Arguing With Dead Theologians

This weekend I am preaching on the passage in Matthew where the guards that were at Jesus' tomb are paid off by the religious leaders (Matthew 28:11-15). As I study I am often amazed at the lack of historical credibility that many great scholars give the gospel accounts. I have been studying a new passage of the gospels weekly (along with our church family) for nearly 5 years now. Just about every week I read the greatest minds in New Testament studies either attacking or defending the historicity of each passage. My naivety causes me to often go from amazed to belligerent as I sometimes argue with my inanimate computer screen or commentary. In my mind I win each argument. 

The resurrection of Jesus is no exception to historical challenges, especially by theologian Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976). Below I am giving Matthew's account of the resurrection of Jesus and then Bultmann's theory (summarized in my own words) regarding it. 

Matthew 27:57-28:15

 ⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
 ⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' ⁶⁴So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first." ⁶⁵"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
 ¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. ²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 ⁵The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
 ⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. ¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.¹²When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' ¹⁴If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." ¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Rudolf Bultmann's theory of the development of early Christian resurrection theology:


1. There was no belief at the beginning of Christianity that Jesus bodily resurrected.


2. Early Christians spoke of Jesus' resurrection to refer to a spiritual or non-physical event.


3. Christians then began to misunderstand the non-physical nature of the resurrection hat earlier Christians spoke of and concocted the empty tomb tale to make sense of it.


4. Jewish enemies of Christianity, unhappy with the growth of the early church, believed 
(wrongly according to Bultmann) that the tomb had been empty and therefore concocted their own story of the disciples stealing the corpse.


5. Christians that heard the Jewish accusation of grave robbing then made up the story of the priests, Pilate, guards, and the hush money. 


6. Eventually, all of the above events became known to Matthew who recorded them in his gospel (which all would have had to.

Undoubtedly I have simplified (maybe oversimplified) Bultmann's view to make it more readable, but the flow of his argument remains intact. I feel that it takes a greater faith to follow Bultmann's historical hypothesis than to believe Matthew's account as is. I love what N.T. Wright says regarding Bultmann's hypothesis, "If any historian finds this sequence more probable than the one which Matthew offers, I can only admire their ability to believe such remarkable things."