The Empty Tomb

The empty tomb

John 20: 1-20

What Is the Importance of the Empty Tomb?

From the earliest apostolic period, the reality of the empty tomb—the biblical truth that the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth was found empty by His disciples—has been at the center of the Christian proclamation. All four Gospels describe, to varying degrees, the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the empty tomb (Matthew 28:1–6; Mark 16:1–7; Luke 24:1–12; John 20:1–12).

But are there any good reasons to think that these claims are historically accurate? Could a fair-minded investigator conclude that Jesus’ tomb was found empty on that first Easter morning?

First, the location of Jesus’ tomb would have been known to Christians and non-Christians alike. While it is true that most victims of crucifixion were either thrown in a graveyard reserved for common criminals or simply left on the cross for birds and other scavengers to feed upon, the case of Jesus was different. The historical record indicates that Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, the very group that had orchestrated Jesus’ execution. Many have been convinced that Jesus’ burial by Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to have been a Christian fabrication. Given the understandable hostility of the earliest Christians toward the Sanhedrin, whom they felt were largely responsible for their Master’s death, it is unlikely that Jesus’ followers would have invented a tradition about a member of the Sanhedrin using his own tomb to provide Jesus with a respectable burial.

In addition, recent archaeological discoveries have demonstrated that the style of tomb described in the burial accounts in the Gospels (an acrosolia or bench tomb) was largely used by the wealthy and other people of prominence.

Second, the empty tomb is implied in the early creed quoted by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.

While all four Gospels attest to the vacancy of Jesus’ tomb, our earliest hint at the empty tomb comes from the Apostle Paul. Writing to the church at Corinth in approximately AD 55, Paul quotes an oral formula (or creed) that he received from the apostles Peter and James just a few years after Jesus’ crucifixion (Galatians 1:18–19). Paul states, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve” (1 Corinthians 15:3–5).

This creed represents what was on the lips of the early disciples after the first Easter. In other words, this creed is nearly as old as Christianity itself. Creeds provide an interpretative function in communicating, defending, and disseminating our beliefs. In this way, the creeds also offer a helpful example of faithful apologetics.

This creed in 1 Cor. 15 includes the reference to eyewitnesses. Such a reference does not establish the event itself, but rather illustrates that it was indeed a real event that happened in real time and space. The statement that most of the eyewitnesses were still alive seems to be an invitation for the inquiring first-century skeptics to investigate for themselves.

When Paul writes “…that he was buried, that he was raised…” it is strongly implied that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was empty. The fact that the formula recounts, according to Paul, the content of the earliest apostolic preaching (1 Corinthians 15:11-21), a fact confirmed by its agreement with the sermons reproduced by Luke in Acts, strongly suggests that the formula originated in the Jerusalem church. As a former Pharisee, Paul would have naturally understood that what goes down in burial comes up in resurrection. He accepted the idea of physical resurrection even before his encounter with Christ. Given that Paul’s source for this creed was most likely the Jerusalem apostles and their proximity to the events in question, Paul’s citation of this creed provides strong evidence that Jesus’ tomb had been found empty and that this fact was widely known in the early Christian community. The oft-repeated objection that Paul was unaware of an empty tomb is answered when we see that elsewhere Paul taught that Jesus’ resurrection was bodily in nature (Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:21). For Paul, a resurrection that did not produce a vacant tomb would have been a contradiction in terms.

But while the resurrection and the empty tomb are bound together, they are distinct. In the resurrection, Jesus demonstrated his mastery over death and it holds promise for believers as well; that we also will have victory over death.

But, unlike the resurrection, the empty tomb tells us something different. When the angel appeared to the women at the empty grave, he told them, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” The empty tomb told them that Jesus had indeed been raised. It was evidence of the resurrection.