I have been told that the facts of the gospel are that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. Is this true? Are the facts of the gospel true? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Did Jesus even exist?

There are many people who have said that Jesus Christ never existed.  The well-known comedian and television personality, Bill Maher, said that Jesus probably never existed.  Bertrand Russell, the famous author, mathematician, and philosopher from England has famously said that “it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if he did we do not know anything about him.”  However, according to Bart Ehrman, who is not a Christian but is both a well-known New Testament scholar and a skeptic of religion, “There are several points on which virtually all scholars of antiquity agree.  Jesus was a Jewish man, known to be a preacher and teacher, who was crucified (a Roman form of execution) in Jerusalem during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea...”  This view is, according to Bart Ehrman, “The view of nearly every trained scholar on the planet.”  No one who is serious about the truth is able to seriously doubt that Jesus lived on the earth.  Those who do doubt that Jesus existed have not looked into the matter thoroughly.

For example, the Roman historian Tacitus, who is said to have lived during the rule of about six Roman emperors, wrote two famous works, the Annals and the Histories.  In A.D. 64, there was a large fire that overwhelmed Rome and in A.D. 115, Nero persecuted Christians because he said that they were to blame for the fire.  Tacitus wrote that Nero, “Falsely charged with guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities.  Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius” (McDowell, 120).  

Tacitus, the leading Roman historian of his time, connects with what the scriptures have said about Christ, that those who follow him are called Christians and that Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate (Mark 15:15), procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius (Luke 3:1).  This statement from the top Roman historian gives us confirmation that Jesus existed and that he was put to death.  This is important because this writing comes from someone who had nothing to gain from his testimony—he’s simply stating historical fact.  Tacitus was not seeking to prove that Jesus Christ existed.  In one section of his writings, Tacitus calls Christianity a disease.  If anyone had a desire to expose Christianity as false, it was Tacitus, but he didn’t. 

Also, the first-century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, mentions Jesus twice: “Jesus who was called Christ,” in his written work called Jewish Antiquities.  Josephus also speaks of the death of Jesus’ brother James.  Like Tacitus, Josephus also writes about an incident that took place during the rule of Pontius Pilate:

“At this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous.  Many people among the Jews and other nations became his disciples.  Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die.  But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship.  They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive.  Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders.  And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day” (Dembski, Licona, 168).  

Lucian, a Greek writer of the 2^nd Century spoke of Jesus’ crucifixion in his writings, Mara Bar Serapion, who wrote sometime after 70 AD, spoke of the deaths of Socrates, Pythagoras, and Jesus, in a letter to his son, thus placing two other well-known historical figures, in conversation with Christ.  Mara Bar Serapion was also a pagan and, like Tacitus, would have had no reason to promote Christianity.  Additionally, Suetonius, who was also a Roman historian, wrote in a work entitled the Life of Claudius, “As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus (Christus/Christ), Claudius expelled them from Rome.”  Interestingly, this occurrence is spoken of in Acts 18:2 and it took place in AD 49.  With each of these writers, especially Tacitus and Suetonius, we see a connection between history written by men outside of Christianity, and the Scriptures.  These men who documented history, had no doubt that Jesus existed and that he was crucified under Roman rule just as the scriptures say.  The connection between the Scriptures and writings of men who had no interest in promoting Christianity, supports the notion that the Scriptures are historically reliable.  Jesus, indeed, lived. 

The word of God also asserts that Jesus died.  It has already been pointed out that the Scriptures and secular history agree with one another regarding the life and the death of Jesus Christ.  It should also be pointed out that while Jesus was suffering on the cross, the scriptures say in Matthew 27:45: “⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”  In AD 52, Thallus, who wrote, “a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to this own time,” was quoted by Julius Africanus, stating that during the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, in the late afternoon hours, darkness covered the land.  Phlegon an Ancient Greek who wrote a history entitled, Chronicles, confirmed that darkness blanketed the earth at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, saying that it was the result of a solar eclipse which took place during full moon in the time of Tiberius Caesar.  However, this is not plausible seeing that a solar eclipse wouldn’t have taken place during a full moon and this is said to be the time of the full moon at the season of Paschal full moon that Christ died (McDowell, 173).  Additionally, Origen, a third-century writer mentions this along with a later writer, Philopon (174). 

Furthermore, we can confirm that Jesus was buried.  The place of Christ’s burial would have been known by those in the area because he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the high court of the Jews, the Jewish Sanhedrin.  This would be similar to being buried in the tomb of one of our national dignitaries today.  In such an expensive tomb, a round stone slab would have been rolled across the opening of the tomb to secure it.  The stone would be rolled into a trench-like groove to lock it in place.  This would have made it so that moving the stone would have required the work of several people. 

The place where Jesus was buried, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, wouldn’t have been something that followers of Jesus would have made up when they were writing the narrative because they wouldn’t have favorably spoken a member of the Sanhedrin Court, since it was the court that voted to put Jesus to death.  Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the court that helped to engineer the crucifixion, sought to do right by Jesus.  This would not have been a comfortable fact, but it is included in the gospels by the followers of Christ.  It is also state that Joseph was not present when the Jewish Sanhedrin decided to deliver Jesus to be executed, Luke 23:50-53: “⁵⁰ And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: ⁵¹ (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. ⁵² This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. ⁵³ And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.” 

Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, that he delivered what he received.  Scholars conclude that Paul received this material around AD 35, when he made a journey to Jerusalem after he had been baptized.  According to the Scriptures, Paul received the gospel by the revelation of God, and he was able to certify that the gospel he preached was from God (Galatians 1:11-12).  The time that Paul spent with the apostles in Jerusalem around 35 AD, would have further confirmed the gospel he preached as the certified gospel (Galatians 1:18; 23). 

Scholars also point out that 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 is an early form of Christian preaching that dates back to within at least two years of the crucifixion.  Paul himself preached in line with this pattern in Acts 13:28-31: “²⁸ And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. ²⁹ And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead: ³¹ And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.” 

Further confirmation that Jesus had been raised from the dead is found in Matthew 28:11-15: “¹¹ Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. ¹² And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, ¹³ Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. ¹⁴ And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. ¹⁵ So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.”  First, if the body was still present, why say that it was stolen? Second, the crucifixion took place between 30 and 33 AD, and the Scripture says that this saying, this statement about the disciples stealing the body, was commonly reported “to this day.” So for at least 20 years, this statement was being made.  Indeed, both Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, reported that for two hundred years after the resurrection, people were still saying that the tomb was empty because Jesus’s followers had stolen the body.  This reinforces the fact that the tomb was empty and the body was not found. 

Stolen bodies don’t transform lives.  People don’t put their lives on the line for stolen bodies.  Now, someone might say that people die for their religion all the time.  People may die for something they believe to be true.  People don’t die for something they know to be untrue because they had a hand in creating the untruth—such a conclusion is preposterous.  Disciples wouldn’t die for the cause of Christ if they had stolen the body of Christ.   

Secondly, not only were the lives of the disciples transformed but also, the disciples went from being fearful and in hiding to preaching the gospel of Christ in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus was persecuted and the city where the tomb that Jesus was buried in was located.  All anyone would have to do is go and get the body of Jesus in order to prove the disciples wrong.  If any body was found in the tomb, it would have proven the disciples wrong because they preached that the tomb was EMPTY.  Therefore, the condition of the body wouldn’t have mattered.