The Historical Weight of the Empty Tomb

Introduction:

The discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb stands as one of the most historically defensible events of antiquity. It is supported by multiple independent sources¹, embarrassing testimony², enemy attestation³, and early proclamation⁴—factors that meet and exceed the standards of historical inquiry. Even skeptical historians and scholars who deny the resurrection concede the likelihood of the empty tomb.⁵

As historian N.T. Wright states:

“The empty tomb and the appearances of Jesus are firmly established historical facts for which the only adequate explanation is the bodily resurrection.”⁶

1. Jewish Burial Law and Roman Practice: The Tomb Was Inevitable

According to both the Mishna and the Old Testament, even a crucified person was to be buried before nightfall. Deuteronomy 21:22–23 commands:

“If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day.”

The Mishna (Sanhedrin 6:5) confirms this practice:

“We do not leave the body hanging overnight, but bury it immediately.”⁷

Roman practices during peacetime often respected local customs, especially in Judea, to prevent uprisings.⁸ Josephus records that the Jews were so scrupulous about burial that they even buried crucified victims before sunset.⁹ To leave Jesus’ body on the cross or throw it into a common grave would have violated Jewish law and sensitivities, risking civil unrest during the Passover festival. Therefore, burial in a tomb, consistent with Jewish law and Roman policy, is historically expected.¹⁰

2. Multiple Independent Sources: The Historical Gold Standard

The empty tomb is reported across multiple independent sources, which is the highest standard of historical reliability. It appears in all four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and is implied in Paul’s creedal summary in 1 Corinthians 15, which dates within five years of Jesus’ death.

The account is also preserved in different literary forms: the Gospel narratives, the early creeds, and the public proclamations in Acts, providing multiple attestations from distinct traditions.

Gary Habermas, a leading scholar on the resurrection, notes:

“Virtually all critical scholars agree that the creed in 1 Corinthians 15 represents an early eyewitness-based proclamation that pre-dates the writing of the Gospels.”¹¹

3. The Criterion of Embarrassment: Women as the First Witnesses

The Gospels state that women discovered the empty tomb. This detail is significant because, in first-century Jewish and Roman societies, the testimony of women was considered unreliable:

• Josephus: “Let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex.”¹²
• Women were not accepted as legal witnesses in Jewish courts.¹³

If the empty tomb story were fabricated, the authors would have presented men, such as Peter or John, as the first witnesses. Instead, they record the socially embarrassing truth—that women were the first to encounter the risen Christ.

N.T. Wright affirms:

“The early Christians would never have invented the story of the women as the first witnesses. This was too counterproductive to be fiction.”¹⁴

4. Enemy Attestation: Admissions from Opponents

Hostile sources confirm that the tomb was empty. The Jewish leaders claimed that the disciples stole the body—an admission that the body was gone:

• Tertullian mentions that the Jewish authorities accused the disciples of stealing the body.¹⁵
• The polemic recorded in Matthew 28 shows that Jesus’ opponents did not deny the empty tomb but tried to explain it away.¹⁶

Enemy attestation is powerful in historical analysis because adversaries have no incentive to support their opponent’s claims unless they are forced by facts.

5. Early Proclamation in Jerusalem: Impossible to Fake

The resurrection was first preached in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus was crucified and buried. If the tomb were not empty, critics could have easily produced the body, ending the movement immediately. Instead, Christianity exploded in Jerusalem, converting thousands, including priests and members of the Sanhedrin.¹⁷

William Lane Craig argues:

“The proclamation of the resurrection within weeks of the crucifixion, in the city where Jesus was publicly executed and buried, is inexplicable unless the tomb was empty.”¹⁸

6. Jewish Burial Customs and Archaeological Consistency

The Gospels state that Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin—a detail that would have been easily falsifiable if untrue. Archaeological studies confirm that tombs in first-century Judea were hewn into rock with a stone rolled over the entrance, matching the Gospel descriptions.

Jodi Magness, a distinguished archaeologist, states:

“The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ burial accord well with archaeological evidence from tombs of that period.”¹⁹

7. The Apostles’ Willingness to Die for Their Testimony

The disciples proclaimed the resurrection despite facing imprisonment, torture, and execution. Their radical transformation—from fearful deserters to bold martyrs—demands explanation. Liars do not die for something they know is false.

Blaise Pascal remarks:

“The apostles were either deceived or deceivers. But impostors do not act this way.”²⁰

8. Scholarly Consensus on the Empty Tomb

A significant majority of historians—both Christian and skeptical—accept the empty tomb as historical. In a survey of over 2,000 publications on the resurrection:

• 75% of scholars accept the historicity of the empty tomb²¹.
• Even Bart Ehrman, a noted agnostic, acknowledges the early proclamation of the empty tomb²².

James D.G. Dunn asserts:

“The tradition of the empty tomb is too early and consistent to be dismissed as a late invention.”²³

Probability Assessment: The Likelihood of the Empty Tomb

• If Jesus rose: 100% (The tomb would certainly be empty)
• If Jesus did not rise (e.g., stolen body, wrong tomb): 5% (Alternative explanations are highly unlikely)

Odds Ratio (Bayes Factor): 100% / 5% = 20

Conclusion: The Empty Tomb Is Historically Certain

The empty tomb is established by:

• Multiple independent attestations (Gospels, creeds, and Acts)
• The criterion of embarrassment (women as witnesses)
• Enemy attestation (Jewish leaders confirming the tomb was empty)
• The early proclamation in Jerusalem (where the body could have been found)
• Archaeological confirmation of burial practices
• The apostles’ willingness to die for their testimony

Together, these factors make the empty tomb one of the most historically defensible events of antiquity, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus the best explanation of this fact.

Footnotes for Part 1: The Empty Tomb

¹ Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).
² Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2007).
³ Paul R. Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd, The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).
⁴ Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).
⁵ James H. Charlesworth, Jesus and Archaeology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).
⁶ N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003).
⁷ Mishna, Sanhedrin 6:5.
⁸ Craig A. Evans, Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
⁹ Flavius Josephus, Jewish War 4.317.
¹⁰ Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah (New York: Doubleday, 1994).
¹¹ Gary Habermas, “Resurrection Research from 1975 to the Present: What are Critical Scholars Saying?” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 3, no. 2 (2005): .
¹² Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 4.8.15.
¹³ J.B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981).
¹⁴ N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God.
¹⁵ Tertullian, Apology 21, trans. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson.
¹⁶ Bart D. Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist? (New York: HarperOne, 2012).
¹⁷ Larry Hurtado, Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries? (Marquette: Marquette University Press, 2016).
¹⁸ William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008).
¹⁹ Jodi Magness, Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011).
²⁰ Blaise Pascal, Pensees, trans. A.J. Krailsheimer (New York: Penguin Classics, 1995).
²¹ Gary Habermas, “Resurrection Research from 1975 to the Present.”
²² Bart D. Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist?.
²³ James D.G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).