Chapter 9 - Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

Class Date: October 29, 2025

Introduction

This chapter is divided into two main parts:

• Examining the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus
  • See The Evidence for Jesus' Resurrection
• Examining which explanation for this evidence is the best explanation
  • See Explaining the Evidence

The Evidence for Jesus' Resurrection

There are three main evidences for the resurrection:

• Jesus' empty tomb
  • See the section, The Fact of Jesus' Empty Tomb
• Jesus' appearances after His death
  • See the section, The Fact of Jesus' Postmortem Appearances
• the origin of the disciple's belief in His resurrection
  • See the section, The Fact of the Origin of the Christian Faith

The Fact of Jesus' Empty Tomb - pp. 220-230

In this section, five lines of evidence are presented that support the fact that Jesus' tomb was found empty on the Sunday after his crucifixion by a group of women.

• The Evidence of Jesus' Burial - pp. 221-224
• The Independent Reports of the Empty Tomb - pp.225-227
• The Simplicity of Mark's Account - p.227
• The Women's Discovery - pp.227-229
• The Earliest Jewish Response - pp.229-230

The Fact of Jesus' Postmortem Appearances - pp.231-241

In this section, three main lines of evidence are provided for Jesus appearing to people after his resurrection.

• Paul's List of Eyewitnesses - pp.231-236
  • Appearance to Peter - p.231
  • Appearance to the Twelve - pp.231-232
  • Appearance to five hundred brethren - pp.232-233
  • Appearance to James - pp.233-234
  • Appearance to "all the apostles" - pp.234
  • Appearance to Saul of Tarsus - pp.235-236
• The Independent Gospel Accounts - p.236
• The Bodily Nature of the Appearances - pp.237-241
  • Paul implies that the appearances were physical - pp.237-239
  • The gospel accounts show that the appearances were physical and bodily - pp.239-241

The Fact of the Origin of the Christian Faith - pp.241-242

Summary - pp.242-244

Explaining the Evidence - pp.244-245

This section explores the various possible explanations for the evidence and attempts to determine which explanation is the best.

In the introductory section, six important factors are listed that should be considered when attempting to assess which explanation (hypothesis) is the best at explaining the reasons the evidence exists. See pp.244-245.

In the following sections, in which explanations are offered for the evidence, each explanation is evaluated based on the six important factors found on page 244.

What follows is an assessment of the competing explanations for the evidences. If you want to think about this scientifically, consider all the events and facts discussed up to this point (e.g., empty tomb, Jesus' postmortem appearance, and the origin of the Christian faith) as data that has been observed. We now attempt to figure out which hypothesis best explains this data. In other words, which hypothesis (explanation) does the best job of explaining how this data came about.

Conspiracy Hypothesis - pp.245-251

Apparent Death Hypothesis - pp.251-253

Hallucination Hypothesis - pp.254-258

The Resurrection Hypothesis - pp.259-262

To watch a video by Mike Winger in which he critiques a number of skeptics' views on the resurrection, go to Skeptics Respond To The Evidence For The Resurrection of Jesus - Mike Winger - YouTube

Digging Deeper

The following is a list of resources to consider and does not necessarily indicate their endorsement.

Books

• Risen Indeed: A Historical Investigation Into the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas - 376 pages
• Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies) by Andrew Loke - 238 pages
• Did the Resurrection Really Happen? (TGC Hard Questions) by Timothy Paul Jones - 96 pages

Videos

• Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? - Part One: The Facts - YouTube ~ 7 minutes
• Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? - Part Two: The Explanation - YouTube ~ 7 minutes
• Easter Evidence - The Resurrection of Jesus with Timothy McGrew - YouTube - 1 hour, 4 minutes
• Can the Resurrection be Explained without a Miracle? Gavin Ortlund - YouTube - 42 minutes
• Atheist & Christian Book Club - August 2023 with Resurrection Scholar Dr. Gary Habermas - YouTube - 2 hours, 8 minutes
• Big Resurrection Updates: Shroud, NDES, and More - Sean McDowell interviews Dr Gary Habermas - YouTube - 1 hour
• Jesus Has Risen: The Evidence! - Sean McDowell - YouTube - 33 minutes
• The Case for Jesus' Resurrection - Gavin Ortlund interviews Mike Licona - YouTube - 58 minutes
• EVIDENCE for the RESURRECTION of Christ - YouTube - Mike Winger - 1 hour, 10 minutes
• 7 Compelling Reasons Why The Resurrection of Jesus is FACTUAL not FICTIONAL - YouTube - Allen Parr interviews Jeremiah Johnston - 58 minutes
• 1. The Resurrection of Jesus (Introduction) - YouTube - from Inspiring Philosophy - ~6 minutes
• 2. The Resurrection of Jesus (The Historical Evidence) - YouTube - from Inspiring Philosophy - ~46 minutes

Articles

• The Resurrection of Jesus: The Evidential Contribution of Luke-Acts - Jonathan McLatchie | Writer, Speaker, Scholar

Online Courses

• Apologetics 206: The Resurrection – Equip
• Online Self-Paced Course with Frank Turek and Mike Licona: Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? - $99
• Risen: The Case for the Resurrection - from Stand to Reason