For almost two thousand years, one man has been at the forefront of scholarly conversation. There have been thousands of books written about him, T-shirts advertizing him, and bumper stickers proclaiming their belief in or against him. Christians around the globe have continued to claim that he is the risen Son of God, while other groups argue that he was a well-planned hoax at the very best. Whether he was joked about, hated, and mocked, or applauded, esteemed and honored; Jesus Christ has made a profound impact on society.
So how do we know what is truth and what is myth? How do we know who the Jesus of history actually was? “…This marginal Jew in a marginal province at the eastern end of the Roman Empire left no writings of his own (as Cicero did), no archaeological monuments or artifacts (as Augustus did), nothing that comes directly from him without mediators (Meier 25). Many people know of him from the stories in the Bible but aren’t really aware of all of the controversy surrounding him. In fact, no one man has had so many personalities attributed to him throughout history. According to Edward James in an article from Christianity Today, Jesus has been made out to be a “a feminist, liberationist”, “a Hellenistic sage”, “the wicked priest Qumran who eloped with Mary Magdalene and who survived crucifixion by drinking snake poison”, “a shaman-like charismatic”, “a peasant Jewish cynic”, and a “Magician” (Edwards 16). With all of these so-called Jesus’ lurking out there, it is no wonder we find it difficult to wade through the nonsense and find who Jesus actually was.
In 1985, a group called the Jesus Seminar was founded and has been highly publicized since. They developed a color-coded voting method that was used to depict which of Jesus’ many sayings were authentic (Edwards 15). The problem with this group is that they came into their study with preconceived notions about what was possible and what was not. They started their study with certain pillars of thought that basically put aside Jesus saying anything about the end of the world, anything that couldn’t be proven, and anything their scholars thought he didn’t actually say (Johnson). So, this could pretty much rule out anything. The following is an example of the kind of changes that the Jesus Seminar made on the New Testament text from Mark 2:3-12. This is the original text:
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this (NIV)!"
According to the Jesus Seminar’s “The Five Gospels”, Jesus did not say any of the quoted text at all. Here is what their text looked like (the bolded black being things that were not actually said):
“6 Some of the scholars were sitting there and silently wondering: 7 "Why does that fellow say such things? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins accept the one true God?" 8 And right away, because Jesus sensed in his spirit that they were raising questions like this among themselves, he says to them: “Why do you entertain questions about such things? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, pick up your mat and walk'? 10 But so you may realize that [on earth] the son of Adam has authority to forgive sins, he says to the paralytic, 11 "You there, get up, pick up your mat and go home!" 12 And he got up, picked his mat right up, and walked out as everyone looked on. So they all became ecstatic, extolled God, and exclaimed, “We’ve never seen the likes of this!"”
Without the bolded statements above, this passage can mean something entirely different than it was intended. The Jesus Seminar takes this out to make the passage mean that we ALL as “sons of Adam” are capable of healing people by our own power. In fact, they claim that Christ didn’t think of himself as equal to God at all (Funk 44). If this were the case, then Jesus was not committing blasphemy as was stated as the reason for his crucifixion and leaves us to question why he was crucified? This major hole in the Jesus Seminar’s argument leaves a lot to question as to their legitimacy.
One of the major reasons for Christ’s crucifixion was because of his claiming himself equal to God. Look at Matthew 26:63-68 in the New Testament:
“63 But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." 64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." 65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?" "He is worthy of death," they answered. 67 Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you (NIV)?"”
The Jews did not like Jesus claiming to be a deity, among other things, and killed him because of it. This was all done according to several prophesies in the Old Testament. A good example of one of these is Isaiah 53:3 where it is written, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not (NIV).
Fortunately, there are several sources outside the Bible that also confirm that Jesus lived, rose in popularity, and then subsequently died under Pontius Pilate. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus and Roman writers Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Lucian all had writings that verified Jesus’ authenticity. These writings also showed that people had already begun worshiping him all the way to Rome within twelve years after his death (Gundry 92). “In addition, historian Gary Habermas, author of The Historical Jesus, has detailed thirty-nine sources outside the Bible that provide further corroboration for more than one hundred facts about Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection (Geisler 90).” One reliable example of this comes from the Babylonian Talmud where it is written, “33…on the eve of the Passover Yeshu 34 was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy (Talmud 43a).” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, the definition of apostasy is the “renunciation of a religious faith or abandonment of a previous loyalty.” This shows that the Jews saw Jesus as someone who had real power and used it to turn people away from their faith. If Jesus was not doing radical things that caused certain Jews to change their ways, why would they put this in their religious texts? They hated Jesus and would not want to esteem him by saying he was capable of such things if he was not.
In the Bible, Jesus came down the hardest on the Jewish leaders because of their hypocrisy. In Matthew 12, the Pharisees are trying to accuse Jesus of driving out demons because of his affiliation with the “prince of demons”. Jesus responds with "25…Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand (NIV)?” He then goes on to denounce these Pharisees with:
“33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned (NIV)."
The Pharisees did not like that Jesus spent most of his time with “sinners” and tax collectors. They chastised him on several occasions for this. Jesus’ response was “…It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Mark 2:17 NIV)."
So, the Jewish authorities claim Jesus was an evil sorcerer, capable of turning their own away from their faith, but Jesus asks why would evil cast out evil? The Jesus Seminar claims Jesus did not intend for people to think of him as the Son of God and did not perform miracles, but then why was he killed? According to the New Testament, Jesus himself claimed he was capable of forgiving sins, healing people, and that he would be seated at the right hand of God coming on the clouds of heaven. Ultimately we each have to decide if the information available will make us side with the jokers, haters, and mockers; or if we want to take a step toward faith and believe that Jesus is to be applauded, esteemed and honored. Jesus said, “13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Matthew 8:13-14 NIV).” The choice is yours.
Work Cited
Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin, Folio 43a. Retrieved October 16, 2010, from http://www.come-and-hear.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_43.html
Edwards, James R. (1996). Who Do Scholars Say I Am? Christianity Today, 3/5/96, Vol. 40 Issue 3, p14
Funk, Robert W. (1993). The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say?, New York, New York: Harper Collins
Geisler, Normal, and Ravi Zacharias. Who Made God? And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2003.
Gundry, Robert H. (2003). A Survey of the New Testament, Fourth Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
Johnson, Luke Timothy. (1995). The Jesus Seminar's Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus. By: Christian Century, 00095281, 1/3/96, Vol. 113, Issue 1
NIV (1984). New International Version Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Retrieved from http://www.biblestudytools.com
Meier, John P. & Joel Peter Johnson. (1991). The Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus: The Roots of the Problem and the Person, Vol. 1, New York, New York: Doubleday.
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