the historicity of christ

THE HISTORICITY OF JESUS

Did Jesus Really Live on this Earth?

Bertrand Russell – atheist, (1872-1970)

“Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him.”

“Why I Am Not A Christian,” in McDowell’s The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, p. 120.

Napoleon on St. Helena

“I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religion the distance of infinity.” Scott, Walter, The Messiahship or Great Demonstration, p. 153

Thomas Paine

Though Paine believed that the Biblical statements about Jesus were mythological, he still believed that a historical person named Jesus lived:

“He [Jesus Christ] was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar styles of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years before; by Quakers since; and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any.” Loc.cit.

F. F. Bruce

“Some writers may toy with the fancy of a ‘Christ-myth,’ but they do not do so on the ground of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ is axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians who propagate the ‘Christ-myth’ theories.”

I. THE TESTIMONY OF THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLES

A. The Old Testament Prophets Pointed to Christ

1 Peter 1:10-12

10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 22:18

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Genesis 49:10

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Numbers 24:17

I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

Deuteronomy 18:18-19

18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Micah 5:2

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

B. There Were Credible Eye and Ear Witnesses of Him.

Luke 1:1-4

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

1 John 1:1-3

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Study These Words:

1. “We have heard” – a)kouvw – “to attend to (use the faculty of hearing), consider what is or has been said .” (Thayer.)

2. “We have seen with our eyes” – o(ravw - “to stare at…,i.e., (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally)….” (Thayer.)

Study These Words:

3. “We have looked upon” – qeavomai- to look closely at, i.e. (by implication) perceive (literally or figuratively); by extension to visit: (Strong’s.)

4. “Our hands have handled” – yhlafavw - “to feel , handle Luke 24:39” (Bagster.)

Why Should One Believe The Testimony of the Apostles?

1. The New Testament has over 5,500 Greek manuscripts, dating from the 4th century to the 15th century.

But How Do We Know the Records Have Been Faithfully Preserved?

1. The autographs were read and shared among the churches of the first century.

Col 4:16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

Faithfully Preserved?, cont.

1 Thess 5:27

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.

Rev 1:3

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.


Dr. William F. Albright

“We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after circa A.D. 80, two full generations before the date between 130 and 150 given by the more radical New Testament critics of today.”

McDowell and Wilson, He Walked Among Us, p. 154.


According to John A.T. Robinson’s Redating The New Testament (1976), all of the New Testament books were written between A.D. 40 and A.D. 70. He paid great attention to the historical evidence within the books themselves.


1. The New Testament has over 5,500 Greek manuscripts dating from the 4th century to the 15th century.2. Many ancient versions support what the Bible

says.3. Thousands of N.T. quotations of the “Church

Fathers.”


1. Between the autographs (original writings) and earliest surviving copies was 40-70 years.

2. Compare that to other secular works:

Homer’s Illiad, written circa 850 BC.

1.643 copies.2.500 years between

original and the copies.

Sophocles, a Greek tragedian, (496-406 BC.)

1.193 copies.2.1400 years between

original and the copies.

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, student of Plato, & teacher of Alexander the Great. (384-322 B.C.)

1. Forty-nine (49) copies.2. 1400 years between

original and copies.

Tacitus, a Roman historian; governor of Asia in A.D. 112.

1. 20 copies extant.2. 1000 years between


Euripides, a Greek tragedian, 484 B.C.- 406 B.C

1. Nine (9) copies extant.2. 1300 years between


Plato, Greek Philosopher, 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC).

1.Seven (7) copies extant.2.1200 years between


Preservation of Word Promised:

Psalm 12:6-7Matthew 24:35I Peter 1:23-25Psalm 119:89

II. Secular Historians

Cornelius TacitusA.D. 55-120

1. A Roman historian who lived through the reigns of over a half a dozen Roman emperors. Has been called the “greatest historian’ of ancient Rome.

2. An individual acknowledged among scholars for his moral ‘integrity and essential goodness.’

3. Wrote The Annals, covering the period from the death of Augustus (A.D. 14) to Nero (A.D.68).

4. Wrote Histories which cover from Nero’s death to Domitian (A.D. 96).

Cornelius Tacitus

1. Alludes to the death of Christ and the existence of Christians in Rome.

2. His misspelling of Christ – “Christus” was a common mistake among pagan writers.

Annals XV,44

But not all the relief that could come from man, not all the bounties that the prince could bestow, nor all the atonements which could be presented to the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to have ordered the conflagration, the fire of Rome. Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians,

Annals XV,44

who were hated for their enormities, Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also. (Annals XV, 44).

JosephusA.D. 37-100

3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles.

Josephus, cont.A.D. 37-100

He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVIII, Chap.III. 3

Lucian of Samosatac 115-c 200

1. A Greek satirist.2. Spoke scornfully of Christ and Christians,

never assuming or arguing that they were unreal.

3. Wrote The Death of Peregrine.

The Death of Peregrinus, the Philospher.

The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day – the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.… You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property.Lucian of Samosata

Suetonius

1. Another Roman historian, court official under emperor Hadrian, and annalist of the Imperial House, stated in Life of Claudius:

“As Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus (another spelling of Christus), he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome.” (See Acts 18:2). The year: A.D. 49.

Suetonius

“Punishment by Nero was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new mischievous superstition.”Lives of the Caesars, 26.2

Mohammed (A.D. 570-A.D. 632)

Though he had assumed the honor of delivering to mankind a new revelation, he had expressly recognized the authority of the Gospel accounts. He had written of John the Baptist and his father, Zacharias. He had written of Jesus Christ, his mother, Mary and had called him the Word of God. He had referred to his virgin birth, and the truth of the miracles and prophecies. He had spoken of his death and ascension.

III. Other Sources Support The Historical Person Christ

A. Our calendar for hundreds of years made Christ the focal point:1. B.C. - before Christ.2. A. D. - anno Domini [L] in the year of our Lord; in the Christian era.

B. Millions of people celebrate, though without authority, the birth of Christ.

Pilate and Tiberius Caesar were historical persons:

Limestone block discovered in 1961 with Pilate’s tribute to Tiberius [TIVIS PILATVS] on second line.

DID JESUS CHRIST LIVE ON THIS EARTH?

1. The genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are proof of Jesus’s having lived upon this earth. Who in the first century or since has successfully denied them?

2. The census at the time of the birth of Jesus has been validated by archaeological discoveries - Luke 2:1-3. (Free, Archaeology and the Bible, p. 284.)

3. The slaying of the male children, two years and under, by Herod the Great was characteristic of his cruelty.

DID JESUS CHRIST LIVE ON THIS EARTH?

4. John the Baptist testified of Jesus Christ. (John 1:6-8.)

5. The enemies of Christ and Christianity are proof of Jesus’ having walked among men. (Acts 4:16.)

6. The miracles attest to his having lived. (John 20:30-31; Acts 2:22.)

7. The Lord’s church is proof that Jesus lived. (Matt. 16:13-19; Acts 2.)

8. The Lord’s supper is proof of Jesus’ having been on this earth. (Matt. 26: 26-29.)

The Claims of Jesus Christ False or True

IF HIS CLAIMS BE FALSE:

Knowingly

Deliberate Misrepresentation

Liar

Unknowingly

Sincerely Deluded

Lunatic

IF HIS CLAIMS ARE TRUE:

ACCEPT REJECT

John 12:48

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

the historicity of christ

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