CHAPTER XX.
THE RESURRECTION.
At the request of the priests, Pilate sealed the
door of the sepulcher with the Roman seal and placed a guard of sixteen
Roman soldiers over it, lest "his disciples should steal away the body."
There, upon the last seventh day Sabbath of the world, the torn and
weary body of the Lord lay at rest. The faithful and loving women, who
had stood at the cross, had followed the body to its resting place,
and "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus, beheld where it was
laid," having observed it before the Roman guard was placed there. After
the Sabbath was passed, they returned, early on the first day of the
week, to embalm the body with sweet spices, a tribute not satisfactorily
attended to amid the confusion of the hurried burial. They found no
body in the tomb.
Farrar says with great force and justice: At the
moment when Christ died, nothing could have seemed more abjectly weak,
more pitifully hopeless, more absolutely doomed to scorn and extinction
and despair, than the Church which he had founded. It numbered but a
handful of weak followers. They were poor, they were ignorant, they
were hopeless. They could not claim a single synagogue or a single sword.
So feeble were they, and insignificant, that it would have looked like
foolish partiality to prophesy for them the limited existence of a Galilean
sect. How was it that these dull and ignorant men, with their cross
of wood, triumphed over the deadly fascinations of sensual mythologies,
conquered kings and their armies, and overcame the world? [293]
There is one, and one only, possible answer--the resurrection
from the dead. All this vast revolution was due to the power of Christ's
resurrection.
THREE DAYS
AND THREE NIGHTS.--There
has been much discussion of the time that the Savior's body was in the
grave. As he had spoken of it being three days and nights in the earth,
some have insisted that he was crucified on Thursday, buried Thursday
evening, and was in the tomb Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. If
the passover had come that year on Thursday evening, there would be
no inconsistency between this hypothesis and the facts, for Friday would
have been an annual Sabbath. This view, which has been ably advocated
by some learned writers, reconciles the four expressions that refer
to the time of burial, (1) "On the third day," (2) "After three days,
(3) "In three days," and (4) "After three days and three nights" as
follows. It is said that "on the third day" may include a period beginning
with the first minute of the first day and ending with the last minute
of the third, embracing in all seventy-two hours. "After three days,"
it is insisted, means the same as "three days and three nights," while
"in three days" may include the last minute of a period of seventy-two
hours. It is, therefore, held that this is the exact period that the
Savior's body was in the tomb, extending from the time of burial on
Thursday evening until the time of resurrection on Sunday, three days
and three nights being the measure by which we are to settle the duration
of the indefinite expressions. While all this seems plausible it labors
under the difficulty that it does not harmonize with the facts. These
facts should be noted: 1. The Savior was buried on the day he was crucified.
He was crucified and buried on "the day of preparation," and "the next
day that followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees
came together unto Pilate" to ask a guard. According to Matthew, then,
the first day of burial is the day of the crucifixion. Mark also says
that Christ was buried on the evening of the day of preparation. Luke
also says that he was buried on the day of preparation. John says the
same thing. This, then, is the first day, in the evening. The
Savior is buried near the close of the first, instead of the beginning.
If it was Thursday, Friday would be the second day, Saturday the third,
and Sunday, on which all admit that he rose, the fourth day.
The theory named above would require that the burial take place the
very beginning of the first and the rising at the very close of the
third, whereas the very opposite is true. If he was buried on Thursday
and rose on Sunday, he rose on the fourth day. This view, therefore,
is to be rejected, and we are to understand the expression "three days
and three nights," not according to ours, but according to the Hebrew
idiom. A day and a night was expressed by a single term meaning a day-night.
Any part of the period was made to stand for the whole. The parts of
Friday and Sunday that the Savior was in the tomb would stand for the
Friday and Sunday "day-nights," while the whole of Saturday is, of course,
included. See 2 Chron. 10:5, 12, where the people sent away for three
days returned on the third day. Also 1 Sam. 30:12, 13, where
three days is the same period as three days and three nights. These
two references show that the "third day." "three days" and "three nights,"
according to Hebrew usage, means the same period of time. [294]
1. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early. The Sabbath ended at sunset, so that Jesus had been dead
and buried Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning, beginning at
the previous sunset, three days according to Jewish reckoning. See 1
Sam. 30:12, 13; 2 Chron. 10:5, 12. This visit John says was "early,
while it was yet dark;" Mark says "very early in the morning;" Matthew
says "As it began to dawn." John names Mary Magdalene as the important
one of these women who visited the tomb, but does not say she was alone.
From the other evangelists we learn that Mary, the mother of James and
Joses, and Salome were with her, and that they came with sweet spices
to embalm the body of Jesus, expecting to secure aid to remove the stone.
The fact that they came to embalm the body shows that they were not
satisfied with the coarser, but loving treatment of Joseph and Nicodemus,
and that they did not expect a resurrection. To their astonishment they
found the stone rolled away.
2. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter,
etc. The reason that John mentions Mary Magdalene alone is shown
in this statement. She was the one who ran and met Peter and himself.
Her sad cry, "They have taken the Lord away out of the sepulcher, and
we know not where they have laid him," shows that others were
with her at the sepulcher. Her only explanation was that the enemies
had taken away the body. While Mary had gone to seek the disciples the
other women entered the sepulcher and saw an angel there. See Matt.
28:6-7.
3, 4, Peter . . . came to the sepulcher.
As soon as Peter and John heard the story of Mary Magdalene they at
once hurried out of the city to the sepulcher. They were intensely excited
by the startling story, and ran with their utmost speed to the sepulcher.
John seems to have been the swifter of the two and reached it first.
The circumstantial details he gives are those of an eye witness.
5, 6, 7. And he . . . saw the linen clothes
lying. Though John reached the sepulcher first he was so awed that
he did not enter in, but through the open [295]
door he saw the tomb to be empty, but linen clothes that Joseph and
Nicodemus had used for burial garments (see John 19:40) lying within.
Peter, more impulsive and bolder, as soon as he reached the tomb, went
within and also noted the linen wrappings, carefully folded, and even
the napkin that was about his head, placed in such a way as to show
that the tomb had not been rudely robbed.
8, 9. Then went in that other disciple . .
. and he saw and believed. When John entered in, saw the careful
attention paid to the grave clothes, and knew that rude robbers could
not have taken the body, it flashed upon his mind, for the first time,
that the Lord had risen. So dull had they all been, according to his
confession, notwithstanding the clear, Scripture statements and the
teachings of the Lord, that they had not before understood that he should
rise from the dead. This is the first gleam of faith in the Lord's resurrection.
John was the first believer.
10. The disciples went away again to their
own home. Probably to the house of John, which there is reason to
believe was in Jerusalem. The tomb was empty; there was nothing more
they could do but simply to await the developments that might come.
11. Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping.
She had followed Peter and John more slowly, and when all the other
disciples departed she remained to weep at the place where the Lord
had lain. She also stooped and gazed through her tears into the sepulcher,
but without hope, when suddenly she
12, 13. Seeth two angels, clothed in white.
It is not certain that she at first knew them to be angels; she was
stupefied almost with grief, and they had the appearance of men, as
did the angel seen by the other women whom she had not met since she
ran for Peter and John. They asked her, Why weepest thou? and
her answer shows that the stone rolled away from the door of the sepulcher
has not been lifted from her heart; "Because they have taken away my
Lord and I know [296] not where they have laid
him." To her, still, the broken tabernacle of clay laid in the tomb,
is her Lord.
14. She turned herself back, and saw Jesus
standing. As she spoke of her Lord her Lord was there, though she
did not recognize him. Her failure to do so was due probably in part
to her preoccupation and excitement of mind and to the dimness of the
light. She saw a man, and paid little heed at first to his appearance,
though it may be possible that her "eyes were holden," as in the case
of the disciples on the way to Emmaus.
15. Woman, why weepest thou? The same question
is asked, first, by the Lord that had been by his angels in the tomb.
Mary, still heedless of all but her sorrow, without looking, takes it
for granted that it is the gardener who has charge of the garden in
which the sepulchre was placed, for who else would be likely to be there
so early? She at once asks him about the body. As yet her hope is dead.
16. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. . . . Rabboni.
Before she had been listless, but when she heard her name in the accents
she remembered so well, she at once beheld her Lord, and crying out,
Rabboni, Master, she attempted to throw herself at his feet.
17. Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended
to my Father. She, in her gladness, sought to grasp her Lord about
the feet. There has been much conjecture as to the reasons underlying
the Savior's prohibition. It seems to me that the explanation is about
as follows: She desired to fling herself upon the Lord and retain him,
but it was needful that he come and go, during the time he showed himself
to his disciples, until he "ascended to his Father." Then would he come
again by the Spirit to be with his disciples forever. Had he permitted
her embrace he would have been compelled, in a moment, to escape from
her, but since he has ascended to his Father he abides with the saints
forever! Though Mary is not allowed to embrace him, there is assigned
to her a higher privilege. She is told to go and tell the glad story
to my brethren. He is still our Brother. I ascend to my Father.
The time of the ascension is viewed as present. He has risen; he ascends;
another step in his exaltation. The Father to whom he [297]
ascends is "your Father" also. The disciples are brethren of the
Lord and children of his Father.
18. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples
that she had seen the Lord. The women were last at the cross; they
followed the body to the tomb; they were first to see the open tomb;
first to hear the story of the resurrection from an angel, and Mary
was the first to see the Lord. Great is the faith and devotion of the
sex; great is the honor with which the Lord has crowned the faith and
devotion of women.
PROOFS OF THE RESURRECTION.
I have been used for many years to study the history
of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidences of those who
have written about them; and I know of no one fact in the history of
mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort,
to the mind of a fair inquirer, than that Christ died, and rose again
from the dead.--Dr. Arnold.
I. Proved by the enemies of Christ. (1)
It was impossible for these enemies to deny that Christ had by some
means left the grave. (2) It was impossible for them to give any other
explanation than that which they now invented--that his disciples stole
the body. (3) It was impossible for this, the only explanation they
could give, to be credited; for the disciples could not have stolen
him if they would.
II. Proved by the friends of Christ. (1)
The apostles had the most powerful faith in the fact. They were unanimous
in their declaration of it a few days after, on the very spot on which
it occurred, and that to men who were prepared to do anything to conceal
the fact. (2) This faith came in direct opposition to their previous
beliefs and worldly interests. They had no expectation and no hope of
such resurrection. (3) They had every opportunity for thoroughly satisfying
themselves on the point. (4) By their declaration of the fact they induced
thousands of the enemies of Christ to believe in it, and that close
to the time and near the spot on which it occurred. The early Church
universally believed in it; and it is incredible that a myth, a false
story, should have So grown up without substantial foundation.--From
Thomas' Genius of the Gospel. (5) They attested this fact, not only
by their lives, but by their death. (6) Only the fact of the resurrection
can account for the marvelous change in the spirit and character of
the apostles. The resurrection completely transformed them; inspired
them with a new conception of Christ's, kingdom as for all people, with
a new courage to suffer for the sake of their risen Lord and his kingdom,
and with a new purpose to preach Christ and him crucified everywhere
as a spiritual redemption for sin (Acts 2:39; 5:41; 10:43). Neither
fraud nor fiction is competent to account for the moral contrast. (7)
A singular and significant testimony to the truth of the resurrection
is afforded by the change in the Sabbath day. It was changed, not by
any express command in the New Testament, but by the almost universal
consent of the Church, which could not endure to observe as a day of
joy and [298] gladness that on which Christ
lay in the tomb, nor forbear to mark as a weekly festival that on which
he arose.--Abbott.
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.
1. The most glorious hopes are sometimes born
out of the womb of darkness.
2. The stone that was rolled away from the door
of the sepulcher has been rolled from human hearts.
3. Those that seek Christ need not fear though
they do not find him at first, and in the way they expect.
4. Go to the cross and tomb of Christ and perhaps
there will be revealed to thee the risen Lord.
5. THE RESURRECTION.--(1)
It demonstrates that Christ is the Son of God. If he could not conquer
death, and come back from heaven, he could prove that at the first he
came from heaven. (2) It is the proof of immortal life beyond the grave:
that death does not end all, but the soul lives after the body dies.
(3) It is the assurance of our own resurrection. (4) It shows that our
Savior has power over every one of our enemies. (5) It teaches the moral
resurrection, that being dead to sin we should be alive unto God.
6. THE DEATH
OF CHRIST.--The death of our Lord is the
most remarkable event of history, far more astounding in the development
of the plans of God than his coming into the world. Yet it has a fitness
that demonstrates it to be in harmony with the divine arrangement. Though
the Jews could not understand, their own law with its sacrifices and
its types, and their own prophets were pointing forward all through
their history to the sacrifice of Calvary. Their Scriptures showed "that
it behooved Christ to suffer and to be raised again from the dead."
All prophecy points him out as one who came into the world to die, the
only being who ever came with death as the principle object of his coming.
Yet "it behooved him to die," 1. To demonstrate the exceeding sinfulness
of man; 2. The surprising love of God; 3. To accomplish human redemption;
4. To bring to light immortality; 5. To achieve the victory of the cross.
By the cross he conquered.
THE LORD SEEN BY THE APOSTLES.
After the Savior's first recorded appearance,
that to Mary Magdalene, he revealed himself at some time during this
eventful day, the first Lord's day in the history of the world, to Simon
Peter, and late in the evening appeared to the disciples on the way
to Emmaus. These hurried back at once to Jerusalem with the glad story,
and found the eleven gathered, with others, discussing the account told
by the women and by Peter. They added their testimony, but still there
was such skepticism of the resurrection that many refused to believe.
Then, while the company sat at meat, with the doors closed for fear
of the Jews, suddenly the Lord appeared in their midst, with the salutation,
"Peace be unto you." [299]
The following are the recorded appearances of
the Savior after his crucifixion. There were ten or eleven in all.
1. To Mary Magdalene alone (Mark 16:9; John 20:11-18),
near Jerusalem,--Sunday, April 9.
2. To the women returning from the sepulchre (Matt.
28:9, 10), near Jerusalem,--Sunday, April 9. I suspect this is another
version of the appearance to Mary Magdalene.
3. To Simon Peter alone (Luke 24:34), near Jerusalem,--Sunday,
April 9.
4. To the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luke 24:13),
etc.,--Sunday, April 9.
5. To the apostles at Jerusalem, excepting Thomas,
who was absent (John 20:19),--Sunday, April 9.
6. To the apostles at Jerusalem a second time,
when Thomas was present (John 20:26, 29),--Sunday, April 16.
7. At the Sea of Tiberias, when seven disciples
were fishing (John 21:1).
8. To the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee
(Matt. 28:16).
9. To above 500 brethren at once (1 Cor. 15:6),
in Galilee, near the time of the last. It is possible that these two
are identical.
10. To James only (1 Cor. 15:7).
11. To all the apostles on Mount Olivet at his
ascension (Luke 24:51),--Thursday, May 18.
19. Then the same day at evening, being the
first day of the week. John particularly marks the time of this
important event. It is the third or fourth appearance of the Savior
upon this memorable day, and the first one to the apostolic body. By
a comparison with Mark 16:14-16, and Luke 24:36, we learn that at the
moment of his appearance they were discussing the story of the resurrection
of which many refused to be convinced, so incredulous were they. The
doors were shut . . . for fear of the Jews. Probably barred
as well as shut. It was only natural to suppose that the vengeance that
had fallen on the Master would also visit his followers. He had himself
forewarned them of persecution. Peter's fear had been shown by his repeated
denial of Christ. Came Jesus and stood in the midst. They suddenly
saw him among them. How he came, whether by miracle, or whether his
body now had new conditions which freed it from material hindrances,
it is useless for us to discuss, as it is an untaught question. It is
enough for us to know and accept the fact. Luke states that they were
"affrighted," which was only natural, and this explains the loving salutation
that John records, Peace be unto you, the usual salutation of
friendship and love.
20. He shewed unto them his hands and his side.
The Lord showed his wounds to convince them beyond a doubt that it was
not a fantasy or an apparition, but the [300]
crucified one arisen. A week later he shows his wounds to Thomas. The
resurrected body still bore these proofs of his suffering and love.
Sixty years later, when John, at Patmos, saw the Lion of the Tribe of
Judah, he beheld "a Lamb as it had been slain." Perhaps our Lord in
glory continues to bear the marks of the cross. Perhaps these will forever,
as we gaze in glory, remind us of the story of our redemption. When
the apostles beheld these marks they were glad. All doubt had passed
away. The test was indisputable. The Savior had risen indeed.
21. Peace be unto you: as my father hath sent
me, even so send I you. Now that they know that he is their Master,
he again repeats his blessing, and then reminds them of their work upon
earth. As he had come to the world because the Father sent him, and
represented the Father, so they, the apostles, are now sent by him and
will speak his will. They are the executors of the Testament of Jesus
Christ, the New Testament, that comes into force after the Testator
dies, (Heb. 9:15-17), and are to be sent forth to proclaim its provisions.
This is the first development of the Great Commission, more fully developed
in Galilee a little later, and finally completed on Mt. Olivet, just
before the Lord ascended. The Lord had trained the apostles for three
years in order to fit them for this important work.
22. Breathed on them, and said, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost. Breath is the symbol of life. God breathes into
man the breath of life (Gen. 2:7), and Christ breathed upon his apostles
as a symbol of the impartation of the Holy Spirit. I suppose that he
imparted a measure of the Spirit at this time to guide and strengthen
them during this preparatory period, but the baptism of the Spirit,
"the power from on high," was not imparted until the day of Pentecost,
after the Lord ascended.
23. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them, etc. There is hardly a passage in the New Testament that
has caused more discussion, which is more obscure, unless the proper
key to its explanation is secured, or which is plainer from the right
standpoint. It will be seen at once, by a comparison with Matt. 16:19,
that the keys then promised to Peter are now given to all the apostles,
and all have similar power to open and shut, to remit sin, and to bind.
There are three explanations: 1. That of the Romish Church, which holds
that to Peter as to the "prince of the apostles," and after him, to
all the priesthood, is given the power to pardon sin. This is the basis
of their doctrine that the priest can grant absolution to the sinner.
2. A kind of confused and uncertain view of Protestants, who deny to
the priest individually, the power to absolve, but hold that the Church,
acting through its officials, can remit penalties for sin, [301]
free from sin, on the one hand, and can anathematize upon the other.
3. The third and correct view is plain when we consider, first, the
charge that the Savior was making, and, secondly, look forward and see
how that charge was carried out, or, in other words, observe the apostles
"remitting sins" and retaining them. It is the Great Commission to preach
the gospel that the Savior gives for the first time in verse 21. It
is with reference to carrying out that Commission that he speaks in
verse 23. It was in order that they might present the terms of that
Commission infallibly to the world that the baptism of the Holy Spirit
was imparted, of which there is a foreshadowing in verse 22. The great
end of that Commission was to declare to men "repentance and remission
of sins" in the name of Christ. The following facts are manifest: 1.
The Savior gave to his apostles his Commission that they might make
known his will. 2. He bade them preach "remission of sins." 3. He gave
them a measure of the Holy Spirit, and bade them wait until "endued
with power from on high" by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 4. When
the Holy Spirit fell they spoke as it "gave them utterance." Acts 2:4.
5. They then declared, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the terms
on which "sins could be remitted." To anxious sinners they answer, "Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for
the remission of sins. "Here, then, they, directed by the Holy Spirit,
"remit" and "retain" sins by declaring the terms on which Christ will
pardon. Thus, also, they, do in their preaching recorded through the
Acts of the Apostles, the very thing that the Savior gave them power
to do. This power was not imparted to a hierarchy, nor to any ecclesiastical
body, but to the apostles, and was fulfilled by them in declaring to
the world the conditions of pardon and condemnation under the Commission
of our Lord.
24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus,
was not with them. Didymus, which means the Twin, is the Greek for
the Hebrew name, Thomas. He was one of the Twelve, of whom history has
recorded but little. It is reported by tradition that he carried the
gospel to India and died there. He seems to have been an honest, affectionate
man, but of a rather skeptical turn of mind. This incident, as well
as the unbelief of the others prior to the meeting of the Savior with
the apostles, shows that they were very incredulous, and hard to convince,
notwithstanding the Lord had said he would rise again. Only "infallible
proofs" could convince them. The failure of Thomas to be present with
the other disciples was probably due to his utter despair.
25. He said unto them . . . . I will not believe.
At some time during the week they meet him and tell their joyful story,
but he meets it with skepticism. He will believe no man, not even his
eyes; he must feel the wounds as well as see them before he will believe.
His language is not merely skepticism, but defiance. [302]
His position was nearly that of modern materialists and positivists
who hold that no testimony will prove such a miracle.
26. After eight days again his disciples were
within, and Thomas with them. It was on the second Sunday after
the resurrection; the second Lord's day in the history of the world.
Let it be noted: 1. On the seventh day the Lord was in the tomb and
the hearts of his disciples buried with him. It was the last Sabbath
of the old dispensation. The Sabbath institution went out in gloom.
Its last memory is of the dead Savior and buried hopes. 2. It is on
the Lord's day, the first day of the week, that he bursts the tomb and
brings life and immortality to light. 3. On that day occurs the first
recorded meeting of the disciples of the crucified Lord and he meets
with them. 4. During the entire following week, including the seventh
day, there is silence; no appearance of the Savior and no meeting of
the disciples. 6. But on the next Lord's day, the first day of the week,
they meet again, probably because he had directed it, and he appears
again. 6. When we add that the meeting of Pentecost was on the first
day also, that there are positive evidences in Acts and 1 Corinthians
of the custom of the churches of meeting on the first day, and not a
single account, after the resurrection of the Savior, of a church meeting
for worship on the seventh day, and lastly, that church history shows
it to have been the unbroken usage of the ancient churches to meet on
the first day of the week, we may well wonder at the Sabbatarian folly.
27. Reach hither thy finger. The Lord suddenly
appeared in their midst, as one week before, and uttered his salutation
of peace. Then turning to the skeptical Thomas, he asks him to apply
the tests that he had declared would be necessary before he could believe.
His compassion for the unbelief of Thomas shows the patient tenderness
of the Savior with the difficulties of an honest seeker. Christ never
wasted words on the unsincere.
28. Thomas answered, . . . My Lord and my God.
Thomas did not need to apply the test. Every shadow of doubt passed
away, and from out of his full and astonished heart came forth the ejaculation,
which was a confession of his faith: It is his Lord, and his divine
Savior, God manifest in the flesh.
29. Blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed. Thomas "saw" (he did not need to handle), and
believed. We have not seen, but nevertheless, believe upon the same
Lord. Upon us he pronounces a special blessedness, because we walk by
faith instead of sight. [303]
30. Many other signs truly did Jesus. Not
near all that occurred, either before or after the resurrection, is
recorded. Each of the evangelists records some features that the others
omit and they each reveal the fact that they only outline the wonderful
story.
31. But these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, etc. This is the object of all the gospel
histories. They are to so reveal Christ as to produce faith in him.
He is the one object of belief. He is the Christian's creed. Faith in
him, a faith that takes him as the Christ, saves the soul. All who have
such faith wrought by the word of God will "have life through his name."
Here, with these words, John ends the great argument
that he entered upon with the first chapter and which continues with
unbroken connection until it reaches its culmination in the remarkable
declaration of the purpose with which he had written. The chain of argument
embraces the testimony of Moses and the prophets, the witness of John
the Baptist, whom the Jews acknowledged as a man of God, the wonderful
life of Christ, the supernatural wisdom and authority of his teaching,
his supernatural works, and last and greatest of all, the fact of his
death, burial and resurrection. The last is the crowning argument, and
it is after he has established it beyond a doubt, if such a wonderful
fact can be proven by human testimony, that he closes with the declaration,
These were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ
the Son of God, etc.
The resurrection is so vital that, in addition
to the condensed argument given at the close of the preceding section,
I think it important, here, where the argument of John reaches its climax,
to add some additional remarks. First, I will cite the admissions of
great German scholars of the Rationalistic school, and then add the
argument given by Dr. Philip Schaff in his history of Apostolic Christianity.
1. Dr. Baur, of Tubingen, who might well be called
the head of the celebrated Tubingen school of rationalistic criticism,
after the study of a lifetime, came at last to the conclusion, stated
in revised editions of his Church History of the First Three Centuries,
published shortly before his death, that nothing but the miracle of
the resurrection could disperse the doubts which threatened to drive
faith itself into the eternal night of death. While he adds that the
nature of the resurrection itself lies outside of historical investigation,
he states that "the faith of the disciples in the resurrection of Jesus
becomes the most solid and irrefutable certainty. In this faith only,
Christianity gained a firm foothold of its historical development. . . .
No psychological analysis can penetrate the inner spiritual process
by which in the consciousness of the disciples their unbelief at the
death of Jesus was [304] transformed into a
belief of his resurrection. . . . We must rest satisfied with
this, that for them the resurrection of Christ was a fact of their consciousness,
and had for them all the reality of a historical event." Vol. I, pp.
39, 40.
2. Dr. Ewald, of Gottingen, while resolving the
resurrection into a purely spiritual one, through long-continued manifestations
from heaven, declares, "Nothing is historically more certain than that
Christ rose from the dead and appeared to his own, and thus, their vision
was the beginning of new, higher faith and of all their Christian labors."--Apostolic
Age, p. 69.
3. Dr. Keim, of Zurich, a pupil of Dr. Baur, in
his Life of Christ, expresses the conviction that "it was the crucified
and living Christ who, not as the risen one, but rather as the divinely
glorified one, gave visions to his disciples and revealed himself to
his society." In his last work on the great problem which has defied
all rationalistic explanations, he comes to the conclusion that we must
either, with Dr. Baur, humbly confess our ignorance, or return to the
faith of the apostles "who have seen our Lord." See last edition of
Life of Christ, p. 362. To these might be added other testimonies, but
these are enough to show the bewilderment and confusion of the rationalistic
"higher criticism" of Germany. For further treatment of this subject,
see Dr. Schaff on the Resurrection, in the Appendix.
[NTC3 293-305]
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