He truly died, so he truly rose
Very naively he says that the disciples wrote such things about Jesus to excuse what happened to him. “It is as if,” he says, “someone, while saying that a man is just, were to show him doing wrong; while saying he is holy, show him committing murder; while saying he is immortal, show him dead; and were to add to all this that he had foretold these things.” His example is plainly unlike the case. For there is nothing absurd in this, that one who had taken upon himself to be the pattern that would be set before mankind of how they ought to live should have shown how one ought to die for the sake of piety; and that is apart from the fact that his dying for men has been of some benefit to the whole universe, as we showed in the previous book.
Then he thinks that the whole admission of his suffering confirms the case against him rather than refuting it. For he has not seen how much has been worked out philosophically on this point in Paul, and said by the prophets. It also escaped him that one of those in the heretical sects has said that Jesus suffered these things in appearance, without really suffering. Not knowing this, he said: “For you did not even say that he seemed to impious men to suffer these things but did not suffer; no, you openly admit that he suffered.” But we do not apply “seeming” to his suffering, so that his resurrection too may not be false but true. For if one who truly died rose again, he truly rose; but one who only seemed to have died did not truly rise.
Since unbelievers mock the teaching about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we shall cite Plato too, who says that Er the son of Armenius rose from the pyre after twelve days and gave an account of those in Hades (Plato, Republic 10.614b). And since we are addressing unbelievers, the story in Heraclides about the woman who did not breathe will not be wholly useless at this point. Many, too, are recorded to have come back from their tombs, not only on the same day but even on the next. What wonder, then, if one who had wondrously done many things beyond human power, things so plain that those who cannot look the fact of their happening in the face slander them by putting them in the same class as sorceries, also had something more in his own death, so that his soul left the body of its own will and, after setting certain things in order outside it, came back again when it wished?
John records Jesus as having said something of this kind in the words: “No one takes my soul from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again” (John 10:18). And perhaps this is why he went out of the body beforehand: to preserve it, and so that his legs would not be broken like those of the robbers crucified with him. “For the soldiers broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he had breathed his last, they did not break his legs” (John 19:32–33).
So we have answered this question too: “How then is it credible that he foretold it?” As for “How is the dead man immortal?”, let whoever wishes learn that it is not the dead man who is immortal, but the one who rose from the dead. So not only is the dead man not immortal, but not even Jesus before his death, the composite being, was immortal, since he was going to die. For no one who is going to die is immortal; one is immortal when he will die no more. “Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over him” (Romans 6:9), even if those who have not been able to grasp how these words are meant would rather it were not so.
Greek
Πάνυ δ᾿ εὐήθως φησὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς πρὸς παραίτησιν τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀναγεγραφέναι περὶ αὐτοῦ τοιαῦτα· ὥσπερ, φησὶν, εἴ τις λέγων εἶναί τινα δίκαιον δεικνύει αὐτὸν ἀδικοῦντα, καὶ λέγων ὅσιον δεικνύει φονεύοντα, καὶ λέγων ἀθάνατον δεικνύει νεκρὸν, πᾶσι τούτοις ἐπιφέρων ὅτι προειρηκὼς αὐτὰ ἔτυχεν· αὐτόθεν γὰρ ἀνόμοιον αὐτοῦ τὸ παράδειγμα, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν ἄτοπόν ἐστιν ἀνειληφότα τὸν ἐσόμενον ἀνθρώποις ἐγκείμενον σκοπὸν περὶ τοῦ πῶς δεῖ βιοῦν ὑποδεδειχέναι ὡς δεῖ ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀποθνῄσκειν, χωρὶς τοῦ χρήσιμόν τι τῷ παντὶ γεγονέναι τὸ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων αὐτὸν ἀποθανεῖν, ὡς ἐν τῷ πρὸ τού. του ἐδείξαμεν λόγῳ. εἶτ᾿ οἴεται ὅτι πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ πάθους ὁμολογία βεβαιοῖ τὸν ἔλεγχον οὐ λύει, οὐ γὰρ εἶδεν, ὅσα περὶ τούτου καὶ παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ πεφιλοσόφηται καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν λέλεκται· ἔλαθε δὲ αὐτὸν τὸ εἰρηκέναι τινὰ τῶν ἐν ταῖς αἱρέσεσι δοκήσει τὸν Ἰησοῦν ταῦτα πεπονθέναι οὐ πεπονθότα. οὐ γὰρ ἐγνωκὼς εἶπε τό· οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτο εἴπατε ὅτι ἐδόκει μὲν τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν ἀνθρώποις ταῦτα πάσχειν οὐκ ἔπασχε δὲ, ἀλλ᾿ ἄντικρυς παθεῖν ὁμολογεῖτε. ἀλλ᾿ ἡμεῖς τὸ δοκεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παθεῖν οὐ τάσσομεν. ἵνα μὴ ψευδὴς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις ᾖ ἀλλ᾿ ἀληθής. ὁ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἀποθανὼν εἰ ἀνέστη, ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη, ὁ δὲ δοκῶν ἀποτεθνηκέναι οὐκ ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ χλευάζουσιν οἱ ἄπιστοι, παραθησόμεθα μὲν καὶ Πλάτωνα λέγοντα Ἦρα τὸν Ἀρμενίου μετὰ δώδεκα ἡμέρας ἐκ τῆς πυρᾶς ἐγηγέρθαι καὶ ἀπηγγελκέναι τὰ περὶ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου, ὡς πρὸς ἀπίστους δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς παρὰ τῷ Ἡρακλείδῃ ἄπνου οὐ πάντῃ ἔσται εἰς τόν τόπον ἄχρηστα. πολλοὶ δ᾿ ἱστόρηνται καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν μνημείων ἐπανελθόντες οὐ μόνον αὐτῆς ἡμέρας ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ ἑξῆς. τί οὖν θαυμαστὸν, εἰ ὁ παραδόξως πολλὰ ποιήσας καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον καὶ οὕτως ἐναργῆ, ὡς μὴ δυναμένους ἀντιβλέψαι τῷ γεγονέναι αὐτὰ κακίζειν διὰ τοῦ κοινοποιεῖν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὰς γοητείας, καὶ περὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τελευτὴν εἶχέ τι πλεῖον· ἵνα ἑκοῦσα μὲν τὸ σῶμα καταλίπῃ ἡ ψυχὴ οἰκονομησαμένη δέ τινα ἔξω αὐτοῦ πάλιν ἐπανέλθῃ. ὅτε βούλεται; τοιοῦτον δ᾿ ἀναγέγραπται παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ εἰρηκέναι ὁ Ἰησοῦς λόγον ἐν τῷ· „οὐδεὶς αἴρει τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐγὼ τίθημι αὐτὴν ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ. ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτὴν, καὶ πάλιν ἐξουσίαν ἔχω λαβεῖν αὐτήν.“ καὶ τάχα διὰ τοῦτο προλαβὼν ἐξελήλυθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα αὐτὸ τηρήσῃ καὶ μὴ καταχθῇ τὰ σκέλη ὡς τὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ σταυρωθέντων λῃστῶν. „τοῦ μὲν γὰρ πρώτου οἱ στρατιῶται κατέαξαν τὰ σκέλη καὶ τοῦ ἄλλου τοῦ συσταυρωθέντος αὐτῷ· ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐλθόντες καὶ ἰδόντες ὅτι ἐξέπνευσεν, οὐ κατέαξαν αὐτοῦ τὰ σκέλη.“ εἴπομεν οὖν καὶ πρὸς τό· πόθεν οὖν πιστὸν τὸ προειρηκέναι; τὸ δὲ πόθεν ἀθάνατος ὁ νεκρός; μανθανέτω ὁ βουλόμενος ὅτι οὐχ ὁ νεκρὸς ἀθάνατος ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν. οὐ μόνον οὖν οὐχ ὁ νεκρὸς ἀθάνατος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ὁ πρὸ τοῦ νεκροῦ Ἰησοῦς ὁ σύνθετος ἀθάνατος ἦν, ὅς γε ἔμελλε τεθνήξεσθαι. οὐδεὶς γὰρ τεθνηξόμενος ἀθάνατος ἀλλ᾿ ἀθάνατος, ὅτε οὐκέτι τεθνήξεται. „Χριστὸς δὲ ἐγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν οὐκέτι ἀποθνῄσκει· θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κυριεύει“· κἂν μὴ βούλωνται οἱ ταῦτα πῶς εἴρηται νοῆσαι μὴ χωρήσαντες.