Evidence for the Resurrection - Minimal Fact #2: The disciples believed Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them. When considering this piece of evidence, an important distinction should be made. The scholars who have studied the events surrounding the resurrection don’t deny that the disciples truly believed they saw the risen Jesus; but many of those scholars aren’t convinced that’s what actually happened. (Otherwise, they might all be Christians!) This is evidence accepted by virtually all scholars that demonstrates the true beliefs of the disciples.
One of the most convincing reasons to accept that the disciples truly believed they saw the resurrected Christ is that they never recanted their claim, even under threat of torture, imprisonment, and death. People may be willing to suffer and die for something they truly believe in, but who would be willing to die for something they they’re not sure about, or that they know is a lie?
There are several biblical and non-biblical sources that attest to the disciples’ willingness to suffer and die for what they believed. Some of these sources are writings of the early church fathers, such as Tertullian, Polycarp, and Origen, and ancient historians such as Josephus and Eusebius. There are also creeds which originated as an oral tradition for passing down important information that predate the writing of the New Testament. Since Paul is a source who is independent of the original disciples, his testimony is also considered important and acceptable evidence that the disciples claimed Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them.
Additional credibility can be given to the reports of the apostles because, in contrast to modern-day martyrs who die for beliefs they’ve been taught by others, the apostles died for refusing to deny their own eyewitness testimony that they had personally seen the risen Christ. They died for what they knew was true, not just for what they believed was true.
One opposing theory that held popularity more than a century ago, and still is believed by some people today, is that the appearances of Jesus after his death were merely hallucinations brought on by grief. This theory was proposed in 1835 by David Strauss in his book The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined and was still being defended by New Testament critic Gerd Lüdemann prior to his death in 2021.
Grief-induced hallucinations fail to be a plausible explanation for the appearances of the risen Jesus for a couple of reasons. First, not all who observed the resurrected Jesus were his devoted followers. Some were non-believers and even enemies, none of whom would have been experiencing grief over the death of Jesus.
Second, in light of what we know about hallucinations being strictly individual experiences, this theory is easily refuted. Jesus appeared not just to individuals, but also to groups (including more than 500 people at once - 1 Cor. 15:6) over a period of 40 days in both indoor and outdoor situations (see 1 Cor. 5, Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20). People can't share hallucinations any more than they can share dreams. Even in situations where groups of people experience shared severe trauma (being lost at sea, stranded in a desert, etc.) or use hallucinogenic drugs together, the resulting hallucinations are never identical.
The defenders of the hallucination theory who have pointed out similarities between the appearances of Jesus after his death and reports by bereaved people who claim to have had visions of dearly departed loved ones miss the point that such appearances are believed to be of the deceased in the afterlife, not that they have come back to life physically. In other words, these visions are evidence that a person is dead.
Since the Jews believed the souls of the righteous dead abide in Abraham's bosom (or heaven) until the final resurrection, the disciples' hallucinations would have depicted Jesus in those surroundings (heaven/Abraham's bosom). This might have led the disciples to believe Jesus had been taken (assumed) into heaven, but not that He had been raised from the dead. They also believed the final resurrection was for all the righteous dead, and had no concept of an individual's resurrection in history. This is likely why the disciples were confused when Jesus predicted his own resurrection. Thus, this theory fails to explain how the disciples' belief in Jesus' physical resurrection originated.
This theory also fails to account for the conversions of Paul and James, and the empty tomb. Those topics are coming up next! (This blog is third in a series on evidence for the resurrection. You can read the previous blogs here and here.)
Recommended resources:
The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona
Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek
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