Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus I: Demonstratio Christiana

The resurrection of Jesus is demonstrated by a threefold fact: the faith of the disciples, the empty tomb of Jesus, and the appearances of the risen Jesus.

1. The testimony of the Gospels. The final chapters of all the Gospels testify to and describe the resurrection of Jesus.¹ That the Evangelists describe it in the manner of history, not in the style of legend, is evident from what we have said in another place against the legendary hypothesis.² Indeed, Matthew and John narrate the resurrection as eyewitnesses; Mark, as the interpreter of Peter, who himself was an eyewitness and the principal spectator of the narrated event; Luke, finally, follows those "who from the beginning themselves saw"³ and especially the apostle Paul, to whom the risen Christ had appeared. Hence we cannot doubt the due knowledge of the Evangelists, and since not even their adversaries doubt their truthfulness, what the Gospels narrate concerning the resurrection is simply historical.

The rationalists, however, object with two difficulties, the one drawn from textual, the other from real criticism.

Textual criticism rightly affirms that the conclusions of the second and fourth Gospels,⁴ which narrate the resurrection of Jesus, were added after the books of Mark and John had already been written. But even if this be true, the evangelical testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus remains unimpaired. For it is certain: 1° that the authors of the additions in question were most probably the Evangelists themselves, or certainly their disciples,⁵ and 2° that Mark and John, even in the body of the Gospels certainly written by themselves, testify to the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore textual criticism cannot avail to diminish the force of the testimony which the Gospels render to the resurrection of Jesus.

Real criticism concerns the discrepancies⁶ of the evangelical accounts of the resurrection. To be sure, each of the Evangelists relates the events in question in a somewhat different manner, according to the different purpose he set himself and the different catechesis he employed. Yet the discrepancies of the accounts do not touch the principal fact of the resurrection, but only lesser circumstances, and although a discrepancy may stand, nowhere is a contradiction of the accounts detected. This being so, the very diversity of narration does not weaken, but confirms, the truth of the narrated resurrection. For the more freely the four writers testify to the same principal fact, the greater historical faith they deserve.

2. The testimony of Paul. According to the witness of the Acts of the Apostles and of the Pauline epistles, the resurrection was the most essential part of the gospel of the Apostle of the Gentiles. From the first day of his preaching⁷ St. Paul proclaims the resurrection of Jesus on every occasion and regards it as the foundation of Christian faith and hope.⁸ More explicitly, however, he speaks of the resurrection of Christ in c. 15 of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. For at Corinth a dispute had arisen about the resurrection of the dead. Paul settles this dispute by appealing thus to the resurrection of the Lord: "Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; by which also you are saved: if you hold fast what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, 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, and after that by the eleven. Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain until now, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time ... For whether I, or they: so we preach, and so you believed. But if Christ be preached, that he rose again from the dead, how do some among you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God: because we have given testimony against God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins ... But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep."⁹

In these words St. Paul most clearly sets forth and extols the fact and the significance of the resurrection. He also indicates without doubt the origin of the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus, tracing it back to the double source of Christian tradition and of his own experience. And first, indeed, he had learned the resurrection of Jesus from the tradition of the apostles, of Peter especially and of James, as well as of the 500 disciples who had seen the risen Christ. This tradition he had received in the third year after his conversion, while he remained at Jerusalem.¹⁰ Before that, however, he already knew the resurrection by his own experience, when Christ on the way to Damascus appeared to Saul himself and converted him into Paul. This appearance and conversion took place shortly after the death of Jesus and perhaps, as Harnack thinks, in the same year in which the Lord died.¹¹

It is clear, therefore, that Christians from the very beginning believed in and preached the resurrection of Jesus.

3. The testimony of Peter. The Acts of the Apostles report catecheses delivered by Peter even before the conversion of Paul, namely, in the first days of the nascent Church. The principal theme of these catecheses, however, is the testimony rendered to the resurrection of the Lord. On the day of Pentecost Peter dares to preach before a multitude of Jews and Gentiles: "Jesus of Nazareth ... by the hands of wicked men you have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell... This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses."¹² In the porch of Solomon the Prince of the Apostles testifies the same: "You killed the author of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses."¹³ In the presence of the Sanhedrin, by which Jesus had been condemned, he insists: "The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be Prince and Saviour, and we are witnesses of these words."¹⁴ In the house of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, Peter affirms: "And we are witnesses of all things which [Jesus] did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed, hanging him upon a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but to witnesses preordained by God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose again from the dead."¹⁵ Then, throughout the whole time of his preaching, Peter founds all his hope and all his faith upon the resurrection of Jesus.¹⁶ Even to the last days of his life he extols the faith and the graces of the resurrection: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."¹⁷

According to these testimonies of the Gospels, of Paul, and of Peter, the faith of the disciples in the resurrection of Jesus comprised three things: a) the fact itself, namely, that Jesus rose again. That the first Christians had and preached this persuasion of the resurrection as ineluctable from the beginning, unanimously and constantly, all unbelievers concede.

b) The object of the resurrection, namely, that Jesus rose from the dead, i. e., returned from bodily death to bodily life. While the unbelievers feign that Jesus "revived spiritually in the minds of the faithful" or "passed over to a mystical life in the heavens," the disciples, on the contrary, cry aloud that the "crucified and buried" one came forth from the sepulchre alive; that Jesus was "raised up" as "the firstfruits of them that sleep"; that Jesus was "neither left in hell, nor did his flesh see corruption";¹⁸ that his resurrection is the exemplar and the pledge of our resurrection according to the flesh.

c) The singular circumstance, namely, that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. All the Evangelists testify that Jesus was buried toward the evening of Friday, remained in the sepulchre on the Sabbath, and left the sepulchre at dawn of the Lord's day. Paul insists, according to the apostolic tradition, that Christ rose again "on the third day";¹⁹ Peter confirms: "Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest."²⁰

Therefore that article of the Apostles' Creed, "On the third day he rose again from the dead," truly corresponds to the persuasion and the confession of the whole Church from the first days after the death of Christ. The faith of the disciples in the risen Jesus did not arise by evolution, but in time it equals the very event of the resurrection. So great and such a persuasion could be born only of the evidence of the fact.

And in truth this persuasion rests on a twofold argument: the empty sepulchre of Jesus and the appearances of the risen Christ.²¹

The empty tomb of Jesus is an ineluctable argument for the resurrection of the Lord. Hence all unbelievers strain every nerve to deny that the tomb of Jesus was empty.¹ Yet the testimony of the Gospels, of Paul, and of the contemporary Christians and Jews refutes them.

1. The testimony of the Gospels. The evangelists narrate that the tomb was found and recognized as "empty" in this way:² On the first day of the week (i. e. the first day of the week = Sunday) Mary Magdalene and the other women came early in the morning to the monument (all the evangelists), in order to anoint the body of Jesus (Mc, Lc). They found, however, the stone rolled away (all) and an angel of the Lord, who told them (the Synoptics)³ that Jesus had risen (the Synoptics) and was going before the disciples into Galilee (Mt, Mc). This message the women at first kept to themselves (Mc), then brought it only to the apostles (Mt, Lc). The apostles did not indeed believe the women's report (Lc); nevertheless Peter (Lc) and John (Io) came in haste to the tomb. John "ran faster than Peter and came first to the monument. And when he had stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he did not go in" (Io). Simon Peter then came following him, and went into the monument, and saw the linen cloths lying (Lc, Io) "and the napkin that had been upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had come first to the monument, also went in, and he saw and believed" (Io).⁴

These texts, when harmoniously compared, show that the individual evangelists, under various circumstances, testify to one and the same principal fact: the discovery and recognition of the empty tomb. But those who testify to this fact knew it either from the mouth of eyewitnesses — namely Mark and Luke — or from their own eyewitness experience — namely Matthew and John. Therefore their testimony concerning the tomb found empty on the third day is most certain. There follows:

2. The testimony of Paul. Although the apostle of the Gentiles never says in explicit words that the tomb of Jesus was found empty, he nevertheless implicitly proclaims this as often as he announces the resurrection of the Lord. He always teaches that Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, and that he rose again on the third day. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died ... and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day."⁵ "And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, taking him down from the tree, they laid him in a monument. But God raised him up from the dead the third day ... But he whom God raised up from the dead saw no corruption."⁶ By these and similar expressions St. Paul openly supposes that the tomb of Jesus was found empty on the third day.⁷ Agreeing with this:

3. The testimony of the contemporary Christians and Jews. We have already shown that all the Christians of the first days both believed and preached the resurrection of Jesus. But how, I ask, could the conviction of the resurrection have arisen while the tomb stood closed before the eyes of all? Or how, I say, could that conviction, once born, not have been blunted when the tomb was found closed? Or how, finally, under this condition would the disciples have dared publicly to preach that Jesus, crucified and buried, had come forth alive from the tomb?

But while they nevertheless preached, and daily challenged the Jews with the resurrection,⁸ would not the people and the rulers of Israel have objected, and pointed with the finger at the tomb still closed and secured? Yet they did not object, nor point, nor ever contend that the body of Christ was still in the tomb; rather they spread the report that the disciples had stolen the corpse of Jesus after breaking open the tomb.⁹ So thoroughly were the Jews convinced that Jesus was no longer in the tomb.

It is therefore perfectly clear that the tomb of Jesus was empty on the third day. This fact, already established by the explicit testimony of the Gospels, the implicit testimony of Paul, and the tacit testimony of all Christians and Jews, is further confirmed by the apparitions of the risen Jesus.

That the disciples saw Jesus risen from the third day onward is reported with unanimous consent by the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Pauline epistles. Error in regard to this fact was simply impossible. For its witnesses were not only the apostles, but also 120 disciples in Judea¹ and "more than 500 brethren" in Galilee.² Most of these brethren were still alive while Paul was writing to the Corinthians around the year 57;³ and when the Synoptics were writing, at least half of those brethren of whom I have spoken were living;⁴ and when the last evangelist was writing, not a few of them still survived, as for example John the evangelist himself.

This being so, unbelievers agree that the disciples experienced apparitions of the risen Jesus. They dream, however, as we shall see, that the apparitions were not real, but imaginary. To win easier credence for this hypothesis, they contend that no visions took place at Jerusalem near the tomb of Jesus, but only in the most remote region of Galilee and at a time far removed from the death of the Lord. This opinion of the unbelievers, however, collapses when the persons, places, and times are examined at which the apparitions of the risen Jesus took place:

1. At dawn of the pasch⁵ Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene near the tomb. "She, thinking that it was the gardener, says to him: 'Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.' Jesus says to her: 'Mary.' She, turning around, says to him: 'Rabboni.' Jesus says to her: 'Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"⁶

2. Shortly afterward, other women, departing from the tomb into the city, saw Jesus.⁷

3. As the paschal day advanced, the Lord appeared to Simon Peter.⁸

4. In the afternoon of the pasch, two disciples, one of whom was named Cleophas, went to the village of Emmaus. While they conversed on the way and questioned among themselves about the death of Jesus, Jesus, drawing near, went with them and interpreted to them the Scriptures that were about the death and resurrection of the Messiah. But their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize him, until he broke bread for them.⁹

5. In the evening the same disciples returned to Jerusalem, where they found the apostles gathered together. And while they told one another of the apparitions that had taken place, behold, "Jesus stood in the midst of them and says to them: 'Peace to you! It is I, do not be afraid.' But they, troubled and terrified, thought they were seeing a spirit. And he said to them: 'Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having.' But while they still did not believe",¹⁰ he ate with them, explained to them the Scriptures, and gave them the power of remitting sins.

6. Thomas alone was absent that evening and refused to believe the account of the others. But after eight days the disciples were again within, and Thomas with them. Jesus came and, after greeting all, "says to Thomas: 'Bring your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing.' Thomas answered him: 'My Lord and my God!'"¹¹

7. When the week of the pasch was over and the disciples had returned to Galilee, seven of them saw the Lord at the sea of Tiberias, namely Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, John, James the Greater, and two others whose names are not given. Jesus ate bread and fish with them and conferred on Peter the primacy over the Church.¹²

8. After this "third"¹³ apparition of Jesus before the apostles there followed a fourth in Galilee upon the mountain. Jesus gave the Eleven the power of baptizing, preaching, and working miracles.¹⁴

9. Afterwards Jesus appeared to a multitude of believers, as Paul testifies: "Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain unto this day, but some are fallen asleep."¹⁵

10. "Then he was seen by James"¹⁶ the Less.

11. On the fortieth day after the pasch he appeared to the apostles gathered in Jerusalem, led them to the Mount of Olives, and ascended into heaven before their eyes.¹⁷

12. After some time had elapsed, Jesus appeared on the way to Damascus to Saul the Pharisee, converting him and choosing him as apostle of the Gentiles. This apparition was the last of all, as Paul testifies: "And last of all, as to one born out of due time, he was seen also by me."¹⁸

For the sake of a readier survey we subjoin a table of the apparitions of the risen Jesus arranged according to place, time, persons, and the authors reporting them:

This survey shows to the eye that the rationalists unjustly set the hagiographic authors against one another, the "historical" tradition against the "legendary" tradition,¹⁹ of which the former reports only the apparitions that took place in Galilee, while the latter adds the earlier apparitions granted in Judea and Jerusalem. All the sacred writers agree that Jesus showed "himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them for forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God".²⁰ All the hagiographers also agree that the apparitions of the risen Jesus began at Jerusalem on the very day of the pasch of the Lord, continued in Judea and Galilee for forty days, and ceased on the day of the ascension, except for the vision granted to Saul later near Damascus.²¹

Hence it is impossible that those three facts be shaken by which the resurrection of Jesus is historically proven. The disciples were persuaded from the third day that Jesus had risen. The tomb of Jesus was found empty on the third day. Jesus appeared to his own in manifold ways from the third day on.

The question now arises whether the adversaries can explain these facts naturally without being obliged to concede the resurrection of the Lord.