apologetics.pro

Evidence · Case 02 · Resurrection of Christ

Women as the first witnesses

One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.

Suggest a correction
In all the accounts, women are the first to find the tomb empty. In that culture the testimony of women was given little formal weight (Josephus, Antiquities 4.219, says women should not be admitted as witnesses), so anyone inventing a story would more likely have chosen men as the discoverers. The point is debated: women could testify in some matters, and while Richard Bauckham defends this criterion, other scholars weigh it less heavily.

Sources

Objections & responses

Isn’t the argument from women’s testimony overstated? Women could testify in some circumstances, and if women prepared bodies, women finding the tomb is exactly what you’d expect.

The overstatement is a fair correction. Women’s testimony was not legally void, but it was discounted (Josephus and the Mishnah both say so), and the Gospels themselves record the male disciples dismissing the women’s report as an idle tale. The point only needs women to have been less credible than men in that culture, which is well documented. As for the natural-role argument: a story built for persuasive effect would have women find the tomb and then give the first appearance to Peter or John. Instead John’s Gospel gives the first appearance to Mary Magdalene. That is not the choice a fabricator makes.

Appears under 1 claim in this case

Read it in context