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The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “[t]he mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness” (§639). At the heart of the Christian faith is a set of historical claims: Jesus of Nazareth really lived; He really died; He was really buried; and He really did rise from the dead. The Christian belief in the Resurrection of Jesus is not some nice story or quaint myth but a historical fact, a fact which split history in two, and changed the world forever.
Several lines of evidence support this fact. First, the burial of Jesus is attested to in the creed St. Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
The significance of this proclamation can hardly be overstated, as Craig explains:
Paul not only uses the typical rabbinical terms “received” and “delivered” with regard to the information he is passing on to the Corinthians, but vv. 3-5 are a highly stylized four-line formula filled with non-Pauline characteristics. This has convinced all scholars that Paul is, as he says, quoting from an old tradition which he himself received after becoming a Christian. This tradition probably goes back at least to Paul’s fact-finding visit to Jerusalem around AD 36, when he spent two weeks with Cephas and James (Gal. 1.18). It thus dates to within five years after Jesus’ death. So short a time span and such personal contact make it idle to talk of legend in this case.
Continued below.
stpaulcenter.com
The Historical Facts
According to scholars like Gary Habermas and William Lane Craig, there are at least four key claims in the Gospel Resurrection accounts which are accepted by the wide majority of New Testament historians. Here we follow the structure employed by Dr. Craig.FACT 1: After dying on a cross, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Several lines of evidence support this fact. First, the burial of Jesus is attested to in the creed St. Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
The significance of this proclamation can hardly be overstated, as Craig explains:
Paul not only uses the typical rabbinical terms “received” and “delivered” with regard to the information he is passing on to the Corinthians, but vv. 3-5 are a highly stylized four-line formula filled with non-Pauline characteristics. This has convinced all scholars that Paul is, as he says, quoting from an old tradition which he himself received after becoming a Christian. This tradition probably goes back at least to Paul’s fact-finding visit to Jerusalem around AD 36, when he spent two weeks with Cephas and James (Gal. 1.18). It thus dates to within five years after Jesus’ death. So short a time span and such personal contact make it idle to talk of legend in this case.
Continued below.
“Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit” — Lk 23:46 - St. Paul Center
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “[t]he mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness” (§639). At the heart of the Christian faith is a set of historical claims: Jesus of Nazareth...
