Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8 NRSV)
Allegedly, Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead after being executed by the Roman government. Twenty or so years after the death of Jesus, the Apostle Paul (with Sosthenes as his co-author) wrote the words above, saying that Jesus appeared to more than 500 men and women at one time after he resurrected. Most of these witnesses were still alive at the time of writing 1 Corinthians 15.
Question Evangelical apologists about the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, and they will often quote 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. “Over five hundred witnesses saw the resurrected Jesus,” they claim. However, what evidence do Evangelicals have for this claim? Outside of this passage of Scripture, there’s no evidence for the claim that over five hundred people saw the post-resurrected Jesus. No, all we have is a singular author claiming more than five hundred witnesses saw Jesus. Not one historical record apart from Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15 testifies to the five hundred witnesses claim.
We find another interesting passage in Matthew 27:
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.
According to this passage of Scripture, when Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and scores of saints who were sleeping in their graves resurrected, walked through the streets of Jerusalem, appearing to many.
In 2003, our family moved to Yuma, Arizona, hoping the weather would be better for my health. Yuma had a static population that would double in the winter months when “snowbirds” arrived. So it was for Jerusalem in the first century. Its population would swell during Passover, upwards of 150,000 people. Yet, despite the large crowds, not one historian, biographer, or reporter wrote one word about any of the events mentioned in this post. No mention of the five hundred witnesses or one word written by them. No mention of dead people coming back to life and walking through Jerusalem.
Could these claims be true? Sure, but there’s no evidence that they are. Saying more than five hundred people witnessed the resurrected Christ is a wonderful claim, but such a fantastical event was not mentioned by contemporary writers one time outside of the Bible. The same goes for the ripped veil and the resurrected saints walking the streets of Jerusalem. Justification for these claims requires more than a few Bible verses. These supernatural events were so astounding that you would think someone in Jerusalem might have written them down. They didn’t, so all we are left with is this: The Bible says . . .
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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