APOLOGIA!

Every word of God is tested…Proverbs 30:5

Quick Review Concerning Resurrection

Christianity is the only major world religion that claims resurrection for her founder.

Jesus claimed He would be resurrected. His disciples preached and died for a belief

in that resurrection. Early historians, both ecclesiastical and

secular, mentioned and/or upheld the resurrection.

Without the resurrection Christianity is meaningless.

Imperative To Our Faith

I Corinthians 15:13-14 -- “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

Jesus’ Resurrection Was A Recorded Event

“The meaning of the resurrection is a theological matter, but the fact of the resurrection is a historical matter…. we know more about the details of the hours immediately before and the actual death of Jesus…than we know about the death of any other one man in all the ancient world.” -- Wilbur Smith

Central To The Message “It is encouraging to

know that it is explicitly given by all four evangelists and told also by Paul. The names of those who saw Him after His triumph over death are recorded….” – William Lyons Phelps

Convincing Even To Highly Educated

• Attorney Frank Morison set out to write a book about Jesus’ heroic activities, omitting the resurrection as fiction. After studying the facts though, he became a believer and wrote the book Who Moved The Stone to defend the resurrection.

What About After The Apostles?

• “In both ecclesiastical history and creedal history the resurrection is affirmed from the earliest times…It is mentioned in the earliest document of church history and so continuously throughout all of the patristic period. – Bernard Ramm

Some Important Mentions

• Ignatius – 50-115 A.D.• Polycarp – 110 A.D.• Justin Martyr – 100-

165 A.D.• Tertullian – 160-220

A.D.

New Testament Writers

• Matthew 28:6 – “He has risen, just as He said.”

• Mark 16:6 – “He has risen; He is not here.”• Luke 24:6 – “He is not here, but He has risen.”• John 20:19-21 – “Jesus came and stood in

their midst…He showed them both His hands and His side….

• Paul, 2 Timothy 2:8 – Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead…according to my gospel…

• 1 Peter 1:3 – “…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….”

Proof?

• “On the basis of historical evidence of existing biological knowledge, the scientist who is true to the philosophy of science can doubt the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, but he cannot deny it. Because to do so means that he can prove that it did not occur.

• --Dr. A.C. Ivy, Dept. Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois, President of the American Physiological Society, 1939-49.

What Does It Take To Deny The Resurrection?

• Must deny multiple first-person eye witness accounts.

• Must deny carefully researched and written accounts from eyewitnesses and those who learned from eyewitnesses.

• Must deny the claims Jesus made for Himself.• Must deny those who stood up for that

resurrection even in the face of death.