I’ve been teaching a class on Church History - a very broad look at major points in the life of Christ’s Church. I’m not really one for scientific proofs and all that, but I did tell the class that if there is tangible proof apart from the Scriptures for the resurrection, it likely comes in the form of an historical argument.
The early Christian Church really is an incredible phenomenon. We all know the persecution and martyrdom stories. I made mention in the previous post about Paul’s transition from comfort, prestige, and power to hardship, outcast-status, and persecution the moment he publicly converts to Christianity. Its obviously interesting that any religious institution would not only survive under those conditions but actually flourish and quite literally change the known world in a just a few centuries.
The really interesting thing though is the fact the early Christian church is a Jewish messianic movement. Jesus and His disciples are Jewish. The Church that gets off the ground in Jerusalem is Jewish. And these types of movements were by no means uncommon. There are numerous self-proclaimed Messiahs hitting the streets in Jesus’ day, inviting people to repent and follow their lead that God might usher in His promised kingdom (cf. Mark 1). There are messianic movements and groups built around these dynamic characters. But eventually the leader dies off. And when this occurs, one of two things happens to every one of these messianic movements: (1) it dies with him, or (2) it continues and the new messiah becomes a close kin of the original. They’d often die away simply because the promises didn’t hold up – the leader dies and the kingdom never comes. But if the movement continues, you still need a messiah, and closest kin was the likely choice. Christianity is the only known messianic movement that does neither. The leader dies, but the movement doesn’t die with it, and it doesn’t centralize around Jesus’ next of kin (the well respected James would have been the most likely candidate). The messianic figure dies, (a very shameful death mind you), and instead the movement explodes just a few weeks later still centered around Jesus. And… it explodes with the message, the kingdom of God has arrived!
Rome is still in power. The Jewish people are still property of this oppressive empire. Christianity is officially declared illegal and its followers hunted. And yet the Jesus-centered movement flourishes announcing the kingdom of God has been inaugurated.
Historically speaking, there really isn’t a better explanation for the explosion of the early church and the declaration of the kingdom than the resurrection of the messianic leader. You could say the Church was duped by power hungry men contriving the idea of resurrection (hiding the body, etc). But historically, that doesn’t work. First of all, these men couldn’t have expected power from such a proclamation. Instead, they would have expected exactly what happened to their leader (a criminal’s death). And again, there was already an established way of dealing with dead self-proclaimed messiahs who don’t usher in the kingdom as expected. Historically, it doesn’t hold water to think this band of Jewish people would be duped in such a way. Some say Jesus feigned death, but then walked out of the tomb (the swoon theory). But that wouldn’t have swayed anyone to believe the kingdom had arrived. The only thing that could’ve done that apart from full victory over Rome was the seeing the awaited future resurrection (complete with its bodily change) here in the present.
Again, its a historical discussion…an interesting one I think. I recommend N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God for a much fuller treatment (700+ pages) of resurrection in its historical context. The simple suggestion here though is that nothing explains why this illegal religion would get off the ground and thrive, why good Jewish leaders and common folk would believe the summation of their story and long, rich heritage had suddenly burst onto the scene, no real reason why people would sacrifice home and comfort, wealth and family to follow a movement centered on a criminalized and crucified messiah, no reason why the early Church starts sacrificially living the future into the present (a separate discussion), unless…they had experienced and so been convinced that death and all of God’s enemies were now defeated foes on account of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave.
History – just another reason why I am believing…
Amen.
That was great!