The New Testament: A Ten Minute Overview

The New Testament is the consummation of the Old Testament. It is a continuation of God’s grand story of redemption for His people. The story of the OT moves from Creation to Fall to Promise and ends with the promise unfulfilled.  At the end of the Old Testament we are left waiting on the fulfillment of God’s promise to redeem His people from their sin.

It is here that we encounter the story of God’s plan to enter bodily into the story through His Son Jesus, the Messiah, and through His life, death, and resurrection redeems His people. In the New Testament we see the staggering claim God’s people are not only the people of Israel, but includes every other race as well, the Gentiles.[1] This is good news for all sinners, both Jew and Gentile alike.

While the OT can be classified in large part as historical narrative, the NT narrative is complex. The following framework is a helpful map to understanding the progression of the NT as a literary whole.

The movement of the NT surrounds God redeeming His people from sin through the Messiah. It is the story of a covenant, a promise from God to His people that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Therefore we can divide the NT into three narrative portions: 1) Messianic Fulfillment primarily in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, ministry, and redeeming death, 2) Messianic News recorded for us in the creation of the early church in Acts, and 3) Messianic Implications for mankind in the epistles. If we view the NT through this lens we can easily see the storyline of the text surrounding the Messiah, moving from the fulfillment of God’s promise, to the sharing of this good news, to the radial implications the Messiah brings to all human life.

What Composes the New Testament?

The New Testament was written between AD 40-96, the earliest being the Epistle of James attributed between AD 40-45[2] and the latest being John’s Revelation attributed between AD 95-96.[3] It includes 27 books covering two different genres:

History: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.

Letters: Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Revelation.[4]

The New Testament was written primarily in common Greek (Koine Greek), widely understood in Palestine at the time. A few portions were also written in Aramaic.[5]

The New Testament is of infinite value to the reader. Why? Because of the life-altering message of good news it shares for both Jews and Gentiles. It holds staggering implications for every area of life including most importantly our eternal purpose, either glorifying God in heaven or glorifying self in Hell. Let’s look now at the conclusion of the OT, the staggering story of grace in the NT.

1) The Messianic Fulfillment

The New Testament is a continuation of the Old, an awesome conclusion to the cliffhanger that separates the Old and New Testaments, God’s promise of salvation. The NT fulfills the glaring problem of sin and our separation from God by revealing to us the completion of His covenant with David:

“Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house…I will raise up your offspring after you…I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son” (2 Samuel 7:11-14).

But the promise throughout the OT of a Savior for God’s people is not simply this promise to David. The promise of a Messiah is fills God’s revelation in the OT:

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6) 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, and on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)[6]

The OT paints a robust picture of the salvation of God’s people through a Messiah. As the completion of this promise, the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life emphatically paints the picture that Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah—the “Son of David.” Through His life and death Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David of an eternal King who redeems His people.

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33)[7]

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old…to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.” (Luke 1:68-70, 72)

How did the Gospels record this Messianic fulfillment for us? Let’s look at the biographical sketch that the Gospels give us of Jesus as the Messiah fulfilled.

The Life of Jesus in the Gospels

The story of Jesus of Nazareth begins prior to His birth, which most likely would have been between December of 5 BC and January of 4 BC. [8] Before His birth, an angel of the Lord brings good news to Mary that she will give birth to the eternal King, Son of David, Son of God, (Luke 1:32-33). This is the first emphasis of Jesus as the Messiah in Luke. In the City of David, Bethlehem, Mary gives birth to Jesus (Luke 2:1-7) and He grows up nearby in Nazareth.

The earliest account of his life occurs as a boy teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem where His wisdom was already on display to the people (Luke 2:49).

Jesus’ public ministry then began with his baptism. Jesus had now left his work as a carpenter to devote himself to the public ministry of good news for all the people. After His baptism, the declaration of His public ministry, Jesus entered the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. No temptation swayed Him. He did not sin. Nothing would hinder Jesus from His mission to “seek and to save the lost” by living a perfectly righteous life to be substituted one day for the sin of others, thus fulfilling His purpose as the Messiah.

Jesus spent three years ministering all over Israel, Judea, Galilee, Samaria. He raised up twelve disciples whom He called to the task of being His witnesses to the ends of the earth. He performed miracles, He healed the sick, He spent early mornings in prayer, He preached repentance and grace, He glorified His father, He was tempted in every way we are but never sinned, He spoke with authority, He was the Son of David, the Son of God.

Jesus’ life and ministry all moved to one place, the Roman torture device: the cross. His mission was not simply to teach and live a righteous life; it was intended all along to take Him to His death so that by His death many who by their sins have been condemned to death might have life. Without the cross there is no salvation. Without the cross Jesus is not the Messiah, the savior of God’s people, “For it was by his death, and not by his resurrection, that our sins were dealt with.”[9]  Therefore, “According to the generally accepted chronology, Jesus died late Friday afternoon, April 7, A.D. 30.[10] Three days later, on a Sunday morning (why Christians now worship on Sunday rather than the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday), the tomb was empty. Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to hundreds in His risen bodily form. Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, he ascended into heaven leaving behind disciples and witnesses to carry on the ministry of the Gospel, the declaration of the good news of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

Each of the Gospels vary in their written style and audience. Matthew, Mark, and Luke comprise the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Luke believed to have been written with some uniform knowledge of Mark. Scholars attribute their uniformity in events to this possible theory. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector who wrote the account of the Messiah for a Jewish audience. Mark was a Jew whose primary audience was Gentiles. Luke was a doctor whose primary audience was Gentiles as well. Roughly 90% of John’s material is unique to John. He wrote primarily to Gentiles to show that Jesus was God, a call for them to have faith in Him for their salvation.

2) The Messianic News

The Gospels recorded the events of the Messiah’s life, death, and resurrection, thereby emphatically claiming Jesus to be the messianic fulfillment as the Son of God. Luke, the author of the Gospel in his name, also wrote another work detailing the spread of the news of Jesus as the Messiah in the early church: the Acts of the Apostles. In the Gospels Jesus’ fulfillment is dropped like a rock into a still lake, it records the splash. In Acts we see the ripple effect of that splash recorded for us in vivid detail. Where Jesus is witnessed in the Gospels, it is here in Acts that the news spreads and the church comes into being.

In Acts the good news spreads, over the 30 years following Jesus’ ascension, with such power that it brings salvation to many, creating churches all over the Mediterranean, from Jerusalem to Rome. In the opening chapter Jesus ascends into heaven where He now intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand (Acts 1:6-11). Quickly after this the promised Helper, the Holy Spirit is given at Pentecost.

Acts can be divided from the lens of a flyover generally between the witness of two apostles, Peter and Paul. Peter acts as a witness to the Jewish people, preaching at Pentecost, in the Temple square, before the Jewish council, and in many other locations. His emphasis is on Jesus as the good news of Messianic fulfillment for the Jews, claiming exclusive salvation through Jesus: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

It is here in the beginning of Acts that we also witness the first martyr for the Gospel. Stephen was arrested for performing great signs and wonders in the name of Christ by some who “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). He was brought before the Sanhedrin where he preached the fulfillment of the promised Messiah in Jesus had come. They were enraged, cast him out of the city, and stoned him in the midst of a man named Saul.

This man Saul was a devout Jew with a hunger for persecuting Christians. He ravaged “the church…entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Yet in this vilest of opposition to Christ, God made the greatest evangelist. Jesus met him on the Damascus road and blinded him, telling him to travel to Ananias who would lay hands on him enabling him to see again. Ananias questions the evil Saul has done and the Lord reveals Saul is to “carry [His] name before the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15a). Saul regains his sight, by faith changes his name to Paul, and is catapulted by the will of God to share the Messianic news to the Gentiles, where Peter was sent to the Jews.

Paul travels with Barnabas on his first missionary journey to share this news to the Gentiles. The first journey takes them through the island of Cyprus, to Perga, and Galatia. Paul returns then to Jerusalem over an issue that had arisen, the question of the Gentiles obedience to the Law. Some had said that you must be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15:1). Paul took the matter to the Jerusalem council. Here James, the brother of Jesus, proposes a solution. Circumcision is not required for salvation (Acts 15:19). The council encourages Paul in his mission to the Gentiles.

Paul then travels with Timothy on his second missionary journey to share the Messianic news. Paul travels again through Galatia starting again in Antioch. He makes his way through Asia, to Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth and back to Jerusalem by way of Ephesus. The church is being born in the midst of these travels as the good news of Jesus is irresistible to those who are given the gift of faith.

Paul’s third missionary journey takes place in nearly the same places as his second, revisiting Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. However upon returning to Jerusalem he is arrested for preaching and having brought Gentiles into the temple. In his arrest he appeals to Caesar, as a Roman citizen had the right to do, and journeys to Rome, by way of a shipwreck on Malta. There he lived for two years (Acts 28:30) preaching the good news of Jesus as savior, Jesus as Messiah. We do not have record of the remaining years of Paul’s life.

The news of Jesus spread through the apostles, through those who were direct witnesses to the good news of Christ. They took the news to places that the Lord by His Spirit opened up to them. The birth of the church happened through traveling evangelists, heralding and proclaiming the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

3) The Messianic Implications

While the Gospels reveal Jesus as the Christ, and Acts reveals the spread of the good news and subsequent birth of the church, the letters in the NT are written to churches and individuals regarding the implications of Jesus as the Christ for their lives.

Paul wrote most of the volume of the NT. Romans is his first letter we encounter in the NT. It is the King of the Epistles. If the Gospels are an account of Jesus as the Messiah, then Romans is an account of human history, Jew and Gentile, and the theological implications that Jesus brings for the Christians in Rome. Salvation in Christ is both for Jews and Gentiles. It is the most concise letter summarizing the theology of the Gospel that the church possesses.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that he spent time with on his second and third missionary journeys. In his first letter Paul addresses the need for unity in the church for the purpose of advancing the good news of the Gospel. In his second letter he defends his apostolic authority and mission to the Gentiles highlighting the witness of his suffering for the Gospel.

Paul then wrote to a few other individual churches that he came into contact with on his missionary journeys. He wrote to the Galatians exhorting them that circumcision, i.e. fulfilling the law, was not required for salvation. To the Ephesians he wrote to encourage them that salvation is by faith alone because Christ has conquered sin. To the Philippians Paul wrote to commend them for their faithfulness and encourage them in the midst of their suffering. To the Colossians he wrote warning them against false doctrine and stressed the absolute supremacy of Christ. To the Thessalonians Paul wrote two letters, the first encouraging them that those who have already died will be raised at the second coming and the second letter correcting a false teaching that the second coming of Christ had already taken place.

Paul also wrote four letters to individuals, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he writes indicting false teachers and encouraging Timothy to confront them, that the true Gospel will always lead to godly living. In the second letter to Timothy, Paul encourages him to remain loyal to Christ and the message of the Gospel. To Titus he sends instructions for how to order the churches of Crete. To Philemon he wrote securing forgiveness for a slave named Onesimus, thereby exhibiting how the Gospel transforms lives and relationships.

Hebrews, whose author is widely disputed, is a word of exhortation sent to encourage the faithful perseverance of persecuted Christians. The author emphasizes that Christ is infinitely greater than any angel, priest, or old covenant institution.

James writes a letter to the Jewish Christians, who are dispersed far from Jerusalem, to primarily encourage them to live their lives as a witness to the good news of the Gospel. They are to be doers and not just hearers; they are to live out their faith as witnesses to the implications the Messiah brings.

Peter writes two letters. In his first he writes to Christians who are suffering, instructing them to respond to their persecutors by suffering as Jesus did. In his second letter he urges growth and perseverance in light of false teachers who deny the second coming of Christ and instead use it as a license to act immorally.

John writes three short letters. In his first letter John calls believers back to three basics, 1) true doctrine, 2) obedient living, and 3) fervent devotion to Christ. In his second letter John writes to encourage his readers to love each other and to beware false teachers who deny the incarnation of Christ, that He wasn’t really human. In his third letter John writes to Gaius commending the hospitality of Demetrius.

Jude, one of the brothers of James and Jesus, writes to a congregation of Jewish Christians exhorting them to look out for false teachers who have slipped in and used grace as a license to sin.

Finally, John concludes the NT with his apocalyptic letter, Revelation. He writes to persecuted Christians encouraging them that God indeed is in control. He wins the cosmic story through His Son, the Christ. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy revealing the unseen spiritual war and cosmic conflict dealing with the salvation for God’s people from their sin and His wrath. Ultimately Revelation acts a shot in the arm to fortify the church to endure suffering and stay pure.

Conclusion

The NT is the consummation of the OT. In it we see the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation. In the Gospels the Messianic promise is fulfilled. In Acts the Messianic good news spreads from Jerusalem to Rome creating the church. And in the Epistles, we see the implications of Jesus as savior. With the conclusion of the NT we have the conclusion of God’s revelation in Scripture for our flourishing and His glory. It is a testament to the grace and love of our God in spite of all the rebellion we can muster against Him.

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[1] Israel can clearly be classified as God’s people in the OT. However books like Jonah reveal that God’s grace is also meant for other Gentile nations like the Ninevites. Jonah is a precursor to the inclusion of Gentiles as God’s people in the NT.

[2] Douglas Moo, The Letter of James (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 25-26.

[3] Alan Johnson, The Expositors Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 581-582.

[4] Revelation is sometimes classified in it’s own genre as “Apocalypse,” but begins as a letter to seven churches so many have also included it in the category of Epistle.

[5] Aramaic was a Semitic language, similar to that of Hebrew. The Assyrians made Aramaic a common language during the Jewish exile in the sixth century BC. For many of the Jews in Palestine, this was the prominent language.

[6] See also Jeremiah 23:5-6

[7] See also Mark 10:47-48 and Matthew 3:17

[8] Bruce M. Metzger, The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 124. Most scholars attribute this dating for the birth of Jesus, though there are many differing views as well.

[9] John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 233.

[10] Bruce M. Metzger, The New Testament, 149. Though many argue as well for His death to have occurred in AD 33.

Remember Your Leaders

Who you are today is a reflection in some part of who has been a leader to you. Fundamental to the building block of life is learning from leaders in our lives. When we were children we learned what it mean to be human by copying the ways of our parents (i.e. walking, eating with utensils, learning how to speak, etc.). As adults we learn how to be successful in a new job by watching those who are successful in our field. We are who we are in many respects due to those whom we have followed in our lives, the leaders whom we have looked up to.

Who is a Leader Worthy of Following?
The Author of Hebrews knows this reality, that we are followers. He knows that we are people who learn from others, particularly the leaders to whom we aspire to be like. And so Scripture, in God's wisdom, wholeheartedly affirms that we are to be a people who continue to learn in this manner, by imitating our leaders. Hebrews 13:7 charges the reader clearly to this manner of life: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. We learn two things very quickly from this passage:

1. A leader is a particular kind of person, someone who spoke the word of God to you. We are to remember those leaders who have led in such a way as to lead us to the truth of God in His Word. According to Scripture, a leader is one who leads others to God.
2. A leader is someone that we are imitate. A leader who leads others to God will have a life that reflects this conviction. They will be people whom we should therefore imitate; they are leading by example of what it means to be a Christian. The shepherd image in the NT calls them to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3b); they are shepherd-leaders whom we are called to imitate.

Leaders to the World vs. Leaders to God
The exhortation then is for us to imitate the lives of those whom have led their own in a manner that reflects the calling of the Gospel. We are not meant to follow the leaders that the world portrays as leadership material, for very few of them lead us to God. They instead lead to fame, fortune, success, and pleasure. God's leaders take our hand and show us how to live in humility, as a servant, in love, and in devotion to God. God's leaders are very different from the world's.

Remember Your Leaders
Therefore to obey this verse means that we to imitate the lives of those who lead us in Truth. But in order for us to do this we must begin with the first three words of the verse: Remember your leaders. We must remember those in our lives who have led in a Godly manner, those who are worthy of our imitation. It is the calling upon the Christian to remember those who led us, to remember those who taught us regarding God's grace in Jesus Christ, to remember those whom we have read whose wisdom has brought us thirsty for more of God. Therefore over the next few weeks we will looking at particular leaders of the Christian faith who are worthy of our imitation. They will be people whom we can learn from, whose lives have sounded forth a deep relationship with God. Our call is two fold: 1) to imitate Godly leaders, and 2) to first of all remember them. We cannot imitate if we don't know who it is we are called to imitate. There are people who have proved worthy to follow, people who have led many to Jesus. Our task in the coming weeks is to remember these leaders.

**Next Week: Remembering Your Leader Jesus

Was the Resurrection of Jesus Really an Historical Event?

The Objection

For many, the Christian teaching of the resurrection of the dead is an intellectual stumbling block that is difficult to surmount. That a body could rise again seems to fly in the face of our every experience with death: corpses do not typically reanimate before our very eyes! Many skeptics would attempt to attack the Christian faith in its entirety by endeavoring to show that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was impossible. In this article, I will consider the following objection: That Christianity is founded upon the impossible premise that a man, Jesus of Nazareth, actually rose from the dead some time around the year 33AD.

Of course, the entirely of the Christian faith does rest largely upon the doctrine of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The skeptic is right to suppose that, if it could be shown that Jesus did not rise, most of our doctrine would crumble, as would the spiritual authority of the New Testament. Nevertheless, we take this Scriptural teaching to be an historic fact—Jesus Christ literally rose from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion. For this reason, we do not understand the Gospel accounts to be any kind of fanciful or mythological account. Rather, we, like the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, rest the whole of our faith on the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

First Reply: The Gospel Accounts

Let us first consider that the oldest and most reliable documents pertaining to these events are the Gospels themselves. Far from being “removed” from the actual events, the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are indeed the most reliable accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. All of the Gospels were written by either eye-witnesses to the ministry of Jesus (Matthew and John were His disciples) or by the direct protégés of such (Mark and Luke were students of Peter and Paul respectively).

That these Gospels are chalked full of specific names and hometowns of dozens of eyewitnesses  to these events (Joseph of Arimathea, Simon of Cyrene, Mary of Magdala, Lazarus and Martha of Bethany, Pontius Pilate etc.) further underscores that these documents are verifiable source material, and not later reconstructions. Many of these eyewitnesses were still alive at the time of composition, as each of the Gospels was written within the first and second generations of those who lived with Christ. So many eyewitnesses to the resurrection still lived during the time of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that he can state without blinking an eye:

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living" (1 Corinthians 15:3-6, emphasis added).

While many ancient works have very few copies and manuscripts, the Gospels contain by far more manuscript evidence than any other ancient document. For instance, there are over 20,000 extant manuscripts (or fragments) of the NT, as compared to only 9 of Homer’s Illiad. This makes the NT by far the most copied and transcribed document of the ancient world.

Among the eyewitness documents themselves, there is no discrepancy of fact. Without any hesitation, we can say that ALL of the Gospel accounts invariably testify that the resurrection of Jesus is an historic fact. NT writers took great pains to ensure the accuracy of their renderings. Luke for instance writes,

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:1-4).

Second Reply: The Faithful Martyrs

Secondly, we must consider that, if Jesus did not literally rise from the dead, we have no explanation as to why most of his followers were willing to pay such a great price for their faith, nor do we have an explanation for the rapid growth of Christianity in the first three centuries.

Eleven of the original twelve disciples (excluding Judas) suffered for their testimony of Jesus’ cross and resurrection. Of those eleven, ten died a martyr’s death, while John was merely banished. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we would have to assume that these disciples were willing to suffer brutal deaths at the hands of their murders for what they knew to be a lie.

Not only does the Bible tell us many of the stories of those who suffered for the fact of the resurrection, but extra-biblical literature supports these historic events. Without any doubt, Christians suffered tremendously under the regime of Emperor Nero (and others). While given the chance to preserve their own lives by simply acknowledging “Caesar is Lord,” thousands of Christians preferred to meet their fate at the burning stake or in the arena because they could not deny what they knew to be true.

Secular sociologist Rodney Stark acknowledged that it was the Early Christians’ adamant belief in the resurrection that allowed for their meteoric rise in growth in the first three centuries. Writing about the plagues of 165 AD, he states, “Once death lost its power over life, life itself took on new meaning for believers." Stark states, “The Romans threw people out into the street at the first symptoms of disease, because they knew it was contagious and they were afraid of dying," says Stark. "But the Christians stayed and nursed the sick. You could only do that if you thought, 'So what if I die? I have life eternal'." (1) 

The Apostle Paul, himself once a great opponent of Christianity, was overcome by the reality of Jesus raised from the dead (See Acts 9). Nevertheless, because of his experience of the risen Christ, he was willing to endure tremendous suffering for the event on which he based the rest of his life. Standing before Governor Felix, Paul, radically changed by the Gospel could proclaim, “It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today” (Acts 24:21). How else can we explain such a dramatic change in his life and character?

Third Reply: Opponents' Testimony

Finally, we can conclude our case by consulting the early opponents of Christianity. We might expect, of course, that the data left by followers of Jesus Christ would support our conclusions, but what of the writings of those who persisted in opposing the Gospel? If we can find that the writings of early opponents actually support the evidence of the resurrection, we can begin to rest our case.

Indeed this is exactly what we find. Josephus is widely regarded to be an authoritative historian of the ancient Jewish people. He was by no means a believer in Christ. Yet his writings actually confirm the Gospel accounts. The most ancient version of Josephus’ history (the Arabic version) states,

“At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.”

Governor Pliny wrote to Emperor Trajan further underscoring the Christian narrative,

“They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god… I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms.”

Finally, the Babylonian Talmud, written in AD 217 states,

“On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf." But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover! - Ulla retorted: Do you suppose that he was one for whom a defense could be made? Was he not a “Mesith” [enticer].”

What is interesting about each of these three hostile accounts is that they do NOT seem to conflict with the Christian gospels as regards the basic elements of the Christian story. On the contrary, they seem to actually support that chronology of the Gospel accounts: viz. that Jesus Christ was a miracle worker (Talmud: “practiced sorcery”), claimed to be God (Pliny: “as to a god”), exhibited Messianic credentials (Josephus: “perhaps the Messiah”), was crucified (Talmud: “On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged”) and rose again (Josephus: “But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion”).

In other words, the early opponents of Christianity objected to the convictions of early Christians but not to their facts. So, then the most vigorous opponents of Christianity do not dispute the narrative of chronological events but rather corroborate them, though them predictably arrive at other conclusions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, then, I would submit that the burden of proof lies not upon the shoulders of the Christian who asserts that Jesus rose, but upon the shoulders of any who would deny the historicity of the most ancient and authoritative accounts (i.e. the Gospels). We leave the skeptic with the following questions with which to grapple:

• If Jesus did not rise, how does one explain the tremendous growth of Christianity in the first three centuries?

• If Jesus did not rise, how does one reckon with the documentary evidence that says He did?

• If Jesus did not rise, how does one explain the dramatic conversion of the Apostle Paul who hated the Church and sought to destroy it?

• If Jesus did not rise, how does one explain the willingness of so many early Christians to suffer for their convictions?

• If Jesus did not rise, how does one explain the absence of any physical corpse?

 Notes:
(1) www.newsweek.com/1999/04/04/2000-years-of-jesus.html


Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida

'An Open Letter to the Beloved Opposition' on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

(Listen to this sermon online here).


To My Dearly Beloved Unbeliever, 



Greetings. First of all let me say how much I love you, and miss you. There should never be any question about my affection for you. You are and always will be held dearly in my heart, and I pray for you daily. Nothing I write in this letter will compromise my love.

I am writing today because it has been so long since we have spoken face to face, and I felt that some correspondence was urgent. Some real dialogue. So much of what you have to say to me, and what I have to say to you has been reduced to the lowest forms of modern communication—Facebook posts, YouTube clips, bumper stickers, and rally posters. 

The last time we talked you mentioned to me “how much I had changed” in recent years; that you hardly know me anymore. I think you are right, and part of my reason for writing is to explain how that change has happened and why even more is yet to come. If I could only explain to you how my experience with Christ has changed my life, my thinking, my worldview, my ethics then perhaps we could understand one another better.

Therefore I am writing this letter to you today to respond to a few of the misconceptions that it seems you may hold about our beliefs and convictions as Christians.  I hope (and beg you) to listen with the open-mindedness and the tolerance that you so often accuse me of lacking.

1. First of all, you said we are ‘growing apart’ and don’t have much in common anymore. It pains me to say it, but I completely agree. I’m noticing it too; the gap between us is widening daily! And I am not surprised that we both feel this way. My master the Lord Jesus Christ told us that this would happen. He said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34-35).

Now, before you go off again accusing us Christians of trying to establish some kind of ‘theocracy,’ –jamming our religion down people’s throats-- let me explain what Jesus meant when He spoke of 'peace' and 'the sword.'

Let's not take this verse in Matthew out of context. Jesus did come to bring a kind of peace. He came to bring the ultimate peace that can ever be had—peace with God through the forgiveness of our sins. The Apostle Paul said, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). 

I have that peace with God now that I am a believer, and it has totally renovated my entire life. I cannot tell you how freeing it is to have my guilt, my shame, my regrets, my pain all wiped away in His blood!

The division that Jesus speaks of here (the sword He came to bring, vs. 34) is a division of ultimate allegiances. A division of worldviews. A division of values. A division of convictions. Most of these differences run so deeply that—by way of analogy—it is as though we are on opposite sides of a war. Not a literal war, of course, but a cultural, spiritual, moral war. You might say that we are serving two different ‘kings’ with completely contrasting claims of sovereignty.

As one of our great writers J.C. Ryle once explained, “So long as one man believes and another remains unbelieving, so long as one is resolved to keep his sins and another to give them up, the result of the Gospel must needs be division. For this, the Gospel is not to blame, but the heart of man.”[i]

That “growing apart” that you described, is us both growing closer to our respective king.

2. And that leads me to answer the second question that you posed to me in your letter, i.e. to explain why it seems that I have become so radical these days. I think the exact words that you used were “religious nutcase.” Or was it “Bible thumper?”  I can’t exactly remember, and in any case, I’m getting used to it now. I’ve been hearing it more and more often lately.

Please let me explain that when Jesus saves a man—snatches him up by the power of His irresistible grace--He intends to redeem  the entire man, not just to make him “religious.”  In fact, Christ makes exhaustive claims over his life. Jesus said in this same chapter, 'And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it' (Matthew 10:38-39).

Do you see how all-encompassing His claims are over me? That I cannot just give Him a part of my life? He did not give us that option. If anything, to my own shame, I am not yet radical enough! 

So please don’t be astonished or startled when I choose to live my life in sharp contrast to yours. For instance, when I don’t laugh at your jokes, or enjoy the same films, or treat women as sexual objects to be used, or smirk at your porn addiction. I’ve “lost” those things (vs. 39).

Please don’t be offended when I refuse to go golfing or boating on the Lord’s Day anymore. It’s not that I don’t value our time together. I do. But I’ve found something so much greater in Christ.

And when I do unexplainable things that seem crazy to you—like give away a tenth of every paycheck before I even cash it, even if I have to drive this Chevy Prism for ten more years— it’s because I’ve come to see that I owe everything ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING to Christ!

In fact, the further I “carry the cross” of obedience, giving up the things of this world, the more joyful it becomes to me. This is the great paradox of obedience, and I can’t expect you to understand fully—yet.

And now, my Beloved Friend, let me take up a specific ethical issue that has deeply divided us. Jesus’ warning that 'A man’s enemies will be those of his own household' have proven true for us. It would seem that the chasm separating us cannot possibly be wider than here.

3. You asked me how I could possibly believe something as ‘judgmental,’ ‘narrow,’ and ‘backward’ as I do in regard to abortion.  To my great sadness, you even called me a ‘bigot,’ and alleged that I ‘just want to take away women’s rights to choose.’ Let's be honest: we both know that's a terrible lie.

Oh how I beg you to hear me out! How I plead with you to set aside the media’s caricature of Christians, and listen to our convictions for once!

If you would understand me at all, you must first see how highly we value the Word of God. Our position on this matter, is not our own. We believe it represents the very mind and heart of God as it is revealed in Scripture. And it is after all, God’s view alone that truly matters as Creator of Life.  

Everywhere we turn, we see the Bible underscoring the sanctity of human life. In fact, today is a day that we Christians call “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.” This principle, that God created, loves, and values human life is everywhere in the Bible:

• "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:31-32). If God values my course, graying and receding hairline, does He not value the soft tender locks of the unborn child in the womb?
• And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42). I ask you, is there any “little one” littler than the unborn child? More defenseless? Helpless?
• For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14).
• So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).

For millennia now (literally two thousand years) Christians have been the one people on this planet who have striven--often at the cost of our own lives--for the preciousness of human life. It was the early Christians who ended the cruel ancient Roman practice of infanticide by exposure. This was the terrible act of leaving newborn children to die because of their gender, appearance, or handicap. We Christians rescued thousands of abandoned Roman children and raised them and loved them as our own. This is hardly “judgmental.”

It was we Christians who helped to end the horror of African slavery in England and America. Can I remind you that William Wilberforce was an evangelical, as I am? That the Quakers and Moravians--fellow Christ followers--led the charge on our own shores to end slavery? That Martin Luther King himself was a Baptist pastor? I cannot imagine what this society would look like today without the constant witness of the “sanctify of human life” from the mouths of Christians.

And since you, Dear Unbeliever, have not been shy to point out our failures and inconsistencies (for we have regrettably given you many opportunities), would I be too bold to point out one inconsistency of your own? Why is it that you who so highly value the “god” of scientific inquiry and empirical science have so obviously abandoned the consensus of that same scientific community as it relates to the the tiny embryo in the womb having all the genetic wonder of a fully mature adult?

But please don’t be mistaken. Our greatest difference is not abortion, or homosexuality, or the films we enjoy. It is  in our view of Jesus Christ. Let me close this letter with one more quotation. 'So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven' (Matthew 10:32).

Let me remind you again how dearly I love you, my Enemy, my Friend. I have always insisted that I truly love you, and I will plead my case again with this ink. I have wept many tears for your soul. Would you do the same for me if you believed in such a thing? 

That peace that I described in having my sins wiped away can also be yours in Christ. The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover the sins of the whole world (even yours). But I must remind you that it is efficient only for those who repent and believe.

Unbeliever, I can say without hesitation that I would walk through fire for you. I would walk over broken glass for you. I would swim the deepest sea for you if I could. But I can’t. And I don’t have to. Christ has done all for you already on the cross.  

In conclusion, if I ever stop loving you, Unbeliever, you have every right to question everything I claim to stand for.   

Sincerely and affectionately yours, 

--Christian

Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville Fl.

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[i] J.C. Ryle Commentary on Matthew 10:34.