“’For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he’ (Proverbs 23:7). If there is anything peculiar to the Protestant churches which emerged from the Reformation, it is this: All life must be grounded in truth. That which we believe is going to determine what we do, and the life we live will spring inevitably from the beliefs that we hold.” D. James Kennedy, Truths that Transform.

WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH A REAL PERSON?

Viterbo Italy, north of Rome, 2006. Atheist Luigi Cascioli sued Rev. Enrico Righi for allegedly deceiving people into thinking Jesus was an actual historical figure. The judge eventually threw the case out, but it leaves the question for those who do not know; Would the atheist have won in court? Could he have won? What is the evidence? What should we believe?

This article will touch on some of the evidence and also ask the question; “who is Jesus?”

AUTHORITY

“We have to take reality as it comes to us: there is no good jabbering about what it ought to be like or what we should have expected it to be like…. Do not be scared by the word authority. Believing things on authority only means believing them because have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I have not seen it myself. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so…. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Spanish Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things in life as some do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16

Question: Does anyone believe that Julius Caesar was a real person? Why? Well, we have documents that testify to his existence as a real historical figure. No one alive has actually seen him, and we can’t prove his existence in history via the scientific method. But there is historical and documentary evidence. Caesar’s own writings, the Gallic Wars testify that he was a real historical figure, and apparently, no one has any problem believing that. In fact, we believe it on authority.

This may be surprise some, but did you know there are at least 19 ancient, extra biblical references to Jesus Christ? Flavius Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, Lucian, etc. all refer to Jesus Christ. Were they referring to a myth? Not at all.

Consider the writings of the early Church. If the New Testament had been completely lost in some way, nearly the entire New Testament of the Bible can be reproduced by the writings of the early Church.

Of course, the best reference to Jesus is the New Testament of the Bible. Bible scholar F.F. Bruce said of the New Testament: “There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.” Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense.

To illustrate, let’s do a quick comparison of Caesar’s Gallic Wars and the New Testament.

Caesar wrote the Gallic Wars between 100 B.C. and 44 B.C. The earliest copy in existence dates to A.D. 900. That gives a time span of 1,000 years between authorship and the earliest known copy. There are ten (10) good copies.

The New Testament was written between A.D. 40 – A.D. 100. The earliest copy known to exist dates to A.D. 125. The time span from authorship to the earliest copy is 25 years. There are over twenty-four thousand (24,000) ancient manuscripts.

As to the content of the New Testament; One of the great authorities in the field of New Testament textual criticism is Sir Frederick Kenyon. He states:

“One word of warning already referred to must be emphasized in conclusion. No fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith rests on a disputed reading…. It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain: Especially is this the case with the New Testament. The number of manuscripts of the New Testament, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writings of the Church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other book in the world.”

“It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries of the authenticity of the Scriptures, [is] our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.” Sir Frederick G. Kenyon, in The Story of the Bible.

One witness that many don’t consider but should, is the largest organization that is or ever has existed on planet earth. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Currently at around 2 billion souls, and growing at more than 100,000 every day worldwide, the church certainly testifies to the existence and reality of Jesus. Many have testified with their blood, or at the consuming fire of the stake in a martyrs death, to their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Myths do not make martyrs. (Please do not confuse the word martyr with those who blow themselves to pieces to randomly kill as many others as possible. That isn’t martyrdom, it’s murder.)

HE SAID…

Now, who is Jesus? What does the New Testament have to say? More importantly, what did Jesus say of Himself? So, from the NKJ version of the Bible:

“Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” Matthew 9:2

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:38

“The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Matthew 11:5-6.

“All things have been delivered to Me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:27-28.

“Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61-62.

(Also see the reference to the “Son of Man” in Daniel 7:13-14.) “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.”

“Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” And He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.” Luke 22:69-70.

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (Who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her. ‘I who speak to you am He.’” John 4:25-26.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” John 5:24-29.

“I am the bread of life.” John 6:48.

“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things.” John 8:28. (In 8:24 and 8:28, the italics “He” in the text is not in the original Greek. The text says “I AM.” This of course is a reference to the I AM in Exodus 3:14 who sent Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8:58.

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John9:5.

“Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of God?’ He answered and said, ‘Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.’” John 9:35-37.

“I and My Father are one.” John 10:30.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26.

“You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.” John 13:13.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9

WHAT SHOULD WE THINK?

Ok. After reading the above verses written down by eyewitnesses, and accounts from eyewitnesses, what would we think of a man making such statements about himself? Absolutely preposterous! Can a man claim to be God and be believed? Only if he was speaking the truth. I defer to Professor Lewis….

C.S. Lewis wrote this in his book Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That 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. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

A SURPRISING TESTIMONY

“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 religions the distance of infinity…If you (to General Bertrand) do not perceive that Jesus Christ is God, very well; then I did wrong to make you a general.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

CONCLUSION

As to the suit brought by the atheist? There isn’t an historian worth the name that denies Jesus Christ is a historical figure. Any court examining the evidence would come to this conclusion. So that leaves us with who Jesus is. Consider the evidence, and you will discover a marvelous truth: Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is God incarnate.

As Lewis wrote, “You must make your choice.”

Steve Tanska, originally from Montana, is a retired U.S. Air Force veteran who now lives in Belle Fourche.

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