Scaling the Secular City by J. P. Moreland

Author:J. P. Moreland [Moreland, J. P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781585580712
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

The Reference to Joseph of Arimathea Most scholars believe that Joseph of Arimathea was a real, historical person and that Jesus was actually buried in his tomb.[17] According to the Gospels, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, a group of seventy-one leaders whose members were very well known among the populace. No one could have invented a person who did not exist and say he was on the Sanhedrin if such were not the case. Almost everyone knew who was on the Sanhedrin. A fictitious character would have been more plausible if someone obscure had been chosen.

There was, then, a man named Joseph of Arimathea. There was no reason to make up the story that Jesus was buried in his tomb. For one thing, the only good motive for doing this would have been to give prestige and authority to a major leader in the church. But apart from the highly questionable assumption that the early church was led by men who were deceivers, there is no evidence that Joseph was a significant leader in early Christianity. Apart from a few other obscure references to him, he drops out of the picture. Several other candidates would have been better if the story about the tomb had been invented to enhance someone’s leadership. And because Joesph was a public figure, people would have known him and the location of his tomb. If Jesus had not been buried in his tomb, this would have been all too easy to verify. So it would have been highly problematic to have mentioned such a public figure if someone were to fabricate the account.

In light of these difficulties, most scholars feel that it is highly probable that Jesus was, in fact, buried in Joseph’s tomb. Incidental details about Joseph in the narrative confirm this fact. Joseph is called a rich man in the text, and archaeological discoveries have confirmed that only rich people owned the sort of tombs described in the burial account. Further, John tells us that Jesus’ tomb was located in a garden and, again, archaeology has confirmed that this was characteristic of the tombs of wealthy or prominent people. Such details in the text are incidental remarks about which nothing is made.

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