The rapid and exponential growth of the Church
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The rapid and exponential growth of the Church
Another circumstantial - but compelling - piece of evidence for the resurrection of Christ is the sudden growth of the Church within a few weeks of his death. Luke, who was closely associated with people involved in the events he describes, documents the rapid spread of Christianity in the very earliest period. On the day of Pentecost he mentions 3,000 believers and shortly after, 5,000 (Acts 2:41; 4:4). This corresponds to what we know of the growth of the early church and it is one of the reasons historians do not suspect that Jesus was a legend. Legends take many years to accumulate and gain acceptance. Christianity spread immediately. The Jewish authorities were unable to contain its growth because it was so rapid.
After the crucifiction the disciples were fearful and broken men. They cowered in fear behind locked doors. Jesus death had deprived them of a charismatic and powerful leader. His death dashed all their hopes of soon entering a Messianic Kingdom on earth. How could such a movement, which had been so demoralised, regain the motivation and popular support needed for growth?
The apostles became bold and enthusiastic evangelists overnight resulting in thousands of new believers every day. How could they have set off such wildfire growth of the Church if they were not 100% convinced of the resurrection?
Within just a few years the gospel had spread out of Judea, through Samaria and Syria to what is now Turkey and then on to Rome. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote of a "great multitude" of Christians who gave their lives in Nero's persecution in Rome around 60-70AD. Around Rome there are about 600 miles of catacombs where something like 4 million early Christians were burried. There is some evidence that by 70AD the gospel had spread as far afield as Egypt and westwards towards India. It is amazing that within 200 years Christianity had gained such widespread popularity that it began to challenge offical paganism for supremacy.
What is particularly remarkable about the growth of the Christian Church is that with acceptance of Christ as Lord came the risk / likelihood of social ostracism, imprisonment, torture and death. Why then did it grow so quickly?
If we don't accept the truth of the resurrection, what are we going to put in its place?
Tom Wright, one of Britain's leading New Testament scholars, stated:
"We know of several Jewish movements of revolt in the first century. In most cases, they ended with the death of the leader. Where such groups carried on, it was because a new leader emerged. No new leader, no continuing movement. Without the resurrection, there is a gaping hole in the middle of the first-century history that nothing else can plug."
The continued life and growth of the church, and the impact of the gospel on the lives of people over nearly two thousand years, is also a strong pointer to the truth of the resurrection.
Prof C. E. B. Cranfield states:
"Last of all must be mentioned the continuance of the Christian church through nineteen and a half centuries, in spite of bitter and often prolonged persecution, in spite of all its own terrible unworthiness and incredible follies, in spite of its divisions, and in spite of all the changes which the passing years and centuries have brought. The fact that the church still produces today (as it has produced in all the past centuries of its existence) human beings, who, trusting in Jesus Christ crucified, risen and exalted, show in their lives, for all their frailty, a recognisable beginning of being freed from self for God and neighbour, is an impressive pointer to the truth of the Resurrection."