In the last issue we considered ten scriptural facts relating to the resurrection of Christ. Now we shall use these plus other facts of Scripture as well as other arguments to refute four false theories that have been propounded to explain away the resurrection of Christ.
FRAGMENT
Theory 1. Christ never actually died on the cross, but only swooned. This theory, which was first propounded about 200 years ago, suggests that Christ was in a sort of coma and only appeared to have died. It goes on to suggest that He was revived by the cool air of the tomb, got up, and walked away. This theory is refuted by the following arguments:
1. John reports that "When [the soldiers] came to Jesus, [they] saw that He was dead already" (John 19:33). If indeed these soldiers were mistaken, one of them made good and sure that there would be no mistake:"But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (verse 34).
2. Christ’s body was wrapped up in linen cloth, with 70 pounds of spices wound up in the graveclothes. Even if He had revived from the coma, it would have been quite a feat, with hands and feet tightly bound, with that load of spices weighing Him down, and being critically ill from loss of blood, to have unwrapped Himself. Besides, His head also was wound around with a linen cloth (John 20:7), thus impeding His ability to breathe. It would have required a miracle nearly of the magnitude of the resurrection itself for Christ to have freed Himself from the graveclothes.
3. When the three women came to put fresh spices on the body of Christ, they wondered among themselves, "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" (Mark 16:3). If the three women were not strong enough to roll away the stone, would a man who had barely survived crucifixion, lost a lot of blood, just awakened out of a coma, and made a heroic effort to struggle out of the graveclothes that bound him, have had strength enough remaining to move the stone?
4. The afternoon after coming out of the grave, Jesus walked six miles, from Jerusalem to Emmaus, with two of His followers. Think of it! Two days after being crucified He walked six miles on His nail-pierced feet with no indication of hurting!
5. In all of Christ’s post-crucifixion appearances, He always gave the appearance of One who was strong and healthy, not One who was dying or who had just recovered from a close brush with death.
FRAGMENT Theory 2. Christ’s body was stolen away by the disciples. This is the oldest of the false theories concerning the resurrection, starting out as an outright lie when the priests bribed the guards to spread the story, "His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept" (Matt. 28:13). the following arguments might be made against this theory:
1. If the disciples had any reason to want to fool the public into thinking that Christ had risen from the dead, they surely would have waited until the next night to steal the body. Jesus had told them He would rise the third day, so the disciples would have waited to see if Jesus would be true to His word before taking matters into their own hands. Instead, the body was found to be missing very early on the third day.
2. If the disciples had stolen the body out from under the noses of the soldiers standing guard, surely they would not have taken the time and effort to unwind the linen cloths from off the head and body and then to rewrap the cloths the way they had originally been wound about the head and body! (John 20:6,7). So often it is easier to believe in miracles than to believe the alternative explanations that are proposed.
3. The story spread by the guards (Matt. 28:13) was totally illogical. If they were asleep, how could they know it was the disciples who stole the body? And if they were the slightest bit awake, they would have foiled the attempted theft since their very lives depended on their keeping the tomb secure from robbers.
4. According to Roman law, the guards should have been put to death for not securing the tomb against grave-robbers. Why, then, didn’t the priests demand that the guards be punished for allowing Christ’s body to disappear? It was because they knew that if the guards had gone on trial they would have proclaimed the truth about the earthquake and about the angel who descended from heaven and rolled back the stone (Matt. 28:2).
5. Very shortly after the crucifixion, the disciples started preaching to their fellow Jews the fact of Christ’s death and resurrection. If, indeed, they had stolen the body, what would have been their purpose in preaching a lie, especially since such teaching placed them in great jeopardy of their lives? How could a stolen body have transformed that group of fearful disciples (John 20:19) into bold and fearless witnesses for Christ?
FRAGMENT Theory 3. All of Christ’s supposed post-resurrection appearances were only hallucinations. In other words, the disciples, along with many others, only imagined that Christ appeared to them. Let us consider the following arguments concerning this theory:
1. Psychiatrists say that only particular kinds of people experience hallucinations. Also, it is unlikely that two people have the same hallucination at the same time. However, most of the reported post-crucifixion appearances of Christ were to groups of people ranging in number from seven (John 21:2) to over 500 (1 Cor. 15:6).
2. Those who claimed to see Jesus alive again after the crucifixion claimed not only to see Him, but they had conversations with Him (Luke 24:15-27; John 21:15-22), touched Him (Luke 24:39; John 20:27), and gave Him food and watched Him eat it (Luke 24:30,42,43; John 21:13).
3. The reported appearances did not just occur in nostalgic places, like the upper room where the disciples had experienced their last significant contact with Christ_but in many different places, such as in a boat, on a mountain, and on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus.
4. When Christ first appeared to His disciples, they were forced to believe against their will (Luke 24:36-40; John 20:25-29). Also, when Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, she mistook Him for the gardener (John 20:14-16). Are these evidences for a hallucination?
5. These "visions" of Christ suddenly came to an end, after eleven people saw Him ascend bodily into heaven (Acts 1:4-13).
FRAGMENT Theory 4. Everyone went to the wrong tomb; the empty tomb was not the one Christ was buried in. Let us test this theory by the Scriptures:
1. When the body of Jesus was laid in the tomb, Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" were sitting opposite the grave, watching everything that was happening. When they went to the tomb early on the first day of the week, could they both have forgotten so quickly which tomb it was? Besides, at the tomb they went to they found an angel who said to them, "I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen" (Matt. 28:5,6).
2. The women came to the tomb "at the rising of the sun" (Mark 16:2). Thus, they should have been able to see whether they were at the right tomb or not.
3. Since the tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, surely he would have checked out the reports of the empty tomb and have verified whether the people had gone to the right tomb.
4. Since there was so much at stake in this matter, and since the Jewish priests and leaders very much wanted to keep the disciples from spreading word concerning the resurrection of Christ, surely they would have found the right tomb and produced the body, if the body had been there!
FRAGMENT What was it that changed a band of frightened, cowardly disciples into men of courage and conviction? What changed Peter from being so afraid that three times he denied knowing Jesus, into such a bold preacher of Christ? What is it that has given courage and boldness to many believers through over nineteen centuries of the history of the Church_such that many have been burned at the stake, thrown to the lions, and experienced many similar fates, rather than renounce Christ? It is the knowledge of the certainty of the death and resurrection of Christ. And this is not something we merely accept by faith; it is a confirmed historical fact.