100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
53. Christianity’s Rapid Expansion
The vast majority of historians and scholars agree that Jesus of Nazareth was an actual person whose teachings and reputation as a miracle worker gained Him a substantial following nearly 2,000 years ago. Equally beyond dispute is the fact that this man was condemned and publicly executed in the most humiliating manor possible. This latter fact seems to contradict what we know of Christianity’s rapid spread amongst an empire largely hostile to the new faith, after its founder’s public execution.
The New Testament explanation of course, is that Jesus did not stay dead. He was resurrected to life in an astounding victory over death, hell and the grave, and appeared to His astonished disciples over a period of 40 days. All must agree that if this man did rise from the dead after his brutal, public execution, the effect on his followers and their testimony would have been profound to say the least. In the minds of most, however, the odds against a man rising from the dead are absolutely staggering considering the fact that billions of people have died and have stayed dead. This analogy, it must be noted, is not really correct.
In order to properly determine the likelihood of Christ’s physical resurrection from the dead, we ought to weigh the odds against it with the available historic data. The apparent eyewitness testimonies to the resurrection, early Christian commitment to the truth of the resurrection, even in the face of torture, the empty tomb, the apparent lack of historic arguments against the resurrection account, and in this case, Christianity’s rapid expansion amid a decidedly anti-Christian environment, must all be factored into the equation. In other words, instead of measuring the odds against the resurrection with the fact that millions have died and remained dead, we should be considering what are the odds are that all of these historic evidences for the resurrection could exist if it were not so.
When all is said and done, the resurrection remains a viable explanation for Christianity’s rapid expansion. In fact, even notable opponents of Christianity have observed, nothing else can A.
53. Christianity’s Rapid Expansion - Notes and References
A. See the video debate “Atheism vs. Christianity: Where Does the Evidence Point”, 1994, Zondervan Publishing House, between William Lane Craig and Frank Zindler, recorded at Willow Creek Community Church. During this debate, Zindler could offer no alternative explanation for Christianity’s rapid expansion, only a denial of the resurrection. Zindler stated that regarding Christianity’s rapid expansion “conclusive understanding is not yet available.”
Though he tried to compare Christianity’s rapid expansion to that of Islam, the comparison is not at all valid. All would agree that there was plenty of political motivation for converting to Islam, when its devotees were busy spreading their faith with the sword. During Christianity’s early years, however, there was absolutely nothing to be gained in this world from embracing Christ as Saviour.
“My question is this: How did that happen, and happen so swiftly – within a decade of Jesus’ death? The problem is not how Christianity spread from one Roman city to another but how it moved from Galilean villages to Roman cities at all. How, in other words, did it ever get out of their villages?” John Dominic Crossan, “The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately Following the Execution of Jesus”, Princeton University Press, 1998, p.16