§23. Necessity of a public death for the doctrine of the Resurrection.

But even if, without any disease and without any pain, He had hidden His body away privily and by Himself “in72    Acts xxvi. 26. a corner,” or in a desert place, or in a house, or anywhere, and afterwards suddenly appeared and said that He had been raised from the dead, He would have seemed on all hands to be telling idle tales73    Luke xxiv. 11., and what He said about the Resurrection would have been all the more discredited, as there was no one at all to witness to His death. Now, death must precede resurrection, as it would be no resurrection did not death precede; so that if the death of His body had taken place anywhere in secret, the death not being apparent nor taking place before witnesses, His Resurrection too had been hidden and without evidence. 2. Or why, while when He had risen He proclaimed the Resurrection, should He cause His death to take place in secret? or why, while He drove out evil spirits in the presence of all, and made the man blind from his birth recover his sight, and changed the water into wine, that by these means He might be believed to be the Word of God, should He not manifest His mortal nature as incorruptible in the presence of all, that He might be believed Himself to be the Life? 3. Or how were His disciples to have boldness in speaking of the Resurrection, were they not able to say that He first died? Or how could they be believed, saying that death had first taken place and then the Resurrection, had they not had as witnesses of His death the men before whom they spoke with boldness? For if, even as it was, when His death and Resurrection had taken place in the sight of all, the Pharisees of that day would not believe, but compelled even those who had seen the Resurrection to deny it, why, surely, if these things had happened in secret, how many pretexts for disbelief would they have devised? 4. Or how could the end of death, and the victory over it be proved, unless challenging it before the eyes of all He had shewn it to be dead, annulled for the future by the incorruption of His body?

Εἰ δὲ καὶ χωρίς τινος νόσου καὶ χωρίς τινος ἀλγηδόνος, ἰδίᾳ που καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐν γωνίᾳ, ἢ ἐν ἐρήμῳ τόπῳ, ἢ κατ' οἰκίαν, ἢ ὅπου δήποτε τὸ σῶμα κρύψας ἦν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν ἐξαίφνης φανείς, ἔλεγεν ἑαυτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγηγέρθαι· μύθους μὲν ἂν ἔδοξε λέγειν παρὰ πᾶσιν, ἠπιστήθη δὲ πολλῷ πλέον καὶ περὶ τῆς ἀνα στάσεως λέγων, οὐκ ὄντος ὅλως τοῦ μαρτυροῦντος περὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ. Τῆς δὲ ἀναστάσεως προηγεῖσθαι δεῖ θάνατον, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν εἴη ἀνάστασις μὴ προηγουμένου θανάτου· ὅθεν εἰ κρύφα που ἐγεγόνει τοῦ σώματος ὁ θάνατος, οὐ φαινομένου τοῦ θανάτου, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ μαρτύρων γενομένου, ἀφανὴς ἦν καὶ ἀμάρτυρος καὶ ἡ τούτου ἀνάστασις· Ἢ διὰ τί τὴν μὲν ἀνάστασιν ἐκήρυττεν ἀναστάς, τὸν δὲ θάνατον ἀφανῶς ἐποίει γενέσθαι; Ἢ διὰ τί τοὺς μὲν δαίμονας ἐπ' ὄψει πάντων ἀπήλαυνε, τόν τε ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλὸν ἀναβλέπειν ἐποίει, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς οἶνον μετέβαλεν, ἵνα δι' αὐτῶν πιστευθῇ Λόγος Θεοῦ· τὸ δὲ θνητὸν οὐκ ἐπ' ὄψει πάντων ἄφθαρτον ἐδείκνυεν, ἵνα πιστευθῇ αὐτὸς ὢν ἡ Ζωή; Πῶς δὲ καὶ οἱ τούτου μαθηταὶ παρρησίαν εἶχον περὶ τοῦ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγου, οὐκ ἔχοντες εἰπεῖν ὅτι πρῶτον ἀπέθανεν; Ἢ πῶς ἂν ἐπιστεύθησαν λέγοντες γεγονέναι πρῶτον θάνατον, εἶτα τὴν ἀνάστασιν, εἰ μὴ παρ' οἷς ἐπαρρησιάζοντο, εἶχον τούτους μάρτυρας τοῦ θανάτου; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ οὕτως ἐπ' ὄψει πάντων γενομένων τοῦ τε θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως οὐκ ἠθέλησαν οἱ τότε Φαρι σαῖοι πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἑωρακότας τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἠνάγκασαν ἀρνήσασθαι ταύτην· πάντως εἰ κεκρυμμένως ἐγεγόνει ταῦτα, πόσας ἂν προφάσεις ἐπενόουν ἀπιστίας; Πῶς δὲ ἄρα τὸ τοῦ θανάτου τέλος ἐδείκνυτο, καὶ ἡ κατὰ τούτου νίκη, εἰ μὴ ἐπ' ὄψει πάντων προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτὸν ἤλεγξε νεκρόν, κενωθέντα λοιπὸν τῇ τοῦ σώματος ἀφθαρσίᾳ;