05 Big questions · Jesus
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
Christians believe Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, and this claim sits at the very centre of Christianity. There's early, well-documented testimony to this belief, including Paul's list of witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15, written within about twenty-five years of the event. But evidence for a claim and unavoidable historical proof are not the same thing, and Christianity is honest about that difference.
A little deeper
The resurrection isn't a side detail Christians tack onto their beliefs about Jesus. It's the central claim of Christianity. Paul, writing to a church in Corinth, put it bluntly: if Jesus hasn't been raised, Christian faith is worthless.
So what's the evidence Christians point to? One of the earliest pieces is Paul's letter, 1 Corinthians, written roughly 20 to 25 years after Jesus' death. In it, Paul quotes what many scholars believe was an even earlier creed, listing multiple named and unnamed witnesses who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus, including a claim of over 500 people at once. That's a remarkably early and specific piece of testimony by ancient standards.
The four Gospels also each describe the resurrection, written within decades of the events they describe, with some differences of detail between them that Christians and scholars have long discussed openly rather than concealed.
Historians also note some things that need explaining regardless of belief: the rapid emergence of a movement proclaiming a crucified man as risen Lord, willing to suffer for that claim in a culture where it would have been far easier to abandon; the transformation of frightened, scattered followers into people proclaiming this publicly; and the notable inclusion of women as first witnesses in a culture where their testimony carried less social weight, an odd detail to invent if the story were fabricated.
It's important to be careful here. Historians can investigate what people believed and reported, and can weigh evidence for and against various explanations. Historical method alone can't declare a miracle definitely occurred, because that's partly a question of what's philosophically possible, not only what the evidence shows. So it's more accurate to say historians broadly agree something happened that convinced Jesus' early followers He had been raised, while what exactly happened remains, at its core, a matter engaging both evidence and faith.
Christians believe the resurrection happened, bodily and historically, not as a metaphor or a vision only. But Christianity doesn't claim this has been proven the way a mathematical formula is proven. It's offered as a claim worth taking seriously, weighing the evidence honestly, and responding to.
What Christians agree on
- Christians believe Jesus rose bodily from the dead, not merely spiritually or symbolically.
- Christians believe the resurrection is the central claim of Christian faith.
- Christians believe reliable early testimony to the resurrection exists, while distinguishing evidence from unavoidable proof.
Read it for yourself
- 1 Corinthians 15:3–8An early creed, likely predating the letter itself, listing named witnesses to the risen Jesus.
- Luke 24:1–12Describes women discovering the empty tomb and reporting it to the disciples.
- Acts 2:22–32An early sermon proclaiming the resurrection publicly, shortly after the events described.
Each Bible reference links to the passage on Bible Gateway (NIV UK), so you can read it yourself rather than take our word for it. Short quotations elsewhere are marked with their translation.