{"id":14313,"date":"2020-09-04T09:18:38","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T13:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=14313"},"modified":"2020-09-13T22:19:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T02:19:18","slug":"joseph-of-arimathea-the-case-for-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/joseph-of-arimathea-the-case-for-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph of Arimathea: A Friend or Enemy of Jesus?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who is Joseph of Arimathea in the Bible? Can the texts about Joseph of Arimathea help prove that Jesus existed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph of Arimathea was a key figure in the Bible, and was a member of the council that voted to execute Jesus. He also was the one who arranged for Jesus to have an honorable burial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to find out about Saint Joseph of Arimathea, and why both Christian supporters and skeptics alike rely on his role in the Bible as evidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jospeh of Arimathea and The Burial of Jesus<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that, in order for Jesus\u2019s tomb to be empty, he would have had to be buried in a tomb in the first place<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, this fact can\u2019t be taken for granted. Historians have shown that the bodies of crucified criminals were generally left on the cross to be eaten by birds or thrown in mass graves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those skeptics that appeal to the general case ignore the specific circumstances of Jesus\u2019s burial<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, there\u2019s ample textual evidence that Jesus was in fact buried<\/strong>. For example, Corinthians 15:3\u2014which, we know from Craig Blomberg<\/a>, was authored very shortly after Jesus\u2019s death\u2014says explicitly that Jesus was buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the gospels corroborate the summary account one finds in Corinthians. In all four gospels, the authors mention that Jesus\u2019s body was turned over to Joseph of Arimathea and buried. It\u2019s especially important that these facts appear in Mark, which was the earliest of the gospels to be written <\/strong>and thus less vulnerable to later embellishment. And, according to the textual history of Mark, the story of Jesus\u2019s final week\u2014termed the \u201cpassion story\u201d\u2014was taken from an even <\/strong>earlier<\/em><\/strong> source<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Case of Joseph of Arimathea<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Those skeptical of Jesus\u2019s burial often highlight the implausibility that Saint Joseph of Arimathea would have arranged for the honorable interment of Jesus\u2019s body. This is because Joseph of Arimathea in the Bible was a member of the Sanhedrin<\/strong>, the council of Jewish leaders that voted unanimously to execute Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel of Luke<\/a> accounts for this twist with the addition of a key detail: Saint Joseph of Arimathea wasn\u2019t present at the vote to kill Jesus<\/strong>. Thus he may have been less indisposed toward Jesus than the rest of the Sanhedrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are other reasons to believe that this unlikely figure did indeed give Jesus an honorable burial. First of all, given early Christians\u2019 anger toward the Jews for their role in Jesus\u2019s death, it\u2019s unlikely that an author of the time period would give credit to a member of the Sanhedrin if it wasn\u2019t due. A second reason is that, for all the accounts of Jesus in both historical and Christian documents, there\u2019s no alternate story of Jesus\u2019s burial<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tomb<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the biblical creed of the Resurrection (Corinthians 15:3\u201310) never mentions an empty tomb\u2014it only reports that Jesus was resurrected and appeared to a number of witnesses. How can we be sure Jesus appeared physically <\/em>rather than spiritually<\/em>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jewish understanding of resurrection\u2014which is the same understanding present in the Bible\u2014necessarily entails <\/strong>physical<\/em><\/strong> resurrection<\/strong>. (In fact, in the Jewish tradition, it\u2019s the bones <\/em>that are raised, while the flesh rots away.) So, when the Bible reports that Jesus appeared before the various witnesses to the Resurrection, it is implying an empty tomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also impossible that Jesus\u2019s body was tampered with while he was entombed<\/strong>. First, based on archeological discoveries of tombs from that era, the entrance would have been blocked by a heavy stone disk that would have required several men to move. Second, the tomb likely would have been guarded. Remember, Joseph of Arimathea in the Bible was the one who arranged for this burial and entombment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arguments Over the Guard<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One way skeptics call the Resurrection into question is by arguing that Jesus\u2019s tomb wasn\u2019t in fact guarded (and thus the disciples could have stolen his body).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although contemporary scholars have ruled out the possibility that the disciples removed Jesus\u2019s body\u2014their later martyrdom simply wouldn\u2019t make sense if they\u2019d been the perpetrators of a hoax\u2014there is historical evidence that Jesus\u2019s tomb was indeed guarded<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When first-century Jews and Christians argued over whether the disciples had removed Jesus\u2019s body, the Jews said, \u201cThe guards at the tomb fell asleep [which was why the disciples were able to remove Jesus\u2019s body].\u201d In this way, these first-century Jews, who were near contemporaries of Jesus, implicitly acknowledged that there were guards at Jesus\u2019s tomb<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who is Joseph of Arimathea in the Bible? Can the texts about Joseph of Arimathea help prove that Jesus existed? Joseph of Arimathea was a key figure in the Bible, and was a member of the council that voted to execute Jesus. He also was the one who arranged for Jesus to have an honorable burial. Read more to find out about Saint Joseph of Arimathea, and why both Christian supporters and skeptics alike rely on his role in the Bible as evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,6],"tags":[125],"class_list":["post-14313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-spiritual","tag-the-case-for-christ","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nJoseph of Arimathea: A Friend or Enemy of Jesus? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who is Joseph of Arimathea? A complicated figure, he was responsible for giving Jesus an honorable burial. 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