Section 04
5 years, not 500
The earliest creed about the resurrection dates within five years of the crucifixion. The Gospels are inside the lifespan of named eyewitnesses.
Paul’s earliest letters date to ~50 AD. Mark, the earliest Gospel, ~65 to 70 AD. Matthew, Luke, Acts in the 70s and 80s. John ~85 to 95 AD.
Plutarch wrote about Alexander roughly 400 years after Alexander. We still treat Plutarch as a serious source. The New Testament is in a different category: written inside living memory.
The 1 Corinthians 15 creed was received by Paul during his Damascus conversion (~33 AD) or Jerusalem visit (~36 AD). The resurrection claim is original to the movement.
This passage represents a very early tradition. Most scholars think that Paul received it within just a couple of years of Jesus’s death.
Bart Ehrman (agnostic), How Jesus Became God, 2014, p. 138.
By the numbers
- Paul’s earliest letter
- ~50 AD
- Mark composed
- ~65 to 70 AD
- John composed
- ~85 to 95 AD
- 1 Cor 15 creed dating
- 3 to 6 years post crucifixion
- Plutarch on Alexander
- ~400 years after
Strongest counter position
The strongest challenge is not mythicism but mainstream late dating: many critical scholars put John in the 90s and Acts in the 80s or later, and a minority push John into the second century. The site grants the later end of these ranges. The resurrection case rests on the 1 Corinthians 15 creed, which even skeptical scholars date to within a few years of the crucifixion, not on early Gospel dates.
What this does not prove
Mainstream dates have ranges. The site uses the central range, not the earliest possible dates favoured by some conservative scholars.
Citations
- 1 Corinthians 15:3 to 7.
- Bart Ehrman, How Jesus Became God, 2014.
- A. N. Sherwin White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, 1963.
Goes deeper
Cite this section
- APA 7
- Reyhe, K. (2026). 5 years, not 500. Section of Christianity True. https://christistrue.org/en/sections/dates/
- MLA 9
- Reyhe, Konrad. “5 years, not 500.” Section of Christianity True, 2026, https://christistrue.org/en/sections/dates/.
- Chicago
- Reyhe, Konrad. 2026. “5 years, not 500.” Section of Christianity True. https://christistrue.org/en/sections/dates/.
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