Dirk J. van Garderen, Trowel & Sword. April 1995.
Preamble: Back in April 1995 (Easter issue) T&S carried an article from the pen of Rev. Dirk van Garderen (N.Z.) showing that, while the idea of a resurrection might be regarded as unscientific, it is not more difficult to believe the Easter story today than it was in the past.
A Contemporary Defence of the Resurrection
CAN A MODERN, scientifically trained and educated person believe in something as crude and primitive as a dead body coming back to life? I am not thinking of the many ‘near death experiences’ recounted in weekly magazines and pseudo-scientific journals of parapsychologists. ‘Near death experiences’ are exactly that – near death. Think of someone who is completely dead; zero brain-wave activity, no heartbeat or blood circulation – stone cold dead. Can a dead body be revived?
Even the most sophisticated equipment devised to date comes nowhere near to being able to do this. I doubt if it will ever be possible. But now the crunch! If on good rational and scientific grounds the dead cannot be revived in this day and age, why on earth believe that it happened to Jesus of Nazareth almost 2,000 years ago? If we know it cannot happen now, there is no reason to believe that it happened then.
When preaching the Gospel to this generation, raised and educated within the context of modern technology and beliefs, you expect them to be prepared to believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Is that reasonable?
I recently read Alister McGrath’s book ‘Bridge-Building – Communicating Christianity Effectively’ (IVP 1992). McGrath is a young English theologian who is especially interested in helping and equipping Christians in defending what and why they believe. He is tremendously helpful and his book is highly recommended. In one section of his book he points out that modern criticism or attacks on the resurrection tend to be in three directions.
The Idea of Resurrection in Jewish Belief
The first attack argues that it was easy and no real big I deal for the first Christians to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Belief in resurrections was commonplace at the time. These folks easily confused a symbolic event with an historical event because they were extremely open and ready to believe in a resurrection. This argument shows little understanding of Jewish beliefs in the first century. Jews, and do not forget that the first believers were all Jews and initially preached to and among fellow Jews, had two general beliefs about resurrection.
The Sadducees, as Scripture points out, denied the idea of a resurrection altogether. Recall for example how, as recorded in Acts 23:6-8, Paul set the Pharisees up against the Sadducees precisely on this issue. “The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.” (23:8).
Orthodox Jews – the vast majority only believed in a general resurrection at the end of time. For example, in John 11, which records Jesus raising Lazarus, Jesus says to Martha: “Your brother will rise again.” Martha replies: “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:23f).
What no one expected or anticipated was one individual being raised from the dead before the end of time. There was nothing in their belief that prepared them for this. What happened to Jesus contradicted popular belief. It was an unheard of, novel position that was unorthodox and radical. The Jews could not and would not believe it. That is why they so readily believed the lie which the priests told the soldiers to spread: The body was stolen by his disciples. (Matt 28: 11-15).
But could wishful thinking become a parent of what is believed? Is it possible that the disciples loved Jesus and his teaching so much that out of love and a desire to keep his memory alive they began to believe their own dreams? Indeed, but dreaming up a resurrection to convince fellow Jews was hardly the way to proceed. The idea was extremely unorthodox and radical. Furthermore, there were countless other Jewish faith heroes and martyrs whose teaching lived on without anyone believing that they were raised. Think of the Old Testament prophets!
Parallels With Pagan and Gnostic Myths
Another line of criticism has arisen through the study of pagan and more especially, Gnostic religious beliefs in the ancient world. According to many critical scholars there were lots of pagan myths of dying and rising gods in those days. It is claimed that the New Testament writers were simply reproducing a variation of this myth to suit their own purposes.
It is very difficult to rebut these criticisms by simply pointing to a Bible text. You have to have a very close look at the myths themselves. However, what is striking as you begin to read about them is how critics went to great lengths to find what they thought were parallels and similarities between pagan myths and Jesus’ resurrection. Differences were almost completely ignored. Further and more reflective studies show that these so-called parallels are much more remote than first claimed.
In the pagan myths, dying and rising is never attributed to an historical or a real person. It happened to ‘gods’ – vague, surreal personages who lived in the misty, mythical past. Contrast that with the manner in which the Bible speaks of Jesus’ resurrection! It happened in Jerusalem, during the rule of Pontius Pilate, about 30 A.D. The disciples were personal eyewitnesses who saw, touched and talked with the risen Jesus. When Paul was pressed, he told the Corinthians: “…he [Jesus] 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.” (I Cor.15:4-6)
C.S. Lewis was one of the greatest experts on pagan myths and mythology. McGrath points to Lewis’ findings:
“Perhaps most important, however, was his realisation that the Gnostic redeemer myths – which the New Testament writers allegedly took over and applied to Jesus – were to be dated from later than the New Testament itself. If anyone borrowed ideas from anyone, it seems it was the Gnostics who took up Christian ideas.”
An Argument from Analogy
A third criticism of Jesus’ resurrection sounds extremely powerful and convincing, especially to modern ears. It is devastatingly simple. It states: since dead men do not rise, Jesus could not have risen either. The argument, expanded a little, assumes that for an event to have happened in the past we need to be persuaded that a parallel, similar kind of event still happens or is possible in the present. Since we do not witness true resurrections nowadays and are unlikely to, it couldn’t have occurred in those days either.
The trouble with that viewpoint is that it is not logical. It makes some basic errors in reasoning.
The reason for all the fuss about Jesus’ resurrection is precisely its uniqueness. It has only ever happened once. The event is noteworthy precisely because it is unique. If resurrections were a common occurrence then there would be no reason to get excited and worked up about what Jesus experienced.
The argument ‘dead people no not rise from the dead’ is reminiscent of the person who says, “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up.” He has already, dogmatically and without investigation of the facts, decided that resurrections do not happen.
If you present evidence of a resurrection he will say, ‘I reject the evidence because I don’t believe in resurrections in the first place.’ That is like 16th century England when everybody believed that all swans were white. It was argued, ‘I have never seen or heard a reliable account of the existence of black swans. Therefore black swans do not exist.’ When someone turned up with an Australian black swan the response was, ‘That cannot be a swan!’
The problem is not the evidence, but the unfounded, dogmatic beliefs which bias that person. Rather than start with a whole set of presuppositions with your mind already made up before you look at the evidence, return to the Jesus described in the Gospels – return to the Gospels as historical evidence.
Paul, in I Corinthians 15:20, sums up: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Is that conclusion a reasonable one today? Modern day arguments, which are raised to question Christ’s resurrection, can be shown to be full of holes. The evidence, even after 2,000 years of scrutiny, ridicule and rejection still confronts us today as a real challenge. It will never be easy to believe the evidence.
It will, in fact, always demand faith. But, it is just not true that believing in the resurrection of Jesus is more difficult today than it has been in the past.
Dirk J van Garderen.
(The Rev. D,J. Van Garderen is the pastor of the Reformed Church of Avondale, New Zealand)
T&S Revisited 