Tag: Resurrection

The Mission, The Faith, and the Fate of the Apostles

This post looks at what happened to the disciples after Jesus left: their mission, the extent of their faith, and their deaths.

The Twelve

The twelve apostles, including Judas Iscariot, who took his own life after betraying Jesus to the Jewish leadership for thirty pieces of silver, were Simon Peter, Andrew, James (son of Zebedee), John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alpheus), Simon, Thaddaeus, and Judas. After the death of Judas, Matthias became the twelfth apostle, although some believe that God intended Paul to be the twelfth.

Jesus Has Departed, Now What?

After Jesus had ascended, and the Holy Spirit had been imparted, the twelve apostles led the Jerusalem church until the time of Herod Agrippa (AD 41-44).[1] His persecution of Christians resulted in the arrest of Peter and the death of James, son of Zebedee, so the Twelve left Jerusalem and placed church leadership in the hands of James, brother of Jesus, and a group of elders.[2]

We can understand the nature of the apostles’ mission from this extra-biblical writing by Clement of Rome, “Having therefore received their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and established in the word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities.”[3]

dsc01768The Extreme Faith of the Apostles

The apostles were all willing to suffer persecution for their faith. “They were threatened, beaten, thrown in prison and killed for their faith, and yet they refused to back down because they obeyed God rather than men (Acts 5:29).[4] For me, this clearly demonstrates that they were totally committed to the cause of Jesus. They had nothing to gain from promoting Christianity, and everything to lose. In these circumstances, no one would willingly suffer death for a cause that was known to be a lie. So we can conclude that, after being Jesus’ constant companions for over three years, including through His horrific crucifixion, glorious resurrection, and His post-resurrection appearances, the disciples were, to a man, complete believers that Jesus was the Son of God.

The Fate of the Apostles

Peter. Biblical references to Peter’s teachings include locations such as Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee, Samaria and Caesarea. It is possible that he visited churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and Brian Litfin, in his book After Acts: The Lives and Legends of the Apostles, tells us, “church tradition has Peter ministering in Syria, Greece, Anatolia, and Rome. While there is some disagreement over the fate of Peter, the Acts of Peter, a second-century collection of oral folklore, told that ‘Peter was crucified on a cross— and also that it was in an upside-down posture.’”[5] The picture depicting this and attached to this blog was taken by me, in a church on the outskirts of Rome

Paul. In 2 Corinthians 11: 24-25, Paul describes some of the punishment he received for his faith, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked.” The book of Acts tells us much about Paul’s life, but ends before his death. Popular tradition, reinforced by writings in The Acts of Paul, a second century collection of Christian writings, holds that he was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero, AD 64-67.[6]

And so the story continues. While there is often a lack of scholarly detail, the popular tradition provided by early Christian writings holds that: Thomas was martyred in India; Luke was hanged in Greece; Matthew died from a sword wound in Ethiopia; Mark was killed in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was dragged by horses until he was dead; James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded in Jerusalem; Bartholomew was martyred in Armenia; Andrew was whipped and crucified in Patras, Greece; and Philip was crucified.

Other early Christian protagonists, including James and Jude, brothers of Jesus, and Barnabas, a member of the larger group of seventy disciples, were also killed.

John, after surviving an attempt at execution in boiling oil, was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the prophetic Book of Revelation.[7]

As Sean McDowell says in his article Did the Apostles Really Die as Martyrs for Their Faith? “Even though they were crucified, stoned, stabbed, dragged, skinned and burned, every last apostle of Jesus proclaimed his resurrection until his dying breath, refusing to recant under pressure from the authorities. Therefore, their testimony is trustworthy and the resurrection is true.”[8]

[1] Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus, (Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2015), 33.

[2] Ibid., (p. 33).

[3] Clement of Rome, The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, c. AD 95-96, quoted in Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus, (Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2015), 34.

[4] Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus, (Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2015), 263.

[5] Litfin, Bryan (2015-01-16). After Acts: Exploring the Lives and Legends of the Apostles (p. 149). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[6] Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus, (Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2015), 113.

[7] Ibid., (p. 136).

[8] Sean McDowell, Did the Apostles Really Die as Martyrs for Their Faith? Biola Magazine, Fall 2013, http://magazine.biola.edu/article/13-fall/did-the-apostles-really-die-as-martyrs-for-their-f/, accessed December 5, 2016.

Looking at Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus

The Importance of the Resurrection of Jesus

The resurrection of Jesus is probably the most important single event in the entire history of mankind. It fulfilled countless prophecies, some made over a thousand years earlier and some made by Jesus Himself. It was a demonstration that Jesus was who He said He was, and it provided the inspiration for the rapid growth of the early Christian church. In his book, The Resurrection of the Son of God, Wright comments, “the resurrection validates a ‘supernatural’ view of the world, it means there really is a ‘life after death.’”[1]

Old Testament Predictions of the Resurrection

The life of Jesus fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies.[2] One thousand years before Jesus was born, His ancestor King David wrote Psalm 16, where verse 10 prophesies the resurrection, “because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.” Similarly, Psalm 22:22-24 and Isaiah 53:10-11 are widely regarded as predictions of the resurrection.

During His later Judean ministry, Jesus compared the “sign of Jonah” to Himself as a sign to the then-current generation, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[3] This suggests that Jesus regarded His forthcoming crucifixion and resurrection experience as being similar, or analogous, to that of Jonah and the fish some eight hundred years earlier,

Jesus Prophesies His Own Fate

In addition to the Jonah reference, the Bible records that Jesus made many predictions of His crucifixion and resurrection, as in Matthew 20:17-19, the final sentence of which is “On the third day he will be raised to life!” These predictions stand up in the light of stringent historical examination, as Licona states in his book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, “it is my opinion that the strong case for the historicity of Jesus’ predictions of his passion and resurrection stands.”[4]

The Gospels: Eyewitness Testimony to the Resurrection

The four gospels provide the most comprehensive reports of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and between them, act as reliable, multiple, eyewitness reports. The truth of the gospels with respect to these events, which ultimately changed the lives and characters of the authors to the extent that they willingly endured martyrdom, carries with it the foundation of Christianity. After reviewing the “Story of Easter” in the gospels, Wright states, “This belief about Jesus provides a historically complete, thorough and satisfying reason for the rise and development of the belief that he was Israel’s Messiah and the world’s true lord.”[5]

In his book, Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels, J. Warner Wallace, a career cold-case detective, evaluated the truth claims of the gospels in a manner similar to his cold-case investigations. Using abductive reasoning, he came to the conclusion that “The most reasonable inference is that the gospel writers were present, corroborated, accurate, and unbiased. If this is the case, we can conclude with confidence that their testimony is reliable.”[6]

The Writings of Paul – as Early as A.D. 54?

In his book, The Resurrection of Jesus, Licona refers to Paul as “the earliest known author to mention the resurrection of Jesus” and that “Paul’s letters are the only verifiable reports by a verifiable eyewitness of the risen Jesus Himself.”[7] He further states, “Oral traditions played a large role in the Greco-Roman world, since only a small minority, perhaps less than 10 percent, could read and write.”[8] Using Romans 1:4, where Paul writes that Jesus was “declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,” Licona refers to scholarly opinion that Paul was using an oral tradition that could go back to the early church in Jerusalem, and which would, in any event, predate the authorship of the book of Romans, itself “typically dated between A.D. 55 to A. D. 58.”[9] This demonstrates that Paul’s writings began as early as A.D. 54, less than 25 years after Jesus ascended, and answers suggestions that New Testament books were written much later than that.

For me, the fulfillment of many prophecies made hundreds of years earlier is evidence of a supernatural element in the life of Jesus. The truth of the gospels, demonstrated by experts in widely different fields, is confirmation that Jesus represents the truth behind our earthly lives.

[1] Wright, N. T., (2003-03-17). Resurrection Son of God V3: Christian Origins and the Question of God, (Minneapolis, MN, Fortress Press, 2003) 722.

[2] According to the Scriptures, January 20, 2015, http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html, accessed November 27, 2016.

[3] Matthew 12:40, NIV.

[4] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2010), 300

[5] Wright, N. T., Resurrection Son of God V3: Christian Origins and the Question of God, (Minneapolis, MN, Fortress Press, 2003), 681-682.

[6] Wallace, J. Warner (2013-01-01). Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels (Kindle Locations 4548-4550). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.

[7] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 2010), 437.

[8] Ibid., (p. 220).

[9] Ibid., (p. 221).