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Background

I’m currently blogging about the first chapter of Part 2 of The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona.

This chapter is numbered as Chapter 3, is titled “A Quintet of Facts (4+1)”, and is subtitled The First Two.

As a refresher, “minimal facts” are facts that:

• Are agreed on by nearly all scholars
• Are strongly supported by the evidence
• Collectively build a strong case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus

You are here

We covered the first minimal fact (“Jesus died by crucifixion”) previously…see post #10 in hyperlinked series outline above. I began discussing the 2nd minimal fact (“Jesus’s disciples believed that He rose and appeared to them”) last time, and will continue that discussion today, God willing. The authors break this fact into two sub-facts:

1. They claimed it
2. They believed it

Last time, I began talking about their evidence for sub-fact #1; they opened with Paul’s testimony in I Corinthians 15. Today, we revisit I Corinthians 15, but it’s not Paul’s personal testimony we’re interested in this time.

A bona fide creed from the apostles?

The authors cite this passage…

[1Co 15:3-5 KJV] 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

…as (probably) an early creed passed from Peter and James to Paul within 5 years of the crucifixion. They point out various features in the original Greek text that suggest its creedal nature. If this is true, it would be good evidence for our sub-fact #1, i.e., Jesus’s disciples claimed that He rose and appeared to them.

If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out

This was a tongue-in-cheek banner displayed on the wall of the newsroom in The Case for Christ. I mention it here not only because that movie provided me the title of this series; it’s also because, as I’ve done several times in this series, I figured wikipedia would be a good place to check for corroboration of what Habermas and Licona are saying. After all, if wikipedia agrees with what Habermas and Licona are saying, it’s pretty reasonable to accept it as true. This is because wikipedia is by no means a Christian platform.

So, what did I find on wikipedia regarding the supposed creed in I Corinthians 15:3-5?

1 Corinthians 15:3–7 includes an early creed about Jesus’ death and resurrection which was probably received by Paul. The antiquity of the creed has been located by most biblical scholars to no more than five years after Jesus’ death, probably originating from the Jerusalem apostolic community.^[20]

My jaw dropped a bit to see the level of correspondence between the Christian authors’ assertions and the mainstream, secular website’s assertions!

Stated once more: There is good evidence that Jesus’s disciples really did claim He rose again and appeared to them! This doesn’t single-handedly prove the resurrection…but if Habermas and Licona are right, we’ll see as we go along how this nugget fits into a pro-resurrection argument based on the ensemble of minimal facts.

This is getting juicier and juicier! Thanks for reading and I hope you come back next time.

God bless you!

Links:

1. Creeds on wikipedia