Genesis chapter 22 describes how Abraham was called by God to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. This story is set about 4,000 years ago and is stunning. Some people say that it is horrible, barbaric, and even pagan, and that the religion of the Bible is primitive and no better than that of other ancient peoples. Yet this story is important to the Jewish and Christian faiths, and even in the Islamic faith, and has been so for many centuries.
Geoff Russell believes that it’s a wonderful story, which gives us significant insights into the mind and heart of God. This very story gives us reasons to believe that God is good, and that the Bible is His revelation to us.
The presentation and discussion can be viewed on You Tube
One of the miracles ascribed to Jesus is that of feeding over 5000 people with 5 small loaves of bread and 2 fish. Interestingly this is one of very few stories that appears in all 4 gospels. So, how are these stories different and how do they differ?
Kevin does not try to prove that this miracle really happened, but shows that there are a large number of incidental details which strongly indicate that, at the very least, this story is based on an actual event.
The New Testament starts with the 4 gospels: Matthew, Mark Luke and John. Each gospel also provides unique material. For example, only Luke gives us the parable of the prodigal son and only Matthew tells us about the visit by the Magi, but, some material is repeated. I have sometimes reacted, “Ho hum, boring! I have heard this all before”, but I was wrong.
The New Testament (NT) manuscripts are defined as those manuscripts that are still extant that were copied manually prior to the invention of the printing press. This article gives an overview of the New Testament manuscripts. It is a summary of a talk that is view-able on YouTube.
“The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1601-1602)
“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. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” 1 John 1:1-2
This is a summary of Steve White’s presentation on an argument for the resurrection on the 27th August 2015. (more…)
On the 18th of September Dr. Stephen Spence, professor of New Testament studies and theology at Tabor College, spoke at Reasonable Faith Adelaide about the nature of the oral tradition that is behind the New Testament and about how we can date when the New Testament documents were written.
Dr Stephen Spence
This is a brief summary of his talk. A video of his talk and the subsequent discussion is available on You Tube.
This is a summary of the presentation given by Steve White to Reasonable Faith Adelaide on the 24th of July 2014.
Steve White
1. Introduction
This is a summary of the presentation by Stephen White on “The Reliability of the Old Testament” given to Reasonable Faith Adelaide on the 24th of July 2014.
Since the Adelaide Chapter commenced meeting about two years ago much of its debate and arguments have been about the reliability of the 27 books we know as the New Testament (NT), which are the specifically Christian writings of the Bible. However, for many Christians, the NT is just a progression of God’s revelation that commences at Genesis Chapter 1 and continues through the 39 Bible books we know as the Old Testament (OT). Is there evidence to support for reliability of the OT?
As a starting point the 39 OT books accepted in the English Protestant Bible are those defined in Jesus statement at the end of Luke (Ch 24 v 44): ‘These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me’:
This grouping of the OT books was as follows:
The Law of Moses (Jewish Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
The Prophets (Jewish Nebi’im): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and the 12 minor prophets
The Psalms (named after the first major book of the group) also known as the Writings (Jewish Kethubim):
Psalms, Proverbs, and Job
Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther
Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles
Other Jewish writings of that time largely confirm this list of books as being the accepted Holy texts.
The following presentation focuses on a sample of the books found in the OT, especially the early chapters of Genesis whose reliability is most often questioned. Evidence for the Flood account of Genesis 6-9 has been covered by Ray Lakeman previously and will not be presented here.
2. Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls
In November 1946 an Arab shepherd boy threw a rock into a cave while searching for his flock at Qumran on cliffs above the Dead Sea – he heard jars smash and discovered the Dead Sea scrolls. Scrolls continued to be discovered in the same area until 1956.
A Qumram Site
The scrolls (972 documents) are believed to be buried by the Jewish Essene sect and can be dated from 400 BC to 135AD based on the style of writing and the coins found with them. The documents contain all books of our OT except for Esther (the only book not to mention God) as well as other books and Essene communal rules. At that time all Hebrew was written in consonants only.
Prior to 1946 the oldest Jewish OT was dated about 980 AD in the Masoretic Text (MT) which is still used as the basis for the English Bible OT translation. The MT style of copying the OT books added vowels after about 600AD and also marks to assist copy accuracy. Some 60% of the OT Dead Sea scrolls can be easily correlated with the MT used for our Bible OT, especially the Law of Moses and some of the prophets, such as Isaiah. Another 20% are in a Qumran specific style based on MT, with 5% from the Greek OT translation and another 5% with the Samaritan OT. So now we can compare our OT to sources from over 2200 years ago. This has verified that the MT maintained a remarkable accuracy over that time.
Qumran Isaiah
The Qumran scroll of Isaiah is a 95% match to the MT used for our OT translation of Isaiah. The other 5% is largely spelling differences. Of the 166 Hebrew words in Isaiah 53, the great a prophetic chapter of God’ servant suffering for others sins, only 17 letters differ from that used for our English translation.
The Isaiah Scroll
The Quality Assurance process of OT reproduction was highly effective in preserving the meaning of Isaiah passed down to us 2200 years after the Qumran scrolls and probably – by the demonstrated process in use – for a further 500 years to Isaiah’s original writing.
Qumran Daniel
Apart from Genesis, Daniel is probably the OT book whose purported 6th BC date of composition is most under attack. This is because of Daniel’s accurate prediction of Persian and Greek history to succeed that of Babylon with inference of one more world power before God’s anointed Messiah. The book also predicts the Messiah would appear 483 years after the order to rebuild Jerusalem – subsequently made by the Persian King Artaxerxes in 445 BC. Sceptics maintain it must have been written about 165 BC because of its many accurate predictions of rivalry between the Greek kingdoms in Syria and Egypt that affected Judah culminating in the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus IV (ruler of the Seleucid Empire from 175 – 164 BC).
The Qumran writings show that by about 200 BC the book of Daniel was accorded the same reverence as other OT books and could hardly have been written at that time.
Internal Historic Evidence from Daniel Chapter 5
Chapter 5 of Daniel narrates the last feast of Belshazzar King of Babylon when he saw ‘the writing on the wall’ and offered the third place in the Kingdom to whoever could declare its meaning. This accurately reflects that Belshazzar was made co-regent with his father Nabonidus, and could only offer the third ranking place in the kingdom. This is a detail that was unlikely to be known in Judah after centuries of Persian and Greek rule. Records of Belshazzar and his co-regency were not known in recent times until the Nabonidus Cylinder was discovered in 1853.
3. Dating of the Sinai Covenant and its Renewals
The Covenant given to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20 through Leviticus) has the structure of treaty between a sovereign and his vassals or subjects. Such treaties are known from other civilisations through history and can be compared with that in Exodus, Leviticus and its renewal in Deuteronomy and finally at the end of the book of Joshua after the people of Israel enter their promised land. The structure of the Covenant matches that of a Hittite treaty of 1400-1200 BC and not that of Aramean or Assyrian treaties 900-650 BC, indicating a date of the events and composition of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Joshua parallel with Hittite treaties.
4. External Evidence for Genesis Chapters 10-11
Customs match the era
Genesis 11-24 record the following customs that break the Law of Moses yet match those recorded for the Mitani Kingdom 1500-1350BC, indicating composition that is faithful to historic accuracy rather than being consistent with Jewish law:
Abram marries his half-sister Sarai
Sarai gives her maid to Abram to bear a child
Abram’s servant was his heir until he has a son.
Names match the area
Genesis Chapter 11 verses 20-26 list Abrams ancestors whose names can be matched to names of towns in the area of Haran in south-east Turkey:
Great Grandfather Serug to modern town of Suruc as well as Assyrian texts.
Grandfather Nahor to Assyrian and Mari texts of a town matching that name.
Father Terah to Til Turahi (mound of Terah) mentioned in 9thC Assyrian text.
The Ziggurat of Babel matches archaeology
Genesis 11 verses 1-8 describe the Tower of Babel made from brick, tar and mortar common in Mesopotamia instead of stone used in Canaan.
Verse 4 describes Babel as ’a tower that reaches to heaven’, similar to titles of other Ziggurats found in the area e.g. Ziggurat at Larsa – The House of the Link between Heaven and Earth.
Shem’s generations timeline match known population growth
Genesis 11 verses 10-26 list nine generations from Shem, son of Noah, to Abram including the ages of the father when each son was born. This amounts to 350 years from birth of Shem’s son Arphaxad, two years after the Flood to birth of Abram at about 2000BC.
The world’s population was approximately 600 million in the year 1650 and increased to about 2,400 million by 1950. This means that it would have doubled twice in 300 years, or doubling every 150 years,
According to Genesis 6-11 only Noah and his family—eight in total—survived the deluge about 4300 years ago. That population has to double 29½ times to get the current world’s population of ~7,000 million, at an average doubling rate of once every 152 years.
Shem’s generations timeline match DNA evidence
The spread of population from the Tower of Babel about 4200 years ago is consistent with latest Genome dating of Australian aborigines (as far as the evolutionary paradigm will allow):
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, reported “evidence of substantial gene flow between Indian populations and Australia about 4,000 years ago”. They analysed genetic variation from across the genome from Australian Aborigines, New Guineans, Southeast Asians and Indians. “Long before Europeans settled in Australia humans had migrated from the Indian subcontinent to Australia and mixed with Australian Aborigines,” according to the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It found “substantial gene flow from India to Australia 4,230 years ago ie… well before European contact,” it said. Reference: cosmosmagazine.com/news/ indians-broke-australian-isolation-4000-years-ago-study. 15 Jan 2013.
Ancient Greek history of foundation of Babylon matches Shem’s generations timeline
Babylon was founded 1903 years prior to its conquest by Alexander in 331BC according to Simplicius work De Caelo (Latin: About the Heavens), from work by Aristotle: ‘Astronomical observations made by Babylonians were taken to Greece by Callisthenes at Aristotle’s request’.
Historic accuracy in Genesis Chapter 10
Chapter 10 lists Noah’s descendants such as Mizraim (Egypt in Greek), Ashkenaz, Eber (Hebrew), Javan (name for Greeks elsewhere in OT) and Asshur population groups still identifiable today.
Chapter 10 lists Shinar (Sumer) and city states Erech and Akkad whose ruins and language have been reconfirmed by archaeology in the last 150 years as well as Babylon and Nineveh which have been known throughout history.
5. External Evidence for Genesis Chapters 4-5
Sumerian King List
The Sumerian King List is an ancient record (circa 1800 BC) of the kings of Sumer and Akkad, originating in the late 3rdM during the reign of Utu-hegal king of Uruk (Erech in Genesis 10).
Its preamble begins with: ‘when the kingship was lowered from heaven’. It goes on to list the succession of kings, the length of their reigns and city which they ruled. The King List lists an early group of kings who lived extraordinary long lives – like Genesis 5. After a great flood the subsequent kings lived shorter but still very long lives – like Genesis 11.
Figure Sumerian King List
Wikipedia.org comments on the King List:
The King List seems to have had a ‘profound influence’ upon both the Hellenistic Greeks and upon the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.
For example William Hallo has demonstrated that there is a similarity between the Cainite Genealogy (Genesis 4), and the Sethite Genealogy (Genesis 5), with the duplication of names (Enosh and Enoch, Jared and Irad, Methusaleh and Methushael, Lamech and Lamech), being inspired from the seven generations of pre-diluvian kings in the King List.
Uanna-Adapa appears in Borosus (Greek era Babylonian author of History of Babylon) as Oannes, and in the Bible as Adam.
Exaggerated lifespans of the Sumerian King List.. seems to have been an artefact of the conversion from an early numerical system based upon 360 to a base 10 system for enumerating years.
6. External Support for Genesis 1 Creation Account
According to Dr Clifford Wilson in The Stones Still Shout p12 – A creation tablet found at Ebla in Syria dated circa 2200 BC ascribes the works of creation to one great being, ‘Lugal’, literally ‘the Great One’ who brought creation into being from nothing.
Whereas the later creation account Enuma Elish (‘When Above’) are Assyrian copies of earlier Babylonian creation story collected by Assyrian King Ashur-bani-pal about 700-626B. Earth was created by the God Apsu (freshwater ocean) and Tiamat (saltwater ocean). They then created other god’s but these displeased Apsu, and he decided to kill them all. Ea another god heard this and killed Apsu. Marduk patron god of Babylon was then born. Soon other monster gods were created.
Thus the Genesis 1 account of creation matches that of the simpler earliest account rather than the fantastic account recorded from early Babylonian records in Assyria.
Conclusion
The Qumram scrolls demonstrate that the transmission of the OT text has been reliable since 400 BC. It seems reasonable to extrapolate this back to the times of their authorship, but this does not prove that the original accounts are historically accurate. There is currently no explicit external evidence for the events of the Bible prior to Kind David (about 1000 BC). This is mainly due to the fact that the evidence fades out the further we go back. However, there is a significant amount of circumstantial evidence that shows that the historical events described in these ancient stories match the habits of their times and are at least plausible.
Did Paul Hijack Christianity?
1 Introduction
This is a brief summary of the presentation by Kevin Rogers on “Did Paul Hijack Christianity?” given to Reasonable Faith Adelaide on the 29th of May 2014. The presentation was partially in response to Laurie Eddie’s talk on “The Origins of Christianity” on the 24th of October 2013 (see https://reasonablefaithadelaide.org.au/the-true-origins-of-christianity-a-sceptical-view/). This summary does not address the issues that Laurie raised. The response to Laurie is included in the video of the full presentation and discussion, which is available on You Tube. See also the Power Point Slides for the full presentation of Did Paul Hijack Christianity?
Many sceptics have argued that Christianity, as we know it, is not a direct reflection of the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, but is a distortion and creation of the apostle Paul. It is said that the early followers of Jesus believed that he was a great teacher, but that it was Paul who transformed the human Jesus into the divine Christ who was the atonement for our sins.
The Conversion of Paul by Carravaggio (1600)
There is no doubt that Paul has had an enormous influence on Christianity. About 30% of the New Testament is either about Paul or written by Paul. The issues are:
Did Paul enhance our knowledge of Jesus’ intent or did he distort it?
Are the gospels and other letters independent of Paul or are they distorted by Paul’s influence?
2 Typical Arguments for Paul’s Hijack
Firstly I will present some of the arguments that are used to support the contention that Paul is the creator of the divine Christ.
The letter from James may be one of the earliest books in the New Testament and it was supposedly written by James the brother of Jesus who also became the leader of the Jewish church in Jerusalem. However, the letter from James contains no information about the life of Jesus. In fact, it only mentions Jesus twice. It mainly contains ethical teaching that is similar to the Sermon on the Mount. This tempts us to ask, “Was Jesus initially just considered a great teacher rather than son of God or Messiah?”
Compared with the gospels, there is very little in Paul’s letters regarding Jesus’ life or ministry. Thus Paul often is accused of being neither knowledgeable nor interested in Jesus’ life. Rather, he seems more interested in Jesus’ theological significance and Christian belief and practice. One passage that could be used to support this view is where Paul says, “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer”. (2 Corinthians 5:16)
Some people also criticise Paul for some of his extensions to Jesus’ ethical teachings as recorded in the gospels. For instance, Paul reinforces the Old Testament negative view on homosexuality and also teaches specific roles for men and women. These views are currently unpopular and are deemed politically incorrect. Also these particular views are not explicitly mentioned by Jesus. Thus Paul is accused of adding ethical teachings that are inconsistent with Jesus.
3 The Nature of the New Testament
Before considering counter arguments I will remind readers of the structure of the New Testament.
The New Testament contains the following books/letters:
4 gospels
Acts
13 letters from Paul
8 letters from other authors (Hebrews, James, Peter, John, Jude)
The Revelation of John
The 4 gospels contain narrative information about Jesus’ birth, ministry, teaching, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Acts is a narrative of the life of the early church after Jesus’ ascension for the next 30 years and the last half is mainly devoted to Paul’s activities. The 4 gospels are called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “synoptic” gospels because they see together. They share common material and sometimes their verbal agreement is exact. The common view is that Matthew and Luke had access to Mark and used some of his material, but Matthew and Luke also have common material that is not in Mark. Thus scholars believe there was another document (Q = Quelle, which is German for “source”) that Matthew and Luke had access to. Q is considered very early and predates Paul’s letters. Matthew and Luke also had their independent sources (M & L) and John was probably independent of the synoptic gospels.
Gospel Sources
4 The Dating of the Gospels
Sceptics usually promote a late dating for the gospels. They often claim that all 4 gospels were written after 70 AD, well after Paul’s death. Supposedly this would have given time for Paul’s version of Christianity to be incorporated into the gospels. However, there are very good reasons for believing that at least Mark and Luke were written much earlier than this.
Acts is a sequel to Luke and Luke uses material from Mark. Thus the sequence of these 3 books is Mark, Luke and then Acts. However, Acts finishes abruptly in 62 AD with Paul under house arrest as follows:
For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 28: 30-32)
What happened after that? In fact, there were quite a lot of significant events:
Paul would have had his trial before Nero soon afterwards,
The Neronian persecutions were in 64 AD,
Peter, Paul and James the brother of Jesus were all executed in the mid-60s,
The Jewish Wars commenced in 66 AD, and
The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.
Luke records absolutely nothing about these events. Thus, common sense would tell us that Luke did not record these events because he completed the Book of Acts prior to these events. Thus it is reasonable to conclude that Acts was written in 62 AD, Luke was written prior to 60 AD and Mark was written before that.
5 Paul’s Influence
Did Paul have a significant impact on the 4 gospels? There is certainly a link between Luke and Paul. Luke accompanied Paul during the latter part of his missionary journeys. Irenaeus also claims, “Luke, Paul’s associate, also set down in a book the gospel that Paul used to preach.” For instance, Luke’s account of the Last Supper is very similar to Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians 11. However, it is likely that Luke was in Jerusalem between 57 AD and 59 AD while Paul was imprisoned at Caesarea. During this time he probably conducted his investigation for the material that he used in his gospel. Thus much of Luke’s material is not dependent on Paul.
Mark was probably written concurrently with Paul’s letters. Mark and Paul’s letters were written from separate locations. It would take several years for Mark and Paul to influence each other. They also seem completely independent. As well as this, Matthew and John also seem independent of Paul.
There were tensions between Paul and the church in Jerusalem, but what were these tensions? The initial followers of Jesus were almost completely Jewish and were considered part of the Jewish culture and faith. The church in Jerusalem saw Jesus as the fulfilment of Jewish hopes. They saw themselves as having continuity with the Jewish faith and other Jews regarded them as a Jewish sect. They continued to worship in the Jewish temple and early evangelism only targeted Jews. When persecution arose, the Hellenistic Christians were scattered and started spreading the gospel to Samaritans and then to gentiles. This was extremely radical at the time. As gentiles came into the church, a number of issues arose, such as:
Is it Ok for Jewish Christians to eat with gentile converts?
Should gentile Christians follow the Jewish law?
Should gentile Christians be circumcised?
However, there is no evidence that there was an issue regarding the claim that Jesus was Messiah, Son of God or Lord. However, is there solid positive evidence that the Jerusalem church believed in the divine Christ?
The letter to the Hebrews is relevant to this discussion. The writer does not mention his own name although he was known to his readers at that time. In the 2nd century Irenaeus admits that by then no one knew who wrote this letter. However, it was written by a Jew to the Jews in Jerusalem and it was not written by Paul. It was written prior to the Jewish wars (66-70 AD), as priestly sacrifices were still being offered in the temple. Its early date means that it was independent of Paul. However, it commences as follows:
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
This clearly claims a very high view of Jesus. Hebrews also strongly affirms that Jesus was the atonement for our sins. Thus the divine nature of Jesus and the theology of the atonement were taught in the early Jerusalem church and these teachings are not invented by Paul.
6 Paul’s Knowledge of the Earthly Jesus
Even though Paul’s letters do not specifically contain narrative information about Jesus’ ministry, Paul still provides quite a bit of information about Jesus’ life and ministry:
Paul provides intimations about Jesus Birth: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). Note that Paul says “born of a woman” and does not mention a man. This may indicate that he had knowledge about Jesus’ special birth, but this example is not definitive.
The kingdom of God was a distinctive part of Jesus’ teaching. This is considered an undoubted element of Jesus teaching, as it was subsequently largely ignored by the early church. Why invent a theme that is not a significant part of church life? Ironically, the only New Testament letter writer who refers to the kingdom of God is Paul, who mentions it numerous times.
1 Corinthians 11: 23-26 provides an account of the last supper, which Luke has incorporated in his gospel.
Paul is of course well aware of the crucifixion and resurrection.
Romans 12 is very similar to the sermon on the mount and many of his other ethical teachings are similar to Jesus.
Thus, Paul did have a significant knowledge of Jesus’ life and ministry.
There are 8 other New Testament letters that were not written by Paul. None of these letters contain narrative information about Jesus. That was not their purpose. Their purpose was to address issues regarding theological understanding and Christian practice and they presumed a prior knowledge about Jesus. In general they are similar to Paul’s letters, but they were written independently of Paul and demonstrate that Paul did not pull Christianity into a significantly different direction.
Does the lack of narrative information in the other letters indicate lack of knowledge or interest in Jesus’ ministry? Well, consider John’s 3 letters. These do not include any narrative information about Jesus’ ministry. From this we should conclude that John was neither interested in nor knowledgeable about Jesus’ ministry. However, the same author also wrote John’s gospel, which exhibits considerable knowledge and interest in Jesus’ ministry. Thus it is wrong to conclude that absence of narrative information necessarily indicates lack of knowledge or interest.
7 Summary
There is no doubt that Paul is highly significant and has had an enormous impact on the development of Christianity and consequently on the whole world. Paul was doubtless an outstanding missionary and established many churches. However, his significance should not be exaggerated. There were obviously many others who were spreading the gospel and establishing churches all over the Roman Empire at the same time as Paul. Many of these people are now unknown to us. The significant thing about Paul is that we have a written record of his acts and his letters.
Paul was formerly a zealous Pharisee and student of the Old Testament and Jewish traditions. He did not believe in Jesus and persecuted the Church. Even though we have no evidence that Paul had seen Jesus in the flesh, he obviously had a great deal of knowledge about Jesus and this new Jewish sect. However, he claims that he received a revelation of Christ on the road to Damascus. This forced him to radically revise his understanding of the Old Testament. He based much of his theology on his interpretation of the Old Testament and his claimed revelation from Christ.
Paul was always very much a Jew and saw the whole ministry of Jesus through Jewish eyes. Although he was a highly educated man who was aware of Greek philosophy, it is highly implausible that he would have sought inspiration from pagan sources. Paul did not have first-hand knowledge of Jesus’ life. He had significant contact with the apostles and with members of Jesus’ family but his information was 2nd hand, even though it is better than ours. We have to rely on the testimony of other New Testament witnesses for this information.
The gospels were written within the context of Jesus’ life at that time. They proclaim a progressive revelation of the person of Jesus. It is the letters that disclose the significance of Jesus’ life. Most of the gospels were probably written concurrently with Paul’s letters. They were written from different locations and so it is highly likely that the gospels and Paul’s letters are largely independent. Although Luke was closely associated with Paul, it seems as though he conducted an independent investigation and got most of his gospel information from other sources.
The Roman Empire
The New Testament is a collection of documents written by different authors from different locations throughout the Roman Empire. We can read the whole of the New Testament, but we are in a relatively privileged position. Paul did not take a photocopy of his letters prior to sending them. It took many years for his letters to be copied and disseminated to other churches. The same applies to all other books in the New Testament. Nobody within the 1st century had visibility of all of the New Testament documents. Thus we have a bird’s eye view that was never available to any person within the 1st century. Thus it is impossible that a single person could exert monolithic control of such a diverse movement. If Paul deviated from other movements within early Christianity then it should be clearly visible within the New Testament collection; but it is not. What you see in the New Testament is what you get. There is no conspiracy to trick you. It is a collection of books written by different authors that provides us with their view of Jesus of Nazareth and his significance to us.
Kevin Rogers
Director, Reasonable Faith Adelaide
An Argument for the Resurrection from Paul’s letters
by Kevin Rogers
1 Introduction
This is an argument for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth based primarily on Paul’s letters. Most arguments for the resurrection are based on the gospel accounts, but this one is based almost entirely on Paul’s writings (mainly Galatians and 1 Corinthians). I believe this is quite a strong argument that is quite evident from a close examination of Paul’s letters. However, most people (Christian or non-Christian) are almost totally unaware of it.
Before I commence the argument I will remind you of the nature of the NT.
If we construct an argument from the NT, then some may object, “Oh you can’t believe that. That is written in the Bible.” Some may envisage that the Bible was constructed by a committee to fool gullible 21st century people. However, that is not the case. Neither did the NT suddenly emerge out of heaven. The New Testament is a collection of 27 separate documents written by the following 9 authors:
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Paul
The writer of Hebrews
James
Peter
Jude
All of the authors were Jewish, except for Luke who was probably a highly educated, Greek God Fearer who attended synagogue prior to his Christian conversion. The New Testament documents were written at different times mostly in the latter half of the first century, from different places and to different readers. It is debatable whether the authors were conscious that they were writing sacred scripture. They may have simply been writing to meet local needs at that time. However, the readers perceived their value, copied and distributed them to other churches and also formed them into collections for reading within local congregations and for personal use. For instance, Paul wrote 13 letters to various churches. It is likely that they were formed into a collection near the end of the 1st century and then widely distributed to churches. Scrolls were expensive and laborious to produce. Thus it would have taken a significant number of years for them to be widely distributed within the Roman Empire and to gain acceptance by the churches. The New Testament documents are both independent and interdependent. Paul’s letters are very early and he probably had no access to any of the 4 gospels. For this argument I am not treating the NT as the divinely inspired word of God. I am simply using it as the work of men, like any other ancient document.
2 The Argument
Most arguments for the resurrection are based primarily on the 4 gospels with significant support from Paul. For example, historical arguments are raised to claim that Jesus was crucified, died and was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. However, when the women visited the tomb on Sunday morning, it was empty. It is then argued that many saw appearances of Jesus and that they genuinely believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. I fully support this mode of argument. However, sceptics often claim that the gospels were written late and they were not written by eyewitnesses or by people with access to eyewitnesses. Thus their testimony is the result of exaggerated legendary development. However, these objections don’t work with Paul and I will explain why later.
I will use a little supporting information from Acts to gain information on Paul’s conversion, but can Acts be trusted? It is traditionally believed that Luke is the author of the gospel of Luke and Acts. The authorship of Acts is not critical to my argument. The critical point is that the author (let’s call him Luke) knew Paul very well. Luke accompanied Paul on a number of his missionary journeys and would have often heard Paul retelling the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus. Thus we can take Luke’s testimony about Paul seriously. Paul does not describe his conversion in narrative form in his letters and so we have to rely on Acts for this information.
The core of my argument from Paul is:
Paul had excellent access to information about Jesus
He claims Jesus appeared to him
He was converted from persecutor to follower
He was sincere unto death
Why die for a belief you know is false?
I will now expand on each of these points.
2.1 Paul’s Letters
Paul wrote 13 letters out of the 27 books in the NT, just less than 30% of the whole New Testament, and in each of his letters Paul identifies himself as the author in his initial greeting. Virtually all historical and biblical scholars accept that the majority of Paul’s letters were indeed written by Paul. His style is strongly personal, spontaneous and even controversial. There is no way that his letters were constructed or contrived by a committee. Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians and Philemon are virtually undisputed by scholars of all persuasions as being originated by Paul.
We can also be very confident that we have a good record of what he wrote. Many copies of Paul’s letters were disseminated widely, diverging into multiple branches like leaves on a tree. Scholars can compare multiple copies and derive a very reliable text. Thus, there is scholarly agreement that we know what Paul wrote.
Within his letters Paul refers incidentally to dateable events. Thus the contextual information that is contained in these letters enable some of them to be dated quite accurately. Paul’s letters were also written very close to Jesus’ ministry. His earliest letter may be within 15 years of the crucifixion. All of his letters were completed prior to Paul’s death in about 65 AD. There are 2 theories for the destination for the Galatian letter (the South and North Galatian theories), which result in authorship dates of 49AD or 55 AD respectively. 1 Corinthians was written in approximately 53 AD.
In summary, for most of Paul’s letters, we know who wrote them, what he wrote and when he wrote them. We also know they were written within a generation of Jesus’ crucifixion. Thus sceptics cannot claim that Paul’s letters were the result of legendary development. They need another ploy.
2.2 Biographical Information
2.2.1 Paul’s conversion
Paul makes numerous allusions to his conversion in his letters, but he does not provide a narrative description. Three narrative descriptions of his conversion on the road to Damascus are provided in the book of Acts. On his way to Damascus, Paul claims he had an encounter with the risen Christ. According to Acts a bright light appeared from heaven, Paul fell to the ground and he heard the voice of Jesus. This appearance was more than a vision that occurred in his brain. His companions saw the light and heard a sound, but they could not understand the voice. So something physical happened. Paul was temporarily blinded by the light. So Paul was also physically affected. (This is the only information from Acts that I use. The rest comes directly from Paul’s letters.)
Even though Paul does not provide a narrative description of his conversion in his letters, he does refer to it on a number of occasions. A couple of Paul’s allusions to an appearance of Jesus to him are as follows:
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? (1 Corinthians 9:1)
Last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:8)
2.3 Paul’s letters
We can get a huge amount of biographical information about Paul from his letters. However, I will just make use of Galatians and 1& 2 Corinthians.
2.3.1 Galatians
The biographical information that Paul provides in his letter to the Galatians has little to do with the resurrection. He provides this information incidentally to justify his authority as an apostle and to validate the content of his gospel message. Since this information is provided incidentally, it increases its credibility. You will see what I mean.
Paul starts his letter as follows:
Paul, an apostle — sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers and sisters with me, To the churches in Galatia:Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:1-5)
The points to note from this section are that Paul identifies himself (which is common to all of his letters) and that he highlights that he received a special call from God. He then goes on:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse (Galatians 1:6-10).
Note Paul’s provocative style. He is driving his point home in a very emphatic way. This is the voice of a distinct individual, not the consensus of a committee.
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. (Galatians 1:11-17)
Paul affirms the Acts account that he persecuted the church prior to his conversion but then he received a unique and special revelation from Christ. This special revelation probably corresponded with his conversion experience and it was sufficient for him to completely change and to commence preaching the gospel without any reference to the other apostles.
Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas [Peter] and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. (Galatians 1:18-20)
Paul visited Jerusalem 3 years after his conversion, stayed with the apostle Peter for 15 days and also met James, the brother of Jesus. What did they discuss? He does not say, but we can safely assume that they did not just have cups of tea and talk about the weather. This meeting is extremely significant. On this extended occasion, Paul had the opportunity to have in-depth discussions with a key disciple and also with one of Jesus’ blood brothers. Paul later visited Jerusalem again and met John the son of Zebedee, another key disciple. For the sake of space, I will not list the passage. Trust me; or look it up yourself.
2.3.2 Paul and the Corinthians
Corinth is a city in Greece, where Paul established a church. Paul stayed in Corinth for 18 months from late 49 AD to mid-51 AD. This can be dated fairly precisely from 2 key events. When he first arrived, he was joined by Prisca and Aquilla who had recently left Rome due to the expulsion of Jews from Rome by Claudius. The Roman historian Suetonius dates that as occurring in late 49 AD. Acts also records that Paul appeared before Gallio. Gallio was proconsul of Achaia (Greece) from the 1st of July 50 AD to the 30th of June 51 AD. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus in about 53 AD. 1 Corinthians is mainly of interest due to Paul’s discussion of the resurrection in chapter 15, but this letter also contains other interesting incidental information. Consider this:
Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? (1 Corinthians 9:4-6)
Obviously Paul was acquainted with the other apostles and Jesus’ blood brothers. This passage also tells us that Jesus’ brothers are now believers (including James) and are also itinerant preachers (like Paul). This information is just dropped incidentally but the implications are quite stunning. Jesus’ 4 brothers are named in the gospels. During Jesus’ ministry they did not believe in him. As a matter of fact, they thought he was crazy and on one occasion they wanted to quietly take Jesus back to Nazareth where they could look after him or perhaps consign him to a loony bin. Subsequently their worst fears were realized and their crazy brother got himself executed. So, he claimed to be the Messiah. Well crucifixion was a great encouragement. But now they believe in him. What caused the change? Something dramatic must have happened for them to change their mind.
2.3.3 Biographical Summary
The information that we have gathered so far establishes the following facts with a high level of certainty. Paul was probably not an eye-witness to Jesus’ earthly ministry. Prior to his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee who was zealous for the Jewish traditions. He saw the rise of Christianity as a threat to Jewish traditions and obtained authority to persecute the church. He had Christians put in jail and even executed. However, on the road to Damascus a dramatic event occurred where he believed that Jesus appeared to him. This appearance was not just a vision inside his brain, but was accompanied by various physical phenomena that were visible to his companions. This appearance was sufficient to completely change his attitude such that he suddenly began to teach that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah and the Son of God. The revelation that he received was clear enough that he commenced preaching the gospel without any reference to the other apostles. Three years later he went to Jerusalem and stayed with the apostle Peter for 15 days and also met James the brother of Jesus. At a subsequent visit he also met John the son of Zebedee and also other apostles. He also knew of Jesus’ other brothers. Thus Paul had access to key eye-witnesses of Jesus’ family life and ministry. He was very close to the action.
Paul’s main record relating to the death and resurrection of Christ is contained in 1 Corinthians 15. We will examine some sections of this chapter.
2.4 1 Corinthians 15
1 Corinthians chapter 15 is Paul’s main account of the resurrection.
Verses 1 – 8 are as follows:
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
The section in red is a creed where Paul is quoting a prior record. Most scholars believe that Paul received this creed when he stayed with Peter and met James 3 years after his conversion. Thus this creed originated within 5 years of the crucifixion/resurrection. Paul passed this creed onto the Corinthian church in 50 AD during his 18 month stay. There are a number of interesting aspects to this passage.
Paul lists the essentials of the gospel, such as the death, burial, resurrection and appearances of Jesus. Considering the early date, the general format of the gospel, including belief in the resurrection, cannot be due to legendary development.
Jesus appeared to Cephas, The Twelve, more than 500 at one time, James, all the apostles, and finally to Paul. This list includes Cephas (Peter) and James the brother of Jesus. These are the exact same people with who he stayed or met on his first visit to Jerusalem.
The list also includes 500 people at one time. Strangely, this is not mentioned in the gospels, although some have suggested that it corresponds to the great commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel. However Paul mentions that most of the 500 are still living although some have died. He seems to be suggesting to the Corinthians that they can still consult many of those 500.
Verses 12 – 19 are as follows:
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
What Paul is saying here is that if Christ is not raised then:
Our preaching and your faith is useless and futile,
We are liars,
Those who have died are lost, and
We are to be pitied more than all people.
Verses 29 – 32 are as follows:
Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Paul knew what was at stake. If Christ is not raised then why suffer for the gospel? Rather, why not eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
2.5 Paul Suffered for his Beliefs
Just to emphasize this last point, consider the following passage from 2 Corinthians 11:21-29 (written in 55 AD):
Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
Obviously Paul devoted his life to the gospel and endured enormous suffering, but note also his unique and personal style. Eventually Paul was arrested and put in prison for the 7th time. The NT does not record his death. However, there is strong testimony from other sources that Paul was eventually beheaded just outside of Rome during the Neronian persecutions in about 65 AD.
3 Objections
The crux of our argument is that Paul was in a good position to know whether the resurrection occurred and yet he affirmed its truth in the most emphatic terms and was willing to pay for his profession with his life. We will now briefly consider some objections to this argument, as summarised below:
Paul was not an eye witness of Jesus’ ministry
Paul had little knowledge of the earthly Jesus
Paul did not actually meet Peter and James the brother of Jesus
Paul was crazy and deluded
Witnesses suffered hallucinations
Resurrection was non-physical
Many people suffer and die for false beliefs
Dead people do not rise
3.1 Paul not an eye witness
It is probably true that Paul had not encountered Jesus during his earthly ministry, but Paul was familiar with the Christian message prior to his conversion. He also had his own experience of Jesus and had significant contact with direct eyewitnesses. Thus, even though the objection is probably true, Paul was still close enough to the events to know whether Jesus rose from the dead.
3.2 Paul knew little of Jesus
Paul provides little narrative information about Jesus’, as is contained in the 4 gospels, and so some claim that Paul neither knew nor was interested in Jesus’ earthly ministry. This is an argument from silence, which is always a suspect form of argument. Even then, consider the following.
Paul’s ignorance of Jesus’ ministry is exaggerated. Paul shows familiarity with Jesus earthly ministry. In Romans 12 Paul teaches ethics that are very similar to Jesus’ sermon on mount. Paul also provides a description of the Last supper (1 Cor 11), the fact of the crucifixion, his trial before Pontius Pilate (1 Tim 6:13), and of course the resurrection.
None of the letters by other authors contain narrative information. The purpose was to encourage churches and address problems and so including narrative information would have being “going over old ground”. Consider John’s letters (1 John, 2 John & 3 John). These letters do not contain any narratives about Jesus. If these letters were considered in isolation, then we should conclude that John neither knew nor was interested in Jesus’ earthly ministry. However, John is also the author of the 4th gospel, where he demonstrates considerable knowledge and interest in Jesus’ ministry.
3.3 Paul did not actually meet Peter and James the brother of Jesus
George A. Wells is the professor of German at the University of London. He was also the president of the London Rationalist Society and is a strong critic of the reliability of the New Testament.
He claims that the meeting between Paul, Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, 3 years after Paul’s conversion never happened. He claims that Paul stayed with Cephas, who was a church leader in Jerusalem, but that Cephas was a different person from the apostle Peter. He also claims that all Christians were generically called brothers and that the James referred to was not a blood brother of Jesus. However, Matthew specifically equates Cephas with Peter. Also Paul refers to Peter 6 times within Galatians, 3 times as Cephas (Aramaic) and 3 times as Petros (Greek). Peter and Cephas are obviously the same person. Besides this, in Paul’s list of appearances he says that Jesus appeared to Cephas, who is the same person he stayed with, so who cares? As for James, the term “the Lord’s brother” is applied specifically to him, as it is in Acts and a James is identified as one of Jesus’ brothers in the gospels. Thus Well’s argument is particularly weak and can be confidently rejected.
However, what this argument does illustrate is how critical and significant is the meeting between Paul, Peter and James. Wells is an ardent critic of Christianity and he does not like the thought that Paul was in such a good position to know the facts.
3.4 Paul was crazy and deluded
One objection is that Paul was crazy. Maybe Paul had eaten too many magic mushrooms. Indeed, when Paul presented his experience to the Roman governor, Festus interrupted, “You are out of your mind Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!” Paul replied, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus. What I am saying is true and reasonable”.
On one level, we could conclude that Paul was crazy. He was an extraordinary man who totally dedicated his life to spread the gospel and suffered a great deal. Who in their right mind would do the same? However, if you read Paul’s letters, you will find that they are quite rational and well argued. He does not seem crazy. Antony Flew was one of the most eminent and well-respected philosophers in the 20th century.
Antony Flew
He was the darling of atheism until he changed his mind in 2004. However, Flew stated that “Paul is an intelligent man and has the mind of a first class philosopher.” So Paul does not seem like a looney.
3.5 Witnesses suffered hallucinations
Another common objection is that the witnesses to the appearances suffered hallucinations. However, there are a number of factors that make this unlikely.
Firstly, hallucinations are relatively rare. Personally, the last hallucination that I can recall was as a young child. I was sick in bed with a fever and I cried out to my mother because I thought there were red spiders in my bed. Ever since that time, my life’s experiences have had a good correspondence with the real world. Thus, for me at least, hallucinations are extremely rare.
Secondly, it is highly unlikely that multiple people would hallucinate at the same time, let alone 500.
Thirdly, a hallucination is internal to an individual’s brain. It is not a shared experience. It is highly unlikely that more than one individual could share the same hallucination. However, the appearances occurred at many times over a period of 40 days to different people and to multiple people on some occasions. Thus is seems highly unlikely that the resurrection experiences could be explained by group hallucinations.
3.6 Non-physical Resurrection
Another objection is that the resurrection that Paul was referring to was spiritual and non-physical. For instance, the Romans believed that the emperor was divine. They even referred to the emperor as the son of God. When Augustus Caesar died it was claimed that his spirit rose to heaven. Could Paul be talking in the same manner? After all when Paul is speaking of our resurrection body he says, “it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Does spiritual then mean non-physical? Are we reading the gospels back into Paul’s letters and imposing a meaning that is not there?
There are a number of reasons why this cannot be the case.
Firstly visible appearances suggest that the resurrection was physical. How can we see a non-physical spirit ascend to heaven?
Secondly, Paul defines what he means by spiritual by using a series of parallelisms. Paul says, “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable”. Thus the natural body is perishable and the spiritual body is imperishable, but he nowhere says that it is non-physical.
Thirdly the Jews at that time believed in a physical resurrection of the dead at the last judgement. Paul shared their context and would have had the same thought patterns in his mind.
3.7 Many people suffer and die for false beliefs
Paul died for his faith but so what. Many people die for their beliefs and, in many cases, it seems highly likely that their beliefs were false. So dying for your beliefs does not make them true. However, in Paul’s case, he was in a great position to know whether Jesus in fact rose from the dead. Why suffer and die for a cause that you know is false?
Paul was willing to pay with his life for his belief in the resurrection. Now, dying for your beliefs doesn’t make it true. News reports of suicide bombers dying for their belief in Islam is almost a daily occurrence. But there is a key difference for the apostles. The apostles were eyewitnesses to the events and knew if their claims were true. Likewise, Paul was in an excellent position to know if the resurrection claim was untrue. Why die for a cause if you know it is not true. For this reason, even sceptical scholars that do not believe in the resurrection will still admit that the apostles really did believe that they had seen the risen Christ.
3.8 Dead people do not rise
The final objection is the root of all the others. Many people approach this topic with a materialist view in mind. They believe that everything happens according to the laws of physics and so miracles just do not happen; full stop. Thus it is impossible that Jesus rose from the dead. They think, “I don’t care how strong the evidence is. Any alternate explanation is preferable, no matter how improbable.”
However, if God is able to create the universe and the laws of physics, then it seems quite logical that God can perform miracles, even if they do go beyond our common experience of the laws of physics. If God created the universe, “then the odd resurrection here or there is chicken feed”.
Thus we seem to have very strong historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. So, conversely the resurrection of Jesus seems to imply that we do indeed have a divine miracle on our hand; and so it also reinforces our belief that God exists.
4 Summary
In summary, I believe that Paul provides a solid testimony to the historicity of the resurrection of Christ and the truth of the gospel for the following reasons:
Paul had access to eye witnesses to the risen Christ within 5 years of the event.
Paul had his own experience where he claims that he had seen the risen Christ.
Paul’s conversion was completely unexpected as he was a former persecutor of the church.
Paul had no motive to give a false testimony.
Paul was willing to endure suffering and death for what he believed. Why do that if you know it is not true?
From the information that we have examined so far, we can conclude the following:
We have solid information about Paul regarding when he wrote his letters, the places he visited and whom he met.
We know that prior to his conversion, he was a passionate Pharisee who opposed the apostles’ message and persecuted Christians
However, on the road to Damascus, he had a dramatic experience where Jesus appeared to him. This experience was sufficient for him to suddenly and completely reverse his prior mission.
Three years later he stayed with Peter for 15 days and also met James, the brother of Jesus. Later on he met another key disciple, John the son of Zebedee, and also met other disciples.
He also knew Jesus’ other 3 blood brothers
He knew many significant eye witnesses to the resurrection
He was also fully aware of the criticality of the objective truth of the resurrection. If the resurrection claim was false then his whole mission was futile and he was guilty of a horrible lie.
Thus Paul had excellent access to key eye witnesses and was in a good position to know whether Jesus’ resurrection really happened; and yet he was willing to suffer and die for his beliefs. Why die for something you know is false?
This presentation is an argument but it is not a mathematical proof. However, hopefully it does demonstrate that the profession of the Church that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate and that God raised him from the dead on the following Sunday morning is not just a wishful hope but also rests on strong historical evidence.
This argument may be historically interesting, but what are the implications for us? Well the implications are huge. God demonstrated that Jesus was indeed the Son of God by raising him from the dead. His resurrection is the guarantee of ours.
In John 11:25 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
