Maximal Facts_What evidence hounds drool over

The minimal facts are well-established by the scholars, and are useful as a quick way to start considering which theory about Jesus is accurate. But if you have more time, there are many other interesting areas of evidence raising the Easter account to an unparalleled level of support, and leaving alternative claims buried.

We will consider just four other lines of evidence, starting with the external/hostile sources, then the top-rate New Testament (NT) evidence, creeds, and the apostle Paul.

Are there sources outside the NT to verify facts about Jesus? Non-Christian historical records, including even sources hostile to Christianity, affirm the accuracy of many details, including:

1) Jesus lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar.¹

2) He lived a wise and virtuous life. ²

3) He worked wonders. ³

4) He had a brother named James. ⁴

5) He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and on the eve of the Jewish Passover. ⁵

6) Darkness and an earthquake occurred when he died. ⁶

7) His disciples believed he rose from the dead, even to the point of being willing to suffer and die for their belief. ⁷

8) His disciples denied the Roman gods and worshipped Jesus as God. ⁸

9) His followers were persecuted. ⁹

10) Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome. ¹⁰

Provides the evidence historians and evidence evaluators drool over.

It is interesting how some people ignore the significance of the biblical accounts, and never look into them, all based on a faulty belief, such as the objection below.

Objection: You cannot trust the biblical writers, they are biased?

Answer 1: Using that type of logic, then you cannot trust the accounts of the Holocaust survivors, because they are biased. Do you really believe that?

Answer 2: Were the biblical writers biased? Yes. Everyone has a bias, but think further. The critics, who claim you can’t trust the  biblical writers because of bias, also have their own biases. Does this mean we cannot accept what the critics claim, because they have a bias? That is irrational, shallow thinking. Just follow the evidence where it leads.

Answer 3: Those biblical writers certainly had a bias, they were going against their culture, being consistently imprisoned, tortured, and many died harsh deaths because of their claims about Jesus – they had a tremendous bias to walk away from Jesus and claims of his divinity. Yet, these witnesses went through continual suffering, and some to their last agonizing breath knowing for a fact whether what they claimed about Jesus was true or not – making their claim something special.

These New Testament (NT) accounts are documents purporting to provide history and other productive information, and must be given proper analysis. The New Testament is:

• A collection of 27 books and letters, with accounts from the disciples, those closely tied to the disciples, and other direct eye-witnesses or researchers, like the physician Luke, and the apostle Paul.
• These are the right people (those at the right place, right time, and in the right position to know the facts for certain), and are …
• Making the right claims (they affirm the deity, death and resurrection of Jesus, which are the central facts of Christian belief, and give numerous facts able to be checked by those living in Jerusalem, and by the millions who came to the area for pilgrimages, who could check their facts), and …
• Provide the right verification (they actually say to the audience of the time, “You were there, you saw the miracles, and if you didn’t, ask those who did.”[1] These NT writers were then willing to put themselves in harms way, even die for what they knew for a fact was true, or not. Furthermore, history, archeology, and non-Christian sources affirm the details.)

Furthermore, these accounts include 8 E’s of evidence scholars long to see:

  Early & Eyewitness Tesimony      Embarrassing Testimony      Enemy Testimony

  Elaborate testimony (giving subtle details that tie in to other historical accounts like a jigsaw puzzle; far too elaborate to have been anything but accurate accounts)

  Excruciating testimony       Evidence that invalidates all alternative options

  External confirmation from other sources of evidence                                                                                A detailed explanation of each of the E’s is not given here, but will be given in a future detailed article.

[1] Acts 2:22-23, 32, Apostle Peter speaking: ²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know . . . ²³ this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed . . . ³² This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-7, Apostle Paul speaking: ³ “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also”

Creeds are brief, memorable statements of a person or group’s beliefs, which may even be given in a rhythm for easier memory. The NT wasn’t written right after Jesus’s death. What were those who wrote the NT accounts doing before they decided to write the accounts? Most people of that time could not read or write, it was an oral culture, meaning careful attention was given to pass information by word of mouth. So those who eventually wrote the books of the NT were spending their time speaking to others about what they saw. This is explained below in what has become a discovery so significant that, by itself, eliminates many faulty beliefs people have regarding Jesus.

Many forget there was no printing press and most were illiterate through early history. In such oral cultures, which developed skills and methods for transmitting information effectively without books, the best way to get the information out was creeds.

Good marketing agents today still understand this principle, which is why I have had McDonald’s: “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun,” stuck in my head for over 3 decades!

Scholars have realized that the creeds the disciples and early Christians used to instruct about Jesus, were woven throughout the NT writings. For example, when a phrase such as,  “I deliver to you that which I received,” is used, it meant that I am passing on a traditional belief statement (creed), which was passed on to me; it’s their version of a footnote. Then a brief statement is given with a cadence or rhythm. It would be like me teaching a class, and then saying:

But for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes

I got a laptop in my back pocket

My pen’ll go off when I half-cock it

Got a fat knot from that rap profit[1]

I have done that, by the way, and the students breaking out in laughter indicated they knew those four rhythmic lines did not originate with me. An example from the NT is found in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7, written by the apostle Paul. Based on the evidence, scholars have a good timeline of this creed (see Notes section at the end for references).

[1] Eminem, taken from “Rap God,” Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2013.

• Paul wrote 1 Corinthians around 55 AD.¹¹
• Paul taught the creed mentioned, while he was in Corinth in 51-52 AD.
• Paul first received the creed from Peter & James in Jerusalem in 5 AD, +3 years.
• The creed was set up, agreed upon by all the disciples, and began being used to teach about Jesus within a year or so of the crufixion.¹²

So we have the Best People . . .

• Paul, Peter, James and the other disciples interacted with Jesus after the cross, meaning they are eyewitnesses to the resurrection and other miraculous acts.
• They were willing to suffer and die for what they knew for fact was true, or not. How sure would you have to be to devote your life to a claim?
• Paul & James were actually skeptics, then abruptly changed after witnessing and interacting with Jesus after his death on the cross.

Saying the Right Things . . .

• The creed briefly gives the “Gospel” (good news) message: Jesus died to cover the separation (due to our sin) we have from God, and God rose Christ from the dead as verification of Jesus’ claims and God’s ability to fulfill his plan for us.
• Eyewitnesses are listed. Jesus appeared and gave convincing proofs of his claims for over a month, before ascending into Heaven, and at one time to over 500 brethren (usually this includes just the men present, so likely this one crowd was over 1500 people). The disciples and apostles, who then gave their lives to teaching God’s plan, were also counted as direct witnesses.
• This creed directly challenges the skeptics. Being first taught in the very place where Jesus was crucified and buried, where those wanting to end the belief were strongest, and where millions came annually for religious reasons, it is saying, “You know the witnesses, you know the tomb is empty, check for yourself.”  This would ruin the belief if it were not true. Instead so many came to believe al the way to reaching Rome and standing up to every pressure, so Christianity was outlawed in Rome just 19 years later.

The Options are Very Limited – the Noose around Alternative Beliefs Tightens

These people had real experiences, really believed it, and began claiming the central points right after the crucifixion happened. This understanding of the creeds that existed right after the crucifixion is relatively new to scholars, and has revolutionized the understanding of the issue. Some options are no longer reasonable.

• Saying you cannot trust the New Testament, doesn’t stand.

1. The creed originated before the NT
2. Scholars agree we have the creeds as they were originally given
3. The creed covers the Gospel message.

• Saying belief Jesus was divine & resurrected was made-up later – the Legend Theory – doesn’t stand – the belief in Jesus’s resurrection began right after the cross.
• Saying the followers of Jesus made the world’s greatest conspiracy – the Lie Theory –

doesn’t stand – scholars, including the critical ones, accept the disciples and apostles really believed the claim, and they suffered and died for what they knew.

So, if they were not lying, and it is not legend, what do you believe explains the creeds? And there is much more . . . But this summary will give just one more, and like the previous arguments presented, I am purposefully using only what even the critical scholars generally accept, and the apostle Paul fits with that, and makes the uniqueness and importance of Jesus unmistakable.

• Paul is a tough pill for the skeptics to swallow, but is accepted by the critical scholars because they recognize the evidence demonstrates: we have what Paul actually wrote, he was a serious intellectual, was careful, extremely ethical (honest), was at the right place, right time, knew and checked the other apostles and eyewitnesses (very thorough in research and thinking), claimed he himself was a direct eyewitness, and went through consistent and brutal persecution . . .
• Paul was a Pharisee who studied under the famous Jewish teacher Gamaliel, and was a skeptic. He was persecuting followers of Jesus because he did not accept the claims. He then directly interacted with the resurrected Jesus, experienced numerous miraculous events verifying the claims, and abruptly changed to accept Jesus, dedicating his life, through continual suffering and death, for Jesus. And remember, the critics accept Paul did not lie, claimed to be a direct eyewitness, claimed to be able to do miracles because of Jesus, and checked and verified his facts very carefully.
• Paul says what you do with Jesus determines your eternity. If Jesus is not who and what he claimed, then what I preach is useless and those who believe in Jesus are pitiful (1 Corinthians 15: 14-19). Pretty strong challenge as the witnesses, tomb, and other claimed events were checkable for his audience. On the other hand, if the claim is true, then this is of first importance and makes sense why Paul was willing to sacrifice his all.

Paul adds: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” As Dr. Gary Habermas has noted, Paul is not doing poetry here – he is trash-talking. Paul had been brutally oppressed at this point, due to his witnessing to others and spreading the good news Jesus brought, but he was declaring that even though pain and death can be used against us, because Jesus lives, we know Jesus’ message – that we can live too after life – is a done deal.

Paul is pointing to the scoreboard and declaring the game is over, no matter what he suffers now, it will be nothing compared to what God has prepared after this lifetime is done.

Bottom-line: Jesus stands out in history, and in his claim. Either that claim is accurate and needs to be dealt with by each of us, or it is inaccurate because a natural explanation is better. Whatever you believe about Jesus, WHY? WHAT EVIDENCE ARE YOU STANDING ON? How does your belief fit the Minimal Facts, or the other evidences presented above?

The next articles compares the likelihood of each of the different belief options concerning what happened with Jesus.