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Apologetics 101
Skeptics are quick to assume that the Bible is nothing more than a man-made creation.
According to Bill Nye, we should not trust some ancient text that has been re-translated many times, over thousands of years, into American English. (2014 Creation Debate)
Jesus never claimed to be God and his disciples misunderstood what he taught.
Over the centuries legends and myths were added to the Bible.
The Bible is just a book written by imperfect men with an agenda.
The Gospels were written long after the events described and not by any eye witnesses.
But are these assertions actually true or not?
Future blogs will dig further into topics such as:
Reliability and Authority of Scripture
Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?
Biblical Inerrancy vs. infallibility (the ICBI statement)
But for now, let's consider how we got the NT writings, and whether or not what we have accurately reflects the beliefs and teachings of Jesus and his disciples.
This is an image of P52 - a fragment of John dated at 100-150 A.D.
The NT documents are the best attested documents of antiquity in terms of total number of manuscripts. For example, there are 10X more than the runner-up, Homer.
About 1000 times more than average Greco-Roman author: 5800+ Greek manuscripts, 10000+ Latin/other, million+ quotes from church fathers - While some are a verse or 2, the avg. size of a NT manuscript is 450 pages!
The interval of time between the original authorship and the date of the earliest NT manuscript copies is extremely short.
The historic statements made about Jesus by ancient non-Christian authors fit well with the Gospel record.
The authors of the four Gospels were either eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life themselves, or were closely associated with eyewitnesses.
The Gospel writers intended to convey (and were capable of conveying) historical and factual information about Jesus, and the historical content of their writings has been confirmed to a significant degree.
The apostles credibility as truth-tellers is greatly strengthened when one recognizes they had little to gain and almost everything to lose in proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior.
There are good reasons to believe that the Gospels were written within the lifetime of eye-witnesses to the events of Jesus' life. Apologist J. Warner Wallace has an excellent analysis of this and concludes that the evidence shows that the gospels likely were written prior to 55 A.D. One line of evidence is from apparent quotes of Luke's writings by Paul (between 48-60 A.D.). For example:
Luke's Gospel says:
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” (Luke 22:19-20)
While Paul says:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread ; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood… (1 Cor. 11:23-26) (written 53-57 A.D.)
Hence, Luke's gospel (or at least a common source) was in existence before Paul wrote his letters. Similar arguments can be made for the other gospels as well. Even John can reasonably be viewed as having written Revelation prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.
Because of the early emergence of the Gospels, and the sources behind them, myths and legends did not have sufficient time to develop and be recorded in their accounts.
The theory that the Gospels are myth is only plausible if several generations existed over which mythology concerning Jesus could grow.
The apostles of Jesus recognized the difference between myth and factual eyewitness testimony, and they solemnly asserted that they were eyewitnesses of historical events.
If the Gospel writers had departed from historical fact (either by exaggeration or outright invention), hostile witnesses familiar with the events of Jesus’ life could have exposed them.
The Gospel stories do not correspond in style or in content with other known mythical writings.
The arguments for rejecting the Gospels as history are circular. (E.g. anti-supernatural bias and presuppositions)
In his book, Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace shows that we have good reason to trust that the Bible faithfully records what the disciples originally wrote. He does this by showing the "Chain of Custody" for three lines of teaching:
(John) Mark (an associate of Peter) - author of the Gospel of Mark
The Apostle John - author of the Gospel of John, and the Book of Revelation
The Apostle Paul - wrote many books/letters of the New Testament
All three of these can be traced through writings and quotations from early church fathers up through 350 A.D. and beyond, where we have the Codex Sinaiticus and the Council of Laodicea. So we have confidence that what we have today is actually what they taught and believed about Jesus.
The 39 books of the OT consist of Hebrew writings, broadly: The Law of Moses, Books of History, The Major/Minor Prophets, and the Poetry and Wisdom books.
Jesus affirmed the OT as coming from the mouth of the Lord.
Paul viewed these as the very words of God.
So, if we have good reason to believe what the NT has to say about Jesus, then we can also be confident of the OT documents as well.
There are good reasons to trust the reliability of the NT documents.
If we can trust what they say, then we have good reason to trust what they say about Jesus.
If we can trust what they say about Jesus, then we have to deal with the implication of a man who claimed to be the Son of God.
Without a Doubt - Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions, Ken Samples of Reasons to Believe
Apologetics 101
A World of Difference by Ken Samples (website)
Testing Worldviews Reasons to Believe
Christian Case-Making
in a Modern World
Apologetics 101
Most people have a positive view of Jesus. Some view him as a good moral teacher, while others make claims of miracles, sinlessness, and actual deity. But was Jesus a mythological figure or did he actually live and walk among us about 2000 years ago? Was he just a crazy person with delusions of godhood? Was he a unique man of integrity and wisdom about whom tall tales are told after the fact? Wasn't he a rebel Jewish rabbi with dedicated disciples, who was often misunderstood but never claimed to be God? Or is it possible that he actually claimed to be God in human form?
Many people have objected to the claims that Christians make about the historical Jesus.
Jesus didn’t even exist; he is just a legend.
Jesus never claimed to be God and his disciples misunderstood what he taught.
Dead people stay dead. It was all an elaborate hoax made up to control people.
The Gospels were written long after the events described and not by any eyewitnesses.
The Bible was put together for political and doctrinal reasons, leaving out dissenting views.
In this post, we'll sketch out some of the evidence for who Jesus was, what he claimed, and how we can have confidence that it is true. We will make the case that the best explanation of the evidence is that Jesus Christ was the unique Son of God, who became a man, was crucified, and then resurrected from the dead.
There are good reasons to trust the reliability of the NT documents and what they say about Jesus. We have the following:
Manuscript evidence (far superior to others in terms of number, quality, and dating)
Non-Christian witnesses/authors wrote about Jesus and Christianity too
Early church writings show consistency in teaching with the New Testament (NT) writings
The Gospels appear to be reporting eyewitness testimony (and they explicitly make that claim)
Historical accuracy verified by discoveries in archeology, science, and other historical records
Motive - writers had little to gain and much to lose
Myth and legends require time to develop that is simply not an option here.
There are about 1000 times more ancient manuscripts than the average Greco-Roman author:
5800+ Greek manuscripts
10000+ Latin/other
million+ quotes from early church fathers
While some are just a verse or two, the average size of a NT manuscript is 450 pages!
The NT documents are the best attested documents of antiquity in terms of total number of manuscripts (10 times more than the runner-up, Homer).
The interval of time between the original authorship (the autographs) and the date of the earliest NT manuscript copies is extremely short.
Obviously the originals had to have been written and copies circulated before these dates.
The historic statements made about Jesus by ancient non-Christian authors fit well with the Gospel record. These include Tacitus (55-120 AD), Suetonius (120 AD), Josephus (37-97 AD), Pliny (112 AD), Jewish Talmud (2nd Century AD and on), ...
The authors of the four Gospels were either eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life themselves, or were closely associated with eyewitnesses.
The Gospel writers intended to convey, and were capable of conveying, historical and factual information about Jesus, and the historical content of their writings has been confirmed to a significant degree.
The apostles’ credibility as truth-tellers is greatly strengthened when one recognizes they had little to gain and almost everything to lose in proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The book, Cold Case Christianity, by J. Warner Wallace, is a great resource for making the case for the historicity of the Gospels and Christianity. This is a infographic from the book that shows some of the probable dates of various gospel writings in relation to the lifetime of Jesus. The conclusion is that the gospels and Paul's writings were all created within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses and apostles.
MYTH - The Gospels are just exaggerated stories and legends.
FACT - Because of the early emergence of the Gospels and the sources behind them, myths and legends did not have sufficient time to develop and be recorded in their accounts.
FACT - The theory that the Gospels are myth is only plausible if several generations existed over which mythology concerning Jesus could grow.
FACT - The apostles of Jesus recognized the difference between myth and factual eyewitness testimony, and they solemnly asserted that they were eyewitnesses of historical events.
FACT - If the Gospel writers had departed from historical fact (either by exaggeration or outright invention), hostile witnesses familiar with the events of Jesus’ life could have exposed them.
MYTH - The Gospel stories correspond in style and in content with other known mythical writings.
FACT - The arguments for rejecting the Gospels as history are circular. (E.g. anti-supernatural bias and presuppositions)
So how do we know that the contents of the original teachings have made their way to us? Like any good criminal case, there is a chain of custody that documents who is handling the evidence. Again, J. Warner Wallace shows that we have three different chains of custody from the apostles to many early church fathers to the council of Laodicea (350-363 AD). He traces these three: Peter, John, and Paul. It is clear that the church consistently taught (from the beginning) the deity of Jesus Christ, his miracles and teachings, and ultimately his death, burial, and resurrection.
Skeptics have sometimes claimed that the disciples put claims into the mouth of Jesus that he never intended, but is that actually true? What did Jesus consistently teach and was that in line with the understanding of his followers?
C.S. Lewis famously said that Jesus was either "Lord, Liar, or Lunatic". To put it another way, was Jesus
Man
Myth
Madman
Menace
Mystic
Martian
Messiah
How do these options stack up against each other? Here are some proposed explanations:
Jesus’ followers placed the Messianic claim in his mouth long after the fact. Thus Jesus’ claims to divinity are mythical.
Jesus was simply a “great man,” even a “great teacher,” but he was not God.
Jesus claimed to be the divine Messiah, but knew he was not. He was, therefore, an intentional deceiver and thus an evil menace.
Jesus thought he was the divine Messiah, but was not. He was a delusional psychotic, a madman.
Jesus claimed to be divine, but meant it in an Eastern mystical sense that “all human beings are divine.” He was therefore a mystical guru.
Jesus claimed to be God, but in actuality was a “Martian,” that is, an extraterrestrial.
Or maybe Jesus actually was the divine Messiah!
Again, “What’s the best explanation that fits the facts?"
To know Jesus is to know God (John 14:7)
To see Jesus is to see God (John 14:9)
To encounter Jesus is to encounter God (John 14:11)
To trust in Jesus is to trust in God (John 14:1)
To welcome Jesus is to welcome God (Mark 9:37)
To honor Jesus is to honor God (John 5:23)
To hate Jesus is to hate God (John 15:23)
To come to Jesus is to come to God (John 14:6)
To love Jesus is to love God (John 14:21)
To obey Jesus is to obey God (John 14:23)
“… making himself equal to God” (John 5:18)
Jesus often said “my Father”, not just “our Father”, implying a special relationship
Said he was the “I AM” (i.e. YHWH) (John 8:58-59)
“I and the Father are One” (John 10:30-33)
“Are you the Christ?” -- “I am”. They called it blasphemy (Mark 14:61-64) because he affirmed he was Israel’s Messiah, called himself by the divine title of “Son of Man”, and said he would return in judgment of them and be sitting at God’s right hand.
Forgive sins (Mark 2:5-7)
Received worship (Matt. 28:16-17)
Claimed power and authority over death and life (John 5:21)
Authority to judge humanity (John 5:22,27)
Prayers and requests in his name will be granted (John 14:13-14)
These included
both "Son of God" and "Son of Man"
Lord of the Sabbath: Jesus claimed authority over the Sabbath.
Light of the World: Jesus said, "When I am in the world, I am the Light of the World".
Bread of Life: Jesus said, "I am the bread of life: he who comes to me shall not hunger".
Way, Truth, and Life: Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me".
A key piece of evidence to consider is based on the Resurrection event. This is an extraordinary claim. If true, it sets Jesus and Christianity apart from all other religions. Scientifically, and based on our common experience, there is no way that a really, truly dead person can come back to life without divine intervention!
Can anyone really believe that a dead person actually came back to life?
All the accounts vary, so they can’t be believed. They are filled with contradictions.
Miracles can’t happen. It cannot be confirmed or tested.
People want to believe it’s true and irrationally hold to impossible tales.
The Shroud of Turin was shown to be a Middle Ages forgery by C-14 dating (or maybe not)
Validates Jesus’ Claims
Hope for our dead in Christ
Eternal future with imperishable bodies
Motivates us to share this good news
Disprove the resurrection and Christianity falls apart, being just another false religion
The apostle Paul said,
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
The Empty Tomb
The Post-crucifixion Appearances
The Transformation of the Apostles
The Conversion of Saul → Paul
Emergence of the Christian Church
A switch to Sunday as a day of Worship
Matthew 27:57-66; 28:1-15
Burial in rich man’s tomb, guarded, sealed tomb, linen shroud, earthquake, stolen body
Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene and other Mary, angel of the Lord, Jesus
Women saw Jesus put into tomb, so they knew where it was
Jews were worried that Jesus said he would rise after 3 days
Appeared to the Mary’s and the eleven disciples
Mark 15:42-47; 16:1-8
Burial in tomb, linen shroud, very large stone, spices, empty rock tomb, centurion verified Jesus was dead, women fled the tomb but not believed
Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses (they saw the burial), Mary mother of James, Salome, “young man” (angel)
Mark 16:9-20 (long ending – missing from earliest mss)
Mary Magdalene saw Jesus, but not believed
Appeared to 2 disciples as they walked in the country, but not believed
Jesus appeared to the eleven, gives Great Commission
Luke 23:50-56; 24:1-53
New stone tomb, linen shroud, prepared spices and ointments, stone rolled away, body gone
Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, the women (including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary mother of James), two “men” (angels), 2 disciples (including Cleopas) on road to Emmaus
Women saw the tomb and how Jesus’ body was laid in it. They went to prepare spices and ointments for later.
Disciples didn’t believe the women’s “idle tale” until he appeared to them (the eleven)
Peter saw the linen cloths by themselves. Jesus appeared to Simon Peter.
Jesus showed his hands and feet – he had flesh and bones.
John 19:38-42;20:1-31
Bound Jesus’ body in ~75 lbs of myrrh and aloes with linen cloths – according to Jewish custom, new garden tomb, stone rolled away, body gone, empty cloths, face cloth folded
Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, Peter and “the other disciple” (John), 2 angels
Peter and John saw the empty tomb and cloths
Jesus appears to Mary and the disciples (once w/o Thomas)
1 Corinthians 15:1-19
Christ died for our sins
Buried and raised the 3rd day
Jesus Appeared to
Cephas (Peter)
The Twelve
Over 500 at one time (you can still go ask some of them)
Saul/Paul
If the resurrection didn’t happen our belief is in vain and we should be pitied
"The evidence for the resurrection is better than for claimed miracles in any other religion. It's outstandingly different in quality and quantity." Antony Flew, Famous Skeptic who wrote There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind
What facts do virtually all NT scholars -- even the skeptical, non-Christian ones – consider to be historically reliable?
Jesus died by crucifixion.
Jesus’ tomb was empty after his burial.
Jesus’ disciples sincerely believed He rose from the dead and appeared to them.
Paul, the church persecutor, converted and began preaching about the risen Jesus.
James, the skeptic (and brother), converted and began preaching about the risen Jesus.
What is the best explanation for even this limited set of facts?
The resurrection is just a legend or myth created many years after the fact.
The disciples stole the body and created an elaborate hoax.
Christians just made it up to control people.
Jesus didn't even exist; he is just a legend.
The women went to the wrong tomb.
The Romans disposed of his body in a mass grave.
Jesus was only “mostly dead” and then revived later.
The disciples simply hallucinated that they saw him alive after His death.
Jesus was impersonated (by a twin?)
A common thread to all of these theories is a belief that a supernatural event could not have happened!
If Jesus’s body was still in the tomb, wouldn’t his followers pilgrimage to that location, as the Muslims do today?
Consider the disciples. They had very little to gain and much to lose by continuing to preach a risen Jesus in the face of intense persecution.
Conspiracies are very hard to maintain, especially with large numbers of people who know it to be a lie. Yet none of them cracked.
“… no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that indeed the resurrection story is true.” Lord Darling, former Chief Justice of England
“It was the evidence from science and history that prompted me to abandon my atheism and become a Christian.” Lee Strobel, Christian Apologist
The best explanation that fits all the facts is that Jesus was crucified, was buried, and then rose again!
If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – nothing else matters.”
Jaroslav Pelikan
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis
There are good reasons to trust the reliability of the NT documents.
If we can trust what they say, then we have good reason to trust what they say about Jesus.
If we can trust what they say about Jesus, then we have to deal with the implication of a man who claimed to be the Son of God.
If true, this is of utmost importance, since the Son of God has called us to follow him.
Given all of the evidence, the best explanation is that Jesus was a historical person who lived about 2000 years ago. He claimed to be God, and proved it by his resurrection.
The Case for Easter and The Case for Christ – Lee Strobel
The Resurrection of Jesus – William Lane Craig (http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus)
Please Convince Me (www.pleaseconvinceme.com),
Book Cold Case Christianity (coldcasechristianity.com) – J. Warner Wallace
Without a Doubt – Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions – Ken Samples (www.reasons.org)
