Why Didn’t The Sanhedrin Charge Peter And John With Theft Of A Corpse?

Grave robbers

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people [a few days after Pentecost]. ² They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. ³ They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. ⁴ But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. ⁵ The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶ Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. ⁷ They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this [heal the lame man]?” –Acts 4

Gary: Christian apologists frequently use the fact that the Jewish authorities never went to the tomb of Jesus and brought out his body to publicly display before crowds to disprove the resurrection, as proof that the tomb was empty. If the resurrection was a hoax, the body would still be in the tomb. The silence of the Jewish authorities is evidence that the tomb was empty, apologists say. “They knew it was empty! They knew it was empty because they had bribed the Roman guards to claim that the disciples had stolen the body!”

 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. –Matthew 28

Jewish apologist, Michael Alter: The Jewish religious leadership lacked interest in Jesus’ tomb. [This is evidence the empty tomb did not exist, not that it did.] Acts 4 reports the arrest of Peter, John, and the remainder of the apostles a few days after Pentecost. Afterward, they were brought to the Jewish religious authorities and charged with preaching about the resurrection of the dead. …The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in a resurrection. The Jewish authorities decided to command and threaten “them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18) [and then let them go].

[So let’s get this straight…] The apostles face the great council, the Sanhedrin. The religious leaders of this council are the inventors of the story that the disciples stole the body of Jesus. How strange that the crime of having stolen the dead body of Jesus was not brought against the apostles! Why was Joseph of Arimathea and the whole Roman guard not instantly summoned and made to confront the apostles?

—The Resurrection and Its Apologetics: Jesus’ Death and Burial, Volume 1, pp. 225-226

Gary: The fact that the Sanhedrin did not charge the Apostles with stealing Jesus’ body is strong evidence that Matthew’s Roman Guards At Jesus’ Tomb Story is theological fiction.

There were no guards at Jesus’ tomb. There were no guards for the Sanhedrin to bribe. And I will bet good money…there was no empty tomb either! The body of Jesus was likely left on the cross to be picked apart by birds, and what was left a week later was tossed into a mass grave with all the other dead bodies.

There is no mention of grave robbery/corpse theft when the Apostles are brought before the Jewish authorities just 50 days after the same group of authorities had paid Roman soldiers to publicly accuse the disciples of stealing the body? Not believable!

Interesting point: Not only did the Sanhedrin not bring up the empty tomb, neither did the Apostles! It had only been 50 days since the tomb was (allegedly) found empty—the best evidence for the Resurrection according to every modern Christian apologist on the planet—and yet no one was talking about it! What??

Tall tales and lies, my friends. Tall tales and lies.

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End of post.