Blind faith or faith based on eyewitness testimony?

A popular definition of faith is "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence."¹ , this is what people commonly call blind faith, however that is not biblical faith. A better definition is "The belief in the historic truthfulness of the Scripture narrative, and the supernatural origin of its teachings, sometimes called historical and speculative faith" ². All that I am attempting to show in this article is that the preaching of the apostles in the early church was based on evidence, in other words historical facts that they were eyewitnesses of. Christianity depends on the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, without it then Christianity would be stillborn. The early apostles were eyewitnesses to the life, death (at least John) and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All faith requires evidence, Jesus appealed to the miracles he did as evidence that he was who he said he was.

John 14:11 Believe (pisteuo) me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe (pisteuo) on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (see also John 10:38)

In the above passage the word believe is translated from the Greek word pisteuo meaning to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing). The Greek word for faith is pistis, meaning persuasion, i.e. credence; moral. conviction. Biblical faith usually first comes to us through preaching (Rom 10:14), in other words we need to know certain facts to believe in before we can have faith. We must give mental assent to these facts before we can become a Christian. It is no accident that in the West a Christian is often called a believer.

Faith must have evidence to have faith in, otherwise it would indeed be 'blind' faith. The disciple Thomas demanded physical evidence of the resurrection of Jesus before he would believe it (again pisteuo is used here). He wanted to feel the mark of the nails and the spear wound in the side of Jesus. Jesus gave him the evidence he wanted and only then did he believe in the risen Jesus.

(John 20:24-29 NIV) Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. {25} So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe (pisteuo) it." {26} A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" {27} Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." {28} Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" {29} Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

There is nothing wrong with wanting evidence for the basis of Christianity, that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Thomas wanted it and Jesus gave it to him. Faith cannot live in a vacuum is has to be based on fact or it is indeed 'blind faith'.

Jesus also gave a blessing to those who believe but have not seen or felt the risen Jesus (John 20:29). We now have the historical written evidence of those who were eyewitnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ instead of being eyewitnesses ourselves. While some people might not like³ this evidence, it is still a rational basis for faith, which is all I need to demonstrate (1 Pet 3:15).

John, who was one of Jesus disciples and therefore an eyewitness, records that Jesus did many other miracles in the presence of his disciples that John did not write about.

(John 20:30-31 NIV) Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. {31} But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. See also John 21:24-25

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important fact in Christianity. Without it there would be no Christianity, and Christianity would be worthless and futile (1 Cor 15:12-32). We should note that while the bible records people rising from the dead, these are resuscitations not resurrections because they all died later. Jesus did not die again after the resurrection but ascended into heaven, with the promise that he would come again to the earth, not as a baby but in great power and glory. The resurrection is important because it means that Jesus is the Son of God (Rom 1:4), it means that we will be raised to life after we die (1 Cor 6:14,1 Cor 15:12), it means that we can be forgiven our sins (1 Cor 15:17). Many of the early Christians gave up their lives as martyrs, because they believed in the resurrection of the dead of which Christ's resurrection was proof.

Luke records that Jesus "gave many convincing proofs that he was alive" (Acts 1:3). At the start of his gospel Luke tells us that he had "carefully investigated everything from the beginning" (Luke 1:3) and his sources were eyewitnesses (Luke 1:2).

Jesus himself predicted that he would be killed and then rise from the dead on the third day (Mat 16:21, Luke 9:22), if he got that one right then we can be pretty sure that he was who he claimed to be. A prophet might claim to die at the hands of evil men, that is easy, but to then predict his own resurrection on the third day would be quite an accomplishment if it actually happens. Even Jesus own disciples did not really believe in Jesus own prediction about his death and resurrection (Luke 24:25, Mark 16:14). After the death of Jesus his disciples were downcast (Luke 24:17). It was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that has made his disciples the missionaries and martyrs they are. In the resurrection Jesus vindicates himself, He is the one that can forgive sins and he is the Son of God, and the Judge of the whole world. If he had stayed in the tomb, he might have been a great teacher, and he would probably now, just have been a blot on history.

After the resurrection of Jesus Peter proclaimed the resurrection to the Jews and he was an eyewitness of this fact (Acts 2:32, 3:15, 10:39-41). Peter claims to be an eyewitness of his majesty (2 Pet 1:16). In his first public speech after the resurrection Peter appeals to the fact that his audience knew of the miracles of Jesus themselves (Acts 2:22). Peter also appeals to the fact that Jesus fulfilled prophetic scriptures about the Messiah (Acts 2:25, 3:18, 3:22). Peter is appealing to evidence that the people knew about, they knew of the miracles that Jesus did, they knew the prophecies about the Messiah, which Peter declared that Jesus fulfilled, and Peter declared himself to be an eyewitness to the resurrection.

The peoples response to Peter's message about the crucified and resurrected Jesus was "what shall we do?" (Acts 2:27) and Peter replied "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39). Repentance means a change of mind, formerly they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, now they did. Those who accepted his message were baptised and they devoted themselves to the the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:41-42). Thus based on the evidence they heard from Peter about the resurrection of Jesus and the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, they believed Peter's testimony about Jesus. Which lead to them doing something, those who believed were baptised and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching etc. The apostles teaching today would be the NT after Acts i.e. the writings of Paul, James, Peter and John.

An early Christian creed is given by the apostle Paul.

(1 Cor 15:3-8 NIV) For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. {6} After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. {7} Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, {8} and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

This highlights some basic but important points about Christianity:

1. Christ died for our sins (meaning that we can be forgiven our sins)
2. He was buried (he was actually dead)
3. He was raised up on the third day (fulfilling scripture about the Messiah)
4. He appeared to many witnesses (giving practical evidence that he was alive)

When Peter was speaking to God fearing Gentiles he appeals firstly to the first hand experience of his hearers as well as his own first hand experience of the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He said the following:

(Acts 10:36-43 NIV) You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. {37} You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached-- {38} how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. {39} "We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, {40} but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. {41} He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. {42} He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. {43} All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Paul talks of Jesus appearing to over 500 people after the resurrection, most of whom were still alive, so their testimony could be checked.

(1 Cor 15:3-8 NIV) For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. {6} After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. {7} Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, {8} and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Indeed the resurrection is proof that God will one day judge the world by the man Jesus. The word for proof here is the Greek word pistis, which is usually translated as faith, but in this case it means forensic historical evidence. In other words the evidence by which we know that Jesus will judge the world (in the future) is that God has raised him from the dead (in the past).

(Acts 17:31 NIV) For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof (Greek pistis)of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

Later a second generation of disciples arose who had not seen Jesus Christ, but they were converted by those who had. Faith not only requires evidence, it has a goal, the salvation of our souls.

(1 Pet 1:8-9 NIV) Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, {9} for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

If Jesus had not risen from the dead, then his disciples would go back to their jobs as fisherman, they would mourn for a while and then get over it. And in these days there would be no Christianity. Maybe a few people would go to the tomb of a great man. Muslims can go to Mecca to the tomb of their prophet, but we Christians worship a living prophet, the man Jesus Christ. The early Christians did not create a shrine for Jesus because his bones were not there, he arose from the dead never to die again. I have been to Jerusalem, but I never found the bones of Jesus there. After his resurrection Jesus spent 30 days on earth and went back to heaven from whence he came. Christians believe that he will come back again, in great power and glory. On the day that He returns then Christians will be vindicated and Jesus Christ will be publicly declared with power to be the Son of God for the second time.

Follow up articles Fallacious Faith - by J P Holding, Evidence for the Resurrection By Matt Perman, Can we Trust the New Testament? By Matt Perman

Book: Who Moved the Stone? Frank Morison, Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary R. Habermas, Michael R. Licona

1. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

2. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,

3 I was once a juror at a trial, and I wanted more evidence that what the defendant had said was true. I send the judge a note asking for more evidence. We were all sent out of the courtroom. Later we were ushered in and the judge basically said that the only evidence that I would have was the verbal testimony in the court that I had heard that day and I was profoundly unhappy at what had happened, I wanted more evidence before I believed in the testimony of the accused. So I can sympathize over you who want more than just the written testimony of those who claim to have been Jesus disciples and who claim to to have seen the resurrected Christ nearly 2000 years ago. The evidence may not to be to our liking, I spent years seeking some emotional experience to validate my Christian conviction, which I never got, but then I am not a very emotional person. I was regarded with mistrust as an intellectual in my early Christian years.

As I said before faith requires intellectual assent to the historical facts of Christianity, before you can become a Christian. C S Lewis was an intellectual Christian, he was not one of the 'happy clappy' Christians we see these days, he was a Christian who worshipped God with his mind. I believe that God told us to worship him with body, heart and mind. I hope that God will raise up more C S Lewis's as well as those who love God with their bodies and heart. The early disciples had the experiential truth of Christianity, they transmitted that truth to other people and hence Christianity was born, it has survived until this day and it will not go away. We look forward until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the day of judgement and a New Heaven and a New Earth where there will be no more pain and suffering. We believe in the immortality of the soul i.e. life after death, the best the atheist can do is the extinction of the soul after death. The bible really does answer the problem of evil, because evil will be quarantined in hell for eternity. (see The Glory of God in the Problem of Evil)

Evidence for the resurrection:

1. Jesus died. John was an eyewitness, the Roman soldiers pierced his side with a spear, they determined he was dead and they were experts at this form of execution (John 19:35, Luke 23:49, Mark 15:39 ).
2. It was a Roman centurion who witnessed the death of Christ, again he was responsible that the criminals actually died (Mat 27:54, Mark 15:39, Luke 23:47)
3. Pilate checked that Jesus was dead, by checking with the centurion, before releasing the body to be buried. (Mark 15:44)
4. He was buried: and again there were eyewitnesses to this (Luke 23:55, Mat 27:61)
5. The tomb was sealed and guarded to prevent people taking the body (Mat 27:64)
6. The empty tomb: After three days the tomb was found empty (Luke 24:3, Mat 28:6, Mark 16:6)
7. Jesus was then seen by his disciples and he ate and drank with them (Luke 24:30, John 21:13, Acts 10:41 )
8. Jesus managed to walk to Galilee, no mean feat for someone who had a spear enter his heart only three days ago. (Mat 28:7, 16)
9. Thomas felt the wounds, i.e. the nail wounds and the spear wounds, it was not Jesus' twin brother. (John 20:27)
10. Jesus appeared to over 500 disciples at one time most of whom were still living, so their testimony could be checked (1 Cor 15:6)

Some people have argued that the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus hopelessly contradict themselves, however if they were in perfect accord then they would be accused of conspiracy.