06 May 2025

What kind of man repeatedly says that he is coming back from the dead on the third day after his execution? In response, CS Lewis offered his famous trilemma: such a man must either be a (1) liar, a (2) lunatic . . . or (3) the Lord (God in human flesh.) To those three options, we must add a fourth: such a man might be merely nothing more than a legend. Let’s consider each option.

What kind of man repeatedly says that he is coming back from the dead on the third day after his execution? He must be either a liar, a lunatic, a legend, or the Lord of life.

Was Jesus a legend?

Several skeptics assert that the resurrection of Jesus is nothing more than a fairy-tale legend, ascribed to him by later generations of Christians. But legends take generations to develop. Even skeptical scholars admit that the gospels were written in the First Century while eyewitnesses were still alive. There was insufficient time for a legend to develop. The Jesus of the gospels cannot be a legend. As I quoted William Lane Craig, “William Lane Craig writes, “One of the major problems with the legend hypothesis…is that the time gap between Jesus’ death and the writing of the Gospels is just too short for this to have happened.”

Was Jesus a liar?

Did Jesus predict his resurrection from the dead, knowing that it would not happen? Was he a liar? Virtually everyone, including skeptics of the resurrection, affirm that Jesus was a great moral teacher. As such, it is inconceivable that he was a liar. It is contrary to everything he said and stood for.

Was Jesus a lunatic?

Was Jesus stark raving mad? In the gospels, we see someone who frequently released suffering people from demonic lunacy. Some of the world’s greatest wisdom is credited to him, even by skeptics of the resurrection. It is inconceivable that he was a lunatic.

Was Jesus the Lord?

The words of CS Lewis are particularly and powerfully pertinent here. “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.“ CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

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And how are we to judge between the various theories offered for the empty tomb? Which one best fits the facts?

There is a philosophical principle well-known to engineers and scientists that is called “Occam’s Razor.” The originator of this idea was the 13th century Franciscan Friar William of Ockham. In layman’s terms, Occam’s Razor dictates that the explanation with the fewest assumptions (i.e., the simplest one) is the correct explanation. Popularly, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as “of multiple competing theories, the simpler explanation is to be preferred.” Occam’s Razor was one of the driving impetuses for modern science. Johnjoe McFadden is an Anglo-Irish scientist, academic and writer. He is Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom and authored a fascinating book on Occam’s Razor subtitled “How Occam’s Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe.” 

When we apply Occam’s Razor to the competing theories that seek to explain the empty tomb, we are looking for the simplest explanation that has the fewest assumptions. All other theories aside from Resurrection have multiple innate assumptions. For example the popular “stolen body” theory necessitates numerous assumptions:

• The entire Roman guard force (a minimum of 3 and perhaps as many as 10-16) fell asleep when the penalty was death

• The disciples were able to quietly move a 1-2 ton stone

• None of the guards were awakened by a 1-2 ton stone moving in their vicinity

• Rome never instigated an investigation of a breached Imperial Seal

• The disciples became fearless for what they knew was a lie

• The disciples were willing to die for what they knew was a lie

• The resurrection appearances were imagined

• Saul of Tarsus and James (the brother of Jesus) both spontaneously converted for no apparent reason

• The early Jerusalem church, composed entirely of Jews, inexplicably changed their day of worship from Saturday (observed for more than a thousand years) to Sunday

• etc.

In contrast, the Resurrection Theory has only one assumption: miracles are possible (i.e., the supernatural exists.) The Resurrection is the only explanation that accommodates all the known facts. The Resurrection Theory is the simplest and most logical explanation by far, and thus the preferred one.

If Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, we had better pay close attention to everything he said, including his claims to deity. We also need to heed his claim that everyone will ultimately be resurrected by him back to bodily life when he returns – some to eternal life and some to judgment. Ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus Christ validates the truth of the gospel message, a message that proclaims . . .

Mankind is created in the image of God. However because of the sin of Adam and Eve, everyone is born with a sin nature and a heart inclined towards evil. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. Jesus who is both fully man and fully God, came to die for our sin and took our place on the receiving end of God’s wrath. He offers us the free gift of eternal life which we receive through repentance of our sin and placing our faith in Jesus and his atoning sacrifice on the cross.

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

When asked by the Jewish religious leaders to produce a miraculous sign, Jesus responded that only one sign would be given to them: the sign of Jonah. “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  (Matt 12:38-42).

Like Thomas and James the Just from millennia ago, I was confronted some 50 years ago with irrefutable evidence that I could not reasonably deny. And like them, I was impelled to exclaim “My Lord and my God.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ in space-time history is the definitive sign that God entered creation to reverse the Fall and offer us the free gift of eternal life. It ruptured time itself bringing the future into the present and creating an overlap of two ages. But it also portends a fearful coming day of judgment for those who reject its message of unspeakable grace.