Did the resurrection actually happen?

Details: Published: Tuesday, 11 April 2017 10:57; Written by James Dean

According to recent BBC research almost a quarter of Britons who describe themselves as Christian don't believe it did.

Here are the reported figures:

At Easter, seemingly "scary" statistics like this are often reported for no apparent reason other than to somehow discredit or undermine the Christian faith. Digging deeper into who and what was asked always makes for more interesting, if less headline-grabbing, reading. Of "active" Christians (those who "attend a religious service" at least once a month) the figure is 5%. We also see that 37% of "non-active Christians" (that's 380 of the 2,010 people polled) never attend church.

An Important Question

Does it matter how people answered? Yes it does!

Arguably that 5% is the most concerning figure because if Christians don't believe the resurrection happened then they have no risen Saviour, no foundation for their faith, no hope for the future, no forgiveness. What then are they left with? A few moral guidelines, perhaps, but no gospel, no good news to share with others.

Old News

This is not new. The same headline could just as well have been published in first-century Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote:

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Clearly there were some even then who doubted the reality of the resurrection. But his response is about as clear as it gets... if the resurrection didn't happen everything we preach is worthless and those outside the church should pity us.

But It Did Happen

When an investigation takes place, eye witness accounts are taken whenever possible as they provide the most credible source of information about an event. Taken individually there may be slight differences but when taken together it's possible to understand what happened.

Just before the verses quoted above, Paul provides a list of eye witnesses to the resurrection: people who saw Jesus alive after he had been crucified by the Romans and buried. They include Peter and the rest of the "twelve" disciples, to more than 500 other believers all at once, to James and the other apostles and finally to Paul himself.

When a group as large as the one that Paul refers to are willing to stake their own lives on their testimony we should take what they've said seriously.