# The Wrong Tomb Theory The Wrong Tomb Theory suggests that after Jesus� death by Crucifixion, He was buried in a tomb. However, when His disciples went to visit His tomb, they accidentally went to the wrong one. Coming across an empty tomb, they left and falsely reported that Jesus had risen from the dead. This theory has been proposed as an explanation for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by scholars such as [[Lake1907-tu|Kirsopp Lake]] in 1907. In his works, he puts the reliability of the women that discovered the tomb into question, stating that they were not in a good state of mind and had only watched Joseph of Arimathaea from a distance. Later, they would come back to the same area but to the wrong tomb. There, a young man tries to tell them they are at the wrong tomb, but they mistake him for an angel and flee in terror misunderstanding his words. ## Problems with this theory Few scholars take this to be serious ([[Gwynne2000-rw]]). Three of the four records we have of the event show that there was witnesses that saw where Jesus was buried ([[Giunta2015-yi]]). - The entire group of women that were present would have acted in the same manor [[How Many Women Were At The Tomb]] - The burial clothes of Jesus were left behind ([[The Burial Clothes Of Jesus]]) - There were guards at the tomb ([[The Guards At The Tomb]]) - None of His followers could figure this out - Those that opposed Christianity did not produce the body - This wouldn't produce the belief that Jesus was Resurrected ## The entire group of women that were present would have acted in the same manor We know it was not just Mary that went to the tomb; [[How Many Women Were At The Tomb]] With this small group of women, all 5+ of them would have to have been in a terrible mental state nearly 3 days after the traumatizing event - so much so that they can't find the tomb and mistake normal people for angels. It can't be the case that they didn't see well as it was light enough to see the burial clothes of Jesus as well as the young man and Jesus at the tomb ([[Stein2009-qz]]). We also know this was not a hallucination event, and it would have had to affect the entire group if it was. ## The burial clothes of Jesus were left behind ![[The Burial Clothes Of Jesus]] ## There were Guards at the Tomb. ![[The Guards At The Tomb]] ## None of His followers could figure this out Even if the group of women were somehow mistaken, they left right away and told the 12 disciples about what they had seen and claimed that Jesus appeared to Mary (See [[The Status Of Women In The 1st Century]]). John and Peter set out and visited the same tomb without the women present, finding the empty tomb with the burial clothes still inside. His followers could have simply asked Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus where Jesus was buried (John 19:39,) as they helped bury Him. Jesus brother James (who also claimed that Jesus appeared to him) would have also known where his family member was buried (1 Corinthians 15:7). James was head of the church when the book of Mark was written; it would be strange for him to not know where the tomb was at the time of writing. ([[Copan2000-ax]]). Many Scholars report that the tomb would have been well known ([[Vermes2008-os]], [[White1993-mo]]). ## Those that opposed Christianity did not produce the body Persecution of Christians began within months of the crucifixion. The disciples began preaching in Jerusalem fifty days after, and the first Christian Stephen was martyred within a year as witnessed by Paul The Apostle (Acts 2:14). The church started in Jerusalem, the very place where Jesus was killed and buried. If those that opposed Christians wanted the rapidly growing religion stopped, they could have simply shown the remains of Jesus ([[Cranfield1990-nt]]). It was very well known where He was buried. The Jews, Romans, and Christians were all aware of His resting place ([[Allison2005-xc]], [[Day1906-qk]], [[Osborne_undated-bo]]). ## This wouldn't produce the belief that Jesus was resurrected As we know, Jews were not expecting a Resurrection event; ![[The Jews Were Not Expecting A Resurrection Event]] With this background in mind, a couple of frantic women misplacing the location of Jesus' tomb would not have driven the belief that Jesus, the true Messiah, was Resurrected. The Wrong Tomb Theory suggests that after Jesus' crucifixion, His disciples went to the wrong tomb, found it empty, and then falsely reported that Jesus had risen from the dead. However, this theory is not considered seriously by many scholars. Several problems with this theory include the fact that witnesses saw where Jesus was buried, the entire group of women present would have had to be mistaken, the burial clothes of Jesus were left behind, there were guards at the tomb, and none of His followers could figure out the mistake. Additionally, if those who opposed Christianity wanted to stop its growth, they could have produced Jesus' remains. However, no remains were produced, and Christianity continued to grow.