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The Unrivaled Resurrection
What do some of the world's greatest lawyers say about the event that changed history from BC to AD?
Chapter Introduction
Dr. Simon Greenleaf was a key founder of Harvard’s School of Law. He is regarded as one of the principal figures responsible for Harvard’s eminent position among law schools in the United States,[] and he produced possibly the greatest single authority on evidence in the entire literature of legal procedure.[]
With a lawyer’s skill, Greenleaf put his principles to work
as he examined the historical evidence surrounding the resurrection
of Jesus Christ as recorded in the ancient writings of
the biblical text. After careful study, he wrote The Testimony of
the Evangelists, in which he stated that it was “impossible that
the Apostles could have persisted in affirming the truths they
had narrated, had not Jesus Christ actually risen from the
dead.”[]
What caused Greenleaf, as one of the most prestigious
lawyers of all time, to come to such a dramatic conclusion? In
spite of the sensationalist nature of such a suggestion, this
chapter briefly examines some of the arguments both for and
against the idea that Jesus Christ could have actually risen
from the dead two millennia ago.
“The alleged bodily resurrection of Jesus, if true, was
very consequential concerning mankind’s most fearful
and important questions. By publicly preaching
the Resurrection message in the first century,
the Apostles strived to adjust the opinions of mankind
upon subjects in which people are not only
deeply concerned, but usually stubborn and closedminded,
despite reason or persuasion. Men could
not be utterly careless in such a case as this. (As
evidenced in ancient writings, two thousand years
ago religion and tradition generally played a much
more significant role than in today’s Western society.)
Thus, whoever entertained the account of Jesus,
whether Jew or non-Jew, could not have avoided
the following reflection: “If these things be true, I must give up the opinions and principles in which
I have been brought up, the religion in which my
forefathers lived and died.” It is not likely that one
would do this upon any idle report or trivial account,
or indeed without being fully convinced of
the truth of that which he or she believed in. But it
did not stop at opinions. Those who believed Christianity
acted upon it. Many made it the express
business of their lives to publicize their new faith.
It was required of them to change forthwith their
conduct; to take up a different course of life and
begin a new set of rules and system of behavior; in
doing so they encountered opposition, danger, and
persecution.”[]
— William Paley, 1794
The first few hundred years of Christianity were characterized
by some of the worst persecution in history.[] Right
from the beginning, the Christian founders were persecuted
and eventually put to death for the message they preached:
that they had seen Jesus physically risen from the dead.
What, in fact, is it that caused the first followers of Jesus
to be willing to die for such a message?
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