Tertullian, De Spectaculis 30

In De Spectaculis 30, Tertullian sarcastically rehearses Jewish polemic against the resurrection: "This is He whom His disciples secretly stole away, that it might be said He had risen; or the gardener abstracted, that his lettuces might come to no harm from the crowds of visitors." The "gardener" detail is a polemical twist on John 20:15 (Mary mistakes the risen Jesus for the gardener). Tertullian is writing in Latin in Carthage, far from Matthew's setting, and yet the underlying Jewish explanation is the same: the body was gone, and someone had taken it.

Three independent witnesses across roughly 170 years and three different regions — Matthew in Judea, Justin in Rome, Tertullian in North Africa — all report the very same Jewish counter-story. None of them is arguing *for* an empty tomb; they simply assume it and then argue over *why* it was empty. That's the hallmark of a fact that wasn't actually in dispute.

• Matthew 28:11-15— Tertullian sarcastically repeats the same Jewish counter-claim — third independent attestation.
• John 20:1-9— The "gardener" detail in Tertullian is a polemical twist on John 20.

• ·Tertullian, De Spectaculis 30
• ·Wright, N.T. (2003). The Resurrection of the Son of God
• ·Bauckham, R. (2006). Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

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  History

  Justin Martyr (First Apology & Dialogue with Trypho)

  Earlier apologist

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  History

  Clement of Rome (1 Clement)

  Another early church father