The Man, the Myth and the Melee

No person has been the subject of as many books, discussions and movies as Jesus Christ. Unfortunately opinions of who He is seem to vary as numerously, particularly after the onslaught of books like The DaVinci Code. We will take two approaches to clarifying the reality of Jesus Christ, the first from an apologetical stance and secondly from what the scriptures themselves have to say. It needs to be said that the Holy Bible can be trusted to accurately represent the facts it contains. At some future point, we will post an article on this topic but for now, consider these simple truths: by the time the gospels were written (60-75AD) there were still many eye witnesses that were on hand to refute the message and facts contained in them. Since it seems that there was no upheaval by these eyewitnesses, we can conclude that they affirmed what they read and heard. Sources such as Josephus (Jewish historian), Roman and other writers (from as far away as China) corroborate many of the facts from the gospels. Even the Talmud (collection of ancient rabbinic writings) recognized that Jesus did miracles.

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Part I - Evidence of the claims of Jesus

In his book 'Mere Christianity', C.S. Lewis says, "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 the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool 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."

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That leaves us with few options to deal with the claims He made other than to accept them as true and trustworthy. Here are some of the claims He made.

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Jesus claimed to live a sinless life

John 8:28-29 "So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.'"

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John 8:46-47 "Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

Jesus claimed to be the one and only way to God

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Matthew 11:27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

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John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."

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Jesus claimed to have authority to forgive sin

Luke 5:20-21 "When Jesus saw their faith, he said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven.' The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, 'Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'"

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Luke 7:48-49 "Then Jesus said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.' The other guests began to say among themselves, 'Who is this who even forgives sins?'"

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Jesus claimed to be One with God and the King of a heavenly kingdom

Luke 22:69 "But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."

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John 17:5 "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

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John 18:36-37 "Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.' 'You are a king, then!' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.'"

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Jesus claimed that He would return again to judge the world

Matthew 24:27-30 "So as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man... At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory."

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Matthew 25:31-32 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats."

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Mark 14:61-62 "Again the high priest asked him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' 'I am,' said Jesus. 'And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"

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Jesus claimed to be able to grant us everlasting life

John 6:40 "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

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John 6:47 "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."

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John 10:28-30 "I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

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John 11:25 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die...'"

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Jesus claimed that He would die and come back to life

John 10:17 "Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

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John 12:32-33 "'But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.' He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die."

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John 16:16 "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."

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Jesus claimed that He was the Messiah and accepted worship

Mark 14:61-62 "Again the high priest asked him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' 'I am,' said Jesus. 'And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"

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Luke 23:1-3 "Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, 'We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.' So Pilate asked Jesus, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' 'Yes, it is as you say,' Jesus replied."

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You can see now that Jesus said some pretty radical things. These statements are supported by history and sources outside of the bible so we cannot dismiss them. This puts us back again to the argument made at the beginning of this article...

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Jesus could only have been one of three things: a liar, a lunatic or Lord

If Jesus were a liar, He would not have died to support His claims especially the horribly tortuous type of death he submitted Himself to. His disciples gave up their lives as well to affirm these truths. Would they have suffered the persecution and deaths they did if they were supporting a lie? They wrote that they saw the risen Jesus as did hundreds of others. Again, so many witnesses mean that if the story were untrue, then many people still living would be around to argue.

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If Jesus were a lunatic, how did He always trump His opponents with clearly wise and inspirational arguments? How could He have become so influential over the whole world, particularly in the west. His teachings are fundamental to democracy and have inspired our social systems such as free hospitals, public education, shelters for the homeless and so on.

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Jesus... uniquely qualified

The bible contains dozens of prophecies about the coming messiah. Jesus fulfilled these prophecies. Looking at just the 48 major prophecies about Him, the odds of any one human being fulfilling them are 1:1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 yet Jesus did it. You can find some of these prophecies in Part II

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The smoking gun... resurrection

Resurrection from the dead is the ultimate proof that Jesus is the one and only Son of God. His crucifixion (the word comes from the latin phrase, "out of the cross) was prophesied about 300 years before the excruciating torture was even invented. The Romans were VERY good at killing and took it seriously. When the Roman soldiers wanted to take down the body of Jesus (the Jews did not want bodies hanging on a tree during the upcoming Sabbath), the soldiers wanted to make sure He was dead, so they pierced His side with a spear. A flow of water and blood (what results when blood separates after sitting for a while) came out of the wound. There is no question that Jesus died. There is also no question that He was buried. The tomb He was buried in was owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man from the region. He and his tomb were well known and Joseph was influential. If Jesus was not actually buried in his tomb, Joseph would have refuted the claim. Roman soldiers were placed at the tomb to guard against Jesus' disciples stealing the body and then claiming that He had risen (a worry of the Jewish leaders). As we've said, these soldiers took their job very seriously... they had to. To let a prisoner escape or to fall asleep at one's post meant execution, yet that is essentially what happened. The soldiers, when confronted by an angel on resurrection day (see Jesus, and Easter), fainted. When they came to the tomb was open and empty. The Jewish leaders bribed the soldiers to report that they had fallen asleep and the body was stolen and promised to use their influence to make sure they were NOT punished. The tactic was useless though, Jesus would appear to hundreds of people over the next 40 days before ascending back to heaven to secure a place for those who believe on Him and then return to judge the world.

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Be ready... If you do not already know Jesus as your saviour, see our Salvation page and find out how. If you are already a child of God, examine your life and make sure that Jesus is the centre, source and goal of it so that you can be prepared when He does return in the coming months or years. 

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For more "Who is Jesus?" see Part II