Historical Jesus
How do we know that the life of Jesus is not just a story that the
Church made up?
Tacitus, a Roman historian who wrote Annals in 115 CE, is considered
one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world.
He wrote: "To dispel the rumor that the fire was started by
Nero, Nero substituted as culprits, and treated with the most extreme
punishments, some people, popularly known as Christians, whose
disgraceful activities were notorious. The originator of that name,
Christus, had been executed when Tiberius was Emperor, by order
of the procurator Pontius Pilatus. But the deadly cult, though
checked for a time, was now breaking out again not only in Judea,
the birthplace of this evil, but even throughout Rome, where all
the nasty and disgusting ideas from all over the world pour in
and find a ready following.” (Annals 15:44). This means there were
a significant number of Christians in Rome in 64AD, only 30 years
after the Crucifixion of Christ.
Flavius Josephus (37-98 CE), the
most famous Jewish historian, was a Jewish zealot, not a follower
of Jesus. He changed sides and became the Roman Emperor's adviser
on Jewish affairs. His history book, Antiquities of the Jews, describes
Palestine in the time of Jesus. Some historians think one part
that talks about Jesus had been added to. With these extra bits
taken away they think Josephus wrote:
"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, for he was a
performer of wonderful deeds, a teacher of such men as are happy
to accept the truth. He won over many of the Jews and many of the
Gentiles. When Pilate, at the suggestion of the leading men among
us, had condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him at
the first did not forsake him; and the tribe of Christians, so named
from him, are not extinct to this day."
(Antiquities, Book 18, 63-64.)
He also said that the High Priest
Ananias had:
"Convened the Sanhedrin (the highest Jewish religious court/governing
body). He had brought before them the brother of Jesus the so-called
Christ, who was called James, and some other men, whom he accused
of having broken the law, and handed them over to be stoned." (Antiquities,
Book 20, 200).
Historians do not believe this second passage has been changed.
There
is no question that historically Jesus existed.
How do we know
that the Bible, which contains most of what we know about Jesus,
has not been changed over the years?
Starting in about 40 AD, and continuing
to about 90 AD, the eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus, including
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude, wrote
the Gospels, letters and books that became the Bible's New Testament.
These authors quote from 31 books of the Old Testament, and widely
circulate their material so that by about 150 AD, early Christians
were referring to the entire set of writings as the "New
Covenant."
There exist full manuscripts of the New
Testament as early as 350, which is about the same time as the
Church officially compiled the New Testament in 367. There are
papyri containing most of the New Testament from the third century.
There is a fragment of John’s Gospel from AD 139. There are over
5,000 Greek manuscripts, over 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300
other manuscripts including those in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian,
Georgian and so forth. There are over 36,000 citations of the
New Testament in the writings of the early church fathers.
Biblical
scholars say that our New Testament is 99.5% textually pure.
In the entire text of 20,000 lines, only 40 lines are in doubt
(about 400 words), and none affects any significant doctrine.
The authenticity of the New Testament is vastly better documented
than any other document of the same time. There is no doubt about
the authenticity of the New Testament.
The New testament was produced
under the guidance of the early church, which is the same as the
Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church used the same book to this
day in the original Greek in which it was written. It has never
been changed or translated. In our Liturgy the priest will usually
read the Gospel in both Greek and an English translation. For the
true meaning of the Gospel we rely on the early church fathers
interpretations and the clarification handed down by the Ecumenical
councils.
What do we Know about Jesus from these texts?
We
know that He had a miraculous birth from a holy virgin woman.
We
know that he taught us about the way to salvation.
We know that
He performed many miracles including raising people from death.
We
know that he came to us for our benefit, for our salvation and
eternal life in heaven.
We know that He fulfilled over three hundred
Old Testament prophecies.
We know that he was cruelly crucified
and then resurrected.
After forty days of His resurrection, we
know that He ascended into heaven with the promise to send the
Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, ten days later,
His Apostles were transformed when they received the Holy Spirit
and began converting thousands and organizing the Church.
Central
to the Gospel story is His death and resurrection along with
His promise that we too will be resurrected. So, how do we know
that He was truly resurrected? Are there any plausible conspiracy
theories?
Maybe Jesus was not dead when taken from
the Cross and escaped from the tomb.
The tomb of Jesus was continually
guarded. It was closed with a 2,000 pound stone making it impossible
for even a healthy man to open it from the inside. We know that
a soldier would never take a body down unless the person was
dead. If he did and the prisoner escaped the soldier would be
subject to a penalty of death. We also know that when the soldier
pierced Christ’s body there was a flow of water and blood, which
is a clear indication that there was a separation of clot and
serum, which is strong medical evidence of death.
Could His body
have been stolen from the tomb?
Maybe the disciples stole his body.
But how could they even think of this when they were depressed
and disillusioned and fled from the scene of the Crucifixion
out of fear for their own lives. We saw that they needed something
extraordinary to transform them into men with the force that
Peter showed at Pentecost when thousands of people were converted.
The
Apostles all set about to teach the Good News of the Gospel.
They did so in what was a hostile world. In the end they all
were martyred except for John. It is not reasonable to assume
that they would undertake this mission in the face of their own
death based on a lie.
How about the authorities. Could they have
stolen the body? But if this were so, why wouldn’t they have
produced the body when trying to squash the rumor that He was
resurrected.
Could Christ’s appearances have been hallucinations?
The
disciples were very stable individuals. They were burly fishermen,
tax collectors and skeptics like Thomas. They would not fit a psychological
profile of one likely to have hallucinations. Further, they would
all have had to be hallucinating. Jesus appeared to His disciples
eleven times on different occasions over a period of six weeks.
He could be touched, He ate fish, He held long conversations with
them, teaching them many things about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Wishful
thinking on the part of the disciples is highly unlikely even in
light of their initial hopefulness and enthusiasm. But, they were
not easily convinced as Christ had to scold them on their faith.
In fact, they came into the appearances not wishfully hoping to see
Christ, but disbelieving those who did. Saint Thomas is the best
example. He demanded evidence, which Christ gave to him. Further,
wishful thinking would not stand up in the threats of death and all
the trials and tribulations that they later had to face.
The Apostles
did not have doubts about Christ’s Resurrection.
Reality
Jesus Christ was Resurrected to save us and
show us the way to eternal life. He did dramatically arise into Heaven
and then on Pentecost empowered the Apostles by the Holy Spirit that
He told them He would send. They did act dramatically to convert
thousands in a harsh Jewish and pagan world. They did not waiver
in the face of their own deaths and persecutions. The Apostles did
form the Church and gave it structure.
The Orthodox Church has continually
existed for 2,000 years teaching the truths as taught by Him and
His Apostles.
There are over a billion people today who know Jesus
as the way to salvation and eternal life.
The Bottom Line: Our Faith
There is no doubt about:
The historical existence
of Christ
His virgin birth
His teaching
His death by crucifixion
His Resurrection
The establishment of His Church by His Apostles
Orthodoxy holds these truths in the fullest.
FAITH
Our Christian journey
begins with FAITH. Faith demands acceptance of the full truth
of the story of the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, who was
both fully human and fully God, and His Crucifixion and Resurrection
as told to us in the Gospels.
Christianity demands
as a first step a total faith in God as the Holy Trinity:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
|
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