IS THE SHROUD OF TURIN REAL?

By Ryan Hicks

 There have been questions surrounding the legitimacy of the Shroud of Turin for quite a long time. Many believe it to be what Jesus was wrapped in when He was placed in the tomb. The Shroud of Turin is seen below:

The legend is that this is the burial cloth of Jesus and when He was resurrected it created the image you see of the man with the long hair, hands crossed over his lap, etc. The Scriptures answer the question of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, so that no on needs to be ignorant of the truth.

John 19:40
40  Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

Luke 24:12
12  Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

John 20:4-7
4  So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5  And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
6  Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7  And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
 

First, it should be noted that Joseph of Arimathaea bought the finest linen to wrap Jesus in, not the material that the shroud is made of (Mark 15:46). He wrapped Jesus' body in fine linen and the head in a separate piece called a napkin (Matthew 27:59; John 20:7). It would be impossible for the Shroud of Turin to be anything but a fake for two simple and Biblical reasons: the material is not linen and the head of Jesus was not wrapped in the same cloth as the body, thus the face would not appear in the Shroud of Turin if it was legitimate and historically accurate. There are many other reasons that the Shroud of Turin is a fake, but these plain Scriptures are ample evidence as to its lacking authenticity.