12/01/2025

 

Samuel Clifford

 

The account of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew is recorded in chapters 26-28. But, how do we know if what he recorded is true? Well there’s a few parts of his gospel account that wouldn’t make sense if he was lying. In this post we will look at those parts.

 

1. Women discovered the tomb

 

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Mary Magdalene and another Mary traveled to the tomb:

 

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭1‬ ‭

 

They were the ones that were told of the resurrection by the Angel:

 

“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭6‬ ‭

 

This is important as according to all of the Gospel writers, not only Matthew, women were the first to give testimony of the empty tomb.

 

Why is this important?

 

In first century Palestine, a woman’s testimony was not valid. According to the Jewish Talmud, “Sooner let the words of the Law be burnt than delivered to women.” (Talmud, Sotah 19a).

 

If Matthew was lying in his gospel, he wouldn’t have lowered his credibility by stating women discovered the empty tomb. If the gospel writers made up their accounts then it would make more sense for them to see the risen Jesus first, not women.

 

2. The Missing Body

 

Matthew records in his gospel account that the chief priests devised a plan to falsify the accounts of the empty tomb:

 

“and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭13‬ ‭

 

In doing so, however, they proved something, that the tomb was empty! If the tomb wasn’t empty, then all the chief priests would have to do is produce the body of Jesus and the conspiracy of His resurrection would be put to rest. However, the chief priests couldn’t produce a body, and instead made up a conspiracy that the disciples stole it. Showing the tomb was in fact empty.

 

How Do We Know The Disciples Didn't Steal The Body?

 

There’s Two Main Reasons to believe the disciples didn’t steal the body:

 

1. There were guards at the tomb with a stone seal on the tomb. In order to steal the body the disciples would have to get by the guards and move the stone seal.

2. The disciples went to death and were martyred for their beliefs. If they had stolen the body, and thus known their beliefs were false. Then at least a few of them would have recanted their statements and chosen not to die. Yet, none of them did. Showing they believed what they said to be true.