Is the Resurrection True?

Awaken

If someone invented a story to convince people their leader had risen from the dead, they probably wouldn't have made the first witnesses a group of women — in a culture where a woman's testimony wasn't even considered valid in court. That detail alone should make you curious.

Behold

Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

Read the passage. This is one of the earliest written summaries of the Christian faith, composed within about two decades of the events themselves. What specific people and groups does Paul name as witnesses? Why might naming specific, checkable people matter?

Internalize

1. More witnesses than you'd expect. Paul, writing within roughly twenty to twenty-five years of the events, lists specific named individuals and groups who saw the risen Jesus — including "more than five hundred" people, most of whom, Paul notes, were still alive and could be asked directly (1 Corinthians 15:6). This isn't vague legend. It's a specific, checkable claim, made to an audience that could have gone and asked the witnesses themselves.

2. An inconvenient detail. The earliest resurrection accounts all name women as the first witnesses at the empty tomb (Luke 24:1-10). In that culture, a woman's testimony wasn't considered legally credible. If you were inventing a story designed to be believed, you almost certainly wouldn't choose women as your star witnesses. The detail fits poorly with a fabrication, and fits well with an account simply reporting what actually happened.

3. What it changes. Paul is remarkably honest about the stakes: if the resurrection isn't true, he says, the whole faith collapses — nothing else about Jesus matters (1 Corinthians 15:14). But if it is true, it's the single most consequential event in human history — proof that everything Jesus claimed about Himself was real.

4. The story doesn't stop at the tomb. After appearing to His followers over forty days, Jesus didn't simply resume ordinary life — He ascended, visibly, into heaven (Acts 1:9-11). The New Testament describes this not as Jesus leaving the story, but as His enthronement — He "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3), the position of supreme authority. If the resurrection is true, the natural next question isn't just "did this happen," but "what is He doing right now?" Scripture's answer: reigning.

Do

Take a few minutes with the questions below — your answers are private.

Today's one small act: Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 out loud. Count on your fingers each specific witness or group Paul names, and notice how specific and checkable the claim actually is.

Entrust

Ask someone: "Did you know the earliest resurrection accounts name women as the first witnesses — in a culture where that would have actually hurt the story's credibility? What do you make of that?"

Gospel Appeal: Notice if you'd rather the resurrection be true in a vague, symbolic sense — inspiring either way — than actually let it be the specific, checkable, historical claim Paul insists it is. No amount of "it's a beautiful story regardless" actually engages what Paul himself says: if this didn't literally happen, the whole thing isn't less inspiring, it's worthless — his words, not a softer modern one. If it's true — and named, checkable witnesses like the ones you counted today suggest it is — then Jesus isn't a beautiful memory to feel something about. He's your reigning great High Priest, actively interceding right now, which changes your actual, specific circumstances today, not just your general outlook on life. If you've been keeping the resurrection comfortably symbolic rather than actually historical, today can be the day you let it be real instead. And if you already believe it happened, let today be the day you actually act like someone who's reigning is also actually praying for you.

Add 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 to your memorization deck and say it once out loud before you close this lesson.

If it feels honest, you might pray something like this: "God, I want to weigh this claim honestly, not dismiss it because it sounds unbelievable, and not accept it just because I want it to be true. Help me look at the actual evidence clearly. In the wonderful name of Jesus, amen."

Tomorrow: we reach the last day of this study, and the question stops being about Jesus and starts being about you.