The belief that the Bible is inerrant is central to Christian dogma. Here’s how the Southern Baptist Convention states it:
And the Methodist Church:
The Catholic Church has this to say about the great truth of the Christian faith:
Was Jesus actually resurrected? Christian dogma asserts that the eyewitness testimonies recorded in the New Testament Gospels provide the definitive proof that Jesus was indeed resurrected. And who exactly were those eyewitnesses? Were they perhaps the authors of the four Gospels? Here’s what biblical scholarship has to say about the matter:
So the Gospels were written decades after the death of Jesus, and therefore the authors of the Gospels could not have been eyewitnesses.
The persons who actually saw that the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb where it had been laid were the women and two men who went to the tomb on Sunday morning. So let’s review the details of what those eyewitnesses saw. First, why did the women go to the tomb? Neither Matthew nor John provide an explanation. But:
- Mark says (Mark 16:1-2) that the women who went to the tomb bought spices before they went. They planned to use the spices to anoint the body of Jesus. That explains why they went to the tomb, and also why they had to get inside the tomb.
- Luke says (Luke 23:55-56) that the women who went to the tomb prepared oils and spices before the sabbath.
So according to both Mark and Luke, the reason for going to the tomb was to anoint the body of Jesus with oils and spices. These passages also show that the women who went to the tomb planned the event, and that they went together as a group.
Who actually went to the tomb?
- Matthew says (Matthew 28:1) that there were two women who went to the tomb-- Mary Magdalene and the “other” Mary.
- Mark says (Mark 16:1) there were three women who went to the tomb-- Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.
- Luke says (Luke:23:55-56, 24:1) that all the women who came with Jesus from Galilee went to the tomb, and he specifically names Mary Magdalene, Johanna, and Mary the mother of James.
- John says (John 20:1-3) that only one woman, Mary Magdalene, went to the tomb. But once she saw that the body of Jesus was no longer inside she went to town to tell the disciples, and two men-- Simon Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved-- went to the tomb to see for themselves.
So Matthew says two women went to the tomb, Mark says it was three women, Luke says it was all the women who came from Galilee, and John says it was one woman and two men. And Luke’s statement that the women who went to the tomb were “all” the women who came with Jesus from Galilee means that the women would all have known each other, probably from childhood.
Was the stone rolled back before or after the women arrived at the tomb?
- Matthew says (Matthew 27:62-66) that the tomb was sealed and that guards were posted at the tomb. He further says (Matthew 28:3) that when the two women arrived at the tomb the stone was still in place, but that an angel appeared and rolled back the stone, terrifying the guards and knocking them unconscious.
- Mark says (Mark 16:3-5) that the stone had already been rolled back when the women arrived.
- Luke agrees with Mark (Luke 24:2-4).
- John says (John 20:1) that when Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb, the stone had already been removed.
So three of the four sets of eyewitnesses say that the stone was already rolled back when they arrived; and one set says it was
not rolled back until after the women arrived.
How many angels did the women see?
- Matthew says (Matthew 28:2-3) that one angel appeared outside the tomb, rolled back the stone, and sat atop it.
- Mark (Mark 16:3-5) mentions nothing about an angel sitting on top of the stone, but he says that when the women went into the tomb they saw an angel sitting down on the right hand side.
- Luke (Luke 24:2-4) also says nothing about an angel outside the tomb. And when the women went into the tomb, Luke doesn’t mention an angel sitting down either. But after the women looked around and puzzled over the fact that the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb, two angels appeared standing beside them.
- John mentions (John 20:1-12) nothing about any angels when Mary Magdalene first arrived at the tomb. Later, when the two disciples arrived at the tomb, they went inside and they saw the linens that were used to wrap the body of Jesus lying on the floor of the tomb-- and again there is no mention of any angels, either inside or outside the tomb. The disciples went home, but Mary Magdalene, who must have returned to the tomb with the men, looked inside the tomb a second time-- and then saw to angels sitting where the body of Jesus had been.
So Matthew says there was one angel outside the tomb, Mark says there was one angel sitting down inside the tomb when the women went in, Luke says that two angels appeared standing beside them after they went inside and pondered the fact that the body of Jesus was no longer inside, and John says that two angels were sitting down inside the tomb the second time that Mary Magdalene looked inside.
Who were the first persons to see the risen Jesus?
- Matthew says (Matthew 28:5-9) that the two women who went to the tomb ran to Galilee to tell his disciples, and that they encountered the risen Jesus as they were on their way.
- Mark says (Mark 16:9) that the first person to see the risen Jesus was Mary Magdalene, but that she didn’t see him until the day after she returned home from the tomb.
- Luke says (Luke 24:13) that two men, Cleopas and another unnamed man, saw the risen Jesus on the day that the women went to the tomb as they were on their way to a village named Emmaus.
- John says (John 20:13-16) that after Mary Magdalene had looked into the tomb the second time, she turned around and saw Jesus.
So all four narratives disagree about when and where the risen Jesus was first seen.
These are supposed to be the eyewitness accounts that definitively prove that Jesus really was resurrected from the dead. But as we have seen, there are discrepancies between the four Gospel narratives on every significant point.
What does all this mean? As I read these accounts I think they add up to just one thing: reasonable doubt.
