What Jesus Said About Resurrection (Re-Airing)
Day of Discovery has a 2-part series entitled, “What Jesus Said About Resurrection.” I was interviewed mainly for my research of the pagan myths as you
will hear in the video. For more in-depth details about the pagan myth argument, please see my chapter in the new book: “Come Let Us Reason” -editors William Lane Craig and Paul Copan. The Day of Discovery episodes will be re-airing on Sunday, April 1st (Part 1) and Sunday, April 8th (Part 2) on ION TV.
will hear in the video. For more in-depth details about the pagan myth argument, please see my chapter in the new book: “Come Let Us Reason” -editors William Lane Craig and Paul Copan. The Day of Discovery episodes will be re-airing on Sunday, April 1st (Part 1) and Sunday, April 8th (Part 2) on ION TV.
Following is a brief description of the program:
Travel
to Israel with Mart DeHaan and hear from scholars and authorities in
the field of New Testament studies as they explore Jesus’ claims and
examine the evidence for his resurrection. In this 2-part DVD, you’ll
see Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified and buried, and Bethany where,
according to the Gospels, he was last seen on earth. Decide for yourself
whether or not the resurrection of Jesus is the single most important
event in history.
As a reminder Day of
Discovery can be seen on Ion TV Sundays at 7:30 a.m. Eastern and Pacific, and 6:30
a.m. Central and Mountain time. A
listing of local station air times can be found by visiting the Web site at www.dod.org
and following the
“Where to Watch” link in the left column. Additionally, the program is available to view at no cost via their Web site.
Discovery can be seen on Ion TV Sundays at 7:30 a.m. Eastern and Pacific, and 6:30
a.m. Central and Mountain time. A
listing of local station air times can be found by visiting the Web site at www.dod.org
and following the
“Where to Watch” link in the left column. Additionally, the program is available to view at no cost via their Web site.
What Jesus Said About Resurrection
Day of Discovery recently completed a 2-part series entitled, “What Jesus Said About Resurrection.” I was interviewed mainly for my research of the pagan myths as you will hear in the video. Others giving perspectives include Gary Habermas, Darrell Bock, Michael Licona, and many more. You can catch Part 1 in its entirety on the Day of Discovery website. Part 2 will be available beginning tomorrow, April 22nd. You can receive a DVD copy via the website with a donation of any amount. It is a great resource to have available!
Evidence For The Resurrection Resources
What a great opportunity to share Christ with those we encounter on a daily basis! Each year, Easter brings families and friends together to enjoy each other, buy a new dress or tie, and, of course, eat lots of food! As you sit around talking, would you like to be able to clearly articulate the evidences available for the resurrection?
Fellow apologist, Mikel Del Rosario (Apologetics Guy), has compiled a comprehensive list of media to get you started. You might also enjoy my PowerPoint presentation. Plus, Dr. Michael Licona’s new book, “The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach,” is a definitive work on the matter.
There is strong evidence for the resurrection. We hear and see this every year during sermons or church musicals, but are we prepared to give a defense when the opportunity presents itself? Spend some time becoming familiar with these arguments and be prepared.
Speaking of church musicals, my husband, who is a Pastor of Worship, recently presented “Bow The Knee” with our home church, Nassau Bay Baptist Church. He took a quick video of the Tomb Scene. @2:00 For The Win!
“Resurrection” Myths vs. Resurrection of Jesus – Osiris
This is the second in a series of posts on resurrection myths by Mary Jo
Main Question: Was the story of Jesus’ resurrection unique in the first century or did other written accounts of resurrections like Jesus’ exist before or during the time period of the New Testament writings?
The Cult of Osiris
Egyptian
Greek – Usiris: many of the names of gods differ for the Greek version of Osiris’ story
The story:Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld. Isis and Osiris were two of the children of the earth-god Seb (Geb) and the sky-goddess Nut; though Nut was also the wife of the sun-god, Ra. Osiris married his sister, Isis, and reigned as a king on the earth. He is allegedly the ruler of Egypt that brought the Egyptians out of cannibalism and introduced them to a corn diet along with help from Isis who discovered wheat and barley growing wild in the fields and introduced the cultivation of these grains to the people. Osiris also brought the Egyptians out of savagery by teaching them to worship the gods and giving them laws. He decided to share his blessings of civilization and agriculture with the rest of the world and traveled all over training mankind in these ways, leaving Isis to rule Egypt.
Upon Osiris’ return, he is duped by his brother, Set (Greek: Typhon), into laying down in a coffer made just for him. His brother and co-conspirators nail the lid on the coffer, solder it with lead, and throw the coffer into the Nile River. Isis sets out to find her beloved and wanders up and down the Nile searching for him. Osiris’ coffer floats out to sea and lands on the shores of Byblus, where it is engulfed by an erica-tree that springs up around it. Isis, with a tip from the god of wisdom, eventually finds Osiris’ coffer in a column of a palace that had used the tree in construction and takes the coffer back with her. However, when she leaves the coffer to visit her son, Horus, her brother, Typhon finds the coffer, and recognizing the body inside, tears Osiris into 14 pieces and spreads him out all over. Isis recovers all the pieces save one and buries each piece where she finds it. This spreading out of Osiris’ bodily burial is to explain the worship of him in numerous Egyptian cities and also to keep Typhon from finding Osiris’ burial spot.
The “resurrection”[1]:According to Egyptian tradition, Isis and her sister, Nephthys, lament over Osiris’ scattered, dead body and their lament catches the attention of the sun-god, Ra. Ra sends Anubis down from heaven and along with Isis, Nephthys, Thoth, and Horus, he pieces together the scattered Osiris. With help from Isis, Osiris is revived to the position of Lord of the Underworld, Lord of Eternity, Ruler of the Dead.
Similarities to the resurrection story of Jesus:
Both died, both were brought back to some kind of existence after life
Dissimilarities to the resurrection story of Jesus:Life: Osiris allegedly ruled on earth as a god-king over all of Egypt, Jesus did not rule as an earthly king, but proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven as having arrived on earth
Death: Osiris was duped into his demise, Jesus sacrificially and willingly died for all mankind
Resurrection: Osiris was pieced back to together by other gods out of Isis’ desire for her dead husband, Jesus was raised to a new life having conquered physical death giving hope to all mankind
Afterlife: Osiris was raised to the position of Ruler of the Underworld, Jesus was raised to a new body, the firstborn of the resurrected, and rules with God over all creation
What about the dating of these stories? Who is influencing who? A couple of quotes from two articles:
– The key here is dating. Most of the alleged parallels between Christianity and mystery religions, upon close scrutiny will show that Christian elements predate mythological elements. In cases where they do not, it is often Jewish elements which predate both Christianity and the myth, and which lent themselves to both religions.[2]
– In the case of all three, there is no evidence earlier than the second century A.D. for the supposed “resurrection” of these mystery gods.[3]
– For a discussion of certain parallels between the Osiris cult and Christianity, where “any theory of borrowing on the part of Christianity from the older faith is not to be entertained, for not only can it not be substantiated on the extant evidence, but it is also intrinsically most improbable.” see S. G. F. Brandon. “The Ritual Perpetuation of the Past,” “Numen”, vi (1959), 122-129 (quotation is from p. 128).[4]
Also, the Osiris myth directly relates to the corn crop cycle. As taken from The Golden Bough,
The foregoing survey of the myth and ritual of Osiris may suffice to prove that in one of his aspects the god was a personification of the corn, which may be said to die and come to life again every year.
and
But Osiris was more than a spirit of the corn; he was also a tree-spirit, and this may perhaps have been his primitive character, since the worship of trees is naturally older in the history of religion than the worship of the cereals. The character of Osiris as a tree-spirit was represented very graphically in a ceremony described by Firmicus Maternus.
A name for Osiris was the “crop” or “harvest”; and the ancients sometimes explained him as a personification of the corn.
I do not believe an alternative representation for Jesus’ life – specifically the crop cycle or the seasons – can be well evidenced. I also do not see any kind of story revolving around Jesus where the characters are gods and demi-gods, which is true to the plot of most mystery religion stories.
MJ
Note: Please check referenced documents for further documentation. Articles quoted have many more sources than provided here.
For Further Reading:Metzger, Bruce. Historical and Literary Studies: Pagan, Jewish, and Christian. Available from: http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/mystery_religions_early_christianity.htm.%3C/a Accessed January 22, 2007.
McDowell, Josh. “Is The New Testament Filled With Myths”. Chapter 14 of A Reasoned Defense. Available from: http://www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch14/default.htm. Accessed January 22, 2007.
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough. Available from: http://www.bartleby.com/196/79.html Accessed May 22, 2007.
Endnotes:
[1] The term “resurrection” is used here only for comparative purposes. I am currently looking into whether or not this term was a Judeo-Christian term borrowed by the mystery religions or if the mystery religions ever used this term at all.
[2] McDowell, Josh. “Is The New Testament Filled With Myths”. Chapter 14 of A Reasoned Defense. Available from: http://www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch14/default.htm. Accessed January 22, 2007.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Metzger, Bruce. “Methodology in the Study of Mystery Religions and Early Christianity.” from Historical and Literary Studies: Jewish, Pagan, and Christian. Available from http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/mystery_religions_early_christianity.htm. accessed January 22, 2007. This quote is a footnote from page 12.
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
“Resurrection” Myths vs. Resurrection of Jesus – Tammuz and Adonis
This is the first in a series of posts on resurrection myths by Mary Jo.
Was the story of Jesus’ resurrection unique in the first century or did other written accounts of resurrections like Jesus’ exist before or during the time period of the New Testament writings? This is an important question to answer since it is at the root of an objection to Christianity’s claims of uniqueness. Over the course of the next couple of posts, I will look at other resurrection claims and the evidence surrounding those claims versus the evidence surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. Although, throughout these short posts do I in no way intend to accomplish a full treatment of this subject matter. Instead, I will lay down very minimal facts and point to other sources.
The Mystery Cults
Skepticism about the uniqueness of Christianity’s resurrection claim can be read in writings such as The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer (1906), Hellenistic Ways of Deliverance and the Making of the Christian Synthesis by John H. Randall (1970), and Those Incredible Christians by Hugh Schonfield (1968). However, upon a closer examination of the available source documents, it is shown that much of the written record of the mystery cults comes to us from the second to fourth century A.D. The appearances of “resurrections” in these myths do not emerge in their writings until after the resurrection accounts of the New Testament.
The Cult of Tammuz
Names:
Mesopotamian – Tammuz
Sumerian – Dumuzi
Phoenician – Adonis
The cult of Tammuz can be traced back to around 3000 B.C, and has a Babylonian-Sumerian origination.[1] Tammuz was allegedly resurrected by the goddess Inanna-Ishtar. Tammuz’s resurrection is “alleged” because the end of both the Sumerian and the Akkadian texts of the myth of “The Descent of Inanna (Ishtar)” had not been preserved. The story actually states that Dumuzi (Tammuz) did not return from death to an earthly life, but was placed in the underworld as a substitution for Inanna.[2] Apparently, there is only fragmentary evidence that Dumuzi had his sister take his place in the underworld for half of the year. Even so, the story of Tammuz is not like the resurrection story of Jesus. However, let’s take a brief look at Adonis.
The cult of Adonis has possibly been linked to the same parent deity of the cult of Tammuz. According to Jessie Weston in Ritual to Romance, “…the worship of the divinity we know as Adonis, may, under another name, reach back to an antiquity equal with that we can now ascribe to the cult of Tammuz.”[3] The earliest stories of Adonis report no death or resurrection and the “resurrection” of Adonis is not recorded until after A.D. 150.[4] Edwin M. Yamauchi, professor of history at Miami University, Ohio, in his article Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History states, “P. Lambrechts has shown that there is no trace of a resurrection in the early texts or pictorial representations of Adonis; the four texts that speak of his resurrection are quite late, dating from the second to the fourth centuries A.D. (“La ‘resurrection’ d’Adonis,” in Melanges Isidore Levy, 1955, pp. 207-40).”[5]
The story of Adonis’ death is not similar to that of the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ death. Adonis was mortally wounded by a wild boar. As described in Frazer’s The Golden Bough, “At last the fair youth was killed in hunting by a wild boar, or by the jealous Ares, who turned himself into the likeness of a boar in order to compass the death of his rival.”[6] Adonis, according to the story, was eventually given to Persephone, goddess of death, for part of the year, and to Aphrodite, goddess of love for the other. This is not a picture of a god dying for the sins of the world and being resurrected to new life that all people may partake in.
When comparing the stories of Tammuz, Dumuzi, and Adonis with the resurrection stories of Jesus, these stories only demonstrate strained similarities (in that they speak of the death and life of a being). It is also not likely the New Testament writers were mimicking later writings of dying and rising gods due to the second century appearance of the “resurrection” in the myths.
Mary Jo
Note: Please check referenced documents for further documentation. Articles quoted have many more sources than provided here.
For Further Reading:
Metzger, Bruce. Historical and Literary Studies: Pagan, Jewish, and Christian. Available from: http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/mystery_religions_early_christianity.htm Accessed January 22, 2007.
Nash, Ronald. Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions? Available from: http://www.equip.org/free/DB109.htm Accessed January 22, 2007.
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough. Available from: http://www.bartleby.com/196/79.html Accessed May 22, 2007.
Footnotes:
1 Weston, Jessie. From Ritual to Romance. Chapter IV: Tammuz and Adonis. Available from: www.sacred-texts.com/neu/frr/frr07.htm#fn_39>http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/frr/frr07.htm#fn_39. The Internet Sacred Text Archive. Accessed May 22, 2007.
[2] Yamauchi, Edwin M. Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History. Available from: >http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html. Accessed January 22, 2007.
[3] Weston, Jessie. Ritual to Romance.
[4] Habermas, Gary. Mike Licona. The Case For the Resurrection of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications: 2004. pg. 90.
[5] Yamauchi, Edwin M. Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History.
[6] Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough. Available from: >http://www.bartleby.com/196/79.html. Accessed May 22, 2007.
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
Minimal Facts Approach – Testing Hypotheses
This post is a continuation of a series of posts by Mary Jo on the Minimal Facts Approach.
Various Hypotheses Concerning the Resurrection
After establishing the four minimal facts surrounding the event of resurrection, I will now put to the test a few of the numerous hypotheses given as an explanation for these facts. The answer at the end of each fact demonstrates whether or not the theory in question can account for that particular fact.*
Swoon Theory – Jesus did not die on the cross; he fainted or swooned, and was eventually revived
Fact 1: Jesus died by Roman Crucifixion – NO
Fact 2: Jesus appeared to the disciples – NO
Fact 3: Jesus appeared to foes – NO
Fact 4: Jesus’ tomb was empty – NO
X This hypothesis does not account for all of the facts.
Hallucination Theory – The disciples had grief-induced or other type hallucinations, which explain the appearances of Jesus.
Fact 1: Jesus died by Roman Crucifixion – YES
Fact 2: Jesus appeared to the disciples – NO
Fact 3: Jesus appeared to foes – NO
Fact 4: Jesus’ tomb was empty – YES/STRAIN
X This hypothesis does not account for all of the facts.
Legend Theory – Jesus was most likely a man who led a small religious cult in first century Palestine, but legend about him developed over the years after his death in an effort to convert people to Christianity.
Fact 1: Jesus died by Roman Crucifixion – NO/STRAIN
Fact 2: Jesus appeared to the disciples – NO
Fact 3: Jesus appeared to foes – NO
Fact 4: Jesus’ tomb was empty – NO
X This hypothesis does not account for all of the facts.
Myth Theory – The story of Jesus Christ is a myth that developed much like the myths of other ancient near east religions.
Fact 1: Jesus died by Roman Crucifixion – NO
Fact 2: Jesus appeared to the disciples – NO
Fact 3: Jesus appeared to foes – NO
Fact 4: Jesus’ tomb was empty – NO
X This hypothesis does not account for all of the facts.
Jesus was resurrected – Jesus died by Roman crucifixion, was buried, and subsequently appeared to his disciples and others in bodily form.
Jesus was resurrected – Jesus died by Roman crucifixion, was buried, and subsequently appeared to his disciples and others in bodily form.
Fact 1: Jesus died by Roman Crucifixion – YES
Fact 2: Jesus appeared to the disciples – YES
Fact 3: Jesus appeared to foes – YES
Fact 4: Jesus’ tomb was empty – YES
This hypothesis accounts for all of the facts.
The inference suggested by historically exploring the evidence around the events of Jesus’ life is that a resurrected Jesus is the best explanation for the historical facts. What are the implications of a resurrected Jesus?
Mary Jo
Main Sources:
Habermas, Gary. Mike Licona. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Kregel: 2004.
*Licona, Mike. Resurrection of Jesus. Lecture. McLean Bible Church Apologetics Conference, “Loving God With All Your Mind.” November, 2006. Format for checking hypotheses from Licona’s lecture.
For further reading:Explaining Away Jesus’ Resurrection: The Recent Revival of Hallucination Theories – Gary HabermasThe Late Twentieth-Century Resurgence of Naturalistic Responses to Jesus’ Resurrection – Gary HabermasContemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – William Lane CraigDid Jesus Really Exist? – Paul L. Maier
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
Minimal Facts Approach – Fact #4
This post is a continuation of a series of posts by Mary Jo on the Minimal Facts Approach.
Fact #4 – Jesus’ tomb was empty
1) The Jerusalem Factor
2) Enemy attestation
3) The testimony of women
The Jerusalem Factor
Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. His empty tomb and his resurrection were proclaimed there first. If Jesus’ body had still been in the tomb, why did no one go get the body and drag it through the streets of the city to shut down the Christian movement that so angered the Jewish officials? This would not be an easy task but it would be worth getting rid of a blasphemous group of rebels. Furthermore, an occupied tomb would at least have dissuaded enough of the believers to merit some apologetic attention on this matter. However, no apologetic work can be found on an occupied tomb by any of the apostles or even second or third century Christian writers: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Polycarp, Ignatius, and Origen (to name a few). There is a strong possibility they would have reasoned a defense for an empty tomb, as demonstrated in their reasoning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, if they had needed to do so. In addition, no work on the tomb from early Christian opposition can be found, such as Celsus, the second century Christian critic.[i]
Enemy Attestation
If testimony about an event or person is given by a source who does not sympathize with the person, message or cause that benefits from the affirmation, then there is reason to believe the testimony’s authenticity. The empty tomb can be found either implicitly or explicitly stated in the works of Josephus, Justin Martyr’s “Dialogue with Trypho,” Tertullian’s “On Spectacles,” and in the Jewish Toledoth (a derogatory version of Jesus’ life in Jewish tradition).
In the Jewish Toledoth:
“On the first day of the week his bold followers came to Queen Helene with the report that he who was slain was truly the Messiah and that he was not in his grave; he had ascended to heaven as he prophesied. Diligent search was made and he was not found in the grave where he had been buried. A gardener had taken him from the grave and had brought him into his garden and buried him in the sand over which the waters flowed into the garden.[ii]
In Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho:
“You have sent chosen and ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilaean deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where he was laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that he has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven.” [iii]
Even to imply that Jesus was raised or that his tomb was empty is certainly damaging to the case against the resurrection if reasoning from the offensive.
Testimony of Women
If I had an intention of creating a story to make myself (or my story) look good, I would most likely not include information that would be damaging or embarrassing to the credibility of my story. By that standard, it would be an odd invention to have the women as the first witnesses of the empty tomb. In the accounts of the empty tomb, the women are exactly that, the first witnesses, in all four gospel accounts. This report would most likely be damaging to the case for the empty tomb when taken in context of the first century socio-cultural norms. The testimony of a woman was not regarded as highly as the testimony of a man. Habermas and Licona quote a few Jewish writings on this matter:
Sooner let the words of the Law be burnt than delivered to women. (Talmud, Sotah 19a)
But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex…..; since it is probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or fear of punishment. (Joshephus, Antiquities 4.8.15)
Any evidence which a woman [gives] is not valid (to offer), also they are not valid to offer. This is equivalent to saying that one who is Rabbinically accounted a robber is qualified to give the same evidence as a woman. (Talmud, Rosh Hashannah 1.8)[iv]
Why would the gospel writers include women as the number one witnesses to the empty tomb when it would behoove their cause to use men instead? The reason would be because they were reporting the truth; embarrassing as that may be.
These three factors contribute to the case for an empty tomb. Though the empty tomb is conceded by 75%[v] of scholars who write on the Resurrection (versus 95% or better on the other 3 facts), this is still an impressive number for the empty tomb case. Again, the empty tomb is a historically probable event that needs to be explained when discussing the evidences surrounding the Resurrection.
MJ
[i] Habermas, Gary. Mike Licona. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications: 2004. pg. 71.
[ii] http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/humm/Topics/JewishJesus/toledoth.html. Accessed December 1, 2006.
[iii] The Second Apology of Justin for the Christians: Addressed to the Roman Senate. The Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/justin-apology2.html. Accessed December 2, 2006.
[iv] Habermas. Licona. pg. 72. All three quotes were taken from The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.
[v] Ibid. pg. 70.
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
“The Tomb of Jesus” and the Resurrection
From the Discovery Channel “Tomb of Jesus” webpage:
“Ascension: It is also a matter of Christian faith that after his resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven. Some Christians believe that this was a spiritual ascension, i.e., his mortal remains were left behind. Other Christians believe that he ascended with his body to heaven. If Jesus’ mortal remains have been found, this would contradict the idea of a physical ascension but not the idea of a spiritual ascension. The latter is consistent with Christian theology.”
The whole article is no longer available although this summary from wikipedia is helpful.
I will focus on the statement, “the latter is consistent with Christian theology.” This statement is not consistent with the writings of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 and therefore not acceptable within orthodox Christianity. In selections from 1 Corinthians 15: 35-50 we read:
“But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body (Greek word “soma”) do they come?’ You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body (soma) which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body (soma).”
Picking back up in verse 42: “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. . . . It is sown a physical body (soma), it is raised a spiritual (Greek word “pneumatikos”) body (soma). . . . I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
The word “body” in the Greek is “soma,” which refers to a physical object (the body of both men or animals and that which casts a shadow as distinguished from the shadow itself). The word “spiritual” in the Greek is “pneumatikos” which refers to the human spirit or rational soul.
Spiritual Body – In verse 44, the scripture says “it [the body] is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” But what does this mean? The type of body is “relating to the human spirit, or rational soul, as part of a man which is akin to God” that is also “the body of both men and animals or that which casts a shadow.” Soma pneumatikos.
The doctrine of bodily resurrection is vital to the Christian faith. If God did not raise Jesus from the dead, giving His stamp of approval on Jesus’ message, then Christianity is false. Also, according to Christian theology, the physical resurrection of Christ was a victory over death and hope for a new life to come. Without a bodily resurrection, Christ has no victory over death. Christians are “found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead,” (1 Corinthians 15:15) and if Christ has not been raised, our beliefs are futile and we are still dead in our sins. (15:17)
MJ
You may access the Greek word definitions at www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?search=4983&version=nas&type=str&submit=Find using a Greek Lexicon. “Body” is Strong’s number 4983 and “spiritual” is Strong’s number 4152.
Some other good sources:
http://www.serioustimes.com/ James Emery White’s website
“The Jesus Dynasty: How to explain away the New Testament” by Darrell Bock
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/mayweb-only/120-32.0.html
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
Historically Reliable?
Since the New Testament is a document from ancient history that we have available to investigate, if we put it through the same rigorous textual criticism as other ancient texts, when our investigation is complete and we find there are historically probable events that are only satisfactorily explained by one of numerous tested hypotheses, should we then trust that one hypothesis to be historically reliable (in so far as can be expected from ancient documentation)?
What do you think?
MJ