Do you really believe that?But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense [apologia] to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear [or “gentleness and respect”];having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. – 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NKJV)

Do you really believe that?Plan for the Seminar:

◦Session 1: Does God really exist?

◦Session 2: Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

◦Session 3: Q & A

Session 2:Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

“Those who wish to succeed must ask the right preliminary questions.”

– Aristotle, Metaphysics, II, (III), i.

Seven Important Questions That Need To Be Answered:1) Are miracles possible?2) Does the OT say anything about

Jesus? (The Argument from Prophecy)

3) Do we have the actual NT that was used by the early church?

4) Did the NT writers tell the truth?5) Who did the NT authors say that

Jesus was?6) Who did Jesus believe himself to be?7) How do we explain the church?

1) Are miracles possible?The belief in miracles does not deny the

existence of natural laws, it assumes them.

Natural laws describe what normally happens, but do not make things happen.

Natural laws do not decide the question of the existence of God, a supernatural realm, or the possibility of miracles.

Miracles would be very rare exceptions to the normal state of affairs.

1) Are miracles possible?Example:The laws of physics tell me that if I

drop a pumpkin out the window of a tall building, its speed will increase at a rate of 32 ft./sec.

I may thus estimate the speed of said pumpkin at the moment it splatters on the pavement below.

I, however, must provide the pumpkin, get the window open, and drop it.

1) Are miracles possible?Possible Irregularity:If I drop the pumpkin out the window and

someone 10 stories below me suddenly smashes it with a baseball bat on the way down, my calculations will be all wrong.

Consider:Neither pumpkins nor numbers make

things happen on their own.Neither pumpkins nor numbers can tell

me what irregularities (natural or supernatural) may eventually occur.

1) Are miracles possible?Conclusions:Laws of nature can never tell me

whether a miracle has or will ever occur.

Nor can my belief (or lack of belief) in the supernatural tell me whether a miracle has or will ever occur.

The answer is more easily found in our earlier question: “Does God exist?”

1) Are miracles possible?Conclusions:If God does not exist, then miracles clearly

seem far less likely and very much harder to explain.

If God exists, then miracles are impossible to rule out.

In order to rule them out, we would have to know something beyond our abilities; namely, what God would or would not do.

He may decide to intervene and cause an irregularity in the expected order of things, thus forcing me to redo my calculations.

1) Are miracles possible?“But if we admit God, must we admit Miracle? Indeed, indeed, you have no security against it. That is the bargain. Theology says to you in effect, ‘Admit God and with Him the risk of a few miracles, and I in return will ratify your faith in uniformity as regards the overwhelming majority of events.’”

(C.S. Lewis, Miracles, HarperCollins e-book, p.106)

2) Does the OT say anything about Jesus? (The Argument from Prophecy)

Fact 1: The Old Testament records hundreds of prophecies regarding the Messiah and the Messianic Age.

Fact 2: The ancient Jewish people were awaiting a coming Messiah and a Messianic Age.

Fact 3: Christians base their faith on the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah.

2) Does the OT say anything about Jesus? (The Argument from Prophecy)

Messianic Jewish Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim (1825–1889) calculated that there were 558 rabbinic writings that referenced 456 separate Old Testament passages referring to the Messiah and the Messianic Age.

2) Does the OT say anything about Jesus? (The Argument from Prophecy)

In The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, J. Barton Payne (1922–1979) pointed out 574 Old Testament verses that were direct messianic predictions, including:◦25 in Isaiah◦24 in the Psalms◦20 in Zechariah

2) Does the OT say anything about Jesus? (The Argument from Prophecy)

In Exploring the Scriptures, John Phillips said:◦Of the 845 quotations from the OT in

the NT, 333 refer to Christ.◦There are some 25 prophecies

concerning the betrayal, trial, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus uttered by various prophets over a period of some 500 years. These were literally fulfilled.

2) Does the OT say anything about Jesus? (The Argument from Prophecy)

He also points out that 109 OT predictions were literally fulfilled at Christ’s first coming.

What are the odds of all of these prophecies being literally fulfilled in the life of one man – especially when they include details of his birth, burial and death as well as his life and ministry?

3) Do we have the actual NT that was used by the early church?Simply put, the answer to this

question is a confident YES!Writing in mid 2nd Century Rome,

Justin says: “On the day called Sunday all

who live in cities or in the country gather to the one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits.” (First Apology 67)

3) Do we have the actual NT that was used by the early church?The “memoirs of the apostles” would now be in

our present NT, all of which was written by about 60 years before Justin wrote those words.

This habit of reading the Scriptures publicly every week generated numerous copies of manuscripts and several early translations from Greek into Coptic, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, etc.

The result is a profusion of manuscript evidence – far more than for any other ancient text – from which to reconstruct the original NT.

3) Do we have the actual NT that was used by the early church?“Scholars of almost every theological stripe attest to the profound care with which the NT books were copied in the Greek language, and later translated and preserved in Syriac, Coptic, Latin and a variety of other ancient European and Middle Eastern languages. In the original Greek alone, over 5,000 manuscripts and manuscript fragments of portions of the NT have been preserved from the early centuries of Christianity....

3) Do we have the actual NT that was used by the early church?“[O]verall, 97-99% of the NT can be reconstructed beyond any reasonable doubt, and no Christian doctrine is founded solely or even primarily on textually disputed passages.”

◦(Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament, in Craig, Reasonable Faith, pp. 194-95)

4) Did the NT writers tell the truth?In their book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Geisler & Turek include the following reasons for us to conclude that the NT writers told the truth:1. They include embarrassing details about

themselves – for example, their slowness to understand and petty rivalries.

2. They include embarrassing things about Jesus – for example that his own family members did not believe in Him and even thought He was crazy.

4) Did the NT writers tell the truth?3. They include demanding sayings of Jesus

– like “Be perfect … as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)

4. They distinguish Jesus’ words from their own. (See Acts 20:35, 1 Cor. 7:10-12)

5. They include events about the resurrection that it would have been pointless to invent.

a) The burial by Joseph of Arimathea, a rich member of the Sanhedrin.

b) Women were the first to see the empty tomb.

4) Did the NT writers tell the truth?6. They include more than 30 historically

confirmed people in their writings while writing at a time close to the events, for example, Pilate, Caiaphas, Festus, Felix and the Herods.

7. They include divergent details: One angel or two at the tomb? One blind man or two that was healed? This appears too natural to concur with lies.

4) Did the NT writers tell the truth?8. They challenge their readers to check out

verifiable facts – even facts about miracles. (The resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 and Paul’s own miracles in 2 Cor. 12:12)

9. They describe miracles in simple narrative, without the embellishment normal in ancient mythology or fiction.

10.The NT writers abandoned their long-held sacred beliefs and practices, adopted new ones, and did not deny their testimony under persecution or threat of death.

5) Who did the NT authors say that Jesus was?NT writers affirm the deity of Christ.1. John 1:1-2 -- the preexistence and deity of the

Logos (Jesus Christ) is affirmed.2. Paul speaks of "Christ, who is God over all,

forever praised!" (Romans 9:5).3. Philippians 2:6-11 teaches the preexistence of

Christ and his equality with God the Father.4. Colossians 1:15-17, 19 and 2:9 teach the

preexistence of Christ, the deity of Jesus Christ, and Jesus' authority over all things. All of the "fullness" [pleroma] of God is said to be present in Jesus (1:19; 2:9).

5) Who did the NT authors say that Jesus was?NT writers affirm the deity of Christ.5. Paul refers to Jesus as "our great God and

Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).6. Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus as the "radiance

of God's glory and the exact representation of His [God's] being. 1:2 says that the universe was made through Jesus. In 1:8 the Son (Jesus) is addressed as God (see also Psalm 45:6).

7. 2 Peter 1:1 speaks of Jesus as "our God and Savior Jesus Christ".

8. I John 5:20 speaks of Jesus as "the true God and eternal life".

6) Who did Jesus believe himself to be?1. Jesus claimed to have the authority

to do things that only God can do.a) Authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5-11;

Luke 7:47-50).b) Authority to judge the world (Mt 19:28;

25:31-46).c) Power and authority to give life, even to

those who have died (John 5:21, 25- 29; 11:25-26; cf Dt. 32:39).

d) Authority over the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28; cf Ex. 20:8-11).

6) Who did Jesus believe himself to be?2. Jesus claims a special relationship with

Yahweh, the God of the OT.a) "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30-33).b) "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the

Father" (John 14:7-9).c) Jesus claimed "the Father is in Me and I in

the Father" (John 10:38; 14:11).d) Jesus identifies Himself with the "I AM" of

Ex 3 (John 8:58).e) Jesus identifies Himself with the

eschatological power and majesty of God (Mark 14:61-62; cf Dan. 7:13 & Ps. 110:1)

6) Who did Jesus believe himself to be?3. Jesus demonstrates that he has power

over nature, death, and Satan.a) Jesus is able to control the forces of nature (Mt

8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; 6:45- 52; John 2:1-11).b) Jesus heals many who are sick (Mt 8:1-17;

Mark 5:25-34; 7:31-37; 8:22-25; John 4:43-54).

c) Jesus raises the dead (Mark 5:35-43; Luke 7:11-17; John 11:38-44).

d) Jesus casts out demons and has authority over Satan. (Matthew 8:28-34; 12:22-29; 17:14-18; Mark 1:21-28; Luke 10:17-18).

6) Who did Jesus believe himself to be?4. Jesus accepts the worship of other

people (Matthew 14:33; 28:9, 17; Mark 5:6; John 9:38; cf. Exodus 20:1-5; 20:28).

(References for questions 5 & 6 are from notes by Dr. Harold Netland, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL)

7) How do we explain the church?Pinchas Lapide (1922–1997 ) was an

Orthodox Jewish theologian, historian and an Israeli diplomat who examined the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

While not believing in Jesus as the Messiah, he concluded that the resurrection of Jesus must have happened. He thought it was the only way to explain all that happened later.

7) How do we explain the church?He concluded that the church

was “born out of an act of the will of God, which all the New Testament authors call the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.”

Following is a sample of what he said.

7) How do we explain the church?“When this scared, frightened band of the apostles which was just about to throw away everything in order to flee in despair to Galilee; when these peasants, shepherds, and fishermen, who betrayed and denied their master and then failed him miserably, suddenly could be changed overnight into a confident mission society, convinced of salvation and able to work with much more success after Easter than before Easter, …

7) How do we explain the church?“… then no vision or hallucination is sufficient to explain such a revolutionary transformation. For a sect or school or an order, perhaps a single vision would have been sufficient – but not for a world religion which was able to conquer the Occident thanks to the Easter faith.”

(Pinchas Lapide, The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective, trans. Wilhelm C. Linss, 1983)

7) How do we explain the church?Rev. H.D.A. Major, principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford, once put it like this: “Had the crucifixion of Jesus ended His disciples’ experience of Him, it is hard to see how the Christian church could have come into existence. That church was founded on faith in the Messiahship of Jesus. A crucified messiah is no messiah at all. He was one rejected by Judaism and accursed by God. It was the Resurrection of Jesus, as St. Paul declares in Romans 1:4, which proclaimed Him to be the Son of God with power.”

End of Session 2:

Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

(Please turn in your questions for Q & A.)