I’m going to title the message “Six Facts Before 36 AD.” I’m assuming a 30 AD date for Jesus’s crucifixion, which is by far the most popular date. Some good scholars think 33, so if it’s 33, the lecture simply becomes “Six Facts Before 39 AD.” The point is, it’s six years later, and I want to evidence these facts by doing good history.
When you try to do good history, there are a number of things you need. Let me give you three. Number one, whenever you can get eyewitness sources, that’s excellent. That’s a good starting point. Number two is early. And number three, multiple independent sources. Now you have to think the way the critics think, because Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is not a four count. A source that’s in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is a one count, because scholars, even evangelicals, think Matthew and Luke got it from Mark. That’s a one count. John’s independent. That’s two. If you find it in the Book of Acts, that’s three. If it’s an Epistle of Paul, like First Corinthians 15, that’s four. And the more sources, the better.
Early and eyewitness are not always the same thing. My favorite example is a man who was writing his memoirs of World War II from the 1940s. He lived them in the 40s, so he was an eyewitness. He wrote his memoirs in the 90s. Eyewitness, but not early. About 50 years later. That’s the same distance between Jesus and some of the Gospels. I didn’t say it was horrible. Mark’s pretty early, but Matthew, Luke, and John are not what people typically call early in historical terms. They’re early enough to count. So the three criteria are: early, eyewitness, and multiple attestation.
These six arguments I’m going to give you fulfill all three of those criteria. Early, eyewitness, and multiple independent sources for the reports.
So Jesus is crucified and died. Now, before the cross, he claims to be the Son of God in several ways. He claims to be the Son of God. He claims to be the Son of Man, which is his most popular name for himself, and if you go back and read Daniel 7, you’ll see how special the Son of Man is. And third, the sources that report this use Aramaic words. Abba is Aramaic, and an Aramaic word is there for a reason. It’s believed it was recorded because it was an actual word of Jesus. The Greek is not Jesus’ exact words, but Abba probably is. And on occasion when he casts out a demon or heals someone, the Aramaic is recorded because they were evidencing miracles.
The vast majority of New Testament critics today, even agnostic and atheist New Testament critics, will grant that Jesus was a healer and an exorcist. Why would they think he was an exorcist when they don’t believe in demons? They didn’t say they believe in demons. What they said was that the occasion in the Gospels is what really happened in history. The people thought they were demons. Jesus thought he was casting out a demon. The incident is historical. Marcus Borg, very far to the left, said: “Whatever your feeling about miracles is, it’s almost impossible from the historical data to say that Jesus was not a healer and an exorcist. We have plenty of data for that.” So it’s really good to hear the critics say that.
I’m going to go just six years. That’s early. I’m going to use eyewitness sources, which critics allow, and give you multiple sources. We’ll be doing history today.
First fact. I’m going to assume the crucifixion happened. Virtually nobody disputes it. I’m only talking about scholars today, not people who think Jesus never lived. Bart Ehrman, the atheist New Testament scholar, goes off on these people. They’re called mythicists. Bart Ehrman says: “There’s a lot of you guys today. There’s a reason none of you have teaching positions in accredited universities and seminaries, because you guys don’t know your stuff.” He literally says this for 20 pages. “Don’t think you have a foothold in New Testament thought. You don’t. You don’t even have a toehold.” I’m talking about people who are in state universities, who have accredited terminal degrees in specialized topics.
They’re not going to say Jesus is raised from the dead. But that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m not looking for them to fall on their knees and trust Christ. What I’m saying is they admit the data, and they think the data are true. They won’t make that final move. It’s like saying: so and so is a candidate for office, and I’m never going to vote for that person, but I think these three things they want to do are very worthwhile. Can you make that distinction? These people aren’t voting for Jesus, but they think the things happened in history.
So granting the crucifixion, here are the six facts I would use. They come in three sets of two.
The first set of two. When Jesus was raised, he appeared first to his disciples, and about the same time he also appeared to James, his brother. I would separate James from the twelve because we don’t have any reason to think James was there with the twelve when Jesus appeared. He didn’t hang around with those guys, and he didn’t think much of Jesus. In Mark 3, Mark 6, and John 7, they all agree that Jesus’s brothers did not believe in him. In Mark 3, the townspeople thought he was mentally ill, and the brothers seemed to agree, trying to get him out of sight as if he was embarrassing the family.
So Jesus appears to the twelve, and he appears to James about the same time. One thing to keep in mind: there are many more group appearances of Jesus than individual appearances. Some of you know that’s important because of hallucination theory. There are very few appearances to individuals. We have the appearance to Mary in John 20, one to Peter in Luke 24, and one to James in First Corinthians 15, which is the only place that records the appearance to James. This is James the brother of Jesus, not James the son of Zebedee.
How do we get that? Well, most of the appearances to the twelve are in groups. But you might say, you’re citing the Gospels, and that’s a Christian citing a Christian. That’s prejudice. Let me give you the testimony of Bart Ehrman. He says: “I don’t cite these things because they’re in the Bible and I take the Bible seriously. I don’t think the Gospels are reliable, but there are a lot of things in the Gospels that are reliable, and I’m using the reliable portions.”
Bart uses this example. He says: “If I’m doing a report on the Revolutionary War, do you think I’m going to cite George Washington if I find his diary, or interview Martha Washington? That’s how you do history. He was an American, he’s prejudiced, whatever. Sorry, that doesn’t cut it. He was as important as anybody in this event, and I’m going to use his testimony.” So Bart’s point is: I won’t use the Gospels indiscriminately, but I will use the portions that are best attested.
Jesus was crucified. Bart Ehrman says virtually nobody questions Jesus’s death by crucifixion. The Muslims do, but that’s in a source 600 years later. That’s not good history. Bart gives 15 independent sources, many of them not in the New Testament, for Jesus’ crucifixion within 100 years. In ancient history, that’s a decent period of time. Not 600, but 100, and he gives 15 sources. That’s why he says nobody questions it.
John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg, co-founders of the Jesus Seminar, the men that reject 90 percent of the red-letter words of Jesus, both admit the crucifixion. Crossan says: “I take it absolutely for granted that Jesus was crucified by the Romans under Pontius Pilate.” These men are pretty far to the left, and they’re going to admit the crucifixion. That’s an example of accepting something in the Gospels that has good historical backup.
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This article is based on a video transcript and does not necessarily reflect the official positions of SES. To watch the full video, click here: https://youtu.be/8pK5wXl3pxA
