Transcript What is The Passion?

What is The Passion?
Mark 15
The Controversy
• What actually happened?
• Why does it matter?
Is the life story of the founder of Christianity the product
of human sorrow, imagination, and hope? That a few
simple men should in one generation have invented so
powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic
and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would
be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in
the Gospel. - Historian Will Durant
Why Argue Over the Facts?
Faith without Fact is Fanaticism.
 The facts of Christ’s life are binding: He
claims to be God Almighty.
 Diane Saywer’s “Historians” say…

 Political
points of view: i.e. propaganda.
 Not eyewitnesses
 Not accurate historically.
 Written long after the fact
 Nobody has the original writings anyway.
“The Gospels are Propaganda,
Not History”
“Unless we take
literally and on faith
the New Testament
accounts written
many decades
“In this groundbreaking and controversial
afterward
(between
book,
Burton Mack brilliantly exposes how
70 and 100 A.D.),
the Gospels are fictional mythologies
we simply don't
created by different communities for various
know what
purposes
happened
almost and are only distantly related to
the actual
two millennia
ago.” historical Jesus.” – Back Cover
“The Gospels are Propaganda,
Not History”
All histories are selective.
 Belief itself does not mean the report is
inaccurate.

 Forother
example:
the
Holocost
“Many
signs
Jesus
also performed
in the
“An ideological bias can actually
create a greater
of the
disciples
which
are example,
notthe
written
presence
Eyewitness
are
some
of
best
concern
to tell
thereports
story straight.
For
it in
has
this
book;the
butJewish
these have
been of
written
sources.
often
been
historians
the that you
may believe that
Jesus
is the
the Son
holocaust…that
have
proved
theMessiah,
most accurate,
of God; because
and that they
believing
youtomay
have
lifecould
in to
precisely
wanted
do all
they
His name.”
ensure
that such horrors John
never20:30,31
occur again.” Blomberg.
Jesus and the Gospels. P. 185
“Not eyewitnesses”

All the internal evidence points to
eyewitness accounts.
 “This
is the disciple who bears witness of
these things, and wrote these things, and
we know his witness is true.” John 21:24
 “We did not follow cleverly devised tales
when we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we were eyewitnesses…” 2 Peter 1:16
“Not accurate historically”

What did they have to gain?
 Willing

to die for a known lie?
They claim to be histories.
Just as they were handed down to us by those who
Onfrom
thethe
contrary,
with a mind
beginningI began
were eyewitnesses
and unfavorable
servants of
word, itLuke
seemed
fitting
me as well,
having
to the
[Luke]…
was
notformerely
trustworthy,
but
investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to
a historian
of the highest order.”
write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent
William
Ramsay,so
St.that
Paul:
The
Traveler
Citizen, 19
Theophilus;
you
may
knowand
the Roman
exact truth
about the things you have been taught.
Luke 1:2-4 (NASB-U)
“Not accurate historically”
“Written long after the fact”

Written testimonies about the crucifixion
and resurrection within 15 years after
the fact.
 Galatians
(49ad), 1 Corinthians (52ad)
 “After that He appeared to more than five
hundred brethren at one time, most of
whom remain until now, but some have
fallen asleep;” 1 Cor. 15:6 (NASB-U)
“Written long after the fact”
Written testimonies about the crucifixion and
resurrection within 15 years after the fact.
 Even earlier creeds.

 “For
I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was
buried, and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures”
- 1 Cor. 15:3-4 (NASB-U)
“Written long after the fact”
Written testimonies about the crucifixion and
resurrection within 15 years after the fact.
 Even earlier creeds.
 Secular histories in the mid-1st Century.

 Suetonius reports that Jews were expelled from Rome
Flavius Josephus,
historian
for Emperor Vespasian:
in 49 AD court
because
of controversy
over Christ - Claudius,
“At this time
25:4 there was a wise man called Jesus. His conduct
was good and he was known to be virtuous. Many people
 Tacitus reports that Christ was executed under Pontius
from among the Jews and other nations became his
Pilate in the reign of Tiberius - Annals, 15:44
disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die.”
Josephus, Antiquities 18:63,64
“Nobody has the original writings
anyway.”
Lengthy citations dating from 90-120ad
 Extant manuscripts dating to 120 ad
 5,000+ extant manuscripts recovered!

Ryland Fragment
dating to 120ad,
found in Egypt.
“Nobody has the original writings
anyway.”
author/text
date written earliest copies
# of
copies
Caesar, Gallic
Wars
Livy, History of
Rome
100—44BC
900AD
10
59BC—17AD
900AD
19
Tacitus, Annals
100AD
1100AD
20
Pliny Secundus,
Natural History
61—113AD
850AD
7
New Testament
48—90AD
110AD John fragment
200AD whole books
250AD almost entire New
Testament
5366
The Gospels Are Reliable Histories
Written soon after the events.
2. Written by eye-witnesses.
3. Written with great concern for
accuracy.
4. We have abundant manuscript
evidence, and we know what the
That a few
simple men
should in
one generation
original
writings
looked
like. have invented so
1.
powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic and so
inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far
more incredible than any recorded in the Gospel. - Historian
Will Durant
The “Historians” Say:
“The interval between the dates of original
composition and the earliest extant evidence is
so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last
foundation for any doubt that the scriptures have
come down to us substantially as they were
written has now been removed. Both the
authenticity and general integrity of the books of
the New Testament may be regarded as finally
established.”
Frederic Kenyon, Bible and Archaeology, 288
What actually happened?
Arrest and initial interrogation by the
Jewish Sanhedrin
 Interview with Pilate
 Diverted to Herod
 Back to Pilate for final sentence

Who was responsible?
Who was responsible?

Roman responsibility
“Pilate said to Him, ‘You do not speak to me? Do
you not know that I have authority to release
you, and I have authority to crucify you?’” John
19:10

Why did Pilate condemn Jesus even though
he thought him innocent?
 Fear
of riots (Matthew 27:24)
 Fear of Caesar (John 19:12)
Who was responsible?

Jewish responsibility
 “Pilate
asked, ‘Do you want me to release the
King of the Jews?’… They answered, ‘Crucify
him.’ Mark 15:9,13
 Why did religious authorities want Jesus killed?
 blasphemy
(Luke 22:66-71)
Who was responsible?

Christ’s responsibility
 Emphasis
of the gospels
 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they do.” Luke 23:34
 “No one takes my life from Me, I lay it down
on My own initiative.” John 10:18
Why? The Big Question!
Consider the options?
“Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for
wisdom; but we teach Christ crucified,
to the Jews a stumbling block, and to
the Gentiles foolishness, but to those
who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ is the power of God and the
wisdom of God.” - 1 Corinthians 1:22-24
Possible Conclusions:
A tragic, meaningless death of a martyr
2. An intentional death of the world’s savior
1.
Consider the options?
“The idea of a crucified god really
did not make sense in the first
century,” says Ben Witherington, a scholar of the New
Testament, in Jennings' report.
“It's not a message you make
up if you're going to start a
religion in the first century A.D.“
From Jesus and Paul —The Word and the Witness
Consider the options?
Jennings: “Yet within a few
decades, against all odds,
the tiny Jesus movement
began to spread, and in
spite of ridicule, suspicion
and persecution it would
ultimately displace the
Caesars and remains the
dominant religion of the
West over 2000 years later.”
From Jesus and Paul —The Word and the Witness
Questions?
Comments?
Experiences?

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microphone to your seat
…or feel free to come up afterwards to talk
or pray with someone