Minimal Fact #2

Remember, Minimal Fact #1 of Jesus' resurrection is that Jesus really died on a Roman cross.

Minimal Fact #2 of Jesus' resurrection:*

Jesus' disciples and followers had experiences that they interpreted to be Jesus' bodily resurrection.

Notice how this is worded. It doesn't say that Jesus bodily rose from the dead, but that his followers had experiences that they thought was Jesus' resurrection. It has to be worded this way in order to be a minimal fact (a fact agreed upon by the vast majority of historians and New Testament scholars, many of which are skeptics to Christianity).

How do we know this? Here's how: 1) They said it, and 2) They believed it.

1) There is record of strong oral tradition dating back to before the first books of the Bible were even written (See 1 Corinthians 15:3-7). The written record includes Paul's letters, the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John), sermon summaries (Acts 2). These all testify that the disciples claimed to have seen Jesus raised bodily from the dead.

2) They believed they witnessed Jesus' resurrection. Nine ancient sources record the disciples' willingness to suffer and even to die for their faith in Christ. These sources include the book of Acts, Polycarp, Tertullian, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Origen, and Dionysius of Corinth. People will and do die for things all the time, even for being mistaken. BUT, people do not suffer or die for something the know to be false. So at the very least this evidence tells us that the disciples truly believed that they saw Jesus alive.

Once I've laid out all 5 minimal facts, then we'll talk about how skeptics explain away all the facts. For now here's what we know:
1) Jesus died.
2) Jesus' followers had experiences which led them to believe that he rose bodily.

*Adapted from The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, by Habermas & Licona.