“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas [that is, Peter], then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time.” (1 Corinthians 15:3–8)
According to Jewish law, which was in force in the time of Jesus and the apostles, to establish the truth of a statement in a court of law it was necessary to produce two, or preferably three, reliable male witnesses. But in this passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul actually gives more than five hundred such witnesses.
I want to point out to you certain significant features that are common to these witnesses.
First of all, they were men who never failed to record their own weaknesses and failings. They were not trying to present a special picture of themselves as a kind of infallible race of superior beings.
Second, all these witnesses were changed from unbelief to belief. At one time they had not believed in the resurrection, then subsequently they believed. In Paul’s case, it was not merely a change from unbelief but from active opposition.
Third, the change was permanent and completely revolutionized their entire lives. They were never the same again after the revelation of the resurrected Christ.
Fourth, no persecution or threat of death could ever cause them to go back on their testimony. They were actually threatened and sometimes punished with death if they would maintain this testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. But no pressure, no persecution could ever cause them to go back on this testimony.
So I ask you, as I have also asked myself: What other explanation could there be of these facts except that their testimony was true?
I would like to close with the words of a well-known professor of history from Cambridge University, my alma mater. Professor Marcus Dodds said this: “The resurrection of Jesus is one of the best attested facts of human history.”
