Resurrection Evidence: Some Alternative Theories Part 2 and Conclusion

The Theft of the Body by His Friends Theory

This is the oldest of the theories, the very one put forth by the first enemies of Christ and the Church: The Sanhedrin themselves. In Matthew’s account of the Resurrection we read:

“Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, you are to say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”

Is it really necessary to point out the absurdity that an entire squad of Roman legionnaires fell asleep while on duty… and that any excuse made by the Sanhedrin would have saved them from death? Beyond this improbability, however lies an even greater one: that the group of disciples would spend the rest of their lives and even suffer terrible deaths for what they knew to be a complete fabrication and outright deception. We are asked to believe that the apostles and the others who wrote the Gospel accounts are utter liars, delusional enough to die for that lie. Such a thing strains credibility much farther than the belief in the Resurrection. Furthermore, the thought of the same disciples who had fled from the mob in the Garden of Gethsemane in terror suddenly being so bold as to attack a Roman guard squad by night is so absurd as to be laughable. They would know no such boldness until the Day of Pentecost.

Theft of the Body by His Enemies Theory

Of all the theories that unbelievers have put forth, this one is the theory that would make any reasonable person scratch their head and say, “Huh?” One could perhaps justify in their mind the notion that the disciples might have motivation to steal the body and maybe ginned up enough courage to do so. One might even reasonably accommodate the historical silliness of the “Swoon theory” or the “Passover Plot”.

But what possible justification could one find for the enemies of Christ to have stolen His body given the public predictions (some of which came out at His trial) that Christ made of His Resurrection on the third day? Did they wish to keep the disciples from stealing it? Once the story of the Resurrection began to circulate, however, what possible motivation would they have for not producing the body? All they had to say was, “We moved the body to prevent it being stolen by His disciples, and here it is.” and that would have been it. It would have put the brakes on the spread of Christianity immediately. Yet such a thing never happened. So, we must conclude that this theory, too, lack credibility as a viable alternative to the Scriptural record.

The Falsehood Theory

This final theory we’ll consider simply calls anyone and everyone who bore witness to the events of the Resurrection liars. Hebert Casteel describes this theory as saying that the disciples knew fully well that Jesus had not risen from the grave, but fabricated the story that He had. Of course, the refutation of this one is very similar to several of the others. All that the Jews had to do was produce the body of Jesus to prove the disciples as liars and probably get them tried by the Romans as co-conspirators with Christ in His treason. This, of course, never happened. As with the case of Nicodemus and Joseph, were the apostles alive today they could sue the person who made up this theory for defamation of character… and win.

CONCLUSION

Having examined the eye witness testimony of the predictions that Jesus made of His death, burial and Resurrection, of those who observed the crucifixion of Jesus and that of His executioners there can be no doubt that Jesus truly died on the cross. The facts concerning the Tomb and the security surrounding it can lead to no other conclusion but that it was impossible for the body of Jesus to have been stolen by either friend or foe. Our examination of the eye witness accounts of the Post-Resurrection appearances by over 500 people produces a verdict that Jesus did physically rise from the dead. The effect of the Resurrection upon even a sworn enemy of Christ and the church such as Saul of Tarsus and his conversion provide stark testimony to its reality. Finally, no creditable, reasonable or factual alternative to the above testimony has been presented to date. Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion is, “He is not here! He has risen!”