The Historical Jesus

I had the opportunity to be a part of a very short conversation today about how do we know that we (Christians) are right, and that everyone else is wrong? What about Buddha? What about Islam? What about Hindi? There are 20 000 religions out there, how can we be sure we are right? How very post-modern. How can we be sure indeed. There are a number of different propositions we need to iron out before we can answer this question. We'll begin with history. There are a number of people that adhere to the notion that history cannot be known, only interpreted, and that interpretation is done solely by the 'winners'. The premise behind this argument is that nothing in history can really be known, and that all history is false to some degree, so we cannot trust it. There is a tendency to put history up against the surety of science. I would argue that while history cannot be done with the accuracy of practical science (provable, testable, repeatable experiments), we can be very sure about history if we are diligent in the research and evidence presented to us. If you ask a real historian whether or not they can be sure of the history that they proclaim as being true, they would give you the full monty of qualifications and testing that history must adhere to in order for the history to be considered accurate. It is not as simple as "because so-and-so said so!"

Jesus was undoubtedly a living, breathing person who lived approximately 2000 years ago in Palestine. There is the lunatic fringe that doubt this, but historical records overwhelmingly declare this reality. So the next question is "Who was He?" If we take the scriptures as historical accounts of Jesus, we have 4 biblical books describing the times and life of Christ. In fact, recently the book of Luke has been considered one of the best historical books written in antiquity by historians (even non-Christians) for its accuracy in historical details. Luke was very detailed in his descriptions and events, people and places in Palestine during the life of Jesus. We have writings from non-believers like Josephus, Tacitus and others that have mentioned Jesus as a real and living person. The mere fact that we have writings and history from the time of Jesus up to the present day proclaiming the truth claims of Jesus' life is more than ample evidence that He was a real person. In the scriptures, it is written that Jesus proclaimed Himself to be God, and did miracle after miracle to prove this. Finally, He was nailed to a cross, died, was buried in a tomb, and today that tomb sits empty. He was risen from the grave, and was seen by over 500 witnesses, many of whom died proclaiming this truth. If it were not true, why would they die over something they KNEW to be wrong? They would not.

There have been many books (some thick ones) that deal with the historicity of Christ, and cover vastly more than I could possibly do here. F.F. Bruce has written one I would recommend that you can find here.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a HUGE difference between Jesus and every other "holy" man that has come into creation. There is only One mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.

Questions or comments? Please leave a message here or send a private email to hillcountryreformed@gmail.com, or call us at 403-932-0519.