Did Jesus die at all?

Chapters

1. Introduction
2. Was Jesus crucified?
3. Did Jesus die on a cross?
4. Was Jesus substituted?
5. Did Jesus die at all?
6. What happened to Jesus?

« Was Jesus substituted?

Christian Perspective

Jesus expected a painful execution, and went to it willingly

Jesus was not indifferent to the pain he would endure on a Roman cross. It troubled him. Crucifixion was notorious for its brutality. As Jesus awaited arrest, he did not play down the suffering ahead:

Jesus makes it clear: he did not expect to escape the pain of crucifixion, but nonetheless saw his crucifixion as an event which would bring glory to God. Jesus strongly rebuked those who dismissed the possibility of his crucifixion. He foretold his death on several occasions, warning his disciples what lay ahead. But most of the time, they refused to accept that their beloved Messiah could die in this way:

Peter’s error reminds us that we must not reject Jesus’ crucifixion simply because it offends us. On the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter made another mistake. Rather than heeding Jesus’ warning of his approaching death, Peter sought to prevent it by using his sword to attack one of the guards. Immediately, Jesus rebuked Peter:

This is significant. First, Jesus claims authority to call down legions of angels from heaven for his own protection. Second, he says that he has decided not to do so, in order that the Scriptures be fulfilled. Jesus could save himself, but chooses not to. Why? Because Jesus’ death was a necessary event: one by which God’s plan of salvation, foretold in the Torah and Prophets, would come to pass.

Jesus was beaten, flogged, publicly crucified and confirmed dead

Like all Roman crucifixions, Jesus’ execution was a public event, staged as a warning to others. First Jesus was brutally flogged with a Roman whip. Then a crown of sharp thorns was fixed onto his head. He was mocked, beaten and marched to the place of his crucifixion.

This took place at Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem. Crowds attended under the watchful eyes of Jewish and Roman rulers. For nine hours, Jesus hung on the cross with nails through his hands and feet. He suffocated slowly; as his weakening arms gave way, he would be unable to breathe.

Jesus ‘breathed his last.’{101} Not wanting to leave bodies exposed on a Jewish holiday, the Roman authorities ensured each of the men was dead. They broke the legs of the other men to hasten their death. They saw that Jesus was already dead, and thrust a spear into his side to make sure. He was confirmed dead and taken down for burial.{102}

Jesus was buried in a sealed tomb, under armed guard

Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the Jewish C

ouncil who sympathised with Jesus, approached Roman governor Pontius Pilate to request Jesus’ body for burial.{103}

With Pilate’s consent, Joseph of Arimathea provided a stone tomb (his own family tomb) where the body could be given an honourable burial. The tomb was sealed with a heavy blocking stone, in keeping with Jewish custom.{104}

At the request of Jewish authorities, armed guards from the Jewish Temple were sent to protect the tomb, fearing Jesus’ followers might attempt to steal his body.{105} These were the same Temple Guard who had successfully arrested Jesus and driven away his disciples; they were more than a match for anyone who might interfere with the tomb.

Islamic Perspective

Jesus was subjected to a painful crucifixion, for a time?

In Quran 4.158 of the Qur’an, it is said that although Jesus’ enemies thought him dead, he had been raised by Allah into Paradise.

Jesus was successfully seized by his Jewish enemies and sentenced to death. He was placed on a Roman cross, and suffered there for part of the day, but he did not die as a result. Rather, he fell unconscious, and was merely thought dead. He would later be revived and raised into Paradise by Allah.

Jesus was publicly crucified, but not confirmed dead

This Islamic Swoon Theory maintains that Jesus did indeed experience the suffering of a Roman crucifixion. Commentators upholding this view even turn to the Bible’s gospel accounts for reliable clues about what happened. Shabir Ally, the respected apologist, puts it this way:

Jesus was alive when they placed him in the tomb, and revived shortly afterwards

Shabir Ally points out that Jesus’ experiences on a cross were not necessarily fatal. Instead, Jesus was buried in a tomb prematurely. At this point, Jesus needed only to be rescued from the tomb, by Allah or his disciples, before being restored to health.

The Bible shows Jesus’ enemies requesting that his tomb be sealed, to prevent his disciples from stealing his body and further deceiving people. This implies that Jesus’ enemies feared the disciples might stage a resurrection:

Reflecting on this passage, Shabir Ally considers why the Jews might have made such a request:

Considering these fears, there is reason to think the disciples succeeded in reclaiming Jesus alive from the tomb and helped him recover.{109} Jesus remained alive, and Allah would later raise him to Paradise.

Comparison

The first written accounts of Jesus’ life and death, the Bible’s gospel accounts, claim that Jesus was crucified and died on the cross. This is the conclusion of several different New Testament authors, who provide many consistent and detailed accounts of the crucifixion. They explain not just what happened (the historical question), but why it happened (the theological question).

The Qur’an contains only one reference to the crucifixion, but states two things emphatically about what happened. First, it claims Jesus was not crucified. Second, it claims he was not killed.{110}

The Islamic Swoon Theory agrees with the Qur’an that Jesus was not killed on the cross. Yet it appears to differ from the Qur’an in one respect, since it claims Jesus was crucified:

• Swoon Theory: Jesus was crucified, yet not fatally
• The Qur’an: Jesus was not crucified at all

Despite Swoon Theory’s novel interpretation and its controversial origin with the Ahmadiyya sect{111}, it has gained popularity among Sunni teachers such as the late Ahmad Deedat, Zakir Naik and Shabir Ally. Is it reliable?

In order to make their case, Swoon theorists musts take several ‘leaps of faith’ regarding what happened to Jesus. Let’s briefly consider these assumptions:

• Was it possible to survive a Roman crucifixion? There is no historical record of someone surviving a Roman crucifixion. Indeed, the practice was notorious for its severity and cruelty; so much so that the Roman word, crux is the root of today’s word, ‘excruciating.’{113} So there is no sound reason to suppose Jesus survived such treatment. Jesus had been flogged with a Roman whip, forced to carry his cross, crucified and subjected to heavy bleeding, exposed and slowly asphyxiated for around nine hours before he was pronounced dead. Throughout these drawn-out agonies, he was under continual armed guard by professional Roman soldiers.
• Was Jesus alive when taken from the cross, but misdiagnosed? Swoon Theory claims Jesus was only unconscious, and not dead, when he was taken from the cross. However, there’s no evidence for this in the earliest accounts. Contrary to Shabir Ally’s speculative claim that nobody checked Jesus was dead (‘checked his pulse’), the first witnesses note that Jesus’ death was confirmed by Roman soldiers, professional executioners, who had thrust a spear through his torso. Again, contrary to Shabir Ally’s claims, those Jewish authorities who ordered a guard of soldiers at his tomb did not question that Jesus had died.{114}
• Did Jesus escape his tomb and recover? According to Swoon Theory, Jesus was revived after his long ordeal, only to make a full recovery and escape the tomb. Such an escape would be implausible at the best of times. Jesus, after all, had been placed in a tomb sealed with a large, heavy stone used to deter grave-robbers. It was under armed guard.
• Were the eyewitnesses deceived, or wilful liars? If Jesus was simply unconscious at the cross, then his pitiful ‘resurrection’ would hardly have been an inspiration to his followers. Met with this mutilated ‘Messiah’, Jesus’ disciples would have had little reason to go about confidently announcing his divine victory, power and Messianic status. Yet this is precisely what they did for the rest of their lives, and most died for their testimony.
• Did Allah protect his prophet? Many Muslims are repulsed at the thought of a crucified prophet, and reason that if Allah is all-powerful, He can and should prevent such a dishonourable and agonising death for his righteous messengers. Yet Swoon Theory does not resolve this problem. It maintains that Jesus still suffered the full agonies of crucifixion. If the Swoon Theory is to be believed, this did not accomplish anything besides the torture of a prophet and the propagation of a lie: that Jesus had died for the sins of his people, and risen from the dead.

In addition to relying on a series of implausible assumptions, the credibility of Swoon Theory is significantly weakened by its reliance on late, rejected folk tales and distorted readings of the early witnesses. For example, Ahmed Deedat has skewed the gospel accounts to present Jesus as a “miscalculating” revolutionary who fought his arrest:

Even a basic knowledge of the gospel accounts will expose flaws in such arguments. Famously, Jesus sternly rebuked those who tried to take up arms in his defence.{116}

Fundamentally, the Swoon Theory presents many irresolvable problems. Most non-Muslim scholars, and many Muslims too, reject it on theological or historical grounds. The opposing claim – that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died as a result – is far more consistent with the Bible, with modern scholarly consensus, and with all the facts available.

Questions to consider

1. Read Matthew 16:22-23 and Mark 8:31-33. How did Jesus’ disciples initially respond to the idea of a crucified Messiah?
2. Why did Jesus’ disciples give their lives to preaching about a crucified Messiah?
3. What evidence is there to support the idea that Jesus swooned?
4. If Jesus was crucified, but not killed, why did Allah allow this to happen at all?

What happened to Jesus? »