I look at the four E’s of the resurrection: First, the execution. We have no record of anyone surviving a full Roman crucifixion. The evidence for the execution is so strong historically because not only do we have multiple sources in the New Testament, we have five ancient sources outside the New Testament that confirm and corroborate His execution.

Then, we have early accounts that He rose from the dead. Most people like me thought it was a legend that developed a long time later. And it generally took, according to A.N. Sherwin-White, the great Oxford scholar, at least two generations of time for legend to grow up in the ancient world and wipe out a solid core of historical truth.

But we have—and this was a key bit of evidence for me—1 Corinthians 15 starting in verse 3—a creed of the earliest church that says that Jesus died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose on the third day. Eminent scholar James D.G. Dunn says we can be entirely confident that this creed was formulated within months of Jesus’ death. So here we have something that goes right back to the beginning—too quickly to write it off merely as a legend.

Then we have the empty tomb. For me the most convincing piece is what the skeptics said. When the disciples began saying that Jesus had risen, what the skeptics never said was, “Baloney, go open the tomb and you’ll see the body.” That would have put the onus on the disciples to prove it. But they never said that. What they said was, “Oh, well, the disciples stole the body.” They’re implicitly conceding that the tomb is empty.

And then the eyewitnesses. We’re lucky in the ancient world if we have one or two sources to confirm a fact. But for the conviction of the disciples that they had encountered the resurrected Christ, we have no fewer than nine ancient sources from inside and outside the New Testament, confirming and corroborating His appearances. The resurrection really confirms His identity of being the Son of God.