection is that the hoax was so totally successful. For that to happen, the apostles had to persist in this conspiracy to the death and to die for what they knew to be false.
People will sometimes die for what they believe to be true, but they have little motivation to die for what they know to be a lie. It seems unbelievable that no disciple ever recanted belief in the resurrection of Christ, in spite of suffering and persecution (cf. 2 Cor. 11:22-33; Heb. 11:32-40).
Not only did they die for this “lie,” but the apostles placed belief in the resurrection at the center of their faith (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:1-5, 12-19). Indeed, it was the theme of the earliest preaching by the apostles (Acts 2:30-31; 3:15; 4:10, 33).
It is contrary to the conversions of James and Paul (John 7:5; Acts 9; 1 Cor. 15:7). These skeptics would certainly have learned of the plot eventually, and they would never have remained in the faith on such a basis.
Finally, if the body was stolen and still dead, then why did it keep appearing alive, both to disciples and to others who were not disciples? Jesus appeared bodily to Mary, to James (Jesus’s unbelieving brother), and later to Paul, the greatest Jewish opponent of early Christianity.
Joseph of Arimathea Took the Body. A similar notion is that Joseph of Arimathea moved the body
of Jesus. He was a secret believer in Jesus, and Jesus was buried in Joseph’s tomb. The problems of this theory boil down to “Why?” “When?” and “Where?”
Why would he move the body? Joseph really had no reason. It could not be to prevent the disciples from stealing it, since he was a disciple (Luke 23:50-51). If he had not been a follower of Christ, he could have produced the body and squelched the whole story.
When could he (or the disciples for that matter) have taken it? Joseph was a devout Jew who would not have broken the Sabbath (see Luke 23:50-56). At night, the torches he carried would have been seen. A Roman guard was posted in front of the tomb (Matt. 27:62-66). The following morning the women came by dawn (Luke 24:1). There was simply no opportunity.
If Joseph took it, where did he put it? The body was never found, even though almost two months elapsed before the disciples began preaching. This was plenty of time to expose a fraud. There is no motive, opportunity, or method to support this theory, and it gives no explanation of the appearances of Christ in his resurrected body.
And again, there is no good explanation, other than a supernatural resurrection, for eleven appearances over the subsequent forty days to more than five hundred people (see Resurrection, Evidence for). They saw him, handled him, ate with him, talked with him, and were completely transformed overnight from scared, scattered, skeptics to the world’s greatest missionary society. Much of it happened in the same city in which Jesus was crucified.
Appearances Were Mistaken Identity. One naturalistic theory made more visible by Hugh Schonfield’s *Passover Plot is that the post-death appearances that were the heart of the disciples’ belief in the resurrection were all cases of mistaken identity. This is allegedly reinforced by the fact that the disciples themselves even believed at first that the person appearing was not Jesus. Mary thought she saw a gardener (John 20). The two disciples thought it was a stranger traveling in Jerusalem (Luke 24), and later they supposed they saw a spirit (Luke 24:38-39). Mark even admits the appearance was in “a different form” (Mark 16:12). According to Schonfield, the disciples mistook Jesus for different people at different times (Schonfield, 170-73).
This theory is beset with many difficulties. First, on none of these occasions mentioned did the disciples go away with any doubt in their minds that it was really the same Jesus they had known intimately for years who had appeared to them in physical form Their doubts were only initial and momentary. By the time the appearance was over, Jesus had convinced them by his scars, by his ability to eat food, by their touching him, by his teaching, by his voice, and/or by miracles that he was the same person with whom they had spent over three years (see Resurrection, Evidence for). Schonfield neglects all this evidence and takes their initial doubt, which is a sign of the authenticity of the account, totally out of context.
Second, the mistaken identity hypothesis does not account for the permanently empty tomb. If the disciples were seeing different persons, the Jews or Romans could have gone to Jesus’s tomb and produced the body to refute their claim But there is no evidence that they did, even though they had every reason to want to do so. The fact is that no one ever found the body. Instead, the disciples were absolutely convinced they were encountering the same Jesus in his same resurrected physical body whom they had known so closely all those years.
Third, this speculation does not account for the transformation of the disciples. Mistaken identity and a dead body rotting in some grave do not explain why the scared, scattered, and skeptical disciples were transformed into the world’s greatest missionary society overnight by their mistaken encounter with several mortal beings.
Fourth, it is highly unlikely that many people could be fooled on that many occasions. After all,
Jesus appeared to over five hundred people on eleven occasions over a forty-day period. It is less miraculous to believe in the supernatural resurrection of Christ than to believe that all of these people on all of these occasions were totally deceived and yet so totally transformed.
Finally, it is contrary to the conversion of skeptics such as James and Saul of Tarsus. How could such critics be so duped?
Hallucination. A currently popular skeptical view is that the appearances of Christ were hallucinations. However, the evidence against this is very strong. First, all the hard evidence for Christ’s physical resurrection opposes such a hypothesis. Second, the number of independent appearances opposes the hallucination view. There were eleven postresurrection appearances. Third, the duration of the appearances is also strong evidence against hallucination. These eleven appearances extended over a forty day period of time. Fourth, the diversity of the people to whom Jesus appeared was great. They included a skeptical brother, women, fishermen, a former tax collector, a former zealot, and even doubting disciples. Fifth, the state of mind of those to whom he appeared argues strongly against hallucination. The general state of mind was that of unbelief and not anticipating a resurrection. This is just the opposite of the state of mind required for a hallucination. Finally, the appearance to some five hundred witnesses at the same time rules out hallucination. Mass hallucinations of this kind are contrary to the conditions needed for a hallucination.
God Destroyed (Transformed) the Body. All of the above theories are purely naturalistic. Another group contends that some kind of miracle occurred, but it was not the miracle of a physical resurrection of the body of Jesus after he had died. Rather, this theory contends that God destroyed (transformed) the body of Jesus so that it mysteriously and immediately disappeared from view (see Harris). The later appearances of Christ were, according to some, theophany-like appearances, and according to others, they were appearances wherein Jesus assumed bodily form(s) in which the scars he showed were replicas to convince others of his reality but not of his materiality. This view is far more sophisticated and less naturalistic. It does not fall into the typical naturalistic or liberal camp. Rather, it is more in line with the neo-orthodox error on the resurrection. Many cults, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, hold a form of this view. But like the naturalistic views, these views too are subject to fatal flaws.
To explain away the one simple miracle of Jesus being raised immortal in the same physical body in which he died, those who seek a spiritual-body explanation posit that at least two miracles happened. First, God immediately and mysteriously destroyed or transformed the physical body into a nonphysical body. Some say it was turned into gases, which leaked out of the tomb (see Boice), others that it was vaporized or transmuted. God also had to miraculously enable the nonphysical Jesus to assume physical form(s) on different occasions by which he could convince the apostles that he was alive.
This hypothesis uses two miracles to explain away one and in the process makes Jesus into a deceiver. For he told his disciples both before and after his resurrection that he would be raised in the same body. He even left the empty tomb and grave clothes as evidence, yet he was not raised immortal in the body that died. Speaking of his resurrection, Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple [physical body], and I will raise it [the same physical body] again in three days” (John 2:19, emphasis added). This was a lie unless Jesus was raised in the numerically same physical body in which he died. Furthermore, after his resurrection, Jesus presented his crucifixion wounds to his disciples as evidence that he had indeed risen in the same body in which he was crucified (cf. John 20:27). “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have’” (Luke 24:36-39). It would have been nothing short of a deception to offer his crucifixion wounds as evidence that he had really risen unless it was in the same body that had been crucified. The whole point of the empty grave clothes (John 20:6-7; cf. Mark 16:5) was to show that the body that died was the one that had risen (cf. John 20:8). If Jesus had risen in a spiritual form, there was no reason the physical body could not remain in the tomb. After all, God is capable of convincing people of his presence and reality without a bodily form. He can do it with a voice from heaven and other miracles, as he did on other occasions (cf. Gen. 22:1, 11; Exod. 3:2; Matt. 3:17).
This view would make the apostles’ testimony to the resurrection false, since they affirmed that Jesus was raised from the dead in the same physical body in which he died. Speaking of the resurrection, Peter said, “He [David] foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:31-32). If this is true, then Jesus’s body was not destroyed; his same body of “flesh” (sarx) was raised up. It was “this Jesus,” the same one who was “crucified”
(v. 23), “dead and buried” (v. 29). The apostle John shows the continuity between the preresurrection body of flesh and the one in which Jesus was raised and still has at the right hand of the Father. John wrote, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). John said that “every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come [and now remains] in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2). The use of the perfect participle (past action with continuing results in the present), along with the present tense (2 John 7) in a parallel passage, emphasize that Jesus was still (now in heaven) in the same flesh in which he came into this world. Thus, to deny that Jesus was raised in the same physical body in which he died makes Jesus a deceiver and his disciples false teachers.
Such a conception is strongly contrary to Jewish and biblical understanding of the resurrection, whereby the body that died is the one that comes out of the grave in the flesh. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26). Daniel spoke of a physical resurrection from the grave, saying, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Jesus affirmed that what is resurrected is the physical bodies that come out from the grave: “A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29, emphasis added). Paul held out to bereaved believers the expectation of seeing their loved ones in their resurrection bodies (1 Thess. 4:13-18), noting that we will have bodies like Christ’s (Phil. 3:21).
Conclusion. There are various attempts to explain away the physical resurrection of Christ. Besides the overwhelming evidence for the physical resurrection of Christ in the same body in which he lived and died (see Resurrection, Evidence for), there is no basis in fact for any of these theories. None of them explain the data. Most are purely naturalistic, which is contrary to the fact that God exists (see Cosmological Argument; Moral Argument for God; Teleological Argument) and that he can do and has done miracles (see Miracle; Miracles, Arguments Against). Others allow some kind of mysterious divine intervention to produce an empty tomb but at the same time unnecessarily demean both the biblical data and the character of Christ (see Christ, Uniqueness of).
J. M. Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith.
W. L. Craig, Knowing the Truth about the Resurrection. N. L. Geisler, The Battle for the Resurrection.
--, In De fense o f the Resurrection.
R. Gundry, Soma in Biblical Theology.
G. Habermas, The Resurrection of Jesus.
M. Harris, From Grave to Glory.
G. E. Ladd, I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus.
M. R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus.
J. A. Schep, The Nature of the Resurrection Body.
H. J. Schonfreld, The Passover Plot.
Resurrection, Evidence for. The bodily resurrection of Christ is the crowning proof that Jesus was who he claimed to be, God manifested in human flesh (see Christ, Deity of). Indeed, the resurrection of Christ in flesh is of such importance to the Christian faith that the New Testament insists that no one can be saved without it (Rom 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:1-7).
Direct Evidence. Some have opted for a spiritual or immaterial resurrection body (see Resurrection, Physical Nature of), but the New Testament is emphatic that Jesus rose in the same physical body of flesh and bones in which he died. The evidence for this consists in the New Testament testimony of numerous appearances of Christ to his disciples for a period of forty days, in the same physical, nail-scarred body in which he died, now immortal.
Of course, the evidence for the resurrection of Christ depends on the fact of his death. For arguments that Jesus actually died physically on the cross, see the article Christ, Death of; Swoon Theory. It remains here only to show that the same body that permanently vacated his tomb was seen alive after that time. The evidence for this is found in his twelve appearances, the first eleven of which cover the immediate forty days after his crucifixion (see Resurrection, Evidence for).
Appearances. To Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18). It is an unmistakable sign of the authenticity of the record that, in a male-dominated culture, Jesus first appeared to a woman. In the first-century Jewish culture, a writer inventing a resurrection account would never have taken this approach. A woman’s testimony was not even accepted in court. Anyone faking the record would have had Jesus appear first to one or more of his twelve disciples, probably a prominent one such as Peter. Instead, Jesus’s first postresurrection appearance was to Mary Magdalene. During this appearance, there were unmistakable proofs of the visibility, materiality, and identity of the resurrection body.
Mary saw Christ with her natural eyes. The text says, “She turned around and saw Jesus standing there” (v. 14). The word saw (theoreo) is a normal word for seeing with the naked eye. It is used elsewhere in the New Testament for seeing human beings in their physical bodies (Mark 3:11; 5:15; Acts 3:16) and even for seeing Jesus in his preresurrection body (Matt. 27:55; John 6:19).
Mary heard Jesus. “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” (v. 15). Then she heard Jesus say, “Mary,” and she recognized his voice (v. 16). Of course, hearing alone is not a sufficient evidence of materiality. God is immaterial, and yet his voice was heard in John 12:28. Nevertheless, physical hearing connected with physical seeing is significant supportive evidence of the material nature of what was seen and heard. Mary’s familiarity with Jesus’s voice is evidence of the identity of the resurrected Christ.
Mary touched Christ’s resurrection body. Jesus replied, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father” (v. 17). The word hold (aptomai) is a normal word for physical touching of a material body. It is used of physical touching of other human bodies (Matt. 8:3; 9:29) and of Christ’s preresurrection body (Mark 6:56; Luke 6:19). The context indicates that Mary was grasping on to him so as not to lose him again. In a parallel experience, the women “clasped his feet” (Matt. 28:9).
Mary “went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.” So she ran to Peter and announced that the body was gone (v. 2).
The parallel account in Matthew informs us that the angels said to her, “Come and see the place where he lay” (Matt. 28:6). Both texts imply that she saw that the tomb was empty. Later, Peter and John also went into the tomb. John “bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there,” and Peter “went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’s head” (vv. 5-7). Seeing the same physical body that had once lain there is proof of the numerical identity of the pre- and postresurrection body.
In this one account, Jesus was seen, heard, and touched. In addition, Mary witnessed both the empty tomb and Jesus’s grave clothes. All the evidence for an unmistakable identity of the same visible, physical body that was raised immortal was present in this first appearance.
To the women (Matt. 28:1-10). Jesus not only appeared to Mary Magdalene but also to the other women with her (Matt. 28:1-10), including Mary the mother of James and Salome (Mark 16:1). During this appearance, there were four evidences presented that Jesus rose in the same tangible, physical body in which he was crucified.
First, the women saw Jesus. They were told by the angel at the empty tomb, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.” And as they hurried away from the tomb, “suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said” (v. 9). So they received visual confirmation of his physical resurrection.
Second, the women clasped his feet and worshiped him. That is, they not only saw his physical body but also felt it. Since spiritual entities cannot be sensed with any of the five senses, the fact that the women actually handled Jesus’s physical body is a convincing proof of the tangible, physical nature of the resurrection body.
Third, the women also heard Jesus speak. After giving greetings (v. 9), Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (v. 10). Thus, the women saw, touched, and heard Jesus with their physical senses, a threefold confirmation of the physical nature of his body.
Fourth, the women saw the empty tomb where that body had lain. The angel said to them at the tomb, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay” (v. 6). The “he” who had been dead is now alive, demonstrated by the fact that the same body that once lay there is now alive forevermore. So in the case of both Mary Magdalene and the other women, all four evidences of the visible, physical resurrection of the numerically identical body were present. They saw the empty tomb where his physical body once lay, and they saw, heard, and touched that same body after it came out of the tomb.
To Peter (1 Cor. 15:5; cf. John 20:3-9). First Corinthians 15:5 declares that Jesus “was seen of Cephas (Peter).” There is no narration of this event, but the text says he was seen (Gk. dphthe) and implies that he was heard as well. Certainly Peter was not speechless. Jesus definitely spoke with Peter in a later appearance when he asked Peter to feed his sheep (John 21:15, 16, 17). Mark confirms that Peter (and the disciples) would “see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:7). Peter, of course, saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes just before this appearance (John 20:6-7). So Peter experienced at least three evidences of the physical resurrection; he saw and heard Jesus, and he observed the empty tomb and grave clothes. These are definite pieces of evidence that the body that rose is the same visible, tangible, material body Jesus had before the resurrection.
On the Emmaus road (Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13-35). During this appearance, three evidences of the physical resurrection were presented. The men not only saw and heard Jesus but also ate with him Combined they provide clear proof of the tangible, physical nature of the resurrection body.
There were two disciples, one of which was named Cleopas (v. 18). As they were walking toward Emmaus, “Jesus himself came up and walked along with them” (v. 16). At first they did not recognize who he was; they nevertheless clearly saw him When they finally realized who it was, the text says, “He disappeared out of their sight” (v. 31). Jesus’s resurrection body was as visible as any other material object.
They heard Jesus with their physical ears (vv. 17, 19, 25-26). In fact, Jesus carried on a lengthy conversation with them For “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (v. 27). Of course, they were not the only ones Jesus taught after the resurrection. Luke informs us elsewhere that “he appeared to them [the apostles] over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). During these times, he “gave many convincing proofs that he was alive” (v. 3).
They ate with him Luke says, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them” (v. 30).
Although the text does not say specifically that Jesus also ate, it is implied by being “at table with them” And later in the chapter it is explicitly stated that he ate with the ten apostles (v. 43). In two other places Luke states that Jesus did eat with the disciples (Acts 1:4; 10:41). So on this appearance of Christ the eyewitnesses saw him, heard him, and ate with him over a considerable period of time one evening. It is difficult to image how Jesus could have done anything more to demonstrate the physical nature of the resurrection body.
To the Ten (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-23). When Jesus appeared to ten disciples, Thomas being absent, he was seen, heard, and touched, and they saw him eat fish. Thus, four major evidences of the visible, physical nature of the resurrection body were present on this occasion.
“While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you. ’” In fact, Jesus carried on a conversation with them also about how “everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (v. 44). So Jesus was obviously heard by the disciples.
The disciples also saw Jesus on this occasion. In fact, they thought at first that he was a “spirit”
(v. 37). But Jesus “showed them his hands and his feet.” So they clearly saw him as well as heard him In the parallel account, John records that “the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20; cf. v. 25).
It may be inferred from the fact that they were at first unconvinced of his tangible materiality when Jesus presented his wounds to them that they touched him as well. In fact, Jesus clearly said to them, “Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (v. 39). Jesus’s use of “I” and “me” in connection with his physical resurrection body expresses his claim that he is numerically identical with his preresurrection body. Jesus also “showed them his hands and feet,” confirming to his disciples that his resurrection body was the very same nail-scarred body of flesh and bones that had been crucified.
On this occasion, Jesus ate physical food to convince the disciples that he was resurrected in a literal, physical body. “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence” (v. 43). What makes this passage such a powerful proof is that Jesus offered his ability to eat physical food as a proof of the material nature of his body of flesh and bones. Jesus literally exhausted the ways in which he could prove the corporeal, material nature of his resurrection body. Thus, if Jesus’s resurrection body was not the same material body of flesh and bones in which he died, he was being deceptive.
To the Eleven (John 20:24-31). Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared to his disciples (John 20:24). Even after his fellow apostles reported who they had seen, Jesus, Thomas refused to believe unless he could see and touch Christ for himself. A week later his wish was granted: “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!”’ (John 20:26). When Jesus appeared to Thomas, he saw, heard, and touched the resurrected Lord.
Thomas saw the Lord. Jesus was clearly visible to Thomas, who later said to him, “You have seen me” (v. 29).
Thomas also heard the Lord say, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (v. 27). To this unquestionably convincing display of physical evidence, Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28).
It can be inferred that Thomas also touched the Lord. Certainly this is what Thomas said he wanted to do (v. 25). And Jesus told him to (v. 27). Although the text only says Thomas saw and believed (v. 29), it is natural to infer that he also touched Jesus. Jesus was touched on at least two other occasions (John 20:9, 17). So it may very well be that Thomas also touched him on this occasion. At any rate, Thomas certainly encountered a visible, physical resurrection body with his natural senses. Whether Thomas touched Christ, he certainly saw his crucifixion wounds (John 20:27-29). The fact that Jesus still had these physical wounds from his crucifixion is an unmistakable proof that he was resurrected in the material body in which he had been crucified. This was the second time Jesus exhibited his wounds. It is difficult to imagine that he could have offered greater proof that the resurrection body was the same body of flesh that was crucified and now glorified.
To the seven disciples (John 21). John records Jesus’s appearance to the seven disciples who went fishing in Galilee. During this appearance, the disciples saw Jesus, heard him, and ate breakfast with him
The Bible says that “Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias” (John 21:1). Early in the morning they saw him standing on the shore (v. 4). After he talked and ate with them, the text says, “This is now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead” (v. 14).
The disciples also heard Jesus speak (vv. 5, 6, 10, 12). Jesus carried on an extended conversation with Peter in which he was asked three times whether he loved Jesus (vv. 15, 16, 17). Since Peter had denied Jesus three times, not only did Peter hear Jesus speak but Jesus’s words also no doubt rang in his ears. Jesus also told Peter how he would die (vv. 18, 19).
Jesus apparently also ate with the disciples during this appearance. He asked them, “friends, haven’t you any fish?” (v. 5). After telling them where to catch some (v. 6), Jesus told them to “bring some of the fish you have just caught” (v. 10). Then he said to the disciples, “Come and have breakfast” (v. 12). As they did, “Jesus came, tookthe bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish” (v. 14). Although the text does not explicitly state that Jesus ate, nevertheless, as host of the meal it would have been noteworthy had he not. It is safe to say that, in addition to seeing and hearing Jesus, the disciples shared a physical meal with him
To commission apostles (Matt. 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18). The next appearance of Christ was at the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20). As Jesus commissioned them to disciple all nations, he was both seen and clearly heard by all the apostles.
The text says that the disciples went to Galilee, where Jesus had told them to go (v. 16). And “when they saw him, they worshiped him” (v. 17). Mark adds that they were eating (Mark 16:14), although this version is in the questionably authentic final section of Mark. However, it was not simply what they saw but what they heard that left a lasting impression.
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). The fact that this small band shortly became the world’s greatest missionary society is ample testimony for how powerfully what the apostles heard Jesus speak impressed them To five hundred (1 Cor. 15:6). There is no narration of this appearance. It is simply noted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6, where he says, “After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive.”
Since Jesus was seen on this occasion and since he left such a lasting impression on them, it can be assumed that they heard him speak. Why else would Paul imply their readiness to testily on behalf of the resurrection, saying in essence, “If you do not believe me, just go and ask them?”
Despite its brevity, this one verse is a powerful testimony to the bodily resurrection of Christ. It has the ring of truth about it. Paul is writing in 55 or 56, only twenty-two or twenty-three years after the resurrection (33). Most of these eyewitnesses were still alive. And Paul challenges his reader to check out what he is saying with this multitude of witnesses who saw and probably heard Christ after his resurrection.
To James (1 Cor. 15:7). Jesus’s brothers were unbelievers before his resurrection. The Gospel of John informs us that “even his own brothers did not believe in him” (John 7:5). But after the resurrection at least James and Jude, the half-brothers of Jesus, became believers (cf. Mark 6:3). However, the Scriptures say explicitly that Jesus “appeared to James” (1 Cor. 15:7). No doubt Jesus also spoke to James. At least as a result of his experience, James became a pillar of the early church and played a prominent part in the first church council (Acts 15:13).
James also wrote one of the books of the New Testament in which he spoke of “the crown of life” (James 1:12) and of the “Lord’s coming” (5:8), which was made possible only through the resurrection of Christ (2 Tim 1:10). So whatever James saw or heard during this resurrection appearance of Christ not only converted him but also made him into a prominent figure in the apostolic church
At the ascension (Acts 1:4-8). Jesus’s last appearance before his ascension was again to all the apostles. During this time, they saw him, heard him, and ate with him These three lines of evidence are the final confirmation of the literal, material nature of his resurrection body.
Jesus was seen by his apostles on this occasion. Luke says, “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive” (Acts 1:3). He adds, Jesus “appeared to them over a period of forty days.”
They also heard Jesus, since on this occasion he “spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).
And during this specific appearance, Jesus commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (v. 4). So it was not only a familiar voice but also a familiar teaching that confirmed that this was the Jesus who had taught them before the crucifixion.
Luke also says in this passage that Jesus ate with the disciples, as he had done on many occasions. For this last appearance before the ascension was “on one occasion, while he was eating with them” (Acts 1:4). This is the fourth recorded instance of Jesus eating after the resurrection. It was apparently something he did rather often, since even the short summary of his ministry by Peter in Acts 10 declares that the apostles “ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (v. 41).
Surely, both the intimate fellowship and the physical ability to eat food were more than sufficient proof that Jesus was appearing in the same tangible, physical body he possessed before his resurrection.
To Paul (Acts 9:1-9; 1 Cor. 15:8). Jesus’s last appearance was to Paul (see 1 Cor. 15:8). It is important to note that this appearance was no vision that occurred only within the mind of Paul. Rather, it was an objective, external event observable to all who were within visual distance.
• Paul called this an “appearance,” the same word used of Christ’s literal appearances to the other apostles (1 Cor. 15:5-7). Indeed, Paul calls it the “last” appearance of Christ to the apostles.
• Seeing the resurrected Christ was a condition for being an apostle (Acts 1:22). Yet Paul claimed to be an apostle, saying, “Ami not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?”
(1 Cor. 9:1).
• Visions are not accompanied by physical manifestations, such as light and a voice.
The resurrection experiences, including Paul’s, are never called “visions” (optasia) anywhere in the Gospels or Epistles. During the appearance to Paul, Jesus was both seen and heard. The Gospels do speak of a “vision” of angels (Luke 24:23), and Acts refers to Paul’s “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19), which may be a reference to the vision(s) he and Ananias received later (Acts 9:11-12; cf. 22:8; 26:19). As for the actual appearance to Paul, Christ was both seen and heard with the physical senses of those present. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said Jesus “appeared to me also” (v. 8). In the detailed account of it in Acts 26, Paul said, “I saw a light from heaven” (v. 13). That Paul is referring to a physical light is clear from the fact that it was so bright that it blinded the physical eyes (Acts 22:6, 8). Paul saw not only the light but also Jesus.
Paul also heard the voice of Jesus speaking distinctly to him “in Aramaic” (Acts 26:14). The physical voice Paul heard said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Paul carried on a conversation with Jesus (vv. 5-6) and was obedient to the command to go into the city of Damascus (9:6). Paul’s miraculous conversion, his tireless efforts for Christ, and his strong emphasis on the physical resurrection of Christ (Rom 4:25; 10:9; 1 Cor. 15) all show what an indelible impression the physical resurrection made upon him (see Resurrection, Physical Nature of).
Not only did Paul see the light and hear the voice but those who were with him did as well (Acts 22:8). This shows that the experience was not private to Paul. It was not purely subjective but had an objective referent. It happened “out there” in the real physical world, not merely in the world of his private spiritual experience. Anyone who had been there could also have seen and heard the physical manifestation.
A Summary of the Direct Evidence. The witness evidence for the physical resurrection of Christ is massive. Compared to the evidence for other events from the ancient world, it is overwhelming. During the first eleven appearances alone, Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people over a forty-day period of time (Acts 1:3). On all twelve occasions Jesus was seen and probably heard.
Four times he offered himself to be touched. He was definitely touched twice. Jesus revealed his crucifixion scars on two occasions. In four testimonies the empty tomb was seen, and twice the empty grave clothes were viewed. On another four occasions almost certainly Jesus ate food. The sum total of this evidence is overwhelming confirmation that Jesus arose and lived in the same visible, tangible, physical body of flesh and bones he had possessed before his resurrection body.
Indirect Evidence. In addition to all the direct evidence for the bodily resurrection of Christ, there are lines of corroboration. These include the immediate transformation of the men who became the apostles, the reaction of those who rejected Christ, the existence of the early church, and the immediate, amazingly rapid spread of Christianity.
The Transformed Disciples. After Jesus’s death, his apostles were scared, scattered, and skeptical. Only one, John, was at the crucifixion (John 19:26-27). The rest fled (Matt. 27:58). They also were skeptical. Mary, the first one to whom Jesus appeared, doubted, thinking she had seen a gardener (John 20:15). The disciples doubted the reports of the women (Luke 24:11). Some doubted until they saw Christ for themselves (John 20:25). One would not even believe when all the other apostles told them Christ had appeared to them Two disciples on the road to Emmaus even doubted as they talked with Jesus, thinking he was a stranger (Luke 24:18).
A few weeks later, these very same men and women who had huddled in secret (John 20:19) were fearlessly and openly proclaiming the resurrection of Christ—even before the Sanhedrin, who were responsible for Christ’s death (Acts 4-5). The only thing that can account for this immediate and miraculous change is that they were absolutely convinced they had encountered the bodily resurrected Christ.
The Theme of Apostolic Preaching. Of all the wonderful things Jesus taught the disciples about love (Matt. 22:36-37), nonretaliation (Matt. 5), and the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 13), the dominant theme of apostolic preaching was none of these themes. Above all else, they proclaimed the resurrection of Christ. It was the subject of Peter’s first sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:22-40) and his next sermon at the temple (Acts 3:14, 26). It was the content of his message before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:10). Indeed, everywhere and “with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 4:33; cf. 4:2). Being a witness to the resurrection was a condition for being an apostle (Acts 1:22; cf. 1 Cor. 9:1). The best explanation of why this theme was their immediate preoccupation within weeks of his death was that they had, as the Gospels tell us, repeatedly encountered him alive in the days after his crucifixion.
The Reaction of Those Who Rejected Christ. The reaction of the Jewish authorities is also testimony to the fact of Christ’s resurrection. They did not produce the body nor even organize a search. Instead, they bribed the soldiers who had guarded the tomb to lie (Matt. 28:11-15), and they fought the disciples who testified they had seen the body alive. The fact that they resisted, rather than refuted, the disciples’ claims speaks for the reality of the resurrection.
The Existence of the Early Church. Another indirect proof of the resurrection is the very existence of the early church. There are good reasons why the church should not have been born.
The first church consisted largely of Jews who believed there was only one God (Deut. 6:4), and yet they proclaimed that Jesus was God (see Christ, Deity of). They prayed to Jesus (Acts 7:59), baptized in his name (Acts 2:38), claimed he was exalted to God’s right hand (Acts 2:33; 7:55), and called him Lord and Christ (2:34-36), the very title that earned Jesus the charge of blasphemy from the Jewish high priest at his trial (Matt. 26:63-65).
The first Christians had insufficient time to establish themselves before they were persecuted, beaten, threatened with death, and even martyred (Acts 7:57-60). Yet they not only maintained their belief but also quickly grew in number. If what they testified to was not real, they had every reason and opportunity to give it up. But they did not. Only a real encounter with the resurrected Christ can adequately account for their existence as a Jewish sect that came to be known as Christians (Acts 11:26).
The Growth of Christianity. By contrast to other religions, like *Islam, which grew slowly at first, Christianity experienced an immediate and rapid growth. Three thousand were saved the very first day (Acts 2:41). Many others were added to their ranks daily (Acts 2:47). Within days two thousand more became believers (Acts 4:4). The “number of the disciples was multiplying” so rapidly that deacons had to be appointed to care for the widows (Acts 6:1). Surely nothing other than the bodily resurrection of Christ and his sending of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) can sufficiently account for this immediate and amazing growth.
Summary of the Evidence. Evidence for the resurrection of Christ is compelling. There are more documents, more eyewitnesses, and more corroborative evidence than for any other historical event of ancient history. The secondary, supplementary evidence is convincing; when combined with the direct evidence, it presents a towering case for the physical resurrection of Christ. In legal terminology, it is “beyond all reasonable doubt.”
Objections to the Resurrection {see Resurrection, Alternative Theories of). Many objections have been leveled against the physical resurrection of Christ. Some claim that this would qualify as a miracle, and miracles are not believable (see Miracles, Arguments Against). Others claim that the documents and witnesses recording these events were not reliable (see New Testament, Historicity of; New Testament Manuscripts). Still others have devised alternative theories opposing the resurrection (see Christ’s Death, Substitution Legend; Resurrection, Alternate Theories of). But those who try to get around the resurrection walk against the gale-force winds of the full evidence. The facts are that Jesus of Nazareth really died (see Christ, Death of) and actually came back from the dead in the same physical body.
Sources
W. L. Craig, Knowing the Truth about the Resurrection.
N. L. Geisler, The Battle for the Resurrection.
G. Habermas ,Ancient Evidence for the Life of Jesus.
--, The Resurrection of Jesus.
G. Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. M. R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus.
T. Miethe, ed .,Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
J. W. Montgomery, History and Christianity.
F. Morrison, Who Moved the Stone?
Resurrection, Objections to. Among standard objections raised against the physical resurrection of Christ, some are that miracles in general, including the resurrection miracle, are not credible. These are specifically answered in the article Miracles, Arguments Against. Others insist that we cannot know the true happenings surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ because the New Testament documents are flawed. Regarding this uncertainty, see Acts, Historicity of; Archaeology, New Testament; Bible Criticism; Jesus Seminar; New Testament,
Historicity of; New Testament Manuscripts.
Resurrection, Physical Nature of. Even some who acknowledge that Jesus’s body mysteriously vanished from the tomb and that he appeared in bodily form on several occasions thereafter deny the essential physical nature of the resurrection body. That is, they deny the orthodox belief that Jesus was raised in the same physical body—crucifixion scars and all—in which he died.
The resurrection of Christ loses its apologetic value unless it is a physical resurrection of the same body that died. Indeed, the apostle Paul is willing to say that Christianity is false if Christ was not raised bodily from the grave. Hence, the defense of the resurrection as a physical event involving a reanimation of the physical body of Christ that died is crucial to Christian apologetics. Denial of the physical resurrection of Christ is tantamount to a denial of the resurrection itself, since it is only the physical body, not the soul, that dies. And if that physical body does not come back to life, then there was no bodily resurrection.
The Importance of a Body. The significance of the physical resurrection of Christ is far-reaching, and the implications of its denial are fundamental to orthodox Christianity. In fact, a denial of it affects both Christian apologetics and our very salvation (Rom 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:12ff.).
Apologetic Considerations. Why is it so important to Christ’s claim to deity that his resurrection body be the same physical body that was laid in the tomb? The answer is twofold.
Verification of the real God. First, this is the only way to know for sure that the resurrection occurred. The empty tomb in itself does not prove the resurrection of Christ any more than does the report that a body has turned up missing at a morgue. Neither does an empty tomb plus a series of appearances prove the resurrection. The original body could have disappeared and the appearances could be by someone else or by the same person in another body—which is reincarnation, not resurrection. But in a theistic (see Theism) context where miracles are possible, an empty tomb plus appearances of the same physical body, once dead but now alive, are proof of a miraculous resurrection.
Without this physical identity connecting the pre- and postresurrection body, the apologetic value of the resurrection is destroyed. If Christ did not rise in the same physical body that was placed in the tomb, then the resurrection proves nothing of his claim to be God (John 8:58; 10:30). The resurrection only substantiates Jesus’s claim to be God if he was resurrected in the same literal body in which he was crucified.
The truth of Christianity is based squarely on the bodily resurrection of Christ. Jesus offered the resurrection as a proof of his deity throughout his ministry (Matt. 12:38-40; John 2:19-22; 10:18). In one passage, he presented his resurrection as the unique evidence of his identity. Jesus said to those seeking a “sign,” “None will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40).
Not only did Jesus present his resurrection as the proof of his deity, but for the apostles his resurrection appearances were “many convincing proofs” (Acts 1:3). When presenting the claims of Christ, they continually used the fact of Christ’s bodily resurrection as the basis of their argument (cf. Acts 2:22-36; 4:2, 10; 13:32-41; 17:1-4, 22-31). Paul concluded that God “has given proof. . . to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
The physical continuity between the pre- and postresurrection body of Christ is made repeatedly in apostolic preaching. Peter’s first sermon declared that the Jews “put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead” (Acts 2:23-24). He adds, “He was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are witnesses of the fact” (vv. 31-32). Paul is equally specific in making the connection between the actual body that was put in the grave and the one that was resurrected. He says, “They took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead” (Acts 13:29-31).
Verification of the real event. Second, unless Christ rose in a physical, material body, the resurrection is unverifiable. There is no way to verify that he was really resurrected unless he was resurrected in the same tangible, physical body in which he died and was buried. If the resurrected body was essentially immaterial and “angel-like” (Harris, Raised Immortal, 53, 124, 126), then there is no way to verify that the resurrection occurred. A manifestation in an angel-like form does not prove a bodily resurrection. At best, an angelic-like manifestation proves that there is a spirit with the power to materialize after it has departed from the body.
Even angels who are pure spirits (Heb. 1:14) had the power to “materialize” (Gen. 18). The angels that appeared to Abraham assumed a visible form (Gen. 18:8; 19:3). But this was not proof that by nature they possessed physical bodies. In fact, they do not; they are spirits (Matt. 22:30; Luke 24:39; Heb. 1:14). Nor were their manifestations in physical continuity with a previous earthly body, as is the case in the resurrection body of Christ. The angelic manifestations were merely temporarily assumed forms to facilitate communication with human beings. To place Jesus’s appearances in this category is to reduce the resurrection to a theophany.
It not only demeans the nature of the resurrection body of Christ to call it “angel-like,” but it also destroys its evidential value. For there is a real difference between an angelic manifestation and a literal physical body. Resurrection in an immaterial body is no proof that Christ conquered the death of his material body (cf. 1 Cor. 15:54-56). An immaterial resurrection body does not differ substantively from no resurrection body at all.
Theological Considerations. The problem of creation. God created a material world and pronounced it “very good” (Gen. 1:31; cf. Rom. 14:14; 1 Tim. 4:4). Sin disrupted the world and brought decay and death (Gen. 2:17; Rom 5:12). The whole of material creation was subjected to bondage because of sin (Rom. 8:18-25). However, through redemption decay and death will be reversed. For “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay” (v. 21). Indeed, “the whole [material] creation has been groaning... as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (vv. 22-23). God will reverse the curse upon material creation by a material resurrection. Anything less than the resurrection of the physical body would not restore God’s perfect creation as a material creation. Hence, an immaterial resurrection is contrary to God’s creative purposes. Just as God will re-create the physical universe (2 Peter 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-4), even so he will reconstitute the material human body in redeeming the one that died.
Anything short of a material re-creation of the world and a material reconstruction of the body would spell failure for God’s creative purpose. New Testament scholar Robert Gundry notes, “Anything less than that undercuts Paul’s ultimate intention that redeemed man possess physical means of concrete activity for eternal service and worship of God in a restored creation.” So “to dematerialize resurrection, by any means, is to emasculate the sovereignty of God in both creative purpose and redemptive grace” (Gundry, 182).
The problem of salvation. There are serious salvation problems with denying the physical nature of the resurrection of Christ. The New Testament teaches that belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ is a condition for salvation (Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Thess. 4:14). It is part of the essence of the gospel itself (1 Cor. 15:1-5). The New Testament understanding of body {soma) was of a literal, physical body. Hence, a denial of the physical resurrection of Christ undercuts the Gospel.
Further, without a physical resurrection, there is no material continuity between the pre- and postresurrection body. Indeed, they would be two different bodies (Harris, From Grave to Glory, 54-56, 126). However, as Gundry observes, “A physical continuity is also needed. If a human spirit —a sort of third party—be the only connection between the mortal and resurrected bodies, the relationship of the two bodies to each other is extrinsic and to that decree unimpressive as a demonstration of Christ’s victory over death” (Gundry, 176).
In stronger terms, Gundry concludes that “the resurrection of Christ was and the resurrection of Christians will be physical in nature” (ibid., 182). Without a physical resurrection there is no grounds for celebrating victory over physical death.
The problem of the incarnation. The denial of the physical nature of the resurrection body is a serious doctrinal error. It is a kind of neodocetism^ee Docetism). The docetists were a second-century unorthodox group who denied that Jesus was truly human (Cross, 413). They believed that Jesus was really God but that he only appeared to be human. They denied that he had real human flesh.
A similar doctrinal error existed in the first century. John warns against those who deny that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2; cf. 2 John 7). In fact, when John said “has come” (perfect participle), he implies that Christ came in the flesh and still remains (after his resurrection) in the flesh. In 1 John 4:2, the perfect participle (eleluthota) means “not only that Jesus Christ came in the fullness of time clothed with flesh, but that thus he is still present. ... He is a Christ who is come, who came and who abides in the flesh” (Schep, 71-72). Commenting on the parallel passage in 2 John 7, Greek scholar A. T. Robertson observes that the (present middle participle) construction treats the incarnation as a continuing fact. That is what docetic Gnostics (see Gnosticism) denied (Robertson, 6:253). Denying that Christ had a material body either before or after his resurrection is false doctrine. The current postresurrection *docetism denies that the one who came in the flesh was also raised in the flesh (Harris, From Grave to Glory, 124-26).
Having human flesh is essential to the full humanity of Christ and is used repeatedly to describe it (John 1:14; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). If this is so, then unless Christ arose immortal in the flesh, he was not fully human. This is particularly acute, since Christ’s ministry for our salvation did not end at the cross. According to Hebrews, Christ “ever lives to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:24). Indeed, it is because Jesus is fully human that he is able “to sympathize with our weakness” in his high priestly ministry (Heb. 4:15). Therefore, Christ’s full humanity is necessary for our salvation.
But according to Scripture, human flesh was a necessary part of his full humanity. Hence, unless Christ rose in that human flesh, he is not fully human and cannot be effective in achieving our salvation
The problem of human immortality. Further, denying the physical resurrection leaves a serious problem about Christian immortality. If Christ did not rise in the same physical body in which he was crucified, then we have no hope that we will be victorious over physical death either. It is only through the physical resurrection of Christ that the believer can triumphantly proclaim, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55). For it is only through the physical resurrection that God has “destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). As Paul told the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised . . . those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (1 Cor. 15:18).
The problem of moral deception. There is a serious moral problem of deception with denying the physical resurrection. No one can look squarely at the Gospel record of Christ’s postresurrection appearances and deny that Jesus tried to convince the skeptical disciples that he had a real physical body. He said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:27). He ate in their presence (vv. 41-43). He challenged Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27; see Resurrection, Evidence for).
Given the context of Jesus’s claim and of the Jewish belief in the physical resurrection (cf. John 11:24; Acts 23:8), there is no other reasonable impression these statements could have left on the disciples’ minds than that Jesus was trying to convince them that he arose in the same physical body in which he died. If Jesus’s resurrection body was only an immaterial body, then Jesus misled his disciples. If Jesus’s resurrection body was not a tangible, physical body, then he was lying.
Evidence of a Physical Resurrection. As shown in the article Resurrection, Evidence for, arguments against the resurrection are groundless. What is more, the evidence in favor of the physical nature of the resurrection is also overwhelming. While some of the following are also evidence for the historicity of the resurrection, they also verify that Jesus was not “angel-like” in his appearances. Rather, he displayed a very real body—the same body in which he was crucified.
Jesus Was Touched by Human Hands. Jesus challenged Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side” (John 20:27). Thomas responded, “My Lord and My God!” (v. 28). Likewise, when Mary clung to Jesus after his resurrection, he commanded, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father” (John 20:17). Matthew adds that the women clasped Jesus’s feet and worshiped him (Matt. 28:9). Later, when Jesus appeared to the ten disciples, he said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself Touch me and see” (Luke 24:39). Jesus’s resurrection body was a physical body that could be touched, including the nail and spear prints.
Jesus ,s Body Had Flesh and Bones. Perhaps the strongest evidence of the physical nature of the resurrection body is that Jesus said emphatically, “Touch me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). Then to prove his point he asked for something to eat, and “they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence” (vv. 41-42).
Paul correctly noted that corruptible “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50), but Jesus did not have corruptible flesh; he was sinless (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15). He was fleshy but not fleshly. He did not have sinful human flesh (Heb. 4:15); nevertheless, he died and rose from the dead in actual human flesh (sarx, Acts 2:31). John stressed Jesus’s continuing incarnation in flesh when he warned, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming [and remaining] in the flesh, have gone out into the world” (2 John 7). The use of the present participle in
Greek means Christ remained in the flesh even while this was written. The claim that it was physical flesh before the resurrection but nonphysical flesh after is a form of Gnosticism or docetism
Jesus Ate Physical Food. Another evidence Jesus offered of the physical, tangible nature of his resurrection body was the ability to eat, which he did on at least four occasions (Luke 24:30, 41-43; John 21:12-13; Acts 1:4). Acts 10:40 indicates that Jesus ate often with the disciples after his resurrection, speaking of the apostles who “ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.”
Unlike angels, Jesus’s resurrection body was material by nature (Luke 24:39). Given this context, it would have been sheer deception by Jesus to have shown his flesh and bones and offered his ability to eat physical food as proof of his physical body if he had not been resurrected in a physical body.
Jesus ,s Body Had His Wounds. Another unmistakable evidence of the physical nature of the resurrection body was that it possessed the physical wounds from Jesus’s crucifixion. No so-called spiritual or immaterial body would have physical scars (John 20:27). Indeed, in this same physical body Jesus ascended into heaven, where he is still seen as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (Rev. 5:6). And when Christ returns, it will be “this same Jesus, who has been taken away from you into heaven” (Acts 1:11). These same physical scars of his crucifixion will be visible at his second coming, for John declared, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Rev. 1:7).
Jesus ,s Body Was Recognized. The usual words for “seeing” (horao, theoreo) and “recognizing” (epiginosko) physical objects were used over and over again of Christ in his resurrection state (see Matt. 28:7, 17; Mark 16:7; Luke 24:24; John 20:14; 1 Cor. 9:1). Occasionally, Jesus was not initially recognized by some of the disciples. Luke says of one occasionthat “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him” (24:16) and later “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (v. 31). However, often there were purely natural factors, such as their perplexity (Luke 24:17-21), sorrow (John 20:11-15), the dimness of the light (John 20:14-15), the visual distance (John 21:4), the suddenness of Jesus’s appearance (Luke 24:36-37), the different clothes he had on (John 19:23-24; 20:6-8), or their spiritual dullness (Luke 24:25-26) and disbelief (John 20:24-25). In every case, the difficulty was temporary. Before the appearances were over, there remained absolutely no doubts in their minds that Christ had arisen in a literal, material body.
Jesus ,s Body Could Be Seen and Heard. Jesus’s resurrection body could not only be touched and handled but also seen and heard. Matthew says that “when they saw him, they worshiped him” (Matt. 28:17). The Emmaus disciples recognized him while eating together (Luke 24:31), perhaps fromhis bodily movements (cf. v. 35). The Greek term for recognize (epiginosko) means “to know, to understand, or to recognize.” It is a normal term for recognizing a physical object (Mark 6:33, 54;
Acts 3:10). Mary may have recognized Jesus from the tone of his voice (John 20:15-16). Thomas recognized him, probably even before he touched the crucifixion scars (John 20:27-28). During the forty-day period, all the disciples saw and heard him and experienced the “convincing proofs” that he was alive (Acts 1:3; cf. 4:2, 20).
Resurrection Is Out from among Dead. Resurrection in the New Testament is often described as “from(e&) the dead” (cf. Mark9:9; Luke 24:46; John2:22; Acts 3:15; Rom 4:24; 1 Cor. 15:12). Literally, this Greek word ek means Jesus was resurrected “out from among” the dead bodies, that is, from the grave where corpses are buried (Acts 13:29-30). These same words are used to describe Lazarus’s being raised “from the dead” (John 12:1). In this case, there is no doubt that he came out of the grave in the same body in which he was buried. Thus, resurrection was of a physical corpse out of a tomb or graveyard. As Gundry correctly noted, “For one who had been a Pharisee, such phraseology could carry only one meaning—physical resurrection” (Gundry, 177).
Soma Always Means a Physical Body. When used of an individual human being, the word body {soma) always means a physical body in the New Testament. There are no exceptions to this usage in the New Testament. Paul uses soma of the resurrection body of Christ (1 Cor. 15:42-44), thus indicating his belief that it was a physical body. The definitive exegetical work on soma was done by Gundry (ibid.). As evidence of the physical nature of the resurrection body, he points to “Paul’s exceptionless use of soma for a physical body” (ibid., 168). Thus, he concludes that “the consistent and exclusive use of soma for the physical body in anthropological contexts resists dematerialization of the resurrection, whether by idealism or by existentialism” (ibid.).
For those who think Paul should have used another word to express physical resurrection, Gundry responds, “Paul uses soma precisely because the physicality of the resurrection is central to his soteriology” (ibid., 169). This consistent use of the word soma for a physical body is one more confirmation that the resurrection body of Christ was a literal, material body.
The Tomb Was Vacated. Joined with the appearances of the same crucified Jesus, the empty tomb provides strong support of the physical nature of the resurrection body of Christ. The angels declared, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay” (Matt. 28:6).
Since it was a literal, material body that was placed there, and since that same physical body had come alive, it follows that the resurrection body was that same material body that died.
The Grave Clothes Were Unwrapped. When Peter entered the tomb, he “saw strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’s head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen” (John 20:6-7). Certainly, if thieves had stolen it, they would not have taken time to take off and fold the headcloth. Nor if Jesus had vaporized through the grave clothes would the headcloth have been in a separate place all folded up by itself. These details reveal the truth that the material body of Jesus that had once lain there had been restored to life (Acts 13:29-30). John was so convinced by this evidence of a physical resurrection that when he saw it he believed Jesus had risen, though he had not yet seen him (John 20:8).
The Body That Died Is the Same One Raised. If the resurrection body is numerically identical to the postresurrection body, and the preresurrection body is unquestionably material, then it follows that the resurrection body is also material. This, of course, does not mean every particle is the same. Even our preresurrection body changes its particles continually, yet it is the same material body. It means that the resurrection body is one and the same substantial and continuous material body, whatever accidental changes there may be in its given molecules. In addition to the empty tomb, the empty grave clothes, and the crucifixion scars, there are other lines of evidence that the resurrection of Christ was in the same physical body that died.
First, Jesus said in advance that the same temple, his body, would be destroyed and raised again. He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:21-22). The it manifests that the body raised is one and the same as the body destroyed by death.
Second, the same identity is implied in the strong comparison between Jesus’s death and resurrection and Jonah’s experience in the great fish (Matt. 12:39; 16:4). He said, “As Jonah was three days and three nights inside the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40). Obviously, in both cases, the same physical body that went in was the same one that came out. Thus, the inseparable identity between the pre- and postresurrection body of Jesus by Paul, the converted Pharisee, is strong confirmation that he is affirming the physical nature of the resurrection body.
Third, Paul added, “The perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53). It is noteworthy that Paul does not say that this corruptible body will be replaced by an incorruptible model. Rather, this physical body that is now corruptible will “clothe itself’ with the additional element of incorruptibility. If a material body was buried and a spiritual or immaterial body were raised, it would not be the same body. But in this text, Paul affirms the numerical identity between the pre- and postresurrection body.
Fourth, Paul’s sermon in Antioch reveals the identity between the body that was killed on the cross and the one that was raised from the dead. He said, “When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead” (Acts 13:29-30).
Finally, the close connection between the death and resurrection points to numerical identity of the resurrection body. Paul considered it of first importance that “Christ died for our sins,. . . that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Elsewhere, Paul declares that what was “buried” was “raised from death” (Rom 6:3-5; cf. Acts 2:23-24; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:39-40; 13:29-30; Col. 2:12). It is noteworthy that, “as an ex-Pharisee, Paul could not have used such traditional language without recognizing its intent to portray the raising of a corpse” (Gundry, 176).
In view of the evidence, there is no justification for the claim that the pre- and postresurrection body has no “material identity” and that “the resurrection body will not have the anatomy or physiology of the earthly body” (Harris, Raised Immortal, 124, 126). And since believers will have bodies like his (Phil. 3:21), it follows that theirs will also be material. Indeed, many of the above arguments can be directly applied to believers. For example, the Bible says they will rise out of “the dust of the earth” (Dan. 12:2) and “come forth” from being “in the graves” (John 5:28-29), thus indicating the material nature of their resurrected bodies.
Conclusion. Murray Harris claimed that the resurrection body is “spiritual” and not really a physical body of flesh and bones. He wrote: “Consequently the material ‘flesh and bones’ that Jesus had during this encounter with his disciples were not integral to his ‘spiritual body’ but had been assumed temporarily, but none the less really, for evidential reasons, as accommodations to the understanding of his disciples” (Harris, From Grave to Glory, 392). But if the crucifixion scars were not in the actual “spiritual” resurrection body, but only in the one temporarily assumed for evidential reasons, then Jesus deceived his disciples when he said of this temporary body of flesh and bones, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself” (Luke 24:39). According to Harris, this temporary body was neither the physical body in which Jesus was crucified nor his real (“spiritual”) resurrection body. If Harris’s assertion is correct, Jesus flatly deceived his disciples.
The only body that actually had the crucifixion scars in it was the physical body of flesh and bones in which Jesus died. But according to Harris, the temporarily assumed material body in which Jesus appeared was not the same body of flesh that had the actual crucifixion scars in it. It follows, then, that the temporarily assumed physical body that Jesus showed his disciples was only a replica of the crucifixion body. If Harris is right, then Jesus flatly lied; this seems a serious objectionto Harris’s view.
The Bible is very clear about the nature of the resurrection body. It is the same physical, material body of flesh and bones that died. There are, in fact, numerous lines of evidence to support this. The evidence for the physical nature of the resurrection body is overwhelming (see Resurrection, Evidence for). And its importance to Christianity can scarcely be overestimated. Any denial of the physical bodily resurrection of Christ is a serious matter. Denials by evangelicals are even more serious, including those that use the traditional term bodily resurrection to affirm their views. For “bodily” resurrection has always meant that Jesus was resurrected in the same physical, material body in which he died. As the poet John Updike put it:
Make no mistake; if He rose at all it was as His body,
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall.
That Jesus rose from the dead in the same physical body of flesh and bones in which he was crucified is a linchpin of orthodox theology and apologetics. Historic Christianity stands or falls on the historicity and materiality of the bodily resurrection of Christ.