Who is this Jesus? And what is His “Gospel” message? [email protected]

Who is this Jesus?And what is His

“Gospel” message?

[email protected]

Review1) Is there a Creator God (without an

appeal that the Bible said so)? What about evidences from science?

2) Did that Creator God communicate to us? Is that communication in the Bible? How do you know?



Who is this Jesus?

Who is this Jesus?

Why?- Find an explanation that fit a worldview

(no miracle, no god, ancient people are ignorant, etc.)

- The Biblical Jesus interfere with a preferred lifestyle

Who is this Jesus?John 9 (follow the healing of the blind)

- “He is a prophet”- “This man is a sinner”- “If this man were not from God,

he could do nothing”Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

(John 9:35-31)

Jesus as Historical FactOnly two……not only“Who are you?”…but…“What are you?”

Only two……not only“Who are you?”…but…“What are you?”

Jesus as Historical Fact

People who impacted the human race

People who claimed to be God

People who impacted the human race People who claimed to be God

The magnitude of the claim requires the absolute

certainty about that claim!

The magnitude of the claim requires the absolute

certainty about that claim!

“If Jesus is NOT God, you better know beyond the shadow of the doubt about that fact”

Historical Evidence on Jesus• Early Greco-Roman sources

– Cornelius Tacitus (55-120), “Annals”Historian, formerly secretary to emperor

– Pliny the Younger (61-113), “Letters”Governor of Bithynia, writing to emperor Trajan

– Mara bar Serapion (73-160), “Letter to Son”Syrian Stoic philosopher

• Early Jewish sources– Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews”

• Participant on both sides of the Jewish War (66-73)• Agapius, “Universal History” (Condensation of

Josephus in Arabic, 10th century)– Babylonian Talmud, “Sanhedrin”

• References to “Ben Pantera” (A tradition from the period 70-200)

• Early Christian sources– New Testament writings– Other early Christians writings

Historical data on Jesus of Nazareth1. There was a man claimed to be God2. The people around Him claimed to see Him do what

seems to be miracle3. He convinced the people around Him to believe that

he is God.a. Note that these people are monotheistic Jews (not

pantheistic like Eastern, or polytheistic like Western Greco-Romans)

b. They are the people who were living, eating, sleeping with Him. (People who live with you would be the last one who believe your divinity!)

4. After he died, scores and hundreds people attested that they saw Him resurrected (cf. 1Cor.15)

5. The experience changed them so much, they transformed and went everywhere to spread the faith and even died for it!

How do you account for the fact?1. He is a Legend (we can’t know for sure, his

followers weaved tales about him)


followers weaved tales about him)•The Bible was not written as legend (nor realistic-prose-fiction)



•There’s not enough time lapse to fabricate a legend because all the eyewitnesses were still alive.



•There’s not enough time lapse to fabricate a legend because all the eyewitnesses were still alive.

•Would people die for a hoax?

Kenneth Scott LatouretteYale Historian

“Why among other cults and philosophies competing in the Greco-Roman world that Christianity succeeded and outstripped all others? Why did it succeed despite getting more severe opposition than any others? Why did succeed though it has no influential backers in high places but consisted of mainly the poor and slave? How did it succeed so completely that it forced the most powerful state in history to come to term with it and then outlive the very empire that sought to up root it? It is clear that at the very beginning of Christianity there must have occurred a vast release of energy – perhaps unequaled in history – without it the future course of Christianity is inexplicable:

It simply true!”


followers weaved tales about him)2. He is a Leader (Teacher, Good Man, Prophet, etc.)


followers weaved tales about him)2. He is a Leader (Teacher, Good Man, Prophet, etc.)

• Have you read His teaching?- “I and God are one, you see me you seen Him”- “No one come to God but by me!”- “He who loves me hates his father and mother”- “Lose your life for my sake”- “All authority have been given to me”


followers weaved tales about him)2. He is a Leader (Teacher, Good Man, Prophet, etc.)3. He is a Liar4. He is a Lunatic, (or worse)



• Have you read His teaching?



• Have you read His teaching?


followers weaved tales about him)2. He is a Leader (Teacher, Good Man, Prophet, etc.)3. He is a Liar4. He is a Lunatic, (or worse)5. He is who He says He is: the Lord God

Is your Jesus real? Is your Jesus real? Or was he a figment of your Or was he a figment of your

imagination?imagination?



What is His message?Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

(Mark 1:14-15)

What is His message?(A sample from Luke 15)

1Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3Then Jesus told them this parable…

11“There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living…

28“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him…

What is His message?(A sample from Luke 15)

• Jesus redefined God• Jesus redefined Sin• Jesus redefined Salvation

• Jesus redefined God

• Jesus redefined Sin

• Jesus redefined Sin–Lost in the badness

• Jesus redefined Sin–Lost in the badness–Lost in the goodness

28“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

• Jesus redefined Salvation–We need the initiation love

of the Father–We need to repent in

where we are–We need to see the cost

that God took to bring us home. Trust in Jesus.

…the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. – (John 3:14-18)

Appendix

(This is from Dr. Newman)

Search for the Historical Jesus

Robert C. NewmanBiblical Theological Seminary

Some Recent ExamplesThe Last Temptation of ChristJesus Christ SuperstarThe Passover PlotThe Sacred Mushroom & the CrossJesus the MagicianThe DaVinci Code

The Last Temptation of ChristNovel (1955) - Nikos KazantzakasFilm (1988) - Martin ScorsesePlot:

Makes crosses for RomansGathers followers as prophetLove or hate Romans?Gets Judas to betray himFantasies on cross re/ sex & marriageRejects temptation, dies

Jesus Christ SuperstarRock opera (1971) & film (73) by Andrew Lloyd-Weber & Tim RicePlot:

Jesus a superstar religious guru, his fame goes to his headBegins believing what others say about him, leading to crossBlames God, but dies anywayJudas speaks from grave, also blaming GodNo resurrection

The Passover PlotBook (1966) – SchonfieldHere Jesus has (almost) everything under control:

Learns to interpret prophecyDecides he is MessiahSets out to fulfill prophecyStages triumphal entryBlows Judas’ mindTimes events so only on cross brieflyBut speared by soldierRevived in tomb, sends message, dies

Sacred Mushroom & the CrossBook (1970) by John M. AllegroA super plot theory!

Jesus never existed.Neither did Christianity!Or Judaism!

All are code-words or covers for a super-secret sex-drug cult.When all in on secret die, movements continue as Christianity & Judaism.

Jesus the MagicianBook (1978) by Morton SmithJesus a gnostic magician

Possessed by a spiritClaimed to be deity

Develops self-hypnosisClaimed to fly & teach flyingVisited heaven, saw GodFreed by God from Law

The DaVinci CodeA murder mystery (2003), set in the presentYet the plot turns on the idea that Jesus was merely human, that he had children, and that the Holy Grail is Jesus’ royal blood-line.

Why all this variety?Are the Gospels really this unclear?No. But if you haven’t read them, you’re a sucker for every charlatan that comes along.But why all this variety?

Why all this variety?Many don’t like the biblical Jesus.

He interferes with their preferred lifestyle.Many won’t admit the occurrence of

miracles.Hume – would you believe a miracle

report?Harnack – ancient people ignorant of

natureBultmann – universe a closed system

So they reconstruct Jesus from hypothetical sources.

Historical Evidence on JesusEarly pagan sourcesEarly Jewish sourcesEarly Christian sources

Early Pagan SourcesCornelius Tacitus (55-120), Annals

Historian, formerly secretary to emperorPliny the Younger (61-113), Letters

Governor of Bithynia, writing to emperor Trajan

Mara bar Serapion (73-160), Letter to SonSyrian Stoic philosopher

Tacitus, Annals 15.44

But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of placating Heaven, could stifle scandal or dispel the belief that the fire had taken place by order. Therefore to scotch the rumor, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break our once more…

Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96

Pliny to the Emperor Trajan:

It is my custom to refer all my difficulties to you, Sir, for no one is better able to resolve my doubts and inform my ignorance. I have never been present at an examination of Christians… For the moment this is the line I have taken with all persons brought before me on the charge of being Christians. I have asked them in person if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them. If they persist, I order them to be led away for execution…


An anonymous pamphlet has been circulated which contains the names of a number of accused persons. Among these I considered that I should dismiss any who denied that they were or ever had been Christians, when they had repeated after me a formula of invocation to the gods and had made offerings of wine and incense to your statue, none of which things, I understand, any genuine Christian can be induced to do. Others, whose names were given me by an informer, first admitted the charge and then denied it; they said they had ceased to be Christians two or more years previously…


They also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately among themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god… This made me decide it was all the more necessary to extract the truth by torture from two slave-women, whom they call deaconesses. I found nothing but a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths. I have therefore postponed any further examination and hastened to consult you.

Mara bar Serapion, Letter

For what else have we to say, when wise men are forcibly dragged by the hands of tyrants, and their wisdom is taken captive by calumny, and they are oppressed in their intelligence without defense? For what advantage did the Athenians gain by their murder of Socrates…. Or the people of Samos by the burning of Pythagoras… Or the Jews by the death of their wise king, because from that time their kingdom was taken away?

Mara bar Serapion, Letter

For with justice did God make recompense to the wisdom of these three: for the Athenians died of famine; and the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea without remedy; and the Jews, desolate and driven from their own kingdom, are scattered through every country. Socrates is not dead, because of Plato; neither Pythagoras, because of the statue of Juno; nor the wise King, because of the laws which he promulgated.

Summary on Pagan SourcesJesus lived in Judea in the reign of Tiberius.A Messianic claim was ascribed to him.He apparently was a teacher.He was put to death by Pontius Pilate and/or

the Jews.His followers continued after his death.They worshiped Jesus as God, though they

would not worship the gods.They were willing to endure torture and

death rather than curse Jesus.

Early Jewish SourcesJosephus, Antiquities of the Jews

Participant on both sides of the Jewish War (66-73)

Agapius, Universal HistoryCondensation of Josephus in Arabic, 10th

centuryBabylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin

References to “Ben Pantera”A tradition from the period 70-200

Josephus, Antiquities 18.63-64

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, on hearing him accused by men of highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him.

Agapius, Universal History

Similarly Josephus the Hebrew…. At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. His conduct was good and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.

Babylonian Talmud and CelsusThe Babylonian Talmud and other

early Jewish literature occasionally refer to an opponent named “Ben Pantera.”

The pagan author Celsus (c150), in his anti-Christian work The True Account, says that Jewish sources claim Jesus is the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier Pantera and the Jewish girl Mary.

Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a

On the eve of Passover Yeshua was hanged. For forty days before the execution a herald went forth and cried, “He is going to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Anyone who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.” But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of Passover.

Summary on Jewish SourcesJesus lived in Judea during the rule of

Pontius Pilate.His birth was alleged to be unusual,

illegitimate.His character was controversial.He worked miracles, also controversial.He gathered followers, who considered him

the Messiah.He was condemned by Pilate, accused by

Jews.He was hanged/crucified on Passover eve.His resurrection was reported on the third

day.

Early Christian SourcesThe Gospels

MatthewMarkLukeJohn

The Letters of PaulAn early opponent of XyBecame a Xn when Jesus appeared to him

Paul, LettersJesus is God.He is also human, a descendant of David.He had brothers, including James.Jesus taught, and appointed apostles.He instituted the Lord’s Supper.He was killed by rulers.He rose from the dead on the third day.He has ascended to heaven.

ConclusionsThe earliest sources, though they disagree

in their estimation of Jesus, agree on several items which moderns often wish to reject:Jesus made a Messianic claim.Jesus worked miracles.Jesus was put to death by Roman-Jewish

collaboration.One can reject miracles only by discarding

the very evidence from antiquity that points most strongly in this direction.

ConclusionsIf miracles are not rejected in advance,

the Gospels look good by the methods used bySecular historiansLiberal New Testament scholars

Satan’s strategy?Keep people off balance by bringing out a

new Jesus every few years.Keep their attention away from the

historical records.

C.S. Lewis’ Trilemma

I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about [Jesus]: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.” This is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

What will you do with Jesus?Is he:

Liar?Lunatic?Lord of all?

There is no place for postmodernism here:

He either is, or isn’t, what he claimed to be.If he is, you must face him one day.

What will you do with Jesus?

The choice is yours.

Documents

Who is this Jesus? And what is His “Gospel” message? [email protected]