Jesus was a person of history. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John attest to
the reality of Jesus Christ. My mistake, apparently, is believing the Word of
God when it makes clear declarations of this reality. I have no problem with
searching for the historical Jesus. I find it quite fascinating. No less than
Josephus, Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger mention Jesus in their writings.
Coupled with the inspired writers we have proof enough in this reality. However,
for many it appears that finding the historical Jesus is an attempt to prove
Jesus a man of history and a myth of religion. It also appears that the Jesus
of history conveniently fits into the prism of men’s particular worldview. For
some Jesus is “enlightened sage, oriental Christ, rabbi…superstar, Mormon elder
brother, and black Moses.”[i]
If I read our text correctly Jesus does not come off like He is described in
the Bible at all in all the “Quests” mentioned. I have to admit I was taken
aback by the many attempts to prove Jesus just a man from professing Christians.
To me Jesus is man and the Messiah, Jesus and the Christ. He is exactly who the
Bible says He is. “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all
that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up,
after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by
many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).
The two are related in that both liberal and conservative, for example,
want to believe in a historical Jesus. All regardless of their theological
persuasion use much of the same source material, such as the Bible and secular
historical writings, etc. in order to reach vastly different conclusions.
Believing in the historical Jesus is not enough. One must believe in the
supernatural Christ of faith as well. “[Thomas] Jefferson believed in the existence of a
Supreme Being who was the creator and sustainer of the universe and the
ultimate ground of being, but this was not the triune deity of orthodox
Christianity. He also rejected the idea of the divinity of Christ”.[ii] The dividing lines are
clear enough. For some Jesus will always be an extraordinary man, but just a
man. For others Jesus is more than a man, he is the God man who came to a sin
cursed world to die for the sins of all mankind.
[i] Beals, Paul A. "The Historical Jesus." A
People for His Name: A Church Based Missions Strategy. Rev. ed. Pasadena,
CA: William Carey Library, 1995. 217. Print.
[ii] "Jefferson's Religious Beliefs." Thomas
Jeffersons Monticello Blog RSS. 5 Dec. 2014. Web.
<http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/jeffersons-religious-beliefs>.
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