In a Nut Shell

Bodily Resurrection of Jesus

Furqan Q. Ali

Liberty Theological Seminary

THEO 510

In a very simple nutshell, the New Testament is founded on Jesus Christ and the power of his "resurrection". Since the foundation of biblical Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then the historical veracity of his life, death and resurrection are tantamount. For as Paul declared in his letter to the Corinthians:

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.

Based on standard rules of evidence, consistent testimony from multiple credible witnesses would be considered the strongest form of evidence available to a litigant. Therefore, if I found such testimony present in credible accounts of the historical record, I would have satisfied a major evidentiary challenge under traditional rules.

After reading the article The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus by Dr. William Lane Craig, I am more convinced of the truth that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was indeed physical and not just a spiritual resurrection. The arguments he presents are based on the scriptural evidence found with in the text of the Bible itself, starting with Paul writings. Explaining in the first place what Paul was saying in the book of Acts 9.1-19: 22.3-16 26.9-23. Proving that when Paul "saw" Jesus and saw the light and heard the voice, the fact that his companions also saw and heard this as the author states, "Had Luke had no tradition that included Paul's companions, then we should have another vision like Stephen's, lacking extra-mental phenomena."

There were also multiple eye-witness testimonies regarding the resurrection of Jesus. In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul established the following:

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.

Manuscript studies indicate that this was a very early creed of the Christian faith, written within a few years after the death of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it's dramatic that Paul ends the passage with "most of whom are still living." Paul was inviting people to