With Good Friday and Easter fast approaching, the matter of how to approach these holidays arises for many people in this day and age. Last year, I wrote a series of articles looking at the various easter traditions that have arisen over the last 2,000 years. This year, I will be digging into the events of Good Friday and Easter in order to ask: Is this thing real? Did it really happen? Is it just an Iron Age superstition? The answers to these questions are of huge importance in terms of how we operate as a society and conduct our personal lives. I plan on writing these articles in a question/answer format, which I feel makes the material clearer and more organized.
Why does it matter if Good Friday and Easter are true? The Bible’s account of the life of Jesus culminates in his arrest, sham trial, crucifixion, death, burial, and his resurrection 3 days later. One of the unusual things about Jesus as a religious figure is that he was a man who claimed he was God. He repeatedly told those around him that he was God made flesh, come to save us from the consequences of our sins and reconcile us with God. These are pretty bold claims that, if made by a person you encounter today would cause you to assume they are mentally ill.
Before proceeding, I will point out that tons and tons of ink has been spilled examining Jesus’ life, words, and actions. There is a great deal of consensus amongst psychologists that Jesus did not display the signs of mental illness, like grandiose delusions or narcissistic personality disorder. He just didn’t display mental illness symptoms.
Now, for a man to claim he is God would carry little weight, and would require a great deal of evidence for proof. The original gospel accounts include eyewitness reports of miracles performed by Jesus. Further, the miracles are specifically ones associated with the sorts of things ancient Jews held that only God could do. Beyond that, the resurrection itself is the ultimate proof of his claims. The apostle Paul goes so far as to say that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then the whole of the Christian faith is false. The entirety of Christianity hinges on the truth of the resurrection. In addition, Paul repeatedly says that Jesus was the first of those who would be resurrected. All people will eventually be raised in the time of judgement.
This leads to the obvious next question: Is there any proof Jesus was raised from the dead? The answer to that is that there are all kinds of historical evidence, both from primary and secondary sources, that supports the factuality of the resurrection. This week, I plan on focusing specifically on historical sources. These are direct eyewitness accounts that are contemporary to the events that are being discussed. Whereas secondary sources are ones that quote primary sources. There are other types, but we will focus on these two for now.
For a little context, I will offer an example to compare the historical resources to. Alexander the Great, who conquered the world in the 300s BC, is a very well established figure in ancient history. There is little dispute regarding the basic facts of his life. There are no surviving intact primary sources recounting his life. None. There are a handful of quotes in other works from primary sources, which amounts to less than 1000 words. There are a few secondary sources, however, all of them are several generations removed at a minimum. Beyond that, the closest surviving copy of any of those works was written about a thousand years after the originals. I want to point out that the accounts of the life of Alexander are considered to be pretty solid and explain that he is a well documented figure in ancient history.
By contrast, with Jesus, we have the Bible. When I’ve explained this in the past, people often respond by saying: “You can’t use the Bible to prove the Bible.” This sounds compelling on its face, but it falls apart upon examination. I am not attempt
ing to prove the Bible. I am attempting to prove an event in history. I am using the Bible as a document to point to things that happened. Beyond that, the New Testament is actually a collection of the writings from all of the people who saw and knew Jesus. There is little material outside of the Bible that recounts the life of Jesus, because it was all collected and put into the New Testament. So, you might wonder how many first-hand accounts that includes. There are 6 eyewitness accounts that testify to the fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead. Beyond that, we have the writings of 2 non-eyewitness in the work of Mark and Luke. Mark wrote down Peter’s eye witness recounting of the life of Jesus. Luke was commissioned by a man named Theophilus to investigate the story and report his findings. That means that Luke went and talked to Mary, as well as others who knew Jesus and were there for the events described. Then he wrote them down. Outside of the Bible, the Talmud mentions Jesus several times and the work of the Jewish Historian, Josephus, mentions Jesus’ resurrection as well. There are still others, but the point is that the events of Easter are very well documented as historical occurrences.
You might now ask: How trustworthy are those books? In terms of ancient documents, the Bible is the most well preserved book by light years. There are over 5,000 Greek and Hebrew copies of every book in the Bible. Beyond that, every line in the Bible can be found in the works of the early church fathers, who quoted and discussed scripture in the couple of hundred years that followed the life of Jesus. The earliest fragments of New Testament books are from within the first century, meaning within decades of the life of Jesus. The earliest manuscript is from the first half of the second century. Compare that to the 1000 years for Alexander.
In later articles, I will begin to unpack other supports for the historical truth of Easter. For now, I will conclude by explaining what all of this means. When discussing whether or not the events of Easter took place, the evidence that we begin with is a large collection of first-hand witness testimony from people who knew Jesus and saw him raised from the dead. In terms of the sheer number of witnesses and the copies of the documents themselves, the story of Jesus is overwhelmingly attested to compared to any other event in ancient history. This is quite a thing considering it is the story of a peasant in a backwater country. The account we have received is the one they told and it has been accurately preserved. Next week, we will begin to explore whether or not these witnesses were particularly believable.
