WHY SHOULD WE TAKE THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS FOUND IN THE GOSPELS SERIOUSLY?

The Gospel accounts are highly believable. Although the Gospel writers were motivated by their faith in Jesus, it seems that they were so confident about their faith that they saw no need for embellishments. Instead, they were convinced that the truth was enough.

How do we come to this conclusion? What they had written was not self-serving. Instead, they were willing to suffer humiliation for the sake of the Gospel. How? They were willing to reveal their unfaithfulness in abandoning Jesus and their unwillingness to believe that He had risen. In “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus,” Gary Habermas and Michael Licona have written:

• When Jesus predicted his resurrection from the dead, we are told that the disciples did not seem to have a clue what he was talking about or simply did not believe (Mark 8: 31–33;9: 31–32; 14: 27–31; Luke 24: 13–24). Even when his empty tomb was discovered, it is reported that the first conclusion was that someone had stolen the body (John 20: 2, 13–15). When the women reported that they had seen him risen, the disciples thought they were telling an idle tale (Luke 24: 10–12). Upon viewing the empty tomb, they still did not know what to think (John 20: 9). Thomas simply refused to believe (John 20: 24–25). Now it seems quite unlikely that the disciples or early Christians who highly respected them would invent sayings of Jesus that would place them in such a bad light. This is what is referred to as the "principle of embarrassment," which will be discussed later, and argues strongly in favor of the authenticity of the predictions of Jesus concerning his resurrection.

Habermas and Licona offer many other forms of evidence including:

MULTIPLE ATTESTATIONS OF THE RESURRECTION AND THE EMPTY TOMB not only from the Gospels by also from Jesus’ disciples.

ENEMY ATTESTATION is particularly powerful, since the testifier is testifying against their own interests or beliefs. Regarding this, numerous unbelieving scholars have concluded that the evidence shows that Jesus’ disciples were convinced that They had met the risen Jesus.

EXTERNAL CONFIRMATION in the form of extra-Christian writings and archeological findings. For instance, Habermas and Licona write:

• We can have assurance that many of the events described in the Bible occurred, even though historical inquiry has not yet produced confirming evidence through the spade of the archaeologist or the pen of the secular historian. In the past, the Bible has demonstrated that its accounts are trustworthy as far as they have been verified.

While none of these forms of evidence are conclusive, their composite testimony is overwhelming.