Body: | Is Jesus an actual or mythical Historical person?
History derives from a Greek word meaning "inquiry". History is a realm
open to rational investigation. It is distinguished from the area of myth,
fiction, and subjective experience. Jesus in history means that Jesus
lived, died, and rose again in a part of our world which can be located on
a map and in a time that can be placed on a calendar. The New Testament
insists on the fact that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
belong to the category of objective history and not to that of an inner
experience. Jesus in history is so important, that His coming divides
history into two periods: B.C. and A.D. The wonder and grandeur of Jesus of
Nazareth is that He is the Son, who came into the world made through Him,
not for His benefit, but for ours: "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and
dwelt among us" John 1:1,14. The New Testament speaks of the objective,
historical reality of our Lord's coming in this way: "That which was from
the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our
eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of
life . . . that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that
you also may have fellowship with us" I John 1:1-3.
What Jesus wrought in history is for us and, therefore, is announced to us,
as to men of the past. But whether we ever are aware of it or not, whether
it ever affects us or not, it is there in all its reality, like the shining
of the sun in the sky. Not only did Jesus live and die in history, but he
was also raised from the dead in history. He did not survive merely in the
memory of His disciples; nor did He live on simply in the triumph of His
cause. The evidence given in the New Testament that Christ was raised from
the dead is solid, historical facts: the empty tomb, the objective
appearance. "On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came unto
the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the
stone rolled away from the tomb. And they entered in, and found not the
body of the Lord Jesus" Luke 24:1-3.
"I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received; that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and
that he had been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; and
that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to over
five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now,
but some are fallen asleep . . . " I Corinthians 15:3-6.
The resurrection of Christ is never established merely by appeal to changed
lives or to an experience of the heart. "If Christ hath not been raised,
then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. If Christ hath not
been raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then they also
that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in
Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable." I Corinthians
15:14,17-19. Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan
University, and author of Pontius Pilate, in an article entitled
significantly "The Empty Tomb as History" says: "Open nearly any text in
ancient history of Western civilization used widely in colleges and
universities today, and you will find a generally sympathetic, if
compressed, version of Jesus' life, which ends with some variation of the
statement that he was crucified by Pontius Pilate and died as a result. No
ranking historian anywhere in the world shares the ultimate criticism
voiced by Geman philosopher Bruno Bauer in the last century, that Jesus was
a myth, that he never lived in fact. And no one denies that Jesus died from
crucifixion, since thousands of Roman victims died that way." (Christiani
oda XIX (1975), P.630.)
Professor Maier concludes the article by saying that it is time "to include
another datum after the otherwise objectively reported Crucifixion: 'On
Sunday morning following his Friday execution, 'the tomb in which Jesus of
Nazareth was buried stood empty" (P. 632).
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