Beyond Visions and Spirits: The Radical Claim of Jesus’ Resurrection

In the ancient world, alleged visions of spirits and divine beings were common enough that few would have questioned such claims. Had Jesus' disciples merely reported seeing a vision, an angel, or his spirit, their story might have been more palatable to both Jews and Gentiles alike. But they claimed something far more audacious—something that challenged the very fabric of Jewish and Greco-Roman thought: Jesus had been physically resurrected.

This was not the expected Messiah narrative, nor was it a belief easily embraced in a world where resurrection was either reserved for the distant future or outright dismissed as impossible. Even Jesus' own disciples struggled to accept what they were seeing (Luke 24:36-43), requiring convincing evidence that their master was truly alive (John 20:24-29, Acts 1:1-3). Their conclusion—that Jesus had been physically resurrected—becomes even more perplexing if the post-resurrection appearances were hallucinations. After all, hallucinations are inherently personal experiences, not collective ones; multiple people do not share the same vision when hallucinating.

Given the cultural context, a more plausible claim would have been that Jesus’ spirit, ghost, or an angel had appeared to his disciples, or that they had experienced visions of Christ. A bodily resurrection was the last thing one would expect, considering belief in physical resurrection was uncommon in the ancient world.

To be fair, the Pharisee sect of Judaism did believe in a resurrection at the end of time. However, they did not anticipate that the Messiah himself would die and rise again. There was also one school of Jewish thought that envisioned two Messiahs—one who would suffer and die, and another who would reign eternally. This was their attempt to reconcile the suffering servant depicted in certain Old Testament passages with the triumphant king portrayed in others.

Meanwhile, Platonic philosophy viewed the physical body as inherently corrupt, emphasizing the soul’s liberation from its earthly vessel. To the Greco-Roman mind, the idea of bodily resurrection was not just improbable—it was repulsive. This cultural resistance is well documented in Acts 17:32, 26:24-29, and 1 Corinthians 1:23.

If Jesus’ disciples had sought to fabricate a new religion for personal gain, they would not have built its foundation on the death and bodily resurrection of their God. Such claims would have been scandalous to Jews and revolting to Gentiles. The Jews would have deemed them blasphemous, while the Greco-Roman world would have found them philosophically abhorrent.

And yet, against all odds and cultural expectations, Christianity took root—starting in the very city where Jesus had been publicly executed—and spread across the world. What began as the bold and unlikely testimony of a handful of followers soon transformed into a force that reshaped history, defied persecution, and endured the test of time. The very claim that should have made Christianity unthinkable became the foundation upon which millions would stake their faith. Against all odds, the message of a risen Christ was not silenced—it spread, endured, and changed the course of civilization itself.