This passage makes the following points clear. Andronicus and Junia were converted to Christianity before St. Paul, i.e. within less than ten years from the date of the Crucifixion. They must therefore have been members of the Jerusalem Church. They were of note among the Apostles. This expression cannot mean less than that they were highly esteemed by the original twelve, and by the leaders of the Church at Jerusalem. Yet the Apostle wrote this Epistle in the fullest confidence that they would accept his Christology, including his account of the Resurrection. This proves that both they and the Church at Jerusalem, including all its chief leaders, accepted the Resurrection as a fact within a very short interval after its supposed date. But it does more: it proves that its importance as vital to Christianity was fully recognized; or, in other words, it proves that the belief must have been contemporaneous with the origin of the Church.
Equally decisive is the proof afforded by the Epistle to the Galatians. It mentions two visits which the writer made to Jerusalem. One in which he paid Peter a visit of fifteen days, during which time he communicated with James. On the second occasion he went up to Jerusalem as a member of an embassy [pg 444] from the Church at Antioch, for the purpose of settling points under dispute between the Jewish and Gentile converts. On this occasion he tells us that he had a formal interview with the leaders of the Jewish Church, of which Peter, James, and John were esteemed the pillars. He expressly informs us that he communicated to them the leading points of the Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles; and that he received from them the right hand of fellowship, which can only mean that they sanctioned his views and fundamental principles. It is true that the Resurrection is not expressly mentioned as one of these; but it is impossible that the statement that he communicated his Gospel to them can be true, if this was not one of the facts which he imparted to them.
It is a very important fact, and worthy of special notice, that in the account given in the Epistle to the Corinthians of the appearances of Jesus after His Resurrection, St. Paul expressly affirms that the risen Jesus was seen by Peter and by James; the latter appearance being mentioned nowhere else: and the former only referred to in the exclamation which greeted Cleopas and his companion on their return from Emmaus. It seems, therefore, morally certain that St. Paul had heard an account of these two appearances from the Apostles in question. If so, it brings us directly into contact with two of the most important of the apostolic body, who must have believed that they had actually seen him. Respecting the belief of St. John, the third pillar of the Church at Jerusalem, the testimony of the book of Revelation leaves no room for doubt. These writings enable us to affirm that three of the original Apostles believed that they had seen Jesus, risen from the dead. It is evident, therefore, that this brings us into the presence of historical [pg 445] evidence of the first order, quite independently of the affirmations of the Gospels.
If the first Epistle of St. Peter is genuine (and there is nothing but surmises and à priori assumptions about the opposition of his views to those of St. Paul on which the doubts respecting its genuineness are based) then we have the affirmation of the fulness of his belief in the Resurrection under his own hand. Besides the strong external testimony that it was written by St. Peter, there is one proof of its genuineness which is almost conclusive, and to which sufficient weight has not been attached by either the defenders or the opponents of Christianity. It is hardly possible to read this Epistle carefully without feeling that the writer of it is the same man as the Peter of the Gospels; the one being separated from the other by a considerable interval of time; the Peter of the Epistle being in fact a mellowed form of the Peter of the Gospels. But this has not only a direct bearing on the evidence of the Resurrection, but also a most important one, which I shall notice hereafter, on the historical character of the Gospels themselves.
One more writing of the New Testament must be alluded to, because whoever was its author it belongs to a school of thought distinct from the other writings of the New Testament. I need hardly say that I allude to the Epistle to the Hebrews. The testimony of this writing to the fact that the belief in the Resurrection of Jesus was fundamental to Christianity is no less decisive; it not only proves what were the individual opinions of the writer, but of the school of Christian thought for whom it was intended. It affords abundant proof that the writer knew that their opinions on the subject were entirely in accordance with his own.
I have now shown on the strongest historical evidence that it is impossible that the belief in the Resurrection can have grown up slowly and only succeeded in gradually establishing itself. On the contrary, I have proved that it was coeval with the birth of the Church, and that it formed the one sole ground of its existence. I have also proved that the belief in it was universal, and that it was accepted by the entire Christian community without distinction of party; and that their belief can be traced up as the sole cause of the renewed life of the Church after the crucifixion. I shall consider in the following chapter the bearing of these facts on the truth of the Resurrection, and show that the facts before us are inconsistent with any other supposition but that of its objective occurrence, and that it is impossible to account for it by any theory which endeavours to explain it on the supposition that the belief originated in the credulity and enthusiasm of the followers of Jesus.
Chapter XX. The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ An Historical Fact.
I have proved in the preceding chapter, on the testimony of the highest order of historical evidence:—