The Case For Christ

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would know that first, Jesus was a Jewish teacher; second, many people believed that he performed healings and exorcisms; third, some people believed he was the Messiah; fourth, he was rejected by the Jewish leaders; fifth, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius; sixth, despite this shameful death, his followers, who believed that he was still alive, spread beyond Palestine so that there were multitudes of them in Rome by A.D. 64; and seventh, all kinds of people from the cities and countryside-men and women, slave and free-worshiped him as God." This was indeed an impressive amount of independent corroboration. And not only can the contours of Jesus' life be reconstructed apart from the Bible, but there's even more that can be gleaned about him from material so old that it actually predates the gospels themselves. CORROBORATING EARLY DETAILS The apostle Paul never met Jesus prior to Jesus' death, but he said he did encounter the resurrected Christ and later consulted with some of the eyewitnesses to make sure he was preaching the same message they were. Because he began writing his New Testament letters years before the gospels were written down, they contain extremely early reports concerning Jesus-so early that nobody can make a credible claim that they had been seriously distorted by legendary development. "Luke Timothy Johnson, the scholar from Emory University, contends that Paul's letters represent 'valuable external verification' of the 'antiquity and ubiquity' of the traditions about Jesus," I said to Yamauchi. "Do you agree with him?" We had been talking for quite a while. Yamauchi stood briefly to stretch his legs before settling back down. "There's no question that Paul's writings are the earliest in the New Testament," he said, "and that they do make some very significant references to the life of Jesus." "Can you spell them out?" I asked. "Well, he refers to the fact that Jesus was a descendant of David, that he was the Messiah, that he was betrayed, that he was tried, crucified for our sins, and buried, and that he rose again on the third day and was seen by many people-including James, the brother of Jesus who hadn't believed in him prior to his crucifixion.
It's also interesting that Paul doesn't mention some of the things that are highly significant in the gospels-for instance, Jesus' parables and miracles-but he focuses on Jesus' atoning death and resurrection. Those, for Paul, were the most important things about Jesus-and indeed they transformed Paul from being a persecutor of Christians into becoming history's foremost Christian missionary, who was willing to go through all sorts of hardships and deprivation because of his faith. Paul also corroborates some important aspects of the character of Jesus-his humility, his obedience, his love for sinners, and so forth. He calls Christians to have the mind of Christ in the second chapter of Philippians. This is a famous passage in which Paul is probably quoting from an early Christian hymn about the emptying of Christ, who was equal to God yet took the form of a man, of a slave, and suffered the extreme penalty, the Crucifixion. So Paul's letters are an important witness to the deity of Christ-he calls Jesus 'the Son of God' and 'the image of God." I interrupted by saying, "The fact that Paul, who came from a monotheistic Jewish background, worshiped Jesus as God is extremely significant, isn't it?" "Yes," he said, "and it undermines a popular theory that the deity of Christ was later imported into Christianity by Gentile beliefs. It's just not so. Even Paul at this very early date was worshiping Jesus as God. I have to say that all this corroboration by Paul is of the utmost importance. And we have other early letters by the eyewitnesses James and Peter, too. James, for instance, has recollections of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount." TRULY RAISED FROM THE DEAD We also have volumes of writings by the "apostolic fathers," who were the earliest Christian writers after the New Testament. They authored the Epistle of Clement of Rome, the Epistles of Ignatius, the Epistle of Polycarp, the Epistle of Barnabas, and others. In many places these writings attest to the basic facts about Jesus, particularly his teachings, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his divine nature. "Which of these writings do you consider most significant?" I
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The Case For Christ By: Lee Strobel
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CONTENTS Introduction: Reopening th
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assistance; Chad Meister and Bob an
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"Check out the evidence yourself,"
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make mistakes. Looking through thos
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ooks, college professors, family me
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and yanked the trigger. The gun roa
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Blomberg's books include Jesus and
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granted that exception, the rest of
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that gave meaning to a period of hi
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crowd of journalists that once corn
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merely emphasizing that 'he was a f
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Holocaust. But it has been the Jewi
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was written before Paul was put to
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Page 38 and 39: 3. THE CHARACTER TEST This test loo
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Page 44 and 45: "In addition, we can learn through
Page 46 and 47: us the full story about Jesus? I lo
Page 48 and 49: But the most eye-popping cache of d
Page 50 and 51: Theological Seminary and both a mas
Page 52 and 53: "Quite so," he replied. "And this i
Page 54 and 55: Papyrus number two contains large p
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Page 66 and 67: 4: THE CORROBORATING EVIDENCE Is th
Page 68 and 69: the case against Harry Aleman? The
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Page 90 and 91: People thought Josephus was wrong,
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Page 94 and 95: Still, there were some matters I ne
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Page 102 and 103: For Further Evidence More Resources
Page 104 and 105: commentator Paul Harvey likes to sa
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Page 114 and 115: athed in its blood and guts. Then t
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Page 118 and 119: But your love goes beyond that. You
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had always done-to intervene and se
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Marshall, I. Howard. The Origins of
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146 THE CASE FOR CHRIST Shock; Can
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Granted, as we look back through hi
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feeling intoxicated, just as if the
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I laughed. "I told you it was an in
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it's quite another to embody the ch
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Now, Jesus claims to be God. But do
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saying, 'Who can forgive sins but G
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type of thing. That's getting Close
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"If you're going to quote Colossian
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eternal suffering for those who rej
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e done for all to see. And no one w
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followed by the 'new man.' Trouble
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himself and being born into humble
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validate the credentials of the aut
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I shook my head, saddened at the th
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throwing Eastern philosophy at them
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though he had done no violence, nor
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that God objectively spoke to my he
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would respond. 1. The Coincidence A
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issued a decree for the Jewish peop
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For Further Evidence More Resources
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stabbing of Jesus by the Roman sold
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specifically, to the Garden of Geth
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that day and went on to the cross-w
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tension on the muscles would be eas
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to the cross by ropes.' Won't you c
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A QUESTION FOR THE HEART Convincing
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McDowell, Josh. The Resurrection Fa
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gaze, Craig still looks the role of
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Bible in my lap and quickly reviewe
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the Jews would gather the bones of
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the disciples faking one, this woul
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contradiction says, 'This cannot be
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"Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, 'For
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Essentially, he said a major argume
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the empty tomb. In other words, the
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But I had heard the tapes of the de
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a car, drive to Lynchburg, and make
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"When I was young, I was reading a
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convinced," he insisted indignantly
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willing to be interviewed. Now, sto
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people in the gospels and Acts-some
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MARKS MISSING CONCLUSION When I fir
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central proclamation of the earlies
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Christians-how did they get talked
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death in 1995. And do you know what
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Ask Timothy McVeigh. He may have th
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eaten, imprisoned. And finally, mos
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Muhammad's conversion to Islam as b
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they could be in right standing wit
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together to celebrate his teachings
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and the amazing emergence and growt
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willing to lay down your life for a
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IS THERE CREDIBLE EVIDENCE FOR JESU
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DID JESUS-AND JESUS ALONE-MATCH THE
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evidence that Jesus is the unique S
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Evidence? By November 8, 1981, my l
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cross of Jesus to bridge that gulf.
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case for Christ is conclusive. The
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Boyd, Gregory A. Cynic Sage or Son
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Gruenler-Royce Gordon Cruenler, New
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O'Collins-Gerald O'Collins, The Eas
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NOTES INTRODUCTION: REOPENING THE I
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Press, 1996), 196-97. 10. Paul L. M
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1. Leland H. Gregory 111, "Fop Ten
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The Case For Christ

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