The empty tomb is recorded in all 4 Gospels in the Bible.

• Below is one example:

  • When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; they were amazed and alarmed. "Don't be alarmed," he told them. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been resurrected! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. (Mark 16:5-6 CSB)

Jerusalem Factor1 - Impossible for Christianity to survive and expand in Jerusalem if the body was still in the tomb. Their opponents (Jews & Romans) would have produced a corpse to counter the apostle’s claims.

1. William Lane Craig, Christian Apologist elaborates on this point  “One of the most amazing facts about the early Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection was that it originated in the very city where Jesus was crucified…Had the tomb not been empty, then it would have been impossible for the disciples to proclaim the resurrection in Jerusalem as they did.”2

Enemy attestation1 - In claiming that Jesus' disciples stole the body, his enemies indirectly affirmed an empty tomb.

• Below is an account from the Bible regarding this point:

  • After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, "Say this, 'His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping.' If this reaches the governor's ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble." So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day. (Matthew 28:12-15 CSB)

• Around A.D. 165, Justin Martyr wrote his Dialogue with Trypho, which included what the Jewish community was saying regarding the empty tomb of Christ (chapter 107).

  • “…yet you not only have not repented, after you learned that He rose from the dead, but, as I said before you have sent chosen and ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilaean deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where he was laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that he has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven.”3

Testimony of Women1 - Given women’s low status in Jewish society at that time, it is highly unlikely the disciples would have claimed that women discovered the tomb if they were fabricating a story.

• The Bible records women discovering the empty tomb and the men not believing them.

  • Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. (Luke 24:9-11 CSB emphasis added)

• According to Gary Habermas, Christian apologist, women were not considered as credible as men when it came to testimony. Given this fact, why would the church have included this embarrassing detail if it were fabricating a story?

  • “When we come the account of the empty tomb, women are listed as the primary witnesses…This would be an odd invention, since in both Jewish and Roman cultures, woman were lowly esteemed and their testimony was regarded as questionable, certainly not as credible as a man’s.”4

• Below is a quote from Josephus, Jewish historian from the 1st century, that clearly supports this point.

  • “But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex, nor let servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or fear of punishment” (Josephus, 4.8.15).4 (emphasis added)