Two thousand years after the crucifixion, we are still debating Jesus of Nazareth. That fact alone, argues biblical historian Wesley Huff, is itself a piece of evidence.
On a recent episode of the Mikhailia Peterson Podcast, Huff laid out a cumulative historical case for the resurrection that he says even the most skeptical scholars have difficulty dismissing outright.
“There are other messianic movements in the ancient world, but I bet you couldn’t name any of the individuals involved in those. And there’s a reason why we’re asking questions about Jesus of Nazareth and not Simon Bar Kokhva,” he said.
Huff’s point is sharp: other messianic movements of the era collapsed when their leader died. Jesus’s movement accelerated. The disciples — who had been hiding in fear after the crucifixion — became a missionary force willing to march back into Jerusalem and preach within weeks of the event, to people who could have personally witnessed the execution.
Liars Make Poor Martyrs
One of the episode’s most compelling exchanges came when Huff addressed why the disciples’ willingness to die for their claims carries unusual historical weight. Peterson pressed him on whether religious zeal alone could explain such commitment — pointing to modern examples like the 9/11 hijackers.
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“Those aren’t martyrs — those are murderers. And they don’t actually know definitively that what they’re dying for is true. The difference is that the disciples were there when Jesus died and claimed to have seen him resurrected,” Huff stated.
The distinction matters: the disciples weren’t acting on inherited belief or secondhand report. They were eyewitnesses to the crucifixion itself, and then — according to their testimony — witnesses to something else entirely. Dying for what you personally know to be a lie is, as Huff put it, “a lot harder to actually go to your grave for.”
Liar, Lunatic, or Lord
Huff invoked the classic C.S. Lewis framework — and argued it still holds. Peterson, who described her own path to faith as gradual and hard-won, reflected honestly on what historical argument alone could and couldn’t accomplish in her own conversion.
“If you evaluate what Jesus’s claims actually are about himself, He’s either lying through his teeth, He’s either a lunatic or He’s the Lord of the universe who actually validated the claims that He made about who He is by rising from the dead,” Huff shared.
Peterson described her own experience of wrestling with exactly that threshold — knowing the historical arguments and still finding them insufficient on their own. As she put it, she had spent years trying to “rationalize something that you can’t rationalize” — and it was only when she stopped that the weight lifted.
“What changed for me was obviously if somebody could explain the historical evidence, but I kind of knew the historical evidence, and that’s not what really did it for me … I needed to have that extra step of you have faith that this was real,” Peterson said.
Huff didn’t resist the tension. He acknowledged that faith is ultimately a gift. “I’m never going to argue anyone into the kingdom, nor should I try,” he said, while acknowledging that removing intellectual barriers is still legitimate and important work, creating space for the Spirit to move.
What the manuscripts actually say
Beyond the resurrection argument, Huff walked through the reliability of the biblical text itself, countering the popular notion that modern translations have drifted far from the originals. The King James Bible was translated from roughly 31 manuscripts dating to the 11th century. Today, scholars have access to over 5,000 additional Greek manuscripts, many from the 2nd through 4th centuries.
“As time goes on, we’re not getting farther away from the original wording of the Bible — we’re actually getting closer to it,” he said.
The point was vivid: the proof of Jesus’ resurrection is undeniable.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the upcoming book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
